Anna came home from work and froze in the hallway. Familiar voices came from the living room — Mikhail’s brother Sergey was here again. With his wife and two children. “For a week,” as he had said three months ago.
“Hi,” she greeted quietly as she passed into the kitchen.
Mikhail was cooking dinner for six. The two-room apartment was bursting at the seams.
“How are you?” her husband asked without looking up from the frying pan.
“Tired. Mikhail, explain to me, what is this?” she looked toward where his brother sat on the couch.
“Sergey will start looking for a place tomorrow,” he answered quickly. “A couple more days, and they’ll move out.”
Anna nodded, although she had heard these words dozens of times already. She poured herself some water and leaned against the refrigerator.
“I have news,” she said. “I’m pregnant.”
Mikhail froze, then turned to her with a broad smile.
“Really? That’s wonderful!” He gently hugged his wife and kissed her forehead.
“Yes. And that’s why we need to renovate the room. The baby will need its own space.”
Her husband’s face darkened.
“Of course, of course. We’ll figure something out.”
“What exactly will we figure out?” Anna asked insistently. “I’m two months along, there isn’t much time.”
“Well… maybe we can rearrange the furniture…” he offered uncertainly.
“Rearrange? Mikhail, there are four people living in the living room! Where exactly do you want to move it?”
He again buried his gaze in the frying pan.
“I’ll talk to Sergey. Seriously talk.”
Two days later, instead of Sergey’s family, Mikhail’s cousins arrived. “Just to stay overnight after a party.” A month passed — and they were still living in the living room.
“This has to stop,” Anna said when yet another relative occupied the bathroom for an hour.
“Mom thinks we have to help our own,” Mikhail muttered.
“Curious, what does your mother think about the fact that she’s about to have a grandson or granddaughter?”
“She’s happy, but…”
“But our child is less important than the convenience of your relatives?”
“Anya, don’t say that…”
“How else am I supposed to say it? I’m already four months pregnant! And we still haven’t bought a crib or changing table because there’s nowhere to put them!”
“Quiet, they’ll hear,” Mikhail asked, nodding toward the living room.
“Let them hear! Maybe then they’ll understand it’s time to leave!”
Mikhail stayed silent. That said it all.
“I see,” Anna said coldly. “So, your wife’s opinion doesn’t matter to you.”
“It does, but you know how Mom is… She thinks family must stick together.”
“And what about me? Am I not family? Isn’t the baby family?”
Mother-in-law Valentina Petrovna showed up the next day, as if on cue. Tall, with a cold gaze, she entered the apartment like an inspector conducting an audit.
“Mikhail told me about your demands,” she started without any introduction.
“Demands?” Anna put down her book. “I just want to prepare a room for the baby.”
“This is our family apartment,” Valentina Petrovna snapped. “And you don’t have a say here. We’ve always supported each other, and some stranger won’t change that!”
“I am your son’s wife and the mother of your future grandchild.”
“Being a wife is one thing. But running the house is another! Relatives come for a short while, nothing will happen to you!”
Anna looked at Mikhail, expecting support. He was studying the floor.
“For a short while?” Anna repeated. “Your son Sergey lived with us for three months. The cousins — a month already. And I’m not even talking about the others. Is that a short while?”
“None of your business!” the mother-in-law snapped sharply. “In our family, it’s customary to help relatives.”
“In my family, it’s customary to care for children. Your own children.”
“My grandson won’t disappear! Kids grow up everywhere!”
“Valentina Petrovna, this is my home too. And my child has the right to decent conditions.”
“Your home?” the mother-in-law sneered. “The apartment is registered in my name, in case you forgot.”
“Mom, maybe don’t…”
“Silence!” Valentina Petrovna snapped at him. “I raised you, not her. And I make the decisions in this house!”
“I see,” Anna said quietly.
She got up and headed to the bedroom. Behind her came the satisfied voice of the mother-in-law:
“That’s right. Know your place.”
Sister Irina arrived over the weekend with tools.
“If your husband won’t help, family will,” she declared, rolling up her sleeves.
They worked for two weeks. Pasted wallpaper with teddy bears, assembled the crib, hung shelves. Mikhail occasionally peeked in, mumbled something approving, and disappeared.
“It turned out cozy,” Irina said admiring the result.
“Yes. Too bad I did most of it alone.”
“Are you sure you want to raise a child in such an atmosphere, in this constant chaos? I wouldn’t stand it.”
Anna didn’t answer. The answer was obvious.
“You know, if anything — my door is always open,” Irina added, hugging her sister. “Don’t let them trample you.”
“Maybe once the baby comes, everything will change,” Anna said uncertainly.
“Anya, dear, children don’t change people. They only amplify what’s already there.”
The birth was easy. Little Sofia was born calm and healthy. Mikhail didn’t leave his wife and daughter’s side, swore his love, promised to be the best father in the world.
“Shall we go home?” he asked on the third day.
“Of course. I missed home so much.”
“Mom already prepared a celebratory meal,” Mikhail said. “And invited guests to see the granddaughter.”
“Mikhail, I just came from the hospital! I need to rest, get used to the new routine.”
“Oh, just a couple of hours, that’s all. Mom worked so hard…”
On the way home, Mikhail was unusually quiet. Anna attributed it to nerves.
At home, a surprise awaited her. In the nursery, among teddy bears on the wallpaper and next to the crib, on a cot lay a guy about twenty with a laptop on his stomach.
“Who is this?” Anna asked, holding her daughter close.
“This is Denis, my nephew,” Mikhail muttered. “A student. He has nowhere to live during exams.”
“In my baby’s nursery?”
Denis looked up.
“Oh, you’re home! Don’t worry, I’m quiet. The baby can sleep with you, she doesn’t need much space!” the young man said bluntly and went back to his laptop.
“Denis,” she said evenly, “vacate the room. Now.”
“No way!” the guy snorted. “I’ve only been living here a week, exams end in a month.”
“A week?” Anna turned to her husband. “While I was giving birth to your daughter, you moved a stranger into her room?”
“Anna, quiet, Mom will hear…”
“Mikhail, who are you in this house? Will you do something or just stay silent again?”
“Anna, let’s not make a scene. Just hold on a bit until the guest leaves… You know, the apartment is Mom’s, she decides who lives here.”
At that moment Anna realized: for her husband’s family, she and her child were nobody.
“I understand,” she said slowly. “So, the opinion of your child’s mother doesn’t carry any weight.”
“Don’t dramatize! It’s just a month to endure!”
“A month? What if the exams last longer? What if another relative shows up?”
Mikhail turned away. From the kitchen came Valentina Petrovna’s voice:
“Mikhail! The guests have arrived! Where’s the newborn?”
For a week Anna tried to convince Mikhail to evict his nephew. She spoke calmly, then with irritation, then shouted. Mikhail nodded, agreed, promised — and did nothing.
“Mikh, I haven’t slept for five days!” she pleaded. “The baby is nervous, senses the tension!”
“A little more, sunshine. I’ll talk to Mom…”
“You’ve been planning to talk for a week!”
“You see, now is an awkward moment…”
Sofia cried at night in their bedroom. Denis deliberately played loud music in the nursery to drown out the crying. When Anna asked him to turn it down, he said:
“What, do kids have more rights than adults? I’m a person too, by the way!”
Anna didn’t sleep at all. Valentina Petrovna said at every meeting:
“You look bad. Motherhood doesn’t suit you. Maybe take some vitamins?”
“Enough!” she said on Saturday morning, packing her bag.
“What are you doing?” Mikhail asked in surprise.
“Taking my daughter and leaving. When she turns one, I’ll file for divorce. And if you don’t support us financially now, I’ll sue for alimony.”
“Anna, don’t! Let’s discuss everything!”
“It’s too late for discussion. A year ago it could have been discussed, a week ago, even a day ago. But now it’s all over!”
“But I love you! I love Sofia!”
“Love shows in actions, Mikhail. And your actions say otherwise.”
She took her daughter and headed to the door. Valentina Petrovna stood there.
“Where do you think you’re going? Stop dramatizing!”
“You got what you wanted. The apartment is yours, the relatives are yours. Live as you please.”
“You’re selfish! Destroying the family over some whims! Thinking only of yourself, not your husband!”
“I think of my daughter. Unlike you.”
“Oh, look who’s singing! I gave you a roof over your head, and you’re whining!”
“A roof?” Anna smiled bitterly. “You gave me a servant’s place in my own home. I cooked, cleaned, did laundry for your entire crowd, and in return got rudeness and complete disregard for my opinion.”
“Girl!”
Mikhail stood silently nearby. Again.
“Say something,” Anna asked her husband. “At least once in your life take someone’s side.”
Mikhail opened his mouth, looked at his mother, then at his wife — and fell silent again.
“Goodbye,” Anna said and closed the door behind her.
A month later, the documents were filed in court. Anna demanded not only alimony but compensation for two years of running the household for her husband’s family. Photos of the overcrowded apartment, neighbors’ testimony about the constant flow of guests, receipts for groceries — all were submitted as evidence.
“Are you seriously expecting compensation for cooking and cleaning?” the opposing lawyer asked.
“I expect compensation for forced housework over two years,” Anna answered calmly. “Plus moral damages for the newborn child being deprived of a separate room in favor of a stranger.”
“But the nephew isn’t a stranger!”
“For my daughter, he is. And legally too.”
The trial lasted three months. During this time, Mikhail called every day.
“Anna, Mom is ready to compromise! Denis will move out!”
“Mikhail, it’s too late.”
“But why? You wanted this!”
“I wanted it two months ago. Now I want to live in peace.”
“I’ll change!”
“You’ll change in court. Let’s see how you change the alimony payment receipts.”
Anna won the case. The court awarded not only alimony but compensation for running the household and moral damages.
After the verdict, Valentina Petrovna approached Anna:
“You planned all this! You married just to sue for money!”
“Valentina Petrovna,” Anna replied wearily, “if you had just let me live in my family as a person, not as a servant, we would be raising our granddaughter together now. But you chose war. You’ll get the result.”
Mikhail called every day, begged for meetings, promised to change. Anna was resolute:
“Until you pay the court-ordered sum, you won’t see your daughter.”
“But I’m her father!” he shouted into the phone.
“Fathers protect their children. And you stayed silent when a stranger took your newborn daughter’s room. And in general, you’ve always been silent — so shut up now.”
“Anna, give me a chance!”
“You had chances for two years. You wasted them all.”
“I’m ready to move out from my mother!”
“Mikhail,” Anna said calmly, “you’re thirty-two. Being ready to move out from your mom is not heroism. It’s normal and should have happened ten years ago.”
“But…”
“No ‘buts.’ Pay alimony on time, and when Sofia grows up, you can see her. On neutral ground.”
Anna hung up and looked at her sleeping daughter. In the nursery, which her sister Irina helped set up in the new apartment, it was quiet and cozy. No one barged in uninvited, no loud music, no one to feed or serve.
“We’ll manage, baby,” she whispered. “We’ll definitely manage.”
The money was paid after six months. Anna allowed visits with her daughter — strictly by schedule, in her presence, and only for an hour at a time.
Mikhail came every Saturday, brought toys, sat on the floor, and played with Sofia. The girl smiled at him but reached for her mother.
“Anna, forgive me,” he said every time. “Let’s try again.”
“No.”
“But why? I’ve changed!”
“You only changed when you lost everything. I don’t need a weakling like you.”
Anna also allowed the mother-in-law to see her granddaughter, but when she asked to take the girl for a walk alone, Anna refused — the memory was too painful. The mother-in-law understood she was losing not Anna, but her only granddaughter.
“Valentina Petrovna, I can’t trust Sofia with you,” Anna explained after yet another refusal. “Too much has happened.”
“But I’m her grandmother…”
“A grandmother who basically kicked us out into the cold. Forgotten?”
The mother-in-law was silent, unable to defend herself.
A doorbell rang on a Sunday morning. At the door stood Valentina Petrovna — older now.
“May I come in?”
Anna let her in without a word.
“Sorry it turned out this way. I made a deed of gift for the apartment,” said the mother-in-law, handing over the documents. “To Sofia. She’s my granddaughter, and she deserves a home.”
Anna couldn’t believe what she heard, took the papers, and studied them carefully, but still didn’t smile.
“Why?”
“Because I’m losing her. She’s growing up, and I don’t even know what her favorite toys are.”
“That doesn’t mean I forgive you or Mikhail.”
“I know. But maybe you’ll come back? For her sake?”
Anna looked at her daughter, who was taking her first unsteady steps between the sofa and armchair.
“Okay. But now the apartment belongs to Sofia. So I set the rules.”
The move back took one day. Anna set the conditions immediately:
“No guests without permission. No relatives staying overnight. The nursery is off-limits. And most importantly — any disrespect toward me, and we leave forever.”
Valentina Petrovna nodded, agreed to everything.
Mikhail rented a one-room apartment nearby. Anna didn’t allow him to come back.
“But we’re family,” he said standing at the door.
“You didn’t consider me family when you needed to protect me. It’s too late to remember that now.”
“But our daughter… she needs a father.”
“A father, yes. You? We’ll see. For now, you can see her only here and only in my presence.”
“You want to punish me?”
“I want to protect my daughter from repeating my mistakes. Trust has to be earned again.”
The first test came a week later. Mikhail’s cousin arrived “for a couple of days.” Anna met him in the hallway.
“Turn around and go back.”
“Are you crazy?! I’m family!”
“The apartment belongs to my daughter. And I won’t tolerate strangers in my house.”
“Valentina Petrovna!” he shouted. “Tell your daughter-in-law!”
The mother-in-law listened calmly and replied:
“Anna is right. This is her home. She warned about the rules.”
“You’re all crazy! So some girl is telling me what to do?!”
“This girl is the mother of my granddaughter and the lady of the house. And you’re an uninvited guest.”
The relative cursed everyone and left.
“Thank you,” Anna said as the door closed.
“I gave my word. And I intend to keep it.”
Mikhail came every weekend. Played with his daughter, read her stories, taught her to walk. Sofia got used to him and was happy to see him.
“She looks like you,” he said once, watching the girl concentrate on stacking blocks.
“Yes. Stubborn.”
“Anna… I know I ruined everything. But maybe, over time…”
“No, Mikhail. You made your choice. Now it’s my choice, and honestly — there’s no place for you in my bedroom.”
“I’ve changed. I go to a psychologist, work on myself…”
“That’s good. For Sofia. But between us, it’s over.”
“Forever?”
“Forever.”
He left quietly, as always. But the next weekend, he came again — for the daughter’s sake.
In the evening, Anna sat on the nursery floor, picking up scattered toys. Sofia slept peacefully in her crib.
Valentina Petrovna, who had been around almost every day, peeked into the room.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“For what?”
“For giving me a chance to make things right. For letting me stay in my granddaughter’s life.”
Anna nodded.
“She deserves to know her grandmother. A real grandmother who will protect her.”
“I won’t let you down anymore.”
“We’ll see. But so far, things are going well.”
“Anya… can I take her to the park tomorrow? Just for a little while, before lunch.”
Anna thought for a moment. Three months of living together had shown that the mother-in-law had really changed.
“Okay. But only until twelve. And if anything happens…”
“Nothing will happen. I promise.”
Sofia took her first independent steps on Saturday while Mikhail read her a book. She stood up, swayed, and walked across the room to her mother.
“Good girl!” Mikhail admired. “Anna, did you see?”
“I did. Our smart girl is growing.”
“Our…” he repeated hopefully.
“Sofia is ours. But you and I — no longer.”
Mikhail nodded, realizing it was final. But he continued playing with his daughter, delighted by each achievement. He lost his wife but didn’t want to lose the right to be a father.