Ariana stirred from her sleep. Where was she? Prying open her eyes, she saw mostly darkness, and she still couldn’t place where she was. She spread her hands palms down, feeling a thick pallet of blankets. She reached farther and felt a cold floor. The familiar scent of sulfur hit her nostrils about the same time she saw hands with a lit match. She blinked. Why was a girl in blue jeans lighting a kerosene lamp?

“Ariana.” The voice came from someone other than the lamp holder.

Understanding dawned as Ariana took several deep breaths. She was in her old bedroom, her Amish one, and Skylar, the girl in the jeans, was in her room. Or since Skylar was the true Brenneman twin, maybe this was her bedroom.

Every single question was one of ten million things Ariana no longer knew. Funny how very sure she used to be. But the feelings she had now were the same ones she’d struggled with when she was forced to leave home—loneliness and confusion.

Martha knelt beside her and held out a mug. “We’ve tried to wake you several times. Sorry to say it, but we’re leaving for the café in twenty minutes.”

“Denki.” She sat up and took the coffee, grateful for some caffeine.

After Daed and the bishop questioned her last night and she and Rudy argued, she’d hardly slept at all. It was going to take several minutes to get going. But she couldn’t wait to walk into the café. Her café. She had dreamed about it several times over the past few months.

Maybe there she could figure out why the end-of-the-day receipts didn’t match the deposits.

Martha went to the line of hooks on the wall and grabbed an apron.

Skylar peered down at her while brushing her hair. “You look as bad as I felt my first few days here.”

“Thanks.” Ariana forced a smile. Skylar favored Salome as much as Ariana favored Brandi, the mom Skylar had grown up with.

Skylar pulled a sweater over her head. “Did I sprout horns or wings or something?”

Ariana startled, realizing she’d been staring, but it wasn’t a good time to mention how much Skylar favored the Brennemans. Maybe Skylar didn’t want to look like them. “How are you?”

“Yeah, sure—that’s what you were thinking.”

Martha angled her head at Skylar. “Be a little nicer, please.” Martha then looked at Ariana. “Skylar’s done some amazing things with the café. Remember that. It’ll help you adjust to her brutal sarcasm.” With that said, Martha left the room, closing the door behind her. So where was Susie?

“That was me being nice.” Skylar shrugged. “You don’t have to go with us today—this week even. I discovered there’s a grace period.”

Skylar had invited Ariana not to go to the café? It was Ariana’s café! Feeling territorial was new to Ariana, and she wasn’t sure what to do with it. She took a sip of her coffee, trying to think of the best way to respond. “I appreciate the heads-up, but I know how my parents do things, and I’ve already cut into my grace period.”

Skylar pulled her hair into a ponytail. “My parents, actually.”

Ariana couldn’t believe her ears, and she had no response. With yesterday’s argument with Daed and the bishop still spinning inside her, she had no idea what to think about anything. How had her phone ended up on the bathroom floor? She’d thought it was still tucked away in her suitcase. It must’ve been in the pocket of the apron she’d gotten out of her suitcase before getting a shower.

Even Rudy thought she should give up her phone. But the problem wasn’t about the phone, although she had no desire to hand it over. She had the right to say no, and despite what the church said, she had the right to stay in contact with her biological family and Quill and anyone else. If Nicholas had taught her anything, it was not to be bullied by anyone for any reason—although he’d probably taught her that lesson unintentionally.

More important than the phone, she hoped the bishop was the only one who’d been told of the happenings at the B&B. It was possible a former Amish person working at the place told someone who was still Amish, maybe a cousin or a close friend who hadn’t joined the church yet, and whoever they told had called the bishop. She hoped that was the case. At least that way the events, both true and misconstrued, weren’t being spread throughout Summer Grove.

The bishop was exacting, but he wasn’t a gossip.

Skylar tossed the hairbrush on the dresser. “I don’t know why I said they’re my parents. I don’t even know why I’m still here. I didn’t think Dad—I mean Nicholas—would let you return this soon.”

“I was surprised by that too. And I fully relate to not understanding why I’m saying and doing certain things.”

How had she entered the Englisch world knowing nothing, spent three months being purposefully educated by her dad and mom, and then returned to the Amish knowing less than she knew before?

She’d learned a lot about history, geography, philosophy, technology, and more. But when it came to the really important stuff, the kinds of things people built their lives on, she knew less than ever before.

Someone tapped on the door. “Skylar? Ariana?” Abram called.

“Kumm.” Ariana hadn’t yet budged from the pallet with her cup of coffee. Why was moving so hard this morning? Lack of sleep was one thing, but this felt more like the adjustment of coming back home was pressing down on her.

She had expected that to be gone after her week at the B&B. Being home was what she’d fought for the whole time she was draus in da Welt, so where was the joy and relief?

Abram eased open the door. He looked from Ariana to Skylar. “Morning.” He smiled, but the tension among the three of them seemed to have sucked all the air out of the room. Skylar was his twin, and Ariana had been in her spot for too many years already. Abram’s face betrayed the awkwardness he felt. “It’s time to go.”

“I’m ready.” Skylar grabbed a coat off the line of hooks. “I think Ariana has decided to stay home.”

“I’m going.” Ariana spilled a few drops of coffee as she rushed to her feet. She might need to move out of her home to make room for Skylar, but she would not give up her place at the café. “I’ve just been moving slowly. Give me ten minutes. Okay?”

“I’ll say it again, Ari. It’s good to have you home.” Abram smiled. “But five minutes would be better. We have a system, a good one.”

The “we” didn’t include Ariana, but it would, in time.

“We do.” Skylar nodded at Abram as if the two were tight.

“Okay, I’ll be ready in five.”

Skylar walked out, and Abram closed the door, leaving Ariana alone. She peeled out of her nightgown and grabbed her pleated Amish dress. She’d put her apron on and pin it in place once she was in the carriage.

There were facts she had to accept with grace and understanding. This was Skylar’s real home. Abram was Skylar’s real twin. Mamm and Daed were Skylar’s real parents.

Ariana had been naive to think that running back home would cause her life to be set right again. All she’d accomplished thus far was to unnerve Skylar by being here and to unnerve her parents with her newfound understanding of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Once in her dress and with the apron slung over her shoulder, Ariana flung open the door and scurried out. Good thing she’d showered last night. All she needed to do was splash water on her face and brush her teeth. She could comb her hair and pin it up in the carriage.

Daed was on the landing, heading in her direction. “Guder Marye.”

Uneasiness filled her. She used to trust him in every way possible, but that had been shattered, not so much by yesterday’s events, but by Nicholas teaching her how to analyze people’s stance by asking herself about their motives. Daed believed his motive was pure and protective, but she thought she saw a motivation based on fear—fear of her not being exactly who he thought she needed to be and fear of how the community would judge him if they learned she was stumbling around like a drunk as she tried to get her feet under her.

“Morning, Daed.” She continued rushing toward the bathroom, in part because the others might already be waiting in the rig, and in part because she wasn’t ready for another encounter that could go down the wrong path. Thankfully she would be gone most of today.

He stepped in front of her, smiling but appearing apprehensive.

“Sorry, Daed.” She angled, sliding around him. “I’m in a hurry.”

“You aren’t, actually.”

She stopped cold. “They’re waiting on me.”

“I think it’d be best if you stayed home today.”

“But…” Instantly tears welled. “I…I’ve been dreaming of today for months. For years, if you count all the time Abram and I worked to save for—”

“You seemed fine about not going last week.”

“I wasn’t fine with it. I was taking care of me so I didn’t fall apart weeks from now. I explained all that. And I spent a lot of time trying to get the books straight, so I was tending to the café while at the B&B.”

“Still, not today, Ariana.” Daed raised a brow, his face taut. “I sent the others on to the café. We—your Mamm, me, and you—need time. It would give us a chance to talk.”

A familiar feeling washed over her, and she tried to place it. Images of her first days in Nicholas’s home and the arguing between him and Brandi flooded back to her. She had felt trapped, out of place, and powerless.

Daed stepped to the side, allowing her to brush her teeth now that she understood the plans for today. “Perhaps after a week at home you’ll feel more like yourself, and then not only will you be centered on obedience and humility, but you’ll be able to meet with the bishop again and respond as any young woman should. But you can continue to work on the ledgers for the café, and you can see Rudy whenever it pleases you.”

She stared at him, unable to find her voice. Was she a child whose Daed had just finished his list of what she couldn’t do with a promise of ice cream and sprinkles?

How was her Daed’s way of demanding she do as he wished any different than Nicholas insisting she do things his way?