The Winter Guest by Pam Jenoff

Author:Pam Jenoff [Jenoff, Pam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

14

Chirping birds awakened Helena, signaling a dawn that had not yet broken through the thickness of the pine trees. Sam snored lightly beside her and she slipped reluctantly from beneath the warmth of his arm without waking him. A cold hollowness settled over her immediately. She lingered, wanting to see his eyes once more. But he needed his rest. Her mind whirled back to the previous night’s kiss outside the chapel. There had been an intensity to his embrace that said he was barely able to contain himself, that he also wanted more. Should she have taken the moment further? Something had stopped her, saying that this was too big and important, and that if they crossed the line it would change everything in a way that neither of them wanted. Yet she wondered now if they had been wrong to hold back on the moment, the only one they might have.

She looked back at him once more, then stole quietly from the chapel and started for home, still thinking about their kiss. Her connection with Sam had not been imagined or one-sided. He wanted them to be together, to share a life beyond anything she had ever contemplated. But it was impossible—she could not go without Ruth.

Ruth. She shivered. Her sister did not know yet about Mama. The pain of yesterday’s events rained down upon Helena like shards of glass. Mama was dead, and their attempts to keep her safe and well had failed. Each step home was heavy as lead as she dreaded the inevitability of telling Ruth what had happened. Perhaps she should not tell her at all. Helena stopped, considering the idea. She could keep going to the city each week and maintain the pretense to spare her sister the grief—and if Ruth did not know, Helena could keep going to see Sam. But sparing Ruth little realities was one thing—the truth about Mama quite another. She could never keep something like that from her sister.

Forty minutes later, Helena emerged from the forest. Smoke puffed faintly from the chimney of the cottage below. As she neared, the mule whinnied in greeting. The usual breakfast smells wafted from beneath the doorway. Helena grasped the doorknob, then paused, imagining for a second that things might be as they always had. Once she stepped through the door, that illusion would be shattered forever.

Ruth appeared from the bedroom, carrying Karolina. “Where have you been?” she demanded as she set the child down by the fire. Ruth was wearing one of Mama’s sweaters, just weeks after forbidding Helena to take the same clothes.

From behind the house came the sound of the other children, laughing as they played. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t get back. The Germans were everywhere in the city, and I had to hide in the hospital until they were gone.” Helena cringed inwardly as her sister’s eyes narrowed, scrutinizing the explanation that was just short of a lie.

“The Germans were in the hospital?” Ruth asked, imagining horrors so far short of the truth.

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