Out of Darkness by Ruth Price

"Most people would have assumed Dutch, I suppose because the Englischers have named Lancaster Pennsylvania Dutch Country for the tourists."
    "Thank you," Sofia pushed a stray hair back behind her ear. "You're all so kind. I hope I can pay you back someday for all the help you've given me."
    "Helping your fellow man is (proscribed) in the Ordnung and a tenant of the Bible as well. There's no need to thank us."
    "Yes, Abram is the picture of a proper Amish man," Samuel cut in. "He's to be admired." Samuel's words and expression seemed kindly meant, but something in the steadiness of his gaze made Abram doubt his sincerity. Foolish man, Abram chastised himself again. Abram was acting like a smeeli himself, a youth just turned sixteen instead of a man. How could Abram allow himself to become jealous of a child's flirtations with a stranger who was leaving them in less than a quarter hour? Samuel couldn't help his good looks and facile way of speaking anymore than Abram could the power and range of his voice. A man was given talents to use for the glory of God. So long as he did not use those talents to place himself above his fellow man, or succumb to the mirror sins of pride and envy, only good could come of it. Abram needed deeper prayer, perhaps a conversation with the (Bishop) about this corruption that threatened to make inroads on his soul.
    "No matter how we try, labor, it is easy to fall from grace," Abram said seriously. "So, have you settled on a particular woman to court?"
    "I don't want to get ahead of myself," Samuel said. "I have prayed long and hard, but the Lord has not yet seen fit to let His will be known to me. Or perhaps I don't yet know how to properly listen. How did you know?"
    "Excuse me?" Abram's immediate reaction was white hot anger, immediately quelled in shame. He had been drawn to Rebekah from their first conversation, him in Philadelphia for his band, and her at the Reading Terminal market selling baked goods. Though they'd both been born and raised in Lancaster, she'd been clear on the other side of the district, and if their paths had crossed prior to that meeting, it had made no impression on either of them. She had been only seventeen, him twenty two, and they'd been baptized and married a year later. He often questioned the speed of their courtship, if it would not have been better for her to have had a better taste of the world, not that she'd wanted it. Rebekah had been content with their farm and their life. So had he, until the end.
    Sofia laid a soft hand on his. "Are you okay? You don't have to answer. It can't be easy for you."
    "I knew from our second conversation, and suspected from our first. At that time, God whispered so easily in my life."
    A knock sounded at the front door. It could only be the police officer, Abram thought, here to take Sofia away. "Don't worry about the clothes," Abram said. "Take them as a gift to remember your time here."
    "Thank you," Sofia said, her voice thick.
    Ruth stood and ran to the door. "One moment!"
    The angle of the room to the hall meant that even as close to the room's entrance as Abram was, he could only catch a partial outline of the officer's frame. He could hear well enough, as the ambient conversation in the room silenced, all listening while pretending they weren't actively eavesdropping  as Ruth greeted the officer. The officer had a distinctive accent, as though he'd lived in a different part of the country before coming to Pennsylvania.
    Sofia's grip on Abram's hand tightened, squeezing painfully.
    When Abram turned his attention to her, Sofia's face had lost all color, and she was hunched over herself protectively. Abram whispered, "What's wrong?"
    Sofia was shaking, her entire body; never had Abram seen someone so afraid.
    Ruth yelled, "Officer Maglioine says he's here for the Englischer. Where is she?"
    "No. Please no," Sofia whispered.
    "Take Sofia through the back hall to the kitchen and out the back. She can stay at your place for