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When I was all done, I brought the bowl over to Elena. "Give me your hand."
Once she did, I rubbed the ointment over her swollen knuckled and then her hand all the way up to her wrist. I did the same to the other hand, making sure I rubbed the ointment in until her hands no longer had a slippery feel to them.
"If you rub this on once a day, you should see some improvement within a week. The occasional heating pad helps, too."
Elena lifted her hand to her nose and took a sniff. "It does smell nice."
"Yeah, that was one of the reasons Mrs. Beckerman created this ointment. She hated the chemical smell the drug store ointments had. She said it was almost as bad as the pain."
Elena lifted her head and gave me the first smile I'd seen on her face since I walked into the kitchen. "Would you like to have some tea with me?"
"I'd love to," I replied. "But you just sit here. I'll make it."
I hurried over to the stove for the teapot. I filled it with water and then set it back on the stove. While it was heating, I cleaned up the mess from making the ointment and put all the ingredients back where Elena told me they went.
"Tea?"
"Cupboard to the left of the stove."
When I opened the cupboard, my eyes widened. There was a lot of tea in there. "Is there a specific type that you'd like?"
"There's a nice oolong tea in there. My husband had it brought in from China."
Oh, nice.
I grabbed the teabags and two cups, carrying both over to the table.
"There's sugar on the counter over there and creamer in the fridge."
"Do you take lemon or honey?"
Elena shook her head. "Not with oolong."
Made sense.
I gathered everything up and carried it back to the table. When the water was hot, I grabbed a pot holder and carried the teapot over to the table. Elena had put a teabag in each of our cups so I poured the water in and then put the teapot back on the stove.
"Grab a couple more of those cookies," Elena directed.
I grabbed enough for both of us, put them on a small plate, and then went back to the table and sat down. After letting it seep for a couple of minutes, I doctored my tea and then slowly took a sip.
I smiled at the taste. Maybe I'd find out where Elena's husband got the tea and see if I could get some. It was really good.
"So, tell me about yourself," Elena said.
"Oh, um..." Man, that would be a long story. "Well, I was born in New York City and lived there my entire life until Luca came for me."
"Luca?"
My face flushed as I smiled. "My husband."
I'd never said that before. It felt really good.
"You said he came for you?"
"Yes." My smile grew bigger. "He rescued me from my parents."
Elena's eyes widened. "He rescued you?"
