Eva's Baby

The Allied bombs were coming so fast, it was impossible to tell one from the next, or even how close to her they were falling. The best Hilda could do was to gage their closeness by the amount of debris that pelted her front door. The tiny room was cold, a previous bomb on a previous day had knocked a fist-sized hole in the one window she had, and the German winter winds that raged outside took the cavity as an invitation to come inside and warm itself. She pulled her shawl tighter around herself and knew she was better off than some, and was grateful. Grateful; for the leaky, collapsing roof over her head, for the threadbare shawl around her shoulders, for her only furniture, the cot and tattered blanket, that had been thin when it was new. She was alive, and that was better off than some.

Fierce knocking, loud and persistent came from the front door, and was almost lost amid the chaos and noise of the war raining down outside. Hilda pulled her shawl higher around her shoulders, and clutched it closed at her throat. Opening the door just an inch, she peered through the opening, and seeing the instigator of the banging, instantly threw the door wide open, and stepped back, allowing her visitor entry.

"Eva!" she said astonished, "what ." the rest of her question was drowned out by a bomb blast a few hundred yards from the open door. Instinctively, both women ducked, the visitor, Eva, using her upper body to cover the bundle of blankets she cradled in her arms. Hilda pushed the door closed against the wind and pressed her back up against it, arms spread out, as if she were afraid the war and the winter were about to break it down.

"I had no where else, Hilda." Eva moaned and looked down at the bundle in her arms. While cradling it in one arm, she reached up with her other hand, lifting the top blanket, revealing the face of the swathed baby. He stared up at his mother, his deep brown eyes full of all the innocence the world had so recently lost. Eva tickled his chin with her index finger, and caressed his cheek for a moment before she looked up to meet her friend's eyes. Eva recognized the worry in them immediately. "Don't worry, I wasn't followed, no one even knows we're gone."

Hilda relaxed just a little upon hearing that and pried herself off the door. She took a hesitant step toward Eva and the baby, still unsure. "Is that ." her question broke off unfinished.

"Yes. This is my son." Eva answered. "His son." She moved the blanket back, revealing the infants mostly baldhead. Hilda stepped in closer, peering down into the blankets. The baby caught site of her and turned his head toward her, staring. He hadn't seen many people in his short life, and he seemed always fascinated by the discovery of a new face. Eva looked down at her son; watching him closely, then back up at her friend. "Want to hold him?"

Hilda smiled tentatively, "Could I?"

Eva smiled back, and again looked down at her son. She tickled him again, getting his attention. He turned his head back to her; his eyes watched his mothers fingers as they again reached for his cheek. Eva pulled him up to her face, kissed him lightly on the forehead, and then handed him over to Hilda.

Hilda watched Eva, and her confusion was quickly gone as soon as the baby was in her arms. "Oh, Eva! He's beautiful!"

Eva smiled again, a small, sad smile. "He's very comfortable with you." She observed.

"Yes, I think he is." Hilda sounded a bit surprised.

"I'm glad the two of you like each other." Eva said, the sadness in her smile creping into her voice. "Because." she paused, feeling her heart tear. "Because he has to stay here, with you."

Hilda looked up, her mouth and eyes wide open. "What?"

"Hilda, he'll be killed if he stays with us, you know that's true. Here, he will at least have a chance."

"Yes, but."

"Please, Hilda. He'll die if he's with me." She was pleading.

Another bomb blast threw shards of steel and glass debris against the door. Hilda covered the child with her body, a response that Eva was relieved to see. Up until that moment, she wasn't sure at all about her decision to leave him with Hilda, although her choices had become more and more limited in the last few days and weeks.

"Hilda" Eva began before Hilda could begin to protest again "Only a few people even know he was born, no one will come looking for him when this is over. Unless you tell someone." Hilda made a noise deep in her throat "then no one will even know to look for him." Eva took a deep breath, her rationale both to herself and to Hilda, over. Starting for the door, she spoke as she passed Hilda, whose mouth was hanging open. Eva didn't look at the baby, couldn't look at him. "Tomorrow I'll send a box with his things, and all the money I have." She felt Hilda panic behind her with the thought of a SS solider at her door. "Don't worry, I'll seal the box. If you keep the baby out of sight, or even if you don't, they won't know the box has anything to do with him." Eva stopped speaking as she arrived at the door, and grasped the knob in her hands. Her throat tightened, and she swallowed hard. Glancing back over her shoulder, she met Hilda's eyes. "Love him for me." She stepped out into the black winter night, and was gone.