She doesn’t reply but comes to stand next to me and watches me paint for a few moments. “I got the one with the girl in a green dress. We hung it in the living room.”
My brush on the canvas goes still. “I thought that one was sold with the others, to an anonymous buyer. Did they return them?”
“No. He let me have it.”
I look up at her. “He?”
“Your husband. He’s the one who bought the paintings.”
I take a deep breath and turn back toward my canvas. “He is not my husband anymore.”
I try to resume my work, but my hand holding the brush is trembling, so I place the brush down, and stare at the unfinished black shape in front of me. My mother takes me by the shoulder and turns me toward her.
“What happened between you two, honey? I thought you would be staying together.”
“I walked in on him gutting Brian,” I say. “After he cut off most of his fingers.”
“He killed him?”
“Yes.”
She is silent for a moment, and then she shakes her head. “He loves you.”
I feel the tears start gathering in my eyes. “Yes, he does. But sometimes love is not enough.”
“You knew who he was, Nina, and still, you fell in love with him. Can’t you forgive him?”
“He would do it again, Mom. I can’t live with another death on my conscience. This one is already too much. Does that make me a hypocrite? That it never bothered me what he did or who he killed before?”
“It’s how his world works. But not yours.”
I turn toward the canvas and take my brush again. “I have to finish this one by tomorrow.”
“Okay, honey. I’ll let you work.” She reaches with her hand and brushes the back of my palm lightly. “Please answer when I call.”
I hear my mom’s footsteps moving away, then stop. I turn and see her standing in the doorway, her head slightly bent.
“I was wrong about your husband,” she says, then lifts her head and our gazes connect. There is a strange look on her face. I am completely confused by her words, and this whole visit in general.
“Your father would never kill a man because of me, you know.”
“Well, that’s a good thing, Mom.”
“No, honey. It isn’t,” she says and leaves the apartment.