— “And what are you doing at my jubilee? I invited only my son! Get out!” the mother-in-law said mockingly to her daughter-in-law.
“God, please let everything go well,” Angela thought for the hundredth time, smoothing the folds of her new dress. The pale-blue silk shimmered beautifully in the rays of the setting sun.
In a small box on the vanity lay a brooch—the very one her mother-in-law had been harping on about for the last six months.
“Tamara Petrovna’s daughter-in-law gave her the exact same one. And mine? She hasn’t even guessed!”
Angela smirked, remembering those hints. It was fine—today was the jubilee; maybe this gift would finally melt Lidiya Ivanovna’s icy heart.
“Anzhel, are you ready?” Oleg peeked into the bedroom, dressed in his best suit. “We’ll be late!”
In three years of marriage she still hadn’t understood why her husband pretended not to notice the cold war between her and his mother. He seemed to love her, to care—but the moment his mother started her usual nitpicking, he disappeared into the bushes.
“Oh, come on, she’s just worried,” “You’re imagining things; that’s just her sense of humor.”
“I’m coming,” the woman gave herself one last look in the mirror. “Olezha, you do remember the gift, right?”
“Of course,” he smiled—though not very confidently.
The restaurant greeted them with a hum of voices. At the head of the table sat Lidiya Ivanovna, like a queen on a throne, receiving congratulations from her guests.
Seeing her son, the woman’s face broke into a joyous smile.
“Olezhek! At last! I’ve been waiting for you so long!”
Angela felt as if someone had switched her off and cropped her out of the frame. Again. As always.
The first hour passed relatively peacefully. Toasts, congratulations, the clink of glasses. The daughter-in-law even started to hope everything would be all right.
But she was wrong…
“Lidiya Ivanovna,” the woman approached her relative with the present, “congratulations!”
“And what are you doing at my jubilee?” the mother-in-law said with a sneer to her daughter-in-law. “I invited only my son. I don’t recall inviting a daughter-in-law. Get out!”
Silence fell over the hall, then someone snickered. The giggle was picked up by others, and soon half the guests were openly having a laugh at the woman’s expense.
“Mom, what are you doing?” Oleg began, but fell silent under his mother’s heavy gaze.
“Oh, I must have mixed something up,” he mumbled, looking away. “It happens…”
His wife turned and looked at him closely.
What a coward he was! That was the last straw for her.
Angela felt a lump rise to her throat and a sting in her eyes. Not knowing what she was doing, she spun around and rushed for the exit.
Oleg’s voice sounded behind her, but she no longer listened.
Angela burst out of the restaurant, swallowing tears. The guests’ mocking laughter still rang in her ears. God, how could she be such a fool? She’d hoped that this damned jubilee would change something! That the gift would thaw her mother-in-law’s icy heart!
“Taxi, taxi…” She glanced around frantically, feeling the curious stares of passersby. At last a yellow car pulled up to the curb.
“Severnaya, twenty-three,” she managed to say, collapsing onto the back seat.
The driver nodded knowingly and started the meter. He had probably seen plenty like her—tear-streaked women in fancy dresses, hurrying somewhere.
“Enough!” pounded in her temples. “I won’t allow this anymore!” For three years she had bent over backward for that woman. For three years she had listened to jabs about being “an unsuitable match for her precious boy,” about how “a real wife should…” And Oleg? Oleg just waved it off: “A mother is a mother; you can’t change her.”
Angela clenched her fists until it hurt. No more! Either her husband finally learned to put his wife above his mother’s whims, or… or he could go running back to his mommy! She wasn’t going to be the family punching bag any longer.
That’s it. Period. Enough.
Angela flew into the apartment and threw her bag into a corner. Tears were still running down her cheeks, but now they were tears of anger. Inside she was boiling—with rage at her mother-in-law, at her husband, and at herself for putting up with it so long.
The doorbell made her jump.
“Anzhel, open up! I forgot my keys!” Oleg’s voice sounded anxious.
“Of course,” she thought bitterly, “here he is, rushing to apologize—as always.” She could have left him outside, but she knew he wouldn’t go away until she let him in.
The lock clicked. Angela stepped aside without a word, not even looking at her husband. Oleg froze on the threshold when he saw her tear-stained face.
“What’s wrong?” He reached for her hand. “Why are you crying?”
“Why?” She jerked away as if from a blow. “Are you seriously asking? I can’t take it anymore! I can’t take your mother, her taunts, her…”
She didn’t finish—she darted to the wardrobe and yanked the doors open. Clothes flew onto the bed.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Oleg faltered.
“What does it look like?” She yanked a suitcase from under the bed with a thud. “I’m leaving! I’ve had enough!”
“Wait, let’s talk…”
“Talk?” Angela whirled around to him. “Three years, Oleg! Three damn years I’ve endured her humiliating me! And you? Not once—no, not one bloody time—did you take my side! You just pretended nothing was happening!”
“I didn’t realize you took it so hard,” he muttered. “I thought you understood—that’s just my mom’s nature. Her humor is… specific…”
“Humor?” She laughed bitterly. “That isn’t humor, it’s hatred! From the very first day I crossed your family’s threshold! And you know what’s the worst? I don’t even know anymore who I hate more—her for what she does, or you for letting her do it!”
Clothes continued to rain into the suitcase, and tears once again rolled down her cheeks.
“Go,” she said quietly.
“What?”
“Get out!” Angela snapped. “Go to your mommy—she matters more to you than anyone!”
“Stop it.” He stepped toward her, trying to hug her. “We’ll fix this. What are you doing? You can’t—”
“Can’t?” She pushed him away. “I can’t? But she can? Just go, Oleg. It’s over.”
He stood in the doorway, unable to recognize his usually calm, gentle wife in this furious woman.
“Please,” she said more softly. “I need to be alone.”
When the door closed, Angela slid down the wall to the floor. She shook with sobs, but she knew—there was no way back. Enough of being a silent victim. Enough of forgiving everything.
Oleg burst into the restaurant like a hurricane. His temples throbbed; his hands trembled. For the first time in his life he felt such rage toward his own mother.
He kept seeing Angela’s tear-stained face, her trembling lips as she kicked him out of the apartment.
“Go to your mother—she’s the most important person in your life!”
Those words struck him like slaps. And she was right. All this time he had buried his head in the sand, pretending not to notice how his mother was methodically destroying his family.
The hall was still buzzing. The guests, excited by the scandal, whispered to each other, throwing curious glances at Lidiya Ivanovna. She sat at the head of the table as if nothing had happened, telling her friend something.
“Mom!” His voice rang so loudly that everyone fell silent. “We need to talk.”
The woman frowned and answered, annoyed, “Olezhek, not now. It’s my jubilee, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“No—right now!” He shoved his chair back with a crash. “Stop pretending nothing happened!”
“What’s the big deal?” his mother spread her hands theatrically. “So your wife threw a tantrum. I, for one, have the right to invite whomever I want to my celebration. I didn’t want to see her. And what of it?”
Someone snickered. Oleg felt the boil inside him rise.
“You have the right?” he laughed, but there was no mirth in it. “Enough of the games! You humiliated her on purpose in front of everyone! How could you? She’s my wife!”
“Exactly,” Lidiya Ivanovna pursed her lips. “Your wife. And I’m your mother. And I can see she’s not right for you.”
“You—” He choked with indignation. “You just can’t accept that I love her! Three years, Mom! For three years you’ve been tormenting her, and I, like a coward, kept quiet! But that ends now!”
The guests began slowly getting up from the table. Some ostentatiously fiddled with their phones, pretending not to hear the family quarrel.
“How dare you!” his mother leapt to her feet. “I devoted my whole life to you! And she…”
“And she loves me! And you know what? If you don’t apologize to my wife right now, if you don’t stop these antics, I will simply cut you out of my life.”
“What?..” The woman turned pale. “You wouldn’t dare!”
“I would,” his voice turned quiet and hard. “Choose, Mom. Either you accept Angela and treat her with respect, or you lose your son. Decide.”
Lidiya Ivanovna sank back onto her chair. For the first time in her life, she saw her boy like this. Firm, resolute, a stranger.
“The party’s over!” Oleg announced loudly to the guests. “Please, everyone, leave!”
No one dared argue. In five minutes the hall was empty.
“Let’s go,” the man took his mother by the elbow. “We need to go to Angela. And you’re going to apologize to her. Right now!”
“But…”
“No buts,” he cut her off. “I won’t let you destroy my family and humiliate my wife anymore. Your jubilee is a perfect starting point for this change!”
They went outside.
Lidiya Ivanovna got into the car, still unable to believe her cunning plan had collapsed. She’d thought she could publicly humiliate her daughter-in-law today and finally get rid of her, but instead…
Well, she would have to accept it. Otherwise she would lose her son. And that she could not allow.
Angela sat on the bed, hugging her knees. Her things still lay scattered around—she hadn’t found the strength to finish packing. Fragments of the evening kept spinning in her head: her mother-in-law’s mocking look, the guests’ laughter, Oleg’s bewildered face.
The doorbell made her flinch.
On the threshold stood her husband, and behind him—Lidiya Ivanovna. Angela felt everything tighten inside her.
“Why did you bring her here? I told you—”
“Wait,” Oleg took his wife’s hand. “Mom has something to say to you.”
The mother-in-law shifted from foot to foot, clearly ill at ease. Where was the haughty woman who an hour earlier had humiliated her daughter-in-law in front of all the guests?
“I…” she began, but Angela cut her off:
“No, hold on. Do you really think you can just come here, say sorry, and everything will be fine?”
“Angela…” Oleg tried to intervene.
“No, let me finish!” his wife raised her voice. “For three years I endured your snide remarks, your barbs, your contempt. For three years I tried to be a good daughter-in-law. I cooked your favorite dishes, bought presents, tolerated your comments. And you… You staged this performance at your own jubilee, didn’t you? Wanted to humiliate me in front of everyone? To show what a ‘nobody’ I am!”
Lidiya Ivanovna turned pale. “I didn’t think…”
“Oh, you thought perfectly well!” Tears sparkled in Angela’s eyes. “You know what’s funniest? I actually hoped everything would change today. I bought you that damned brooch you went on and on about!”
The daughter-in-law took the box from her bag and tossed it onto the coffee table.
“Angela, I was wrong. Oleg… he made me realize I could lose my son. I don’t want that.”
“Oh, so that’s what this is about! You’re apologizing not because you understand your guilt, but because you’re afraid of losing your son?”
“Yes,” the mother-in-law answered unexpectedly honestly. “I won’t love you. But I will try to accept you. For Oleg’s sake.”
Angela looked at her husband. He stood with his fists clenched. She saw how worried he was, how much he cared, how he waited. At some point she realized that her husband truly loved her. For the first time in three years, Oleg had taken her side and had not been afraid to stand up to his mother.
“You know what?” the daughter-in-law took a deep breath. “I’ll stay. Not for you—for my husband. Because today he finally showed that I matter more to him than anyone. Even you!”
Lidiya Ivanovna smiled in relief, but Angela wasn’t finished:
“But you will never again cross the threshold of this apartment. Your apology helped save your son’s marriage, but not our relationship. Leave.”
“What? But…” The woman looked at her son in confusion.
Oleg nodded silently. “Mom, you’d better go. It’s the right thing.”
Lidiya Ivanovna didn’t argue and left the apartment with her head held high.
When the door closed behind her mother-in-law, Angela felt the tension of the past hours release its grip.
Funny how it turned out: the mother-in-law had wanted to humiliate her at her own jubilee, but in the end found herself humiliated—first by her son in front of the guests, and now by her daughter-in-law.
“Forgive me,” Oleg said quietly, embracing his wife. “I should have done this long ago.”
Angela smiled and nestled against her husband. “The important thing is that you finally did. We’ll handle the rest.”