Not a child, but a real punishment! You’ll grow up just like your mother, and then you’ll torment some poor woman’s nerves, just like your mother torments me!» grumbled Elizabeth Viktorovna about her daughter-in-law’s daughter, Oksana.
The girl sat at the table and looked at the plate, which had a smear of mashed potatoes on it, no more. Is this dinner? How can one fill up on this? And Elizabeth Viktorovna even fried meatballs. Yulia saw it with her own eyes! And the smell was still appetizing.
Yulia was already nine and could clearly distinguish right from wrong. She understood that Elizabeth Viktorovna was speaking negatively about both Yulia and her mother. Her mom had asked her to ignore the woman’s grumbling, but she no longer had the strength to endure such treatment. Children are sincere creatures, and it’s harder for them to pretend, to act as if they don’t notice aggression.
«Elizabeth Viktorovna, could you give me at least one meatball? Or add some more mashed potatoes? You’ve put too little, and I won’t be full,» the girl complained.
«Too little for you! Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? You have more extra weight than a hippopotamus! That’s enough for you! Lose some weight!»
«But mom said I should speak up if I need something. This isn’t enough for me, and I would like a meatball.»
«A meatball, you wanted? You’ll get a meatball! Get up from the table and go to your room. I see you’ve eaten enough if you have time to chat! Do you know whose money bought all this food? My son’s money! I cooked the meatballs for him, not for you. My son isn’t obliged to feed someone else’s child!»
Grabbing Yulia by the arm, roughly pulling her away from the table, Elizabeth Viktorovna only didn’t kick her to make the girl disappear into her room faster. Frightened by such aggressive behavior from Elizabeth Viktorovna, Yulia locked herself in her room, climbed onto the bed, and only when she wanted to text her mom did she realize she had left her phone on the kitchen table. However, returning for it was too scary. Who knows what could pop into that angry woman’s head? She gritted her teeth and seemed ready to tear and throw things. Yulia had never seen such angry people before. The girl felt a strong longing for her grandmother, Natalia. Her own father’s mother had always been kind to her. She gave more food than asked for, sometimes even jokingly scolded that if the granddaughter’s cheeks thinned, she would have to eat twice as much. Elizabeth Viktorovna turned out to be the complete opposite. Staying with her was not desirable at all. Yulia knew that evil people existed, but now she saw it herself and understood how scary it was.
The whole day the girl sat in her room. She was glad that during that time, she didn’t need to go to the bathroom because she was afraid to encounter the enraged Elizabeth Viktorovna. Just like in the cartoon «The Kid and Carlson,» a real house tormentor. Except here, «Grandma Liza» was unlikely to thaw. By the way, she immediately forbade being called grandma. She claimed she wasn’t that old yet. Although she had already gone gray and retired earlier than others due to working with chemicals. Maybe those influenced her and made her so stern?
Oksana came back from work agitated because her daughter hadn’t responded to her messages all day. But she couldn’t even make it to Yulia’s room.
«Elizabeth Viktorovna, is everything okay with Yulia? She hasn’t responded to me all day.»
«Everything’s fine with your Yulia. She gave me a headache, saying she won’t eat my mashed potatoes and then locked herself in her room. You need to be stricter with her. You’ve spoiled the child, and now others have to suffer because of it.»
At the same time, Dmitry returned from work. The man hurried to find out what had happened, and Elizabeth Viktorovna began to complain to him that Yulia was a real punishment, an unruly child, and it was very hard to look after her. She seasoned her words with sighs and even shed a tear for credibility.
«You’re saying some strange things, mom. Yulia has always been calm,» Dmitry shrugged.
Oksana knocked on her daughter’s room. The girl opened the door and immediately threw herself into her mother’s arms. Her stomach painfully growled from hunger. She wanted to eat and sleep. Yulia was tired from sitting on the bed all day and staring at one spot in front of her. For this reason, the day dragged unbearably long.
«Sweetie, why did you refuse to eat?» asked Oksana, sitting down on the bed with her daughter.
Elizabeth Viktorovna entered the room, propped her hands on her hips, and glared menacingly at the girl. She seemed to threaten without words: dare to say something against me, and you’ll fully taste my wrath.
Yulia didn’t want to lie to her mother. However, she was afraid of Elizabeth Viktorovna’s anger. Would anyone believe her if she told the truth?
«I didn’t refuse,» the girl said with a trembling voice. Fear is bad. Grandma Natalia always said that. One must not be silent and it’s important to talk about one’s experiences.
«Look at her! Lying and not even blushing. What else have you made up?»
«I didn’t make anything up. I asked for more mashed potatoes and a meatball.»
Yulia honestly recounted what had happened, repeating Elizabeth Viktorovna’s words.
«Well, look at her! What a liar! Not even a hint of a blush! You’d make a good actress, you know! Didn’t the adults tell you that they used to cut off the tongue for lying in the past?»
Yulia was no longer afraid of Elizabeth Viktorovna. She felt her mother believed her only daughter. Support emanated from Oksana, though she hadn’t yet intervened in the conversation and listened to both sides.
«Then you would be without it, but I have nothing to be ashamed of because I’m telling the truth!» Yulia declared.
Elizabeth Viktorovna theatrically clutched at her heart, approached her son weeping and moaning, demanding he help her immediately because such a child would give her a heart attack.
Oksana and Yulia were left alone.
«Sweetie, did she really say that?» Oksana cautiously asked her daughter. The girl only nodded in response.
A bruise remained on her wrist from her mother-in-law’s rough grasp. Oksana understood that her daughter was not lying and that continuing to leave her with Elizabeth Viktorovna was not an option.
«I’ll talk to Dmitry. I have a day off tomorrow, so I’ll be with you, and then your favorite grandma will return. Are you happy?»
Yulia nodded. She could have stayed home alone, as she already knew much, but break-ins had increased in the city, and Oksana worried for her daughter. Since it was summer vacation, she had arranged with her former mother-in-law to look after her granddaughter, but Dmitry insisted that his mother be the one. It turns out, his mother wasn’t eager to help at all. Although the spouses promised to pay her, Natalia helped just for the love of it and said she would never take payment. Elizabeth Viktorovna did not refuse payment but behaved too ignorantly.
After feeding her daughter and putting her to bed, Oksana took a shower. She waited for her husband, but he came into the room late. He said his mother was too ill, and he had to look after her.
«Your daughter should apologize for her behavior. Mom would never say such words to her, she understands she’s grown up and can tell us everything,» Dmitry concluded.
«Are you serious? Do you think my daughter has any reason to lie about this, and your mom has no reason at all? Dim, this is beyond the pale! Yulka has a bruise on her wrist. This isn’t normal.»
«And mom’s heart attack – you think that’s normal?»
Oksana clenched her teeth. She wanted to say that Elizabeth Viktorovna was pretending for the umpteenth time, but all words suddenly lost. She had no desire to prove her point. The woman just wanted one thing – to protect her daughter.
«Dim, let your mom go back to her place. They don’t get along, it’s a fact. It’s better for Natalia Andreevna to continue looking after the daughter.»
«No!» Dmitry cut off coldly. «I don’t need a stranger in my apartment. Do you still love your dead husband? That’s why you’re drawn to his mother and jump in front of her, while constantly offending mine? It won’t happen. Natalia Andreevna will never cross this apartment’s threshold again. That’s my final word! I’ll sleep on the folding chair to watch over my mom’s condition.»
The husband left the room, and Oksana stared at the door, not understanding – what happened? Was he so jealous that he became blind? And his blind faith in his mother. What heart attack? It was obvious she was pretending.
She could barely sleep properly.
In the morning, the husband told Oksana that he wasn’t going to change his decision, so she shouldn’t even hope he would do otherwise. Only his mom would look after Yulia, or let her stay alone.
Dmitry also behaved coldly towards Yulia, and Oksana realized that her daughter was unwanted in this home. And if Yulka was unwanted, then Oksana shouldn’t stay either. But she didn’t know where to go. She had no property of her own. After her father’s death, her elder sister grabbed all the inheritance, leaving Oksana with nothing. With her husband, they planned to buy a house on mortgage, but they didn’t manage to before the tragedy occurred, and her beloved died. Yulia lived at her mother-in-law’s for some time until the daughter grew a bit and became stronger, then they rented an apartment, and two years ago, she met Dmitry and married him. She rushed it. Only now Oksana understood it. She wasn’t going to endure such treatment towards herself and her daughter any longer. And she realized it was time to put a full stop where she always left an ellipsis, hoping something would change.
«Mom, why are you packing things?» asked Yulia, seeing the suitcase into which Oksana was putting clothes.
«We’re leaving here, sweetie.»
«Where to?» the girl wondered.
«I don’t know. Maybe to Grandma Natasha’s? We’ll see. It’s time to get our own apartment.»
«And what about Dima? Don’t you love him anymore?»
Oksana couldn’t fall in love with Dima. She respected the man, felt sympathy for him, felt a strong shoulder beside her, but couldn’t love him as she had once loved. And that was even better because he didn’t love her either. They shouldn’t have married at all.
Elizabeth Viktorovna stayed in her room, pretending to be sick. She popped out to the kitchen a couple of times, thinking no one heard, which made Oksana even more disgusted. Such an unprofessional public performance.
«Dima doesn’t love us, sweetie. That means we shouldn’t stay with him any longer,» Oksana whispered.
Dmitry called his wife and demanded that she feed his mother lunch.
«You don’t look in on her all day, and she doesn’t even have a glass of water. What kind of attitude is that, Oksana? You would be jumping through hoops for your former mother-in-law, right?»
Oksana simply hung up the call and hurried to pack up faster. She wasn’t going to argue with Dmitry any longer.
Upon arriving at Natalia Andreevna’s, Oksana told her what had happened.
«My girl, you did the right thing coming to me. After Sergey’s death, only you and Yulia are left for me. Let’s you calm down a bit, think it all over, and if you really decide to divorce Dmitry, we’ll think about what to do next. We have an old cottage your father Sergey loved to visit, and now it’s empty. We can sell it, sell this apartment, and buy me a studio, and something more spacious for you and Yulia. Not a mansion, of course, but still your own place, and I’ll of course help you. And I like spending time with Yulia. You know how much I love you.»
They say all mothers-in-law are bad, but Oksana saw a stark contrast before her eyes. She even wondered if she herself had behaved poorly with Elizabeth Viktorovna. But no… The woman simply told her son from the very beginning that he had found himself a woman with a child, was outraged, and now drove them out with Yulka.
When he learned that his wife had left him, Dmitry agreed to give her a divorce. He claimed that his mom was right, calling Oksana his biggest mistake in life. Oksana wasn’t offended. She just wanted the divorce and to move on.
Elizabeth Viktorovna finally moved in with her son, and she rented out her apartment. She claimed that living on a pension alone was hard, so her son should provide for her. However, she was greatly surprised because Dmitry was paying off a car loan and couldn’t bring much money into the family. If Elizabeth Viktorovna thought it was he who stocked the fridge to the brim, she now understood whose merit it was. Living large wasn’t going to happen for her.
Natalia Andreevna insisted on selling the apartment, but Oksana decided that they better live together for now – and there would be someone to look after Yulia, no need to constantly bother the former mother-in-law, and they could save up, and then definitely buy something. Right now, she wanted to rest after getting out of a burdensome relationship, and then think about the future. One thing Oksana knew for sure – she wouldn’t give up on her personal life, but next time she would carefully observe not only the man but also his relationship with his mother. It was important to understand how much the future mother-in-law had tied her son to herself, so as not to get burned again.
