— Dear court, have you still not understood that this scoundrel decided she could just easily snatch a portion of the family’s rightfully earned company and property?!” shouted the mother-in-law, jumping up from her seat. — Zinaida Pavlovna, please sit down, we will certainly listen to you, just later,” the judge sternly calmed the upset woman, “Valeriya Sergeyevna, in your statement, you mentioned that Ruslan Viktorovich asked you to invest the money from the sale of your grandmother’s apartment into the business. Do you have any documents to confirm this fact?
Valeriya paused for a second. She had no documents to confirm the fact of the money transfer. She sold her grandmother’s apartment to prepare for a serious heart surgery for her mother. Then a quota for free treatment appeared, and she was put on the waiting list for surgery. That’s when Ruslan insisted on opening another branch, arguing that the amount could be multiplied several times. “There are no separate documents confirming this fact, but there is a receipt for the transfer of funds to the company’s account,” Valeriya sadly said.
“Very interesting, there could be hundreds of such receipts. She was our accountant after all!” Ruslan boldly stated, looking at his wife with hatred. “There’s no need to shout, you will also be given a chance to speak,” the judge noted, looking sternly at the man.
“May I ask Valeriya Sergeyevna a question?” asked the family’s lawyer.
“Yes, please,” the judge responded, looking sympathetically at the young woman.
“Valeriya Sergeyevna, you claim you sold the apartment to invest the money into the construction company’s development. But an external audit shows that the company was doing very well, and the multi-million profits prove it. As an accountant, you must have been aware of the financial state of the company. Why were additional funds needed from outside if the Shuvalov family’s business was already thriving?” the lawyer asked insidiously.
“We were talking about opening a new branch, and we didn’t want to pull assets out of the main enterprise,” Valeriya responded hesitantly, realizing that Ruslan’s lawyer was a real shark in his field.
“I see. But, for example, receipts for the transfer of funds to the contractor who conducted the renovation of the building and offices in the main office at the time the branch was opened, indicate that there were indeed free funds in the company’s accounts,” the lawyer triumphantly stated, handing printouts of bank documents to the judge.
Valeriya felt like she was falling into an abyss. As if in a dream, she watched her lawyer, who was trying his best to prove that she invested her money into the company. But Ruslan’s side brought in witnesses who confirmed that it was false, that the accountant had specifically swindled the son of the deceased owner to gain access to the family’s wealth. The mother-in-law maliciously declared that the daughter-in-law was a deceitful schemer, who had been caught red-handed attempting financial machinations before.
Valeriya’s head was spinning from everything happening. It seemed as if the judge’s office had shrunk, and the walls were squeezing the girl so hard that it became difficult for her to breathe. A sense of doom and fear for the future clawed at her soul with cold, steel talons as the judge read the decision in which Valeriya’s claim was denied and, after the divorce, she was left with nothing.
“What, you couldn’t strip us bare?” the mother-in-law sarcastically asked as she passed by the young woman.
“Why are you doing this to me?” Valeriya asked tearfully.
“I told my husband, God rest his soul, that you were no simple maiden and that you loved to pocket other people’s money too much. You couldn’t fool him, so you went after my son. You need to know your place. Or else life will punish you, as you see,” Zinaida Pavlovna hissed maliciously, looking disdainfully at her former daughter-in-law.
“You know I invested all the money I saved for Mom’s surgery into the company. What am I supposed to do now?” Valeriya desperately asked her mother-in-law.
“You said yourself that the surgery would be done for free. Valeriya, stop trying to gain sympathy here! You lived in luxury at our home! Do you seriously think we owe you anything? Shameless! It’s good that you and Rusik have no children, so forget about us. Thought you were the smartest? I promise – no one in this city will hire you! And change your surname!”, Zinaida Pavlovna vented and, scoffing, left the corridor.
Valeriya glanced around disoriented: her lawyer was gathering papers, her ex-husband hastily turned away and dashed out of the room, only the judge, an empathetic elderly woman, looked at her attentively and, passing by, said:
“Hang in there, Valeriya. You’re a smart girl, everything in life will turn out well for you. My experience tells me that life sometimes brings very big surprises.”
Valeriya walked outside. The city was swept by cold February snow, twilight was falling, and lights were turning on in the windows of apartment buildings. People rushed home to their small world of familiar square meters. For the last two months, Valeriya had been renting an apartment near the office, but soon the next rental payment was due, and she had no money. She quit her job by her own choice, immediately after breaking up with Ruslan. Her financial reserves were small – it was enough to rent an apartment for two months and pay for a caregiver for her mom. Even on food, the girl had been cutting back sharply for the last couple of weeks. She had hoped that her husband would return her money, so when he refused, she filed a lawsuit, confident that the law was on her side. But it turned out that the law favors those who have good connections and planted witnesses.
Valeriya suddenly felt an overwhelming fatigue and thought it would be great to just disappear from this life. But then she burst into tears, imagining what would happen to her mom if she took such a drastic step.
The girl somehow remembered her childhood. They lived very poorly, but Valeriya only realized this when she grew up. Her mother, who raised her without a father, did everything possible to make her daughter happy. She always had the most beautiful dresses, made from old outfits of her mom and grandma. She never felt deprived. Her mom worked as a janitor at a school, and on weekends, she sold knitted socks and scarves at the market, took orders for tailoring clothes. Valeriya loved her very much and always tried to please her with good grades, she was obedient and a kind girl. After finishing school, she easily got into a budget university, choosing an economic direction.
Valeriya landed an internship at the Shuvalovs’ company in her fourth year at the institute. The head of the firm, Viktor Stepanovich, immediately noticed the smart girl, offering her a job. He, with fatherly care, talked about the rules of doing business, admired her grasp and ability to assess risks, draw up a business plan, and make necessary calculations. Half a year later, Valeriya felt like a fish in water in conducting tenders, signing contracts, drawing up estimates, and tax issues.
Several times at the office, she encountered the owner’s wife, who, with distrust, glanced at the beautiful young girl who had become virtually Viktor Stepanovich’s right hand. She suspected that Valeriya was the boss’s mistress, but he twirled his finger at his temple when his wife voiced her bad thoughts.
Zinaida Pavlovna did not delve into her husband’s affairs, but loved to give orders to his subordinates, each time repeating that it was up to her whether they would work here.
The spouses often argued over their son Ruslan, who just couldn’t finish university, constantly taking academic leaves, and constantly asking for money for entertainment. The mother, fervently, defended her only child, convincing her husband, who demanded that the son get involved in the company’s affairs, that the boy would still have time to immerse himself in work.
One day, as Valeriya was leaving the office, she bumped into a handsome young man. He politely held the door for her and joked that he never believed in fairy tales until he met a real fairy. She blushed then, but his beautiful brown eyes immediately captured her soul. The next day, the same guy waited for her on the street after work. Thus began their romance. They walked a lot around the city, ate ice cream, laughed, and rode on a sightseeing boat on the river. The girl did not immediately realize that her Ruslan was the son of Viktor Stepanovich.
Madly in love, she was very happy and did not understand why the owner of the company was so skeptical about the moral qualities of his only heir. Only later, when the veil of passion slipped from her eyes, Valeriya began to analyze their relationship and saw what she had previously not wanted to notice. Ruslan could periodically disappear for several days without warning, and then come up with some excuses, brushing off the girl’s concerns. There were often cases when he could get behind the wheel completely drunk. He upset Valeriya when he joked that he could not wait for his father’s death to get his money. His ability to solve all problems also annoyed her—he would call his mother for any reason, and she would get everyone on their feet if her son needed something.
Valeriya’s mother, listening to her daughter’s stories about her beloved, shook her head and asked her to think carefully before tying her life to such a guy. But the girl was then blind—she was drawn to Ruslan, and she did not want to notice her beloved’s flaws.
Viktor Stepanovich, on the one hand, was glad that it was Valeriya who would become his daughter-in-law, and on the other, he did not hide from the girl that his son was a screw-up. But Zinaida Pavlovna sweetly smiled at the future daughter-in-law and eagerly took on organizing the wedding. The entire local beau monde was invited to the celebration. From Valeriya’s side, there was only her mother Irina Gennadyevna and two university friends. The mother-in-law, making wishes for the young couple, laughingly stated that the Shuvalovs are simple people and do not disdain to marry even the children of janitors.
The mother was very offended and left the wedding, despite Valeriya’s pleas to stay. Outraged, the girl asked her young husband to talk to his mother, but he stated that his mother-in-law simply did not understand jokes. Viktor Stepanovich then became terribly angry at his wife, they had a fight, which caused the man to clutch his heart, and he was taken to the hospital. Two days later, this wonderful person was gone.
Subsequently, Zinaida Pavlovna constantly tried to sting her daughter-in-law, reminding her that it was her family that drove the elder Shuvalov to death.
The company officially passed into the mother-in-law’s hands, and she began to lead it, giving some unimaginable instructions and dragging the successful business down. Valeriya explained to her husband that if his mother did not change her management principles, the company would soon collapse.
Ruslan, of course, talked to Zinaida Pavlovna, and she allowed her daughter-in-law and son to manage. The company specialized in large construction and depended heavily on tenders. Valeriya, having experience working with Viktor Stepanovich, skillfully prepared the necessary documentation, kept the accounting records, and dealt with issues of opening branches. Ruslan sometimes came to the office, lamenting that he was bored with paperwork. Most of the time, according to him, he spent on construction sites, controlling the processes.
After half a year of married life, during which the spouses only met late in the evening, the girl realized that her choice had been a mistake—Ruslan had specifically, at his mother’s advice, started courting Valeriya to gain his father’s favor. She decided to have a serious conversation with her husband, but suddenly a neighbor called her mother and said that Irina Gennadyevna had been taken away by an ambulance.
The diagnosis was grim—she needed heart surgery, which could only be performed in the capital’s clinic. Quotas for their region were not enough, so it was necessary to find money for paid treatment. Valeriya made a lightning decision—she still had her grandmother’s apartment in the city, which she sold as quickly as possible. Ruslan was there all the time—accompanied realtors during showings, bargained with potential buyers, drove Valeriya to the hospital, and it seemed to her that they could still become a normal family.
But, a few weeks later, the treating doctor called her mother and said that additional quotas had been allocated, so in four months, Irina Gennadyevna could be taken to the capital for free treatment. The girl shared the good news with her husband, who immediately began persuading her to invest the money from the apartment sale in opening another branch of the company in the neighboring region. Valeriya initially refused because she wanted to renovate her mother’s house and leave money for post-operative rehabilitation, but her husband reasonably stated that the expansion would bring good income, several times exceeding the invested amount.
That’s how Valeriya first lost her money, and a few days later, returning home in the afternoon for documents forgotten in the morning, she discovered that Ruslan had a mistress.
The pretty secretary of one of the branches, Katya, who was hiding under a blanket at the time, stupidly muttered something, and the husband, clearly not expecting to see his wife, said that Valeriya should not make a tragedy out of this situation and that it was normal because all men need freedom.
Pushing away the unpleasant memories, the girl slowly walked through the city, trying to figure out what to do next. She needed to earn money to pay for the caregiver and medicines for her mother, plus she should not let her mother know that Valeriya had divorced her husband and was left with nothing, because such news could kill her. Remembering the words of her mother-in-law in court, she had no doubt that Zinaida Pavlovna would make every effort to ensure that the former daughter-in-law did not get a job as an accountant anywhere. She could work as a saleswoman or, for example, a courier, but their city was not very large, so there was a high chance that someone from her mother’s acquaintances would see Valeriya in her new position and tell everything to Irina Gennadyevna.
Shivering from the cold, Valeriya quickened her pace. It had already darkened outside, and a blizzard was starting. The girl was passing by the glowing shop windows when suddenly a gust of wind threw a newspaper right in her face. Cursing, Valeriya picked up the crumpled press and suddenly saw an ad circled in red marker: “Waitstaff needed in the dining car of long-distance trains.” Surprised, she looked around, but people rushing home passed by her, not paying attention to the girl frozen in the middle of the sidewalk.
In the morning, Valeriya called the number from the ad and, two hours later, was invited to work as a trainee waitress. Her train was departing in a couple of days, so after undergoing an accelerated briefing and passing the necessary tests for a medical book, she called her mother and warned her about the departure, lying that she was forced to go to a site in another region.
The next day, her train was already standing at the platform, and Valeriya, in a brand new uniform, along with another waiter, was finishing cleaning up and preparing for departure. Her partner, Kostya, was a cheerful twenty-year-old guy who warmly welcomed the newcomer, promising to teach her everything. The dining car director, Alexander Petrovich, an elderly short man with a huge belly, learned that the new waitress was only twenty-two years old, sighed heavily:
“Why am I stuck with this kindergarten. Watch out – if you slack off, I’ll drop you off at some far station, and you’ll have to walk home!”
Kostya made a funny face at the departing director and whispered to Valeriya:
“Our Kolobok is furious. But don’t be afraid of him, he’s actually a decent guy.”
The train moved, and the restaurant team got to work: Kostya went to distribute food through the cars, and Valeriya stayed to serve the visitors, under the supervision of Alexander Petrovich. Throughout the day, different passengers came in: families with children, groups on business trips, elderly couples. Many of them left the waitress decent tips. Valeriya liked her new job. Outside the window, villages and cities flashed by, landscapes changed, and it seemed that this train was taking her away from all problems, lulling her with its rhythmic clacking of wheels.
The next day, it was Valeriya’s turn to hand out orders through the cars. The girl confidently rolled out the cart and, in an excellent mood, set off to perform her duties.
Her enthusiasm waned in a minute when the cart got stuck in the passage between the cars. No matter how Valeriya tried to move it, nothing worked. Fortunately, a conductor from a neighboring car, hearing the strange commotion, came out into the passage and easily pulled the clumsy contraption onto a flat surface.
“Who are you?” the man asked bluntly.
“Postman Pechkin,” the girl joked, surprised by the question, because her uniform and cart should have made it clear that she was a waitress.
“No, seriously. Are you from the dining car? Where’s Valera?” the conductor continued to inquire.
“I have no idea… My partner’s name is Kostya, I don’t know anyone else here,” Valeriya started to get annoyed.
“Well, right, Kostya told me yesterday that his new partner was Valera,” the man said confusedly.
“I’m actually Valeriya,” the girl laughed.
“Well, Kostya, what a joker, I’ll catch him. He assured me that the new waiter was a big guy with huge hands, ready to help me with the boiler,” the man smiled and added, “and I’m Dima.”
“Nice to meet you, Dima, let me go on, or Alexander Petrovich will fire me and I’ll definitely have to fix your boiler,” Valeriya responded.
“Wait! I’ll help you now,” Dima grabbed the cart and rolled it through the car, “look, you are now in the exemplary car of the world’s best conductor.”
“Wow, is there such an award?”
“Not yet, but if there is, you’ve already guessed who will get it,” the guy laughed loudly.
He was a tall, broad-shouldered man in his mid-thirties, with black, pitch-black hair and a handsome smile. Suspecting that the new acquaintance was flirting to start an unencumbered service romance on the road, the girl suddenly got angry.
“Dima, do you help all the waitresses like this?”
“No, only as beautiful as you,” Dmitry winked, and Valeriya realized that her suspicions were justified.
“Well, I see. While the wife is at home, worried about her husband, you’re here courting new employees?” Valeriya snapped with bitterness.
“It’s unlikely my wife is too worried, we’ve been divorced for a long time,” Dmitry countered, “women like you love until they meet someone richer.”
“What are you saying? The wife is a shrew, and he is a saint—classic!” the girl sarcastically gasped.
“Maybe not a saint, of course, but not a womanizer,” Dima retorted and, handing the cart back to the waitress, irritably added, “go on by yourself, I have my own car to take care of.”
“I didn’t really want your help anyway,” Valeriya hissed and quickly rolled away through the car.
Dmitry watched her go and went to his compartment. After a painful divorce, where he was stripped to the bone, he avoided beautiful girls obsessed with their own looks and money. But there was something special about this Valeriya, some deep resentment in her eyes, creating the deceptive appearance of a defenseless girl, hiding a very strong personality, in fact.
His ex-wife had fooled him for four years, entertaining herself with a lover while her husband was on trips. Then she met an elderly widower, the owner of a large business, and filed for divorce, not hesitating to sue the man for an apartment and money he had been saving for his dream—to build a rehabilitation center for children affected by domestic violence.
Thirty years ago, they took him, half-alive, with frostbite on his body, away from his drinking mother and placed him in a district hospital, where an elderly nurse, Grandma Vera, took care of him and tried to adopt him. But she was alone, did not have the necessary income, so they transferred him to an orphanage. Grandma Vera came to him every weekend, brought simple treats, sometimes they even let her take him out for a walk. Then she was gone. Dima was twelve years old then. Shortly before her death, she said she had learned information about Dima’s father and was trying to find his address, that the boy had two younger brothers. But Grandma Vera did not manage to help him find a family and quietly left, leaving him completely alone.
Dima graduated from a railway technical school, got a job as a conductor on a train, started earning well, received an apartment from the state. At twenty-five, he met a stunning beauty, Marina, and was lost. He tried so hard to create the family he had been missing all his life that he didn’t even notice that his young wife was just pulling money out of him, adoring shops and nightclubs. She insisted on selling his one-room apartment and buying a three-room one, motivating it by wanting to have children. The new housing was registered in the wife’s name, who, pouting her beautiful lips, said that he might leave her, and she would be left alone with the kids. Dima then hugged his wife tightly and said he would never leave her.
They struggled to have a child for a long time, and after consulting a doctor, the man learned that the severe injuries of his childhood would not allow him to become a father. He insisted on adoption, but Marina categorically refused, and then completely left her husband, having an affair with a more well-off man.
Dima promised himself that he would never trust any woman again and took all the shifts in a row, practically living on the train.
Late in the evening, the conductor went to the dining car. He was ashamed of the words he had said to Valeriya earlier and wanted to apologize to the girl. Valeriya was sitting at a table, pensively staring into the darkness outside the window.
“Ler, listen, please forgive me.. I didn’t mean to hurt you..,” Dmitry softly said.
“Yes, I was also wrong. I attacked you out of nowhere,” the girl smiled at him.
“Friends?” he extended his hand to her.
“Friends,” Valeriya shook his warm hand, feeling the warmth emanating from this strong man.
“Oh, what are these outsiders doing in our car? Maybe we’ll play cards?” Kostya’s cheerful voice was heard. – Let’s play, but in my compartment, I have to keep an eye on the heating,” Dmitry offered amiably.
The three of them moved to the next car and played cards until midnight, laughing, drinking tea, until Alexander Petrovich’s figure appeared at the compartment door.
“What are you doing here? Get to sleep! You’ll be like sleepy flies in the morning!” the director scolded the waitstaff in a fatherly stern tone.
The company, laughing, dispersed under the threatening whisper of the dining car director, who, in order not to wake up the passengers, quietly described all the types of executions he had invented for the disobedient youth.
Valeriya, lying down to sleep, thought that she was very lucky with her new friends. The week flew by unnoticed. The work was exhausting but provided an opportunity to earn decent money. Their company became even closer; they spent all their free time together. Valeriya noticed that Dima looked at her in a special way, and she understood that she liked him. And her heart beat faster when he sat next to her.
That morning, everything went wrong. Valeriya was on duty in the restaurant while Kostya served the cars. She felt terrible, blaming it on not getting enough sleep due to the nightly gatherings. Everything was falling out of her hands. The girl was carrying coffee to a table with two men who were loudly discussing something, shifting folders with some documents, when suddenly it darkened in her eyes, and she, swaying, dropped a cup right on their papers.
“God! I’m sorry, please, I’ll clean it up now. I didn’t mean to. What have I done..,” Valeriya apologized, tears in her eyes.
“Miss, are you okay? You’re all pale,” suddenly asked one of the men compassionately.
“No, everything’s fine. Let me wipe everything now,” Valeriya quickly ran for a rag.
“Listen, we have these documents in electronic format. Don’t worry, they can be reprinted,” reassured the returned waitress the second man.
“Really? Thank God! There’s a printer in the next compartment. Let’s go, I’ll print everything now. Do you have a flash drive with you?” Valeriya hurriedly offered help, mentally thanking fate that these people were so positive.
“Yes, we have a flash drive. If possible, it would be great to print the second version, because we need to work with these documents today. By the way, I’m Sergey, and this is my little brother Alexander.”
“Starting again? The little brother turns out to be… By three minutes?” Alexander smirked.
“Are you twins?” Valeriya was surprised. The men looked absolutely nothing alike. One had thick light hair and a round, laughing face, while the other somewhat reminded her of Dima—tall, with black hair and a determined chin.
“Yes, twins,” Sergey confirmed.
They went to Dima’s car, and he agreed to print the documents, learning about the mishap with Valeriya.
While connecting the laptop, Dmitry cautiously asked the girl:
“How are you? You don’t look so good.”
“Thanks a lot. Who says that to a girl?” Valeriya tried to joke, desperately suppressing bouts of nausea.
The men loaded the documents and started printing them. Valeriya, seeing that they were about construction tenders, stared interestedly at the screen.
“Your estimate is wrong, you won’t win a tender like this,” she said mechanically and saw the surprised brothers staring at her.
“She’s an accountant,” Dmitry laughed and, seeing a mute question in the men’s eyes, waved his hand, “it’s a very long and complicated story.”
“Can you look at our papers? Maybe you can give us some advice?” Alexander cautiously asked.
“I can, but just a little later. I need to pack lunches, and then I’ll be free. Let’s say in an hour,” Valeriya agreed.
The train stopped at the next station, and Kostya, running into the restaurant, asked if anything was needed from the station.
“Kostya, can you pop into the pharmacy?” Valeriya asked.
“No problem. What to get?”
“Please buy me two pregnancy tests,” the girl whispered.
“Lerka, are you pregnant?” the guy exclaimed.
“Don’t shout. These are just suspicions,” Valeriya scolded the young man.
An hour later, Valeriya returned to the compartment where the brothers were waiting, still poring over documents.
“So, what’s wrong with our estimates?” Sergey eagerly asked.
“Look here, you’re budgeting five million for the demolition of the old buildings. Is this an explosive demolition?” Valeriya laughed and glanced at Dmitry, who had come in behind her.
“Joking?” Alexander suddenly realized.
“Your demolition costs are five times overestimated. There is no sense in that, since even with an explosive method, it is not that expensive. Also, you need to correct the estimate for construction materials—prices have changed, and not for the better,” the girl deftly tapped on the keyboard.
“You said you were an accountant,” Alexander watched her work with interest.
“Yes, I was. I worked at a construction company. We prepared for tenders, so I know about these things,” Valeriya smiled shyly.
“So, maybe you’d like to work with us? We’ve been looking for an accountant for so long,” Sergey suggested immediately.
Valeriya looked at Dmitry. The man just shrugged his shoulders and said:
“If you like the offer, why not. We’ll miss you though,” and left the compartment.
The girl thought about it. On the one hand, a new job in another city meant a complete break with her old life, with a company where she had worked for four years, with her former mother-in-law, who could indeed make it so that no one would hire her in her hometown. And a new life—what did it hold? A possible new family with Dmitry?
“Do you have a headache?” Alexander asked suddenly.
“No, why?”
“It’s just that you’ve been holding your temples for the past five minutes,” he shrugged.
Valeriya laughed and, agreeing to the brothers’ proposal, offered to start work immediately after the trip.
In the evening, they all played cards again, but this time Valeriya could not concentrate on the game. She had taken the tests in the morning, and they were positive. What should she do? Should she tell Dmitry, whose face clearly showed that he was not indifferent to her? But how could she drag a man with her who had already been burned once and promised himself never to let women close to him again? The girl went to bed with a heavy heart, feeling the first movement of her future baby inside her.
In the morning, Dmitry, who had clearly not slept all night, asked Valeriya to meet him in the restaurant car before work.
“Lera, I need to talk to you,” he said seriously.
“Dima, I need to talk to you too,” the girl answered, feeling the beating of her frightened heart.
“I’ve been thinking all night, and I’ve come to the decision that I want to be with you. I don’t know what you’ll say, but I’m ready to follow you, wherever you go. Even if you agree to work with those brothers and move to another city. I’ll find a job there, I have experience,” Dmitry stated.
“Dima, you don’t understand, it’s not that simple,” Valeriya tried to explain.
“Ler, listen to me! I want to build a family with you. Yes, I’ve been hurt, but with you, it’s different. Please don’t push me away,” the man implored.
Valeriya took a deep breath and told Dmitry about her pregnancy.
Dima’s face first showed shock, then a joyful smile spread across it. The man bent down and gently kissed Valeriya’s stomach.
“My child?” he asked in surprise.
“No, not yours,” Valeriya smiled through tears, “I’m already two months along. But I would really like you to be the father of this baby. Only if you want, of course.”
Dima hugged the girl tightly and whispered:
“I will be the best dad. I promise you that.”
Two years later, Valeriya and Dmitry were holding their son’s hand, walking through the snowy park of their new city. Their construction company had been prospering thanks to their efforts. The girl’s mother moved to them after recovery, and they bought a house with a large yard, where the elderly woman could take care of her beloved garden.
Dima often took his son to the railway station, showing him the train where his parents met. The boy listened with wide eyes, then tugged on his dad’s sleeve and asked:
“Daddy, when I grow up, will you let me drive the train?”
“Only if you become the best driver in the world,” Dima laughed, hugging his wife and son.
Valeriya, looking at her beloved men, thought about how mysterious life is: it seems that everything is lost, but there is always a chance for happiness. You just need to be able to wait.
Life writes the most unbelievable scripts. But as long as there is love, any story has a chance for a happy ending.