"Were having an affair of some sort. I don't know when it began or how serious it was. They must have met pretty rarely, on nights Moshe Klinger was in Tel Aviv and Esther did not meet with Clapper. That was the reason the Klingers never had another immigrant stay with them. Yael Klinger did not want to risk her husband having another affair. It also explains why they moved so soon after Esther and Willie were killed. They needed a fresh start, at a place where there were no memories of Esther." I paused and scratched my right eyebrow. "So it turns out that Esther wasn't perfect after all. She had her faults like the rest of us."

"And she knew love before she died," Greta said. "It's good that she had that, at least."

"Yes, I suppose you're right."

Greta took another sip of coffee. She put down her cup and laid her hands on the table. Looking toward the café window, she said, "From all you told me, Esther was a woman worth knowing. I lived here, in Tel Aviv, in 1939. I might have seen her a dozen times. But somehow I think I never did. I can't help but think I would have remembered her if I had." She turned her head to face me. "Any news from Henrietta?"

"We spoke on the phone this morning. She's at the kibbutz. She met her son yesterday."

"And how was their meeting?"

"I didn't ask."

"Aren't you curious?"

"No. Not really."

"Why ever not?" Greta said. "That was what you were working to achieve, isn't it?"

I finished my coffee and examined the black residue at the bottom of the cup as I considered and rejected several replies. The truth was, I did not want to hear of Henrietta's happy reunion with her son because it would bring to mind the fact that I would never be reunited with my daughters. I wondered, not for the first time, why I found it so easy to talk to Greta about some things, and was utterly incapable of sharing others with her.

Finally, I said, "I'm just not. Henrietta did sound happy, that I can tell you. Ecstatic. The kibbutz has given her a room. They'll make her a new member soon if Birnbaum comes through, and I'm sure he will."

"That's good," Greta said. She paused, then said gingerly, "And Mira Roth?"