“Of course.” Delphine’s words were muffled by the collar of Martha’s coat. “And I want you to promise to let me know the moment that baby is born.”
“I promise.”
They broke away as a whistle blew farther along the platform. A man was holding up a cardboard sign with “New Zealand” scrawled across it.
“That’s us.” Wolf tugged at Delphine’s sleeve. “We better get these kids moving.”
Through a blur of tears, Martha watched them walk away. Wolf and Agata and Pawel, still children themselves, but looking so grown up as they helped Delphine shepherd the group of little ones to the ship that would take them to their new lives.
“Mama! Hurry up!” two voices called out in unison. Lubya and Halina ran up to her, each grabbing her hand.
“I’m coming.” She bent to kiss them both. When she looked up, Delphine had gone.
CHAPTER 36
On a bright New Zealand morning in March, Delphine kissed each of her children as they made for the door. Wolf was now almost a foot taller than she was. He and Agata and Pawel were beginning to develop Kiwi accents. It made her smile to see them with their school friends, speaking English as if they’d known it all their lives.
A few minutes after they’d gone, the mail arrived. Delphine’s heart skipped a beat when she caught sight of an airmail envelope with a row of red US postage stamps. She tore open the flap and pulled out the thin sheets of paper.
Dear Delphine,
We have a new daughter! She cleverly arrived on Stefan’s birthday, March 2, and weighed 6 lb. 10 oz. Her name is Joanna—chosen by Lubya and Halina in honor of their favorite nun at the convent in Poland.
Kitty came to visit me in the hospital. Her parents have just arrived in New York after a long journey via San Francisco. They weren’t allowed to go anywhere when they got off the boat; they were put on a sealed train that brought them all the way to Ellis Island. Stefan was there when they arrived—he has a job at the embarkation center now—and he told me all about it. I wish I could have been there to see their faces.
Kitty has found an apartment for them in Queens, not far from where she and Charlie are living. She’s loving the art course at Columbia. Did I tell you she was awarded a scholarship? It means that she and Charlie don’t have to worry too much about money. It’s wonderful to see her so happy.
I was so pleased to hear that your three are all settling into their new school. I wouldn’t be surprised if Agata and Pawel followed Wolf’s plan to go to medical school. You must be so proud of them.
I have one more bit of news to tell you before the nurse brings Joanna back for her next feeding: I managed to find Arnie. He’d moved from the apartment listed in the telephone directory—within days of Kitty calling him—which explained why I never got a reply to my letters. The amazing thing is that he has recently become a father, and it has made him turn his life around. He’s as eager as I am for a divorce. So, Stefan and I are planning a summer wedding. The girls can’t wait to be bridesmaids . . .
The writing blurred as Delphine read on. She was smiling and crying as she laid the letter down. There was something else inside the envelope. A copy of the snap Charlie had taken that first Christmas at Seidenmühle of the three of them, all smiling as they raised their glasses in a toast.
There was something on the back of it. Turning it over, Delphine saw what Martha had written: “To life—wherever it takes us.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The idea for A Feather on the Water came from a photograph I found by chance. I was searching for an image of Marie Louise Habets, the former nun who inspired my earlier novel The House at Mermaid’s Cove. I came across a black-and-white shot of her with another woman, both wearing military-style uniforms with the symbol of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration on their caps. The other woman was Kathryn Hulme, the American journalist who wrote a book based on Marie Louise’s life, The Nun’s Story （which became a film starring Audrey Hepburn）。 I discovered that the women had met while working in a DP camp in Bavaria at the end of WWII, and that Kathryn had written about their experiences in another book, called The Wild Place. While the protagonists in my novel are purely fictional, many of the challenges they face reflect what Kathryn and Marie Louise encountered when they became aid workers.
Some of the characters in A Feather on the Water are not imaginary but real. Mr. Ho, the Chinese diplomat, is one of these. Feng Shan Ho helped thousands of Austrian Jews escape the Nazis by issuing them transit visas. In trying to discover why he did so, when other embassies in Vienna refused to help, I found out that Mr. Ho was born into poverty and lost his parents at a young age but was helped by Norwegian missionaries based in the Hunan Province of China. They gave him an education and taught him to give back to society in return for the gifts he had been given. In issuing the visas, he disobeyed the instructions of his superiors. Two years into the war, he was removed from his diplomatic post and sent back to China. In 2000 he was posthumously awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem for his humanitarian courage.