Sergio led Batya to the bed, and she appreciated that he took charge as he stretched out and rocked, while she covered her face and let the tears flow. Why was she trying so hard to bring them if, upon arrival, they would be sorely disappointed? She was offering them in this new land merely another version of their poverty and strife, and they would be furious about her years of deception. And if they lived in San Telmo, sooner or later someone would reveal to them that Batya was no more than a lowly kurve.

“What if my father doesn’t get better?” Batya asked Sergio at last. “Will your organization still bring the rest of them, with only one healthy man, and settle them in a colony?”

Sergio patted her arm, careful not to touch her breasts, while he kicked the bedpost rhythmically. “We’ve promised to take care of them, and we’re doing it.”

“I’m grateful.” Batya sat up. “But I can’t stay here. I can’t keep doing what I have to do!”

He sat up, too. “Let’s wait until we hear about your father’s progress.”

She looked at him, and a rush of suspicion that he needed her here to spy—his prime concern, not her well-being—filled her head. He didn’t care that she had to prostitute. She had known all along not to trust promises. “I told you, no more,” she finally said, heat of anger rising in her. “I have another offer and I’m taking it.”

“What kind of an offer?”

“I’ll be gone tomorrow or the day after.”

He pointed at the letter resting on the dresser. “I’ve held up my part of the deal.”

“And I mine.” Batya bit her lip, thinking of the ring. Dear Ulmann. He would speak with Moskowitz in the morning. “Send me to one of your villages immediately. When my family arrives, they’ll join me.”

Sergio let out a deep breath, but stared at the ceiling as if the answer were written on it.

“Well?” she demanded. “You need me in Buenos Aires to steal more documents?”

He sighed, then gave the bedpost a series of kicks. “Your family’s delay complicates things. I can’t send you to one of the colonies.”

“Why not?”

“A woman alone? There are some young families there, but the majority of settlers are men.”

“I can work the land as hard as any man. Just give me a chance.”