The following day, through a crack at the far edge of the loft, Róża sees Jurek poke at the mangled rabbit with a stick. At the sight of it, a frozen rusted mass, Róża heaves bile into the hay. Sweat breaks at her brow. Her womb seizes anew. Yet she focuses her eyes outside. Jurek is holding the rabbit aloft now, calling out for his father.

Henryk is there in an instant.

“If there is a fox coming around, we’ll need to reinforce the coops,” Jurek says, inspecting the carcass. “But it doesn’t make sense that a fox would leave this meat. What else might have killed it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you think Mama would want to put it in her soup?”

Henryk’s “No” comes out edged with panic.

If Krystyna inspects the scene, so close to the barn, she’ll know. When Henryk speaks again, his voice is composed. “We can’t know how long it’s been dead. It may be unsafe to eat.”

Jurek lets the rabbit drop and turns his stick to the clumps of reddened, viscid snow. “There’s more blood here than could have come from one rabbit.”

Shira, who has been slouched against the wall weaving hay into squares, sits upright at Jurek’s mention of the word “rabbit” and begins scanning the loft and lower barn. Róża puts a finger to her sour lips.

“We’ve had so little meat, I really think Mama will want—”

“What she will want is for you to finish mucking out the coop. Now. I’m going to bury this so it doesn’t attract other animals.” Henryk retrieves a shovel from the barn without a glance loftward and starts hacking at the frozen earth.

When Henryk mounts the loft that night, Róża huddles in the corner, knees to chest, as if there were something still inside her she might be able to protect.

“Krystyna will notice that a rabbit is missing. They’re to be our food.”

“I’ll say it escaped. I didn’t know what else to do—”

Henryk touches Róża’s leg. She shudders. “Don’t touch me now. Please—”

His eyes darken. He slaps the floor with his hand and bounds out of the barn, leaving Shira jolted awake and Róża cowering.

Chapter 15

Spring 1942

Shira ignores her mother’s frown and scurries down the ladder to greet Krystyna, who has entered the barn with a food pail. Shira is eager to eat, but she’s even more excited to talk to Krystyna.

“I—I saw Łukasz take his first steps—I saw through the crack!”

“Shh!” her mother hisses from the loft.

Shira funnels her voice into a whisper. “I saw him. He walked.”

“Yes! He’s sleeping now, after his big morning,” Krystyna says.

“Five whole paces!”

“Was it five?” Krystyna smiles, charmed.

“Yes—five! The grass cushioned his fall.”