— I was counting on you, and you turned out to be such a selfish girl…
— Mom, you’re asking the impossible… — Alyona began.
— Impossible?! Nothing is impossible, if only you wanted it! But clearly, you don’t. So this is how you repay me—with black ingratitude for all those years I raised you, deprived myself of everything, and asked for nothing in return!
Alyona listened silently to her mother. She wasn’t going to change her decision.
— Stop putting all the blame on me! And making me out to be the guilty one! — Alyona fumed as she told her best friend Nadya about the recent conversation with her mother.
— This is news… — Nadya kept repeating in disbelief. — Wait, but didn’t you once tell me it was your grandmother who raised you, not your mother? You said you barely ever saw her. So why is she now saying she sacrificed everything for you while raising you?
— Oh… she says a lot of things. And you know… she’s good with words, I’ll give her that, — Alyona sighed.
When Alyona was born, Viola was only eighteen. A schoolgirl fresh out of graduation. She got pregnant out of wedlock, from a boy she was madly in love with. He was in the class next door. But before he even finished school, his father was offered a lucrative job far away in a big city, and within two weeks the whole family moved there.
On the eve of leaving, the boy simply told the stunned girl that they’d probably never see each other again, so the wedding they had dreamed of would not happen. Maybe it was for the best, he said—because new opportunities, new plans, a new life awaited him.
Viola wept for a week. The next week she discovered she was pregnant.
…After Alyona’s birth and her maternity leave, Viola threw herself into earning money. Around the same time, her own mother, Irina Petrovna, was given a disability status and stayed home. She became the one raising little Alyonka, while her husband, Vladislav Sergeevich, kept working.
Viola went off to work shifts away from home. Then she worked two jobs as a dispatcher, arranging her schedule so that she worked one full day at one place, then the next full day at the other, then one day off, and so on.
Throughout her whole childhood, Alyona hardly saw her mother. Her grandmother always explained that Mama and Grandpa worked hard to make sure Alyona and the whole family lived well.
— I’ll grow up soon and help too, — little Alyonka would declare proudly.
Irina Petrovna would smile, looking at her granddaughter who was like a daughter to her.
— No, you’d better study, — she would say. — First in school, then you must go to university. Otherwise, you’ll end up like your mother—earning little money by hard labor.
— And with a university diploma they pay more? — eight-year-old Alyonka asked matter-of-factly while pulling a knitted sweater onto her doll, one her grandmother had specially made.
— They do, — Irina Petrovna chuckled. — With a diploma, you’ll have freedom of choice. That’s what matters.
Viola had no personal life at all. Sometimes Alyonka overheard her grandparents at night whispering in the kitchen when they thought she was asleep.
Her grandmother would sigh: “She’s such a good-looking girl, beautiful, but so unlucky.”
Her grandfather would reply: “She just works herself to the bone, never goes out, never spares herself.” Grandma would defend her daughter, saying she wanted to save up for an apartment, which was admirable.
Alyonka, lying in bed with her nose buried in her blanket, would feel sorry for her mother who worked so hard. What was the point of it all, if she had no time to live?
— We lived well, I can’t complain, — Alyona told Nadya. — I had everything: good food, clothes, toys. Mom did save up and bought an apartment. We moved in right when I finished school. And then… Then Mom went wild. I was at university, living in the dorm, and Grandma told me Mom was changing men every month. One, then another. She said Mom was making up for lost years.
— Well of course—she became independent, — Nadya said thoughtfully. — She bought her own apartment, her daughter grew up, so she focused on herself. Logical.
— Yeah… And I sincerely wished her happiness. She deserved it… Then time passed. After five years, Grandma died. A year later, Grandpa passed too. I was already working by then. It hit me very hard, I sank into depression. Mom grieved too, but not for long—soon she was absorbed in a new romance. That man was amazing, a fitness trainer she met at the club. She even took up swimming. Then I changed jobs twice, later I met Vadik, we got married, — Alyona continued.
— And your mom?
— She kept changing men. None stayed long. I wondered how she could have lived all those years when I was growing up without caring about that part of life? She explained that she had wanted to raise me first, put me on my feet, and save for her own place. No time for fun.
— And did you live with your mom until marriage, in her apartment? — Nadya asked.
— No. After Grandma died, I moved in with Grandpa to help him. He was ill, barely walked, never left the house… After he died, I just stayed there. When I got married, Vadik and I renovated that apartment, and we still live there. Mom stayed in her own flat with her “gentlemen callers.”
Alyona smiled faintly, though she didn’t feel like smiling. Recently, several things had happened that turned everything upside down—and her mother forced her into a cruel choice.
— I’m twenty-seven now, — Alyona told Nadya. — We decided it was the right time to have a baby. My job lets me go on maternity leave, perfect timing. Vadik has a stable salary, enough even if I don’t work for a while. But Mom…
…As soon as Alyona learned she was pregnant, she rushed to share the happy news with her mother. She and her husband had already dreamed aloud of twins…
But Viola’s reaction shocked her.
— What a pity. Such bad timing! I was counting on your help… — Viola muttered, crushing a napkin in her hands. They were sitting in a café.
— H…help with what? — Alyona asked in surprise, feeling a wave of hurt wash over her. Just that morning, she and her husband had been celebrating the baby, and her mother not only wasn’t happy but said “what a pity”…
— I’m pregnant too, — Viola said, looking straight into her daughter’s eyes. — The father… well, it ended like the first time. He left. Went far away. Told me to get rid of it. But I don’t want to! I want to keep the baby.
— Mom… — Alyona whispered in shock.
— This is my last chance, do you understand? I’m forty-five. And you can wait. You’re still young.
— What?! — Alyona couldn’t believe her ears. — Are you hinting that I should…
Viola said the words her daughter couldn’t bring herself to:
— You’re still early. Terminate it. Just go to a clinic, it’s quick and easy. Our family can’t handle two babies at once. When mine is born, I won’t be able to work, I’ll need your help. Later you can have yours.
Alyona sat in stunned silence. Viola kept pressing:
— You must help me! You can have another, but I can’t. I want to finally enjoy motherhood. When you were born, I was just a silly girl, ignorant of life. I promised my parents I would work, earn money, so our family wouldn’t need anything. And I did. But I sacrificed the happiness of motherhood. I barely saw you grow up—I was either asleep after shifts or at work… And now, I want to experience every joy of having a child!
— But I want that too! — Alyona cried. — And I do understand you, but how could you even think I’d give up my child for yours? What a cruel choice! I’m almost thirty, Vadim and I want children. Why do you need this? We’ll give you a grandchild, won’t that make you happy?
— I was counting on you, on your help, — her mother repeated. — And you turned out selfish! I sacrificed everything for you—my personal life, my time—and you won’t help me. Alone, I can’t do it! How unfair…
Viola burst into tears. People at neighboring tables stared. Alyona sighed, stood up without a word, and walked quickly out of the café toward the bus stop. She just wanted to get home, bury her face in her pillow, and sob.
“Can you come?” — That short text from her mother caught Alyona off guard. She was already in her third month of pregnancy and had flatly refused to end it for her mother’s sake. Since that quarrel, they hadn’t spoken.
When Viola opened the door, she burst into tears.
— Missed miscarriage… Eleven weeks. God willed differently… I lost the baby… — she whispered, choking back sobs.
— Mom… I don’t know what to say… — Alyona, at the same term herself, felt her mother’s pain. She hugged her tightly.
— Forgive me, daughter, — Viola said. — I never should have asked you to do that… Maybe that’s why God punished me.
— God punishes no one, Mom. We punish ourselves, and then we suffer, — Alyona answered softly.
— Forgive me, forgive me… I was obsessed with that pregnancy! I wanted it so badly! And now… — Viola sobbed on her daughter’s shoulder.
— Alyonka! He looks exactly like my father, your grandfather Vladislav—his eyes, his mouth, even his brows! — Viola exclaimed when she saw her newborn grandson as Alyona and her husband Vadim came home from the maternity ward. — Can I hold him?
Alyona carefully handed her son, wrapped in a blue blanket, into her mother’s arms. The baby scrunched his nose, about to cry. Viola gazed at him in bliss, overwhelmed with happiness.
But then, sadness pierced her—she remembered her own lost pregnancy. Every day, she thought about the baby that never came, counting the weeks, imagining how happy she could have been…
— Don’t be sad, Mom, please, — Alyona said gently, touching her shoulder. She knew exactly what her mother was thinking when she saw the tears glimmering in her eyes.
— I won’t, — Viola promised. — I’m a grandmother now, that’s a big responsibility.
— Are you joking? — Alyona smiled, looking at her mother and her son with love. Vadim stood nearby, smiling too.
— Not at all! — Viola said cheerfully, shaking her head as if to drive away dark thoughts. — I got my baby after all, didn’t I? Isn’t that wonderful? I’ll help you raise him—I’ve got experience.
Alyona smiled again and thought how much she loved her mother. That painful conversation… she tried not to judge her for it. Everyone makes mistakes. Family has both good and bad moments. Life is complicated, full of sharp turns, and there is never one “right” choice. Everyone has their own truth. And in their own way, everyone is right.