They watched the house for a few silent seconds.

"I'm going in with you," Joel finally said. "But turn on the phone just in case."

Three.

Joel looped the reins around the mailbox at the curb. Staying in the shadow of the house, Annie led the way up the driveway and around the back of the house.

"How do you think they got in?" Joel's whisper might as well have been a megaphone.

Annie put a finger to her lips and stepped onto the small porch outside her back door. With one hand still gripping her cell phone, she slowly lowered the handle on the screen door. Ready to wince if the contrary spring at the top betrayed them, she opened the door inch by inch and slipped into the opening. Joel was right behind her when she tested the knob on the main door. She was sure she had locked it when she left, but it turned easily now.

Inside, her fingers found the edge of the counter and she felt her way along it across the small dark kitchen. A shadow crossed the light seeping around the edges of the swinging door between the kitchen and dining room. Someone was definitely on the other side-and moving around.

"I can't see anything." Joel's feet dragged on the floor.

"Put your hand on my shoulder. Watch out for the trash-"

But Annie's hushed warning was too late. Joel stumbled and sent the metal can clanging across the floor. She halted and froze. Joel's tumbling weight against her back nearly knocked her over.

The door from the dining room opened. "Annie, is that you?"

The air went out of Annie so fast she almost whistled like a balloon. "Mom!"

Annie reached for the small propane lamp she knew was at the end of the counter and turned the switch. Her father now stood behind her mother in the doorway. Myra Friesen looked from her daughter to the young man behind her.

"This is Joel," Annie said. "Rufus's brother. Joel, these are my parents, Myra and Brad Friesen."

"Hello, Joel," Myra said.

"It's nice to meet you." Joel nudged Annie. "Everything's okay, ya?"

She nodded. Whatever brought her parents to her home without prior arrangement was nothing she needed Joel for. "Thank you for seeing me in."

"I'll leave the bike on the side of the house."

"Danki." Thank you.

The screen door slammed behind him, and Annie closed the solid inner door. Then she righted the trash can, grateful she chose the covered model when she outfitted her kitchen.

Myra glanced around the kitchen. "You've done a nice job making something of this room...with its limitations."

"Thank you. Mom, what's going on? How did you even get in?"

"You've got a tree in the backyard just like the one at home. It even has the same low branch-good for climbing. It was simple enough to think you'd hide a key there like we do at home."

"Busted. Where did you stash your car?" If she had seen their sedan, she might have spared a few extra heartbeats moments ago.

Myra set the house key on the counter. "We figured your garage was empty, considering your car is in our garage at home."

Home. Was her mother going to work that word into every sentence? Annie let the comment pass and instead gestured to the dining room. "Why don't I make some coffee and you can tell me why you're here?"

Along with the coffee, Annie produced half a chocolate cake. They sat at the oval table up against the window in the dining room.

"Mmm. Delicious!" Myra jabbed her fork in for a second bite of cake. "Is this from a bakery in town?"

"No. I made it."

"You made this? You never used to like to bake."

"I'm trying a lot of new things these days." Annie nudged a small pitcher of cream toward her dad, who she knew would want a generous portion.

"Well, I miss some of your old habits." Myra licked chocolate off her top lip. "Like calling your mother."

"I call you every Saturday and we yak the charge out of my phone." Annie twirled her fork, balancing a piece of cake. "I would have called you tomorrow like always." So why were they here?

Brad cleared his throat. "We're here on a special mission."

"Which is?"

"Penny is coming home." Myra looked at Annie hopefully.

Annie had not seen her sister in almost a year and a half. Though Annie had gone to Colorado Springs for Christmas, at the last minute Penny had to cancel her flight from Seattle and missed the holiday.

"When does she arrive?"

"Tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow!" Annie set her mug down. "Why didn't we find out sooner?"

"We found out last Saturday. She called right after I got off the phone with you. I meant to send you a note, but I never got to it. I'm just not used to communicating the old-fashioned way, I guess."

Annie wondered how many times she and her mother would have to go around this loop.

"I wanted to leave a message on your phone," Myra said, "but you have all these rules about what is a true emergency."

"It seemed the simplest thing to drive out here," Brad said.

"I'm sorry I wasn't home." Annie reached for the pot and warmed up her coffee.

"We can take you back with us in the morning," Myra said.

"You're staying the night?"

"Certainly. Not here, of course. We've already checked in at Mo's."

Annie nodded. Mo's motel. Where they had electricity. And complimentary Wi-Fi.

"I'm sure you'll be comfortable there." She paused. "I'm not sure about going back with you, though."

Myra's fork hit the bare plate. "But you have to. I told you. Penny's coming. It's hard for her to get away."

"It might be hard for me to get away on short notice, too, Mom."

"But Penny's only going to be here for a few days. She's coming all the way from Seattle. Can't you come seventy-five miles? I'd like to have You both home at the same time."

"I know, Mom. I'm not sure about tomorrow, that's all. I'll have to figure out my work schedule."

Myra waved a hand. "You don't even need that job."

"I need work for reasons other than money."

"If you need something," Brad said, "you let me know."

"Don't be silly, Brad." Myra pushed her empty plate away. "She has more money than you and I can ever dream of."

Annie groaned. "Mom, we've been through this. I only have what I made when I sold my condo. I have to be careful. It has to last me indefinitely. All the profits from the sale of the business went into a charity foundation. I can't touch it."

"Your compassionate humanitarianism is admirable, but why you left yourself in need, I'll never understand."

"I'm not in need," Annie said. "I'm just living more simply, and it's good to have work."

"But in an antiques store? Why don't the Amish rules let you make money with what you know how to do-technology?"

"This is what I want, Mom. You have to accept it."

"But they put such value on family. We're your family. Surely They would want you to see your sister."

"I do want to see Penny." Annie missed her sister, who had not written so much as a thank-you note in at least five years. They used to communicate by texting most of the time. Annie had written two letters explaining the changes in her life, but she heard Penny's reaction only through their mother on the phone. "How long will she be here?"

"Just until Thursday. It's a short visit. You must come home."

"Please come," Brad said. "We can have dinner together a few times and catch up."

As determined as Annie had been over the winter to live without electricity and a car, and to learn to cook her own food instead of ordering takeout every night, she would be lying if she said she did not miss her family. But Mrs. Weichert was counting on her to look after the shop in the morning, and Franey Beiler was expecting her tomorrow afternoon.

"I'll figure something out." Annie's eyes suddenly ached to close, and she clamped her jaw against the urge to yawn.

Brad stood up and started stacking dishes, a habit Annie had always admired in her father. If she did not stop him, he would take the dishes into the kitchen and insist on washing them.

"That's a beautiful shelf." Brad glanced at a white oak shelf fixed to the wall beside the dining room window.

"Thank you. Rufus made it."

Brad inspected the carved pattern along the front ledge. "He's quite skilled."

"I know." Pride flushed through Annie, and she reminded herself. Humility, humility, humility.

"And these books?" her father asked. A dozen or so volumes in various colors and thicknesses populated the shelf.

"Various genealogy books," Annie said. "Several have come from Amish families, but the rest have come through the antiques shop. Mrs. Weichert doesn't mind if I take them."

"Are they all about the Beilers?"

Annie shook her head. "Most of them are not. I've gotten interested in the whole idea of tracing the generations back in any family."

Brad pulled a slim black binder off the shelf and opened it. "Is this the book you found in our basement?"

"Yep. That's your Byler roots, going all the way back to Jakob Beyeler in 1737."

"I thought it had a spiral binding," Myra said.

"I figured it would hold up better in a notebook with page protectors."

"That's a nice thought."

"That red volume is all about the Bylers of North Carolina."

"Are we related?"

"I'm pretty sure. I'd like to spend more time studying the family lines than I have."

Brad chuckled. "I'll let you give me the abbreviated version, but I admit I find it fascinating that my mother's family may be related to the very people you've become so attached to here."

"Me, too." Annie covered a yawn. "Sorry."

"We're all tired." Myra stood and picked up the coffeepot and creamer. She disappeared into the kitchen, still talking. "We'll pick you up for breakfast. Not too early, though. How about eight thirty?"

"Sorry, Mom. Mrs. Weichert is going to an estate sale in the morning. I have to be in the shop."

"Will it matter if you're late? How many customers do you get, anyway?"

Annie had to admit traffic was slow most days, but Saturday was likely to bring weekend lookers. "I promised her, Mom. She's counting on me."

"Well all right, then. We can have lunch in that quaint bakery down the street before we head back to town."

"Let's figure that out tomorrow." Annie stifled another yawn.

"Will you have your phone on?" Myra looked as if she already knew the answer.

Annie wondered why her mother insisted on pressing the question. "I'm sure I can get a message to you at Mo's. I'll use the phone in the shop."