Lera stood at the kitchen table, watching as Katya in another room diligently colored her favorite animals in an album. Her five-year-old daughter was so engrossed in the process that she wouldn’t notice what her mother was doing. Lera smiled and returned to her thoughts.
However, an inner voice kept reminding her of a fear—a fear that had lingered since childhood and resurfaced as soon as she took the significant step of buying a house. Memories of her mother still weighed heavily on her soul.
She recalled one of the last conversations with her mother before their relationship broke down.
“Are you thinking about separation again?” her mother had angrily narrowed her eyes as soon as Lera brought it up. “Lera, that’s madness! People are already looking askance, and you want to bring shame on our family. Your father would not have approved of this.”
Lera had struggled to hold back tears. Her husband, Vadim, had long ceased to be the caring person she had once married. He was cold, demanding, and often resorted to yelling and sometimes even threats whenever things didn’t go according to his plan. But her mother, seemingly ignoring this, kept to her own views.
“Mom, you’ve seen what’s happening… You know how he treats me, how he looks at Katya as if she’s superfluous,” Lera tried to reach out to her mother, hoping she would understand her worries. But the response was merely dismissive:
“Lera, all men are like that. Do you think your father was an angel? I endured so much because of him! But I stayed—for the family, for you. And you should think not only of yourself. Be strong, don’t disgrace us!”
“Stayed for the family…” This had become something of a mantra for her mother. Lera then felt a cold distance, as if she and her desires meant nothing to her mother. With each word, Lera realized that in her mother’s eyes, she remained a child to be controlled and blamed if she decided to go against her mother’s wishes.
Years ago, Lera finally gathered the courage to leave Vadim, preferring solitude with her daughter to a life of constant fear and humiliation. The divorce was difficult, Vadim did not miss a chance to insult her, and the support from her mother, which Lera had so hoped for, never came. Her mother acted as if Lera had personally insulted her, shattering the family illusion, and since then, her resentment grew.
Lera decided she would never again allow anyone to control her destiny. She had been too scared to stand up for her desires, but now, she finally found the determination to build a life where she and Katya could have their own space, where they could feel happy and at peace.
Working at a graphic design firm, Lera gradually saved money to buy her own home. She endured a tough year when she and Katya rented a small one-room apartment in an old house. The walls were cracked, and the windows were drafty. But Lera always found ways to decorate this temporary home and create coziness. She bought cute blankets, curtains, changed the drapes, and even this made the space a bit warmer and more joyful. Nevertheless, the thought that they were living a “temporary” life weighed heavily on Lera. She dreamed of her own house, a place where her daughter could grow up peacefully, not having to move from place to place as they had since Lera left Vadim.
Two years after the divorce, Lera made a down payment on a small house in the suburbs. It wasn’t a huge country estate but rather a cozy little house, but it immediately won her heart. It had a small garden with jasmine bushes by the fence, a spacious, bright kitchen, and two rooms. Lera saw how Katya ran around the house and joyfully explored every corner, exclaiming:
“Mom, will I have my own room? Really?”
Lera smiled and hugged her.
“Yes, kitten. Now you’ll have your own room,” she promised.
From that moment, her main task became renovating. The house was old: the walls were worn, the ceiling had cracks, and the floors needed replacing. Lera decided she would do as much as she could by herself. There was a lot of work, but by taking a loan from the bank and postponing her vacation, she started the renovations. In the evenings, after putting Katya to bed, she painted walls, filled gaps, and tidied up the rooms. It was hard work, but day by day, the house transformed. Lera imagined how soon they would sit here in the kitchen for dinner or how Katya would read fairy tales in her little cozy room.
One evening, taking a break from the renovation, Lera decided to call her cousin Sergey. They hadn’t seen each other for a long time, but Sergey had always remained a close person to her, someone she could turn to for support.
“Serge, you won’t believe it,” she began, smiling as he answered the phone. “I think I’ve officially become a homeowner.”
“Seriously?” Sergey was genuinely happy. “Lera, that’s great! I’m really happy for you. You’re brave to take this step. How’s the house?”
“I’m doing renovations right now.”
“You know, when you finish, I’ll have to come over and check it out,” Sergey laughed.
“Definitely! I’ll be waiting,” Lera laughed in response. She almost felt Sergey nodding, as he always did when pondering her words. Her heart warmed with the thought that at least she had someone in the family who supported her without judging her desire to live her own way.
More weeks passed, filled with work and cares about setting up the house. Lera was tired but happy. Katya’s room became a magical corner: pink curtains, a little bed with fluffy pillows, and even a small bookshelf so her daughter could choose her own bedtime stories. In the hallway, she hung a painting with flowers, which she had long dreamed of having in her home, back when she still lived with Vadim.
A phone call pulled Lera from her stream of memories. She looked at the screen and, raising her eyebrows in surprise, saw her mother’s name.
“Hello, Mom?” she didn’t know what to expect, especially after such a long silence.
“Lera, you couldn’t even tell me that you bought a house?” There was a disgruntled note in her mother’s voice.
Lera froze for a moment, not understanding how her mother found out. She hadn’t told anyone about the house purchase, except for her cousin Sergey.
“How did you know?”
“Sergey told me, of course,” her mother replied dryly. “I knew you’d leave me out like this. Good thing I still have relatives who remember their family.”
“I just decided to start over, Mom,” she tried to explain.
“Well, well, so in this ‘starting over’ of yours, you don’t see me.”
Lera sighed heavily, feeling the familiar pressure and bracing herself for an unpleasant conversation.
“Good house you bought yourself, when can I move in?” asked her mother.
Lera felt the ground slipping from under her feet. She couldn’t even find the words—just stood with her mouth open while her mother continued as if nothing was wrong:
“My apartment is old anyway, and Aunt Natasha has been saying for a long time that she has nowhere to live. I’ll give her my apartment, she needs it more. So I decided—I’ll be with you, after all, you don’t need so much space all to yourself.”
Lera gathered her strength and finally managed to say:
“Mom, did you even ask how I feel about this?”
Her mother sighed heavily.
“Oh, don’t be selfish, Lera. I’m your mother. I can help you and be with Katya. You’re alone, without a man, no family, no normal life.”
Lera, barely holding back her anger, replied:
“Mom, I didn’t buy the house for this. I want to build a normal family without your pressure and without…”
“A normal family?” her mother interrupted. “Lera, do you hear yourself? You’re a single mother! What family? Who would look at you? Only a mother can support and help, but you, apparently, don’t want to understand this.”
Lera felt a heaviness spread through her body. She knew that saying “no” would mean putting an end to their relationship, but she felt that she couldn’t continue living this way.
“Mom, I don’t want you to move in with me,” she said firmly. “Katya and I will manage on our own.”
Her mother sighed heavily.
“So that’s how it is? Well, I see. You’re ungrateful. Lera, you’ll regret this. With children like you, who needs enemies?”
After that, her mother hung up, not giving Lera a chance to respond. Inside her, a turmoil bubbled—a mixture of heaviness mixed with offense, followed by a strange blend of relief and anger. She knew that talking to her mother would lead to consequences, but she was sure that she had done the right thing.
Weeks passed. Lera cut herself off from phone calls and rare messages from relatives, which came with undertones of reproach and criticism. It took one message to understand: her mother had started telling everyone that Lera had “kicked her out.” Lera knew that rumors about her “indecent” behavior would now circulate, but as unpleasant as it might be, she was ready for such developments.
Support in these days came from Igor, whom she had met just over a month ago. He was calm, reliable, a man who knew how to listen and understand. They spent evenings together, and Lera couldn’t help but notice how Igor interacted with Katya—patiently and with genuine warmth. With him, she felt that she had finally found a haven of safety and support, which she had lacked for many years.
One evening, as Lera sat in the kitchen checking her email, a message from her cousin arrived:
“You did well, of course. Kicked out your own mother, arranged your personal life, and now all of us are being judged. Do you even think about how you’re going to interact with your family now?”
Lera sighed heavily, realizing her mother had gone to great lengths to cast her in a bad light. Feeling shattered, she went to bed. The next morning, her grandmother arrived. She sat down, looking at her granddaughter with a warm gaze.
“Lerochka, don’t worry,” her grandmother said, taking her hand. “I know your mother like the back of my hand. She’s always tried to live as if her life was a stage where she needed to play the main role and look right. For the sake of this image, she endured your father, his drinking, his scandals, his attitude towards me and you… But you, my girl, should not have to live like that. It’s her choice, and you are now entitled to act as you see fit.”
“But grandma,” Lera sighed heavily, feeling overwhelmed with despair, “they’re all against me. I didn’t ask for much from her, I just wanted to live peacefully with Katya, and now half the relatives think I’m a bad, cold daughter…”
“Relatives…” her grandmother snorted. “When did you need their help? When you were going through the breakup, when you were raising Katya alone, did any of them help? And now, as if they had a crystal ball—so many accusations towards you. Your mother knows how to speak beautifully…”
Lera looked at her grandmother with gratitude. She was, in essence, a second mother to her, a person who always supported, listened, and didn’t judge.
“I’m sometimes afraid, grandma,” Lera confessed quietly. “Afraid that I’ll repeat her mistakes, that maybe one day my life will turn out the same… that Igor will suddenly turn out to be different. I… I’ve heard for so many years that I’m doing everything wrong. Maybe I just got used to feeling guilty…”
Her grandmother smiled and stroked her hand again.
“Don’t be afraid, Lerochka,” she said softly. “You are a different person. You’ve already proven to yourself and others that you can be strong. And your mother will remain in her imagined world. And if relatives believed her words—then you shouldn’t rely on them. What matters is who is with you and who will support you when it’s tough. And you already see who that is.”
Lera pondered her words. It seemed that for the first time in a long time, she could breathe freely.
A few days later, Lera sat in the kitchen with a cup of coffee when another message from her mother arrived. This time, the text was long and full of reproaches. Her mother again wrote that Lera was ungrateful, that her behavior “disgusted all the relatives,” that “this is how she would probably treat her daughter once she grows up.”
Lera closed her eyes, trying to suppress the habitual feeling of guilt that arose so easily after every word from her mother. Suddenly, Katya approached her, hugged her leg, and pressed against her, looking up with her big, serious eyes.
“Mommy, what happened? Are you sad?” she asked, raising her head.
Lera smiled, sat down next to her, and hugged her.
“No, Kitten, everything’s fine. Just thinking about something… But now that you hugged me, I feel much better,” she said, and it was true. Katya had become a source of love and support for her, and Lera understood that her happiness and safety were the most important things in life.
“Mom, can I invite Igor over? We wanted to make cookies with him,” Katya suddenly remembered, bringing a smile to Lera’s face.
“Of course, invite him, dear.”
When Igor arrived, Lera greeted him with a smile. He, sensing her mood, gently touched her shoulder.
“Everything okay?” he asked, looking into her eyes attentively.
Lera nodded.
“Everything is perfect.”
At that moment, Lera realized that she was indeed ready to leave the past behind and live as she had always dreamed—with love, honesty, and without fear.