Ans wiped her tears as a deep peace flooded through her, like the moonlight that filled the room, chasing the shadows.

CHAPTER 56

Winter arrived early, bringing bitter-cold weather. The nation’s railroads had been ordered by the exiled queen and her government to go on strike, making supplies of food and coal impossible to get. Fence posts and trees began to disappear as Lena and her desperate neighbors struggled to stay warm. The onderduikers all moved into the barn, where the heat from the animals helped keep them warm. Lena brought the girls into bed with her at night, piling on all of their blankets. The potatoes and cabbage and other food stored in her root cellar was dwindling fast, and she didn’t know what they would eat when it ran out. The rabbits she’d raised for the stewpot were as scrawny as the people eating them. The underground provided her with extra ration stamps, but the shelves in the village stores were nearly empty. It was hard not to sink into despair, but Lena knew there were always people worse off than she was. She still had milk and eggs and butter on the farm.

“Thousands of people are starving to death in the big cities,” Wolf told Lena on one of his visits. “And that’s not an exaggeration. There’s no food to be found at any price. Our countrymen are suffering more this winter than in all the months of war put together.”

Lena was washing the supper dishes one evening, with Maaike and Bep drying them, when there was a knock on the front door. No one used the front door. And she hadn’t heard a vehicle approaching. “Stay here,” she told the girls. She dried her hands on her apron and went to answer it. The knock sounded a second time before Lena reached the door, and she decided to peer through the curtains on her front window first. Three huddled figures stood on her doorstep, two of them small enough to be children. She quickly opened the door. “Come in,” she said before they could speak. “Our house is chilly but it’s warmer than outside.”

The woman, wrapped in several layers of clothing, hesitated before gently prodding the bundled children through the door. “Thank you. You’re very kind. My sons are hungry. Please . . .”

“This way,” Lena said. “It’s warmer in the kitchen.” The lamp gave enough light for her to see that the trio looked bone weary. “Have a seat. I’m Lena de Vries, and these are my daughters Maaike and Bep.”