“Anya, please tell Evgeny he’s pure gold!” her mother-in-law called early that morning. “What a wonderful son I have! I never stop being amazed by him. Thank him again for me, Anya, will you?”
“Thank him? For what?” Anna asked, genuinely confused by the call.
All week long, she had heard nothing from her husband’s mother except complaints about how hard life was and how she never had enough money.
“What do you mean, for what? Oh, come on!” Lyubov Mitrofanovna said cheerfully. “For the money, of course. For my anniversary celebration. And that’s not even all. My dear Zhenya also gave me money for the seaside. He made my dream come true. You probably don’t know yet, but Yegor Abramovich and I are going to the sea after the banquet. We’ll celebrate my anniversary, and three days later we’ll head south. The trip was hanging by a thread, but now, thank God, everything has worked out.”
“Wait. What money are you talking about? And what does my Evgeny have to do with it?” Anna suddenly felt that trouble was coming.
“What do you mean? You don’t know yet? And here I am going on and on. The thing is, my son transferred money to me today. He said he had received his vacation pay and decided to give it to me as a gift for my anniversary. I can’t even describe how proud I am of the son I raised. Not like Semenovna’s Petya. That one won’t give his mother a single ruble. If anything, he tries to take more from her…”
“Wait!” Anna interrupted her loudly. “Evgeny transferred you his vacation pay?”
For a second, she thought she must have misheard. Her husband couldn’t have done something like that. He just couldn’t. Either her mother-in-law had mixed something up, or she was lying on purpose to provoke her.
“Well, of course. That’s exactly what I’ve been telling you.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
“What?! His entire vacation pay and a month’s salary?”
“Oh, don’t sulk, Anya, please. And don’t you dare be angry with Zhenya. You must understand, I am his mother, the closest and dearest person to him. How could he refuse me?”
“Yes, you’re right about that. It’s impossible to refuse you,” Anna said bitterly.
“Now we’ll celebrate my anniversary properly,” her mother-in-law continued, lively and pleased. “Just as I planned. And we’ll be able to go to Sochi. I booked a room in such a cozy little place, you wouldn’t believe it! Yegor Abramovich and I will love it there.”
“And since when does your son get to spend our family’s money without even telling me?” Anna finally shouted into the phone, no longer able to hold herself back. “And you’re encouraging him!”
“Why are you yelling? Who gave you the right to speak to me in that tone? Don’t forget, I am older than you, and I am your husband’s mother. That means I deserve respect,” Lyubov Mitrofanovna snapped, her voice instantly changing.
“Respect?” Anna shouted so loudly that her mother-in-law had to pull the phone away from her ear. “You know that word? How surprising!”
“Don’t be rude, Anna! I called you nicely…”
“I’m not being rude. But what respect are you talking about? Do you not understand that you robbed our family and your own grandchildren? Or were you already certain that neither I nor my children might also want to go to the seaside this summer?”
“Well, I knew it. I had a feeling you’d be unhappy. Anna, let’s not quarrel or make a scene. Understand this: it was my son’s decision. Evgeny himself, of his own free will, decided to help me and spend his money this way. As his wife, you should accept it and make peace with it. It has already happened,” her mother-in-law said in a lecturing tone.
“My God, what wise words! I could listen to you forever. But you know what, Lyubov Mitrofanovna? Tell those exact words to your daughter. When her husband gives all his money to his own mother, calm your daughter down with the same speech. I’m sure she’ll feel much better immediately,” Anna said, determined to teach her cunning mother-in-law a lesson.
“Anna, don’t twist things. What does my daughter have to do with this? In a good family, a wife trusts her husband completely, including in financial matters. And I don’t believe my son gave me your last money. Surely you have savings. You’re just creating a scandal out of nothing. And I understand perfectly well why. You simply don’t want me to have that money.”
“What business is it of yours whether my husband and I have savings? It would be one thing if you had asked for money for treatment or surgery. But this is absurd! Throwing banquets and going to the seaside on someone else’s money is the height of cynicism!”
After those words, Anna ended the call and angrily threw her phone onto the armchair. She was trembling from hurt and outrage. She tried to gather her thoughts, but the emotions were too overwhelming.
“I need to wait for my husband and find out everything from him,” Anna decided. “The main thing is not to kill him while we’re talking.”
The couple had long ago agreed on what they would do with their vacation money. And the news her mother-in-law had just delivered completely knocked Anna off balance.
The apartment where Anna and Evgeny lived with their two boys had long felt too small. They weren’t yet ready to buy a larger apartment, knowing they couldn’t afford it. But recently they had made another decision: to buy a small house in a village, something like a country home.
The place they had chosen was not a holiday settlement. It was a small village where people lived all year round. That was exactly what mattered to them. They could stay in the house not only during summer, growing greens and vegetables, but also during autumn and spring school breaks. They could even spend long New Year holidays there. The house was small but solid, with a garden, a bathhouse, and everything necessary for living.
When they first saw it while visiting acquaintances, both of them began seriously thinking about buying it. They had even promised the owners they would try to gather the money soon. The owners agreed to wait until they had the required amount.
Evgeny and Anna’s vacation pay could have become the initial sum they needed to finally make their dream come true and buy that house.
“No, I can’t do this. I can’t wait any longer,” Anna said, grabbing her phone.
“Yes, darling. Miss me?” her husband asked as if nothing had happened.
“Very much. Are you coming home soon?” Anna asked, barely holding herself back from shouting.
“Well, you know… The guys and I were thinking of sitting somewhere for a bit. It’s Friday, after all. And it wouldn’t hurt to celebrate the start of vacation,” Evgeny said casually.
“Oh, so that’s how it is. You’re celebrating, then. I see. Maybe you could transfer your vacation pay to me? The owners of the house are getting worried. We promised them money this week, and now we’ve gone quiet.”
“Anya, there’s something…” her husband hesitated. It was not easy to admit that the money was gone.
“I’m listening. Go on. Be brave, Evgeny. Why have you gone quiet? Why so gloomy and lost? Or are you only brave with your mother? So bold, so generous beyond reason. So generous, in fact, that you don’t care about your own family’s interests.”
“Anya, what’s going on?” he asked, pretending to be surprised.
“Oh, you don’t know yet? Congratulations, you’ve just been awarded the title of Best Son of the Year! Bravo, darling! Well done. I applaud you. Only as a husband and father, you’re now absolutely useless. Keep that in mind. I’ll be keeping it in mind too. Definitely.”
Anna ended the call. She knew Evgeny would rush home at once and cancel his plans with his friends. The most important thing now was not to answer his calls.
Half an hour later, he was already home.
“Well, my dear, go on. Explain yourself. Tell me what made you give such a large sum to your mother and, in doing so, deprive your family of the chance to buy the house,” Anna said tiredly.
“Anya, you have to understand. I couldn’t. I couldn’t refuse my mother. She dreamed so much of gathering all her relatives and friends together. Can you imagine, Mom has never celebrated any of her milestone birthdays. Not once in her life!”
Anna only sighed heavily. For now, she stayed silent.
“Mom cried so much when she told me about her life. About how hard it was for her to raise me and my sister alone. How much strength and money she put into us, into raising me. How much she sacrificed, including her personal life. And now, at her age, she has met Yegor Abramovich, and she thinks it’s a miracle. As a thank-you to this man for his care and attention, she decided to take him to the seaside.”
“What a melodrama. I nearly cried,” Anna said bitterly.
“Anya, stop it. You know she hasn’t been to the sea in ages either. The last time was when I was about ten. Can you imagine? We went together back then, just the two of us. I barely remember that trip, but Mom told me how happy we were there, showed me old photos, and cried.”
“Maybe I should cry too? I’m almost there.”
“Anya, please stop. She’s my mother. I felt sorry for her, just as a human being. What has she seen in life? Nothing. Work, home, worries, and lack of money. She raised me, she tried her best. And now happiness has smiled at her in her old age. What is money, really? It’s not the most important thing in life. I’ll earn more. Our house can wait. And if not, we’ll find another one. So, are you calmer now?”
“How am I, you ask? Terrible. Indescribably terrible. I’m sitting here wondering who I should go cry to so that someone will transfer two or three hundred thousand to me as well. Or better yet, five hundred. What do you think? Would it work?”
“Are you judging me? Anya, don’t you feel even a little sorry for my mother?” he asked, genuinely surprised.
“No, I don’t feel sorry for your mother. I feel sorry for my children. And for myself. I feel unbearably sorry for myself, because I ended up with such an idiot for a husband.”
Anna fell silent for exactly one minute, just to steady her breathing. She wanted her next words to sound clear and controlled.
“Right now, do you hear me? This very second, call your mother and demand that she return every single ruble you transferred to her. Right now.”
“Anya, how can I…” he still could not believe he would have to do it.
“I’m not going to repeat myself. If you don’t do it, tomorrow I’ll buy tickets to the seaside for myself and the children. And when we come back, I’ll file for divorce. As for you, you’ll pack your things and go live with Mommy. You can celebrate her anniversary there together, with all the luxury and style she dreamed of. And maybe, Evgeny, they’ll even take you to Sochi with them. Though I doubt it. Most likely, they’ll leave you behind to guard your mother’s apartment and feed her cats.”
“You’re giving me an ultimatum?”
“Yes. Exactly. Choose. Everything is in your hands,” Anna said firmly.
“Fine. I’ll do it. It’s a shame I’ll have to upset Mom. You really are heartless,” her husband muttered resentfully.
His mother returned the money, and surprisingly quickly too. How Evgeny managed to persuade her remained a mystery.
Soon afterward, the couple bought the house in the village, just as they had planned. Since then, Lyubov Mitrofanovna has stopped communicating with her daughter-in-law. But Anna is not upset about that at all.
With mothers-in-law like that, it is better to keep both your family and your budget far away. Just in case.
