Vasiliy walked around the vehicle, checking the seals. The journey was going to be long, almost two days of travel. He felt energetic: he had slept while waiting for the loading. The weather was also favorable. It was not customary to rely on luck on the road, but he still hoped to return by the weekend to spend time with his daughter in the park.
«The car is packed full,» noted his daughter Nina, as her father drove away from home.
The relationship between Vasiliy’s mother and her granddaughter left much to be desired. Nina, though not an easy child, was only ten—too young to be left alone at home for long weeks. Moreover, getting her to school was a challenging task: the grandmother was overprotective, allowing her to laze around in the mornings…
«Have a safe trip,» wished the dispatcher, handing him the documents.
«Thank you,» he replied, moving away.
The big vehicle roared out of the gate, thousands of kilometers lay ahead. On one hand, it was hard—long trips affected him and his daughter with nervous strain, although he knew she was not alone but with her grandmother.
After the family tragedy, Nina changed, became introverted, and almost stopped smiling. On the other hand, long hauls brought in good money, and the family needed it. Nina often got sick: a cold turned into asthma, a lot of money went into medicines. Then there were heart problems. Lately, her health had stabilized, but Vasiliy didn’t dare to rejoice.
After Olia’s disappearance, Nina even ended up in the hospital. At that time, Vasiliy didn’t know what to do: whether to run to the police to ask to intensify the search for his wife or to stay with his daughter. His mother, instead of helping, even agitated his nerves.
«I told you, Olia has changed. No wonder she ran off with a lover,» she suddenly declared.
«Mom, what are you talking about? Olia would never have left us,» Vasiliy countered.
But his mother continued to talk nonsense: «When a mare gets the bit between her teeth, she doesn’t have time to think…»
«Mom, please stop! Nina shouldn’t hear this.»
«We should explain everything to her right away,» she stubbornly continued.
After that, Vasiliy and his mother argued fiercely and stopped communicating. She didn’t even ask how Nina was. He had to bow and scrape because he needed to work, go on trips, and there was no one else to leave his daughter with. In the end, he decided to talk to his mother.
«I didn’t come here to argue. I need to leave, and there’s no one else to leave Nina with.»
A year had passed since Olia’s disappearance. The police only shrugged their shoulders, saying that sometimes people disappear and are never found.
Olia had left without even taking her passport, while Nina was at school and Vasiliy was in the garage. People don’t leave their lovers like that. He still couldn’t understand what had happened. Olia had changed shortly before her disappearance: lost weight, started caring more about her appearance, there were prolonged phone conversations… Several times he accidentally caught her during strange calls.
She immediately turned off the phone, saying she was talking to a friend. Though he hadn’t even asked who exactly. Memories surfaced of when Vasiliy’s mother was categorically against his marriage to Olga, claiming her family was unhealthy and that their children would be weak. Olga was deeply hurt by such words but never argued with her mother-in-law.
Vasiliy’s mother knew nothing about Olga’s family, only heard they had died young, and decided it was due to illness. Vasiliy tried several times to talk to his mother, but she never accepted Olga. Eventually, Olga herself asked him:
«Vasya, let it be. Don’t stir trouble as long as it doesn’t touch us.»
They had lived together for more than nine years, and over time his mother seemed to have calmed down.
Vasiliy pressed on the gas, with a hundred kilometers remaining to the parking area where he planned to rest a bit. The next day, the morning sun greeted him. He set off at dawn to have fewer cars on the road. Everything went smoothly, and he successfully bypassed crowded places. The car drove cheerfully and without problems.
In the evening, when he was close to home, he decided to stop at a roadside store that Nina loved. She adored rural products, those stored in jars tied with ropes, as if from old movies. His daughter didn’t always have a good appetite, but she ate such food with pleasure. The fridge in the car worked perfectly, so Vasiliy didn’t worry about the safety of the purchased products.
A row of shelves with rosy-cheeked grandmothers selling their goods caught his attention. He walked past, sniffing various aromas. One of the grandmothers, with kind eyes and a neat scarf on her head, immediately attracted him. On her stall were milk, cheese, pickled cucumbers, and fresh vegetables. And the apples seemed incredibly large.
«Apples? But it’s too early for them…» Vasiliy was surprised.
«It’s a special early variety, but very tasty,» replied the grandmother.
Vasiliy smiled, bought everything she had on the stall, and, having paid, was about to leave when his gaze was caught by a pendant on her neck. A regular pendant, but…
It was Olia’s pendant. He knew it for sure, as he had designed it himself and ordered it for their wedding anniversary. The pendant had three letters engraved on it—O, V, and N—their names.
A chill ran down his spine: sweat trickled down his back. He forced himself to calm down, not to make a scene. Perhaps the grandmother had simply bought the pendant somewhere. But how could a rural resident have done that? Vasiliy headed to his car, his thoughts racing. He knew he needed to call the police before the vendors dispersed and the trail went cold.
Vasiliy decided to follow the woman when she finished her trade, to then talk to her at her home and find out the truth. He didn’t have to wait long because the old lady had already sold out. About ten minutes later, she neatly packed her things, said goodbye to her market neighbors, and headed down a path. Vasiliy kept a small distance between himself and the elderly woman, not letting on that he was following her.
Soon he saw a village with a few houses. The grandmother approached the porch of one of them, looked around, and entered inside, leaving the door ajar. This could mean that someone was inside, but Vasiliy didn’t care. He had to find out where she got the pendant. In the darkness that had fallen, a light came on inside her house, and Vasiliy, like a shadow, crept to the gate and entered.
Seeing him, the grandmother, who was handling products at the table, clutched her heart in fright:
«Lord, what do you need? Did you follow me all the way from the market?»
«Yes, I came from there. I have a question,» he said, trying to stay calm.
The grandmother looked at him suspiciously:
«The milk is fresh, don’t worry.»
«It’s not about the milk. Where did you get the pendant you’re wearing on your neck?» asked Vasiliy.
The woman covered the pendant with her hand:
«That was a gift from a kind woman.»
«Was her name Olia by any chance?»
Vasiliy blurted out, and the grandmother relaxed a bit:
«Aren’t you Vasya, by any chance?»
Vasiliy’s heart clenched, and he, falling to his knees, pleaded:
«Please, if you know where Olia is, tell me!»
The grandmother helped him get up:
«What have you thought up now? Come, sit down, let’s talk.»
Vasiliy barely sat down on a chair, and the grandmother offered him tea:
«Drink, calm down.»
He took a sip hastily, scalded himself, and almost cried out:
«Just tell me, don’t keep me waiting!»
The grandmother sighed deeply:
«I told her that this plan was doomed. There’s no need to torture yourself.»
Vasiliy dropped the cup, but the hostess didn’t make a fuss:…
I found her a year ago. Beaten down by life, she didn’t know where to go. I asked her whom she was looking for, and she said, ‘Death.’ I couldn’t just leave her in that state. I brought her here, fed her, clothed her. That’s when she confessed to me that her diagnosis was grim. She was terrified of the future and hadn’t told you… Your mother-in-law advised her to leave so that her daughter wouldn’t see such a horrible disease and to avoid catching it.»
«I can’t believe my mom would say that.» Vasiliy was shocked.
«And I thought, no sane person would do that, but it’s up to you to figure it out. Olia is alive. I think things aren’t as bad as they seem, but she needs treatment. She didn’t want to be a burden to you.»
Vasiliy stood on trembling legs: «Where is she now? I don’t know how she could think she would be a burden to us.»
The grandmother, pausing with a handkerchief in her hands, thought for a moment: «You know, Vasiliy, if I hadn’t seen your suffering, I would never have spoken up…»
The grandmother led him to a tiny neighboring house. From the darkness, a frail voice called out: «Who’s there?»
«It’s us, Dusya, it’s us,» the grandmother answered and entered the room first, followed by Vasiliy. As soon as he entered, he saw Olia, who was lying on the sofa—pale and thin, but alive.
He breathed out rather than spoke her name: «Olia!»
She looked up at him with frightened eyes: «Vasya, why are you here?» she burst into tears.
Vasiliy rushed to her: «How could you do this? How could you even think such a thing?»
Villagers, who had never seen such a large vehicle before, poured out of their homes to watch. For them, a big truck on a narrow road was a real event. Vasiliy, sitting behind the wheel of the truck, was ready to drive a thousand extra kilometers just to ensure Olia was alright. Neighbors helped to get her into the vehicle because she hardly had any strength left.
Once Olia had rested and slept a bit in the cabin, she began to explain: «As soon as I felt unwell, I immediately knew what it was. I don’t know how, but I understood. I went to the doctors—they confirmed all my fears. Cancer. I didn’t tell you anything, decided to discuss it with your mother. The doctors said the treatment would take a long time, maybe even a year or more. Your mother yelled at me, called me selfish, said that now you would have to quit your job and we might lose important income because of me. I thought: why bother? The disease is incurable. It took a long time to decide, but when the doctor called and said I was losing precious time, I thought—it’s time. I just went into the woods so they wouldn’t find me. And here, you see, the grandmothers didn’t let me disappear.»
Vasiliy unlocked the door with his key, first brought in the stuff, then helped Olia inside.
«Tomorrow morning straight to the hospital, but it’s already night now.»
Nina, hearing the noise, ran out of her room: «Daddy, mommy!» she squealed and rushed to Olia. They both cried, sitting on the floor.
Vasiliy’s mother appeared in the doorway, looked around, and, grabbing her jacket from the hook, sharply said: «Well, you sort this out without me,» and slammed the door.
Vasiliy sighed: «Even better, we’ll manage without scandals. We’ll handle it ourselves, right girls? Everything will be alright.»
Two years later, the doctor announced: «Congratulations, you’re in stable remission. Let this stay in the past, like a terrible nightmare.»
Olia nodded in agreement, and as she couldn’t forget, her dearest people—her husband and daughter—enveloped her in their arms.
