Natalya stood by the window, watching the rain. Twenty years of marriage. Twenty years of hopes, attempts, disappointments. They had never managed to have children.
They had tried everything. Examinations, treatment, even IVF. But nothing helped. The doctors only shrugged — sometimes it happened that way, with no obvious reason, it simply did not work out.
At first, it was painful. Natalya cried every time she saw a test with only one line. Oleg hugged her and told her everything would be all right, that they would try again. But the years passed, and hope melted away.
Over time, they learned to live with it. Work, trips together, evenings at home in front of the television. The ordinary life of an ordinary childless couple. They bought a two-room apartment in a good neighborhood, furnished it, and got a cat. They could have been happy.
If not for Anna Petrovna.
Her mother-in-law never missed a chance to remind Natalya of her “defectiveness.” Every meeting turned into a trial.
“Well, still not pregnant?” Anna Petrovna would ask with fake concern. “Have you even gone to a doctor? Maybe you need treatment?”
“We did get treatment, Anna Petrovna. It didn’t help.”
“How strange… Sergey had a daughter without any problems. So it must not be our genes.”
Natalya clenched her teeth and stayed silent. Oleg stayed silent too. He did not defend his wife, did not stop his mother. He simply sat there and pretended it had nothing to do with him.
“At least we have little Sofiyka,” her mother-in-law continued. “My golden granddaughter. The only joy in my life.”
And then it would begin — stories about how clever Sofia was, how well she studied, how beautifully she danced. Natalya listened and thought: was it really impossible to rejoice in a granddaughter without humiliating a daughter-in-law at the same time?
But that was exactly what Anna Petrovna did. Every time.
Sofia was the daughter of Oleg’s younger brother, Sergey. A pretty girl with long braids and cheerful eyes. Natalya treated her kindly — it was not the child’s fault that her grandmother used her as a weapon against a childless daughter-in-law.
When Sofia was three or four, Natalya had even tried to grow closer to her. She bought her toys, read her fairy tales, played dolls with her. But Anna Petrovna cut those attempts off at the root.
“There’s no need to spoil Sofia,” she said coldly. “She has a mother who raises her properly. You’d better think about your own children. Or rather, about the fact that you don’t have any.”
After that, Natalya withdrew. She gave Sofia gifts on holidays, wished her a happy birthday, but no longer sought closeness. What was the point, if her mother-in-law would ruin any relationship anyway?
Meanwhile, Anna Petrovna fussed over her granddaughter as if she were a priceless treasure. Sofia became the center of her universe. Every conversation came back to her granddaughter.
“Sofiyka is the best in her class at math!”
“Sofiyka danced so beautifully at the concert, everyone gasped!”
“Sofiyka wants to become a doctor, can you imagine? Such a clever girl she’s growing up to be!”
Natalya learned to let those speeches go in one ear and out the other. She nodded, smiled, and inside counted the minutes until they could leave.
Oleg noticed his wife’s tension, but did nothing. One day Natalya could no longer stand it.
“Why do you never stand up for me?”
“Stand up for you over what? Mom is just talking about her granddaughter.”
“She isn’t talking. She’s rubbing it in my face that we don’t have children!”
“You’re exaggerating. Mom doesn’t mean any harm.”
Natalya waved her hand. It was useless. He did not see it. Or did not want to see it.
The years passed, and nothing changed. Every visit to her mother-in-law became torture. Anna Petrovna perfected her art of little stabs.
“It’s such a pity Oleg never got to become a father,” she sighed, looking at Natalya. “He would have been a wonderful dad. But fate decided otherwise.”
Or:
“Sofiyka asks me, ‘Grandma Anya, why doesn’t Uncle Oleg have children?’ And what am I supposed to tell her? That my daughter-in-law is barren?”
Natalya clenched her fists under the table. Leaving was impossible — Oleg would be offended and accuse his wife of disrespecting his mother. Staying was impossible too. But she had no choice.
One day, after an especially difficult visit, Natalya tried once again to speak with her husband.
“Oleg, your mother humiliates me. Every time. You see it.”
“I didn’t see anything,” he shrugged.
“What do you mean, you didn’t see anything?! She literally said I was barren!”
“Well… It’s true.”
Natalya froze. She repeated slowly:
“True?”
“Well, yes. We don’t have children. That means one of us is infertile. The doctors say everything is fine with me, so…”
“So I’m to blame? Is that it?”
Oleg hesitated.
“That’s not what I said…”
“That is exactly what you said. And your mother thinks the same way. And you support her.”
“I don’t support her. I’m just stating facts.”
Natalya turned and went into the bedroom. She locked herself in and burst into tears. Twenty years together, and her husband did not even try to protect her.
One weekday, when Natalya came home from work, she found her mother-in-law in the apartment. Anna Petrovna was sitting in the kitchen drinking tea. Oleg was fussing around her.
“Ah, Natalya is here,” her mother-in-law nodded. “Hello.”
“Hello, Anna Petrovna,” Natalya took off her shoes and hung up her jacket. “I didn’t expect to see you.”
“I stopped by to see Oleg. We needed to talk.”
Natalya went into the kitchen and poured herself some water. Her mother-in-law rarely came without warning. Usually she called in advance so that Oleg could prepare for the visit — clean the apartment, buy something for tea.
But today she had come unexpectedly. And she was in a very good mood. Her face was glowing, her eyes were shining. She was up to something.
“Natalya, sit down,” her mother-in-law called. “Let’s talk.”
Natalya became wary. When Anna Petrovna was in a good mood, it usually meant trouble for someone else.
“Would you like tea?”
“I’ll pour it myself, thank you.”
She sat at the table opposite her mother-in-law. Oleg sat beside his mother, as usual.
Anna Petrovna took a sip of tea, set down her cup, and looked at Natalya with a smile.
“You know, Sofiyka’s birthday is coming soon. She’s turning ten.”
“I know,” Natalya nodded. “We’re already thinking about what to give her.”
“That’s what I’ve been thinking too,” her mother-in-law leaned back in her chair. “Ten years old is a milestone. An important date. The girl deserves special attention.”
Natalya drank her tea and waited for the continuation. Knowing Anna Petrovna, there was some request or demand ahead.
“Sofia is growing up to be such a clever girl!” her mother-in-law continued, getting worked up. “She gets excellent grades, goes to music school, does dancing. Her teachers praise her and say she is such a talented child!”
Natalya nodded while finishing her tea. Here it comes.
“She recently won a math Olympiad! In the city round! Can you imagine? And she’s only nine!” Anna Petrovna touched her chest, pretending to be moved. “I’m so proud of her! A true pride of our family!”
“Our family,” Natalya noted to herself. Not “their family” — Sergey and his wife’s. But specifically “our” family. Meaning hers and Oleg’s. Natalya, apparently, did not count as family.
“So I’m thinking,” her mother-in-law continued, “what kind of gift should I give my beloved granddaughter? She’s turning ten! It has to be something special!”
“All right,” Natalya agreed. “We’ll think about a gift too.”
“No, I’m not talking about you,” Anna Petrovna waved her off. “I’m talking about myself. I’ve decided to give Sofiyka a gaming laptop and the latest model phone!”
Natalya blinked. A gaming laptop? The latest model phone? For a ten-year-old child?
“That’s… probably expensive,” she said cautiously.
“Of course it’s expensive!” her mother-in-law raised her head proudly. “Altogether it will cost about two hundred thousand rubles. But nothing is too good for my granddaughter!”
Natalya exchanged glances with Oleg. He sat there with an unreadable face.
“I’ve already chosen the models,” Anna Petrovna continued. “A laptop with a good graphics card, so Sofia can play games if she wants. And the phone — the latest iPhone. So the girl won’t be worse than others!”
“I see,” Natalya nodded. “A generous gift.”
Anna Petrovna went on for a long time about the specifications of the devices she had chosen. About how powerful the laptop’s processor was, how many gigabytes of memory it had, what kind of screen. Natalya listened with half an ear, wondering why her mother-in-law had come to tell them all this.
Usually Anna Petrovna did not share her plans. She simply acted, then boasted about the results afterward. Something here was not right.
“You love your granddaughter very much,” Natalya remarked when her mother-in-law finally fell silent.
“I do!” the woman confirmed passionately. “Sofiyka is the meaning of my life! My only granddaughter, the light in my window!”
Another jab. “My only granddaughter” — because her barren daughter-in-law had no children. Natalya pretended not to notice.
“Well then, it’s a good gift,” she said neutrally. “Sofia will be happy.”
“How could she not be!” her mother-in-law clapped her hands. “I can already imagine how she’ll unwrap the boxes! What eyes she’ll have!”
Oleg, who had been silent the entire time, finally spoke:
“Mom, where are you going to get the money? I thought you didn’t have that kind of sum.”
Anna Petrovna waved her hand.
“I’ll take out a loan! I’ll arrange it for a year and pay it off little by little.”
Natalya became alert. A loan? For two hundred thousand?
“Anna Petrovna, maybe you shouldn’t get into debt?” she suggested carefully. “Sofia is still little. She doesn’t need such expensive things. You could give her something simpler.”
Her mother-in-law gave her a cold look.
“And what do you understand about raising children? You don’t have any. I know better what my granddaughter needs.”
Natalya bit her tongue. Oleg stayed silent again.
“Nothing is too good for my granddaughter,” Anna Petrovna repeated, looking somewhere into the distance. “Nothing! I’ll take out a loan, pay it off, the main thing is that Sofiyka is happy!”
“Of course,” Natalya nodded, feeling growing unease. “If that’s what you’ve decided…”
“That is exactly what I’ve decided!” her mother-in-law rose from the table. “All right, I have to go. I just stopped by to share the news. Oleg, see me out.”
Oleg walked his mother to the door and returned to the kitchen. Natalya was washing the cups.
“A strange visit,” she said without turning around.
“Why strange?”
“Your mother usually doesn’t tell us about her plans beforehand. She just acts.”
“Well, she shared. She was happy she could give her granddaughter such a gift.”
“Happy,” Natalya echoed. “And she isn’t afraid to take out a loan.”
“Mom has always been generous.”
“Generous with other people’s money,” Natalya muttered, but so quietly that Oleg did not hear.
Deep down she felt it: this visit was only the beginning. Anna Petrovna was plotting something. And Natalya was not going to like it.
But for now she decided not to worry ahead of time. Maybe her mother-in-law really had only shared her plans. Maybe she would take out the loan and pay it off herself.
Natalya dried the cups and put them in the cupboard. The evening passed calmly — dinner, television, sleep. Ordinary life.
But deep inside, the anxiety did not go away.
Sofia’s birthday was celebrated in a café. The whole family gathered — the girl’s parents, Grandmother Anna Petrovna, Oleg and Natalya, and several of Sofia’s friends with their parents.
Natalya and Oleg gave the girl an art set — high-quality paints, brushes, canvases. Sofia loved to draw, and they decided to support her hobby. They also gave her several books they themselves had loved as children.
Sofia thanked them, but it was clear the gift did not impress her much. She put the box aside and returned to her friends.
“She didn’t seem very excited,” Natalya quietly remarked to her husband.
“Well, children are spoiled these days,” Oleg shrugged. “They want gadgets.”
The climax of the party came when Anna Petrovna solemnly brought in her gifts. Two big boxes — one with the laptop, the other with the phone.
Sofia opened the boxes and squealed with delight. Her eyes lit up, her cheeks flushed with excitement.
“Grandma Anya! Is this for me?! Really for me?!”
“For you, my granddaughter! Happy birthday!”
Sofia rushed to hug her grandmother. The guests applauded. The girl’s parents exchanged glances — it was obvious they were not thrilled about such an expensive gift, but they did not dare object either.
Natalya watched what was happening with a sour expression. Anna Petrovna was basking in the attention, accepting congratulations and gratitude.
“What a gift!” the guests admired. “Such a generous grandmother!”
“Nothing is too good for my granddaughter!” Anna Petrovna repeated, glowing.
Natalya took a sip of champagne and thought: something was definitely not right. Her mother-in-law was too pleased with herself. Too demonstrative.
A week passed after the party. Life returned to its usual course — work, home, rare meetings with friends. Natalya almost forgot about Sofia’s birthday.
On Friday evening, she came home from work tired. She kicked off her shoes, changed into home clothes, and went to the kitchen to heat up dinner. Oleg was already home, sitting in the living room watching the news.
Natalya put a pot of soup on the stove and turned on the kettle. She called to her husband:
“Oleg, are you going to eat?”
“I’ll come now.”
But he did not come. Natalya looked into the living room. Oleg was sitting on the sofa with a tense face, staring at the television, but it was clear he was not seeing anything — he was thinking about something of his own.
“Oleg?” Natalya repeated. “Is everything all right?”
He started and turned to her.
“Huh? Yes, everything’s fine.”
“It doesn’t look like it. Did something happen?”
Oleg hesitated. He rubbed his face with his hands.
“Mom called…”
“And?”
“She… Well, basically, she asked for help.”
Natalya became wary. When Anna Petrovna asked for help, it never meant anything good.
“What kind of help?”
Oleg got up from the sofa and went into the kitchen. He sat at the table and folded his hands in front of him.
“Remember she took out a loan? For Sofia’s gifts?”
“I remember.”
“Well… Her monthly payment is about thirty thousand. And she doesn’t have that kind of money. She’s asking us to help.”
Natalya slowly lowered herself into the chair opposite her husband. She repeated:
“Help?”
“Well, yes. Pay off the loan together with her. Or for her.”
“Wait, wait,” Natalya raised her hand. “She took out the loan herself, for her own purposes. What do we have to do with it?”
“Well, Mom can’t pay that much every month…”
“Then why did she take it?!”
Oleg hesitated.
“For her granddaughter. You know how much Mom loves Sofia.”
“If she loves her, let her pay for it herself!” Natalya’s voice rose. “What do we have to do with it?!”
“Lesya, well, she’s my mother…”
“The mother who has humiliated me for twenty years? Who rubs it in my face every time that we don’t have children?”
“Don’t dramatize…”
“I’m not dramatizing! I simply don’t understand why we have to pay for her irresponsibility!”
Oleg rubbed the back of his head. It was obvious he felt awkward, but he had already made some kind of promise to his mother.
“She was counting on us helping…”
“On what grounds was she counting on that?!” Natalya jumped up from the table. “We didn’t tell her that! We didn’t even know!”
“Well… She’s family…”
“Family!” Natalya laughed, but the laugh came out hysterical. “When it’s time to humiliate me, I’m not family. When money is needed, suddenly I’m family!”
“Natasha, don’t yell…”
“I’m not yelling! I’m outraged! Oleg, I’m telling you: I’m not paying off someone else’s loans! Especially ones your mother took out ‘for gifts for her granddaughter’!”
Oleg frowned. He got up from the table and approached his wife.
“Are you serious right now?”
“Absolutely serious.”
“She is my mother!”
“So what? Does that make us obligated to pay her loans?”
“She’s in a difficult situation!”
“A situation she got herself into! Because of her own foolishness! Why take out a loan if you don’t have the money to pay it back?!”
“She wanted to make her granddaughter happy!”
“At someone else’s expense! Oleg, don’t you understand? From the start she was counting on us paying! That’s why she took such a big loan!”
Oleg fell silent. His face turned red.
“She wasn’t counting on anything…”
“Oh yes, she was! That’s why she came to us before the birthday! So we would know about the gift! So we wouldn’t be able to refuse afterward!”
“What nonsense!”
“It isn’t nonsense! It’s called manipulation! Your mother is a master manipulator!”
“Don’t you dare talk about my mother that way!”
“I will talk that way! Because it’s true! For twenty years she has humiliated me, insulted me, reproached me for being childless! And you stay silent! You always stay silent! You never defend me!”
Oleg clenched his fists.
“I don’t have to defend you! Mom doesn’t do anything bad to you!”
Natalya froze. She looked at her husband as if seeing him for the first time.
“Nothing bad? Seriously?”
“Yes. She simply expresses her opinion.”
“Her opinion that I’m a barren failure?”
“Natasha, well, you really are…” Oleg cut himself off, realizing he had said too much.
Natalya recoiled.
“Go on,” she said coldly. “I really am what?”
“Natasha, that’s not what I meant…”
“No, say it! I really am barren? Is that it?”
“Well… We don’t have children…”
“And that’s my fault? Mine alone?”
“The doctors said everything is fine with me!”
“The doctors said everything is fine with both of us! They didn’t find a cause! That doesn’t mean I’m to blame!”
“But if everything is fine with me, then…”
Natalya laughed. Bitterly, with a breaking edge.
“Twenty years. I’ve lived for twenty years with a man who considers me guilty. Who doesn’t protect me from his mother. Who stays silent while I’m being humiliated.”
“I don’t consider you guilty!”
“You do! You just said it!”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“Then what did you mean?!”
Oleg fell silent. He turned toward the window.
“You don’t understand. She is my mother. I can’t refuse her.”
“But you can refuse me? Me, your wife?”
“That’s different!”
“It isn’t different at all! You simply always choose her! Always! And I am nobody to you!”
“Don’t talk nonsense!”
“Nonsense?!” Natalya’s voice broke into a shout. “Have you ever, even once in twenty years, stood up for me? Have you ever told your mother to stop humiliating me?”
Oleg was silent.
“Exactly! Not once! Because your mother is more important to you! Because you’re a mama’s boy who’s afraid to contradict Mommy!”
“Shut up!” Oleg roared.
Natalya flinched. He had never shouted at her. Never.
“So that’s how it is,” Natalya said quietly. “I’m supposed to shut up. And your mother can say whatever she wants. Right?”
Oleg was breathing heavily. His face was red with anger.
“I’m tired of your complaints! For twenty years I’ve been hearing the same thing! Mom this, Mom that! Maybe the problem isn’t Mom, but you?!”
“Me?” Natalya repeated.
“Yes! You! You’re too easily offended! Too sensitive! You react to every word!”
“Or maybe the point is that those words are humiliating?!”
“No! The point is that you don’t know how to forgive! You don’t know how to compromise!”
“Compromise?! What compromise?! That I should endure insults and pay money for them too?!”
“Mom doesn’t insult you!”
“She does! Every time! And you know it perfectly well!”
“Enough!” Oleg slammed his fist on the table. “I don’t want to hear this! We will help Mom! Period!”
“No,” Natalya said firmly. “We will not.”
“We will!”
“No!”
“That money is mine too! I can use it however I want!”
“Half of our money is mine! And I will not allow it to be spent on your mother’s loan!”
Oleg grabbed his jacket and headed for the door.
“Where are you going?!”
“To Mother’s! To talk! Without you!”
He left, slamming the door. Natalya remained standing in the middle of the kitchen, trembling from anger and hurt.
Twenty years of marriage. And this was what it had come to.
Oleg returned late at night. Natalya was not asleep — she was lying on the sofa in the living room, staring at the ceiling. She heard the door open, heard him take off his shoes in the hallway.
He entered the living room and saw his wife.
“Why aren’t you in the bedroom?”
“I don’t want to sleep in the same room as you.”
Oleg snorted.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m serious.”
He looked at her more closely. He realized she really was serious.
“Natasha, come on, let’s not do this foolishness…”
“This isn’t foolishness. I said I would not pay your mother’s loan. You said you would. That means we have different views on life. That means there is no reason for us to be together.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that I no longer want to live with a person who doesn’t respect me.”
Oleg sat down in an armchair. He rubbed his face with his hands.
“Natalya, you understand that Mom is in a difficult situation…”
“I understand. But those are her problems.”
“She is my mother!”
“And I am your wife! For twenty years! For twenty years I have endured her behavior! For twenty years I have waited for you to finally stand up for me! And you stay silent! You always stay silent!”
“I don’t stay silent…”
“You do! And today you chose her! Again! As always!”
Oleg got up and approached his wife.
“Listen. Let’s discuss everything calmly. Without emotions.”
“There is nothing to discuss. I will not pay.”
“Fine. I’ll pay myself. From my own money.”
“What own money? We have a shared budget!”
“Then I’ll set aside money from my share.”
“Thirty thousand a month? Oleg, do you even know how to count?”
He said nothing.
The week passed in heavy silence. Natalya slept on the sofa in the living room, Oleg in the bedroom. They barely spoke, only when necessary.
In the morning, Natalya left for work first. In the evening, she cooked dinner, but they ate in silence, each over their own plate.
Oleg tried several times to start a conversation, but Natalya cut him off. She did not want to hear excuses. She did not want to hear him defend his mother.
By the end of the week, Oleg gave in. He came into the living room, where Natalya was reading a book, and sat beside her.
“Natasha, let’s talk.”
“About what?”
“About us.”
Natalya put the book aside.
“I’m listening.”
“I… I understand that I was wrong. I understand that I should have protected you from Mom. Forgive me.”
Natalya said nothing.
“I’ll talk to Mom. I’ll tell her we won’t help with the loan. Let her find a way out herself.”
“Really?”
“Really. I swear.”
Natalya looked at him. She wanted to believe him. She wanted so much to believe that he would change.
But inside there was a chill. For twenty years she had waited for change. For twenty years she had hoped he would finally take her side. And nothing had changed.
“All right,” she said. “Talk to her.”
Oleg nodded and left the room. Natalya remained sitting on the sofa.
Something inside her had broken during that week. Something important. She still loved Oleg. But trust had disappeared. And without trust, love was like a house without a foundation.
Another month passed. Oleg really did talk to his mother and told her they would not help with the loan. Anna Petrovna threw a scandal, screamed, cried, and accused her daughter-in-law of turning her son against his mother.
Oleg held firm. He repeated that it was his decision. But Natalya saw how hard it was for him. How he suffered.
And she understood: sooner or later, he would break. He would not be able to watch his mother suffer. And once again, he would take her side.
Natalya thought for a long time. During sleepless nights, lying on the sofa in the living room. She weighed all the pros and cons.
Twenty years of marriage. Twenty years of life together. A shared apartment, shared memories, a shared history.
But on the other side — twenty years of humiliation. Twenty years of living in her mother-in-law’s shadow. Twenty years of unspoken words and resentment.
Could it be fixed? Could trust be restored?
Natalya thought and understood: no. It was impossible. Too much had been said. Their family had split too deeply.
One evening, she entered the bedroom where Oleg was watching television.
“I need to talk to you.”
He turned off the television and turned toward her.
“I’m listening.”
Natalya took a deep breath.
“I want a divorce.”
Oleg froze. Blinked.
“What?”
“I want a divorce. I can’t live like this anymore.”
“Natasha, what are you talking about? I did everything you asked! I talked to Mom! I refused her!”
“I know. And I’m grateful. But it changes nothing.”
“What do you mean, it changes nothing?!”
“Oleg, you don’t understand. The problem isn’t only the loan. The problem is us. The fact that we are different people. The fact that your mother will always be more important to you than I am.”
“That’s not true!”
“It is true. And you know it. For twenty years, you chose her. You didn’t protect me, didn’t take my side. You simply stayed silent and waited for me to accept it.”
“I won’t do that anymore!”
“You will. Because that’s who you are. You can’t go against your mother. It’s stronger than you.”
Oleg got up from the bed and approached his wife.
“Natasha, give me a chance! I’ll change! I promise!”
“I gave you chances for twenty years. For twenty years I waited for you to change. But you didn’t change. And you won’t.”
“Natalya, please…”
“No. I’ve made my decision. I want a divorce.”
Oleg sat down on the bed. He covered his face with his hands.
“I don’t want a divorce.”
“But I do. I’m sorry. I can’t do this anymore.”
The following months were difficult. The divorce process, the division of property, the sale of the apartment. All of it took a great deal of strength and nerves.
Oleg tried to talk his wife out of it, but unsuccessfully. Natalya was unwavering.
When Anna Petrovna learned about the divorce, she rejoiced. She told everyone that Natalya had abandoned her son, that she was a bad wife, and that it was good they were divorcing.
Oleg defended his ex-wife, but it no longer mattered. It was too late.
When everything was finalized, Natalya received her share from the sale of the apartment and rented a one-room apartment in another neighborhood. She began a new life.
Six months passed. Natalya was sitting in a café with a friend, drinking coffee. Her friend asked:
“Well? Do you regret it?”
“Regret what?”
“The divorce.”
Natalya thought about it. Did she regret it?
“No,” she answered honestly. “I don’t. On the contrary, I regret not doing it sooner.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. You know, I lived in constant tension for so many years. Every visit to my mother-in-law was torture. Every time, I waited for the next jab. And Oleg stayed silent. Always silent.”
“And now?”
“Now it’s peaceful. No one humiliates me. No one reproaches me for being childless. No one demands that I pay someone else’s loans.”
Her friend nodded.
“I understand. And how are you?”
“I’m good. Truly good. For the first time in many years.”
Natalya finished her coffee and looked out the window. Snow was falling outside, and the city was getting ready for the New Year. Everything was beginning again.
Twenty years of marriage had ended. But life went on. And it was her life. Without humiliation, without a toxic mother-in-law, without a husband who could not protect her.
She was free. Finally free.
And yes, it had been the right decision. The most right decision of all those twenty years.
Natalya smiled and ordered another cup of coffee. A new life lay ahead. And she was ready for it.