Veronika opened the antique mahogany jewelry box and ran her fingers over the velvet lining. The diamonds shimmered in the morning light. Veronika’s heart tightened at the memories. Her grandmother had given her the set a month before she passed away: a ring with a large center stone, elegant earrings, and a pendant on a fine chain.
Maxim’s voice drifted in from the hallway.
“Nika, are you ready? They’ve called me three times already!”
“Almost,” Veronika called back, closing the box.
Maxim appeared in the bedroom doorway. Three years of marriage had taught Veronika to read his mood from the slightest signs. Today, Maxim was tense.
“Looking at your grandmother’s jewelry again?” he asked, nodding at the box. “Maybe wear it at least once?”
“It’s your colleague’s birthday,” Veronika objected. “Why would I wear diamonds there?”
Maxim shrugged and left the room. Veronika glanced at the jewels once more and carefully put the box away in the dresser.
Two weeks later, her mother-in-law, Lyudmila Petrovna, came over for dinner. Veronika was cooking in the kitchen when she heard that familiar voice from the living room.
“Maksimushka, show me Nika’s diamonds again,” her mother-in-law pleaded. “Such beauty, just lying there unused!”
Veronika froze with a plate in her hands. A wave of irritation rose inside her.
“Mom, it’s her grandmother’s inheritance,” Maxim replied. “She decides when to wear it.”
“I understand,” sighed Lyudmila Petrovna. “It’s just that Elena Vasilyeva’s daughter is getting married in a month. Can you imagine the impression I’d make in that set!”
Veronika walked into the living room, setting plates on the table with deliberate precision.
“Lyudmila Petrovna, I’ve already said,” she began calmly, “these pieces have special meaning to me.”
“Just for one evening!” her mother-in-law put her hands together in a pleading gesture. “I’d be so careful with them!”
“I’m sorry, but no,” Veronika said firmly.
The mood at the table darkened. Maxim ate in silence, avoiding his wife’s eyes. Lyudmila Petrovna ostentatiously pushed her plate away.
A month passed. Her mother-in-law began stopping by more often, and each time she found a way to bring up the diamonds.
“Nika, dear,” she would start in a syrupy voice, “the rector will be at the institute’s anniversary. I so want to look respectable!”
“You have lovely jewelry of your own, Lyudmila Petrovna,” Veronika would answer, fighting to keep her patience.
“Yes, but not like that!” the older woman would exclaim. “Maks, tell her!”
And then Maxim began to change. Before, he’d kept quiet; now he started taking his mother’s side.
“Nika, what does it cost you?” he’d say in the evening when they were alone. “She’s not asking forever.”
“Max, it’s my grandmother’s memory!” Veronika couldn’t believe he didn’t understand. “She entrusted them to me!”
“Oh, come on,” Maxim waved her off. “Stones are stones. Mom’s upset because you’re being stubborn.”
Veronika looked at her husband and didn’t recognize him. Where was the attentive man she had married?
One evening, after yet another visit from her mother-in-law, a real blowup erupted.
“Your mother is becoming unbearable!” Veronika burst out as soon as the door closed behind Lyudmila Petrovna.
“You’re the unbearable one!” Maxim exploded unexpectedly. “You’re being stingy over some trinkets!”
Veronika flinched. Trinkets? He was calling her beloved grandmother’s legacy trinkets? Something tore inside her chest. She stared at her husband, unable to recognize him.
“If they’re trinkets to you,” Veronika said, her voice shaking with hurt, “then we’re speaking different languages.”
“Mom’s right,” Maxim went on. “You’re selfish. You only think about yourself!”
Tears rose in her throat. Veronika clenched her fists, trying to pull herself together. She couldn’t show how much it hurt. She couldn’t let him see how deeply his words had cut.
She turned and went to the bedroom, slamming the door. She was choking on tears. Why? Why should she give what was most precious to someone who saw nothing but shiny stones?
Her mother-in-law’s milestone birthday was approaching—sixty, a big date. Veronika agonized over what to give.
“Lyudmila Petrovna, maybe you could tell me what you need?” she asked when they met.
Her mother-in-law gave her a condescending look.
“I don’t need anything, dear,” she said with a special intonation. “I have everything.”
Veronika glanced helplessly at Maxim. He buried himself in his phone.
“Max, what should we get your mom?” she asked that evening.
“I don’t know,” he grunted. “Figure it out yourself.”
“But she’s your mother!”
“So what?” Maxim set the phone down irritably. “She said she doesn’t need anything.”
Veronika bought an expensive silk scarf and French perfume. She wrapped them in a beautiful box, though her bad feeling wouldn’t let up.
The morning of the celebration was hectic. Veronika put on a dark green dress and decided to finish the look with emerald earrings—another gift from her grandmother, but not as valuable. She opened the jewelry box—and froze. The velvet recesses gaped empty. The diamonds were gone.
Her heart pounded wildly. Veronika tore through the dresser, checked every shelf. Nothing. She ran out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, where Maxim was calmly drinking his coffee.
“Max! Where are my diamonds?” her voice cracked into a shout.
Maxim looked up at her calmly and took another sip.
“I gave your diamonds to my mom,” he said in an even tone. “They suit her better.”
Veronika went rigid. The room swam before her eyes.
“What did you do?” she whispered.
“What should’ve been done long ago,” Maxim set his cup down. “Enough with the stinginess.”
“That’s my inheritance!” Veronika screamed. “How dare you?!”
She gripped the edge of the table. Rage and hurt blurred her vision. Maxim stood up and pushed his chair back. His indifference hurt more than any words.
“Stop the hysteria,” he snapped. “Mom deserves them more than you do! At least she’ll wear the jewelry!”
“That’s not your decision!” Veronika’s voice broke. “Nor your mommy’s! You’re both thieves!”
Everything inside her burned. Her hands trembled with fury. This man—her husband. She had loved him, trusted him. And Maxim had betrayed her so easily, just to satisfy his mother’s greedy whims.
“Watch your mouth!” Maxim barked. “She’s my mother!”
“And I’m your wife! Or am I not anymore?”
Veronika grabbed her bag and ran out of the apartment. Outside, she hailed a taxi and gave her mother-in-law’s address. All the way there she tried to calm down, but her hands kept shaking.
The door was opened by the birthday girl herself. She wore a festive burgundy dress, and on her neck and in her ears sparkled the grandmother’s diamonds.
“Nika?” Lyudmila Petrovna was surprised. “You’re early! Guests won’t start arriving for two hours!”
Veronika stared at her jewelry on someone else’s body, fury boiling inside her.
“Take them off,” she hissed between her teeth.
“What?” the older woman recoiled. “Are you out of your mind?”
Veronika stepped forward and reached for the clasp of the necklace. Lyudmila Petrovna squealed and tried to push her away.
“Don’t you dare touch them!” she screamed. “They’re a gift from my son!”
“They’re my inheritance!” Veronika unclasped the necklace and removed it from her mother-in-law’s neck.
“Thief!” the older woman shrieked. “I’ll call the police!”
Veronika took off the earrings and grabbed the ring from the hall table. Her hands were surprisingly steady, though a storm raged inside. Her mother-in-law paced the entryway, waving her arms.
“Go ahead,” Veronika said coldly. “Tell them how your son stole his wife’s grandmother’s legacy.”
“You’ve got some nerve!” the older woman flushed with rage. “On my special day! Max won’t forgive you!”
Veronika stopped in the doorway, turned, and looked at Lyudmila Petrovna. The woman she had called “Mom” for three years stood before her—greedy, petty, willing to do anything for a handful of glittering stones.
“Don’t wait for me at the party,” Veronika said curtly. “And I never expected you and your son to sink this low.”
She left, slamming the door so hard the glass rattled.
At home, Maxim met her with a shout from the threshold.
“Have you completely lost it?!” he roared. “You ruined my mother’s birthday!”
“Your mother is a thief!” Veronika brushed past him into the bedroom. “And you too! How could you give her my inheritance? How, Maxim?”
“How dare you?!” Maxim blocked her path. “She’s my mother! Mom wanted those pieces, she got them!”
Veronika stopped. Pain clenched her chest. Three years of marriage, three years of love—and this is how it ended. Maxim stood before her, a stranger, hostile. She couldn’t understand how she had misjudged him so badly, how she’d missed the rot inside him—and inside his mother.
“And who am I to you?” Veronika’s voice quavered. “A nobody?”
“You’re a selfish woman who values stones more than family!”
The words cut sharper than a knife. Veronika bit her lip to hold back tears. No, she wouldn’t cry in front of him. Anger gave her strength.
“You’re a mama’s boy who’d rob his wife to satisfy his mother’s whim!” she fired back. “Get out of my apartment!”
He stepped back. He clearly hadn’t expected that turn.
“What?!” Maxim was taken aback.
Veronika saw his face change; the confidence drained away. But it was too late. Far too late for both of them.
“You heard me. Pack your things and go to your mommy!” Veronika shoved past him into the bedroom. “Since she’s more important to you than your wife!”
“You can’t kick me out!”
“Oh yes I can! The apartment is mine, in case you forgot. Or will you gift that to Mommy too?”
A month later, the divorce was finalized. Veronika was sitting in the now-empty apartment when the phone rang. Her mother-in-law’s number.
“Well, are you satisfied?” Lyudmila Petrovna said venomously. “The stones turned out to be more important than your marriage!”
Veronika smiled faintly.
“For you, the stones were more important than your son’s happiness,” she answered calmly. “You talked him into stealing what belonged to me.”
“How dare you—”
Veronika hung up and exhaled deeply. On the dresser sat the open jewelry box. The diamonds glinted softly in the evening light. Her grandmother’s legacy had remained with her. And that was what mattered. The past was behind her.
