. he wasd prepared to " muddle " through the "legalities " of transfrring jonas 's guardianship to him and his wife "right away , to minimize confusion , et cetera et cetera , for the boy ."
he added that the estate would take care of the necessary legal expenses - i needn't worry about that .
i didn't know what to say . i fought the urge to tell him that of all the things i was worried about , paying lawyers hadn't made my top fifty .
my flabbergasted silence troubled martin enough that he felt compelled to inject an additional explanation ," you know my sister , " he said .
he hadn't said it kindly . martin must have been assuming that he was conversing with an ally . could he be misreading me that badly ? i wondered , grief does funny things .
io wasn't comforable with the eye roll that he used to accompany the stament about knowing his sister , nor the little nopstril -snort that effectively completed it , i couldn't be certain what he meant with his coment about knowing adrienne , but i suspected that when i did understand , i would conclude that it was demeaning to my stepson's mother's memory . i feared that it was , in four vague words , jonas's ncle's way nt only of trying to undo the wishes of my dear friend only minutes after her body was buried , but also his way of attempting to enroll me as a conspirator in whatever suspect endeavor he was contemplating next .
i took a quick step back so that his hand would fall from my shoulder , it worked . the hand rumbled to his side with a fat thwop . as though his arm had fallen asleep while it was up there .
"i did know your sister , " i said ." very well ."
"good then , " he said ." we see eye to eye ."
like his sister , martin was wide in the hips , and less than tall . he and i didn't see eye to eye literally . figuratively ? the odds were long , and getting longer by the minute .
" you know , martin - do you prefer martin ?"
he added that the estate would take care of the necessary legal expenses - i needn't worry about that .
i didn't know what to say . i fought the urge to tell him that of all the things i was worried about , paying lawyers hadn't made my top fifty .
my flabbergasted silence troubled martin enough that he felt compelled to inject an additional explanation ," you know my sister , " he said .
he hadn't said it kindly . martin must have been assuming that he was conversing with an ally . could he be misreading me that badly ? i wondered , grief does funny things .
io wasn't comforable with the eye roll that he used to accompany the stament about knowing his sister , nor the little nopstril -snort that effectively completed it , i couldn't be certain what he meant with his coment about knowing adrienne , but i suspected that when i did understand , i would conclude that it was demeaning to my stepson's mother's memory . i feared that it was , in four vague words , jonas's ncle's way nt only of trying to undo the wishes of my dear friend only minutes after her body was buried , but also his way of attempting to enroll me as a conspirator in whatever suspect endeavor he was contemplating next .
i took a quick step back so that his hand would fall from my shoulder , it worked . the hand rumbled to his side with a fat thwop . as though his arm had fallen asleep while it was up there .
"i did know your sister , " i said ." very well ."
"good then , " he said ." we see eye to eye ."
like his sister , martin was wide in the hips , and less than tall . he and i didn't see eye to eye literally . figuratively ? the odds were long , and getting longer by the minute .
" you know , martin - do you prefer martin ?"
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