Irena pressed her mouth into a thin line. “A soldier who caught me during curfew. The son of a bitch said he wouldn’t arrest me on one condition, but I didn’t get to choose whether or not I accepted his terms. I would have chosen arrest.” She removed her blouse and continued with a halfhearted laugh. “Some fights you just can’t win, even if you fight like hell. As you can see, that was almost nine months ago, then I was caught taking a Jewish girl to live with a Catholic family outside Warsaw.” She paused and folded the blouse with meticulous care. “Someone informed on us. Once I’d dropped the girl off, the Gestapo arrested me outside the house, locked everyone inside, and set fire to it. After making sure no one survived, they took me to Pawiak. Interrogation almost sent me into labor, but my little one is as much of a fighter as I am, so here we are.”

I didn’t know what I expected the explanation behind her pregnancy or arrest to be, but that wasn’t it, and it was too appalling to process. Nothing I said could take away what she’d endured, so I asked the next question on my mind. “Your mother?”

As she stepped out of her skirt, a shadow crossed over her face, nearly broke her, before she swallowed hard. “Mama was fine a few weeks ago, but she’ll know I’ve been caught by now, so I can’t imagine how she’s coping. Your family?” My expression must have given away the answer. She opened her mouth, then closed it.

Irena removed her undergarments and handed her clothing to me, and I added her belongings to the growing pile I’d created on the floor. The bruises covering her body took me back to my own time in Pawiak. Grief and anger tightened in my chest. The Gestapo had tortured a pregnant woman.

She washed her face and hands in the sink and started to exit the room, but she paused in the doorway. She placed both hands on her stomach now that it was exposed.

“They’re going to kill me, aren’t they?”

She knew the answer, I could see it in her eyes, but she had to hear it from me. I couldn’t tell her the truth, how could I possibly tell her the truth—but she deserved the truth, and I wouldn’t lie to her. I didn’t trust my voice, so I nodded.