Chapter 11
At home Ursula and Mutter were already waiting for her, with huge smiles on their faces that brushed away her own anxiety.
“Anna! Guess what happened!” Ursula said, bouncing up and down. Mutter waved a letter in her hand, answering her daughter’s question before Anna could say a word. “A letter from Richard!”
“Richard?” Anna put a hand across her heart. Her younger brother, who’d been missing somewhere in White Russia since last fall, had sent a letter. “Let me see!” she demanded and took the paper with trembling hands from her mother. “It’s dated Christmas 1943, that’s almost two months ago.” The words swam before her eyes and she couldn’t decipher more than the greeting Liebe Mutter. She flopped onto the couch in the sitting room and her mother and sister both talked at onc
