The car came to a sudden stop. James was a serious young man, so the impulse to give a ride to a stranger, a girl waving from the roadside, was quite unlike him.
James and his mother had a cozy, warm cottage just 10 miles out of town. Summer living there was a joy, and James always left for work around 7 AM because the road was usually empty and the surrounding forest evoked pleasant thoughts and memories.
The girl ran up to the car, smiling as she peered through the open window.
“Hello,” she sang cheerfully. “Could you give me a lift to town?”
“Aren’t you afraid of getting into a car with a stranger in the middle of nowhere?” James asked, unable to keep from smiling.
“Why should I be scared?” the girl replied. “Your car’s fancy, and your eyes are kind. Why would you want to do anything bad with such a car and kind eyes?”
James burst out laughing. Such innocence and simplicity were things he hadn’t encountered in ages, and, truth be told, he was sure they no longer existed.
Elena, having grown up in the countryside, was open and trusting. So when, three weeks after they met, James proposed, she agreed without hesitation. This young man seemed so sincere and handsome.
“Just like Aunt Carol predicted,” Elena thought to herself, holding James’ hand firmly and cautiously eyeing his mother, who reacted to the news of their upcoming wedding as if it were a minor earthquake.
After the wedding, Elena and James moved to his city apartment. Living in the cottage was slightly inconvenient. Moreover, James’s mother wasn’t particularly fond of her daughter-in-law.
“I’m amazed, son,” Victoria often told him when he visited. “Was that country beauty truly the best you could find in your circle?” she’d sigh sadly, shaking her head with her neatly styled hair.
James would smile but refrain from arguing with his mother. He didn’t wish to explain how content and fulfilled he felt in his small, cozy family. James’s mother was a cold and reserved lady. For James, the open and affectionate Elena was a mix of both a mother and a wife.
A few years passed, and they had a delightful daughter, Mary. Elena adored her, and even the grandmother began to warm up. She observed how Elena loved and pampered her son and raised her daughter wisely and strictly. Victoria, although tough and a bit cynical, knew how to recognize her mistakes.
Thus, James wasn’t surprised when his mother one day decided to be gracious and invited Elena and the granddaughter to stay in the cottage for a few days.
“James, I’m afraid of her,” whined Elena, trying to find any excuse to avoid visiting her mother-in-law.
“She’s not going to eat you,” laughed James, planting a soft kiss on his wife’s neck.
“She will, she will,” Elena groaned, “and then have Mary for dessert. You’ll end up mourning and crying, but it’ll be too late,” she concluded convincingly, even shedding a tear for emphasis.
But none of it worked. James took the basket of food from his wife, loaded cheerful, blue-eyed Mary into the car, nudged his resistant wife into the front seat, and the family, chatting and bickering, set off.
Victoria was genuinely pleased to see them. She smiled at Elena, and the young woman realized the cold war was finally over.
This marked the beginning of their extraordinary friendship. With each passing day, the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law grew closer and more trusting. Elena returned to work, and Mary often stayed with Victoria, who read her books, taught her piano, and practiced English with her. Victoria was a translator, and the curious girl eagerly listened to her entertaining stories about trips abroad and meetings with fascinating people.
A few more years passed. One day, Elena and Mary visited Victoria unannounced. Elena had lost weight and seemed tense and withdrawn.
“Elena, what’s wrong?” Victoria asked with concern. “You haven’t fallen ill, have you?”
But Elena just sighed, sat in a chair, and burst into bitter tears.
“James hasn’t lived with us for half a year,” Elena finally spoke, struggling through her tears. “At first, he just wouldn’t come home sometimes. He said he was busy at work. Then he started disappearing for days. He’d come home, change, kiss Mary, push me aside, and leave again. I thought he was having problems at work.”
“We haven’t seen money in almost a year now. But that’s okay. I’m a nurse, earning decently. We manage. But then there was a knock at the door. I opened it to find a lady standing there. She was beautiful, polished. With a hat. Her handbag was expensive. The kind I’ve only seen on TV,” Elena calmed herself a bit, took a breath, and continued,
“She said, ‘You’re a pauper and not a match for James. He’s going to live with me now, so leave the apartment and take your foolish daughter away. There’s plenty for James and me to do without your unrefined child around.’”
“I’m not foolish, nor am I unrefined,” Mary suddenly announced to the adults, turning away indignantly. Victoria and Elena didn’t hear her sneaking into the kitchen, where she had been quietly listening to the adults’ conversation for several minutes.
“Of course, you’re not foolish,” confirmed Victoria, straightening her posture. “You’re clever and refined. So, we’ll live together and take your mother with us.”
Elena wiped away a tear and looked at Victoria in surprise.
But the iron lady had already made up her mind. So when her son informed her that he was getting a divorce and hoped she would soon change her will regarding the house, she took it calmly and with dignity. The will had, in fact, already been changed.
Victoria had simply forgotten to tell her son that the new owners of the house were now his ex-wife and his blue-eyed daughter, Mary, who, at that moment, was happily and carelessly running her fingers through her grandmother’s beautifully styled hair.
