“You’re nobody to me. And that baby isn’t mine!” her husband said coldly, without even looking at the newborn. “I don’t even know why I bothered coming here.”
Masha slowly raised her eyes to him. After the difficult delivery, the white hospital walls still seemed to swim before her, and exhaustion rang in her ears. She had expected completely different words. She had imagined Andrei walking over to the crib, taking their son in his arms, smiling.
Instead, she heard a sentence that cut straight through her heart.
“Andrei… what are you saying? Have you lost your mind? We waited for this baby for so many years.”
“Don’t call me by my name,” he snapped. “I know everything. You’re not fooling me anymore.”
Masha stared at him in confusion.
“What exactly do you think you know?”
“Everything. While I was working, you weren’t exactly wasting your time. I’ve already been told how often you stayed late after work. And who used to drive you home.”
“Are you serious right now?”
“Completely.”
He took a step backward, as though he were afraid even to come close to the bed.
“You’re nobody to me. And that child isn’t mine.”
The room fell so silent that Masha could hear a nurse pushing a medication cart down the corridor outside.
She slowly turned toward the sleeping baby. He wrinkled his tiny nose in his sleep, almost as if he could sense the anger filling the room.
“So that’s how it is…” she whispered. “You don’t even want to take a DNA test?”
“I’m not taking any test. I already know the truth.”
“And what if you’re wrong?”
“I’m not.”
The confidence in his smirk broke something inside her for good.
Only a week earlier, they had been choosing a name for their son and arguing about what color stroller to buy. A month ago, Andrei had sworn he would never abandon his family.
Now a stranger stood in front of her.
“Then why did you come?” she asked.
“To say it to your face. And to tell you not to contact me again.”
He placed a bouquet of flowers on the windowsill.
“Take your roses with you,” Masha said calmly.
“I don’t need them.”
“Neither do I. They’re already wilted.”
Annoyed, Andrei grabbed the bouquet and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
That evening, a nurse entered the room.
“Try not to worry. Men sometimes behave strangely in situations like this. He may come back later and apologize.”
Masha gave her a weak smile.
“No. This one won’t.”
She lay awake for a long time that night. Eventually, she asked for her phone.
A notification from her banking app was waiting on the screen. Their joint family account was still active. For years, Andrei had transferred almost all of his earnings into it. It had always seemed practical. They had bought the apartment together, saved together, and put money aside for the baby together.
Masha remembered something Andrei used to say all the time.
“I trust you more than I trust myself.”
How strange.
He had trusted her enough to give her full access to all their savings, yet he didn’t trust her enough to believe that the child she had just given birth to was his.
For several minutes, Masha simply stared at the screen.
Her fingers trembled.
“No… this isn’t right…”
Then his words came back to her.
“You’re nobody. And the baby isn’t mine.”
Masha slowly opened the transfer section.
Every bit of their savings—the money they had set aside for renovations, vacations, and a new car—was transferred into a separate account registered only in her name. The money belonged to both of them, and legally she had the right to access it.
Afterward, she disabled shared access.
Her phone gave a quiet notification sound.
Less than a minute later, Andrei called.
“What the hell have you done?!” he shouted.
“What happened?”
“Where is the money?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“Transfer it back immediately!”
“Why? I’m nobody, remember? So I suppose nobody should have access to the account either.”
There was a long, heavy silence.
“You’re going to regret this.”
“No, Andrei. I’m done regretting things.”
She ended the call.
Two days later, he barged into the maternity ward.
“Where is she?”
A nurse stared at the disheveled man in surprise.
“Visiting hours are over.”
“Call Masha!”
Masha stepped into the corridor a moment later, completely calm.
“Give the money back.”
“Did you come here for your son or for the money?” she asked quietly.
He looked away.
“Don’t change the subject. Where is it?”
Masha studied her husband for several seconds, as though searching his face for the man she had once married.
“Andrei, I still don’t understand where any of this came from. Why did you suddenly decide the baby wasn’t yours? Who told you what?”
He said nothing.
“If you had simply explained what happened, we could have worked it out. We could have taken a DNA test, talked to each other, and found out the truth. Any problem can be solved when people are willing to communicate.”
“Where’s the money?” he repeated stubbornly.
She sighed.
“That’s exactly why I have nothing else to say to you. I just gave birth. I need to feed our son, recover physically, and take care of a newborn. I am not going to destroy myself with stress because of fantasies you refuse to question.”
Andrei clenched his fists.
“So you’re not giving it back?”
“No. Not right now.”
Her voice remained calm, and somehow that irritated him more than shouting would have.
“I’m being discharged in two days. And Andrei… I don’t want you in the apartment when I come home.”
His head snapped up.
“And why is that?”
“Because a man who can reject his own son without a single piece of evidence is a stranger to me right now. You have two days to pack your things and leave peacefully.”
He gave a nervous laugh.
“And if I don’t?”
“Then I’ll ask my brothers to come over and help you pack. Trust me, they’ll be able to explain my request very clearly. Their version of the conversation will probably be much less polite than mine.”
For several seconds, Andrei simply stared at her. Something like uncertainty flashed in his eyes, but it vanished almost immediately.
“You know what? I don’t want to see you ever again.”
Masha nodded.
“Fine. When you calm down and start using your own judgment instead of listening to rumors, come back. We can sit down and talk calmly. If you still want to by then.”
He said nothing. He turned abruptly and walked away, slamming the door so hard that several nurses in the hallway looked over.
Masha closed her eyes.
Only then did she finally allow herself to cry.
But she was no longer crying because of him. She was mourning the man she had loved—the man who, apparently, had stopped existing long ago.
After Andrei left, Masha stared at the closed door for a long time. She tried to understand when exactly her husband had become someone capable of rejecting his own son without even holding him once.
That very morning, he had texted her saying how nervous and excited he was and how he was counting the minutes until they met. Then, by evening, he had suddenly stopped answering, even though he was reading her messages almost immediately.
Masha replayed their conversation over and over in her mind.
Andrei had never named the supposed man she had cheated with. He had given no dates, no evidence, no explanation.
He had only repeated one thing.
“I know everything.”
But Masha still had no idea what he supposedly knew.
The next day, her mother-in-law called.
“How are you feeling?” Valentina Petrovna asked in an overly sweet voice. “Is the baby crying much?”
Masha tightened her grip on the phone.
“You really decided to ask me that only now?”
“What do you mean? I’m worried about you.”
“Yesterday your son rejected his child right there in my hospital room. You didn’t know?”
There was a brief silence on the other end.
“Andryusha was simply overwhelmed. Sometimes men need time to accept an unpleasant truth.”
Masha slowly sat upright in bed.
“What truth?”
“Don’t make me say it out loud.”
“Valentina Petrovna, you’re going to explain to me right now what is going on.”
Her mother-in-law gave a heavy sigh, as though continuing the conversation caused her unbearable pain.
“I didn’t sleep all night. I kept wondering whether I had done the right thing by finally telling my son.”
A chill ran through Masha.
“Telling him what?”
“What I should have told him before the two of you got married. But I hoped for a miracle. I didn’t want to ruin my boy’s life.”
“Say it clearly.”
“When Andrei was a child, he had a very severe case of mumps. His fever was almost forty degrees, and he spent several weeks in the hospital. The doctors warned me that after something like that, he might not be able to have children.”
Masha remained silent for several seconds, trying to process what she had just heard.
“Might not?”
“That’s exactly what they told me.”
“Was he ever examined?”
“What examination?”
“A normal medical evaluation. Did he ever have tests done? Did he see a doctor about it as an adult?”
Her mother-in-law coughed irritably.
“I don’t understand why you’re picking apart every word. The doctors warned me, and as his mother, I had a duty to protect my son.”
“Protect him from what? His own child?”
“From another man’s child!” Valentina Petrovna suddenly snapped.
Then her voice softened again, turning almost sympathetic.
“Masha, I’m a woman too. I understand these things. They happen. Maybe you were afraid Andrei would leave you, so you decided to keep quiet.”
“You made all of this up yourself?”
“Don’t attack me. I carried this terrible secret for twenty years. I stayed silent for my son’s sake.”
Masha gave a humorless laugh.
“Interesting that your secret suddenly became unbearable right before your grandchild was born.”
“A mother’s heart couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t allow my little sparrow to raise another man’s child.”
Those words made everything fall into place.
Now Masha understood where Andrei’s certainty had come from and why he had refused to listen to anything she said.
“So you’re the one who convinced him?”
“I told him the truth.”
“No. You repeated a thirty-year-old medical possibility and turned it into a diagnosis. You didn’t even suggest that Andrei see a doctor.”
“I don’t need doctors to know my own child.”
“Well, I need them to protect mine.”
Masha ended the call and immediately dialed her husband.
He didn’t answer at first. When he finally picked up, his voice sounded tired
and angry.
“I told you not to call me.”
“Your mother told me about the mumps.”
Andrei went silent.
“So she told you after all.”
“Andrei, why didn’t you ever tell me about this?”
“What difference would it have made?”
“We would have gone to a doctor. You could have had proper tests done, and we would have received an actual medical opinion instead of building our lives around something your mother remembered hearing decades ago.”
“You’re trying to talk your way out of this again.”
“Out of what? Did you ever actually get tested?”
He didn’t answer.
“Did you ever see a specialist after we got married?” Masha continued. “We tried to have a baby for almost two years. You remember perfectly well how many tests I went through. Why didn’t you ever get checked?”
“Because there’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Then why did you believe you were infertile?”
“My mother wouldn’t lie to me.”
Masha closed her eyes.
It felt as though the grown man she had married had suddenly turned back into a frightened little boy.
“I’m not saying she necessarily lied. Maybe the doctors really did warn her that there was a risk. But a risk is not the same thing as a diagnosis.”
“Stop lecturing me.”
“I’m trying to save our family.”
“Then give the money back.”
Masha felt the last pieces of hope inside her slowly disappear.
“I just offered you a chance to find out the truth, and you’re asking about money again.”
“Because it’s my money!”
“It belongs to both of us. And I didn’t transfer it to punish you. I have a baby to feed. I need medicine, clothes, diapers, and everything else a newborn requires. I’m not going to lie here in the maternity ward terrified that your mother will convince you to leave your own wife and child without a cent.”
“Don’t drag my mother into this.”
“She dragged herself into it.”
Andrei breathed heavily into the phone but said nothing.
“Listen carefully,” Masha continued. “I’m being discharged in two days. I don’t want you in the apartment while you’re acting like this. Pack your things and stay with your mother for a while.”
“You’re throwing me out?”
“I’m protecting myself from another scene. I cannot afford this kind of stress. I need to recover and feed our baby.”
“And if I refuse to leave?”
“Then I’ll ask my brothers to talk to you. I think they’ll be less polite about it than I am.”
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
“You know what?” Andrei finally said. “I don’t want to see you anymore.”
“Fine. When you calm down and start thinking clearly, come back. We’ll talk, take the test, and settle this without shouting.”
“I have nothing to discuss with you.”
“Right now, maybe not. But the truth won’t disappear simply because you’re afraid to confirm it.”
He ended the call.
Masha placed the phone on the bedside table and looked out the window.
Part of her still hoped Andrei would come to his senses. But now she understood that she wasn’t only fighting his suspicions.
For years, Valentina Petrovna had affectionately called her grown son “my little sparrow” and believed she knew better than anyone how he should live his life.
Now her belated “motherly confession” had almost destroyed his family in a single evening.