Every Thursday, when I go shopping in the city, I quietly stand outside the school and wait for a meeting with Masha, our granddaughter. I watch her run out the door, talking to her friends. I just can’t talk to her. She doesn’t know me at all.
My husband doesn’t know anything about it. He’ll say I’m worrying for nothing. But what can I do? It’s my own blood!
An ordinary family, an ordinary life
My husband and I have known each other for ages, lived on the same street, went to the same school – he is two grades older, went to dances together, survived two years of his army. And then they got married right away.Seryozha was born a year after the wedding, then Sasha and Sveta appeared.
We never had a lot of money to spend randomly, but we were happy. There were no miracles with the salary of a saleswoman in a local store and a bus driver. While the boys helped around the house and in the garden from an early age, the Light was different. The little princess, as we called her.
“Daddy, Daddy, will you buy me this doll? All the girls have it, but I don’t,” she hung on her husband’s neck when she wanted an expensive toy that she saw with her friends in kindergarten. We often spoiled her. As soon as she started going to school, the demands only increased. “Daddy, I really need better jeans,” she whimpered. “Everyone laughs at me because I’m a bluestocking. »
I don’t want to be a bluestocking
The word “blue stocking” has taken root in our family. We heard it every time she needed something. “Wouldn’t you like to earn your own new shoes?” I reacted angrily to her “need” for branded sneakers. – “I won’t go to school then!” – she snapped in amazement and went to beg her father.
After graduating from the university, Sveta found a job in the city as an assistant sales director in a foreign company. Soon she moved into an apartment and came home about once a month.
“I’m getting married,” she told us about a year later. We were in shock. Who is he? Why didn’t you meet him?
“Well, it’s hard,” she said, “it’s hard for you to understand. Anton is in business, he has enough money and he lives in another world.” We looked at her in bewilderment. – How about in another world? “Well, he’s used to a certain level, both parents are doctors, and don’t be angry, but it will be a bit of a shock for him to see what conditions you live in,” she said stiffly, looking around. Well, she was right, we got the furniture after the wedding, there is no new one left, the kitchen has aged, but this is our-and hers-home!
He looks down on us
Finally, about three Sundays later, they arrived together. I don’t know about the car, but at first glance everything was very luxurious for Anton. I decided that he was ten years older than Sveta. A handsome man held in his hand a large and elegantly decorated bouquet for me. He brought his husband a bottle of expensive whiskey. With a contemptuous look, he looked at our house. He was polite but reserved.
– “So why don’t we try to get to know each other better?” – Dad pulled out a plum tincture from relatives from Ukraine to break the ice. “I’m sorry, I really don’t drink this,” he replied contemptuously.
It was quiet at lunch. Anton looked like he didn’t like the baked meat. “Mom, could you ask me what to cook?” Sveta whispered in my ear in the kitchen. “Tosha is not used to classic Russian cuisine, prefers Asian,” she added.
Then they got married. Without us. Sveta said that we wouldn’t get along with his family anyway, and the wedding would be in Thailand on the beach. And without the participation of parents. Anton’s parents have no problems with this.
It hurt her husband more than he was willing to admit. “She’s ashamed of us, Len,” he repeated incredulously. The sons were very upset.
After the wedding, they came, bright and tanned, brought photos. Ivan didn’t even want to see them. Then they invited us to their home, that is, to Anton’s apartment. We didn’t feel comfortable there, Anton looked at us with a kind of arrogance. We had to admit that he was very nice to Sveta, and felt that they were in love. If only they weren’t such snobs…
Sveta and I saw each other about once a month, mostly alone. Meetings with Anton were organized, I nervously prepared lunch so that he would like it. He thanked us politely every time, but we could not find mutual understanding. We’ve never been to their new house that they built.
I don’t even know my granddaughter
When Sveta got pregnant, we were happy. They will need our help! But Masha was seen only a few times. Anton’s parents went there several times a week. “Tosha doesn’t want her to see you,” Sveta told us when she came to visit. – Sveta should have other role models. And I won’t bring her here against his will.”
I cried in torrents of tears, my husband withdrew into himself. He had a heart attack last year. According to the doctor, it was a lot of stress. Sveta calls us only on birthdays and holidays and sends photos of Masha several times a year, probably secretly.
So I’m standing next to the school now. Masha looks like our Svetochka when she was little. Every time she runs to the car, which is driven not by her daughter, but by some unknown woman. The housekeeper, I hear.
I live in constant worry. What did they tell her about us? Does she even know that she has other grandparents? Both sons are married, the eldest has a boy, the wife of the second son is expecting a girl. But I also want to see and love Masha! She’s my granddaughter!
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