“IsaidI would do it for you, Mama.”

“And let them think I can’t take care of a simple afternoon tea?” Magda glared at Rina. “I’m old, but I have pride.”

“I know, Mama. And it’s good you baked. You’re a much better baker than I am.”

“Ach… nonsense!” She waved her hand in the air. “You are an excellent baker!”

“Yes, I am, but I’m still not as good as you.”

Decker smiled inwardly. His wife was saying all the right things. He decided to help her out. “I really like what you’re wearing, Magda.”

She looked at Decker and brushed her hand over a St. John Knits blue suit with white trim. “This old thing?”

“It’s very complimentary to your figure,” Decker told her. “Plus, the color enhances your eyes. You should take your daughter shopping.”

That got a smile.

“You wouldn’t say that if you saw the price tag,” Rina told him.

“You look lovely as well,” Decker said. “I like you in red.”

Rina laughed. “Aren’t you full of lightness and cheer. Thank you, darling, I’m glad you like the way I look.”

“The dress is too long on you, Ginny.”

“Don’t start, Mama.”

“Let her start,” Decker piped in. “Bugging you is taking her mind off her anxiety.”

Both women laughed.

“I’ll get you some tea, Akiva?”

It was a good sign when Magda used his Hebrew name. Decker answered, “That would be great.”

“And a little sandwich, too?”

“No, I’d rather not mess up your artistic presentation.”

“I have extra in the kitchen.”

“That I’ll take. I have a quick question for you.”

“What?” Magda asked.

“You are playing host to two women in their eighties, two very skinny women. What in the world are you going to do with all the leftover food?”

“A little they’ll take home, some you take home. The boys will eat it all in one sitting.”

That was true.

Magda fussed with her clothes. “I get you tea and sandwiches. What kind?”

“Egg is fine.”

“Maybe a little tuna? I give you a little of this and that.”

“Perfect, Magda.”

She went into the kitchen.

Rina said, “Since when did you become the charmer?”

“She’s right. We should have gone to her first. We did put her in a bind.”

“She could have said no.”

“No, not really. It would have made her seem bitter or unfriendly or scared. You know your mother. Image is all.” Decker smiled. “I do like the red dress. I was being honest.”

“Thank you.” She ran her hands down the sides. “You think it’s too long?”

“I didn’t say it in front of her. But as long as you asked, you could easily take it up a couple of inches and still be fine.”

Rina crossed her arms over her chest. “Fine. I’ll take it up.”

“I’m not saying youhaveto take it up-”

“Why are we having this inane conversation?”

“Because you’re nervous? To pass the time until the ladies get here? To fill in dead space?”

“Very funny.”

“Rina, this whole thing was your idea. Don’t drag me into an argument.”

“I did it for my mother.”

Decker didn’t answer.

“I really did,” she said with emphasis.

“I’m not arguing with you.”

“I just wanted some… some piece of her childhood that wasn’t marred by tragedy and death! Someclosurefor her.”

“I know that your heart was in the right place. But you know what they say about the road to hell.”

“I really don’t need to hear this! I think I’ll wait outside.”

“Rina-”

“No, I really think I need to wait outside!”

“Fine. See you later.”

In a huff, Rina left and Decker sat in a room devoid of female chatter. He loved women, but sometimes he needed to hear voices in the baritone range.

Or better still, no voices at all.

Magda returned, carrying a dessert plate that had a special indentation to hold a teacup. She served him the dish along with a cloth napkin. “Where is Ginny?”

“Outside.”

“They’rehere?”

“No, I think she’s just-”

“Why does she wait outside? It makes me look like I’m too anxious.”

“I think she’s a little anxious, too.”

Magda made a face. “What does she have to be anxious about? It isn’t her life.”

“No, that’s true,” Decker said. “But you are her mother and she wants it to go right for you.”

Magda exhaled. “Then she should have come to me first!”

“You’re right.”

Again the old woman exhaled. “I am still her mother. She is still my daughter. I go out and calm her down.”

“You’re a good woman,” Decker said.

“If you say that after this tea, then I believe you.”

Magda went outside.

Again Decker reveled in silence. He felt his eyes close, his mind turning slow and fuzzy. He had almost drifted off to sleep when a slamming car door made him snap to. Still sleepy, he almost stood up, nearly knocking his sandwich plate off his lap. But he remembered at the last moment and recovered the food before it became abstract art on Magda’s Aubusson rug. He placed the plate on one of the end tables and peeked out the window.

The driver was opening the door.

Anika came out first, dressed in a white blouse and green linen A-line skirt. Marta followed wearing a yellow cotton suit. Both of the women had donned jaunty little summer hats over their gray locks. Decker couldn’t hear words, but he certainly heard the screams.

Magda and Marta fell into an unplanned, unrehearsed embrace, both of them falling on one another’s shoulders and sobbing their little eighty-plus-year-old hearts out. In a speck of time, a lifetime of intervening memories flew out the window as two little schoolgirls hugged and laughed and cried and strolled arm in arm up the walkway to the house. Rina had placed her arm around Anika, who looked a bit uncomfortable with her sister’s display of emotion.

They came through the door like chirping magpies.

“Ach,this is beautiful, Marta,” Marta Wallek told Magda. “Sehr schön!”

Rina said, “Ladies, you remember my husband, Lieutenant Decker?”

“Bestimmt…certainly. It is a pleasure to see you once again.” Marta smiled, still holding Magda’s arm. “Oh, this is so lovely! You were always such thekünstlerin…the artist.”

“Me?”

“Don’t you remember how you draw pictures for everyone in theschule? ‘Die modedesignerin.’” Marta turned to Rina. “We call her ‘the Dress Designer.’ In art time, she draws amazing dresses.”

“Oh, that!” Magda waved her hand. “That is because of my mother. She designedbeautifuldresses.”

“And you draw them all!” Marta said, laughing.

Magda beamed. “Come. You must be hungry.”

“I wouldn’t mind,” Anika piped in. “It was a long ride.”

“Not so long,” Marta argued.

“Not so bad until the freeway. Then it was very long.”

“Rush-hour traffic,” Rina said.

“Ach,” Magda exclaimed. “I should have thought of that.”

“It was nothing,” Marta answered. “We rode in an air-conditioned car.” To her sister: “You were sleeping.”

“Just thinking with my closed eyes.”

“You were sleeping. I hear you snore.”

Decker interjected, “You know, I’m flagging a bit. Let’s eat.”

“This way,” Magda said. She glanced over her shoulder and caught Ginny’s joyous face, an expression that bespoke gratitude that things were going well for her mother. Despite her misgivings, Magda knew that Ginny had accomplished something extraordinary, giving Magda a tiny bit of solace from a time when fear and evil had been her constant companions. With wet eyes, she smiled at her daughter and mouthed the words “Thank you.”