My dear mom, my precious… What should I do, how can I help you?” Alla wept. She leaned over the woman lying on a dirty sofa.
“My dear daughter, thank you for everything,” Maria Dmitrievna replied in a quiet voice, “But you’ve already done more for me than you could. See how I have repaid you? We now live in a dump. Forgive me… Your salary goes to my medications…”
“You know, that’s not all. We still have something left!”
Alla stood up. Determination was in her eyes.
“We haven’t lost everything yet.”
They lived in ruins. It used to be a home, but now it was just rubble.
However, its inhabitants didn’t resemble homeless people. Alla and her mother, Maria Dmitrievna, had lived here for two months. They once had their own cozy apartment with all amenities, which they had to sell.
The only salvation for the severely ill Maria Dmitrievna was an expensive surgery. Alla, a kindergarten teacher, couldn’t afford such expenses. Maria Dmitrievna, an artist from the local textile factory, earned even less.
Selling the apartment was a forced measure. Alla persuaded her mother, convincing her that there was no other way out.
“I’d rather die, daughter, but not become a burden to you! You will end up on the street, we have nowhere else to go…”
“No, Mom! While there’s a chance, we must fight for it. An apartment is a material thing. I will never forgive myself if because of these miserable four walls you lose the chance to become healthy again!” Alla firmly replied while processing the documents for the sale.
The surgery was successful. Maria Dmitrievna’s life was saved, but full recovery required prolonged rehabilitation, and there was no money left for that. Now Maria Dmitrievna could move on her own. But not everything was so simple. She remained in a wheelchair. Thus, they had to settle in a shack that Alla found purely by accident. The woman settled in this modest corner while her mother was in the hospital.
In the evenings after work, Alla brought a little food. Each penny was hard-earned, but she took care of her mother. However, the winter colds were approaching, and there was still no way out of their dire situation. Everything that could be sold had long been gone, and the only value they had left was a painting. It depicted a pine forest where a young couple was walking. Maria Dmitrievna painted it in her youth.
Alla tenderly looked at the canvas. She knew it was a memory of her mother’s past dreams, but at the same time, she understood that it was their only chance to survive.
The painting was stunning. A true masterpiece. Maria Dmitrievna was once a talented artist. But when her heart was broken, she no longer took up the brushes. Only this painting remained from that past. She created it for herself, pouring her soul into it.
One damp and cloudy spring evening, Alla had an unexpected idea. She came across a newspaper clipping advertising a luxurious hotel for the wealthiest people. She decided to go there to try to sell the painting. Alla had heard that millionaires can be very eccentric and might pay a decent sum for something unique.
“Mom, I know you’ll object, but we have no other way out. I’ll try, maybe it will work,” she said firmly to her mother, leaving no room for argument, and left that same night.
Meanwhile, Sergey Petrovich was driving to his luxurious hotel. His mood was as bad as it could be, and he had good reasons for that. That day, his life, one could say, had cracked: what he feared most had happened—his family had fallen apart.
On a cold November morning, Sergey divorced his wife Svetlana, with whom he had been married for almost two years.
Sergey dreamed of children, but Svetlana never gave him heirs. In his time, he specifically chose a younger life partner because he himself was already over forty, and time was relentlessly moving forward. With each passing day, the chances of having offspring became less. And without heirs, who would he pass his hotel business to? The state? Or maybe the church? Although, he admitted, such a scenario was not devoid of meaning—after all, helping the Lord and his temples usually benefits.
Until recently, Sergey could not imagine that his happy life with Svetlana would turn out this way. He was sure they would make it because their love seemed limitless. At least, he thought so until one fateful day shattered his illusions.
This day started with a banal accident. Sergey was going on a business trip but got delayed and missed his flight. The next plane was only in the evening, and the businessman decided to return home. He wanted to surprise his young wife.
Svetlana literally cried that he was leaving. So, he decided to spend a little more time with her.
“For lovers, every minute of separation is like an eternity,” he remembered her words, buying an expensive bouquet on the way home. Svetlana couldn’t stand cheap things and always demanded only the best for herself.
Sergey entered the house with trepidation. He couldn’t wait to hug his wife, to see her smile. But everything went wrong.
He quietly opened the door, holding the bouquet. The apartment was unusually quiet, but there was a slight nervousness in the air. Sergey was planning to surprise Svetlana. However, what he saw knocked him off track.
Svetlana was not alone. Sergey froze in the doorway.
“Sergey?!” Svetlana jumped up, pulling on a sheet.
“Come on, say it! Not what I think?” Sergey’s voice trembled with anger. “You know, I’m too old for such jokes.”
He turned around and left, not listening to excuses. This day became the beginning of the end of their marriage.
After the divorce, two weeks passed. Sergey was driving to his hotel, feeling his life spiraling down. Svetlana, whom he had trusted unconditionally, turned out to be a traitor. But the most painful thing was that she deprived him not only of love. He no longer had any hope for the future.
Sergey looked at the road ahead. The evening city lights were on, but everything was dimmed for him. He still couldn’t understand when everything went awry. He realized that he hadn’t felt happy for a long time. Yes, externally everything seemed perfect, but the feelings of comfort and peace had been long gone.
Somewhere at that moment, Alla was standing at the doors of the luxurious hotel. She nervously fidgeted with the sleeves of her old coat, holding the painting in her hands. She was scared, but she had to try. The painting was the only thing left for her and her mother. She hoped to sell it, for any price, just to hold on a little longer…
Sergey considered himself a refined nature, and therefore, in his eyes, Svetlana looked like the perfect companion. They met during one of his business trips. Svetlana worked in the company of a partner. She held a modest position and did not stand out with special talents in management or administration. However, her task was completely different.
Svetlana was a real beauty, and she was not lost for words. She became a kind of business card for her company. For business, this was important. Even more important than the ability to work with documents. She remained in accounting, where they expected her to be presentable rather than professional feats.
Sergey knew nothing about this and was not interested. He had already lost his head because of her charm, sincere smile, and long legs. They literally wrapped him up, depriving him of the ability to think rationally. On the day they met, Sergey invited Svetlana to dinner.
In the company, office romances were not prohibited. Moreover, no one objected. And why would they, if it could help in concluding profitable contracts? Of course, Svetlana readily accepted the invitation. Why not spend a fun evening in an expensive restaurant with a man who was 17 years older than her?
The next day they repeated it, and then again. But the time came to part and return to their cities.
Of course, she felt nothing for him. How could she, if he was old enough to be her father? And the infatuated Sergey wasn’t thinking about anything. She was his ideal.
Svetlana was surprised when, a few days later, Sergey stood at the threshold of her rented apartment. In his hands, he held a huge bouquet. But the surprises didn’t end there. He took a box with a ring out of his pocket. He knelt on one knee and said:
“Sveta, marry me.”
Rejecting such a proposal would have been foolish. Of course, Svetlana agreed. And the huge diamond on the ring did its job.
Just a couple of weeks later, they had their wedding. The young wife quickly left her job, which had already bored her. She moved into Sergey’s spacious three-story house. There she could enjoy all the benefits of life and not think about the need to earn.
It seemed their family happiness was as it should be.
Who knows how long Svetlana could have deceived Sergey, enjoying the life he had arranged for her, if he hadn’t decided to make a surprise and didn’t come home at the most inopportune moment. This was the second “surprise” in their relationship. The first was a pleasant gift for Svetlana, but the second turned into a disaster.
As soon as Sergey approached his house, his heart beat faster. There was a stranger’s car at the gate. He tried to calm himself, telling himself that perhaps it was just a friend of Svetlana’s. The hope for a plumber who had come to fix a blockage looked frankly naive.
Sergey had never been a jealous man and had no reason to doubt his wife. But at that moment, he realized how little he knew about her life, as he spent practically all his time at work.
Trying not to make noise, he entered the house through the back door. The scene that unfolded before him shocked him. The kitchen table was littered with items belonging to a man and a woman, and sounds from the bathroom left no room for doubt.
Unable to contain his emotions, Sergey ran out into the yard. There, behind the gate, grew a thick bush of nettles, which he immediately cut. Returning to the house with the improvised “weapon,” he flung open the bathroom door. Before him was a scene: his wife, covered with a towel, and a completely naked bald man.
Both, seeing Sergey, screamed in surprise. But what hurt Sergey the most was Svetlana’s behavior. Instead of trying to smooth things over, she demonstratively remained calm, as if deliberately flaunting her body.
“Well, what? Look at what you can lose!” she threw at him defiantly.
And then she started blaming him:
“It’s your fault! You ruined my life! Always at work, never paying attention. And I, by the way, am young and healthy! I want love and affection, and you force me to have children, which I simply hate!” her words sounded like whip strikes. “At least I know how to protect myself!”
At that moment, Sergey felt like a complete idiot. He was not just a deceived husband, but also appeared guilty in her eyes. It seemed Svetlana was waiting for his apologies for, according to her, “breaking her life.”
But Sergey found another way to “apologize.” In his hand, he still held the nettles. Approaching his wife, he silently whipped her with the nettles on a soft spot. Svetlana screamed, and the bald lover ran away so quickly that he nearly tore the corridor door off its hinges.
Sergey realized that this was the last point in their marriage. He no longer intended to waste his strength and nerves on a person who so cynically trampled on his feelings.
Svetlana screamed throughout the neighborhood, waving her arms and dodging. She ran around the yard until, finally, she jumped over the gate. This humiliating escape became her last memory of Sergey’s house.
The marriage contract settled everything. Svetlana tucked her tail and returned to her hometown, to a small Khrushchevka apartment. There lived her mother. In the cramped apartment, she licked her wounds and thought about how to hook the next Pinocchio. The reality, from which Svetlana had long been disconnected, hit her with its harshness. Now she had to live on her mother’s pension, feel all the delights of a worthless life, and get used to public transport.
Sergey, to distract himself from the unpleasant events, decided to visit one of his hotels. Just the day before, one of the maids had informed him of an incident.
“Sergey Petrovich, such things are happening here! The administrator brought a vagrant to the hotel, and she spent the night in the suite!” the woman was outraged. “Can you imagine? The suite, where only rich guests should stay, turned into some sort of den!”
Sergey flew into a rage. The hotel, built for affluent clients, with nightly prices that could be a month’s salary for an average person, could now suffer because of this story. His entire reputation could crumble in an instant.
Sergey’s mood was already bad because of the divorce, and now this news. He decided to personally find out what happened.
That evening, Victoria was on duty as the administrator. She got to work on the last bus. The hotel was located outside the city, away from the hustle and bustle. Rich clients were not bothered by this. They could be picked up by cars or even private helicopters. But ordinary employees, such as Victoria, had to use buses that ran only twice a day.
Victoria approached the hotel. She noticed how a young woman with some item wrapped in paper under her arm ran from the hotel to the bus stop. Alla was just a little short of catching the bus. Seeing that the transport was leaving, she collapsed to the ground powerless.
“Why are you so upset? It’s just a bus. You can call a taxi.”
“I have no money. I came here this morning to sell this painting. It’s the only thing left for me and my mother. But no one bought it, even for a pittance.”
Alla, unable to contain her emotions, told Victoria her story. About how her mother, Maria Dmitrievna, became seriously ill. How they sold the apartment, how they live in a dump. This painting remained their last hope.
Victoria listened attentively, feeling her heart tighten. She understood that she could not pass by such a story, but she could only help with what was within her power. At her own risk, she offered Alla to spend the night in the best room of the hotel. Only this room was available.
Of course, Alla gratefully agreed. The frost that night was severe, and spending the night on the street was simply dangerous. Good thing she had managed to warn her mother, calling her from a cheap mobile phone, which was already worth nothing. If it had any value, they would have sold it long ago.
In the morning, Victoria planned to clean the room herself so that the surly and mean maids on duty with her would notice nothing. However, the early visit by the hotel owner shattered her plans. Sergey burst into the building with a loud shout:
“Where is this vagrant?!”
He immediately rushed to the suite, from where he literally dragged poor Alla out. After that, he threw her out the door and also told Victoria:
“You’re fired. Pack your things and get out.”
Victoria had no choice but to follow Alla. Luckily, the bus had just arrived, and both women managed to get on. Alla sat in tears, tormented by the thought that because of her, Victoria, a mother of many children, was left without a job. She had completely forgotten that the painting remained in the room.
Sergey decided to make sure that the guest hadn’t stolen anything and went up to the room. There he saw the painting. He looked at it and froze. The canvas depicted a young couple walking in the forest. Something in this image touched him deeply.
He knew this painting! He had seen it at the most unforgettable time in his life!
“It can’t be…” he whispered.
He dropped the painting and ran.
“I need to catch the bus,” he thought and hurried as fast as he could.
Sergey drove his car, catching up with the bus. The bus driver was quite surprised when a luxury car suddenly stopped in front of him. Victoria and Alla were even more shocked when Sergey entered the bus and apologized.
“I’m sorry for my behavior. I was rude, but the painting… it explains a lot.”
Alla said that the painting depicted her parents. After such words, Sergey fell to his knees before her, begging for forgiveness.
“Alla, I… I’m your father. But I didn’t even know it.”
Sergey’s former lover was Maria. She left him many years ago. Suddenly disappeared from his life when he was serving in the army.
Sergey told how once TV people came to their unit to make a film. He ended up in the crowd scene. According to the script, he was hugging a girl. This was shown on TV. And his beloved Maria saw it.
She decided that her fiancé had betrayed her. Without waiting for his return, she moved to another city, not wanting to explain anything. And at that time, she was already pregnant.
Now fate brought them together again. Maria learned that Sergey had met their daughter, asked for forgiveness. Eventually, all three—Sergey, Alla, and Maria—went to Sergey’s house, where a new life awaited them.
Several months passed. Maria Dmitrievna got up from her wheelchair. Now she was preparing for a wedding with Sergey. Alla was overjoyed.
She made an important decision. She quit her job as a kindergarten teacher and enrolled in courses. In the future, she planned to replace her father in the family business. Her energy and determination instilled confidence that she could handle the new role.
Victoria’s life also changed. She returned to the hotel, but not as an administrator, but as a manager. The first thing Victoria did was fire the mean colleagues.
“Such gossips and careerists are not needed here,” she said firmly.
However, Victoria admitted that sometimes even unpleasant personalities can bring unexpected benefits. Thanks to one of such gossips, the story of Alla and Maria Dmitrievna became public knowledge.
Now their home became a place of warmth and comfort. The painting, which played such an important role in their lives, finally took its rightful place in the living room. It was placed in the center of the wall as a symbol of family unity and overcome hardships.
The close-knit family began a new chapter of their life, in which there was no room for bitterness and losses. Each morning now began with smiles and plans for the future, inspiring every member of this unusual family.