Sitting on her side of the bed, Lovina sewed a button on Isaac’s shirt. The kerosene lamp burned bright. He was next to her, restless and looking through his Bible for answers. Even though it was a Friday night, their offspring were home and getting ready for bed. The café opened early, although that didn’t explain why Ariana and Rudy weren’t out tonight. Lovina glanced at her husband, praying a conversation could open between them.

Isaac tapped the open Bible. “It clearly says that we need to submit to the authority over us. And the bishop and other ministers feel strongly that we’ve done the right thing by applying pressure about her phone and keeping her here instead of allowing her to go to the café.”

Her fingers trembled as she worked the needle through the hole in the button. She wanted to stand up and scream how wrong she thought he was. “The bishop doesn’t have to live with the fallout, does he?”

“What do you mean?”

“Umpteen years ago the bishop told you it was God’s will for disease to take so many head of cattle that we couldn’t make ends meet. When his son lost cattle five years ago, he said it was God’s will that people pull together and give him more than he had before the disease struck.”

“Lovina, tread lightly.”

“There are many good bishops among the Amish. Most, even. But this one makes decrees that aren’t fair, maybe because he doesn’t have to live with the fallout. But we do. You and Ariana were as tight as any Daed and daughter I’ve ever known. There was a special bond, no?”

“I thought so.”

“Will the bishop lose anything by demanding she give up what he would never demand his own children to give up?”

“His two oldest have phones for business, but we don’t know that the others do.”

“We know. We saw it on the bishop’s face when Mark offered to gather all the cell phones in the community.”

“There is no proof, Lovina.” Rubbing his whiskers, he closed his eyes. “It’s not enough that Ariana has defied me to my face? You are against me too?”

“When I was unbearably distressed about my negligence concerning the girls and then rushing to make them switch places, you comforted and encouraged and forgave me. I want to be there for you in that same way. But my mistakes had already happened. We are in the middle of this, and perhaps we could change the course of things if we talk honestly before more horrid mistakes are made.”

“Then talk.”

“When Ariana returned, I think maybe you weren’t braced for all the weird, overwhelming feelings that were a part of adjusting to her being so different, to her having a mom and dad out there that she also listens to. It’s like we were in a carriage going downhill too fast, and when we ran off the road, we overcorrected the horse’s movements. And now we could lose all control if we don’t relax the reins.”

Isaac fidgeted with the thin pages of his Bible. “Ya, I fear the same.”

Lovina was grateful to know he was rethinking his position. He’d been so quiet about everything since Ariana returned. She stuck the needle into the shirt and reached out to hold his hand. “Your goal concerning her is God centered, but it’s not working. Actually, it may be working in reverse. She’s calmly accepted her lot in not going to the café, as if she’s settled in, ready to wait you out. She clearly met Quill privately somewhere before he arrived here asking to speak with her.”

“Am I to free her to have contact with her godless parents and whoever else she met while draus in da Welt?”

“She is free. Out of love and respect for you, she’s staying where you’ve told her. She hasn’t moved in with Berta. She’s not going to her café. But she’s an adult. She has money and regular income. She has two Englisch parents who would welcome her back. She has a biological dad and could easily say, ‘God has made him my head, not you.’ But she hasn’t. Not yet.”

He pulled free of Lovina’s hand and clutched his head. “We sent her out there. And then I held her accountable for getting the dust of the world on her feet. But I thought with a bit of pressure from me, she would shake it off, as Jesus said to.”

“This world you refer to is her family. She returned to us, ready to be true to a life she wasn’t born into, but that wasn’t enough. Why?”

“I thought it was my duty to bring her back in line. Still do.”

“Something’s not right about how well she’s accepted your refusal to let her go to the café, and that scares me. Ariana said she and Brandi had gone to lots of cafés while she was with them. They gathered recipes and practiced them in Brandi’s kitchen, all in preparation for Ariana coming home to her café. You take it from her, and she hardly says a word?”

Isaac nodded. “I’m aware.”

“Are you? When Quill learned she might not be our biological child, he said nothing to her about it, but he did reach out to her to help her buy the café. I’ve pondered this, and I’m convinced that his goal was twofold: to give her a constant source of encouragement when she was on the outside and to give her an anchor to this community. And you’ve taken it.”

“How do you know this?”

“How do you not?”

“What happened to our family, Lovina? Last summer Ariana loved me. She went out of her way to talk with me, and what I said and wanted mattered.”

“That’s gone, Isaac, just as her loving me as her only Mamm is gone. But we don’t have to lose her more than we already have. There’s still time to change the direction things are going in. Let her go to her café. Help her get approval to use the phone as part of her business. The ministers aren’t likely to give it, but your word matters in our community. You have the power to help her regain her reputation as an obedient, sweet girl before more damage is done than can be undone.”

“How can I? The phone was a symptom of a greater issue. I knew it was. It’s why I did everything in my power to get her to let it go. As you said, she met with Quill in secret, and then he came here and refused to leave until I let him talk to her. She’d turned her phone off for about a week, but yesterday I stumbled on her in the barn with the phone in her hand. She looked right at me, said she was texting Nicholas, and then she tucked the phone in her coat pocket.”

Someone knocked on the door. “Kumm,” Isaac said.

Ariana poked her head in. “I need to tell you something.”

“Tomorrow night, okay?” Isaac asked.

Lovina couldn’t believe Isaac was shutting the door on Ariana’s offer to talk. Was he that wrung out and tired?

“I won’t be here tomorrow night.”

Lovina’s heart pounded. “Why?”

Ariana stepped inside, closed the door, and began talking about helping Quill get a woman and her children to safety. Lovina tried to follow what she was saying, but alarms were ringing in her head.

“You will not leave this house tomorrow.” Isaac pointed at her, talking in a way he’d never done before.

“A woman needs help, and Quill needs help. If I stay here, she could be killed by someone I could help her get away from.”

Isaac pressed his index finger on the Bible. “It is forbidden for anyone in good standing with the church to accept a ride from someone who’s left.”

Lovina cringed as memories of their being in the car with Quill returned, and their hypocrisy reared its ugly head again.

“Daed, that’s not in the Bible. Nothing even close to that is in the Bible. That’s from the Ordnung. Man decided that was important because it helps hold our society together. What is in the Word is not to withhold good from those to whom it is due if it is in your power to do it.” She glanced at his Bible. “I believe this woman is past due for someone to do good for her, and I also believe it is in my hand to help.”

“You believe it? Why? Is it in the Bible?”

“More so than the belief that I’m forbidden to ride in a vehicle with someone who’s left the Amish. The Bible says the same anointing that was in Christ is in you and teaches you all things about truth and it is no lie.”

“Ariana,” Isaac gasped, “that is the bishop’s place.”

“And yours and Mamm’s and mine. I believe I’m supposed to be there. Maybe I’m wrong. But it’ll be a fresh wrong from trying to follow God’s leading, not a stale wrong from old lines held up as if they were God’s Word. That’s all I know.”

“Do you realize the bridges you’re burning?”

“None, I hope.” Ariana’s face seemed to reflect that she understood the gravity of her plans. “It would be helpful and possibly safer if this news didn’t leave this room. Rudy knows and now you.”

Lovina had known for weeks that something was up. “Ari, honey, why even tell us?”

“I know I could have told you I was spending the night with one of my siblings and asked them to cover for me, but I don’t want to deceive you. It’s not my intention to disrespect you in any way. What I’m doing may be against the Ordnung, but it’s not against God. I see no justification for me needing to tell the bishop, but you will have to follow your conscience on the matter. I’ll leave here tomorrow around ten, and I’ll be back Sunday morning before church.”

Isaac got out of bed and put on his housecoat. “You can’t stay out all night with any man, especially Quill.”

“I won’t. I’ll drop off him, the woman, and her children at an airport, and I’ll drive back to Nicholas’s.”

Isaac looked frozen, as if he weren’t even breathing.

“Daed, it’s a good thing to help this woman. My plans are not against God’s Word. If I need to go against my conscience in order to be in good standing with the church, something is wrong.” Ariana blew them kisses, the way she used to do when she was a little girl. Then she left.

Lovina went to her husband and shook his shoulder. “Breathe.”

He inhaled sharply. “I…I was so sure she was infected with the ways of the world. What are we doing, Lovina? Me? The ministers? Her unbelieving Englisch dad will help her follow what she believes is God’s leading while we fight her over disobediences that aren’t mentioned in the Word?”

Her husband had a good point, maybe the most important point. But it was often odd what two people in the same room heard. Lovina’s heart trembled at the thought of Ariana and Quill working together, being alone together, and aiming for a common goal.