“What do you want?” Karina asked without opening the door. “I think you said everything you needed to say yesterday.”

“What do you want?” Karina asked without opening the door. “I think everything you wanted to say, you already said yesterday.”
“Actually, I came to my son’s house! And I want to see my grandson!” The woman behind the door had no intention of leaving.
“Your son isn’t home. And even when he does get back, talk to him outside or anywhere else but here!”
At that moment, even Karina didn’t know how long she could hold out, or if she had the strength not to open the door. The uninvited guest wasn’t in any hurry to leave. She called her son and started complaining to him.
Honestly, Karina felt she had nothing to lose: her relationship with her mother-in-law had never worked from the start.
She was convinced that Vlad’s mother disliked her even before they met. Of course, she wasn’t Natasha, Vladislav’s first wife, whom Elena Grigorievna adored.
Karina learned about her husband and his first wife’s love story from his mother.
“There was no way they wouldn’t fall for each other, you know. I was inseparable from Natasha’s mom throughout our college years,” Elena Grigorievna proudly told Karina at their very first meeting. “So, of course, we introduced our children. They made such a beautiful couple! Vlad would carry Natasha everywhere, he was willing to do anything for her. Oh, those were happy times…”
“So why did they break up if they loved each other so much?” Karina looked at the woman in confusion.
“Because of stupidity,” she replied briskly.
That’s when Karina realized that she’d never click with her husband’s mother. And now she didn’t even want to try.
At first, Karina even thought about breaking up with Vlad because of his mother and her hurtful remarks. But she decided against it, realizing it would be silly.
So, she had to endure it all. Including the sarcastic remarks from Elena Grigorievna that would come through the phone when Vlad spoke with her, and his mom’s constant longing for his ex-wife.
Vlad tried to keep his mother away from Karina, and they rarely met. But of course, she was invited to the wedding.
“I remember Natasha’s wedding dress was so elegant,” Elena Grigorievna remarked without hesitation in front of the bride. Right after, the groom’s friends led her away. Both they and the MC had been warned not to let the new mother-in-law say anything and to keep her away from the bride.
Apart from that, the wedding went off perfectly.
The newlyweds lived in a two-bedroom apartment that Karina’s parents had bought for her back in her student days. After the wedding, they decided to give the place a fresh look and renovated it.
To save money, they did most of the work themselves, only hiring professionals for the most complicated jobs. When everything was finally ready, Vlad told his mom over the phone that it turned out really nice.
“That’s great! When can I come visit?” Elena Grigorievna asked.
Vlad stayed silent. He knew Karina wouldn’t want his mom in their apartment, but he also didn’t want to say no to her.
“Will you be home Saturday?” the woman pressed on.
“I’ll talk to Karina,” Vlad promised.
“What’s there to talk about? I’m your mother, not a stranger. I need to see how my son is living.”
When Karina heard from her husband that his mother wanted to visit, her mood sank. She really didn’t want to see this unpleasant woman. But still, she agreed to let Elena Grigorievna come over, mainly because she felt confident in her own apartment.
But even in this situation, Elena Grigorievna acted like she was in charge.
“Wow, son, see what it means to have skilled hands! You turned a plain old shed into such a gem!” she commented, looking around.
“What do you mean, a shed?” Karina protested. “It wasn’t that bad here to start with. We only did some basic repairs, nothing major.”
The mother-in-law completely ignored the words of the apartment’s actual owner.
“Hmm,” Elena Grigorievna grumbled as she peered into the kitchen cupboards. “You’ve got grains all over—some in jars, some loose in bags… Do you know how organized Natasha is? She keeps everything in pretty, matching containers. Open a cabinet at her place, and it’s like a magazine photo—so nice to look at!”
“Maybe you should just go stay with Natasha, then?” Karina finally snapped.
“Oh, I visit her plenty,” sighed Elena Grigorievna sadly. Natasha has a new family now, got married and moved on—it was clear she was still holding out hope her son would get back together with his ex-wife.
When the three of them sat down at the table, Elena Grigorievna, of course, couldn’t resist comparing the cooking skills of her son’s former and current wives—naturally, not in Karina’s favor.
Karina didn’t stay silent—she matched snark for snark, while Vlad bounced between them, constantly trying to calm his mother down and put her in her place.
“I don’t want to see her here ever again,” Karina told her husband after Elena Grigorievna finally left.
Vlad himself had had enough of the visit to realize it was better to meet his mother on neutral ground—and as rarely as possible.
The next time they met was a year later at his birthday party. Vlad was celebrating at a restaurant with family and friends, and of course, couldn’t not invite his mom. Naturally, she seized another chance to poke at her daughter-in-law.
“So, when will you give me grandchildren?” she asked loudly in front of everyone.
Everyone fell silent. Most of the guests found the question rude and inappropriate.
“Well, Natasha’s already eight months pregnant,” Elena Grigorievna continued, her words crisp, looking at Vlad as if hinting that he had missed out. “If certain people hadn’t acted up, you’d be a dad by now too…”
“I have a toast!” one of the guests jumped in to help. “Let’s raise a glass to the birthday boy’s mother! May none of us have such a mother-in-law…”
Everyone burst out laughing, breaking the tension. Elena Grigorievna pouted at first but soon relaxed and joined the conversations.
But for Karina, it took everything not to cry that evening. She desperately wanted a child but hadn’t been able to get pregnant yet.
A miracle finally happened later. Vlad and Karina kept it secret from Elena Grigorievna all the way until the baby was born—and it turned out they were right to do so.
Because as soon as she found out about her new grandchild, Elena Grigorievna threw a huge tantrum at her son.
“How could you keep this from me?” she yelled. “See, that’s what you’re all like! I was one of the first to hear about Natasha’s pregnancy! But you kept this from me!”
The new parents didn’t tell grandma when the hospital discharge would be or which medical facility it would happen at. Better safe than sorry. She kept trying to come over and see the baby, and eventually Vlad gave in.
“Karina, she’s still a grandmother! What if she sees our Timosha and just melts? She might change her attitude toward you right away,” Vlad tried to persuade.
“I know exactly what she’ll say! That Natasha’s baby is prettier, healthier, better… We don’t need her here, Vlad.”
Vlad didn’t argue with his wife. He didn’t want the breastfeeding mother to get upset for any reason either.
But Elena Grigoryevna showed up uninvited anyway.
“I’m a grandmother! And I want to see my grandson!” she demanded from the doorway.
Karina and Vlad gave in, and the guest stepped into the apartment with a small bag in her hand.
“Here, I brought some proper swaddling blankets. Looks like I did the right thing,” she said, eyeing the baby in Karina’s arms. “Why have you wrapped my handsome boy in rags? What’s going on, my baby? Your parents aren’t treating you well, are they? Are they? Oh, I’ll show them!”
The young parents didn’t even try to respond to the grandmother’s words. They let her hold Timofey, offered her some tea, and gently hinted that they couldn’t spend more time with her.
She politely left. Karina hoped that would be the last of her visits for a while, but her mother-in-law showed up again without an invitation.
This time, Vlad was at work and Karina had just put her son to sleep. The young mom started making dinner when her mother-in-law rang the doorbell.
“Timosha’s sleeping,” Karina explained, hoping her mother-in-law would decide to go for a walk outside until the baby woke up.
But she had no intention of leaving.
“That’s okay, I’ll wait,” she said, heading straight for the nursery.
The hostess went back to the kitchen. Soon the guest joined her there.
“Oh, you’re cutting the potatoes so big,” she started commenting. “I saw there’s a pile of un-ironed swaddles in there. When are you going to do the ironing?”
“As soon as I finish making dinner. But if you’d like, you can help me.”
“No way. I raised Vlad all by myself, no help from moms or grandmas. And I never once complained. By the way, Natasha never has such a mess in her house.”
“Elena Grigoryevna, why do you always throw Natasha in my face? Just accept that I’m Vlad’s wife, not her. She’s probably grateful not to have you as a mother-in-law.”
“Don’t make things up!” the woman was offended. “I have a wonderful relationship with her. You should heed my advice and fix your mistakes! And don’t think having a child will help you keep my son. If he ever thinks of leaving you, I’ll support him all the way!”
“He’s more likely to stop talking to you.”
“Don’t count on it!”
They exchanged a few more unpleasant words.
“Get out of my house,” Karina commanded. Elena Grigoryevna, not waiting for her grandson to wake up, proudly marched out of the apartment.
“Now I hope she’ll have enough pride not to show up at our place again,” the hostess thought to herself. That evening, she told her husband everything—but he had already heard his mother’s version by the time he got home. As usual, Elena Grigoryevna had badmouthed her daughter-in-law, telling her son that his wife had insulted her and kicked her out.
Vlad was now also hoping that, after all this, his mother would finally leave them alone—at least for a while. But she came back again, and once more showed up while Vlad was at work.
She arrived and knocked on the door.
“What do you want?” Karina asked without opening the door. She’d seen her mother-in-law through the peephole and decided not to let her in. “I think you already said everything you wanted to yesterday.”
“Actually, I came to my son’s house! And I want to see my grandson!” the woman behind the door declared, making it clear she wasn’t going to leave.
“Your son isn’t here. And when he does come back, you can meet him outside or anywhere else! As for your grandson, it’d be better for him not to know a grandmother like you! Go see Natasha if you want someone to fuss over—she’ll be happy.”
Elena Grigoryevna started knocking more insistently and demanded to be let inside the apartment. She then called her son.
Vlad arrived about an hour later. All that time, his mother stood by the door, refusing to leave. She expected her son to stand up for her and put his wife in her place. But instead, he just gently took Elena Grigoryevna by the shoulder and led her away.
“Stop interfering in my family,” he said, looking her in the eyes.
“Son, but I am your family!”
“You are my mother. But my wife and child mean more to me. And if you keep getting in our way, I’ll have to stop all contact with you and move my family to another city.”
Elena Grigoryevna clutched her heart.
“You want to renounce your own mother?” she cried.
“I want peace. Oh, your taxi’s here. Please leave, Mom. I’m sorry, but you’re not welcome here.”
Vlad quickly turned around and almost ran into the building. Saying those things to his mother hurt, and he didn’t want to see the disappointment on her face.
Elena Grigoryevna began to cry. Then she called her friend—Natasha’s mother—and asked to meet up. She was deeply offended by her own children and didn’t speak to them for a long time, which made Vlad and Karina only too happy.