Over the next several years, Magda and Emerence become increasingly close, and start to depend on each other more than either of them could have anticipated. Together, they experience all the drama of the neighbourhood, including the suicide of Pollet, one of Emerence's three close female friends. The two women open up to each other, and Magda learns many details of Emerence's life, including the story of her early life in the same rural region where Magda has family roots. She also learns the story of how Emerence saved the life of the baby Eva Grossman, the daughter of the wealthy Jewish family whose house Emerence cared for before they fled the country. Emerence develops so much trust for Magda that she allows her inside her house, an honour she has bestowed on nobody else in decades, not even her three best friends or her own nephew.