Why did you get so angry?” Lev finally said. “Let’s discuss everything calmly. You’re right: we owe my mom a lot. So why not thank her in just that way?”
“In what way, exactly? By giving her what belongs to me and our daughter? Instead of providing for Nina’s future? Are you kidding me?”
Irina looked at her husband, not believing her ears. Her mother had died only nine days ago, and he was already talking about handling the inheritance. She had always believed Lev was genuinely attached to her mother. But now it seemed that was just a façade.
A heavy silence hung between them. Irina stared him down, and Lev seemed to be searching for an excuse.
“I just wanted to distract you, to suggest something nice…” he began. “Imagine: a little house by the sea that we rent out and get passive income.”
“Seriously?” she asked, sounding bewildered. “Do you really think this is an appropriate moment for such talk?”
“I’m sorry, dear,” Lev said contritely, hugging her. “I’m not myself after everything that happened. I’m saying foolish things.”
It was easier for Irina to believe that explanation than to think her husband was indifferent. Gradually she calmed down, and with time she even forgot about that conversation. Whenever the memories resurfaced, she pushed them away: “I must have imagined it.”
Time passed, and her grief slowly receded. She accepted the reality that she could no longer call her mother and ask for advice. Life went on.
Six months later, when the paperwork for the apartment and the dacha was completed, Lev brought up the subject again.
“So how are we going to use this new property?” he asked cautiously.
“I don’t know, darling,” Irina replied, feeling at a loss. She still hadn’t thought much about the inheritance or how to use it. They had no housing problems: the spacious apartment where they lived with their daughter met all their needs.
“We can rent out the apartment,” Irina shrugged. “And when Nina grows up, we’ll give it to her. As for the dacha… it would be easier to sell. The condition it’s in leaves much to be desired, and it’s far from the city.”
“You don’t get much income from renting out an apartment,” Lev objected, “and it’s a lot of hassle. I was thinking: we could sell both the apartment and the dacha, add a bit more money, and buy a little house by the sea. Renting that out would be more profitable, and we could vacation there ourselves.”
The idea sounded tempting to Irina.
“Sure,” she drawled. “We could spend time there as well?”
“Of course, my love,” Lev grinned broadly.
They agreed to start with renovating the dacha. The house was shabby but could still be restored. The garden was overgrown because Irina’s mother hadn’t visited for the last few years. She had once suggested that the young couple take care of the property, but they had refused because it was too far from the city. Now, it was time to sort things out.
At first, they worked during the day and returned to the city to sleep because it was cold in the house. But after two weeks, Lev repaired the stove and cleared the chimney, and workers installed new plastic windows instead of the old wooden ones. Now they could stay overnight at the dacha.
Lev invited his mother and sister to help. On weekends, the whole family gathered there to speed up the process. Irina was grateful for their help: without them, the work would have taken a lot longer.
“It’s not bad here at all, Irochka,” said her mother-in-law, Taisiya Matveyevna. “We’ll manage together; it’ll be just as good as our own renovation.”
Taisiya Matveyevna lived in a one-room apartment with her younger daughter, Ksenia. Lev had also lived there before he moved into a rented apartment, prior to meeting Irina.
Once the house was warm, they decided to spend more time at the dacha. Their first weekend staying overnight happened to be a mild one. Lev was grilling meat on the barbecue, and in the evening everyone gathered on the veranda for a festive dinner, discussing their plans.
Irina soon grew tired and began nodding off. Lev gently lifted her up from her seat.
“My little sleepyhead,” he whispered. “Time for bed.”
He laid her down on the large double bed and took the spot on the edge. A sofa and a fold-out chair had been set up for his mother and sister.
Several hours later, Irina suddenly woke up, needing to step outside. She carefully slipped out from under the blanket, pulled on warm socks, and headed to the veranda for her jacket.
Her groggy mind didn’t immediately grasp that voices were coming from the veranda.
“I can’t wait till we move to the sea!” said Taisiya Matveyevna dreamily. “As soon as we sell this junk, we’ll buy a wonderful little house. Lev’s already found some options—he showed me photos. We’ll live in warmth all year round!”
“What if Irka doesn’t agree?” Ksenia asked cautiously. “It’s her inheritance.”
“Oh, she’ll have no choice,” her mother scoffed. “I didn’t spend all this effort renovating her dacha for nothing.”
“She wanted to rent out the dacha,” Ksenia said uncertainly.
Irina couldn’t take it anymore.
“Excuse me? You want to take away my future home?” her voice cut through the stillness of the night.
She had caught them off guard. They were already divvying up her inheritance, planning to live in the house by the sea that hadn’t even been bought yet. Meanwhile, Lev hadn’t bothered to show her a single option.
“Irochka!” exclaimed her mother-in-law, visibly nervous. “You’re twisting everything. You yourselves can’t live in two places at once!”
“That’s exactly why we planned to rent it out for the entire season,” Ksenia chimed in.
“Just give you the keys to my apartment, and you rent it out yourselves?” Taisiya Matveyevna suggested as though it were the perfect solution.
“But the income would be completely different,” Irina countered, feeling her anger boil over. “Mom’s two-room apartment will bring in far more money than your one-room. And you know that perfectly well.”
Taisiya Matveyevna fell silent, apparently realizing her arguments were weak.
A sleepy Lev appeared in the doorway, and Irina immediately turned to him:
“Lev, can you imagine? Your mother wants to settle in our future house by herself!”
Lev tensed, but his confusion only made Irina more suspicious.
“I never could have imagined she’d do that!” he exclaimed, though his voice clearly lacked conviction.
“Right, sure,” Irina drawled, watching her husband closely. “So this was your plan together?”
“Why say ‘plan’?” Taisiya Matveyevna attempted to intervene. “It’s just helping your elders. What’s wrong with that?”
“What’s wrong is that this help comes at my expense,” Irina retorted, raising her voice. “And even more interesting—how exactly were you going to make me agree?”
Her thoughts were racing.
“Let me guess: first, you’d let your family ‘take a vacation,’ then claim the season ended, and they’d stay to look after the house for the winter… Then what? You’d come up with something else?”
She turned her gaze to her husband.
“And you know what? You’re deceiving not just me but your own daughter. We were saving for Nina—for her studies, for housing. And now you suggest settling for the income from a one-room?”
Lev stayed silent, eyes downcast.
“I don’t recognize you. What happened to you? Or were you always like this, and I just never noticed?”
She paused, trying to make sense of it all.
“Fine. Everyone go to bed now. In the morning, we’ll head back to the city. After that, I’ll take Nina and move into my own apartment. And then we’re getting a divorce.”
The divorce was long and painful. They argued about everything: where their daughter would live, division of property, the reasons for the split. The court took Nina’s opinion into account—she chose to stay with her mother. Irina had her own apartment and a stable job, so custody was decided quickly. But the other issues took time.
When it was all over, Irina had money in her account, half of their jointly owned apartment—which Lev was obligated to buy out—and a lingering dream of a house by the sea. The idea of buying it now seemed absurd: that money was her only housing budget for herself and her daughter. So she finished renovating the dacha using part of the divorce settlement and rented it out for the summer. She carefully saved the income, waiting for Lev to buy her share of their former apartment.
Two years later, Lev finally fulfilled his obligations. He moved Taisiya Matveyevna and Ksenia into a three-room apartment, and transferred the one-room apartment to Irina’s name. His remark that the one-room place would someday belong to Nina gave Irina a small measure of peace. Now she could move on.
Mother and daughter moved into that one-room apartment, and they sold the inheritance from Irina’s mother—the dacha and the two-room apartment. With the proceeds, they bought a spacious plot with a cozy house by the sea. There was enough money left over to build a few small guest houses for rent.
Before the next season began, Irina took a leap of faith: she posted listings on several sites and quit her job, deciding to devote herself entirely to the new business. To her surprise, the first clients appeared within a week.
This new life wasn’t easy. At first, it was a constant learning process, requiring her to adapt and find solutions to all sorts of challenges. But little by little, things fell into place.
In mid-summer, Andrey and his daughter Alla rented one of the guest houses. The girls quickly became friends and spent entire days running around the area. Irina noticed Andrey taking a special interest in her.
“Has anyone ever told you how incredibly beautiful you are?” he asked her one day.
“Please don’t,” she waved him off. “One vacation romance was enough for me, for a lifetime.”
“What if I don’t leave?” he smiled.
“What do you mean?” She raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“I’ll buy a house nearby and work on winning your attention.”
Irina laughed, thinking it was a joke. But Andrey really did extend his stay and soon announced he’d found a house nearby and taken out a mortgage.
“Why not celebrate?” he suggested, raising a glass.
“What do I have to lose?” she thought. That moment became the turning point in her life.
Andrey turned out to be a reliable person. He worked remotely, so the move wasn’t a problem. A year later, they got married, and Alla and Nina became best friends. Irina realized that sometimes fate hands us gifts in the most unexpected ways.
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