Her Brother's Keeper (26 page)

Charlotte lined out all the sushi she'd brought home for everyone to try, glad she'd gotten home before everyone went to bed. She was still basking in the aftermath of the most wonderful date she'd ever had. There was no good-night kiss, only a hug, but she could feel something happening between them. And he'd graciously offered to buy extra sushi when Charlotte had shared with him what Hannah said.

“There.” She pointed to four plates she'd put the sushi on. “Try some of each.” She smiled at Amos, Lena, Jacob, and Hannah who were all lined up in the kitchen. But no one was moving.

Amos folded his arms across his chest and frowned. “That is fish that is not cooked?”

Charlotte picked up a slice with her fingers. “Yes. And it's very good. Try this one.” She offered it to Amos on a napkin. “It's caterpillar
maki
.”

Amos locked eyes with Charlotte. “I'm not eating a bug.”

Charlotte laughed. “No, no. It's not really caterpillar. It's eel, cucumber, rice, and—”

Amos shook his head, waved his hand, and took a step backward as he rambled off something in Dutch. Then he left the kitchen.

“Jacob, I know you'll try anything.” She handed him the same slice, and he smelled it before he popped it in his mouth. “Ugh.” He scrunched his face, then spit it back into the napkin. “
Nee
. You can keep your caterpillar eel food.”

“Don't give up.” Charlotte chose a double salmon thinking Jacob might like that better. He didn't eat anything with tomato sauce, but otherwise, she wasn't sure she'd ever seen him turn down food. “You just have to find one you like.”

Hannah laughed when Jacob spit out the second bite into the napkin. “
Nee
.
Danki
, Mary, but
nee
.”

Lena crinkled her nose, reminded Charlotte that she'd been sick, then she, too, left the kitchen.

Charlotte slammed her hands to her hips. “Hannah. Don't disappoint me. I know you will try a few of these.” She reached for another slice. “This one is grasshopper, but I promise it doesn't have grasshoppers in it. It has shrimp, asparagus, and . . . other stuff.” She decided not to mention the eel this time.

Hannah brought the food to her nose like Jacob had, then stared at it. “Maybe they should give different names to these foods.” She slowly chewed it, and Charlotte waited for it to hit the napkin as Hannah twisted her mouth into an awful expression. But Hannah swallowed. She wadded
up the napkin. “
Danki
to your friend John for buying these for us to try, but . . .” She crinkled her nose.

“Y'all don't have good taste. These are great.” Charlotte was too full to eat one more thing, but she piled the sushi back in the to-go containers and stashed them in the refrigerator.

“Better be nice or I won't write down that bread recipe for you to take home.” Hannah winked. “And I'm pretty sure you think we have pretty
gut
taste when it comes to that.”

Charlotte nodded. “I promise, I'll be good.”

They said their good-nights, and Charlotte went to bed at nine thirty, the earliest since she'd gotten there. So, she wasn't too surprised when she woke up at four o'clock the next morning. She got dressed and tiptoed down the stairs to the kitchen. Everyone would be shocked if she started breakfast this morning, but not as shocked as Charlotte when she eyed all the sushi boxes piled on the counter.

All empty.

Sixteen

C
harlotte threw away the empty containers and was frying bacon when Lena and Hannah came downstairs. Hannah said something to Lena in Pennsylvania Dutch, and Lena chuckled, which was nice to hear since Lena had been feeling so poorly lately.

“Not fair. You know I can't understand you.” Charlotte grinned as she glanced over her shoulder, then finished flipping the bacon.

“Hannah said that your people in Texas are going to be surprised if we send you back knowing how to cook. And she said something else, but it's a surprise we will share with you later. That's why she spoke the
Deitsch
.”

“I love surprises.”

Jacob clomped down the stairs in his heavy boots. And Amos went straight to the table and sat down while Lena started coffee in the percolator, another thing that tasted better in Amish Country.

“Speaking of surprises,” Charlotte said as she laid out the bacon on a plate lined with paper towels. She turned around when she was done, grinning. “Did someone get hungry in the middle of the night?” Her eyes landed on Jacob as she crossed her arms. He must have decided the sushi wasn't so bad after all. Maybe he'd gotten a snack while he was sneaking out of the house.

“Don't look at me.” Jacob shrugged, shaking his head. “That stuff is right up there with tomato sauce.”

Amos cleared his throat. “I ate your bug rolls.”

Charlotte's jaw dropped, but Lena was the one who burst out laughing again.

“Amos, you ate them all?”

He opened up the newspaper and started scanning the pages. “
Ya.
I ate them all.” He lifted his eyes to Charlotte. “I woke up hungry, and there was nothing else in the refrigerator but goat milk cheese and your bug rolls.”

“That was a lot of food,” Lena said, still smiling.

Amos held a palm up to silence them. “I do not want to know what I ate, what they were called, or anything else about them. They were
gut
, though.”

They all started laughing, and Charlotte was sure she was going to burst with a joy that she hadn't even known was possible. She silently thanked God for His many blessings, for Hannah and this wonderful family, and then she thanked Him again before breakfast.

It was later that morning when Charlotte told Hannah again that she was going to need to go back to Texas soon.

“You can't leave yet!” Hannah bounced up on her toes. “The Gordonville mud sale is in two weeks. It's held at the fire station, and it's great fun. Do you have mud sales in Texas?”

“Sure we do.” Maybe the Amish ladies in Beeville went to mud sales. With each passing day, the lies seeped deeper into her bloodstream like a virus that might kill her if she didn't come clean. “I-I don't know if I can stay that long, Hannah.”

Hannah frowned. “I'm going to miss you so much.” She pointed a finger at Charlotte. “Now, don't cry when I give you your surprise. I was going to wait for
Mamm
, but she's taking a nap, and I can't wait.”

Charlotte took a deep breath. This new relationship with God was great, but the spiritual cleansing that came with it had been both joyous—and painful. “Okay, I won't cry.”

“This is for you.” Hannah handed her a small box. “
Mamm
and I filled it with all of our favorite recipes. With the exception of baking bread, you haven't shown much interest in learning to cook.” She giggled. “But you've shown a large interest in eating. And whether or not you stayed in our community or went back to Texas, we both wanted you to have our favorite recipes with hopes that you'll think of us fondly from wherever you are.”

Charlotte put the small box on the kitchen table and
threw her arms around Hannah. “I'm going to miss you the most. I love you, and I can see why Ethan—” She stopped herself just before she blew her cover. “I just love you.”

Hannah eased away, cupped Charlotte's cheeks, and smiled. “
Ach
, my dearest Mary, I am going to miss you very much too.”

Charlotte hung her head, choked back her tears, and picked up the recipe box. “I will cherish this forever.” She smiled, wondering if Ryan would be her food guinea pig when she got home.

Hannah walked into the mudroom that afternoon and waited for her mother to run a blue dress through the washer. “Are you sure you feel up to doing this?” They'd skipped doing the laundry yesterday since Hannah's mother hadn't been feeling well.

“Ya.
I feel much better. Whatever bug had latched on to me must have flown away.”

“Ach, gut.
Is this the last of the clothes?”

Her mother tossed the wet dress into the laundry basket. “
Ya
. But Mary usually brings her sheets down when she knows we'll be doing the wash. I don't see them.”

“I told her we would catch the wash today, but she's used to us doing laundry on Monday, so she probably forgot. I'll go get them.” She took two steps but stopped and turned around. “
Ach
, by the way, I gave Mary the
recipe box. She started talking about going home, and I wanted her to have it. I asked her to please stay until the mud sale in Gordonville in a couple of weeks, but I don't know if she will.”

“I know you're going to miss her.”
Mamm
worked a white shirt through the washer. “I will miss her too. God sent her here at the perfect time. She's been so
gut
for you.”

“Ya
. It's been like having a sister.” She grabbed the extra laundry basket. “I'll go get the sheets.”

As Hannah pulled the pillowcases off, she smiled. Mary was never around on laundry day. She thought about the things that had irritated her about her cousin in the beginning, but her cousin's quirkiness and ability to care deeply had made up for her lack of knowledge about cooking, gardening, and cleaning. She wondered if Mary wasn't good at these things because of the type of childhood she'd had before moving in with her aunt and uncle.

She tossed the top sheet on the floor with the pillowcases, then lifted a corner of the fitted sheet. When she did, she saw something yellow between the mattresses. She lifted the mattress up and pulled out a yellow pad of paper. She read a few sentences, then sat down on the bed . . . before she fell down.

Despite the cooler temperatures, Charlotte dripped with sweat inside Ethan's house, and the skunk smell still lingered in the air. She tried to hurry and make a list of repairs, and she took lots of pictures with her phone to reference when she got home. She would need to hire a contractor and get the house on the market.