Read For Such a Time for Free Online Page B

while a milk-glass vase of holly, ripe with crimson berries, stood in the center. A pair of beeswax candles burned along either side, dancing light off polished brass holders.
    A basket of fresh bread sat alongside the centerpiece. Stella touched the rim of the basket, willfully resisting temptation as she gazed into the flames. Similar candles once gleamed in her own home on the eve of Shabbat. She recalled the reverent anticipation as her uncle made Kiddush over their wine, declaring holiness to God’s day of rest. Afterward he would uncover and bless the Challah , bread that God had provided them in the desert—
    “Fräulein, you will sit here.”
    The colonel called to her from the opposite end of the table. Stella snatched her hand away. This wasn’t Challah or Shabbat. Not in the Jew Killer’s house.
    Overwhelmed by a sudden avalanche of anger, she marched toward the chair he held for her. Nazis were the worst kindof thieves. They took everything, from the rabbi’s Tallit —his prayer shawl—to the last matzo wrapper, until nothing of Jewishness remained. They had destroyed synagogues, families, lives. Faith . . .
    “Have you met Helen?”
    The colonel leaned to push in her chair. Stella stiffened, assailed by his nearness, the spiced scent of his cologne. She glanced at the aproned woman carrying in a water pitcher and glasses. “Ja, Herr Kommandant,” she whispered.
    The colonel took his place at the head of the table. “Helen is not only my housekeeper, but she is also my best-kept secret.”
    His remark drew both women’s attention. “She’s the finest cook in all of Europe. I’ve considered sending her to the Front, armed with her baked Apfelstrudel . The smell alone would entice a legion of soldiers to follow her into battle.”
    Helen’s cheeks flushed as she served them drinks.
    “She won’t be leading battalions, however.” He turned to Stella. “You will be her newest target, Fräulein—pastries, pies, dumplings, whatever it takes. We’ll start you out with smaller portions, but I want you healthy as soon as possible.”
    Why? Stella wanted to ask. Even Helen looked surprised. Yet the housekeeper merely met his glance and nodded before leaving the room.
    “You do understand your part in this arrangement?”
    Stella took great pains to smooth her napkin over her lap. “Eating.”
    “And . . . ?”
    She felt heat crawl up her neck. “Keeping it down.”
    “Ah, your honesty, if not your enthusiasm, is refreshing.”
    An amused gleam lit his eyes, and she didn’t know what to make of it. Helen reappeared with a platter of steaming food. Taking the colonel’s words to heart, she served Stella a small helping of fried onions, sauerkraut, and a meat-stuffed bell pepper. Stella’s insides cramped with hunger, before shedetected the peculiar odor she’d smelled earlier in the kitchen. Not beef . . .
    “Helen prepared this Gefüllte Paprika the Austrian way,” he said from his place at the table. “You should find it quite delicious.”
    Pork . Stella stared at her plate, her stomach raging between hunger and a sudden queasiness. She picked up her fork and pushed aside the pepper before nibbling at her onions and sauerkraut.
    “You will sample everything , Fräulein.”
    She glanced up at the colonel’s mutinous expression. “I . . . I cannot.”
    “Cannot? Or will not? Helen has gone to much trouble to prepare this meal. And considering what you’ve had to eat in the past, I would expect you to be grateful.”
    She lowered her gaze. “I am, it’s . . . it’s just the bell pepper. I get hives,” she lied. “Besides, I’m not very hungry.”
    “I don’t care if you’re hungry or not,” he said, ignoring her statement. “You may leave the pepper, but eat the filling.”
    She poked at the stuffed pepper and eyed the rest of her meal wistfully. She’d been starved at Dachau; the Nazis used hunger as a weapon, making the weak fall victim to disease and death,