«What are you stuck in there for? Come out, come on!» Anna Makarovna banged on the bathroom door with her fist.
«Please wait another five minutes,» responded her daughter-in-law, Albina.
«Completely lost your conscience! What can you do in there for half an hour? Were you unloading wagons?!»
It had always been like this. It had been only three months since Alya and Semyon got married, but to the young woman, it seemed like an eternity under the oppression of her restless mother-in-law. She hurried out of the bathroom, buttoning up her robe as she rushed into the room she shared with her husband. She checked her phone—it had been ten minutes since she texted her husband. She took her things and went to take a shower, so she actually spent no more than eight minutes there, but Anna Makarovna counted thirty.
Without knocking, the mother-in-law burst into the room and began to berate how bad the daughter-in-law was. Albina could repeat everything she said word for word; she knew all her phrases by heart.
«Not only do you waste electricity—and the tariffs just went up again—you also waste water while the meters keep ticking. Can’t you just turn off the tap while you wash the sponge? No, you let the water run nonstop. Calculate how much that costs you. And why wash every day as if you work as a loader. You sit at home all day, staring at the screen. Go on, cook dinner, Semyon will be home soon, tired, and you don’t care about feeding your husband.»
Albina obediently stood up and went to the kitchen. She had boiled pasta in advance and taken the minced meat out of the freezer that morning. All that was left was to fry the onions, which were already peeled, with the minced meat, and then mix them with the pasta. They would have navy-style pasta, Semyon’s favorite dish.
«Pasta again!» Anna Makarovna grimaced, stopping in the doorway. «Right, go on and give your husband a stomach ulcer. People need soups! And you stuff your husband with dry food.»
Albina knew—it was useless to argue. She had tried to say something in her defense to her mother-in-law several times but quickly realized that it would make no difference.
When Semyon came home from work and had dinner, Alya tried to talk to him again.
«Semya, maybe you’ll reconsider, and we’ll move to a rental apartment, huh? I can’t stand your mom’s attacks anymore. She won’t let me concentrate at work. And I do work with numbers, after all.»
Albina handled the accounting remotely for several companies, and they wanted to save money for a down payment on a mortgage to move away from his mother eventually.
«Just bear with it a little longer, baby. Mom’s just used to everything being her way. Don’t pay attention. If we pay rent, we’ll never save up for our own place. Just bear with it!»
«Alright, I hope I still have enough patience,» Albina agreed once again. She understood that every penny in their savings was valuable.
But the strength to endure constant attacks and feel caged was diminishing day by day.
Some time passed, and one morning Albina felt a bout of nausea, then again and again. She bought a pregnancy test, and the suspicions were confirmed as soon as the second line appeared.
That day she fluttered around the apartment, rushing the minutes to share the news with her husband sooner.
She ran down to the delicatessen on the ground floor of their building, bought a cake. She prepared a «Mimosa» salad and baked a chicken. Instead of wine, she put cranberry juice on the table. Her mood was uplifted also because Anna Makarovna was not home all day, and no one interfered with her plans.
«And what’s the celebration here?» the mother-in-law grumbled, barely stepping over the threshold.
«Celebration!» nodded Albina, stepping out of the kitchen in a dressy dress.
«Is it your birthday or something?» the old woman squinted, as if trying to remember something.
«No, but you’ll find out soon. Semyon will be back.»
But that evening, the husband was delayed at work. He came home quite drunk and immediately shouted into the depths of the apartment:
«I lost my job! They’re shutting down the sham office!»
Albina came out of the room and, seeing her husband’s distressed face, tenderly hugged him.
«Well, nothing, we’ll manage. You’ll find something better, and I can take on a couple more sole proprietorships if you help around the house.»
Semyon hiccupped and nodded his head.
«And I cooked a delicious dinner, shall we go?! I was waiting for you to share the news.»
«No, I’m going to sleep!» Semyon staggered past the kitchen with unsteady steps.
«Well, what, we’ve lived to see this?!» the mother-in-law came out of her room. «You made the husband start drinking. Not only were you sitting unemployed, but now you’ll both be sitting on my neck.»
Albina silently smirked. All the utility bills were paid by her immediately after she moved into this apartment after the marriage, and she also bought the groceries. Semyon transferred his entire salary to the savings account, and Alya made some savings too. But the idea that a daughter-in-law could earn money from home, and more than her husband, was something Anna Makarovna refused to even listen to.
Closer to noon, when Semyon finally woke up, Albina reheated the chicken, took out the salad from the fridge, and set the table again. But the mood was completely different. There was not the joy that had uplifted her the day before. The mother-in-law walked around frowning like a turkey, and the husband got out of bed gloomy. Announcing such joyful news in such a pressing atmosphere was the last thing she wanted, but there was nothing to do. The family had to know that an addition was expected.
«We’re going to have a baby!» Alya said after a long silence during lunch.
Her husband silently raised a surprised and scared look at her, and the mother-in-law threw her fork on the table.
«Are you mocking me? No, but seriously, a girl not far from smart! You live here on bird’s rights, yet you bring an infant into the house! I wasn’t planning on becoming a grandmother. And what do you think you’ll live on? My answer is a categorical no! No, and no again! Either you move out immediately, or get rid of this mistake before it’s too late.»
Albina’s gaze darted from the mother-in-law to her husband, who sat, bowed his head, and remained silent.
«Semyon, aren’t you happy?» Alya asked cautiously, but he didn’t respond. Silently, he went to the balcony, grabbing cigarettes.
«What should he be happy about?» his mother answered for him. «Breeding poverty, do you think that’s joy? I didn’t dare have a child until I was forty because I wanted to acquire a home first. There was no hope for a husband at all. So I achieved it, if not for me, where would you live now? All together, you’d wander from corner to corner? Don’t be foolish, first provide a financial cushion, then you can think about children if you don’t run away from each other.»
Albina silently left the kitchen, and the mother-in-law shouted after her:
«And who will clean up from the table? It should all be sparkling here in half an hour! No need to breed cockroaches.»
Albina locked herself in the room, climbed onto the sofa, bent her knees and hugged them with her arms, and cried bitterly and hopelessly.
Semyon came in, sat in the armchair with his phone, and was silent.
«Semya, say something,» Alya couldn’t stand the oppressive silence.
«What can I say when I don’t even know if I’ll have a job soon? It’s too early to dream about a mortgage; we’ll have to endure. Maybe, seeing a granddaughter or grandson, mom will thaw.»
Albina breathed a sigh of relief. When Semyon cheered up a bit, they discussed what repairs they would make in the room, how they would move the furniture to make space for the crib. But when they returned from the store with new wallpaper, they met Anna Makarovna’s sparkling glance.
«And what are you plotting here without asking?»
«We want to change the wallpaper in the room to make it brighter, cheerier, these old ones, you see.»
Semyon said it as it was but immediately regretted saying it.
«Did I ever allow you to renovate in my apartment?» Anna Makarovna glared at her son. «In your own apartment, you can call the shots, but in my territory, I set the rules!»
Albina walked into the room with her head down, and Semyon lingered for a moment, trying to talk to his mother about how she, without realizing it, was poisoning their life.
«Mom, why are you getting worked up again? If you want, we’ll redo the renovation to your taste when we move out. But for now, we want to refresh the room. I don’t have a job now, what better reason to tidy up?»
«I’ve said my word, son, and this is no joke. You won’t live here with the child, and even without the child, it’s already cramped for me to share a roof with you. Convince your queen to get rid of this burden.»
Semyon came into the room, as if submerged in water.
«Al,» he sat down next to his wife and put his arm around her shoulders, «maybe… Maybe mom is right, and we really should postpone having a child? We don’t have anything of our own, we need to invest in earnings now, otherwise we’ll always be dependent on someone.»
«Senya, just listen to yourself! Postponing the birth of a child is impossible, there’s no such mode, and if you mean something else, know—I will never do it!»
«Well, then we’ll have to forget about our own housing! Get ready, tomorrow we’ll start looking for an apartment for rent, see how you start talking then.»
Albina sighed heavily.
«Everything will be fine, Senya, I’ll take on more work, I’ll sit day and night with reports, but we won’t be in need of anything.»
Said – done. The next day Albina started calling from the ads early in the morning, and after lunch, they went to look at the selected options. They settled on a one-bedroom apartment, which was cheaper than the others, with more pros than others. Near the house—a lake and a park where you can take a walk before bedtime, all the shops nearby, you can walk to the women’s consultation, and the children’s clinic is nearby. The renovation, of course, left much to be desired, but they managed to negotiate with the owner that they would paste their own wallpaper, especially since they had already been bought.
Anna Makarovna was pleased and did not hide it when her son and his unwelcome daughter-in-law moved out of the apartment with their things.
«I hope you’ll quickly understand, son, that mother was right, and you chose the wrong wife completely!» she said after them, adding, «You’ll run back, but remember, I won’t let her in! She decided she’s too independent, let her pull this yoke herself!»
Albina paid no attention to her mother-in-law’s words, now she didn’t care, she decided for herself that no matter how life turned out, she would never return to this apartment. At worst, she would go to her parents in Sakhalin. She stayed here after her studies because she met Semyon, and things were heading towards a wedding, but her husband didn’t want to leave his hometown, especially to such distant regions.
Albina, as promised, took on accounting services for several more firms and now had almost no free time. Semyon, quickly realizing that his wife earned enough for him not to work at all, took on household duties.
«Why should I look for a job?» he asked. «You can now save and we don’t need anything. And when the baby is born, it will be hard for you to cope with work and housework, so I’ll help.»
«That’s true,» agreed Albina.
But in the fifth month of pregnancy, Albina started feeling not very well. She constantly wanted to sleep, wanted to rest more, and then she wondered.
«Semya, what if I can’t work so much, then we’ll be left with nothing, savings will run out quickly. Maybe you should find a job after all?»
«Here we go!» the husband was indignant. «When you decided to keep the baby and leave your mother, you talked completely differently. You didn’t even consider the thought that you couldn’t work!»
Semyon had already gotten used to spending a good part of the day playing computer games, and Alya understood this perfectly, but she didn’t want to argue with Semyon, and his help would indeed come in handy after the birth of the baby.
One day, during a video call with her mother, Albina accidentally mentioned that it was getting harder for her to work every day.
«Alechka, have you thought about expanding your firm? Your organization is officially registered. You can delegate at least part of the work to other people.»
And Albina thought about it. Such thoughts had occurred to her, but it was a bit scary—hiring people, taking responsibility. But now it no longer seemed supernatural to her. Without putting off the decision for long, the next day she contacted a lawyer, asking him to draft an employment contract for her, posted a job vacancy online, and it wasn’t long before Albina moved from being a performer to being a manager. Moreover, now she could easily expand her client base. So when her son Nikita was born, Albina’s firm was perfectly organized, and she only had to monitor the quality of the process.
Semyon now felt even more comfortable. Albina coped perfectly with everything herself, Nikitka was a calm child, and Semyon only had to perform small assignments for his wife, which he was quite happy with. Anna Makarovna came to meet her grandson, but, looking at him, she told her son demonstratively:
«Interesting, who does he look like?! I see nothing of ours!»
Even Albina’s parents, coming from afar, stayed with their grandson for almost a month, although they had to rent an apartment, because Albina and Semyon didn’t have space, and Semyon’s mother no longer appeared.
When Nikita turned three years old, Albina had enough savings to finally buy her own house. Not as big as she wanted, but it was just the beginning. The main thing was that now it would be their own home, and they wouldn’t have to depend on anyone. They had to visit many options before they chose the most suitable one. There was a yard with a gazebo and a children’s corner, and the house was spacious. The rooms were small, but there was a separate bedroom, a nursery, and a living room with access to the terrace.
«Shall we invite mom to the housewarming?» Semyon asked when they were moving into the house.
«Invite her,» nodded Albina, «for decency’s sake, she’s unlikely to come, she hasn’t even come to Nikita’s birthday once, although you invited her. She didn’t even send a single gift to her grandson when you visit her. My parents almost every month send something for the grandson. No, of course, we don’t need anything, but the fact itself…»
But, contrary to expectations, Anna Makarovna came to the housewarming, though again without a gift for her grandson.
«I live on a pension, and utilities are expensive, so there’s no money for gifts,» she said, sitting down at the table. Then she looked attentively at Nikitka, who was shy of her, hiding behind his mother, and muttered through her teeth, «Changed, started to look like his father.»
After dinner, the mother-in-law began to walk around the house, commenting on every little thing:
«The tile in the bathroom is so old-fashioned… Were there no options with a separate bathroom? You can remove the bathtub and put in a shower cabin, there will be more space. And the rooms are so small, a cow would lie down, and there’s nowhere to stretch its tail…»
«We’re all set up,» Albina dared to answer.
«I have no doubt that you’re satisfied,» the mother-in-law smirked, «You never had taste.»
Albina didn’t argue with her. Now she was the mistress of the house and felt free, and let the mother-in-law say whatever she wanted. Now she would leave and everything would fall into place. However, soon Alya realized that everything would hardly fall into place now.
Semyon went to see his mother off when Albina noticed that Anna Makarovna had left her scarf. She picked it up from the chair and ran out of the house to give it to her mother-in-law. It was already dark outside, Semyon and his mother stood at the gate, waiting for a taxi, and Alya, hearing the conversation, stopped in the yard.
«But I don’t work, I just sit on Alya’s neck,» Semyon was saying.
«And what, she apparently rakes in a lot, since she bought such a house, so let her share. You must help your mother, and if you don’t work, then let her help. Twenty thousand a month, I think, is not money for her, but it’s good support for me.»
«I’ll talk to Albina, but I can’t promise anything,» Semyon said timidly.
«Don’t talk, convince! After all, if it weren’t for me, there wouldn’t be you or a son for her! Convince!»
At that moment a car pulled up to the gate, and Albina, forgetting why she was there, ran into the house. Semyon returned not very cheerful, and immediately did not start a conversation about his mother, and Albina pretended she hadn’t heard anything. Her husband decided to talk only the next day, after a phone conversation with his mother.
«Al, I was thinking,» he began, «mother lives on a pension, barely making ends meet, she has a hard time coping. Her fridge is often empty. And besides us, she has no one.»
«Do you want to take her some groceries?» Albina asked.
«No,» the husband waved his hand, «I just thought that we bought a house, well, now a lot of money will be left over. Maybe… We’ll start transferring at least twenty thousand a month to mother?»
«At least?» Albina couldn’t resist, «Or maybe, dear, it’s time for you to find a job and transfer your entire salary to your mother? How do you like that option?»
«Why do I need a job if we don’t need anything?» Semyon objected, and after all, his mother is already old.
«Do you even know how I get these twenty thousand? Do you think it’s easy for me to manage an entire team, communicate with clients, resolve employees’ mistakes? You have no idea what nerves are needed here, and you just say—at least twenty thousand! As for your mother’s age, my parents are almost her peers, but that doesn’t stop them from continuing to work while on pension. Who’s stopping her from finding a part-time job for herself? Or you, since you want to help your mother?»
«Albina, you’re wrong. Just think, if there’s a possibility to help, why not do it?»
«I have the possibility to help! And I’m ready to help my parents, but they don’t need help! But your mother, who never considered me at all, I’m not going to help! Take care of her yourself!»
«Alright! I heard you, Albina! Not for nothing they say that money spoils a person!»
Albina smirked. For a couple of days, Semyon walked around as if submerged in water, especially after a call from Anna Makarovna, and then he cheered up. Albina didn’t attach any importance to such changes, but when she received a message about a debt for the developmental center where they took Nikitka, she turned to her husband.
«Did you forget to pay for the children’s center?» she asked, looking him in the eye.
«No, I…,» Semyon’s gaze darted around, «I forgot to tell you… Mom asked for money for medicine, she’s feeling unwell, and I transferred it to her.»
«Seriously? You started stealing my money for your mother?» Albina was outraged.
«Choose your words! What do you mean by theft?» Semyon jumped up from the chair.
«What is it then? You took my money without asking, intended for completely different purposes! Semya, if this happens again, I’ll just file for divorce! Not only have I been supporting you for so many years, but you also want to put your mother on my neck? This burden is too heavy!»
«Well, sorry, Al, never again!» Semyon said, then added a bit louder, «But who else will help mother!»
Albina remained silent, but the next time Semyon lied to her that the car needed maintenance, and he took the money to Anna Makarovna, which Albina found out not immediately, she didn’t make a scandal, filed for divorce, and presented Semyon with the fact.
«You’re heartless!» Semyon yelled, «No wonder my mom told me!»
«Yes, I am!» simply replied Albina.
Sitting on a bench near the courthouse, Albina was very surprised when she saw Semyon accompanied by his mother. They sat down on the neighboring bench, pretending they didn’t see Albina.
«The house was bought during the marriage, so demand half. Don’t settle for less!» the mother instructed her son. «Divide the car too, leave her with nothing, since she didn’t want to sacrifice for the little one!»
But Semyon’s surprise was great when Albina declared during the court hearing that the house was registered in her mother’s name, Albina had arranged its purchase by a notarial power of attorney, anticipating this situation. And she didn’t mind leaving the car to her ex-husband, even wouldn’t divide it, but it was bought on credit, let him pay and enjoy it! In addition, Albina immediately filed for alimony, and they were awarded in hard currency since Semyon didn’t have a job.
Semyon left the courtroom with his head down.
«Well, what,» the mother jumped to him with questions, «did they divide the house? Why are you silent? What did they decide about the car?»
But Semyon didn’t answer. He quickened his pace and quickly left the building.
And Albina decided to sell all her property in this city, including the business, and return to her childhood city. Now she knows how to organize a business, she can raise the same firm from scratch there, and she didn’t regret anything. The main thing was that there would be people nearby who love her and her son and whom she could trust.
