Innochka, my granddaughter, why are you crying?» Ekaterina Andreevna asked her twenty-four-year-old granddaughter.
«I am needed by no one!» the girl said bitterly. «Everyone just looks out for their own benefit, and no one cares about me!»
«How can you say you are not needed? What about me? Your mom and dad? From what I see, how they spoil you, I am amazed. Your parents love you very much, you could even say they adore you. I heard that your father is planning to give you a car. What else do you need? What kind of love are you looking for?»
«I’m talking about guys. If they start dating me, it’s only because they know my father owns a company. As soon as we meet a few times, the requests start coming in. They either need money, or I should talk to my dad because he has many connections they want to use. Basically, everyone is looking for their own gain, and I am needed by no one. It hurts so much, I want to cry,» Inna sobbed again. «I want love, you understand, Grandma, real, pure, and bright love. Like the love you and Grandpa had, or my parents have.»
Ekaterina Andreevna looked at her granddaughter tenderly, smoothed her hair, and then whispered:
«Go to sleep, my dear. Morning is wiser than the evening. I’ll think of something, and we’ll talk in the morning. We’ll find a way to test your suitors. We’ll see who is genuine and who should be avoided from miles away.»
«What way, Grandma?» Inna perked up.
«I don’t know yet, but I promise to think of something tonight.»
Inna couldn’t sleep until morning. She was eager to find out what her grandmother would come up with, and Ekaterina Andreevna was a master at coming up with ideas.
At the crack of dawn, Inna was in her grandmother’s room, who had already gotten up, made her bed, and was doing her morning exercises.
«Grandma, you got up so early?»
«I’ll tell you the truth, I didn’t close my eyes at all. And why did you get up so early? It’s a day off, you could have slept in.»
«I wanted to find out what you came up with.»
«Here’s my plan. I want to go to my village this summer, where I grew up and lived for a long time. There are abandoned houses there, standing empty, you can go into any of them. There are many of them, choose whichever you like. So, my dear girl, here’s what I decided. Invite your suitors, whom you meet, to visit the village. Tell them that you need to help your grandmother because she is all alone. As soon as you say this, watch your suitor’s reaction. If he is scared of the hardships, starts looking for reasons to refuse, send him away. It means he will leave you alone at the first sign of trouble, which there will be plenty of in your future life together. If nothing stops him, it means he needs you, Inna. Just as you are, that’s how he needs you.»
«Grandma, you are so wise! I would never have thought of such a plan.»
As the granddaughter and grandmother planned, so they did. In the summer, they went to the village and stayed with relatives, who were plenty in the village. By this time, Inna had met several young men online and was planning to invite them to visit on different days.
The abandoned house, which looked decent compared to the others, the granddaughter and grandmother made somewhat livable, so it wouldn’t be embarrassing to meet guests there.
As soon as a suitor arrived, Inna met him at the bus stop and invited him to the house.
The first to arrive was a handsome young man, who Ekaterina Andreevna liked.
«Hello!» he said warmly.
«Good day!» the grandmother greeted him. «Inna warned me that a new acquaintance would come, which I am very pleased about. I’ll tell you that we really need a man’s hand in the house. Exactly, it’s necessary! So, if you can help us with anything, we would be glad! Right, Inna?»
«True, Grandma!» Inna agreed.
«What’s your name, then? I don’t even know your name,» Ekaterina Andreevna suddenly realized.
«Fedya,» the young man replied, looking at the ‘scale of the disaster.’ The fence was askew, the porch was rotting, and the wood was unchopped.
«Where should we start?» Fedor asked after getting up from the festive table set for his arrival.
«Let’s start with the fence,» Ekaterina Andreevna suggested. «I’ll give you the tools now and some old clothes to change into. I can help if needed.»
Fedor began to timidly nail the fallen sticks back to the fence. The boy was not very skilled. It was visible that he was not used to dealing with tools, although he tried.
The grandmother did not let the guest work for long, so he wouldn’t get too tired. After an hour, she called him back.
«There’s still plenty of work left,» Fedor stammered.
«We’ll finish some other time, maybe tomorrow,» Ekaterina Andreevna replied, winking cunningly.
«Unfortunately, I can’t come tomorrow; I have errands. Inna and I will discuss and decide when we’ll meet again,» Fedya said. Then he and Inna went for a walk, and in the evening, the young man went back to the city.
As soon as Inna returned, her grandmother said:
«He won’t come back, granddaughter, I read it in his eyes. There was such fear in them that I felt sorry for this Fedya. I hope you won’t be too upset?»
«No, I won’t. I didn’t like him much,» Inna answered.
«Who’s next?»
«A young man with a rare name, Robert. Just the name itself suggests that he probably won’t be happy to see how much work he has to redo.»
«Who knows, we’ll see,» the grandmother winked at her granddaughter.
Inna was right. The second suitor, upon seeing the house, remarked disappointedly:
«It probably has never been repaired here.»
«Well, money is needed for everything, and where would a pensioner get money for repairs, son? It’s good that the granddaughter comes and helps with something around the house, otherwise it would have been really tough.»
Robert did not refuse tea, especially since he brought candies himself, but he did not intend to get involved with the repairs. He honestly admitted:
«I’m sorry, but I’ve only been to the village a few times. We lived in the city all our life with my parents. So, not only can I not help you, but I might make things worse.»
«There’s no court for a ‘no,’ my dear,» Ekaterina Andreevna replied. She watched as Robert hurried to say goodbye and quickly walked towards his car.
The third suitor, upon arriving in the village and seeing the old house, didn’t even enter it. He suggested to Inna to go for a ride, and then he mentioned urgent matters, leaving with a promise:
«I’ll call sometime!»
Inna was disheartened. In the evening, when they sat on the spacious terrace at their relatives’ house and drank tea, she said with annoyance:
«I told you, Grandma, everyone wants comfort. There’s no one who wants to help just out of kindness. And all the suitors who came to the village are gone.»
«Then it wasn’t meant to be. Don’t rush, Inna. In matters of the heart, it’s better to wait than to hurry. Invite the next suitor to visit us!»
«No, I don’t want to meet anyone else or date either. I’d rather spend time with you. Only one week left, and then I have to go back to the city.»
Five more days passed. Inna and her grandmother went to the empty house where they met suitors to close it and collect the tablecloth and dishes. Suddenly they heard the sound of an approaching car.
«Who could that be coming to our parts, do you think? Did you invite someone here?» Ekaterina Andreevna looked at Inna.
«No, Grandma, I have no idea who it is. Maybe they came to see someone else.»
The grandmother and granddaughter stepped onto the porch and looked at the black car. A young man in his thirties got out.
«Hello, ladies! Can you tell me which houses are for sale here? Do you know or not?»
«How could I not know if I’m from here. But first tell me, why do you need this? Decided to move to the village? Or did someone send you?»
«I want to move my mom closer to the city, but our village has almost died out, and I live in the city. I wanted to buy her a house within the city limits, but she doesn’t want to. She says even the air in the city is not like in the village,» the stranger answered, then looked at the pile of unchopped wood and asked: «What’s this, you have unchopped wood lying around? No one to help you?»
«That’s the whole point, no one to help us,» Ekaterina Andreevna lamented.
«I’ll handle it in no time, no big deal.»
«We’re only too happy, kind man,» said Ekaterina Andreevna. «Only your clothes are nice and clean.»
«I have old pants and a T-shirt in the car just in case. Something might happen on the road,» the young man laughed, then stretched out his hand:
«I’m Sasha, and you?»
«My name is Inna, and this is my grandma Ekaterina Andreevna.»
«Very nice to meet you,» Sasha said on the move, then quickly went to his car, changed right behind it, and started chopping wood.
Ekaterina Andreevna quietly whispered to her granddaughter:
«Inna, go to our relatives for some food. We need to feed our worker after such work.»
Inna didn’t need to be told twice. She quickly went for the stuffed peppers they had prepared in the morning.
As soon as the work was done, they invited Sasha to the table. The young man didn’t plan to sit long. He immediately noticed that not everything was in order with the porch, and the fence could use some fixing.
«Listen, if I come tomorrow and help you bring everything here into a more or less proper condition? Would you agree?»
«Yes,» Inna and her grandmother answered in unison.
Then they all went to look at two houses that were for sale. Ekaterina Andreevna advised choosing one of the houses where her acquaintances lived. They decided to sell the house and move to the city.
«Thank you very much. I’ll come tomorrow, then we’ll talk.»
«See you tomorrow! Have a safe trip!» Inna wished Sasha and didn’t leave the street until the helper’s car disappeared around the corner.
Ekaterina Andreevna, who had been watching her granddaughter and her new acquaintance attentively, just smiled. Then she quietly asked:
«Well, what did I tell you, my granddaughter? He found us himself, and we didn’t have to look for him.»
«Grandma, but what if he doesn’t come? What if he turns out to be just like all the others?»
«Who, Sasha? Did you see how he looked at you? You and he couldn’t take your eyes off each other. As if there was no one else in the world. He will definitely come. I’ll even tell you that he won’t wait for lunch, but will come early in the morning. You’ll see.»
Sasha came the next morning with his mother. He wanted her to see the house, and then he planned to fix the porch and the fence. Only Ekaterina Andreevna and Inna told him that it wasn’t necessary because no one lived in this house anymore.
«Thanks for the wood, of course, but nothing else is needed. Let’s better drink tea!»
During the conversation, they got to know each other and found out that Sasha had managed to open his own firm, although it was a small business.
A year later, Inna and Sasha got married. Ekaterina Andreevna, when it was her turn to speak, approached the groom and said:
«You are the only one who managed to pass our test with my granddaughter.»
They all laughed together, and Sasha tenderly hugged Inna and kissed her. She was sure of her husband: he chose her from the heart and loved her with all his soul!
