“Sveta, are you home?” came the familiar Saturday morning phrase.
“What is this? Again?” Svetlana reacted irritably, while tending to her beloved flowers in the yard.
It was a scorching July. For several days the daytime temperature had hovered around 40°C, so one could only work in the garden either late in the evening or early in the morning.
Svetlana rose from her crouching position, brushed the hair off her forehead with the back of her hand, and looked attentively toward the gate, where her mother-in-law was standing. She always had keys to both the gate and the house.
“Already busy, I see?” the older woman said kindly. “What is it this time—pulling weeds or pruning?”
“Hello, Larisa Arkadyevna. What brings you up so early?” Sveta asked, ignoring the question about the flowers. She understood her mother-in-law only asked to keep the conversation going.
“Oh, what an oven out here, and already burning in the morning. No one’s health can take this heat—blood pressure jumps, chest feels tight,” said the older woman, fanning herself with a cotton sunhat printed with bright, juicy watermelon slices.
“Then you should have stayed home. Why run around in such heat?” Svetlana replied none too politely.
“I’ve got business. And wanted to check on you, too. Haven’t been by for nearly a week. Zhenya the lazybones is probably still sleeping? Of course, he’s got no worries, knows his wife does everything,” Larisa Arkadyevna continued intrusively. “You should wake him up, Sveta. No need for him to lie about when his wife is already bustling.”
Svetlana had no desire at all to talk about Evgeny. Even hearing his name was unpleasant now. So she didn’t answer her mother-in-law’s question. And honestly, in light of the new circumstances, her presence here was quite out of place.
“What’s your business? Just make it quick. I don’t want to waste precious morning hours. Plenty of work to do,” the daughter-in-law said curtly.
“It’s a simple matter, Sveta… I could’ve waited for Zhenya, really. He promised to give me some money. I came to remind him… But you could do it yourself, well, so as not to wake him.”
“Do what myself?” Svetlana suddenly flared up.
She was extremely tense over the presence of her husband’s mother—he had packed his bags and left two days ago, disappearing to an unknown destination. Svetlana suspected Evgeny’s mother didn’t yet know about their family drama. But that hardly excused her, since she was once again here to beg them for money.
“You won’t get any money. That’s it—the till is closed,” she snapped.
“Sveta! What kind of tone is that? Why are you speaking to me like I’m an enemy? Are your hormones acting up? Isn’t it too early for that? No, I’d better wake Evgeny. I can see we won’t come to terms with you,” Larisa Arkadyevna fumed.
“Wake him then!” Svetlana said sarcastically, calmly squatting back down before the marigold bed.
The mother-in-law confidently went into the house, and a minute later flew back out with a shocked face.
“Where’s my son? Are you trying to play a joke on me? Why didn’t you say Zhenya isn’t home? Did they call him in to work? On a day off? What nonsense is this!”
“Yes,” was all Svetlana replied, without looking up from her work.
“Yes what? Will you talk to me or not?” the older woman barked.
“Yes, I’m saying—it’s total nonsense. On that you’re absolutely right.”
“Where is my son, can you tell me?” the noisy visitor pressed, raising her voice.
“No, I can’t. I don’t know where your son is. And I don’t care.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? Are you his wife or not?”
“No. Not his wife anymore. Anything else?” Svetlana looked up from below at Evgeny’s mother.
“What a piece of work, huh? Will say anything just to avoid giving me the money her darling son promised!”
“Larisa Arkadyevna, why don’t you head on home. I’m busy, you see. If you’ve nothing more to add to your demand and your insult of me, then goodbye. Or better yet, farewell!”
“Svetlana!” the mother-in-law said now in confusion. “What’s going on? Did you and Zhenya fight?”
“No, he just left us. Packed his things and drove off in his car.”
“What do you mean, left? Where? Are you serious!?”
“Left without a word. As for where… I suspect to another woman. He said we’ll divide the house and assets after the divorce.”
“And that’s all? Nothing else? But that’s impossible, Sveta! There must be a reason. Everything seemed fine with you two. No fights, no brawls, you loved each other…”
Larisa Arkadyevna looked stunned and lost.
“I’ll call him right now and find out everything,” she suddenly perked up.
The older woman pulled an old mobile phone from her shabby bag and dialed her son’s number.
“He’s not answering. I’ll send a message. So that when he wakes up, he calls me right back.”
She fell silent for a couple of minutes, watching her daughter-in-law silently tending the flowers, then said:
“Svetlana, this is all not serious! You know that. I’m sure Zhenya’s joking. Acting up—men do that sometimes. Maybe you offended him somehow? Even unintentionally. So he’s teaching you a lesson, showing character. He’s such a sensitive soul, you know!”
“Joking?” the daughter-in-law repeated. “I never offended him, Larisa Arkadyevna, never even intended to. But he offended me, saying he doesn’t love me and never has.”
“Well there you go! He’s lying! Obviously lying! Blurted it out in anger. Could he really say something like that in his right mind? We all know he loves you and the kids, my precious grandbabies.”
“No, he doesn’t. He took all his things and told the kids he’ll now live somewhere else, but he’ll still see them.”
“He just said that without thinking. It’ll all work out. He’ll come back, you’ll see. Probably went to Lyokha’s. He’s living alone now, without his wife. That’s definitely where Zhenya went. Wanted to teach you a lesson.”
“I don’t care where he is or what he decided. But I won’t let him back here.”
“How can you not, Sveta? He’s your husband and the children’s father! These things happen. You fight—you make up.”
Larisa Arkadyevna desperately wanted to believe the quarrel between her son and daughter-in-law wouldn’t have serious consequences. Especially for her. Otherwise it was the collapse of all her plans and hopes.
Svetlana had always been kind and compliant, always let Evgeny help his mother. Which he did, giving her a small amount from his salary every month.
And now what? If her son gets another wife, as her daughter-in-law claimed, who knows how things would turn out? And her financial help could be at risk too.
The silence dragged on. Svetlana kept fussing with her flower bed, her whole demeanor showing indifference to her mother-in-law’s presence. Larisa Arkadyevna, meanwhile, waited desperately for any word from her son and wouldn’t leave. Leaving meant giving up entirely on the money she was counting on when she came.
“So what now, Sveta? Maybe you’ll still give me the twenty thousand Zhenya promised. We just talked about it a couple of days ago. I already called a repairman, he’s supposed to come look at my fridge. It’s awful being without one—in this summer heat! Might even need to buy a new one,” she tried fishing again.
“Are you serious? What money? Why on earth should I give you that? I could use some help myself now. The three of us will live on my salary alone. Who knows when I’ll even start getting child support from Evgeny—if I ever will!” Svetlana said bitterly, tossing aside the little trowel she had been using to feed the plants.
“What child support, Sveta? There you go again. I’m telling you—your husband will come back home, you’ll see. There won’t be any divorce. You’ll laugh at your words later, once you make up. I need that money like air! You two couldn’t have picked a worse time for your squabble, words can’t describe! You could have held off with your fights,” Larisa Arkadyevna blurted out emotionally, losing control.
“What nonsense are you talking? We were supposed to fight on your schedule? You didn’t provide one, so sorry—it happened as it happened. And honestly, you’ve exhausted me. Go away. And don’t you dare mention money to me again. You’ll get no help here anymore.”
At that moment, her mother-in-law’s phone rang loudly. Looking at the screen, she exclaimed joyfully:
“Ah, here’s Zhenya calling. Now I’ll find out everything! Hello, sonny, where are you? What happened? I came by and what do I find! Svetlana’s telling me some horrible things!” she rattled off without letting him get a word in.
But Evgeny somehow managed to break through his mother’s stream of words, and she fell silent for a minute, listening to what he said.
“You left? Left where? To whom? Are you kidding me? Who’s Olga now? You’re stabbing me in the heart! And the kids? How can they be without you? And your house—you poured so much effort and money into it!” questions poured from the stunned Larisa Arkadyevna.
After talking with her son a few more minutes, the woman hung up.
“He says he’s in love with some Olga… Who is she, where did she come from? But I don’t believe him, Sveta. He’s saying that to spite you. Knows I’m here with you, so he says it so you won’t catch onto his plan too soon. Evgeny can’t just throw away everything he’s worked for these ten years. And the kids too. He can’t! That’s just crazy! On that you’re right, Svetochka—pure nonsense.”
“Are you done?” Svetlana asked with a smirk.
“No, not done. What if you believe now that my son seriously left you? You might do all sorts of foolish things… irreversible ones.”
“What?!” the daughter-in-law was stunned. “What could be worse than what your son already did!”
“I know what I’m talking about, Sveta! I’ve lived a life, seen things. Zhenya will come back in a couple days, maybe a week, and no one here will be waiting for him. Too late! The spot’s taken!”
“Oh really?” the daughter-in-law said with a biting smile, understanding where this was going. “And what are you suggesting? That I sit here crying, waiting for your dishonorable son to graciously remember his first family? Am I right? Wait for him in tears?”
“Yes, right. Wait! He’ll come back. I’ll move in here with you and keep watch over you. My son will only thank me later!”
“Keep watch?! More and more I’m convinced you need a psych ward, Larisa Arkadyevna. You’re not a guard dog, and I’m not some treasure to be watched.”
“Still—”
“No, I said! You won’t live here! Get out!” Svetlana screamed, surprising even herself.
Her hurt over her husband was still fresh, and now this—an absurd theater! “Keep watch,” what a joke! Who’d believe it? Or is this whole circus just to get the money Evgeny promised?
“You’ll regret this, Svetlana! Oh, how you’ll regret it. I wanted what’s best. Your husband will come to his senses, realize no one needs him out there, this whim of his will pass, and he’ll come back. Here’s your family home, the kids, and you—a faithful, exemplary wife. And no need to divide or sell the house; everything will be as before. But you, it seems, want to destroy everything you and my son built for years.”
“I want to destroy it?!” Svetlana was dumbfounded. “Me? Are you out of your mind?”
“Yes, you! Because the wife is the pillar of the family. Who knows what foolishness can get into a man’s head, but the wife must always work to preserve the family and the hearth. Wives are always wiser than husbands!”
Tired of listening to this nonsense, Svetlana grabbed her mother-in-law by the elbow and, despite her resistance, led the woman out the gate, locking it with an extra latch.
“There!”
Larisa Arkadyevna, offended and upset, was forced to leave her son and daughter-in-law’s home without getting what she came for. A new plan was already forming in her head.
She urgently needed to find out who this Olga was that appeared in her son’s life, and how she would feel about Evgeny helping his mother.
Driven by these thoughts, she dialed her son again.
“Zhenya, I’m against your decision to leave your wife and kids. It’s reckless. But is your new woman really worth such sacrifices? Couldn’t you have just had a fling if you had such an itch?” she reproached him.
“Mom, what fling? I love Olya. And we’re expecting a baby. But I won’t abandon Petya and Masha either, of course,” Evgeny replied.
“When will you introduce me to her? I need to know whose hands I’m entrusting my son to.”
“No, Mom, you’ll have to wait with that. Olya doesn’t want relatives interfering in her family’s life. So it won’t happen anytime soon.”
“And what about the money? You promised me for the fridge repair,” she remembered her problem again.
“Sorry, Mom. I promised you a few days ago, but back then I wasn’t sure I’d leave Sveta. It was still an open question. You know she’s never been against my helping you. But now everything’s different. So many expenses at once—for Olya and the future baby. So forget it,” her son upset her.
“But how! I need that money so badly!”
“Ask Sveta, maybe she’ll give it?”
“No, she won’t. She kicked me out, the rude thing. And I can’t blame her. She’s hurt by you. And I’m suffering because of it. What am I supposed to do now? Why couldn’t you two live together? You had everything for happiness, and you couldn’t preserve it,” his mother concluded philosophically. But got no answer.