Only if he survives, only if he survives,» Nastya whispered anxiously, looking out of the maternity ward window.
She turned to higher powers with one, most important request: that her child would stay alive. This was her fourth trip to the maternity department. Previous attempts had brought much pain. She had even named her third son Ivan—she had called for a priest. Little Nastya had buried him in a small grave with a cross, and she came every Saturday to cry over her son who did not survive.
The doctors had warned her of high risks due to a chronic disease, but she and her husband, Valery, continued to hope to become parents again. After giving birth, Nastya had to endure physical pain. Her breasts were filled with milk, which she had to express. She gave the milk to the neighboring patients. But at home, she still had to find ways to stop lactation, which was especially difficult with diabetes.
She still hoped for a favorable outcome. However, when it was all over, the silence in the delivery room was frightening. The baby was given artificial respiration, slapped on the buttocks, but life did not return to him.
Nastya burst into tears, and she was moved to the postpartum ward, where next to each bed stood a baby crib. In each stroller, someone snored, only her crib remained empty. She turned to the wall to avoid seeing anyone.
In the evening, another young mother, a teenager with a scruffy appearance, was placed in the ward: her hair was braided into dreadlocks, and her robe reached to the heels. She was only 16 years old. The other women in the room noted her appearance displeasedly, but she paid no attention and quickly fell asleep. The nurse brought the girl’s child to the crib and carefully laid him on his side.
«Well, you’re lucky with your mommy,» the nurse said softly, patting the back of the infant, who squirmed and yawned.
Nastya observed how easy it was for the baby just to live, breathe, and yawn, even if his mother was a juvenile vagabond. Why didn’t her children get such a chance? At midnight, the room was filled with a loud baby cry—the baby demanded food, and his mother slept indifferently. Without hesitation, Nastya took him in her arms and went to the duty nurse:
«May I feed him? I have too much milk coming.»
«Of course, if his mother doesn’t mind,» came the reply.
Returning to the room, she carefully began to feed the baby, feeling how eagerly he ate, as if understanding that he had little time. The mother woke up, rubbed her eyes, and looked at the window.
«It’s still dark. And I wanted to leave.»
«Leave?» Nastya was surprised. «And what about the child? He needs to be watched.»
«What child?» the girl said indifferently. «Ah, this one. I don’t need him, I’ll write a refusal. I’ve done too much for him already.»
The girl left the room, heading to the nurse’s station. Nastya continued to hold the baby, allowing him to release air from his tummy, and then laid him back in the crib, noticing a tag on the blanket with the name: «Kostina Irina Petrovna.»
The baby was fifty centimeters tall and weighed as much as a full-term child should. No one knew who his father was. Nastya sighed heavily, feeling the injustice of the world again. At that moment, Irina Petrovna returned to the room. She did not look at the child but began to rummage through the contents of her bag.
«Damn, I’m out of cigarettes,» she cursed and glanced at her neighbors. «Does anyone have a smoke?»
The mothers shook their heads. She left for the post, from which a muffled scream came:
«This isn’t a back alley. Get back to your room so I don’t see you until morning!»
Irina reluctantly returned to her bed, mumbling something, but soon fell asleep.
In the morning, the head nurse approached Nastya and asked her to come to the office. There, she was met by the head nurse and several doctors.
«Sit down, dear,» began the head nurse. «We have a situation here. Kostina has filed a refusal for the child, and we must transfer him to the Orphanage. But you can apply for adoption right now, and the boy will stay with you. I think you have few chances of giving birth to your own healthy child,» concluded the doctor.
Nastya was at a loss. She had already become attached to the baby, fed him. How would her husband and son react to a stranger’s child? After thinking it over, she asked:
«Is there a way to record him under my name, as if I gave birth to him, without official adoption?»
The doctors exchanged glances.
«You see, all our statistics are recorded, including stillbirths. But there is an option,» said the head nurse. «If Kostina agrees to transfer rights specifically to you through a notary, it would simplify matters. You’ll have to wait, but Kostina wants to be discharged today. Talk to her.»
Nastya rushed back to the room. Kostina was already getting ready to leave.
«Irochka, please, hold on a bit. I want to arrange the adoption, but we need to wait for the notary. Please sign the contract,» she pleaded.
Kostina looked at Nastya in surprise and squinted:
«And how much are you giving? I want a thousand rubles, and I agree to stay another day in this place.»
Nastya agreed:
«I’ll give it, of course, just don’t leave.»
She returned to her bed and started calling a friend. An hour later, the notary and documents were with them, and the contract was signed in the office.
«Wait, Nastya, what about Valerka? Does he agree?» asked her friend.
«I told him that our baby is in critical condition,» Nastya replied.
«Oh, you’re risky. What if the child doesn’t look like you?» her friend doubted.
«I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing,» Nastya thought. «But the doctors said that my chances of having a living child are low, and here’s a real opportunity.»
Valera was so happy when he learned that he had become a father that he almost cried with joy. He asked several times, «Really? Really?» Nastya confirmed that it was not a dream. He immediately called all relatives and friends to share the news. Everyone admired and congratulated, not forgetting to remind him of the need to celebrate properly.
While Nastya had not yet been discharged, Valera had time to celebrate the birth of his son in several companies. The father had a good time.
Nastya’s parents came to pick her up from the maternity hospital. Grandmother gently took the bundle in her arms and, looking at the baby’s face, laughed.
«Oh, how he looks like Valerka!»
«Mom, how can you tell now who he looks like? I think all babies are the same.»
«No, don’t say that. You had a thin nose from birth, and your son will definitely grow a potato nose. Just like Valerka’s.»
«Let him look like Valera,» Nastya cheerfully replied. «After all, he’s still his son.»
In the nursery, flooded with sunlight and empty for almost six years, a child’s voice finally sounded. The baby was very demanding, especially when it came to food. Sometimes, preparing for feeding, Nastya jokingly said:
«Think, impatient,» and immediately caught herself.
When Valera entered the room and heard her, he asked:
«Are you calling him Kostya?»
«Yes, Konstantin—good name, royal.» Nastya hesitated.
She had long dreamed that if she had a son, she would name him Kostya. So it happened: he was named Konstantin Vavilov.
Everyone noticed the boy’s resemblance to Valera. Father and son became inseparable. When the baby learned to walk, he became a real daddy’s tail. Valera would sit down at the TV, and Kostik would immediately run up, climb onto his father’s legs, and comfortably settle on the pouf, stretching out along.
Sometimes they carried him back to the nursery crib. Two and a half years later, Nastya became pregnant again. This time she did not experience the previous fear. Looking at the cheerful and inseparable Kostya and Valera, she felt peace and happiness. The fifth pregnancy went unnoticed and ended with the birth of a healthy girl.
Nastya was thrilled and only regretted that she could not share these emotions with Valera, but he was happy. They finally had a full family: dad, mom, son, and daughter. What else to dream about? The girl was named Victoria. For Nastya, this name was a symbol of victory over past failures, and for Valera—a royal name.
«Well, we have Emperor Konstantin and now Queen Victoria,» he said.
Kostya immediately loved his sister. At first, he thought it was a toy, but then he realized it was a little person. He cared for her: he would bring a pacifier if it fell; he would rock the crib if the baby fussed.
«Mom, where are you? She’s crying,» he would sometimes exclaim.
Nastya’s mom could not get enough of her grandchildren and called them golden. She photographed them with dad, with mom, and individually.
And then one day, Nastya received a call from an unknown number. A man introduced himself as a notary and said he was calling on behalf of Pyotr Alekseevich Kostin. This respectable gentleman wanted to discuss an inheritance issue with Nastya. Listening to the stranger, Nastya puzzled: what gentleman, what inheritance? She never had wealthy relatives. Moreover, why didn’t they call her mom if it was something serious?
And then it dawned on her: Pyotr Kostin, probably the father of Irina, the biological mother of her son. Nastya’s heart raced: what did these unexpected visitors want? And were they really respectable, considering their daughter was a vagrant?
Nastya was torn apart by the fear of what they might tell her husband, Valera, and her happy family. No, this could not be allowed. She needed to go to the notary office immediately and ask them to leave her family alone!
She left Kostya with her mom, gathered Vika, and took a taxi to the specified address.
In the office, she was met by a short middle-aged man with a surprisingly familiar face. Seeing Nastya with the baby, he threw up his hands:
«My God, couldn’t you leave the child with someone? Sorry for the trouble.»
«It’s alright,» Nastya replied, «we’ll take a walk at the same time. So why did you need me?»
«Don’t worry, I’m not going to complicate your life,» the man smiled. «Allow me to introduce myself: Kostin Pyotr Alekseevich.»
«Danilova Anastasia Olegovna,» she extended her hand to him. «Why did you decide that we need your help?»
«I’ll tell you now. The thing is, you are the adoptive mother of my grandson. My daughter…» Pyotr turned away, wiping away a tear. «She ran away from home in her youth, hung around with various rock bands, and her life never really worked out. Over three years ago, she gave birth to a boy and transferred the rights to you, as a notary friend told me. My daughter was unlucky, died of an overdose, leaving me with a grandson whom I cannot help directly.» Pyotr pulled out a photo. Nastya saw a pretty girl with a snow-white smile and dark hair, barely recognizing in her the same vagrant with dreadlocks who had given up her son.
Nastya glanced at Pyotr and involuntarily noticed: the grandfather and grandson had the same noses.
«Oh, I’m an old fool,» Pyotr blushed. «My grandson is three years old, he probably already talks?»
«Of course!» Nastya confirmed.
«Do you have his photos?» he asked.
Nastya, taking out her smartphone, showed several snapshots.
«Beautiful child, he reminds me of someone,» Pyotr mused thoughtfully.
«He reminds you of you,» Nastya thought, still guessing why she was invited to meet the new relatives.
«I won’t keep you long,» finally spoke Pyotr Alekseevich. «I have no children left, but I’ve earned quite a bit over my lifetime. I consulted a lawyer about the need to draft a will where property will be fairly distributed.»
«Kostya is my real son by the documents.»
«I understand, you don’t want to suddenly gain additional relatives,» Pyotr sighed.
«My husband and close ones know nothing about the adoption,» Nastya confessed. «It happened in the maternity hospital after the loss of the fourth child. We didn’t inform anyone. I’m not planning and won’t change anything.»
«Understood. Give me some time, and we’ll find a way to get out of this situation without your relatives suspecting anything,» Pyotr nodded.
«You seem to want to ‘buy us off,’ but our family doesn’t need it,» Nastya noted.
«No buy-off! Life is complex, unpredictable, I just want my descendants not to need.»
Nastya thought that the story with his daughter taught him nothing. Creating greenhouse conditions for children, from which they run away out of boredom, is not the solution. However, she said nothing to him and promised that she would come to the next meeting with Kostya.
The next meeting was even more unexpected than the previous one. First, Valera received an official letter asking him to visit a medical center for a genetic test. Some relative wanted to verify kinship.
Nastya puzzled over what that strange old man had concocted, and why he was calling her husband Valera for such a check. Questions swarmed in her head like bees, but there were no answers to be found.
When the meeting finally took place, organized by Pyotr Alekseevich in a restaurant, the old man looked pleased and had a slightly conspiratorial look. The entire family gathered at the table, and Kostin took out a certain letter and read it to those gathered.
«Hello, Petya. Probably didn’t expect to hear from me. Twenty years ago, I wouldn’t have responded to you, but now I’ve decided to reveal everything,» he read. «When we broke up, I realized I was pregnant, but I didn’t tell you then because the term was small, and I hoped to have an abortion. Your Lyuda, it turns out, was also in the late stages…»
Continuing the story, Kostin explained that his old friend Anna got pregnant by him, but didn’t have an abortion because of meeting a wonderful person who accepted and supported her despite the past. This man became her husband and raised the child as his own, so no one suspected the deceit.
«My mother was dating you?» Valera asked in surprise, barely believing what he heard. «How so, my father is not my father? Can’t be!»
«Can be, son, can be,» Kostin replied with a satisfied smile, handing the letter to Valera and whispering to Nastya: «When I saw your family photo, I immediately knew he was one of ours.»
Then, as if making a toast, he loudly announced:
«In my youth, I wasn’t a saint. And one of the girls close to me once—I still found Anya. We parted at that time because my future wife was just expecting a birth.»
At that moment, Nastya thought: «It turns out, Kostya is Valera’s nephew. They and Irina are brother and sister.» Kostin, meanwhile, continued:
«So, my dears, allow me to introduce myself: I am Valera’s father, Nastya’s father-in-law, and the grandfather of their wonderful children. Well, how do you like that turn?»
Valera, suddenly coming to his senses, asked:
«But why did you suddenly decide to look for your former, my mother?»
«I need to make a will, not to offend anyone,» Kostin explained. «Anna is the only one of the exes who lives in our city, and it was easier to find her. I was right, and now I definitely won’t neglect any of my relatives.»
Nastya hugged Vika sitting on her lap and could not recover from the events that had flooded her.
«Well…» Valera was the first to come to his senses. «I still need to digest this. But… uh… glad to meet you. Though I don’t promise to call you dad.»
«I expect nothing from you, son,» Pyotr Alekseevich admitted. «I just wanted to find close people, not to be alone at the end of my path.
