З життя2 тижні ago
You’re Just Jealous
– Mum, are you serious right now? The Savoy? That’s at least a hundred quid a head!
Igor tossed his keys onto the shelf so hard they rattled off the wall. Olga glanced away from her sauce on the stove and immediately noticed her husband’s white-knuckled grip on his phone.
He listened to his mother for several more minutes, then muttered a curse and hung up abruptly.
– What happened?
Instead of answering, Igor slumped down at the kitchen table and glared at his plateful of potatoes. Olga switched off the hob, dried her hands on a tea towel, and sat across from him.
– Igor…
– Mum’s lost the plot. Completely gone round the bend at her age. – He looked up, and Olga saw so much anger and helplessness in his eyes that it made her heart ache. – Remember I told you about… this Val? From the dance class?
Olga nodded. Her mother-in-law had mentioned the new acquaintance about a month ago – flustered, fiddling with the edge of the tablecloth. Back then, it had seemed sweet: a fifty-eight-year-old widow, alone for five years, and now – a dance club at the community centre, a gallant gentleman who knew his way around a waltz.
– Anyway. – Igor pushed his plate aside. – She took him to the Savoy. Three times in two weeks! Bought him a suit for eight hundred quid. Last weekend, they went to Bath – guess who paid for the hotel and tours?
– Nina.
– Bingo. – He buried his face in his hands. – She scrimped and saved for years. For home renovations, the rainy day fund. And now she’s blowing it all on a bloke she’s known six weeks. It’s mental…
Olga hesitated, searching for the right words. She knew her mother-in-law well – romantic, open-hearted, naive in her trust. The kind of woman who believes in true love, even after fifty years.
– Igor, listen… – She reached across the table for his hand. – Nina’s an adult. It’s her money, her choices. Don’t interfere, she won’t hear you right now anyway.
– Ol, she’s just making mistake after mistake!
– Yes, and that’s her right. Besides, I think you’re winding yourself up.
Igor jerked his shoulder but didn’t pull away.
– I just can’t watch her…
– I know, love. But you can’t live her life for her. – Olga stroked his wrist. – She has to be responsible for herself, even if we don’t like it. She’s more than capable.
Igor grunted his agreement.
…Two months passed swiftly. Conversation about Val dried up – his mother called less, her tone more evasive, as if hiding something. Olga assumed the romance had fizzled and stopped worrying.
That’s why, when there was a knock on the door one Sunday night and Nina appeared on their doorstep, Olga didn’t immediately piece it together.
– Darlings! My dears! – Nina burst into their flat trailed by a cloud of sweet perfume. – He proposed! Look! Just look!
A ring glimmered on her finger. Cheap, but Nina gazed at it as if it were the Koh-i-Noor.
– We’re getting married! Next month! He’s so, so… – She cupped her cheeks and laughed, girlishly. – I never thought, at my age… I’d ever feel this way again…
Igor hugged his mum and Olga saw his shoulders finally relax. Maybe things weren’t so bad. Maybe this Val really did love his mother-in-law and they’d all been overreacting.
– Congratulations, Mum. – Igor stepped back, smiling. – You deserve happiness.
– And I’ve already put the flat in his name! Now we’re a real family! – Nina declared, and time seemed to stand still.
Olga stopped breathing. Igor flinched, as if he’d walked into a glass wall.
– What… what did you say?
– The flat. – Nina waved it off, oblivious to their faces. – So he knows I trust him. It’s love, that’s what love is! Love means trust.
The silence was thick enough to hear the living room clock ticking.
– Nina… – Olga spoke first, very slowly. – You signed your flat over to a man you’ve known for three months? Before the wedding?
– So what? – Nina drew herself up. – I trust him, he’s decent. You’ve all got the wrong idea about him.
– We’re not thinking anything. – Olga took a step forward. – Still, you could have waited until after you’d registered… Why hurry?
– You lot don’t understand. This… It’s proof of my love. – Nina folded her arms. – What do you know about real feelings? About trust?
Igor finally unclenched his jaw:
– Mum…
– No! – She stamped her foot and Olga suddenly saw not a mature woman but a stubborn teenage girl. – I don’t want to hear it! You’re just jealous of my happiness! You want to ruin everything!
She stormed out, bumping the doorframe with her shoulder, and the front door slammed, rattling the glasses in the display cabinet.
…The wedding was a small affair – registry office, a second-hand dress, a bouquet of three roses. But Nina shone as if she were marrying in Westminster Abbey. Val – a hefty man with a receding hairline and a greasy smile – behaved faultlessly. He kissed the bride’s hand, pulled out her chair, poured champagne. The perfect groom.
Olga watched him over her glass, uneasy. Something was off. The eyes. When Val looked at Nina, his pupils stayed cold and calculating. Professional tenderness. Practised care.
She held her tongue. What was the point, when no one would listen?
…For the first few months, Nina called every week, breathless, reeling off restaurants and theatres her wonderful husband treated her to.
– He’s so attentive! Yesterday, he brought me roses – just like that, for no reason!
Igor listened, nodded, then hung up and sat in silence, staring into the void. Olga said nothing, just waited.
The year slipped past.
Then – a knock at the door…
Olga opened it to find a woman she barely recognised. Her mother-in-law had aged a decade overnight: deeper wrinkles, sunken eyes, hunched shoulders. In her hand – a battered suitcase, the same one she’d once taken to Bath.
– He threw me out. – Nina sobbed. – Filed for divorce and chucked me out. The flat… it’s his now. All legal.
Olga stood aside for her to come in.
The kettle boiled quickly. Nina sat clutching her mug, crying – quietly, hopelessly.
– I loved him so much. I did everything for him. And he… he just…
Olga didn’t interrupt. She just gently rubbed her back and waited for the tears to dry.
Igor came home an hour later. He stopped at the door, saw his mother – and his face hardened.
– Son. – Nina stood, reached for him. – Son, I’ve nowhere to live… You can’t leave your mother, please. I’ll just need a room. Children should look after their parents, it’s only…
– Stop. – Igor raised his hand. – Stop, Mum.
– I have no money left. Spent everything on him, every penny. My state pension’s tiny, you know that…
– I warned you.
– What?
– I warned you. – Igor sat on the sofa heavily, as if a sack of bricks had been dumped on his shoulders. – I said: slow down. I said: get to know him. I said: don’t sign over the flat. Do you remember what you told me?
Nina hung her head.
– That we didn’t understand real love. That we were just jealous of your happiness. I remember perfectly, Mum!
– Igor… – Olga tried to intervene, but her husband shook his head.
– No. Let her hear it. – He turned to his mother. – You’re a grown woman. You made your choices. You ignored everyone who tried to stop you. And now you want us to clean up your mess?
– But I’m your mum!
– That’s exactly why I’m angry! – Igor leapt up, his voice breaking. – I’m tired, Mum. Tired of watching you throw your life away, then running to me for help!
Nina crumpled in on herself, small and defeated.
– He tricked me, son. I truly loved him, I believed…
– Believed. – Igor raked a hand through his hair. – Believed so much you signed the flat to a stranger. Genius, Mum. Pure genius. Remember Dad bought that flat!
– I’m sorry. – The tears flowed again. – I was blind, I know. But please… give me another chance. I’ll never…
– Adults need to own their mistakes. – Igor spoke quietly, exhausted. – You wanted independence? You’ve got it. Find yourself somewhere to stay. Get a job. Sort it out yourself.
Nina left weeping, echoing up the stairwell.
Olga spent the night beside her husband, silent, just holding his hand. Igor didn’t cry. He lay staring at the ceiling, sighing now and then.
– Did I do the right thing? – he asked at dawn.
– Yes. – Olga stroked his cheek. – It was hard. Painful. But you were right.
In the morning, Igor called his mum and rented her a room in a house-share on the far side of town. Paid for six months in advance. That was the last help he agreed to give.
– From here, you’re on your own, Mum. On your own. If you take it to court, we’ll help, pay what’s needed. But you’re not living with us…
Olga listened and thought about justice. Sometimes, the harshest lesson is the only one that works. Her mother-in-law got exactly what her blindness deserved.
And though it left her feeling bitter and at peace all at once, she suspected this wasn’t the end, and somehow, things would work out. She just didn’t know how yet, but they would…
Youre not serious, Mum, are you? The Savoy Grill? Thats at least two hundred pounds a head for dinnerminimum! James hurled his keys onto the shelf,...
