Ariana stomped her feet, trying to knock as much snow off her boots as possible. She knocked again. Where was her key to Berta’s house anyway?

The lock clicked, and slowly the door opened an inch. The chain caught. Berta gasped. “Ariana!” She peered behind her. “Are you alone?”

“Ya.”

The door slammed, the chain rattled, and then the door flew open. “Ach, Ari.” Berta hugged her and ushered her inside. “Are you okay?”

“Better, actually.” Ariana closed the door. “But I’m not as alone as I said.” Ariana pulled the pup out from under her coat. “Look what I found.” The puppy wriggled and whimpered, clearly preferring to snuggle and sleep than to be showcased. “Is she welcome to come in too?”

Berta laughed. “Ya.”

“We need to be a little bit careful because she hasn’t gone potty since I found her four hours ago.”

Berta lifted the puppy from Ariana. “I know what you need. Kumm.” Berta put a towel on the woodstove, and Ariana knew in just a minute she’d wrap the puppy in it and feed her something tasty.

Ariana unbuttoned her coat. “She was half-frozen in the middle of the lot behind the café. I don’t know how she got there, and I can’t believe I heard her whimpering and was able to spot her under a layer of snow.”

Berta stroked the puppy. “You went to the café?”

“I did.” Ariana hung her coat on the back of a kitchen chair. “I snuck out after the fellowship meal and…”

Chills ran up the back of Ariana’s neck. But it was different from feeling cold. The feeling was a familiar one. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Sure.” Berta never looked up. “I think I lit the lamp in the bathroom, but if not, I put a fresh lighter in the right-hand drawer under the sink.”

Ariana stepped to the edge of the hallway and peered down the dark corridor, looking at the closed door of Quill’s bedroom. If Quill was here, Berta wouldn’t volunteer that information. It would be up to him to make himself known or not. But if he was here, why would he hide from her? Maybe he hadn’t realized she was the person who came to his Mamm’s door. “Quill?”

The bedroom door opened, and moonlight shone around him as if he were a dark cloud outlined by a shimmering silver lining. He said nothing. Didn’t even move.

Relationships of all kinds are odd, each one unique to the two people in it. Apparently, based on the last five or so years of her life, they were also complex and really hard.

A memory of the two of them in this exact spot five months ago washed over her. At the time, all that was between them was the darkness of a stormy night and the silence of brokenness. But now, even in the evening shadows, she could feel a tremor in him and knew something was wrong, something cataclysmic.

She brushed a strand of hair from her face, wondering how much had fallen from her prayer Kapp since daylight. “I didn’t expect you to be here.” And hadn’t she promised Rudy she wouldn’t see him anymore?

“I heard you’ve had it rough,” he whispered as he came toward her. He stopped mere inches away.

“Ya, but right now I’m asking about you.”

He drew a deep breath, and she waited for his answer, but none came. Then he gestured toward the kitchen. “I’m good. No worries.”

“Fine.” She didn’t believe him. “Of course you are. You always are. It’s no problem if I’m a wreck, if I need to vent and cry and talk about my issues without a filter. But it’s entirely too much for you to stop protecting me for three minutes and just tell it like it is.”

Quill gestured toward the kitchen again. “How bad is the damage from what’s going on with the ministers?”

“That’s it? That’s your response? Because that’s the kind of diversion and withholding of information that adults use on children.”

“You have a lot going on right now—”

“Everyone on the planet has a lot going on right now.” Why was she prodding him to talk to her when she was supposed to avoid him? It just seemed wrong that he carried too much and shared so little.

A loud knock made them both jump.

Berta hurried down the hallway with the puppy. “It’s the ministers.” She pushed the puppy into Ariana’s arms. “You both should go. It won’t help Ariana to be seen here,” she whispered.

“Berta.” Ariana put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m not going anywhere. Calm.” She said the word slowly. “I’ll stay back here as an excuse for any noises Quill makes as he goes out his bedroom window, and I’ll join you momentarily.”

“Ach, gut. Ya.” Berta took a deep breath, returning to her usual calm.

“Go.” Ariana pointed at Quill’s bedroom door.

They heard the front door open and the minister enter.

“Ari,” Quill whispered, “I didn’t mean—”

She covered his mouth with her hand. “Sh.”

They went into his room, and Ari closed the door. “You most certainly did mean it, every single word you didn’t say.” She picked up his leather coat and thrust it at him.

“But…”

Footfalls in the hallway caused both of them to hush. The bathroom door closed. Without another word Quill eased the window open.

The ministers could be here for hours, and Quill needed to leave while he could. She put the puppy on the rug to close the window behind him.

“She’ll use my rug,” he whispered as he stepped out the window and onto the wraparound porch.

Through the moonlit darkness, she grasped the window to close it. “Good.”