When I talked reason into Martha's head, showing her that there was a way forward, one that didn't involve violence, killing, and hiding though the woman had returned with me, her feelings toward me had been far from peaceful, not even remotely close to neutral.
Nadia, out of self-preservation that day, had declined to follow us back home. A tense air hovered above the three of us as we sat in the car.
On that day, I could honestly say I wasn't sure what mountain Martha's mind would settle us on. But today, the fact that the mother and her daughter still stayed in the house I had bought for them calmed the storm in my heart.
Whatever came next, I could handle.
The current situation now was that Martha was pissed that, in the last few days, I had made contact with her daughter and not her. In essence, she was jealous and I wondered how to milk this.
"True, she's the one I informed that I'd be coming over, but in the end, you're the one I decided to talk to first."
