Page 83 of Winter’s End

No more than a kilometer from the shore, Evi was certain she saw it – the yellow siding, the dark roof, the old barge bobbing in the restless sea.

Mila pulled to side of the road. “Yes, I see it…Oh, Evi, I am so deeply sorry.”

Evi gazed out to sea.

“Evi, how did it happen?” Zoe’s voice was gentle. “And where did the baby come from?”

Evi sighed. “Mam took supplies to some Jewish refugees who are in hiding in the caves near Limburg,” she managed. “She brought back a baby…a tiny baby whose mother was dead. He needed to be seen by a doctor…”

She looked again out to sea. “We were on our way to Middleburg, where other volunteers could try to move him across the border to an aunt in Belgium, when the e-boat – when the Germans drew up alongside us…”

She paused, recalling her mother’s frantic shout.

“I did not see the e-boat approach,” she said. “I was in the hold, tending to the baby, but I could feel we were abruptly changing course. I came above to see what was happening, and as we scraped up against a rocky bit of coastline, Mam screamed at me to jump ashore.

The long silence was thick with grief.

Evi buried her face in her hands, in her mind’s eye images of Mam and baby Jacob, forever lost at sea…

ZOE

They were nearly back to Haarlem before Zoe could bring herself to ask the question.

“Evi,” she said softly. “With the barge lost at sea, you will need to decide where you would like to stay the night…”

Mila was quick to jump in. “I am certain our volunteers will make every effort to retrieve the barge and bring it back to its berth,” she said. “Until then, I am quite sure my family would welcome you to stay with us.”

“Or you can stay with me,” said Zoe. “My apartment is small, but I would be glad for your company.”

She felt, rather than saw, the hesitation in Evi’s face. But when at last the girl spoke from the back seat, her voice was firm.

“Thank you…thank you both,” she said. “You are dear and very good friends. But I have another idea. There is a farm on the outskirts of the city…it is not far, Mila, from the tavern where we planned my first mission…”

Evi paused. “The farm belongs to a family called Beekhof. That is where I would like to go.”

Zoe glanced at Mila. “Beekhof…I do not know of them. Are they friends of your family?”

“Not exactly,” Evi said.

Again, a sidelong glance at Mila. “Well, then, how do you know them?”

A long silence, as though Evi was deciding what to say next. At length, she leaned forward in her seat.

“They American airman who came to my rescue that night, Mila. Do you remember?”

“Ja,of course…”.”

“The Beekhof family has been hiding him on their farm since his parachute landed in their field,” Evi said. “They helped him to heal his injuries. They are fine people. They even found false identification papers for him…”

Zoe looked at her. “How do you know all this, Evi?”

Silence.

“Evi?”

Another hesitation. “I have – spent a few afternoons on their land,” she blurted. “Jacob has been teaching me to shoot.”

“Jacob?”