— Larisa Alexandrovna, what money? — Natalya blinked in confusion.
— For the crib, I’m telling you! My daughter is due in a month! We agreed that each relative would buy something for Dasha!
— Larisa Alexandrovna, who did you agree with?
— You, me, Borya, my brother! — her mother-in-law counted off on her fingers.
— Me?! — Natasha was astonished. — This is the first I’m hearing about any crib!
— It doesn’t matter, — Larisa Alexandrovna waved her hand dismissively. — Anyway, I found a wonderful crib. You owe fifty thousand rubles! Give me the money, I’ll buy everything and send you a photo report! — her mother-in-law practically shouted, then fell silent.
Natasha, who had been standing the whole time, sat down on a stool.
— Larisa Alexandrovna, Dasha is nobody to me, and I’m not going to give you any money! — the daughter-in-law answered firmly.
Her mother-in-law choked on air. Her face, already flushed from the frost, turned beet-red.
— What do you mean, “nobody”? — Larisa Alexandrovna’s voice rose into a shrill note. — She is your husband’s sister! She is carrying my grandson! And who are you? You should be grateful Borya didn’t leave you after the doctors told him about your diagnosis!
Natasha turned pale. That subject had been strictly forbidden; only she and Borya knew about it. And, apparently, his mother too — with whom he had evidently shared the most intimate details of their family tragedy.
— That is none of your business, — Natasha said dully, gripping the edge of the stool so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
— How is it none of my business?! I have to think about who my son is living with! A barren woman is not a wife, she’s just… a plant. But Dasha is blood, she’ll continue the family line! So don’t act like some precious princess. Hand over the fifty thousand, and that’s the end of it. Consider it your contribution to continuing the family, since you’re incapable of doing it yourself.
Boris entered the room, drawn by the shouting. He looked from his wife, who was sitting white as chalk, to his red-faced mother.
— Mom, why are you yelling? — he began peacefully. — Natasha, what happened?
— What happened? — Larisa Alexandrovna jabbed a finger at her daughter-in-law. — Your wife is too greedy to give money for a crib for a child of our own blood! Fifty thousand! For your sister! For your nephew!
Natasha slowly stood up so she would be level with everyone else.
— Borya, I didn’t promise anything. This is the first time I’m hearing about it, — Natasha felt her knees trembling. — And I will not allow anyone to speak to me like that.
— Oh, you won’t allow it? — her mother-in-law stepped forward. — You’ll dance to my tune yet! Borya, tell her! The money had better be here tomorrow!
— Mom, honestly, maybe there’s no need to do it like this… — Boris mumbled, hiding his eyes.
— What do you mean, “no need”? — Larisa Alexandrovna screeched. — Are you a man or a rag? Take charge in your own home! — She turned back to Natasha, moving right up close to her. — Do you hear me, you lizard? The money had better be on the table tomorrow, or I’ll make Borya’s life so miserable that he’ll throw you out himself! Do you understand? Barren woman!
Natasha stayed silent. Only the muscles in her jaw moved.
— Why are you silent? — Larisa Alexandrovna jabbed her fist into Natasha’s shoulder. The shove was not strong; it was more humiliating, like poking a guilty dog. — I’m talking to you!
— Don’t you dare touch me, — Natasha warned, stepping back.
— Oh, look at her! Don’t touch her! — her mother-in-law laughed nastily and shoved her again, harder this time, in the chest, making her stumble. — And what will you do? Borya, look, your wife is about to start standing up for herself! She’s going to hit me!
— Mom, enough! — Boris stepped between them, trying to separate them, but his mother was already worked up. She liked her power. She liked humiliating this quiet daughter-in-law who had dared to contradict her.
— Get out of the way, Borya! — she screamed, and, stepping around her son, slapped Natasha across the face with all her strength.
The sound was sharp and ringing, like the crack of a whip. Natasha’s head jerked to the side, and tears sprang to her eyes — not so much from pain as from humiliation. Her ears began to roar. She raised a hand to her burning cheek and saw her mother-in-law’s face in front of her, twisted with triumph.
— Got it now? That’s right! You’ll learn how to treat your elders…
Natasha stopped hearing her. One thought pounded in her head: enough. Enough of enduring these pokes, these insults about her pain, this humiliation in her own home, where her husband stood like a statue and watched his mother mock his wife.
When Larisa Alexandrovna, carried away by her rage, raised her hand again for another slap, Natasha reacted instinctively. She ducked sharply, avoiding the blow, and without thinking — putting all her anger, all her pain, all the years of humiliation into it — kicked forward with all her strength, aiming at that hateful, screaming mouth.
But she missed.
Her foot struck directly into her mother-in-law’s soft, large stomach with a dull, terrible sound.
Larisa Alexandrovna let out not a scream, but a deep, hoarse, guttural sound, something like “ooof.” Her eyes widened with disbelief and pain. She folded in half like a pocketknife and crashed heavily to the floor, clutching her stomach.
— You… — she wheezed, looking up at Natasha from the floor in horror. — You did this to me… the baby… Dasha is expecting… my grandson…
Dead silence fell. The only sound was the ticking of the clock in the hallway.
Boris froze with his mouth open, looking from his mother, writhing on the floor, to his wife, who was staring at her own leg in horror, as if it were not part of her body but a murder weapon.
— Natasha… — he finally breathed. — What did you… Why did you?..
Natasha turned an empty gaze toward him, full of tears and belated horror.
— Borya, she ran into my foot herself, just like you ran into the knife.
— What knife?! — the man shouted.
— The one that is about to accidentally end up in your side.
