The baby finished eating, and Ans passed her to Lena so they could grow used to each other. How Lena loved the feeling of her warm, wiggling weight in her arms, the scent of her soft hair and skin, the sweet babbling sounds she made. Lena loved being a mother and missed having children this age now that Maaike was in school. Yes, she and Bep would get along splendidly.

“Elisabeth’s mother sent this photograph album,” Ans said, pulling it from the suitcase. “They wanted Elisabeth to remember who they are if anything happens to them. She wrote you this letter, Mama. And one for Elisabeth to read in the future. But you’ll need to keep the album hidden in case the Nazis search your house. The photographs will give away her Jewish identity.”

“Do you think they might search here?”

“The Gestapo has come to the town house several times. That’s why we had to find another place for the family to hide.” The baby squirmed in Lena’s arms, so she set her on the floor. She leaned against Lena’s legs as she gazed around the kitchen. Ans handed the letter from Elisabeth’s mother to Lena, and she unfolded the page to read it.

Dear Mrs. De Vries,

In giving you my daughter, I’m giving you part of my heart. For however long this war lasts, you’ll be the one who will watch her grow and teach her to skip and run and sing. You’ll brush her hair in the morning and hug her good night and dry her tears. I pray that you will love her as if she is your own daughter and that she’ll know comfort and security in your arms.

If God wills it, we will meet one day, and I will be able to thank you for protecting my little girl. If He wills otherwise, I ask that you tell her about her father and me, Avraham and Miriam Leopold, through these photographs. Tell her that her Hebrew name is Elisheva, and that it means “God’s promise.” Tell her how much we love her. And how very hard it was to let her go.

Gratefully,

Miriam Leopold

“What difficult decisions this war forces us to make,” Lena said. She wiped her eyes and slipped the letter between the pages of the album. She knew this mother’s pain and fear. Tomorrow she would have to release her own daughter. Ans would return to Leiden and put herself in danger by helping the Resistance. Until Lena held Ans in her arms again, her soul-deep fear for her wouldn’t go away. How she hated the Nazis for what they were doing to her family.

“Pieter, you’ll need to fetch Maaike’s old crib from the attic,” she told him. “Put it in our bedroom for now.”