The wedding dress fitting was moved to the next day because the seamstress working on it had to take her child to the hospital. Lena felt a flicker of disappointment, but she made herself switch into a better mood right away. It wasn’t worth getting upset over something so small—she’d try it on tomorrow. Yes, she was eager to see how it would look on her, but everything had its proper time. Lena had always told herself not to fall apart without a real reason.
And since she happened to be not far from the neighborhood where she’d grown up, she decided to drop by her friend’s place. So what if she didn’t warn anyone? It would be a surprise. When they were kids, they never announced themselves—they just showed up. And if Anya wasn’t home, Lena would treat Vera Grigoryevna to pastries instead. No big deal.
A smile played on her lips. A mischievous, childish feeling woke up inside her, and for a moment it was as if she’d returned to those days when she’d run to her friend’s house just to spend time together.
The familiar little courtyard greeted her with a warmth that lived forever in memory. It felt like everything had happened only yesterday… two girls sitting under the awning of the summer kitchen with their dolls spread out, sewing tiny outfits for them, competing to see whose turned out best. Anya was five years older, always let Lena “win,” and taught her all sorts of things. Childhood was wonderful—no worries, no anxiety, life simply flowed.
Now there was always something to do, and a simple visit like this had become a rare occasion. Lena tightened her fingers around the handles of the pastry bag she’d bought at a nearby bakery and smiled to herself. Anya would be thrilled.
The door to the old little house stood open, and the doorway was draped with spotless white tulle. How did Vera Grigoryevna manage to keep it so perfectly clean? Lena had always envied that. She pushed the tulle aside and slipped inside. She was about to call out that she’d arrived, when she heard Anna speaking with her mother and froze for a moment on the threshold.
“When are you going to tell her the truth?” Vera Grigoryevna was saying, distressed. “You and Lena have been through everything together! How can you hide something like this from her?”
Were they talking about Lena?
Lena’s senses sharpened. On tiptoe, she moved a little closer to the large sitting room, carefully stepping—by memory—on the strongest boards that usually didn’t creak. As children, she and Anya had learned exactly where to place their feet when they sneaked out to play and didn’t want to wake the lady of the house.
Nothing had changed.
“Mom, how am I supposed to tell her?” Anna’s voice sounded strained. “She won’t understand. I don’t even understand how it happened. Anyway, I don’t think Lena needs to know the truth right now. Let her get married and enjoy it, and I’ll… I’ll think about what to do. Some things you don’t even want to share with your closest friend.”
What kind of secret was Anna keeping from her? They’d always been best friends, swearing they were sisters even if they didn’t share blood. Lena had never hidden anything. And now it turned out Anya had something she was keeping back. The realization hurt.
“You can’t hide it forever,” Vera Grigoryevna insisted. “You know that. As soon as your belly starts to show, the questions will begin. What then?”
“I’ll come up with something,” Anna said. “She doesn’t need to know that the father of my baby is… Dima.”
It hit Lena like a high-voltage shock.
As if someone had struck her in the head with the blunt side of an axe—everything went muffled, the light seemed to dim. What kind of madness was that? How could her fiancé be the father of Anna’s child? They hadn’t even known each other until Lena hosted a small dinner for friends. Was that when it happened? But if so, then Dima had cheated on her. Could she really walk down the aisle and marry a man who’d betrayed her? Or had they been acting from the very first meeting, pretending they’d never met when they already had?
Her eyes burned as tears rushed up. She shifted without thinking, and a floorboard squeaked beneath her foot. She wanted to spin around and run, but Vera Grigoryevna stepped out into the hall. Seeing the unexpected guest, the woman gasped, barely managing to cover her mouth with her hands.
“Lena?” Anna’s voice rose in alarm. “W-why didn’t you call first? How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough,” Lena said, trembling, “to hear what you’ve been trying so hard to keep from me. I only have one question—why? Why didn’t you tell me? Were you planning to keep laughing behind my back? What story were you going to invent later? We promised we’d be like sisters… If something like this happened, you should’ve told me. How am I supposed to get married now? How am I supposed to look at his child—your child—that my best friend is carrying? Did you even think about that?”
Anna opened her mouth to defend herself, but suddenly she looked unwell. She clutched her stomach and let out a small groan. Vera Grigoryevna hurried to help her sit on the couch and called an ambulance. Then she turned to Lena, pleading with her not to jump to conclusions and not to pressure Anna.
“She has a threatened miscarriage,” Vera Grigoryevna said urgently. “She can’t lose this baby—if she does, she may never be able to have children again. I know this is hard, but don’t act in anger. She’ll explain as soon as she can. I could explain too, but I’m afraid it isn’t my place. Even I still struggle with this truth. Life is complicated—sometimes it throws you surprises you can’t escape.”
Anna was taken to the hospital, and Lena went home. She rented an apartment not far from the office where she worked. She couldn’t bring herself to answer her fiancé’s calls. How dare he betray her—and now keep ringing her phone? Did he even know he was about to become a father?
Worried something had happened, Dmitry came to her door, but Lena refused to let him in. She told him to get lost and never show up in front of her again. Dmitry had no idea what he’d done to deserve it. He searched for an explanation, but couldn’t figure out what he was being accused of. Deciding it was better not to push her right then, he gave her time to calm down. He was anxious, but he understood that being forceful would only make things worse.
Anna spent several days in the hospital on IV drips. All that time Lena avoided meeting Dmitry or speaking with him. She said there would be no wedding—no discussion—and offered no explanation.
Then Anna called and asked Lena to come to the hospital. She said she needed to tell her everything face-to-face.
But how do you look a traitor in the eyes?
Lena had never expected a blow like that from someone so close. After her mother died, she’d considered Vera Grigoryevna a second mother and Anna more than a sister. And now both of them had betrayed her—whispering behind her back, plotting how to hide the truth.
Still, she couldn’t run from the conversation forever. The unfinished sentence in her heart needed a period at the end. Lena agreed and went to the hospital. She brought fruit and stood awkwardly beside the bed, shifting from foot to foot, unsure how to begin.
“This is my fault,” Anna said. “I know I should’ve told you sooner. I didn’t want to reveal the truth at least until after your wedding. I wanted you to smile and feel happy, not to hate me. But since you heard part of the conversation, let me tell you the rest.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I never thought I could love someone so much. You and I are five years apart—not like fifteen, of course—but it doesn’t even feel like a gap, does it? And with him… it didn’t feel like one either. When I was near him, I felt happy. The attraction was mutual. I blamed myself, I hated myself, but I couldn’t stop it. For the first time in my life, I truly loved someone—so deeply. Dima doesn’t know yet that I’m pregnant. I didn’t know whether I should tell him. I got scared. He blamed himself too for what happened between us. We didn’t promise each other anything because we understood—our relationship was more doomed than possible.”
Lena let out a heavy breath and sat down on the chair by her friend’s bed. Her heart felt as if it were bleeding. She loved her fiancé too—she loved him with her whole heart. But she couldn’t marry him now, knowing he’d cheated and that a child would soon be born.
“Why did you let it go this far?” Lena asked quietly. “All the wedding preparations drained me… Why did you want to watch me being happy? So you could ruin my marriage later with this news? I don’t understand.”
Anna wiped her cheeks. She felt guilty and couldn’t find the right words.
“I thought… once you experienced the joy of married life, maybe you’d be able to accept what he and I have,” she whispered. “Maybe you wouldn’t be against it. I know accepting our baby will be hard for you, but… I love him.”
Lena gave a bitter, broken laugh. Tears spilled freely now. Was her friend still tormenting her—talking about “acceptance” in a situation like this?
“So you wanted my family life to turn into some kind of harem?” Lena snapped. “You thought I’d be fine with my husband going off to another woman sometimes and raising a child with her?”
Anna went pale and shook her head. Red blotches rose on her cheeks. She opened her mouth to speak, but every word seemed to vanish. Misunderstanding stood between them like a thick wall.
“I’m leaving,” Lena said. “You two can sort it out yourselves. I already told him never to show his face to me again. If you want, take my dress. Live however you want. But I’m done with you.”
She stood and headed for the door—only to be stopped by Anna’s voice.
“You’ve got it completely wrong,” Anna said, breathless. “I wasn’t talking about your fiancé. I’ve been talking about your father.”
It felt as if someone had shaken Lena so hard the air was knocked out of her lungs. She grabbed the doorframe so she wouldn’t fall, trying to process what she’d just heard. For a split second, relief flooded her—then the real meaning hit.
Her best friend was pregnant by her father?
She was going to give Lena a little brother or sister?
How was that even possible? It was unthinkable.
“About my father?” Lena repeated, barely trusting her own hearing. “You meant my father… not my fiancé?”
“Yes,” Anna whispered. “He was afraid of how you’d react, so he wanted to keep it secret. But the farther we went, the harder it became to stop. The fifteen-year difference doesn’t scare me. What scares me is you—your reaction. Can you accept us and let us be happy? After your mother died, he couldn’t build a family with anyone. But then he fell in love again. I’m sorry that the woman he fell in love with… was me.”
Lena shook her head. Spots danced in front of her eyes. She told Anna she needed time to think—and ran.
She didn’t remember how she got home. But when she saw her fiancé standing outside her building, she threw herself into his arms and burst into tears. She begged Dmitry to forgive her for thinking the worst and not even giving him the chance to explain. She could never have imagined that her father and her friend could…
“Love doesn’t care about age,” Dmitry said softly, trying to calm her down. “I don’t see anything strange in it. Couples have even bigger age gaps. It’s their decision. You shouldn’t tear them apart—especially if they’re having a baby. And I’m sorry if I ever gave you any reason to doubt me, if your first thought was that it was me. From now on I’ll do everything I can so you never, not for a second, suspect I could betray you.”
Lena and Dmitry continued preparing for the wedding. Even though the news that had fallen on her was hard to accept, Lena agreed that she had no right to tell her father and her friend whom they were allowed to love. You couldn’t force a heart to give up real feelings. She wanted to believe it truly was love—not a temporary obsession that would leave nothing behind but pain.
After Lena and Dmitry’s wedding, Lena’s father—also named Dmitry—proposed to Anna. Vera Grigoryevna struggled to accept such an “older” son-in-law, but for her daughter’s happiness she chose to step over her own convictions. Anna was happy, and grateful to Lena for accepting her relationship with Lena’s father. She promised she would never hide anything from Lena again and would always be honest—because one small lie had nearly led to a terrible tragedy.