Katie's Choice (30 page)

He smiled in return, then gave her a little wink. “I’ll make a special batch.”

Their camaraderie continued as Katie Rose showed him how to use the hand chopper instead of an electric food processor to chop the canned tomatoes into the base for salsa. As Katie Rose worked on chopping ingredients for the mild, he continued to work on the payback salsa.

He was adding the last of the garlic and oil into both of them when everyone started to arrive.

John Paul was the first in the house. Ever starving, his nose led him straight into the kitchen. “Smells good in here.”

“
Danki
,” Katie Rose and Zane said at the same time.

“What’s that?” John Paul pointed to the bowls of salsa just waiting for chips and willing victims.

Katie Rose slapped his hand away even as her eyes twinkled. “It’s Zane’s famous salsa. But you have to wait until supper’s ready. Now, shoo.”

He looked a bit forlorn, then backed away. “I’ll just go wash up. How much longer?”

“About fifteen minutes.” Zane slid the tray of taco shells into the oven.

“And don’t forget to fetch Noni,” Katie Rose added.

“Have I ever forgotten before, sister?”

“
Nay
,” she smiled, and Zane had the feeling she was just trying to make sure John Paul stayed out of the kitchen. Or maybe she just liked bossing her baby brother. “Don’t let this be the first time.”

John Paul gave a curious glance from one to the other, then shook his head. “
Jah
, then.” He turned on his heel and disappeared up the stairs.

John Paul had no more gotten out of sight when Abram and Ruth walked into the house. They were together, but not, a distance between them, a mental chasm, something emotional. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good. Abram kept looking at his wife, the pain in his eyes clear for everyone to see. Except for Ruth, because she looked at everything but her husband. She was hurting, Zane knew, but he had no idea how to help her. It meant a lot to him to help. They had taken him in, shown him another way of life, a special existence that one couldn’t find elsewhere, no matter where they searched on the globe.

Abram went back to wash his hands and “redd up” for supper while Ruth sank into one of the dining chairs, her body seeming to wilt under its own weight.

Concern flashed across Katie Rose’s face, then just as quickly, it disappeared. She took a deep breath, dried her hands on a towel, and knelt in front of her mother and began to pray.

Zane looked back to his cheese, concentrating a little too seriously on grating. He needed to get dinner ready as much as they needed some privacy.

“
Aemen
.” Katie Rose lifted her head and smiled at her mother.

“Katie Rose,” Ruth started. “Whatever has happened to your
kapp
?”

“Oh,
Mamm
! The colt was born. Zane Carson and I helped.”

So he was back to Zane Carson now, was he? He loved the intimate sound of his name on her lips, but it was for the best.

“And the colt?”

“He’s so
schay
.”

“Who’s pretty?” Abram picked that precise moment to come back into the room, rolling his shirt sleeves down as he walked.

“Jennifer’s new colt.”

Zane stopped. “You named the mare Jennifer?”

“
Nay
.” Abram shook his head.

“Well, somebody did.”

“
Ach
, that’s true,” Katie Rose added, but her father was already on his way toward the door.

Zane could tell that Katie Rose wanted to slip out and go look at the colt as well, but her mother stood and grabbed her hand. “Let’s get you a clean
kapp
. The Lord will not like you goin’ around like that.” She led Katie Rose to the back of the house.

Zane wanted to drop everything and go look at the horse himself, but he had about another pound of cheese to grate and the tortillas to warm. He continued with his work. There’d be time after supper to go check on the new addition to the barn.

In no time at all, the women reappeared. Katie Rose had on a clean prayer
kapp
, starched and crisp white. And Ruth had a bandana tied around her head. She seemed hesitant, but Katie Rose urged her to sit and relax.

Katie Rose pointed to the bowl of salsa that Zane had made especially for the Fisher sons. “That one.”

Ruth nodded, a tentative smile on her face as well.

“I like your new prayer covering,” Zane said, opening the tortillas and getting them ready to heat.

She reached a hand upward, then stopped. “I am unsure.”

“Why?” he asked.

“I do not believe there’s a provision for this in the
Ordnung
.”

“Then you’re not doing anything wrong.”

“That is for the bishop to decide,” Katie Rose added.

“And since he’s not here to pass judgment, I say leave it as is.”

Ruth reached up a trembling hand and touched the soft pink fabric.

Zane smiled at the sight of all those pink ribbons and at the fact that now Ruth could call herself a survivor. Even though he’d known it all along.

God is good.

That thought made his smile even wider.

“What are you grinning about?” Katie Rose asked with a smile of her own.

“Oh, nothing.”

“
Ach
, that’s a fine colt, he is.” Abram may have been speaking about the horse, but his eyes were fixed on Ruth and her new head covering.

What was he thinking?

Katie Rose nodded. “And he wouldn’t be here had it not been for Zane Carson.”

Abram tore his gaze from his wife and centered it on Zane. “Is that a fact?”

Zane shrugged. “Katie Rose and I both helped.”

“
Ach
, a fine colt,” he repeated. “Now, what is this special dinner that you have made for us?”

“Tacos,” Zane replied.

“
Dat
, you’ve had tacos before.”

“But not like these,” Zane cut in.

Katie Rose raised her eyebrows in question.

“You won’t want to eat this, though.” Zane pointed to the batch of extra fiery salsa.

Abram frowned. “Why not?”

Before anyone could answer, Gabriel and his bunch arrived, soon followed by Gideon and his Annie. The house was full to bursting when John Paul loped down the stairs and went on back to fetch Noni for supper.

Zane saw Katie Rose pull Mary Elizabeth and Annie aside to warn them about the salsa. Mary Elizabeth smiled, always up for a good practical joke—especially since the men were the target, John Paul included. It seemed Annie had a sense of humor as well, for her violet eyes twinkled as she heard the plan.

Once everyone had gathered around, Zane shushed them so he could speak. “As you know, this dinner is to celebrate Ruth’s triumph over cancer.”

Everyone cheered, but amid the whoops Zane heard a few “
aemens
.” Even Noni tapped her cane on the floor to show her support.

“God is good,” Katie Rose added.

Zane smiled. Amazing how they thought alike sometimes. When she shot him down after he first arrived, he never would have guessed that could happen.

Now she would be the one he missed the most.

He pushed the sobering thought of returning to Chicago to the back of his mind and continued. “I thought we might do things a bit differently tonight. We’ll have our prayer and then fix our plates buffet style. That way everyone can add what they’d like to their tacos, agreed?”

A chorus of “
jahs
” went up all around, and Zane looked to Abram to lead them into prayer.

Abram shook his head. “Tonight, Zane Carson, it is upon you to lead us to God.”

Zane felt his neck burn, not from embarrassment for being put on the spot, but because Abram thought him qualified to talk to God. He glanced around the room, and took a long breath. “Let’s pray, then.”

Everyone bowed their heads.

As Zane started his silent prayer, he felt a hand sneak its way into his.

Katie Rose.

He tried to tell himself it was because they had shared so much in one afternoon—the joy of her mother’s healing, the birth of new life, and the joke they were about to play on her brothers. But he hoped there was more to her action than that.

Not that it would matter. He would be leaving soon.

He prayed for the Lord to bless the food, he gave thanks for being able to come to Amish country and meet these fine people, for his chance to get to know God, and to help a colt be born and all the other blessings he’d experienced. He finished his prayer with the hopes that John Paul, Gabe, and Gideon wouldn’t be too mad at him over the salsa. He wiped the smile from his face as he finished with “Amen.”

As was the Amish custom, Abram grabbed a plate for himself. Zane started one for Noni, and Katie Rose for her mother, and after that, the men gathered in to fix their tacos.

Zane showed them the best way to construct a taco starting with a shell and meat and ending with salsa. “There are two kinds of salsa over there.” He pointed to the bowls. “The one on the left is mild for the children. And the one on the right has a little more spice to it.”

He hid his mirth and tried not to stare as the big Fisher men added spoonful upon spoonful of salsa to their tacos.

“How much are we supposed to use?” Gideon asked.

“As much as you’d like,” Zane replied. “But I have to admit that I like a lot of salsa. It just seems to make the taco.”

John Paul nodded, and Zane noticed with particular satisfaction that his roommate added more spicy salsa than all the rest.

Katie Rose and Annie stepped forward to make their plates while Zane watched the brothers.

Gabriel was the first one to dig in, eating half of it in one bite. He chewed, nodded, then reacted as if steam exploded from his ears. He grabbed his water and gulped it down just as Gideon and John Paul realized the mistake they’d made as well. The brothers jumped around, fanning their tongues, talking about crazy English foods, and trying to figure out why no one else was in such pain.

Ruth cracked first, laughing until tears slid down her cheeks. Soon, everyone else joined in, though most of the kids had no idea why everyone was cackling like hyenas, unable to stop.

Zane wiped his own tears of mirth from his eyes as he poured a glass of milk for the brothers. “This will help cut the burn.”

John Paul accepted his glass with gratitude, but instead of drinking it, he stuck his tongue into the milk trying to cool it as fast as possible.

Paybacks, Zane decided, were sweet.

“
Ach
, city boy,” John Paul said. “What is in that devil chutney?”

Zane couldn’t help one last laugh. “Habanero peppers. Only the third hottest pepper known to man.”

Gideon sat, eyes streaming from laughter or tears—Zane wasn’t sure which. “If that one is number three, I’ll thank you for goin’ no higher.”

Everyone laughed again, and the Fisher brothers got back in line to make tacos without the “devil chutney.”

“So, this is about the plow, huh?” John Paul spooned the mild salsa onto his new tacos, and Zane noticed he didn’t use nearly as much this second go ’round.

“Bingo,” Zane replied, then noticed the puzzled looks all around the table. “It’s like saying, ‘yes.’ It’s from a game, and when you win you call out ‘bingo.’”

They nodded their heads as if they understood, but Zane had the feeling they secretly thought he was making things up as he went along. “You should bear that in mind next time you feel like playing a trick on someone,” he said.

“It tastes just fine to me,” Noni chimed in.

Zane darted a glance at the elderly woman.
Surely she hadn’t . . .
Zane took in the taco she held and realized that the eldest member of the household had smothered her taco with the habanero salsa.

Noni stared back as if they’d all lost their minds, then took another bite of the taco.

Everyone laughed.

And Zane considered Taco Night a success.

His gaze locked with Katie Rose’s, and she smiled in return. He looked away first, hoping she couldn’t read the longing in his gaze. Man, he was going to miss her after he left. Once again the idea to stay flitted through his mind. It was possible, yet impossible all at the same moment. This was America and a free country, so there was no legal reason why he couldn’t stay.

Even though this trip was an assignment, it was akin to a vacation—a
working
vacation. And though anyone would be tempted to stay in paradise, all vacationers must return to the life where they belonged.

“I’d like to thank you, Zane Carson.”

“For what, Ruth Fisher?”

She fought back the urge to say,
everything
, and instead concentrated on tonight. “The tacos, the laughter. I’m afraid that my cancer has put a stop to much of that. You brought it back to us.”

“My pleasure, Ruth.”

She opened her mouth to tell him it was more than that, but he hushed her.

“Truth is, I was craving tacos, and this gave me the perfect opportunity to have my cake and eat it too, so to speak.”

She frowned. “What good is cake if not to eat?”