Marta was having more and more a difficult time ignoring the pain in her stomach. It needed medical attention, or at the least, an aspirin and some ice. But Ezra couldn’t know. So to try her best to ignore the pain, Marta began biting the inside of her cheek, hoping the pain in her mouth would distract from the pain in her stomach. 

She heard Ezra say to stop crying. She reached up, wiping the excess tears off her face and did her best to take in a calming breath, but it hurt too much. If Ezra wanted to ignore reality for a moment, Marta would not deny him that. From now on, all that mattered was what Ezra wanted. If he wanted to talk about school and their childhood, she would. If he wanted to teach her about the Torah and Jewish traditions, she would listen. If he wanted her out of his life forever, she would leave. All that mattered was the happiness of his boy. And she would give him as much of it as she could.

Marta barely caught his next comment, and when she did, she frowned. What was it suppose to mean? If this country wasn’t on the brink of war and Ezra wasn’t fighting everyday to survive, would they never? Were they even a thing now? Marta didn’t even know how to define their relationship. She cares deeply, admittedly loving him. But if yesterday had just been a normal day, a day where Ezra’s past didn’t include almost dying, a day where Jewish and Christians mingled with no tension or hate, would it have gone differently? For one thing, Ezra would have never judged her reason for walking into that bakery and she would have never fled from embarrassment. 

How would things have gone if it was just a normal day? 

Tasting blood in her mouth, Marta knew she bit down to hard on the inside of her cheek. At least now, she could focus on that instead of the pain in her stomach. She didn’t want to respond to his comment about love because he didn’t want to talk about their relationship, and she must do what he wants.

So pushing the thoughts, and as much of the pain as she could, to the side, Marta stepped a little closer to Ezra, watching him slice the bread. “So what exactly makes food kosher?”