At the door, the knocking grew increasingly insistent. Lena hastily wiped her hands on a kitchen towel and ran to answer. Because of the sound of the running water, she didn’t immediately hear the ring.
Standing on the doorstep was Lyosha, her husband. He was holding full bags—bags that had prevented him from using his key to open the door.
“Why the delay? You had to ring so loudly; it probably woke Egor,” he said anxiously, glancing toward the children’s room.
At that hour, one-year-old Egorka was having his nap.
“No, he’s asleep,” Lena replied, carefully peeking into her son’s room.
“Why are you so late? You were supposed to be here two hours ago,” her husband chided, as his wife sorted through the bags.
“I stopped by Mom’s,” he explained.
“And how is she doing?” Lena asked—more out of politeness than genuine interest.
“How? … Well, there’s another payment due soon, and she doesn’t have a single ruble to her name,” he said.
“No one forced her to take that damn loan,” Lena remarked thoughtfully, folding the now-empty bag and tucking it under the sink in her “bag of bags.”
“You have to live within your means, or you’ll end up drowning in loans, and then she’ll come running to us. Besides, we haven’t yet learned how to print money.”
“Well, I can’t exactly tell her that… Anyway, we talked, and she needs to get off maternity leave; Mom has to pay for her car loan,” her husband stated calmly.
“And have you, by any chance, forgotten that we have a child? Our turn for kindergarten isn’t for another year, and my salary isn’t nearly high enough to pay for a nanny,” his wife said, squinting at him.
Admittedly, Lena had been considering going back to work herself, but not just to help pay for her mother-in-law’s loan. The money she’d saved during her maternity leave was evaporating like ice under the spring sun.
“Mom will gladly watch Egor, so we’ll even save a bit,” her husband reasoned.
Lena looked at him in disbelief. Saving that way was hardly enough. Half of her salary would go toward her mother-in-law’s loan.
“We’d easily have enough saved if your mother didn’t dip into our wallet so skillfully!” she reminded him irritably.
“And what do you suggest—take her car away?”
“No, why would I? But let her go by herself—or rather, roll herself—to work. After all, she insisted on buying the car, not me. She’s still young; she’d be gladly hired as a cashier somewhere.”
Her mother-in-law had retired early. Like many women in their small town, she had cut short the required period for an early pension in a hazardous work environment and had been enjoying her well-deserved rest for a year.
Sending Marina Leonidovna back to work, in Lena’s opinion, was the right decision. Only, her husband and even his own mother had their own opinions on the matter.
“Mom spent her whole life suffering for my sake. Don’t you remember she gave us that apartment?”
“What a lovely gift!” Lena exclaimed. “And don’t you remember we gave her all our wedding money—which would have easily covered the down payment for a new mortgage in a modern apartment?”
When her mother-in-law proposed such a swap, the newlyweds agreed. The three-room apartment seemed like the pinnacle of their dreams. And they wouldn’t even have to pay a mortgage.
Lena, however, had no idea that the apartment was located in a godforsaken area—and that it was in terrible condition.
She and her husband had spent six months renovating that panel apartment before moving in.
After celebrating the housewarming, the couple began discussing having a child. They approached the impending maternity leave with utmost responsibility.
They had been saving money for several years. The total amount was supposed to be enough to maintain their financial stability.
Lena had long known that her mother-in-law dreamed of sleeping and imagining herself behind the wheel of a brand-new car.
“Isn’t it beautiful? Twenty minutes and you’re at the other end of town. Meanwhile, on the bus—with transfers through the center—it takes nearly an hour and a half. And that’s if you manage to get a seat. And if you have to stand?” she sighed.
Lena silently nodded in agreement. Personally, she wasn’t eager to take the wheel. In their family, Alexey drove, and that suited him just fine.
The daughter-in-law had missed the moment when her mother-in-law managed to get her driver’s license. In truth, she hadn’t been keeping close track of what was happening in her husband’s mother’s life.
Lena was ironing diapers when Marina Leonidovna appeared at their apartment door.
“Look out the window,” the woman declared, shining like a polished samovar.
Automatically, the daughter-in-law looked out. There was nothing unexpected there: mud, slush, and a parking lot full of cars.
“Do you see that little red one over there?”
Marina Leonidovna seemed poised to burst into dance.
“It’s mine!” she announced ceremoniously, shaking a key in the daughter-in-law’s face.
“Congratulations,” Lena said, not attempting to feign any extra joy or excitement.
“We don’t know how to stretch a maternity leave; every penny counts, and yet someone buys a brand-new car,” the daughter-in-law thought irritably.
After a month, her mother-in-law’s enthusiasm faded.
“Son, help me out—lend me some money for the loan. I had no idea a car was such an expensive pleasure: you pay the insurance, get it serviced, and now you even have to buy new wheels for winter. When I saw the prices, my eyes nearly popped out. And what choice do I have? You won’t be riding it in the summer,” the newly minted car lady sighed.
“Maybe a bus isn’t so bad after all?” Lena thought sarcastically, but she held back.
“Of course, I’ll give you the money,” Alexey declared, readily opening his wallet.
Lena looked at him with disapproval, but said nothing. Fine—she would have to tighten her expenses; she couldn’t just abandon someone in trouble. Somehow, they would manage.
When the same exact situation repeated the following month, Lena decided to voice her displeasure.
“Lyosha, is your mother really going to keep draining money from us for her loan?”
“She’s not taking any; come on, she’s helped twice,” her husband replied without looking away from his computer. “Are you feeling sorry for her or what?”
“Imagine this! I had been saving money for two years for her. It was meant to be our safety net,” she grumbled.
“She’s my mother—I can’t abandon her,” Lyosha said, finally looking up and staring at Lena.
“And couldn’t your mother have waited a few more years to buy the car? At least until I’m off maternity leave,” she asked.
“Oh, come on… You only say that because you’re jealous,” her husband smirked. “Women are always envious of one another.”
Lena stared at him as if he were an alien. He clearly didn’t know his wife at all if he was blaming everything on envy.
“And besides, Mom isn’t getting any younger. How long do you expect her to wait for you to come off maternity leave? And what if you immediately rush into a second child?”
Initially, Lena had indeed planned to work a little after her maternity leave and then promptly have another child. But with this new twist of events, she might as well at least finish the first.
A few months later, when the savings meant to cover a year’s expenses had completely dried up, her husband declared:
“You’ll have to go back to work; otherwise, we won’t be able to handle the payments.”
“Lyosha, have you lost your mind? And who will take care of Egor?”
“Mom will gladly do it. Besides, you always complained about being cooped up at home and wanting some social interaction.”
“But I didn’t return to work because of Mom’s loan. And what if, after buying the car, she wants to renovate the apartment, then needs a seaside vacation, and then comes up with something else—leaving us, like two genies, fulfilling all her wishes?” Lena could no longer hold back.
“Don’t shout—you’ll wake the child,” her husband snapped.
“Never mind, let the child know that his father is pushing his mother to work because of his grandmother’s whims.”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
Lena resisted as best as she could, but eventually, she had to go back to work.
“Don’t worry, everything with Egor will be just fine,” her mother-in-law cheerfully reassured her while holding her grandson and seeing her daughter-in-law off to work.
“By the way, the clean diapers are on the dresser in the bedroom, fresh porridge is on the stove. In the fridge, there are some purees—but let them sit on the table for about an hour so they’re not cold when you feed Egor.”
“Oh, just go already,” her mother-in-law chided, ushering her out the door.
Lena didn’t want to go back to work, but she had no choice.
Her first day at work went better than she had expected, and she returned home in a buoyant mood.
The first thing she saw upon opening the door was a scattering of toys in the corridor. A glance into the room made it clear that a proper rest after work was out of the question.
Clothes from the closet were piled on the sofa; books and boxes lay mixed with toys on the floor.
Lena kicked off her shoes and went into the kitchen. There, Marina Leonidovna—having climbed onto a stool—was rummaging through the top cupboard, while Egor stirred his porridge with a spoon.
Chaos reigned in both the room and the kitchen. On the tables were jars of cereals, pots, a mountain of spices, and other miscellanea… Lena was horrified as she realized that her mother-in-law had thoroughly ransacked all the kitchen tables and cabinets—places Lena herself had never managed to tidy.
Sitting on the chair by the window was Lyosha, watching the scene unfold.
“Did you see this mess?” his mother grumbled, pulling a jar from a distant corner of the cupboard. “One would have torn their hands off!”
She reached deep into the cupboard once more and pulled out some little bag of cereal—something Lena had long since forgotten about.
“You should at least control how your wife manages the house, son. Otherwise, she lets the entire apartment go to waste. And after sitting on maternity leave for over a year, what did she do? Just lounge on the sofa? When I was on maternity leave, my house was in perfect order.”
“When am I supposed to keep an eye on you?” Alexey protested. At that moment, he saw his sulking wife standing in the doorway.
“Oh, you scared me,” his mother-in-law exclaimed, noticing the daughter-in-law who had suddenly appeared in the kitchen.
“What did you forget in my cabinets?” the mistress of the kitchen demanded angrily.
“Forgot what? I went to get some oatmeal for porridge, and there was such a mess. So I decided to help tidy up.”
“And why did you turn everything upside down in the room? What were you looking for?”
“I was looking for the child’s pants—you never said they were on the dresser in the bedroom. So I had to rummage around,” her mother-in-law said indignantly, spreading her arms.
“Yes, what a loving wife you are…,” her mother-in-law clicked her lips meaningfully. “And how does Alexey tolerate all of this? He’s used to order and cleanliness…”
“Come on, son, support me before I fall,” the woman pleaded as she got down from the stool.
“It seems that during all the time we’ve lived together, your son hasn’t really cared about keeping the house clean. He tosses his socks in the corners, not to mention the dishes. Since he’s such a neat freak, why doesn’t he help out? After all, you’ve seen how I fuss over the child,” the daughter-in-law immediately defended herself.
“A man isn’t supposed to crawl around with a rag on the floor. That’s a woman’s duty,” her mother-in-law added grumpily, placing her hands on her hips.
“Then take care of it in your own apartment. Why did you bring your own standards of cleanliness into our home?”
“I only wanted to help. Of course, I’m used to living in a mess, but I just can’t stand it—I’m a perfectionist. I need everything to be clean and orderly,” the woman declared, lifting her chin. “Look at all these useless things you’ve found.”
She waved her hand toward the sink. Lena looked and was dumbfounded. On the floor lay bags of dried herbs that her mother had given her at the end of summer—her own collection, gathered and dried by her.
Nearby, a heap of glass jars stood where Lena used to make homemade yogurts. But what upset her most was the enormous cast-iron duck roaster set aside for disposal—a relic passed down from her grandmother.
“I’d even have thrown out that old dinner set,” her mother-in-law declared, unaware that her actions were already jeopardizing her already fragile relationship with her daughter-in-law.
“Leave everything in its proper place,” the irritated daughter-in-law snapped each word.
Marina Leonidovna looked at her in surprise.
“Oh, well. I had no idea you were such a hoarder,” her mother-in-law muttered with self-importance.
“Who asked you to meddle in my cabinets in the first place?”
Lena climbed onto a stool and, under disapproving glares from her mother-in-law, quickly put everything back in its place.
“Who asked her to stick her nose into my cabinets at all?” Lena fumed, as Marina Leonidovna, picking up her coat and wrapping a scarf around her neck, departed.
“See, Mom was right—you really let the apartment go to waste,” Lyosha declared in her defense.
“Oh, Mom was right?” Lena fumed.
She looked at her husband, barely recognizing him.
“Oh, Lena, forgive me. Of course, I was wrong yesterday,” her mother-in-law cooed the next day, smiling saccharinely as she saw her daughter-in-law off to work.
“Forget it—but please, no more meddling in the cabinets. I’ll manage the cleaning myself. And the child’s pants are on the dresser!” Lena declared sharply.
Lena soon immersed herself in work. Marina Leonidovna dutifully performed her role as grandmother. Every evening when her daughter-in-law returned from work, her mother-in-law would report on how the day had gone.
“Today, by the way, I sat hungry all day,” the woman once declared with pursed lips. “I went to work and left the empty pots behind,” Marina Leonidovna said reproachfully.
“There are dumplings in the freezer and plenty of meat. You could have cooked something,” the daughter-in-law retorted.
“How am I supposed to cook with the child in my arms?” protested Marina Leonidovna.
Lena was thoroughly exhausted by her mother-in-law’s daily tirades. Every evening, she had to listen to her complain that her cooking was unappetizing, that her place was dusty and cluttered, and that the house felt uncomfortable—claiming that she could have done a better job taking care of the apartment she had given them.
“Enough,” Lena suddenly exclaimed. “Instead of saying ‘thank you,’ you manage to heap more criticism!”
“And what for ‘thank you’?” her mother-in-law asked, genuinely surprised. “I’m doing you a favor, you know: I get up early, travel across the city, and sit with your son.”
Lena listened in disbelief. She couldn’t believe her ears—she hadn’t expected such a turn of events.
“Marina Leonidovna, do you not remember who needed the car and for whose loan I was forced to go back to work?” Lena shrieked.
Her mother-in-law, not expecting such a turn, was momentarily stunned.
“Where would you go with your help and your car, you know where?” Marina Leonidovna glared at her daughter-in-law.
“Well, you know?!” the woman finally protested, once she had recovered a bit from the shock. “Then stay home with Egor yourself!”
She grabbed her coat and prepared to leave.
“No problem, and you handle your own loan somehow,” the daughter-in-law retorted with a touch of sarcasm.
For a moment, her mother-in-law paused in the doorway, looked at Lena, and then bolted out—slamming the door so hard that the plaster fell off.
Lena’s anger was boiling inside. For five months, her mother-in-law had been watching Egor; for five months, Lena had endured daily complaints that she was a terrible housekeeper, that she didn’t watch her son properly, and that her husband was starving her…
What angered her most was that Lyosha knew perfectly well how his mother tormented his wife—and yet he did nothing.
“Tell her to leave me alone,” Lena demanded.
“How am I supposed to tell her? Besides, it’s your fault—Mom is right,” her husband declared.
Lena picked up her son—the very reason she was willing to work tirelessly and lose sleep at night.
A plan had already formed in her mind…
She rolled a suitcase into the middle of the room and calmly, methodically began packing her things. Why should she stay with a husband who couldn’t even protect her from his own mother? Better alone than with someone who didn’t respect her.
The phone wouldn’t stop ringing.
“Don’t you want to answer?” her mother asked tiredly, looking at her daughter. Lena had been living with her for a week now. Although it was a long way to get to work, there was no other option.
“No,” Lena replied quietly but firmly. She stood by the stove, cooking a little soup for her son. She knew her husband was calling, but she wasn’t planning to speak with him.
There was another ring at the door.
“Daughter, come here,” her mother called from the hallway.
“Marina Leonidovna?!” Lena was expecting to see her husband at the door, but she hadn’t anticipated her mother-in-law’s appearance.
“May I come in?” the woman asked in a subdued voice.
“Yes, of course,” Lena replied, not expecting anything good from this visit.
She led her mother-in-law into the kitchen and poured her some tea. The older woman sat silently for a long while, clutching a glass in her hands.
“You must go back home,” she finally said.
“I see you’ve gotten into the habit of telling me what I should do,” Lena said bitterly with a wry smile.
Marina Leonidovna lowered her eyes.
“I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to offend you. Please, go back home,” she pleaded almost in a whisper.
“Why?” Lena asked. “You and Lyosha are perfectly fine without us and Egor. You take out loans as much as you want, and let your son pay for everything. I’ll provide for our needs.”
Lena was still angry at both her mother-in-law and her husband. She wasn’t going to work her whole life for Marina Leonidovna’s whims; she had her own goals and plans. Sure, she could have meekly waited until her son grew up and then shifted all the burdens onto him—but Lena was not willing to do that.
“Lena, forgive me. I don’t even understand what came over me… Go back to Lyosha, he’s waiting for you… You know, I have started working again,” her mother-in-law added, looking at her daughter-in-law with genuine emotion.
Lena placed her hand over her mother-in-law’s and looked her in the eyes. Outside, the wind sang its own tune, and the leaves whispered. Their eyes met, and everything was understood without words. At last, complete mutual understanding arose between them.
Lena returned to her husband. Soon after, the couple decided on a second child and were immeasurably happy.
Marina Leonidovna, as promised, no longer asked her son and daughter-in-law for money. In fact, she got a job. Six months later, a significant event occurred in her life—she met a man with whom she formed a strong relationship.
The woman realized one important thing: you can’t ease one person’s life at the expense of another…