— Nadyusha, my dear daughter, can you hear me?” Regina Nikolaevna’s voice sounded both pitiful and demanding over the phone. “I urgently need a new vacuum cleaner. The old one has completely broken down, can you imagine? Sparks are flying from it. I’m afraid it’ll start a fire.”
Nadya pressed the phone to her ear with her shoulder and continued spreading butter on bread for the younger girl. Liya was already sitting at the table with a plate of porridge, while Nelli was whining, demanding juice. Vitya was snoring in the bedroom after a night shift at the car wash.
“Regina Nikolaevna, money is a bit tight right now,” Nadya began, but her mother-in-law interrupted her.
“What do you mean, tight? You both work! It’s only eighteen thousand. I’ve already chosen a good one, German-made.”
“You see, we just paid for kindergarten, made the mortgage payment…”
“Mortgage, mortgage!” her mother-in-law’s voice became sharp. “And what am I, not your real mother or something? After the divorce I’ve been left all alone, useless to everyone. My son could at least help! Where is he anyway? Sleeping, I suppose?”
Nadya looked at the clock. Nine in the morning on Sunday. Vitya had come home at five and collapsed immediately. She did not want to wake him.
“He worked all night…”
“He worked all night, but he can’t help his mother,” Regina Nikolaevna sighed theatrically. “Tell him when he wakes up. Or transfer the money yourself, since he’s so tired. My card is the same.”
Nadya clenched her teeth. Over the past three months, since October, when her mother-in-law had announced her divorce from Viktor Pavlovich, they had already bought her a kettle for three and a half thousand, winter boots for six, a microwave for eight, and a blanket for two and a half. Twenty thousand in three months. And they themselves had eighty thousand for four people, forty of which went toward the mortgage.
“I’ll talk to Vitya,” was all she managed to force out.
“Do that. Because I no longer know how to live. Alone, abandoned, no money…”
After her mother-in-law finally hung up, Nadya sank down onto a chair. Liya looked at her with attentive eyes.
“Mama, why does Grandma Regina cry all the time?” the girl asked.
“She’s having a hard time right now, sweetheart,” Nadya stroked her daughter’s head. “Eat your porridge.”
Meanwhile, Nelli knocked her juice over onto the table. Nadya jumped up and grabbed a cloth. As she wiped up the puddle, she thought about the fact that they still had not saved enough for new boots for Liya. The girl was walking around in old ones that were already too small. And Nelli needed a jacket for spring.
Vitya came out of the bedroom only at eleven. Rumpled, with a sleepy face. He poured himself water from the kettle.
“Your mother called,” Nadya placed in front of him the notebook where she recorded all the family expenses. “She wants a vacuum cleaner. Eighteen thousand.”
Vitya stretched and yawned.
“Well, if she needs it…”
“She told me recently: ‘What do you mean there’s no money? Tell Nadya to transfer it. I urgently need a new vacuum cleaner!’”
“Vitya!” Nadya opened the notebook to the right page. “Look for yourself. This is what we bought her in October. This in November. This in December. Twenty thousand in three months! We have two weeks until payday and eight thousand left for food and transportation passes. Eight thousand for four people!”
He looked into the notebook and scratched the back of his head.
“Mom is alone now. Dad left. It’s hard for her.”
“And is it easy for us?” Nadya’s voice trembled. “Your mother has a salary! She gets thirty-two thousand at the post office!”
“So what? Rent, utilities, food…”
“Vitya, we also have utilities and food. Plus two children and a forty-thousand mortgage every month!”
They stood facing each other in the cramped kitchen. In the room, the girls were playing with dolls, their voices reaching them faintly.
“Don’t shout, the children will hear,” Vitya turned toward the window.
“I’m not shouting. I just want you to understand: we can’t keep buying her everything she wants. Liya needs boots, Nelli needs a jacket. We ourselves are walking around in old clothes.”
“Mom doesn’t ask every day,” Vitya muttered.
“Every month!” Nadya jabbed her finger at the notebook. “October, November, December, January. Four months in a row!”
Vitya was silent. Then he sighed.
“All right, I’ll talk to her. I’ll tell her we can’t right now.”
He got dressed and went out for a walk with the girls. Nadya stayed alone in the kitchen, looking at the notebook full of numbers. Eighteen, six, eight, three and a half, two and a half. It was all adding up into one big problem she did not know how to solve.
The next day, Monday, at work, she told Tamara everything. They were standing near the staff entrance of the supermarket during a smoke break. More precisely, Tamara was smoking, while Nadya had simply stepped outside for air.
“My dear girl,” Tamara took a drag and exhaled smoke to the side. “You’re being used. Your mother-in-law has climbed onto your neck and made herself comfortable.”
“But it really is hard for her after the divorce…”
“Hard?” Tamara smirked. “You say her salary is thirty-two thousand? She lives alone? How much could utilities cost?”
“I don’t know. Maybe four thousand.”
“Well then. Twenty-eight thousand left. For one person. And you have eighty for four people, forty of which goes toward the apartment. Do the math yourself.”
Nadya fell silent in thought. She had never calculated it that way. It had always seemed to her that if her mother-in-law complained about not having money, then that must be true.
“Maybe she has some debts?” she suggested uncertainly.
“Debts,” Tamara snorted skeptically. “Listen, my sister had a similar story. Her mother-in-law also demanded and demanded. Buy this, buy that. Until the daughter-in-law finally put her in her place. Do you know what turned out? The mother-in-law had money. She just liked it when people paid attention to her. So she demanded it that way.”
“What did your sister do?”
“She said directly: I have my own family and my own problems. If you want to communicate, communicate normally. If all you want is to demand things, then don’t.”
Nadya returned to the checkout deep in thought. Maybe Tamara was right. Maybe she simply needed to find out whether Regina Nikolaevna really had such serious money problems.
On Tuesday evening, Nadya was picking Nelli up from kindergarten. Near the entrance, she ran into Olesya, her mother-in-law’s neighbor on the same landing. They knew each other, though they were not close.
“Oh, Nadyusha!” Olesya smiled. “Are you buying your mother-in-law a new vacuum cleaner?”
Nadya stopped dead.
“How do you know?”
“Well, I saw her yesterday carrying a huge box from Eldorado. She said the children had given it to her. I even thought, what good children, taking care of their mother.”
Nadya’s vision darkened. Yesterday? Yesterday, when her mother-in-law had called and demanded money for a vacuum cleaner?
“Are you sure it was yesterday?” she asked again.
“Yes, on Sunday it was. I was just coming back from the store. Regina Nikolaevna even complained to me that it was hard to carry such purchases alone.”
Nadya picked up Nelli and walked home on autopilot. One thought kept spinning in her head: so her mother-in-law already had a vacuum cleaner. A new one. One she had bought herself. And she was calling them demanding money for another one?
At home, she immediately called Vitya. He was at work and did not answer right away.
“Vitya, your mother bought herself a vacuum cleaner on Sunday. Before she called us. The neighbor saw her.”
“That can’t be,” disbelief was audible in her husband’s voice. “Mom wouldn’t lie.”
“Olesya isn’t lying. She saw with her own eyes how your mother was carrying the box from the store.”
“Maybe the neighbor was mistaken? Or maybe it was some other purchase?”
“Vitya!”
“Nadya, I’m at work. We’ll talk in the evening.”
He hung up. Nadya stood in the middle of the room, feeling everything boil inside her. Nelli tugged at her hand.
“Mama, look, I drew this!”
She pulled herself together. She looked at the child’s drawing and praised it. Then she began making dinner. But her thoughts would not leave her in peace.
The next day, Wednesday, Nadya made up her mind. She baked syrniki early in the morning and packed them into a container. After lunch, she went to her mother-in-law’s place.
Regina Nikolaevna opened the door in a house robe. She was surprised.
“Nadyusha? I thought you were at work.”
“I have a day off today,” Nadya lied. “I made syrniki and decided to bring you some.”
“Oh, thank you, my dear!” her mother-in-law beamed. “Come in, come in.”
Regina Nikolaevna’s apartment was a small one-room place, but tidy. Nadya walked into the room and looked around. And then she saw it. In the corner, near the balcony door, stood a brand-new vacuum cleaner. Bosch, judging by the logo on the body. Clearly expensive.
“Oh, that…” Her mother-in-law noticed where Nadya was looking and quickly began chattering. “Viktor Pavlovich bought that for me. But he didn’t understand what kind I needed! It’s completely inconvenient, heavy. I need another one, lighter.”
Nadya looked at the vacuum cleaner. It looked completely new. Some of the protective film was still on it.
“Then why do you need another one?” she asked as calmly as possible.
“Well, this one doesn’t suit me!” Regina Nikolaevna spread her hands. “I’m telling you, it’s inconvenient. I didn’t even try it. I wanted to return it, but I lost the receipt.”
They sat for another twenty minutes. Her mother-in-law complained about life, her ex-husband, and loneliness. Nadya nodded along, but listened only half-heartedly. A picture was forming in her head, and she did not like it at all.
When she was already leaving, Regina Nikolaevna asked:
“So, what about the vacuum cleaner? Did Vitya talk to you?”
“He did,” Nadya pulled on her jacket. “We’ll think about it.”
“Just hurry, because I really need one. I’m sitting here completely without a vacuum cleaner.”
Nadya stepped out onto the landing and leaned against the wall. Her hands were shaking. So her mother-in-law was lying. Lying straight to her face. And she was not even embarrassed.
That evening, when Vitya came home from work, she told him everything. She said she had seen the vacuum cleaner with her own eyes.
“Mom said Dad bought it,” Vitya stood by the window with his back to her.
“Vitya, your father doesn’t buy her anything. He only gives her money every month, voluntarily. And your mother still never has enough.”
“How do you know?”
“Let’s call him and ask.”
Vitya was silent for a while, then nodded. Nadya took out her phone and found Viktor Pavlovich’s number. She and her former father-in-law had kept a normal relationship; he sometimes came to see his granddaughters.
“Viktor Pavlovich, good evening,” Nadya began. “I have a question. Did you buy Regina Nikolaevna a vacuum cleaner?”
“What vacuum cleaner?” genuine surprise sounded over the phone. “I haven’t bought Regina anything.”
“Thank you,” Nadya hung up and looked at her husband.
Vitya sat on the sofa, staring at the floor. He was silent for a long time. Then he said quietly:
“She’s lying.”
“Yes.”
“But why?”
Nadya sat down beside him.
“I don’t know. Maybe she needs attention? Or maybe she really thinks we’re obligated to help her.”
“She has forty-seven thousand a month,” Vitya counted slowly. “Your father gives her money, plus her salary. She lives alone. Utilities are about four thousand. What does she spend the other forty-three on?”
“Exactly.”
“We need to talk to her,” Vitya raised his head. “I’ll talk to her.”
The next day, Thursday, Vitya went to his mother’s after work. Nadya stayed home with the children, but he promised to call right away.
The call came two hours later. Vitya spoke quietly, agitated.
“She screamed. Said you were turning me against her. That I believe my wife more than my own mother.”
“And what did you say?”
“Nothing. She burst into tears and started talking about how she raised me alone. Although we both know that isn’t true — Dad was always with us.”
“Vitya…”
“I don’t know what to do,” he sighed. “She’s my mother.”
Nadya closed her eyes. She wanted to shout at him, to hit something. But she understood: Vitya had obeyed his mother his whole life. This was difficult for him now.
“All right. Come home. We’ll talk.”
On Friday evening, while picking Nelli up from kindergarten, Nadya ran into Olesya again. She was coming home from work and looked tired, but when she saw Nadya, she smiled.
“Hi! How are things?”
“Fine,” Nadya did not want to talk, but Olesya noticed something in her face.
“Listen,” she came closer and lowered her voice. “It’s not my business, of course. But your mother-in-law… she buys something in the store every week. A new hairdryer, a coffee maker. And she tells us neighbors that she has no money and that her children don’t help.”
Nadya felt everything inside her tighten.
“Seriously?”
“Yes. Last week I saw her near the appliance store. She was carrying about five bags. Huge ones.”
“Did you happen to take a photo?”
Olesya thought for a moment, then rummaged through her phone.
“Wait… Yes, I did! I sent a photo to my friend then, we were together. Here, look.”
She showed her the screen. In the photo was Regina Nikolaevna leaving the store with large bags. The date was January 12. Five days earlier.
“Can you send that to me?” Nadya asked.
“Of course.”
Nadya walked home and felt something heavy growing inside her. Anger? Hurt? She did not know. She only knew one thing: this could not continue.
At home, Nadya showed the photo to Vitya. He stared at the phone screen for a long time, then leaned back against the sofa.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” he asked, confusion in his voice.
“Put an end to it,” Nadya sat beside him. “Vitya, listen. Your mother is deceiving us. She buys herself everything she wants, and then demands money from us, even though she knows we barely have enough ourselves. Liya is walking around in tight boots, Nelli needs a jacket. And in three months, we gave your mother twenty thousand!”
“I understand, but…”
“No buts. Either we keep buying everything for her and fall into debt ourselves, or we tell the truth.”
Vitya was silent. Nadya could see him struggling with himself. Finally he nodded.
“Let’s invite her here. On Sunday. We’ll talk all together.”
On Saturday, Nadya’s mother, Svetlana Borisovna, came over. Nadya asked her to sit with the granddaughters while they spoke to her mother-in-law. Her mother listened to the whole story and shook her head.
“Daughter, you’re doing the right thing. Because of this money, you and Vitya are arguing, and the girls feel the tension. Yesterday I asked Liya how she was, and she said: ‘Grandma, will Mama and Papa not fight?’ Children see everything.”
“I know,” Nadya tiredly ran a hand over her face. “That’s why we need to end this.”
On Sunday at two in the afternoon, the doorbell rang. Regina Nikolaevna arrived dressed up, with her hair styled, wearing a new blouse. Svetlana Borisovna took the girls into the room and put on a cartoon for them.
“Come in, Regina Nikolaevna,” Nadya opened the door wider.
“Oh, Nadyusha!” her mother-in-law entered and looked around. “Did something happen? You sounded so serious on the phone.”
“Please sit down. Would you like tea?”
“No, thank you.”
They sat at the table. Vitya sat next to Nadya, Regina Nikolaevna opposite them. Her mother-in-law was smiling, but there was a guarded look in her eyes.
“Regina Nikolaevna,” Nadya began calmly. “We wanted to talk about money.”
“About money?” her mother-in-law frowned. “Is something wrong?”
“What’s wrong is this: do you really need help, or do you simply want us to buy things for you?”
Regina Nikolaevna’s face stretched in surprise.
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
Nadya took out the notebook.
“Over the past three months, we bought you a kettle, boots, a microwave, and a blanket. Twenty thousand rubles. At the same time, you receive fifteen thousand from Viktor Pavlovich plus your salary of thirty-two thousand. That makes forty-seven thousand a month. You live alone, and your utilities are around four thousand. That means you have forty-three thousand left. More than we have for four people.”
Regina Nikolaevna turned pale.
“What, are you watching me? Counting my money?”
“No. I simply want to understand why you demand money from us when you have enough of your own.”
“I have expenses! Food, clothes!”
“Regina Nikolaevna,” Vitya entered the conversation for the first time. “Last Sunday you bought yourself a vacuum cleaner. A Bosch. I saw it in your corner. And then you called us and asked for money for another vacuum cleaner.”
His mother-in-law opened her mouth, then closed it. Then she said quickly:
“My ex-husband bought that one, but it’s inconvenient!”
“Mom, I called Dad. He didn’t buy you anything.”
Silence fell. Regina Nikolaevna looked first at her son, then at her daughter-in-law. Then her face twisted.
“So you arranged an interrogation for me? You checked everything, yes? You decided I was deceiving you?”
“Were you not?” Nadya asked quietly.
“I don’t owe you anything!” her mother-in-law stood up abruptly. “I’m not obligated to report to you! It’s my money. I spend it however I want!”
“Then why do you demand ours?” Vitya also stood up. “Mom, we have two children. We have a mortgage of forty thousand a month. We ourselves are barely making ends meet!”
“You’re saying this to me?” Regina Nikolaevna’s voice trembled. “To your own mother? Who gave birth to you, raised you?”
“You and Dad raised me together. Don’t say you raised me alone.”
“That’s it!” his mother-in-law grabbed her bag. “It’s her, Nadka, who turned you against me! I always knew she was bad!”
“Mom, wait,” Vitya blocked her path. “Let’s talk normally.”
“I don’t want to talk to you!” Regina Nikolaevna pushed him aside and flung the door open. “Consider that you no longer have a mother!”
The door slammed. Vitya stood in the middle of the room, pale. Nadya went up to him and hugged him.
“You did the right thing.”
“I shouted at my mother.”
“You told the truth. That’s not the same thing.”
Svetlana Borisovna came out of the room.
“The girls are asking what happened. They heard shouting.”
“Tell them everything is fine,” Nadya wiped her eyes. “We’ll come in now.”
The week passed in heavy silence. Regina Nikolaevna did not call. Vitya grew gloomier with each day and barely spoke. Nadya tried to support him, but she could see that her husband blamed himself.
On Wednesday evening, when Vitya came home from work, his phone rang. It was his mother. He looked at the screen, then at Nadya.
“Answer,” she said.
Vitya accepted the call.
“Hello?”
“Vitenka,” Regina Nikolaevna’s voice was quiet, without its usual theatrical notes. “Can you come to my place? I need to talk to you.”
“Now?”
“If you can.”
He arrived forty minutes later. Regina Nikolaevna met him at the door and silently let him in. She sat down on the sofa and patted the spot beside her.
“Sit down.”
Vitya sat cautiously. His mother looked tired, older.
“You were right, son,” she began slowly. “I… I got carried away. After the divorce I felt so hurt, so lonely. Viktor Pavlovich left for another woman. We lived together for thirty-five years, and then he just left. As if he no longer needed me.”
Vitya said nothing and listened.
“And I thought: if the children take care of me, buy me things, then that means they need me. That means I’m not alone. Do you understand?”
“But Mom,” Vitya turned to her. “We love you anyway. Why did you have to lie?”
“I don’t know,” Regina Nikolaevna lowered her head. “At first I asked for the kettle, and you bought it. It felt so nice. Then the boots. You bought them again, didn’t refuse. And I wanted more. As if every purchase was proof that you cared about me.”
“We do care about you. But we have our own family, two children. We can’t buy everything for you.”
“I understand,” his mother-in-law raised her eyes to him. “I’m guilty. Before you, before Nadya. Especially before her. I said such awful things to her.”
Vitya hugged his mother. She pressed herself to his shoulder and sobbed quietly.
“Will you come tomorrow?” he asked. “Will you talk to Nadya?”
“Will she accept me?”
“Nadya is a good person. She will.”
The next day, Friday evening, Regina Nikolaevna came to their place. She brought candy for the girls. She stood awkwardly in the hallway, like a stranger.
“Come in,” Nadya opened the door to the room.
They sat at the table. The girls played in the other room, and Vitya watched television, giving them a chance to talk alone.
“Nadyusha,” Regina Nikolaevna folded her hands on her knees. “I want to apologize. I behaved terribly. I demanded, lied, manipulated. You had every right to stop me.”
Nadya nodded.
“I didn’t want to hurt you. It’s just really hard for us.”
“I know. Vitya told me everything. About the mortgage, about the children needing boots. And I was only thinking about myself.”
“Was it really hard for you after the divorce?”
“It was hard,” her mother-in-law sighed. “But not because of money. Because of loneliness. Thirty-five years with one person, and then suddenly — you’re alone. It became frightening. So I decided that if you bought me things, it meant you needed me.”
Nadya was silent for a while, then said:
“Regina Nikolaevna, we need you even without purchases. Come visit us, play with your granddaughters. We’re glad to have you. But demanding money is wrong.”
“I won’t do it anymore,” her mother-in-law looked her in the eyes. “Honestly. I understood my mistake.”
“Then let’s just communicate normally. The way family should.”
Regina Nikolaevna nodded. Then suddenly she said:
“Do you know what I realized this week? I don’t have enough communication. With people. I’m at work from morning until evening, then I go home. I don’t go anywhere, I don’t see anyone. I’m lonely, so I started demanding attention in such a strange way.”
“Maybe you should sign up for something?” Nadya suggested. “A swimming pool, for example. Or yoga.”
“I’ve thought about it,” her mother-in-law nodded thoughtfully. “I should try.”
Two weeks later, at the end of January, Regina Nikolaevna came to visit them again. But this time, just like that, for no reason. She played a board game with Liya and Nelli and laughed when the younger one cheated with the dice.
Nadya and Vitya were in the kitchen making dinner. Her husband hugged his wife from behind.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For not giving up. For helping me finally grow up.”
Nadya turned to him.
“We handled it together.”
Outside the window, January snow was falling, covering the city with a white blanket. From the room came the girls’ laughter and Regina Nikolaevna’s voice: “No, no, Nellyusha, you can’t do that! That’s cheating!”
Nadya smiled. The family had found balance. Not perfect, but real. A balance where everyone understood and respected one another’s boundaries. Where love did not need to be bought with money, because it was already there. Sometimes people simply needed to remind one another of that.
Vitya placed plates on the table and called everyone to dinner. Regina Nikolaevna entered the kitchen, holding both granddaughters by the hands. Liya was telling something about kindergarten, while Nelli kept interrupting. An ordinary family evening. Ordinary, and so important.
Nadya looked at her husband, at her mother-in-law, at her daughters. And she thought: this is happiness. Not in money, not in purchases. In having people beside you who understand one another. Even if reaching that understanding meant going through conflict and truth.