Natasha, my friends from Bulgaria will be arriving soon. You remember I told you they’d be staying with us for a few days?» the mother-in-law approached Natalia, who was working at the computer.
The young woman lifted her weary gaze from the monitor, gave a meek smile, and nodded. She was exhausted, yet she hadn’t even finished the designs for the new clothing collection she was developing from scratch. Work had consumed her, so much so that she spent all her free time at home on it. Tired, her eyes watered, and sometimes the images blurred. She needed a short break, to step into the yard, sit on the swing, and enjoy the fresh air. Natalia decided to do just that, unaware that her mood would be hopelessly spoiled in just a few minutes.
«Of course, I remember. You said they’re coming tomorrow, right?»
«Actually, today,» Tatiana Pavlovna replied with displeasure and tilted her chin up.
«Oh! I’ve been so buried in work, I even forgot what day it is. Do you need help? Should I prepare something? Clean up?»
«I’ve already done everything. I didn’t wait for help. But that’s not why I came to you. I have a different request. Basically, you need to make up a bed for your grandfather in the sauna. Let him live there for a couple of days. There’s a toilet nearby outside, you can bring him food, nothing will happen. Let him keep out of sight. We’ll say we’re sheltering a gardener. You understand, these friends are important to me, and I wouldn’t want to be embarrassed in front of them.»
Tatiana Pavlovna’s words sounded more like a demand than a request. She spoke with dissatisfaction, indicating that her daughter-in-law should do exactly as she said, or else.
«Tatiana Pavlovna, what are you saying? How can my grandfather possibly embarrass you?» Natalia flared up.
Her cheeks flushed with indignation.
Her mother-in-law and her grandfather, Georgiy Fedorovich, didn’t get along. He tried not to argue with the quarrelsome woman, as he put it, but the tension between them was always palpable.
«What you heard is what I said. Is it not clear? I don’t want to be embarrassed! That old man is so clumsy. He can’t even eat at the table once without coughing, spilling something, or knocking something over.»
«Because grandpa has esophagus issues: if he swallows too hard food, he coughs. Besides, his hands shake after working at the factory. You know all this very well. Despite this, grandpa is a very good person, and I don’t understand your complaints. How can he embarrass you in front of your friends? What does he even mean to you?»
«Natasha, why are you raising your voice at me? Did I do something bad to you? I asked for something harmless, but if it’s so hard for you to do something for your mother-in-law, I’ll remember that.»
There was no actual shouting, but Tatiana Pavlovna always took things her own way.
With her chin tilted even higher, though it seemed impossible, the woman left her daughter-in-law’s room, not forgetting to slam the door. What kind of habit was that, sticking her nose up and slamming doors?
Natalia was outraged to the extreme. How could Tatiana Pavlovna even ask for such things?… Of course, she didn’t ask—she demanded. It was clear how contemptuously she spoke of her grandfather, and Natalia decided she would discuss her behavior with her husband. Especially since Kirill was due to arrive for lunch soon.
After checking on her grandfather and making sure he was okay, Natalia turned on his desk lamp and scolded him for working on his wooden boxes without an additional light source.
«Granddaughter, I’m almost done. I’ll finish this pattern quickly and then take a nap. I’m tired today,» Georgiy Fedorovich smiled warmly.
«I used to be in your place, saying I just needed to finish a page, and you scolded me. Remember?»
The grandfather laughed. Natalia felt a little lighter.
Kirill came home for lunch, but a private talk with him was impossible because Tatiana Pavlovna hovered around her son, insistently saying that he must leave work early to meet her friends at the airport.
«Mom, Natasha has a driver’s license. Arrange it with her. I can’t. We have an urgent order at work today. I can’t leave early. Might even stay late.»
«You promised you’d do it! I rarely ask you for anything. It’s important to me that my son takes me!» Tatiana Pavlovna declared.
Puffed up, the woman left, and Natalia sighed deeply. Kirill, seeing his wife’s behavior, sensed tension that could escalate into a conflict.
«What’s wrong, dear? Are you worried about something?»
«Your mom started acting so strange with the arrival of these guests, as if it’s a matter of life and death. Today she asked… no, demanded, that I make up a bed for grandpa in the sauna because she’s afraid he’ll embarrass her in front of her friends. Kirill, I understand everything, but this order is excessive, don’t you think?»
Kirill exhaled loudly, scratched the back of his head, and pursed his lips, deep in thought. His mother’s behavior puzzled him as he understood she often crossed acceptable boundaries. Lately, audacity had been her real bliss. Could his mother always have been like this? Sometimes Kirill even thought that his father didn’t leave the family without reason. His mother constantly brainwashed him, saying how bad his father was… But maybe he just couldn’t stand her quarrelsome nature?
«And what did you respond?»
«Of course, I refused. I’m not going to do that to grandpa. It’s not normal.»
«You’re right. I’ll definitely talk to mom if she pulls something like this again. I promise you.»
Kirill got up from the table, kissed his wife on the cheek, and rushed to his car, as he indeed had a backlog at work.
Since Kirill couldn’t leave work early, Natalia ended up driving her mother-in-law to the airport. After their conversation with Tatiana Pavlovna, the tension didn’t disappear; it built up like a snowball. A big question was when the avalanche would fall and cover them head to head. Natalia felt guilty, even though she knew she was right. She didn’t like to argue with people, especially with family. She dreamed of having a good relationship with her mother-in-law, but what chance was there? The woman often conjured up bizarre, baseless grievances, pouted her lips, and Natalia felt guiltless but guilty because she was a non-confrontational person. That’s how her grandfather raised her. The fact that she grew up calm, with a big kind heart, she owed only to him. Grandpa spent so much time with his granddaughter, and when her parents died, he took care of Natalia himself. He never gave up, never said it was hard. He even helped Natalia prepare for exams and understand everything. And how he worried when she defended her thesis!.. He walked around the university until his granddaughter burst out and shared the news—she defended! Grandpa did everything for Natalia. Sometimes he sacrificed a lot, took a bunch of orders, underpricing his work to buy his granddaughter a laptop for work or a graphics tablet. Tatiana Pavlovna didn’t understand much. She knew nothing. The mother-in-law was used to everything being done for her. She demanded attention from her son, said that he owed her for life because she gave him an education and raised him. And sometimes she hinted to her daughter-in-law that she owed the mother-in-law because she trusted her with such a son. As if Kirill hadn’t made his own choice, and there was no such thing.
«You meet your friends, and I’ll sit in the car for now. I have an unplanned discussion in the work chat. I must participate,» Natalia said, stopping in the airport parking lot.
«What is this? Am I supposed to help them carry the suitcases alone? No way! Come with me since you came!» Tatiana Pavlovna demanded.
Natalia pursed her lips and shook her head. She decided she could chat on the way and hurried after her mother-in-law.
The woman’s friends seemed unpleasant people with inflated egos. They reminded Natalia of Tatiana Pavlovna herself. The woman loaded Natalia with bags, while she walked with empty hands. And her friends weren’t far behind. Natalia understood they were using her, and everything inside her boiled with indignation. Her mother-in-law had crossed all boundaries.
Kirill was significantly delayed at work. The mother-in-law entertained her guests at home, showed them the yard, and whispered about something.
Opening the window to let fresh air into the room, Natalia heard her mother-in-law boasting to her friends.
«This is all my son’s doing. See how much he has achieved. Such a good boy, my Kiryusha. He will buy me tickets to a sanatorium by the sea in the summer. I’ll finally relax. There’s so much to do. Natashka is always at the computer, and the whole house is on my shoulders. That’s why I have to live here, with them. I dread to think what will happen when they have kids. I bet they’ll dump it all on me. But that’s why I live, to help the children!»
Tatiana Pavlovna’s friends only gasped, agreeing with the woman, pitying how poor and unfortunate she was, how much had piled up on her. They didn’t lag behind her and said she got a lazy daughter-in-law, and Natalia felt wronged to tears. The mother-in-law rarely did any housework. Most often, she lay in front of the TV, only telling her daughter-in-law what she should do, what dinner to cook. Natalia combined everything with work, and sometimes her husband helped. On weekends, they cleaned the house together, and on weekdays, grandpa helped and even vacuumed the whole house, except Tatiana Pavlovna’s room.
«And what about the old man who peeped out of the room?» asked a friend of Tatiana Pavlovna’s.
«That? Oh, just… we sheltered a homeless man. My kind son. He works as a gardener, even has a room in the house.»
The mother-in-law’s words were the last straw. Natalia was outraged, called her husband, and reported that she didn’t want to tolerate his mother’s guests in their home. And Tatiana Pavlovna had overstayed her welcome. It was time for her to return to herself, as the renovation she wasn’t planning to undertake anyway dragged on, for living in the house was better than in an apartment with eternal noise from neighbors.
Kirill was already on his way home. He asked his wife to calm down and promised to sort everything out. The man didn’t like his mother’s behavior at all, and he decided to teach her a lesson. After greeting his mother’s friends, whom he last saw in his childhood, Kirill rushed to his wife and shared his plan with her.
«Are you sure this is the right thing to do? Your mom will be very upset, won’t forgive you if we do this. She’s definitely wrong, but I don’t know if we should stoop to her level,» Natalia worried.
«Whether she gets upset or not – it’s not that important. She didn’t think about your feelings or your grandfather’s. And if he heard all this? Can you imagine how unpleasant he feels now? Mom really overstayed her welcome and forgot whose house she’s living in. She needs to be reminded of that.»
After dinner, Kirill got up from the table and rushed to help Georgiy Fedorovich, whom everyone had been eyeing.
«Kiryush, what are you doing? I can walk to the room just fine myself.»
«Georgiy Fedorovich, we owe you, as we have the honor of living in your house, built by your hands,» Kirill said with a smile.
Indeed, the house belonged to Natalia’s grandfather, something Tatiana Pavlovna, apparently, had forgotten, and now she was fuming, covered in crimson spots. Kirill led Georgiy Fedorovich into the room, and Natalia stood and looked at the guests.
«And now, let’s go, I’ll make up a bed for you in the sauna. We don’t have a spare room…»
Tatiana Pavlovna started hissing and frowning. Her friends exchanged glances.
«What do you mean no room? Natalia, you must be mistaken! I’ve already prepared a room for them!» the woman grumbled.
«That’s the guest room, Tatiana Pavlovna, but Kirill’s friend is coming, he’ll be helping us with the renovation… you forgot? So he’ll be staying in that room.»
The mother-in-law choked on her indignations and simultaneously burned with shame. She had lied so much to her friends, and now the truth was coming out, and they no longer looked at her with the same admiration.
«Kirill, what kind of tricks are these!» the woman yelled at her son when he returned.
Kirill just hugged his wife and shrugged.
«What’s wrong? You proposed to settle Georgiy Fedorovich in the sauna, the owner of the house, so you consider it a royal chamber, worthy of your guests. And we really don’t have much space in the house.»
The guests hustled, hurried to pack their things, and called a taxi, stating they’d rather rent a hotel room than endure such a masquerade. Tatiana Pavlovna expressed to her son and daughter-in-law that they had embarrassed her, and now she didn’t even want to know them.
«You started this spectacle first, mom. If you thought I would support it – you were very mistaken. Georgiy Fedorovich never drove you out of the house, Natalia did everything to make you feel comfortable… and you turned your back on them. I think it’s better for you to return to the apartment. And the renovation can be done sequentially in each room if you want.»
Tatiana Pavlovna tilted her chin up for the umpteenth time and proudly rushed to pack her things. She behaved as if she had decided to leave. Although there was a residue in her soul, Natalia understood that she had to protect her grandpa, who always protected her, and herself, as the mother-in-law was turning her into a doormat to wipe her feet on. Fortunately, Kirill took his wife’s side and was ready to fight to the end, defending his family. He also didn’t want to argue with his mother, but when a person behaves so brazenly, it’s necessary to bring them down from the clouds to the ground, as happened now.
