Nadia realized almost immediately that her future mother-in-law did not like her. The woman didn’t even try to hide her emotions; she was straightforward.
“Son, are you sure you can spend the rest of your life with this woman?” she asked directly at the table, during the first meeting with Oleg’s fiancée.
“Mom, of course,” the young man almost choked, looking from his mother to his fiancée.
“Just saying, anything can happen. You probably thought it was ‘love till the grave’ when you brought that dark-haired girl, Lena, to meet us too, right?”
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Oleg blushed and even beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He looked at his mother and hugged Nadia by the shoulders:
“Lena was my classmate, mom, and I didn’t bring her to meet you, we just wrote a report together. By the way, she was friends with Egor Maltsev.”
“Oh, really?! Is that how it is?” Nina Alekseyevna looked at Oleg’s girlfriend, apparently studying her reaction, “it looked different to me.”
“Anyway, mom, Nadia and I are planning to apply for a marriage license tomorrow. We’ve decided not to have a wedding. Just sign the papers and sit in a cafe. Her parents, you, and the witnesses who will go with us to the registry office.”
“Well, that’s right,” the mother supported her son, “as it happens with many, you know. They throw a feast for the whole world, get into debt up to their ears, and then a month later they split up and don’t understand why they spent so much.”
“We’ll live in my apartment, I think,” Oleg said and, noticing that his mother looked at him questioningly, explained, “You did say that you’d refuse tenants when I got married.”
“But they just paid me for the next six months. How can I refuse them?” Nina Alekseyevna exclaimed indignantly, “and Masha is coming back from school soon, she needs somewhere to live too.”
“What do you mean?!” Oleg even stood up and then sat down again, settling more comfortably, “it’s my apartment! Grandma put it in your name because I was too young, but you yourself said that she asked for the apartment to be mine, you even showed me the letter.”
“Well, that’s true, but you should understand that you’re a man, you can support your own family. You have a good job. And Masha is a girl; no one else can take care of her right now,” his mother stated unequivocally.
“You two will have a three-room apartment, isn’t that enough for Masha?”
“Oleg, stop acting like a market woman,” Nina Alekseyevna snapped, “your sister is grown up now, she’ll start dating boys, guests will come over, and with my blood pressure, I need peace.”
“So, I’m being deprived of the apartment that grandma wanted to pass on to me?!” Oleg said with hurt in his voice.
“Stop it!” his mother waved her hand, “No one is depriving you of the apartment. Once Masha gets married, moves to her husband, then you can take it. But for now, consider that the apartment has not yet passed to you by inheritance.”
“I guess I should go,” Nadia felt uncomfortable in this skirmish and decided it was better for her to leave.
“And what do you think about this, Nadia,” interrupted her future mother-in-law, “A brother should help his younger sister, right? Or did you already have plans for this apartment?”
“Sorry, but I knew nothing about this apartment, Oleg and I haven’t even discussed where we’re going to live.”
The girl spoke with some fear in front of Nina Alekseyevna, as if she was hypnotized by her piercing gaze.
“See, son, your fiancée didn’t even count on your apartment.”
“Nadia, it’s time,” as if not hearing his mother, Oleg said, “I’ll walk you out.”
“Oleg, I really don’t like your mom,” Nadia said bitterly as soon as they left the building, “I feel that she is very unhappy with your choice.”
“Don’t pay attention,” Oleg hugged his fiancée and pressed her to himself, “after all, it’s my choice, and you’re marrying me, not my mom. And they’ll give us the apartment, grandma left it to me, even though she registered it under mom.”
“Maybe we’ll live with my parents for a while?” Nadia looked into his eyes.
“No, we should live separately right away, to get used to independent family life, where we can build relationships the way we want and create our own family traditions.”
“Alright,” Nadia nodded and kissed her fiancé.
Before the wedding, Oleg found a small apartment, paid for the rent, and after registering the marriage, when they celebrated the event in a close company, the newlyweds moved into the rented, but separate, housing.
“Here, everything is minimal, but over time we’ll acquire the necessary furniture,” Oleg said as if apologetically.
“What are you talking about, everything is fine!” Nadia pressed against him, “There’s a sofa, a table, a wardrobe, a stove, a refrigerator. What else do we need? For now, we’ll make do. My parents told me that when they got married, they had no furniture at all. They slept on a mattress on the floor, cooked on a small stove that was also on the floor, and stored food on the balcony in a box. And nothing, they are happy because now they have everything and they achieved it together.”
“We’ll achieve everything together too!” Oleg supported her, “you know, we should start our own business. If we work for someone all our lives, we won’t get far, but it would be nice to travel, take vacations several times a year, not just during the legal holiday, buy a car, not deny ourselves anything.”
“Great, of course, but what can we do?” Nadia lit up with the idea.
“We can do a lot! For example, you bring clients to your employer, and he pays you just a tiny percentage. But if you start looking for clients for your own company, then everything you earn is yours! What can I do?” Oleg playfully pretended to think, “I can develop projects, but I’m also paid just a percentage for each one. But if I do it for my own firm, the benefit is obvious. So, we can open a design office! Now more people want to move closer to nature. Many want a designer project for their house, and we can provide that. How about that idea?”
“And you know, we could find a landscape designer and offer additional services. Think about it, if someone orders a house project, it means they are wealthy, and they’ll want to equip the plot as well, right?”
“Exactly!” Oleg raised his index finger, “Nadyush, you’re a genius!”
“And all we need is to rent an office and make a company website!”
“When should we start?”
“Right now,” Nadia was resolutely determined, “we still have three days off ahead! My parents gave us money as a gift, let’s use it for the office, website development, and preparing the documents. We need to order contracts from lawyers, register the company.”
“Great!” Oleg said and suddenly became a bit sad.
“What’s wrong?” Nadia was frightened, “Do you think it was a mistake? That nothing will work out?”
“No, on the contrary, I think everything will work out, just remembered how proudly mom announced in the cafe that she was giving us the apartment. After all, grandma gave it to me a long time ago. The apartment is essentially mine, but at the same time, it’s not mine. So, there’s a residue left.”
“Forget it! Everything is fine. We might even buy our own house. Who just said that people are drawn to the land? And I’ve always dreamed of having my own house, not an apartment. Imagine, it would be great – our own garden, gazebo, pool.”
“Our thoughts simply converge!” Oleg came to life again. I also hold that opinion. So, we are on the right track!”
The spouses spent almost the entire night discussing their idea. And in the morning, when they were sound asleep, the doorbell rang. Nina Alekseyevna had arrived.
“What, son, sleeping so long?” she started from the threshold, “You should have had breakfast an hour ago. You’ll disrupt your routine, and that reflects on your health, if you didn’t know.”
“Mom, what happened?” Oleg asked, rubbing his eyes.
Hearing the conversation, Nadia jumped out of bed and started getting herself ready, throwing on a robe.
“Nothing happened, do I not have the right to visit my beloved son?”
Nina Alekseyevna walked into the room.
“Nadia, you need to change your habits, or you’ll ruin Oleg’s health and you won’t be able to have children normally. My son always has breakfast at seven in the morning. And the food should be wholesome, balanced. And you sleep almost until lunch!”
Nadia glanced at the clock. Half-past eight. Well, they could have slept until lunch, after all, it’s a day off, especially since they only fell asleep in the early morning.
“Would you like some tea?” Nadia asked, adjusting her hair.
“No, I’ll go. Just came to see how you’ve settled in.”
Oleg walked his mother to the door and, returning, hugged his wife.
“Shall we have tea?” Nadia asked, and Oleg smiled mysteriously.
“No, tea can wait! And we haven’t finished sleeping yet, have we?” he teased, playfully raising his eyebrows, leading his wife back to bed, untying the belt on her robe, when the doorbell rang again.
“Your parents came to see how we’ve settled in?” Oleg smiled.
“No, they would definitely have called,” Nadia shook her head.
Nina Alekseyevna stood on the threshold again, holding some wooden cube.
“What is this?” the son looked at his mother with wide-open eyes.
“A nightstand!” she pushed into the apartment and dropped the “furniture” on the floor. “You see, there’s hardly any proper furniture here. And I see it’s a little further from the trash bins. Good thing, it can be painted and will be quite usable, right?! Don’t waste money!”
“Mom, you could have at least asked us if we need this thing or not!” Oleg exclaimed indignantly.
“Why ask when it’s obvious. Don’t thank me, enjoy it, and I’m leaving!” she said and left, slamming the door behind her.
And Oleg and Nadia were left standing, examining the unexpected gift.
“We’ll go out in the evening, put it back in its place,” Oleg said, and Nadia nodded in agreement.
The newlyweds did not abandon their plan. They actively pursued their idea. And by the time everything was ready for their own company to start working, Nadia had already found a couple of first clients. Business went quite well, and the spouses were soon able to quit their jobs and fully engage in their business. They soon hired a landscape designer, and a few months later, Oleg was no longer able to handle the orders alone, and they had to hire him an assistant.
A year passed when the spouses realized that it was time to develop a project for their own house. They already had enough money for the initial expenses, but they needed a larger sum for construction and furnishing, and Oleg decided to return to the conversation about his apartment.
“Mom, I want to sell my apartment,” he said during one of Nina Alekseyevna’s visits to their home.
“What do you mean, sell?” she was surprised, “Your sister lives there, you know.”
“But you said last time that Masha was getting married.”
“Well, she got engaged, they’re already living together. Ivan is from another city, he has no housing here, and Masha doesn’t want to live with his parents, and it’s more comfortable for me when my daughter is nearby.”
“So, you’re saying Masha will permanently live in my apartment now?” unable to hold back, Oleg jumped to his feet and started pacing the room.
“What’s the big deal? You can afford a lot now. Look, you don’t spare any expenses. Caviar, exotic delicacies!”
“We work without sleep and rest, mom, to eat this caviar, and it’s not that expensive nowadays. And the apartment is still mine, and grandma would not have liked that you didn’t fulfill her will.”
“If grandma knew that you, fool, quit your job and opened your own company, she would have deprived you of this apartment herself. For madness! Imagine, coming up with something like that! You’ll end up without a pension! But now you’re living it up. What foolishness!”
“By the time we reach retirement, they might even cancel it altogether, mom! We want to live now, and I need my apartment now!”
“Oleg, I can’t kick Masha out from there!” the mother repeated louder.
Nadia sat in the corner at that time, not daring to move, which always happened when they had the mother-in-law.
“If you’re so eager to take care of Masha, then exchange your apartment, you already made me give up my share long ago, although dad left this apartment to the three of us when he left. But you said it would be fair if I got grandma’s apartment, to give up my share in the three-room apartment, so it stayed with you and Masha. And I did as you wanted, mom! So please, resolve this issue.”
“Understood everything, got married, and now your mother and sister have become strangers to you! Fine, Masha and I will discuss this matter!”
“Please, faster!”
The mother left, slamming the door loudly and not responding.
“Oleg, maybe you should forget about that apartment?” Nadia suggested for the umpteenth time. “I don’t like these conflicts. We’ll come up with something ourselves.”
“It’s a matter of principle, Nadyush, if she didn’t want to give me grandma’s apartment, then why did she force me to give up my share in the father’s apartment? Isn’t that fair?”
For several weeks, there was no time to connect with the mother. She herself did not call, did not come, and Oleg had so much work that he even forgot about that last conversation. And when they were offered a plot for construction, which they had only dreamed of, he contacted his mother again.
“Mom, did you talk to Masha?” he asked.
“Masha went to Ivan’s city, they decided to register there.”
“And why didn’t she even stop by us before leaving? Didn’t introduce her fiancé? Didn’t call?”
“Well, they were busy, all sorts of things.”
“Got it, so the apartment is free?”
“Apartment?” as if surprised, the mother said, “So we sold it, Oleg.”
“That is, what, sold? Mom, are you joking? No, you’re definitely joking, although it’s not like you,” the last words Oleg said with a sorrowful bitterness.
“You think for yourself, how could I send my daughter to marriage without a dowry? And so they will buy an apartment for themselves there, so Masha doesn’t have to live with her in-laws.”
Oleg hung up the call. He simply didn’t know what to say here. Grabbing his head, he sat for a long time, motionless, until Nadia touched his shoulder.
“You know what,” Oleg looked at his wife with a dimmed gaze, “you’re right, I’ll just forget about that apartment, like a bad dream, and we’ll look forward with faith that everything will work out for us anyway!”
When Nadia’s parents found out that they lacked money to invest in construction, they gladly offered their help.
“Nadyush, why didn’t you say earlier?” the mother said, “We have savings, well, we’ll lose some interest, it’s not a big loss. Take it, it’s a good cause! And you’ll return it when you can, we won’t rush you.”
And the spouses gladly accepted the help offered from the heart. Oleg occasionally called his mother to inquire about her health, if she needed help, and she never refused.
“Yes, bring me some groceries, if it’s not too much trouble, because I’ve caught a cold… – Yes, the doctors told me to go to a sanatorium, but there’s no money, if you’d give me a voucher… – Yes, I need boots, the old ones are completely torn, and just my luck, they haven’t paid the salary.”
Even when Oleg did not ask if help was needed, the mother, out of habit, asked for something that required large expenses.
“Oleg,” Nadia couldn’t stand it once, “we haven’t fully settled up with my parents yet, and you’re spending such amounts on Nina Alekseyevna. She could, by the way, receive treatment in a local sanatorium, isn’t the mud the same here? But somehow, she always wants the prestigious one! And it’s four times more expensive!”
“Well, I just don’t know how to refuse her, she always brings up such arguments that there’s nothing to object to.”
“You’re a strange man. You couldn’t reconcile with the fact that your apartment was brazenly taken away, and now you’re ready to give away the last of what you have.”
Oleg just shrugged his shoulders.
When the house was built and perfected, the spouses moved into it and invited their parents to the housewarming.
“Why do you need such a large space?” Nina Alekseyevna gasped, “Just think how much time it will take to clean, and how much money it takes to heat it, and the electricity?”
“Mom, don’t worry, we’ll manage,” Oleg wanted to change the subject, but his mother interrupted him.
“Ah, you’ll manage? Turns out, you have money to burn? But you begrudge an extra penny for your mother?”
Oleg was ready to sink through the floor with shame in front of Nadia’s parents. They never once asked for anything from their daughter and son-in-law, always tried to help themselves, but Nina Alekseyevna crossed all boundaries.
“Everything’s ready,” Nadia hurried to smooth things over, “let’s go to the table.”
The evening passed in a tense atmosphere, and when the parents left, offering to drive Oleg’s mother home, Oleg sighed.
“I’ll try to come up with something so mom understands that we’re not cash cows. It’s time for us to think about the baby.”
Nadia smiled.
“You don’t need to think anymore! It all happened by itself.”
“Seriously?” Oleg was excited, like a child who received a long-awaited gift, “I can’t believe it!”
And Nadia hugged him and whispered:
“Just believe!”
Now the couple had new troubles. And they were so happy that they didn’t even notice that Nina Alekseyevna hadn’t called them for a long time.
“We should call mom today,” Oleg said, “find out how she’s feeling.”
And at that moment, someone knocked on the door.
“Mom, why are you with a travel bag? Where are you going?” a confused Oleg asked, and Nadia leaned against the doorframe, anticipating trouble.
“Where am I going? I came to you! You know, it’s good that the house is big, now there will be a room for me, otherwise where would I have settled? Good thing you built a big house.”
“I don’t understand, mom, what are you talking about?”
“Well, I’ll live with you, what don’t you understand?”
“Why?” Oleg even stammered, unable to find the words.
“So, Masha came home. That scoundrel deceived her. They didn’t buy anything, lived all this time with his drinking parents, and when the money ran out, he drove her to the station.”
“Well, what’s the problem?” Oleg still didn’t understand. “She came home, so why did you leave home?”
“Well, Masha needs to somehow arrange her life? It’s time for her to have a family, she’s suffering. And why would I get in her way? And you have a lot of space, enough to play football, so there’s no room for me, huh?!”
“No room!” Oleg said decisively, “enough of twisting me around! You sold my apartment, your own, moreover, with the share taken from me, left it to Masha! No, mom, enough! I’ve endured for a long time. I was even ready to help you, but you crossed all boundaries! Nadia and I are expecting a child, and we really want to live as we want.”
“It’s her who turned you against me and your sister! You weren’t like this before her, son! You’ve become henpecked! Son, snap out of it! Show her who’s the boss in the house! And we with Masha will move into your house, so you won’t be lonely. We’ll live like before, you’ll meet another woman who will appreciate your family. Son, snap out of it! You’ve become henpecked!”
“Mom, it’s you who needs to snap out of it!”
Oleg noticed how Nadia was trembling in the corner, grabbed the bag from the floor, and walked to the door.
“I’ll call you a taxi and never come here again! If you haven’t understood by now that Nadia is my only woman, then we have nothing to talk about. I’m sorry, mom!”
Returning home, Oleg hugged his wife, and she looked at him sorrowfully:
“Maybe we shouldn’t have done that? After all, she’s still your mom.”
“Tell me, did she remember that I’m her son?”
Nadia shrugged and, laying her head on her husband’s strong shoulder, tenderly hugged him…