Lyudmila woke up to the sound of a dog barking. She glanced at the clock with blurry vision—it was only eight in the evening. She had been fighting off sleepiness all day after her shift and had dozed off. Oh, trouble… Now she wouldn’t be able to sleep until midnight. The dog kept barking forcefully, but somehow joyfully whining as if it had seen someone familiar.
“Did the devil bring someone? Or is he hungry? I didn’t feed him this evening…”
Throwing on a jacket, Lyudmila went out into the entryway, taking a bag of dry food with her. Occasionally, her Yasen ate store-bought food—there were few leftovers from the table: her son had gone to the army, and there was no one to cook for.
“Alright, I’m coming out, calm down! Yasen, where are you?”
But no… Yasen wasn’t interested in food. The dog was barking pointedly towards the gate. Seeing his owner, he wagged his tail even more vigorously but did not move from his spot. Lyudmila peered into the darkness through the picket fence on the side—there seemed to be the outline of a figure behind the gate.
“Who’s there? Are you coming to me? Quiet, Yasen, I’ll show you!”—wrapping herself tighter in the jacket, Lyudmila shouted.
It was as cold as sin! The ground cracked with frost! While Lyudmila, having thrown the bag of food at the gate, was moving the latch, she heard footsteps crunching on the squeaky snow moving away from her. She managed to see a slender figure running into the darkness, a bag bouncing in her hands.
“Hey, hey, woman, wait! What did you want?”
The figure moved even faster, breaking into a trot. Lyudmila—after her. What strange behavior?
“Stop!”—panting, Lyudmila demanded.—”Oh, forget you…”
Then the figure, having run a few more steps, stopped and just stood there, hanging her head as if her strength had run out. The bag slipped from the woman’s hand, sinking silently into the snow. Lyudmila blinked in confusion, approaching closer. She turned the stranger towards herself.
“Polina! What a surprise! What’s all this? And I thought: who is this woman, and it’s you, girl. So what’s going on? At least look at me!”
Polina just stood there, her eyes cast down. Lyudmila knew her, having seen her with her son a few times. They seemed to be dating… At least her son had shown interest. But it all ended abruptly three months before the draft, and Vova, her son, had managed to flirt with another. Oh, he was fickle, changing girls playfully.
“So what did you want, Polya? To talk with Vova? Well, they took him to the army a month ago, didn’t you know?”
“I knew. I came to you…”—Polina managed to say timidly, still not lifting her eyes.
Lyudmila’s first thought was—maybe something happened to Vova, and she was not yet informed? Her heart suddenly chilled.
“What is it? Well, speak up!”
Polina lifted her miserable gaze to Lyudmila and opened her mouth, inhaling the cold air, when suddenly the snow lifted from the ground by the wind, swirling in a whirlwind, hit Polina’s face with biting snowflakes. Lyudmila, following some maternal instinct, grabbed the girl by the hand—it was icy, almost numb.
“Oh, child! Let’s go inside, why stand here in the cold! I’ll take your bag, you go ahead, just wait at the gate—I’ll hold the dog. He’s usually peaceful, but just in case.”
Yasen greeted the nighttime guest with joyful barking, wagging his tail as vigorously as possible like a doughnut.
“Go ahead, go ahead!”—commanded Lyudmila,—”into the entryway and turn left, undress there. I’ll pour some food for the dog.”
Polina, shyly nodding, began to climb the porch steps.
“So what about you, huh? What?”—Lyudmila petted the dog,— “you’re my good boy! Who’s a good boy? You! You! Let’s go under the awning. Where’s your bowl? Alright, eat, you’ve earned it.”
Then Lyudmila’s gaze became worried. She looked at the kitchen window, where a figure wrapped in warmth flickered.
“And what is she doing at this late hour?”—Lyudmila thought anxiously again.
When the hostess returned inside, the guest was already standing undressed, clutching her winter coat. Above, touching the floor, hung her colorful scarf. Lyudmila left Polina’s bag at the threshold.
“Forgive me, I think poorly after sleep,”—approached the kitchen set Lyudmila,— “knocked me out after twenty-four hours. Toss your coat on the chair and sit down. Shall we have some tea? Or are you hungry? I have mashed potatoes with cutlets, though they’re from yesterday.”
“No, I’m not hungry, thank you, but I’ll have tea if it’s no trouble.”
“Sit down, I’ll be quick,”—commanded Lyudmila and began to light the gas stove.
They spent a couple of minutes in silence. Lyudmila took out tea bags, distributed them across the cups. How long will this child sit silently? How old is she? Seventeen-eighteen? She looks like a child, introverted, shy.
“And I, you know, left my parents. They kicked me out,”—suddenly Polina spoke, tracing her pink finger along the pattern on the tablecloth.— “They said, if you don’t want an abortion, then go to the one you got pregnant with, and they won’t be cleaning up this mess. Hmm,”—she scoffed at the end, trying to suppress tears.
“What abortion? What are you talking about, child?”—Lyudmila froze with a sugar packet (wanted to add to the sugar bowl, as there was little left).
“An ordinary one. I will have a child from your Vova.”
Lyudmila bristled, cocked her head. What news! And behind her, the teapot whistled, she nearly dropped that sugar. Turned everything off, sat down opposite Polina. Eyes—like two granny’s balls of yarn for knitting. And the guest wouldn’t even look directly, sitting all tense, freckles on pale skin standing out distinctly, reddish eyelashes trembling, and Polina herself redhead, not very pretty, but cozy, sweet girl. Her eyes with some sad cut, the outer corners lowered, lips very thin, lost amid all this freckled riot. Yes, not very pretty… But then you look at her—and you immediately want to smile because she’s warm and pleasant, like the sun.
“He courted me, you know. I thought he liked me… I’ve been in love with him for a long time, since seventh grade… And he, it turns out, bet a can of gasoline with the boys that he would… you know. He’d be my first. And he got what he wanted—he got me drunk, sweet-talked me, and I, stupidly naive, listened… The next day your Vova was already hugging another girl, and he looked at me with a smirk, like—’what’s the big deal? We’re free people, I promised you nothing.'”
Lyudmila sighed heavily and deeply, only managing to exhale:
“Oh!”
Polina, emboldened, raised her eyes to Lyudmila:
“I didn’t understand right away that I was pregnant. I had my period, sort of… it was irregular, not on schedule. I thought it was a glitch, it’s happened before. Then I figured out to take a test. Today mom took me to the gynecologist… Twelve weeks… it’s still possible… but I can’t kill this baby. There was such a scandal at home! Oh, what dad yelled!.. cursed!”
Polina pressed her hand to her mouth, all crumpled up. Lyudmila didn’t know what to insert.
“In general, they kicked me out on emotions. And where can I go here? They think I’ll walk around and come to my senses, but no! I can go to my grandmother, she lives in Lipki, far away, I can’t make it today. Could you shelter me for one night, if you can?”
Lyudmila, finally understanding what specifically was needed from her, perked up.
“Of course, stay! And not just for one night, but for as long as needed. What am I—a three-bedroom house won’t find a place for you?”
“Thank you.”
“And I’ll talk to Vovka, I’ll call that scoundrel tomorrow. I’ll make him marry you after the army, you bet!”
“No need. He doesn’t love me. I don’t want to marry like that.”
“Well, you know,”—Lyudmila argued business-like, pouring boiling water into the forgotten cups,— “now you need to put your whims aside—I tell you this as a mother who raised a son. You’ve had your fun, danced enough, and that’s it from you. Now adult life has come, responsibility. Vova will return from the army, God willing, smarter, more mature. What is he now? A kid with wind between his ears. But they’ll beat all the nonsense out of him in the army. The main thing for you now is not to get nervous. I forgot—you’re studying at a technical school, right? We cross paths on the bus.”
“Yes, third course.”
“And which one?”
“For a medic.”
“Well look at that! Colleagues, then! I work as a head nurse at the regional hospital, in the surgery department. It’s a small world!”
“That’s for sure.”
They chatted about small things, Polina was not talkative—she was shy. They began to prepare for bed.
“I’ll make the bed in Vova’s room for you, he has a good bed.”
“Thank you.”
“And you have classes tomorrow?”
“Yep.”
“And me at work—asked to substitute until the evening. So, we’ll go together by bus. Well, sleep, rest, and don’t think about anything. Morning is wiser than the evening, maybe your parents will calm down, and they’ll come to apologize tomorrow.”
Polina kept silent. How much her father had said to her… Hurt her deeply.
Lyudmila couldn’t sleep until late. She wrote a long letter to her son, scolded him, explained how to live properly, reminded him of his father’s departure—what it was like for him, the boy, to grow up fatherless. Does this child deserve such a thing?
“In short, Vova, don’t disappoint me completely. I’ve tolerated your antics enough, stop playing the fool, you’ll return from the army already a father and take control of the family. Be a man!”
Polina stood in his room, walked back and forth, examined his little world up close. She still loved him. It seemed to her that there was still the smell of Vova in that room—persistent, tart, brazen… Then she lay on his bed and tried to sleep, hugging his pillow. And wanted to strangle him, and… forgive. And she would have forgiven, if he had matured.
In the morning on the way to the bus stop, they were surprised—Polina’s neighbor met them, a rather impudent and brazen woman.
“Polya! Alive! And walking by herself, such a wild goat! Are you even aware that your parents have been looking for you all night, worn themselves out? The whole village is up in arms! And she walks as if nothing happened! Go home! Your mother is on valerian, I heard they were going to the police this morning.”
“I won’t go!”—Polina turned away and walked on. Lyudmila was surprised: the girl’s got backbone.
“They hurt me and said they didn’t want to see me anymore, so why were they looking?”
The neighbor stared at her wide-eyed.
“Look at you, all high and mighty! I was with them, you know! Where were you?”
“Tell them I went where they sent me!”
The neighbor opened her mouth again, but Lyudmila shushed her:
“She was with me, don’t boil over!”
“And why was she with you…”
“Let the parents come in the evening, tell them. We’ll talk then. Alright, let’s go, or we’ll miss the bus.”
They returned by the same bus, not having arranged it—it just happened. Polina’s parents were already waiting at the gate: the father furious, the mother nervous.
“Alright, Polya, you showed your character, scared us and your mother to death, and that’s it from you,”—the father grumbled to the accompaniment of the dog’s barking.— “I forgive you for this incident, I’m also to blame, said too much. Come on… pack your things and tomorrow we’ll go to the hospital to sort out this misunderstanding.”
“I won’t go!”
“What’s all this about?”—the mother shrieked,— “don’t you know I have a heart condition?”
“Where would a heart come from, if you want to…”
“Quieter, quieter, let’s calm down…”—Lyudmila tried to soothe them.— “Let’s go into the yard and talk, okay? So no one hears.”
Polina’s mother glanced at her sharply:
“So, it turns out, from your cur?.. You raise your son well, nothing to say. And she kept denying, kept kicking back! Made a great secret of it! Probably ashamed of such a daddy!”
“Mom!”
“Let’s go, Polya, everything’s clear here,”—said Lyudmila, embracing the girl by the waist and heading to the gate.
“No, where are you going? HOME, Polina!”
“Let me go! You have no right!”—she broke free from her father’s outstretched arms,— “I’m already eighteen, so I’ll live where I want!”
“Do we need you here as a freeloader!”—the mother was outraged.— “Spare the man! How much salary does that nurse of yours have!”
“Nothing, nothing,”—Lyudmila argued, pushing Polina into the yard,— “there’s enough for a bowl of soup. But she won’t take sin upon her soul—will give birth to the child. And I’ll help as much as I can.”
“Polina! Daughter!”—the father shouted over the fence,— “don’t ruin your life! Think it over!”
No one answered him, only the dog Yasen barked furiously, defending his owner and her new daughter.
“There you have it!—thought Lyudmila,— what a girl! Came to me purely as a lamb, barely bleating about her fate, and looking submissive as an angel. But the very next day she showed such teeth, don’t mourn! Oh, the character!”
Two weeks passed, and Lyudmila received a reply letter from her son. Reading it, she crumpled it in her fist, eyes black with rage. He wrote for his mother not to make things up and to send the girl back to her parents, and he, well, wasn’t keen on marrying yet. “Especially since I don’t love her, we’re different berries. I’m cheerful, mischievous, a simple guy, well, you know yourself. And Polka? She’s boring like a textbook on world history. Don’t annoy me, mom, and don’t butt into my life. Send her to hell.”
“What does he write, Aunt Lyud? Is it a letter from Vova?”—Polina asked, seeing the envelope.
“He… is impressed. Nothing special. He says if it’s a son, to name him Kiryusha.”
“Really?”—Polina raised one eyebrow.— “And if it’s a girl?”
“Katya,”—Lyudmila lied as if it were the truth.
“In that case, may I also write to him? Give me the address.”
“No! Polina! You young people just spoil everything.”
And added more conciliatorily, with a smile:
“Later, okay? Let him digest everything properly. He still has almost two years of service, you’ll have time.”
And so they lived. Polina’s belly grew… Her parents, behind her daughter’s back, began slipping Lyudmila money for her upkeep. They repented, but could not find a point of reconciliation.
“I don’t need them! We’ll manage ourselves!”—Lyudmila refused.
“Take it, Lyud, it torments my conscience!—the mother begged,— “at least we’ll help her, the poor girl!”
“Alright, I’ll save it for the child.”
Spring approached, meaning soon the whole village would confirm Polina’s pregnancy. People already gossiped… Why would a girl live with a strange woman?
“And you hope that he’ll marry you because of the belly? Are you touched or just shameless?”—Polina’s sister scolded her.— “Hanging on his mother’s neck… What’s the woman to do with it? Vova seduced you on a bet! Understand: on-a-bet! Played and that’s it, and you’re waiting. Isn’t it disgusting from yourself? Apparently, you have no pride at all!”
“He has to now, Raya. I believe he’ll come around,”—Polina argued, picking at the peeling paint on the gate.
“What a wonder…—the sister rolled her eyes to the sky.— “He’ll return from the army and continue to roam, mark my words. And you, like a lunatic, clung to his mother. Come back home at least, stop embarrassing yourself and us! Everyone laughs at you, Polya! Do you know what your Vova wrote to the guys? That he won’t return home at all if you don’t wash off from there!”
Polina pursed her lips into a line. Said sharply, as if spitting:
“You’re lying.”
“You, Polya, are called a maniac behind your back,”—Raya confessed reluctantly.— “I didn’t want to say it, but I have to somehow bring you to your senses. And how else to perceive it from the outside? Occupied his house, sitting and waiting, like in ambush! No, you’ve always been an oddball, but pregnancy seems to have completely shifted your brains.”
Raya sympathetically and tenderly placed her hand on her younger sister’s shoulder. Felt even sorrier for her kindred soul. Scolded—scolded, but forgot about a kind word…
“Come back home, Polya. Well, you’ll give birth to a child without a father, nothing—will love and raise. Why does he need such a father? Think about it? A loafer, a deceiver, a brute! Wasn’t it enough humiliation for you? He’ll return and kick you out, even make a scandal.
“I’ll think about it,”—Polina hesitated.
“That’s great! That’s nice! Oh, sister!—Raya hugged her from the side.— “We’re waiting for you today! Pack your things, but don’t drag them with you—dad will pick them up later. We have news for you at home!”
“What news?”
“Come and find out,”—the sister smiled cunningly, her eyes gleamed like stars.
Polina returned to the yard, standing in indecision. Approaching her, wagging his doughnut-tail, was the dog Yasen. Patting him, Polina leaned towards a branch of an apple tree hanging over the flower bed fence, smelled a tenderly pink flower—sweet as! Then the baby in her belly stirred—it was already big, the eighth month had begun. Polina felt it was a boy. She wanted a boy. Every man dreams of a son! Take their father—he rejoiced more than once that a son was born first, his pride, the continuator of the Makshanov name. It was only later, after five years, that one girl after another came along. Vova would probably rejoice more over a boy too. After all, it would be his child! Could he remain completely indifferent?
But the conversation with her sister had an effect on Polina, forcing her to look at herself clearly from the outside for the first time. Although Aunt Lyuda assures her that she’s not in the way, on the contrary, it’s merrier, cozier together, but what next? Vova returns from the army, and they marry them by force? And what will she do here all day alone with the child? At home at least there’s a mother, and everything is native, her own.
In the evening, Lyudmila returned, and Polina had already packed everything.
“You don’t bother me at all, Polya, maybe you’ll stay?”—Lyudmila said.— “I’ve dreamed of a daughter all my life, you’ve become dear to me over these four months. Boys—what about them? I put my whole soul into my own, and he, look, grew up and ‘hello, mom.’ He doesn’t want to listen to me at all, I’ll be left alone…”
“What did he write?”…
“Where there!—Lyudmila confessed,— “two letters from him the whole time, and those with requests not to interfere. He doesn’t need a mother…”
“Well, if you’re not needed, then I’m even less so.”
Lyudmila helped Polina put on her coat, carefully tied her scarf around her.
“Come visit me, okay? Don’t forget.”
“Of course.”
“And when you go to give birth, let them tell me. I’ll hold my thumbs and come for the discharge.”
“Alright.”
“And wait…”—Lyudmila rushed to the sideboard.— “your mother gave money, I didn’t spend it. Now…”
“No, Aunt Lyud! I’ve eaten so much at your expense already! I won’t take it!”
“Well, alright, then I’ll buy a stroller for Katya with it.”
“Why do you think it’ll be a girl?”—Polina was surprised.
Lyudmila hesitated, embarrassed:
“I had a dream, as if I was tying bows on a child… Such a pretty girl, curly hair shining… And they were white-white, like Vova’s were in childhood. So I started calling the future grandchild Katya to myself.”
Polina looked visibly upset.
“Well, it’s just a dream! Nothing is known yet! Maybe just my dreams. But it doesn’t matter: boy, girl. The main thing is that it’s native. Whoever is born, you’ll love, believe.”
Polina returned home, and there the news—her sister Raya was getting married, found a groom in the city during the winter. Polina seemed happy on the surface, but was offended by fate—why so? Everyone predicted a bright future for Polina… Raya was not very pretty: plump, with purely rural round cheeks, studied mediocrely… Sure, Raya had a great character: cheerful, confident, knew her worth, and was sensible in life. Polina had much to learn from her. She looked more interesting than her sister, brighter, after all, a redhead, but as they say, appearance is nothing, and behavior is everything.
Her parents accepted her without a single harsh word. The father surrounded her with unprecedented care: either tucking a pillow or buying something especially useful and tasty.
“You never went after me like that,”—his wife noted.
“That’s you, and this is—my daughter. Carrying my grandson under her heart. You also compared…”
At school, Polina took a leave of absence. The birth was approaching. Constant turmoil in the family: one about to give birth, the other getting married. And all at the same time—during the summer. The mother was running around in a lather, preparing one for the wedding, the other for childbirth.
Polina gave birth long, hard. Ended up with a healthy child. The dream was on Lyudmila’s hand—Polina gave birth to a girl Katya. The father, to get a better look at the child from the street, climbed a pole! There was laughter when both women—Polina’s mother and Lyudmila—got him down from there. Made the whole maternity ward laugh.
Polina stayed in the house alone with the child and her parents. Raya, having married, moved to the city with her husband. Plenty of nannies for the child—if not Polina, then her mother, if not her mother, then her father, if not her father, then Lyudmila. And sometimes all together. Sat and admired the baby’s swaddlings, passed Katya from hand to hand. Loved her downright. Both grandmothers walked through the village, pushing the stroller in turns. Became close friends. The baby’s first word was “ba!” So it went: ba, ba, ba! Argued in jest which grandmother the child honored with the word. And Katya would turn to one—”ba!”, to the other—”ba! ba!” Go figure.
The villagers got used to this picture, no one discussed Polina anymore, and some eager tongues impatiently awaited the return from the army of the instigator of this masquerade—Vladimir.
Thus, a year passed in pleasant worries. Polina changed during this time: her face became more mature, childishness left, and her thoughts changed—became more soberly looking into the future. Did she need that Vova? Why was she waiting for him? Even if he comes towards her, would a happy family come out with a deceiver and betrayer?
“I think, Polina,”—her father said on Katya’s birthday, holding his granddaughter, pampering her,— “go back to your studies. Re-enroll in school. What are you sitting for? We’ll manage with Katya, she has so many nannies!”
Everyone supported him. Polina agreed with joy, herself wanting to get a diploma and start working, to somehow become independent, it was embarrassing to hang on everyone’s neck.
She returned from school one late November evening, and her mother tells her that Vova has returned from the army.
“Did he stop by?”—Polina was frightened. She had been waiting for this hour all autumn, as on pins and needles.
“Where there… Lyudmila said—he’s celebrating the return with friends.”
A day passed, a second… Polina was scared to even walk on the street, especially since the villagers looked at her somewhat askew, with interest—what next? Lyudmila also disappeared, showed up on the third day.
“Just wait a bit, Polina,”—she said upset,— “this representative of the human breed temporarily lost his human appearance from happiness due to his return. Went to his friends, drinks, not drying out.”
“Does he have plans?”
“Yep, there are… Said, he’ll go to the city. They promised him a job there. Just don’t get upset.”
“And I wasn’t thinking,”—Polina objected.— “I don’t need anything from him anymore. But interesting… Doesn’t he want to see his own child?”
“Well, he’s celebrating that too, Polya… The birth of a daughter,”—Lyudmila was utterly embarrassed for her son.
So Vladimir left, never once seeing the child. Polina saw him from afar once—and took off in the opposite direction. She didn’t have the strength to endure his look. She realized suddenly that until the last moment, she still hoped for at least human treatment, let alone apologies, but at least “hello, how are you?” Oh, she would have told him about her affairs…
An eventful meeting between father and daughter eventually happened. In the spring, Polina came to Lyudmila after school to pick up her daughter—and there was Vova. Sat on the carpet, playing with the girl. Saw Polina—tensed up. Lyudmila froze over the stove, making pancakes. And Polina couldn’t utter a word, just opened her mouth.
“And we have, as you see, dear guests,”—Lyudmila explained,— “didn’t expect, but he came.”
And already in an excited whisper, to Polina’s ear she said: “He, you know, normally with her… And Katya, imagine, climbed into his arms. I saw right away that he melted!”
“Uuu…”—Polina stretched skeptically.
“Hello,”—Vova said, holding out a hand on which the girl was jumping.
“Hello.”
“We’re playing.”
“I’m with uncle!”—proclaimed a happy Katya.
“I see, I see.”
Polina sat down with them. One face: what daughter, what father. Fair-haired.
“And she looks like me, right?”—Vova said.
“There’s some resemblance.”
“What resemblance! One face!”—Lyudmila interjected.— “I have childhood photos…”
“We have to go, maybe some other time,”—Polina objected. Suddenly, she was overtaken by resentment and anger. He’s sitting here! Thinks everything’s so simple?! She took the child, kissed her cheek, and stood up.— “Let’s go, Katya, time to go home.”
“Bye, uncle!”
Vova also stood up.
“Wait, Polya. Let’s go out, I want to talk.”
They went out into the entryway.
“If you think…”
“I don’t think,”—Vova interrupted her.— “Just wanted to apologize for.. well, you know. There won’t be a family without love, I don’t want it, you probably don’t either… And there’s another one for me.”
Polina ground her teeth at such directness.
“File for child support, I’ll pay. What’s the child’s last name?”
“Mine! Makshanova!”
“Clear. And the patronymic?”—he asked hopefully.
“Vladimirovna,”—Polina gritted through her teeth.
“Well, thank you for that. You won’t forbid seeing the daughter?”
“And what will you tell her when she grows up? Who are you to her?”
“Daddy. Who else?”
“Hm… So be it. Alright.”
That’s how they settled it. Polina swallowed the last pain, the most bitter, with broken hopes. You have to live on!
Having received her diploma, Polina began to work. Thanks to Lyudmila’s connections, she got a job at the same hospital where her would-be mother-in-law worked. Mother-in-law or not, they remained close friends… It was precisely Lyudmila who introduced her to her future husband.
“Just come to our department at least once! We have a new surgeon! Young, handsome, kind!”
“What does he need me for with a child?”
“And I told him about you, he knows everything!”
By all means, Lyudmila dragged Polina to her place for tea. They met on the fly. Liked him. But the affair didn’t move forward—both were too shy. Then Lyudmila took matters into her own hands: drive me, she said, with feed!
“For the animals, it ran out, I didn’t look after it! Can you imagine such a scatterbrain! You love animals, right? They’ve been hungry since morning, and who knows when a car will come to our village. It’s only twenty minutes to the township, and you have a car… We’ll quickly go to the base on the way… I’ll pay!”
While she rambled, she blushed all over! What nonsense she spoke!
And the young doctor, kind… Agreed. Only refused to take money.
“Then we’ll also take my Polya, why should she wait for the bus…”
On the way, Lyudmila praised Polina in every way: she’s so smart, so and so, and a beauty like no other! Well, about being a written beauty, maybe she went too far… But Polya indeed became pretty, learned to emphasize her strengths. The surgeon, shyly smiling, glanced at Polina. Both felt awkward. Lyudmila deliberately seated Polina in front, next to him.
And it worked out! On the weekend, the young man came to them himself, asked Lyudmila for Polina’s address. Liked the redhead nurse. And how not to be interested, if the product is so highly praised? They married a year later. Polina moved to her husband in the city. Katya now has two dads: one who gave birth to her and whom she resembles, and another who takes care of her and her mom. One she sees once every six months, and the other is with her every day… And recently, mom asked who she wants—a sister or a brother? And shows her belly that has become thick.
“Will he also have two dads?”—Katya asked seriously.
“I hope not,”—Polina chuckled.
“Then let’s have a brother.”
“Why?”
“So he won’t be upset. I’ll tell him that all girls are entitled to two dads because we need to be loved and protected, but boys are fine with just one, they’re men—they can stand up for themselves.”