Anya Kojovic let the door bounce back on its hinges, gasping as the freezing air snatched the breath from her lungs. Icy hands clawed and tugged at the thin brown cardigan that hung loosely over her yellow cotton dress. Thick patches of snow lay like dollops of cream glittering on the ground. Like the cream she put on the Babka she made with her grandmother back in Warsaw. It was clear but for a few …showed first 75 words of 1142 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1142 total…give you everything you need. I wish I protect you," he stuttered, wistfully, his voice catching, "and him, the way I should." She looked at the deep rifts that had formed on his face, accentuated by the shadows of the room. She remembered where smiles had been and raised her hand. She wanted so much to erase those lines, but she drew her hand away, smudging the trickle of hot tears into her frozen cheeks.