Nina was tired and leaned back in her chair. It was unclear whether her head or back hurt more. There was a gentle knock on the office door.
“Nina Sergeyevna, may I come in?”
The woman raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“Rita, why aren’t you home yet?”
The girl smiled sheepishly:
“I can’t just leave you here alone. What if you want some coffee?”
Nina smiled:
“I really appreciate it, but you didn’t have to. You should go home and rest.”
Rita sighed:
“You know no one’s waiting for me at home. I always feel better at work.”
Nina met Rita by chance under circumstances that no sane person would have done what Nina did. Nina’s car had broken down on the outskirts of the city just as her phone died. She was returning from important negotiations in another city, tired and hungry. After several attempts to start the car and then the phone, she felt desperate and went out into the street. It was very cold that day. About 15 minutes later, after unsuccessful attempts to hail a taxi, Nina decided to walk to a gas station or store to call for a ride. That’s when she saw a lone female figure.
Rita was walking along the edge of the road, completely unresponsive, looking straight ahead and clearly seeing no one.
“Miss!”
Rita did not react and walked past Nina. Nina caught up with her and tugged at her hand:
“Why are you walking on the road?”
She stopped but didn’t even look at Nina, just stood there wanting to continue walking as if she hadn’t heard her. Nina wasn’t about to give up that easily. She grabbed the stranger’s hand and almost forced her into the car. At least it was windless inside.
“What’s wrong with you? Do you feel unwell?”
Then the girl looked at her more meaningfully and started to cry.
Nina learned that she was an orphan, that the state had given her housing, she had graduated from a technical school and met a boyfriend—everything was just wonderful. But then the boyfriend simply kicked her out of the apartment, bringing another girl there.
“But it’s your apartment!”
“He said he had transferred everything to his name.”
Nina sighed:
“Where do these naive people come from? Really, only from an orphanage.”
She tried to start the car, and miraculously—it immediately purred to life. Nina pulled out, and her father was waiting at home.
“Dad, look, I’m not alone!”
Sergey Andreyevich came out to them in the hallway:
“Hello, Nina. And who did you bring? A Snow Maiden or what?”
“Almost. Another half-hour and she would have turned not into a Snow Maiden but definitely a snowman.”
Sergey Andreyevich bustled about, led the guest to the kitchen, and while Nina was changing, he had already set the table. Nina smiled.
Generally, Nina was not known for being particularly kind-hearted or impulsive, and she herself did not know why she wanted to help Rita. “Tell me, do you have no one else at all?”
She shrugged:
“You could say that. Well, I have a sister. I saw her once when I was very little. I even have a photo, she was 16, and I was just two. We have different mothers, but the same father. I understand she came to visit us, and then, when I was five, mom and dad died. I lived in an orphanage, and honestly, I don’t even know if she remembers me.”
“Have you tried to find her?”
“No, what are you! What would I tell her? That now, when I’m having a tough time, I decided to find you and depend on you?”
Nina involuntarily smiled. Rita was embarrassed:
“Sorry, please! Thank you for dinner, I’ll go.”
Rita got up, and Sergey Andreyevich looked at his daughter anxiously as if asking why she was silent.
“Rit, sit down! Where are you going? Outside? Stay with us tonight, and tomorrow we’ll figure out what to do for you.”
She smiled and thanked them. In the bedroom, Rita placed something on the nightstand next to the bed and fell asleep. Nina couldn’t help but look. It was that very photo Rita had talked about. A young woman held a laughing child in her arms, laughing herself. A nice girl, with an open look. Nina looked at the photo for a long time. In principle, it was possible to try to find her by this photo, but only when Rita herself wanted it.
The first thing Nina did was talk to a lawyer who worked at her company. He helped the girl not only get her apartment back but also get a significant amount of money for moral damage from her ex-boyfriend. Then Nina invited Rita to try herself as a secretary at her work. Rita caught on very quickly and soon became Nina’s indispensable assistant.
“Nina Sergeyevna,” Rita smiled affectionately, “but that’s not right!”
“Look, Henka from the finance department follows you like a shadow, and Valerka from the security service. And you don’t even look at them.”
Rita laughed:
“Why should I look at them? I know them anyway. Valerka is a womanizer, hard to find. And Henka, he’s very positive, like a hidden marathon runner.”
“Yes, the guy is definitely a dry one. Only numbers in his head. But what could be…”
Nina stood up:
“I need to hurry home, the neighbor has probably already left, which means dad is alone.”
After he had fallen badly last year and broke his leg in two places, doctors almost forbade him to move. No, he could move around the house with the help of crutches, but that was all. Sergey Andreyevich immediately became sour, he lost interest in anything. If not forced, he even forgot to eat, could sit for hours staring out the window. Nina did everything she could— all to no avail.
“Rita, I have a request for you, could you look for a companion-nurse for dad?”
The girl looked at her scared:
“Nina Sergeyevna, has he gotten worse?”
“It’s not that he’s gotten worse, but he’s lost interest in life, completely. You understand, I’m so busy here, and I keep thinking: did he eat, didn’t he think of something stupid?”
“Okay, Nina Sergeyevna, I’ll get on it tomorrow! Are there any other orders?”
Nina shook her head no, then looked at the girl:
“How are things at the institute?”
Rita smiled:
“All good, exams are soon.”
“Well, then let’s go home. New Year’s soon, everyone’s fussing and running around, and here we are still at work.”
Rita nodded and also began to gather. She didn’t plan to celebrate New Year’s Eve at all, if there are weekends—she could sit with textbooks.
Three days later, Rita entered Nina Sergeyevna’s office:
“Nina Sergeyevna, when can you meet the candidates? Twenty people came, I kept three, they all, in my opinion, fit the role of companion for Sergey Andreyevich.”
“Well, let’s meet in twenty minutes, I’ll finish up here.”
Rita was right: the candidates were indeed good. Nina asked questions, got answers, and frankly, it was not so easy for her to decide. But at one moment, one of the women, slightly older than Nina, apparently because she was nervous, began to fiddle with her bracelet.
“You have exactly the same bracelet, only where did I see it…” and then it hit her. “You know what, come to us tomorrow, meet the father, look around, and then we’ll decide.”
The woman smiled:
“Okay, of course.”
The hardest part was sending Rita to the store because nothing else came to Nina’s mind. But she wanted apples, right now. Rita looked at her strangely but did not argue and left. And Nina rushed into the secretary’s reception:
“So where does Rita keep this photo? Definitely in the first drawer!” She started examining the photo closely. That’s right, she wasn’t mistaken: this bracelet—there couldn’t be another like it. It was inexpensive, probably homemade, but clearly dear to the person. What does it turn out to be? The very sister Rita so wants and so fears to find came to them to apply for a job, and Rita didn’t recognize her?
Nina looked at the photo again: though she wouldn’t have recognized her either. In the photo, a blonde, playful girl, and here—a woman with dark hair and a serious look. Maybe the bracelet just passed to another person? Thousands of questions and no answers. Okay, tomorrow’s a day off, you can also invite Rita over to her place and sort it out in the evening.
Nina told her father everything. Sergey Andreyevich, as usual, listened uninterestedly. But by the end of the story, he perked up.
“Ninochka, we must find out everything, what if it really is our Ritochka’s sister?” Nina smiled.
“And you’ll help me just to question that woman?”
He nodded, his eyes lit up, and he cautiously moved to his office.
“Nina, bring me dinner to the office, I’ll look up on the internet, as you say, her name?”
Nina was surprised to see the empty plates. It had been a year since dad ate everything. Father, not turning his head from the monitor.
“Can you make me some coffee?”
“Dad, what coffee? It’s night outside!”
“Well, please, I don’t like your healthy tea.”
Nina sighed, went to the kitchen. Of course, she would do what else remained?
The woman’s name was Daria. She willingly talked about herself.
“I was married, got divorced, didn’t have children, so I decided to go to this city where my father once lived. He has a daughter, much younger. Wanted to find out, know how she’s doing. I last saw the girl at the funeral, but she was in such a state that she recognized no one. I asked my mom very much to take Ritka, but mom didn’t allow. She terribly hated father for leaving. Probably should have insisted, but I was used to listening to mom in everything. And three years ago she caught a cold and died, one might say, not from a cold, but from her character. Called the doctor a fool and began to treat herself. In the end, when they brought her to the hospital, it was too late.”
Daria smiled at Nina.
“Your secretary reminds me very much of Ritka. True, I understand that this cannot be, since Rita was raised in an orphanage. Her way to such firms, of course, is ordered.”
Nina exchanged glances with her father, but they didn’t have time to respond: the door slammed, and Rita appeared on the threshold.
“Why are we just sitting here? Why aren’t we decorating the tree?”
“Rit, what tree? Do we have kids?”
Rita laughed.
“I’ll be the child! I want Santa Claus and a gift, please!”
Daria looked at Rita in amazement. Something was off. She looked attentively, couldn’t take her eyes off the girl.
“Rita… is your middle name, by chance, not Pavlovna?”
Rita slowly turned to Daria. The box of Christmas decorations, which she apparently bought on the way, slipped from her hands to the floor.
“Who are you? How do you know that my dad’s name was Pavel?”
Daria breathed in.
“It seems that our fathers were called the same. Moreover, it was the same man!”
Rita clasped her hands to her chest.
“Wait, it can’t be! You… you are Dasha?!”
Tears streamed down Daria’s cheeks.
“Exactly, I am Daria Pavlovna! We saw each other when you were very little. I remember, rather, not so much remember as know. I have a photograph. I remember, our father photographed us. We then went walking around the city…”
Nina gestured to her father, they left and closed the door behind them.
“Well, dad? Let them talk, and we’ll set the table with you.”
Sergey Andreyevich sighed.
“I’m such a so-so helper.”
Nina laughed.
“Don’t even think of using your position to get out of peeling potatoes, dad!”
“You’re a tyrant!” Sergey Andreyevich sighed. “How could I raise such a one?!”
And Nina’s soul was singing. It had been a long time since she felt so happy, and even though part of the happiness came not to her, she rejoiced for herself, and even more. Everything will now be fine for Ritka, and for Dasha, and for dad, and therefore for her.