He Left His Wife With Two Children, but Miscalculated
The call from her ex-husband came out of nowhere. After the divorce, Tonya had tried not to communicate with Vasya. She still couldn’t forgive him for what he had done. At first, he had paid child support, but then he quit his job and stopped helping his former wife altogether. And now this unexpected call—at half past nine in the evening.
Tonya was about to decline it, but curiosity got the better of her. Besides, who knew? Maybe something had happened.
— Hello? — Tonya asked anxiously.
— Hi, Tonya. Don’t make any plans for Saturday. You need to come to my wife Valentina’s anniversary celebration. Come yourself and bring the kids too.
— Why on earth would I do that? — Tonya was extremely surprised.
— Well… you understand… It’s important for her to show the guests that we’re on good terms, to maintain her reputation. She’s opening a new store… — Vasily’s voice was hoarse, as if he were trying to hide his tension.
Two years earlier, he had left her for another woman, abandoning his wife with two children, and now he was calling as if nothing had happened and asking her for a favor. Not merely asking—begging.
“Ask for anything you want, just please come.”
Tonya remained silent, remembering everything her husband had done.
That evening, Tonya had just returned from work—tired, as always, yet wearing her usual smile. She knew there was no other way. The children were waiting for their mother, her husband was waiting for dinner, and her exhaustion… that belonged only to her. Personal problems weren’t supposed to be brought into the home. Those were the rules, and Tonya had followed them faithfully for years, successfully playing the role of homemaker, wife, and mother.
Vasya, however, apparently knew nothing about such rules.
— Here, — he announced the moment she walked in. — Look. These are the receipts. I bought a new faucet and paid the plumber too.
— Good for you, — Tonya shrugged. — Take a pie from the shelf. I baked them on Saturday, there are still some left. If you want, I’ll bake more this weekend.
— Why do you keep going on about pies? Pies, pies! I’m carrying everything on my shoulders again while you sit around doing nothing and smiling.
— What am I supposed to do, cry because you’re a grown man who can’t even replace a faucet himself? — she replied calmly.
— I wasn’t born to mess around with pipes. And instead of lecturing me, you could get a second job and contribute something to the family budget.
— I do contribute, Vasya. Just not with money.
— Then with what, exactly?
— Love. Care.
— You can’t spread care on bread! — he snapped irritably.
— But you can spread the butter I made myself from the fresh country cream my mother sent us. And I baked the bread myself too, by the way. Especially according to Grandma’s recipe. You won’t eat ordinary bread—you always want something special!
— I’d rather you stopped making bread and butter and started bringing home money! Then I wouldn’t be eating bread and butter—I’d be eating grouse with pineapple! — her husband shouted.
Tonya had no idea what had gotten into him. But his words hurt so badly that she took out her wallet, counted out half the amount listed on the faucet receipt, and placed the money in front of him. She had just received her salary in cash.
— Here. For the grouse. And the pineapples. Enjoy your meal, — Tonya said before leaving the room.
It hurt to realize that after all their years of marriage, her husband had never noticed the homemaker in her, the mother of his children, or the capable woman who kept their household running.
Vasya increasingly accused his wife of being a freeloader and a parasite who had comfortably settled on his shoulders and saddled him with children on top of everything else.
— You know, Vasya, I didn’t hang the children around your neck, as you like to say. You helped make them willingly.
— You could find yourself a proper job, — he would throw back, as though her work were something shameful. — Or take bribes like everyone else. But no… you have to pretend you’re some kind of saint.
— I’m an honest person, Vasya. And I love my job. I’m not going to squeeze money out of poor elderly women.
— You’re just a doormat, Tonya. That’s all. You’re comfortable sitting in that clinic earning pennies, so you keep quiet. But I’m not going to keep quiet anymore. I don’t need some lifeless woman. I need a muse—a woman who’s interesting, someone who can be a partner, someone who, like me, wants to grow and make money.
— Really? — Tonya gasped. — And what exactly are you trying to tell me?
— That I’m leaving.
— Leaving? Where? — Tonya turned pale.
— Toward a happy future. To Valentina. She has her own business—she sells flowers. Her money plus mine means vacations in the Maldives and an expensive foreign car. But with you? All I’ve got is a dacha in some backwater village and a used car that’s practically falling apart.
— You’re leaving the family? What about the children? — Tonya had no idea how she would support two children alone.
— The children will be fine. I’ll pay child support. But that’s it. Draw your own conclusions.
And Vasya really did leave.
He set aside a tiny amount from his income for child support and moved under the wing of his businesswoman.
He had met Valentina not long before. She was the sister of one of his friends. They had met by chance, and Vasily had taken an immediate liking to her. Valentina herself was already over forty and desperately wanted to get married—to practically anyone.
“I’ve got a car, a fur coat, an apartment, a business… I have everything, but nobody wants to marry me,” she used to complain.
And then, finally, luck smiled on her.
Valya turned out to be exactly the woman Vasya had dreamed of: confident, business-minded, with her own company and, most importantly, her own strong opinions.
Everything in his life should have been perfect.
Except something went wrong.
The businesswoman had a sharp tongue and wasn’t above shouting at Vasya whenever she thought he wasn’t looking at her lovingly enough.
After calculating the household income and expenses, Valya informed Vasily that his salary minus child support amounted to pennies and that his role in the family was basically that of a parrot: plenty of noise and absolutely no use.
One argument led to another, and the influential woman firmly persuaded Vasily to quit his job and do something useful instead.
Namely, take care of her family.
By a twist of fate, Vasya quickly learned how to replace faucets, cook, mop floors, and do household chores.
He didn’t see his own children, but he took Valentina’s son to school, helped him with homework, and received a slap on the back of the head from his wife for the slightest mistake.
And he didn’t complain.
He simply did what he was told.
Everything he had once mocked Tonya for doing, he suddenly began doing himself.
Tonya, meanwhile, pulled herself together after being left alone and refused to give in to despair.
A colleague at work offered her a side job at a cosmetology clinic near her home, working a second shift.
— You can do it, Tonya. You have the education and enough skills. We’ll teach you the rest.
She decided to try.
She began performing cosmetic injections.
Her clients were pleased. They left tips, returned for more treatments, and booked appointments months in advance.
Tonya retrained from being a nurse to becoming a cosmetologist and eventually started earning more money than Vasya had ever dreamed of making.
So when he called her, Tonya was genuinely shocked.
— Tonya, it’s my wife’s anniversary. She wants you to come. With the children. It’s really important for her image. Please, I’m begging you, come. If you don’t, she’ll bite my head off. Ask for anything you want in return! You don’t even need to bring a gift. Just come.
— All right. We’ll come, — Tonya finally agreed.
She was curious to see how her former husband lived now and what kind of woman this Valentina was—the woman he had once worshipped and considered so much better than Tonya.
Antonina arrived at the anniversary celebration in a beautiful dress, looking better than ever.
Valya immediately became tense when she saw that the ex-wife was more attractive than the birthday woman herself.
The children were well dressed too and had fashionable gadgets.
Valya even gave Vasily a dressing-down.
Apparently, she thought he must secretly be paying child support behind her back.
— With what money, if you quit your job?! Are you stealing mine?!
Tonya heard the way Valentina spoke to her husband and saw how little respect she had for him.
Still, he proudly boasted that he had gone on vacation to the Maldives.
True, only once.
The next time, Valya and her son went without him, leaving Vasya behind like a dog to guard the apartment.
During the celebration, it became obvious to Tonya that her husband had lost by choosing Valentina—a domineering woman who ruled the household and considered her husband a useless parasite.
Vasya looked pathetic and ridiculous, even though he tried hard to seem more important than he was and to pretend he was happy.
Later, closer to the end of the evening, he approached his ex-wife.
— Thanks for coming. I owe you one.
Tonya looked at him and smiled.
— Divorce Valentina.
— What?! — Vasya stared at her wide-eyed. — That’s too big a favor to ask for yourself!
— I don’t need it, Vasya. You do. You’d be doing yourself a favor if you left her. But it’s your life. You always wanted to switch roles with me, didn’t you? Well, now you’re the dependent one.
— I’m happy, by the way! Don’t decide things for me! — Vasya blurted out, his face turning red.
— Then live and enjoy it. And if you ever need money for socks, the faucet in my kitchen is leaking. The very same one. You can come over and earn a little extra.
— Vasya! Don’t just stand there! Bring my mother her fur coat! — Valya shouted loudly across the room.
Vasya actually flinched.
At that moment, Tonya’s ex-husband looked like a frightened little puppy—shaking and cowardly.
Tonya almost glanced down to see whether he had left a puddle behind as he hurried away to obey his wife.
— Mom, can we go now? We still have to pack our suitcases! We’re flying to Cuba on Monday! — her younger daughter said impatiently, tugging at Tonya’s hand.
And Tonya left.
She walked away with a smile on her lips, already looking forward to a vacation beneath the palm trees—a vacation she had earned for herself and her beloved children.
She genuinely felt sorry for her ex-husband.
But he had chosen that life himself.
And through his choice, he had unknowingly turned Tonya into a different woman—stronger, more determined, and more successful.
He had simply removed himself from her life at exactly the right time.
And everyone lived happily ever after.
Everyone except Vasya, no matter how desperately he tried to convince the world otherwise.