Simple Faith by Anna Schmidt

Author:Anna Schmidt [SCHMIDT, ANNA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-62836-978-6
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2014-12-26T16:00:00+00:00

Anja held her shivering son close to her, trying to warm him with her body. She was so tired of being worried, so exhausted by the constant fear, and so very lonely. She was unaware that she was crying until she felt the tears hit her bare hands and looked up, expecting it to be raining. She missed her grandparents and wondered if she would ever see them again. She missed Josef and especially Lisbeth. And she missed Peter more than she was willing to admit. His smile, his eyes that twinkled with mischief whenever he teased her, and yes, his kiss.

When Benjamin was killed, she had thought she could never love again. And repeatedly as her feelings for Peter blossomed, she told herself that it was the crushing isolation of her life without Benjamin that drew her to the American. But it was more—much more—and she knew it. The love she felt for him was a fantasy and would in the end become just one more casualty of this ghastly war.

“Mama?” Daniel’s voice was a whisper, as if just forming the word cost him too much effort.

“Almost there,” she said and glanced up at Mikel for confirmation. When he nodded, she added, “Soon. Very soon now.”

After several minutes that passed like hours, Mikel guided the little boat to a patch of open beach, jumped into water that covered his feet, and pulled them ashore. He held out his hand to her.

“Take Daniel,” she said. “I can manage.”

“I’ll carry Daniel after you get out. Stop giving me orders.” He sounded irritable, and his eyes were bloodshot with dark circles ringing them. The man was exhausted, and instead of arguing with him, she stepped ashore and waited for him to lift Daniel in his arms and lead the way up the bank to a path that ran along the river. Once again it was raining, but she could see a steeple in the distance and knew that Mikel was using that as his guide as he trudged ahead of her.

She focused all of her thoughts on putting one foot in front of the other and praying that they would find shelter and perhaps some food and most of all medicine for Daniel. Then she could care for Mikel and Daniel. She thought of making them soup and wrapping them in layers of blankets to stop their shivering. She thought of a fire and remembered again the night she and the children had been taken in by Lisbeth. She could practically smell their damp wool coats drying next to the kitchen stove and the eggs that Lisbeth cooked for them.

Mikel stopped on the path ahead of her, and she was so lost in prayer and memory that she nearly ran into him. He motioned for her to be quiet. Beyond the trees that lined the path, she saw a military convoy of trucks coming their way—German, of course. She pressed closer to a large tree, waiting for them to pass, hoping that they would not slow or stop, that they had not seen Mikel carrying Daniel.

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