Masha was afraid to meet her son’s fiancée — he had kept her hidden for far too long. Before, he wouldn’t even manage to kiss a girl once before dragging her home — like, “Mom, Dad, meet my Tanya (Lena, Marina, and after that Masha stopped keeping track).” Even when he left town to study, as soon as he came home for the weekend, it was always with a new girlfriend. Masha had scolded him, laughed, and wondered who he took after — she and Borya had been friends since the tenth grade and had lived their whole lives together.
But now he disappeared. Only his father knew that he’d met a girl he was definitely going to marry. They asked so many times when Vasya would bring her for introductions, but he kept postponing.
“Is she lame or what?” Borya laughed. “Why is he hiding her?”
“He knows we won’t like her,” Masha guessed.
And she was right. When a tall, stately girl with a neat short haircut stepped out of the car, Masha and Borya exchanged glances and sighed — it was clear she was a good girl, not made-up like young girls nowadays, smiled modestly, carried herself with dignity. But then the son opened the driver’s door, jumped out like a bullet, and ran to open the other front door. Out came a tiny girl in ten-centimeter stiletto heels and a short scarlet dress. The son looked at her with such a glazed expression that Masha just gave her husband a sharp look when he desperately nudged her with his elbow.
“Mom, Dad, meet Oksana.”
The girl disdainfully glanced at Masha’s robe, flicked her eyes over the house Borya had built, and lazily said:
“Well, not bad digs you have here.”
The second girl turned out to be Varya, a friend Oksana had brought along so she wouldn’t get bored. Masha heard her husband once try to hint to his son that he’d chosen the wrong girl, but the son replied:
“Oksanka’s beautiful, isn’t she? I don’t even know why she loves me!”
Vasya didn’t get the hint. Well, what could be done — he’d chosen, so they’d just have to live with it.
During the week the girls stayed with them, Masha tried to please them — cooked delicious meals, kept quiet in the mornings while they slept, didn’t criticize even though she wanted to. Varya was okay, she washed her own dishes and always volunteered to help, but Oksana… she seemed like she was on vacation — everything was to be done for her, and she wouldn’t lift a finger. Before leaving, she even said:
“I had such a good rest!”
The next time they saw Oksana was a month later. This time she came with her mother to discuss the wedding.
Oksana’s mother turned out to be just as short and thin, with an expressive face and long unkempt hair. Shots kept going down one after another, and again Borya nudged Masha under the table — this matchmaker was even worse than Oksana, who didn’t even touch alcohol.
“Is she pregnant?” Borya whispered to Masha, unable to imagine how anyone could sit at the table and not take a single shot. If not for Masha, he would have kept pestering the matchmaker.
“Well, that would be good,” Masha said. “We’ll have grandchildren to care for, you know how I dream about that.”
Finally, they got down to business, and the matchmaker slurred:
“As they say, you have the goods, we have the buyer. Oh, the other way around. Well, you get me. Oksana’s a catch, you know how many suitors she has? She’ll choose whoever she wants! So here’s the thing — I’m not paying for anything! And your son’s got quite the wife coming. I’ll make her dress, don’t worry, I’m a seamstress! I even dressed Pugacheva herself once! We’ll find shoes too. But the banquet’s on you.”
Masha and Borya exchanged looks.
“Well, if it’s on us, then on us,” Borya grunted.
Then Oksana, who was behaving less provocatively that day, mumbled:
“We don’t want a banquet. We want to register the marriage and go to Turkey.”
The matchmaker’s face showed displeasure:
“How can it be without a banquet? What am I supposed to tell people?”
Masha hurried to smooth over the brewing conflict:
“Yes, of course, let the kids fly off and relax! Nobody does those banquets anymore!”
She hoped to see at least a hint of gratitude in Oksana’s eyes, but the girl just curled her lips.
“Well then the groom should pay for Turkey,” the matchmaker said resentfully. “By the way, I’ve already started sewing the dress…”
The relationship between mother and daughter was strained, Masha realized immediately, and all weekend felt like she was on a powder keg. The matchmaker left satisfied, promising to visit again, but Oksana frowned and even quarreled with Vasya, which upset him a lot. Something told Masha that this was not the end…
The young couple got married and immediately flew away on their trip. Only the closest friends and relatives were invited to the registration. The matchmaker came already tipsy and drank so much champagne she nearly fought with a supermarket security guard when she ran in for more. Oksana got drunk, Masha tried to comfort her by calling her “daughter,” but Oksana shouted back:
“What daughter? Let’s agree right away — no familiarity! I have a mother, an alcoholic, but that’s what she is. And you should have given birth to a daughter yourself if you wanted one so badly!”
Masha’s two stillborn daughters lay in graves, so the daughter-in-law’s words burned her like hot iron. She held back tears, said nothing, but felt heavy inside. Because the day before the wedding, her son suddenly said:
“We’ve decided to move to the village. Oksana’s health is weak, she needs to be outdoors more, and besides — we want the kids to grow up in nature, not in concrete boxes.”
If her son had any other fiancée, Masha would have been happy, but how to live with Oksana — she didn’t know. Borya was holding his heart.
“She’ll drive us crazy, Marusya, she’s got her eye on the house, you’ll see!”
Borya himself built the house and was very proud of it, and Oksana liked the house right away on her first visit, especially the spacious room with the terrace, which had been Masha and Borya’s bedroom.
“What about your job?” Masha asked her son.
The son, a gold medalist, graduated from Polytechnic and got a good position.
“We’ll see. I’ll commute. Maybe sometimes stay in the city, but on weekends go home, to the village.”
“And what will your Oksana do?”
The son’s eyes shone with pride.
“Mom… Oksana told everyone to keep it quiet, but we’re… expecting a baby. It’s already two months. So she’ll have plenty to do, don’t worry. She’ll help around the house and farm; you know how talented she is — she picks everything up on the fly!”
They gave them Vasya’s room, did repairs, put up new wallpaper. But, as Masha expected, living with the young couple wasn’t easy. The son got tired commuting back and forth, and as soon as he stayed in the city, Oksana started nagging him about when he’d come home. Masha felt sorry for her son — what kind of life was it to spend four hours a day on the road! But she couldn’t say anything to Oksana — the pregnancy was difficult, she was even offered to stay in the hospital, but refused. Around the house, she did nothing, just lay around reading books. Before the birth, the son approached his mother, lowered his eyes, and asked:
“Mom, maybe you could give us your room? The baby’s coming, it’ll be cramped.”
He didn’t say that it was Oksana’s idea, but Masha understood anyway. Borya, of course, objected — what cramped, it was a great room, spacious, not as big as theirs, but still… But Masha persuaded him — she didn’t want the young couple to quarrel, and what difference did it make which room they lived in?
“I told you,” Borya said, “she’ll drive us out.”
Ilyusha was born a month premature, stayed in intensive care for a long time, Vasya was beside himself, it was painful to watch. When Oksana was discharged with the baby, things didn’t get better — the baby cried all the time, and Oksana refused any help, saying she could handle her child herself. For some reason, Masha thought that with such a character, Oksana would dump the baby on them, but she was wrong — the daughter-in-law was the type of mother who never let her child out of sight even for a second.
“Well, rest a little!” Masha begged her. “Let me carry Ilyusha in my arms while you sleep!”
“Leave me alone!” Oksana shouted. “I’m a mother, a child needs a mother, not a grandmother!”
It all came to the point where Oksana started demanding a separate house from Vasya. As it turned out, Borya was wrong — Oksana didn’t want their house; she really wanted to leave the city. But why, no one understood. And why did she want to move away from them — Masha barely interfered, just gave a few good tips! And why worry so much? The matchmaker came several times and each time it ended in a terrible scandal — she didn’t mince words and told Oksana that she was doing everything wrong.
“How would you know?” Oksana shouted. “You sold me out to grandma as soon as I was born!”
In the end, Oksana forbade her mother from coming, but they managed to argue even on the phone.
Then another misfortune happened — Vasya was fired. Something happened, he didn’t want to explain, only Borya managed to get out of him that his son refused to participate in some shady dealings.
The young couple quarreled, Masha clutched her heart, Borya secretly took a drink of brandy, for which he got a scolding from Masha. It was unclear what helped him — the brandy or the scolding — but then Borya had an idea to resolve the difficult situation.
“Let’s go work shifts with Vasya. Remember, I used to earn well and built the house with that money. I’ll call Nikolaevich, maybe he’ll take us both. And when we return, we’ll build a house for the young couple.”
Masha didn’t like this idea much, but the son got excited, apparently wanting to prove to his wife he could provide for her.
“You’ll miss the important moments!” Masha objected. “First words, first steps… He won’t even know you!”
“Mom, what can we do if it turned out this way. Just don’t tell Oksana, but I have two loans — for the trip and the car, I can’t handle it, you know? But the money’s good there.”
Of course, she told Borya everything, and he already knew, Masha saw it in his eyes and gave him a dressing-down for not telling her.
“That’s men’s business, Marusya, you women don’t need to worry about money.”
Masha thought without men, she and Oksana could somehow get along, but no — Oksana either sat in the room with her son or talked on the phone as soon as he fell asleep. She didn’t listen to Masha, said she knew how to live herself.
Masha had a full picture of Oksana’s life — she almost always left the room to call, Ilya was a very light sleeper, she was afraid to wake him. She mostly chatted with Varya, and of course with Vasya, but only in the evenings when he finished work. Sometimes Oksana’s mother called, and Oksana got nervous and mostly argued with her. But that time Masha didn’t understand who called Oksana — she was mostly silent, listened, asking brief clarifying questions. Then suddenly she shouted:
“Why do you always ruin my life! That’s it, don’t call me anymore!”
After the call, Oksana locked herself in the room and didn’t come out. Masha got scared — had something happened to Vasya? She called him — no, everything was fine.
“Did you get into trouble there by any chance?” she asked suspiciously. “Keep in mind, if you have an affair there, your father will tell me right away!”
“What are you talking about, Mom?”
“Nothing! Don’t hurt Oksana, she’s a good girl.”
“Well, why do you think I’m hurting her? We’re working here, Mom, you understand, we’re working! Both me and Dad. You said yourself we need our own house; when we get back, we’ll have money to build it. No time for nonsense.”
She had to call her husband just in case, but he confirmed Vasya was behaving properly.
Masha got worried — if it wasn’t Vasya, then what? She tiptoed to the door, listened. Nothing. Knocked carefully.
“Oksana…”
No answer. Then Masha opened the door and peeked in. The girl lay on the bed, crying, the baby asleep beside her. Masha sat on the edge and asked:
“What happened?”
The daughter-in-law gave her a desperate look.
“Mom broke her leg.”
“Oh my God! How? When?”
“How would I know!” she shouted angrily, waking Ilyusha. “She did it on purpose, doesn’t want me to have a normal life! She’s already ruined so many relationships for me, just so I’d be stuck with her.”
“What are you saying, dear!” Masha got scared. “She wouldn’t want to ruin anything!”
“She does! She wants me to come take care of her now. She’ll be drinking vodka, and I’ll be running errands, like always! And then she’ll come up with something else to keep me from leaving. And how am I supposed to take Ilyusha there? Our windows are wooden; she never let me tape them, says she needs fresh air! If only she drank less, everything would be fine!”
The decision came quickly, somehow on its own.
“I’ll go.”
Oksana even stopped crying.
“How come?”
“Well, like that. I just don’t know how you’ll manage alone here. You have to tend the stove and look after the animals. So if you can manage — I can go.”
Having said that, Masha realized she had said something foolish — how could this city girl manage alone? Especially in winter? But Oksana suddenly replied:
“It’s nothing to manage. I lived with my grandmother in the village until I was ten while my mother tried to fix her personal life. She tried in vain; he still left her. Then she started drinking and…”
Oksana fell silent, pursing her full lips and showing obvious disapproval.
Zoya agreed to milk the cow and help as needed — it’s hard alone with a baby in arms, she knew from experience, so Masha could be calm knowing her daughter-in-law was supervised. Oksana was funny, followed Masha around with a notebook and pen, writing down all her instructions point by point. Especially about the flowers — Masha had all the windowsills filled with rare varieties, many about to bloom. “She’ll kill my flowers,” Masha thought sadly.
The matchmaker was glad, though she started complaining about her heartless daughter who she raised and raised but couldn’t come to care for her sick mother. Masha cut off those complaints immediately, pointing out the filth and drafts in the apartment.
“Do you want to bring our grandson here? That’s just not right.”
Masha loved order, so within a few days the matchmaker’s apartment was sparkling. She taped the windows with painter’s tape, leaving only the vents open for enough air. Took all the bottles out and didn’t let the matchmaker buy new ones. The matchmaker, of course, grumbled, but Masha knew how to be firm. She checked with neighbors to find someone responsible to buy groceries and take her to the hospital — for money, of course, who’d do it for free.
Almost two weeks passed while everything was sorted out. Oksana called every day, asking a thousand questions — where this is, where that, how to clean pots, which watering can to use on Wednesdays for the flowers. She didn’t ask about her mother, but Masha told her in detail and handed the phone to the matchmaker so she could talk with her daughter soberly. They still argued, their peace was impossible.
Masha found a kind neighbor who wasn’t working and was glad for any money, and the matchmaker even knew when she was sewing orders, as she’d ordered a dress from her.
“No alcohol for her, got it?” Masha strictly warned.
“Yes, yes! You’re right, she’s a good woman, sews so well — she made a dress for my daughter’s graduation.”
Only the toilet needed fixing — the tank leaked, and at night the dripping made sleep impossible, so the water had to be turned off. Masha called a plumber who fixed it in ten minutes.
“Was it so hard to fix earlier?” she scolded the matchmaker. “It’s easier than boiling potatoes!”
“There’s no man’s hand in the house,” the plumber noted, fixing a crooked shelf. “Fixing tanks isn’t a woman’s job.”
Masha went home with a pounding heart — Zoya was clearly hiding something, not telling everything, and Oksana even more so, not admitting what she’d done. In her mind, Masha listed the worst — burned her mother’s embroidered tablecloth, killed the flowers, froze the cellar… She prepared herself not to get too upset.
But at home, everything was fine — clean, tidy, smelling of pies. Oksana looked at her defiantly, yet somehow hopeful.
“Good job!” Masha praised. “What an order in the house, my Vasya got lucky with his wife.”
The pies, as it turned out later, were oversalted, but that didn’t matter. The orchids bloomed as if they knew Masha was coming today. When she went to her room to change from the trip, Oksana stopped her.
“Wait. While you were gone, Zoya and I changed some things. I decided we’ll live in the old room, it’s warmer there.”
She said and blushed. Masha looked at Oksana with interest. What was happening to the girl?
Of course, first thing Masha doted on her grandson — she missed him terribly. Then tasted the pies and called her son and husband to report everything was fine at home and Oksana was a great housekeeper.
“I told you so!” her son was happy. “I’ve got the best wife!”
Masha was too early to rejoice at the positive changes in Oksana’s behavior — sometimes she still left dirty dishes on the table, sometimes snapped if Masha noticed the boy was lightly dressed. But still, after this trip, living together got better — Oksana confessed she hadn’t realized how hard housework was and that Zoya really helped her a lot. Then she told a lot, mostly about her mother, who humiliated her at school and in front of friends.
“I actually dreamed of a lavish wedding,” she admitted. “But I was afraid she’d ruin it.”
Still, she spoke to her mother more often and hardly quarreled, Masha noticed and was glad — apparently, that broken leg had helped. But it turned out it wasn’t a leg.
“Can you imagine, my mom got herself a man!” Oksana once said, eyes wide. “Says he’s a local plumber. I don’t know whether to be happy or laugh.”
Masha recalled the short man with thick mustache and smiled:
“Be happy. She won’t be alone then.”
Oksana was silent, then suddenly said:
“I never thought it would be so hard alone. Vasya’s only been gone three months, and I’m already exhausted. And my mom was always alone.”
“You’re not alone,” Masha said. “You have me. We’re not strangers.”
Oksana said nothing. But in the evening, when Ilyusha couldn’t sleep and cried for a long time, she came to Masha and said:
“Maybe you could rock him? I have no strength left, my arms just fall off.”
Masha held her breath, afraid to jinx it. She took her grandson and happily carried him until he fell asleep.
From that day on, everything went differently. Just as Masha had always dreamed. When Vasya and Borya returned, Oksana said she didn’t want a new house — she was fine here.
“What happened here?” Borya was surprised.
Oksana looked at Masha, smiled, and said:
“Well, we’re not strangers after all.”