When Lena decided to marry Denis, her friend thought she was crazy.
“Divorced with three kids? What are you even thinking? He just wants a free maid! You’ll be cooking for everyone, doing laundry, cleaning… Why would you put yourself through that?”
This was Katya’s favorite question: Why do you need this? She’d built her life around it—not because she was after some specific gain, but because she always weighed the potential benefits against the risks.’
“Well, I will then,” Lena replied calmly. “You know I’ve always wanted kids. For me, that’s not a problem. He’s calm, hard-working, doesn’t drink—what else could I want?”
“You’ve got self-esteem issues,” Katya sighed. “Look, I get it—your maternal instinct has kicked in, that’s normal. I adopted a puppy instead. That’s much more practical.”
“You can have a baby anytime you want,” Lena reminded her. “But I can’t.”
Katya immediately went quiet, stopped weighing her arguments and dropped the persuasion. She gently stroked Lena’s hand and whispered.
“Alright, I’m sorry. I just worry about you. Why do you need a guy with all that baggage? I’d understand one kid, but three? And they’re all boys!”
“Actually, boys are easier for me,” Lena said firmly. “I have two brothers myself, so don’t try to scare me.”
“I’m not trying to scare you… But have you seen his ex-wife? She’s something else, and you and her are worlds apart. What if she tries to come back?”
Lena laughed to hide her anxiety: the truth was, she was terribly jealous of Denis’ ex-wife, Tatyana. She’d seen how beautiful she was—Lena knew she couldn’t compete with her!
“Well, if she comes back, we’ll deal with it then. And you know, you should make up your mind—am I too good for him, or is he too good for me?”
Katya raised her eyes to the ceiling, probably weighing things up again, and finally declared:
“You’re both great. You’re making the right choice; you balance each other out.”
And with that, the matter was settled.
Lena met Denis at work—not that she’d liked him at first, but he was a good guy. So when she once found him with tearful eyes, she couldn’t just walk past. Clearly, something serious had happened if he wasn’t afraid to cry in front of others. That’s when Denis told Lena his wife, Tanya, left him and abandoned their three kids. He couldn’t handle it all alone. One conversation led to another, and after a year, at an office party, they had a few drinks and ended up kissing in the supply closet like a couple of teenagers.
Denis’ sons reacted differently to Lena moving in: little Oleg followed her everywhere and almost immediately started calling her mom; the middle child, Sergey, acted like he didn’t even notice her; and the eldest, Maxim, clearly resented Lena because he was so attached to his mother. Lena didn’t take it personally—she understood. The boy hadn’t lost his mother; he knew she was still out there somewhere, living her life, and that always left hope she might come back.
Denis’s wife left him for Turkey: she met a Turkish man online, fell in love, and dashed off to start a new, brighter life. At first, she kept in touch with the kids, called and sent messages, and even visited about six months later—but then she vanished completely. Denis tried to appeal to her conscience, emailing her and begging her not to abandon their children, but it was like talking to a wall. One day, after Maxim’s birthday—when the boy spent all day waiting for his mom’s greeting but never got it—Denis wrote to her again. By then, he was married to Lena, and after the wedding. Denis got really upset and probably went too far, because his ex-wife finally called, but only to unleash a torrent of angry words. Lena was sitting right there, so she could hear everything. They both heard something then that made Denis go pale as a ghost.
“I did the right thing leaving our daughter at the hospital! I can only imagine what I would have had to hear from you!”
Somehow Lena immediately understood, and so did Denis—when his wife left for Turkey, she told him she was pregnant with his child. But apparently, the baby wasn’t his after all.
“W-what daughter?” Denis stammered.
“Our daughter, of course! I didn’t want her ending up with someone as cold as you!”
Naturally, Denis started demanding answers, but Tatyana hung up on him and blocked his number.
“She made it all up,” Lena tried to reassure him. “She just wanted to hurt you.”
But Denis became obsessed with the idea that his ex-wife had really given birth to his daughter. He had always dreamed of having a girl, especially after three sons…
“We have to find her,” he declared to Lena.
“How can we possibly find her? I’m telling you, she lied about everything—no mother would abandon her own child…”
And then she stopped short. Of course, she could—after all, she’d left her sons behind, too.
“Alright. I’ll ask Katya and see what she thinks we can do.”
Katya’s habit of always weighing things up and calculating sometimes came in very handy—she had useful connections everywhere, people who could help out in all sorts of situations.
“Okay,” Katya stretched the word. “A girl, you say? And when was she born?”
Lena remembered the only time Denis’s ex had come back to Russia and answered:
“It must have been in April of 2017.”
“Alright. Let me see who I know in the maternity hospitals and social services… Ah, Valentina—I used to let her use my dorm room when I was away. We’ll know everything by tomorrow or the day after at the latest.”
Lena decided not to tell Denis anything in advance—just in case nothing panned out.
But it did. Katya called the very next day, sounding puzzled:
“It’s true—your Tatyana did give birth to a baby girl on April 14th. She gave up her parental rights immediately. She wasn’t married to Denis anymore and hadn’t married the Turkish man yet. So the father’s name is blank, and the baby girl was taken to the orphanage.”
“So, where is she now?”
“That, I don’t know. Apparently, she was adopted, and if that’s the case, she’s lost to you. Adoption records are sealed, you know how it goes.”
“What do you mean, sealed? She’s Denis’s daughter—he has a right to know!”
“Well, he’ll have to prove that first. There’s no guarantee that the girl is even Denis’s. Think about it—if she was seeing other men…”
“Just give me the address of the orphanage,” Lena interrupted her. “I’ll find out myself.”
She didn’t learn anything new. Neither she nor Denis did. They barely managed to confirm that the little girl existed, but after that, there was no progress.
Denis was devastated. For months he walked around like a shadow of himself, completely despondent. Lena tried to comfort him, but he didn’t respond.
“Leave Dad alone!” snapped Maxim one time. “Why are you pestering him? Can’t you see he can’t stand you right now!”
Denis, who really had looked lately like he regretted ever marrying Lena, suddenly lashed out.
“Watch your mouth, kid! I’m not sick of her, I’m sick of your mother! Do you know what she did? She sent your sister to an orphanage! And now she’s been adopted and who knows, maybe she’s suffering there, being mistreated, and your mother…”
Lena had been against telling the kids about this, but she didn’t have time to stop Denis.
Maxim froze; his face became pale and still, like a painted mask.
“You’re lying,” he said in a trembling voice.
“Everything I said is absolutely true. Now, apologize to Aunt Lena and go to your room.”
Of course, Maxim didn’t apologize. He ran off, slamming the door behind him.
“Why did you do that?” Lena was upset. “He’s just a child—he didn’t need to know.”
“He needs to know. He’s always going on: Mom this, Mom that… As if she’s a saint.”
Strangely enough, this episode helped Denis to claw his way out of his deep sadness.
“We have to believe she’s okay,” Lena would say. “She’s been adopted by good people who love her and take care of her.”
They stopped searching. Actually, Denis stopped, but Lena couldn’t let it go: she browsed child adoption sites, looking for April babies from 2017 (you never know, maybe there’d been a mistake, or maybe the girl was returned, anything is possible), then started checking group photos in kindergartens, guessing which class the girl might be in, hoping she’d look like Denis. This became a habit for Lena, but over time she searched less and less, slowly accepting that she might never find her. Instead, she secretly started checking her husband’s ex-wife’s social media: the woman loved to document every step, always posting where she’d been, what she bought, what she ate. She even posted about her kids: twins—a boy and a girl—with dark eyes and bright smiles.
Lena felt she had to prove she was just as good as Tatyana, to someone—though it wasn’t clear to who—even though it was obvious she wasn’t. If Tatyana took the kids to the waterpark, Lena would drag her boys across the city just to stand in line for the one big slide; if Tatyana got a cute new haircut and looked even younger and prettier, Lena also decided to cut her hair—after all, short hair makes you look younger, right? She was annoyed at herself for this stalking and petty copying, but she couldn’t stop.
In some ways, Katya was right—Lena’s life had become like Groundhog Day now. But she didn’t complain: she got up, made breakfast for everyone, took the kids to kindergarten (later to school), went to work, then came home (Denis picked up the kids from kindergarten, the school kids walked themselves)—then it was time for cooking, laundry, cleaning. This routine brought Lena comfort, gave her life meaning and rhythm. She was heavyset (childhood illness meant lifelong medication), not particularly talented, not beautiful, but here, at home, she felt she belonged.
Oleshka followed Lena around like a gentle little calf, clinging to her skirt and trying to help with everything. Even when he started school, he stayed her affectionate little son. Sergei became even more withdrawn, especially as a teen—he hid behind his hair (which Denis often threatened to cut), spent hours at the computer, not showing anyone what he was up to. Lena once caught a glimpse of his drawings; they looked like unusual anime sketches, so intriguing she wanted to see more, but she didn’t dare ask. Maxim was still rebellious, making it clear she was a nobody in the house, always saying he’d move out the moment he turned eighteen.
She dealt with the teachers too, never bothering Denis about it: Maxim acted out at school, Sergei still struggled with math and physics, but Oleshka was always praised and held up as an example for everyone.
“What is going on!” Denis fumed when their middle child brought home a failing grade for the term. “Why did I get you a computer? Show me right now what you do on there!”
Lena remembered how, as a child, her own mother had read her diary—after that, Lena never really spoke to her again and held onto the resentment into adulthood. So, she stopped Denis in time and didn’t let him touch the computer.
“Leave him be, he’ll fix it, right, Sergei? He knows without us telling him that he needs a good diploma to go on to study. Art school only takes straight-A students, after all.”
“What’s art school got to do with it?” Denis wasn’t done. “Let him be a welder, if he’s going to be lazy!”
A couple of days later, Sergei came up to Lena and asked:
“Is it true? About the diploma? That you need all A’s?”
“It’s true.”
He was quiet for a moment, looking at his hands, then said:
“Maybe I could get… a math tutor?”
“Of course,” Lena smiled. “I’ll find one.”
It wasn’t that Sergei’s attitude toward Lena changed much, but she noticed something different in the way he looked at her now. She wished Tatiana knew this and could understand that Lena was in no way lesser—not even for being older or heavier. Even better would be if Denis realized it too.
Watching Tatiana became Lena’s obsession. She often looked at old photos, flipping through family albums where a happy Denis hugged slim Tatiana in a blue dress, her belly round with pregnancy—probably with Sergei. Lena would close her eyes and imagine herself in those photos, not quite so slim, but still in that blue dress, carrying a child. Tears would fill her eyes and she’d head to the bathroom to wash her face with cold water.
That’s how Lena caught Maksim—she walked into the bathroom unexpectedly and found him rummaging in his father’s bag. When Maksim saw Lena, he jerked back and clenched something tightly in his fist.
“What have you got there?” Lena asked calmly.
Maksim stayed silent.
“If it’s for cigarettes or, even worse, something else—put it back. But if it’s for a girl, I’ll come up with something for your dad.”
Everyone knew Maksim had a girlfriend. He never brought her home, but Lena had seen her through the window—curly-haired, wearing a bright jacket.
Suddenly, Maksim lowered his head and his ears turned bright red.
“Aunt Lena… where do you go if… you know, if a girl, well… If she needs, um, an abortion?” he finally blurted out.
Lena was stunned.
“What are you saying, Maksim? An abortion? Seriously?”
“Maryana’s pregnant. She’s only seventeen. Her mom’s going to kill her!”
“And who’s the father? Is it you?”
“Well, yeah, it’s me.”
Lena already suspected as much, but she needed a moment to collect her thoughts.
“So… do you love Maryana?”
Maksim’s ears turned even redder.
“Who I love is my business.”
“Of course it’s your business, nobody’s arguing. But I just don’t understand how you could send someone you love to get an abortion.”
“What else are we supposed to do? I’m serious—her mom will kill her! She’s a vice principal at the school, really strict.”
Lena thought to herself that no amount of strict parenting or pimply teenage boys could have made her go through with something like that. But she didn’t say that to Maksim.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. I’ll talk to your father myself. And you tell Maryana she should pack her things and move in with us. Do you understand?”
Maksim just stood there, blinking in shock.
“Move in with us?”
“Yes, that’s right. You have to take responsibility for your actions, Maksim. That’s your child, with a beating heart—you can’t just do that. Besides, abortions can lead to not being able to have kids ever again.”
“Did that happen to you, too?” he asked with a frown.
Lena’s face didn’t show her pain at all.
“No, it wasn’t that. I had cancer. That’s why I can’t have children. Couldn’t, anyway. Now I have three of you.”
She said it and walked away, leaving Maksim standing frozen in the hallway.
Maryana did end up moving in with them. She turned out to be lively and full of laughter. Her mother, a strict woman in a dark coat, came over twice. The first time, she demanded Maryana pack up and go with her to a doctor she knew, saying, “This kind of problem can be fixed quickly, no reason to embarrass me.” Maryana refused and hid behind Maksim, and to his credit, he stood his ground for his fiancée (they already had permission to get married, went to the registry office, and set a date). The second time, her mother brought her things and declared, “I have no daughter anymore.” Maryana cried afterward, and Lena comforted her.
“Once she sees her grandchild, she’ll forgive you in a heartbeat,” Lena promised.
Denis wasn’t exactly thrilled with the whole situation, but eventually he accepted it.
“What can you do? I’ll be a grandfather at forty!” he laughed.
Lena kept thinking about how Tatyana would also become a grandmother soon. She wondered if Maksim would tell her or not. And if he did—would she come? Lena had always been afraid of that possibility over the years.
Turns out, she was right: after bright-eyed Alyoshka was born, Maryana’s mom came, looked at the baby, sighed, and said,
“Well, what’s done is done…”
Lena and she quickly became friends: they would drink tea together in the kitchen, swap recipes, and talk about her grandson. She turned out to be not so strict after all, just a regular lady who loves hiking so much that even Lena wanted to give it a try.
“Look, here,” Marianna’s mother said. “This is me with my fifth graders this year. We baked potatoes, see? We’re all covered in soot. There’s nothing tastier than baked potatoes in the fresh air!”
Lena couldn’t take her eyes off the photo: the girl sitting there holding baked potatoes looked so much like Oleg. Honestly, they could be twins!
“What’s the girl’s name?” Lena asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.
“Her? That’s Masha Andreeva. She does great in school, just sometimes gets a B in PE, but otherwise…”
Masha, then. Andreeva.
Lena didn’t say anything to anyone, even though her nerves were on edge. To find the girl’s mother, she had to ask Katya for help again.
“Are you serious? After all these years? No way… I’ll find her for you even if I have to dig her up from underground!”
Masha Andreeva’s mother was named Galina. Lena had Galina’s phone number in three days. Before she called, Lena practiced for an hour, but when the call finally happened, her voice shook and she lost her train of thought. Luckily, Galina understood right away.
“So, you’re the mother, then?”
Her voice was cold.
“No,” Lena quickly reassured her. “Let me explain everything to you!”
She explained for a long time, unsure how to phrase things so Galina would understand, but suddenly, Galina interrupted her:
“Lena, let’s meet and talk in person.”
From the first moment, Lena could tell the girl was with good people: Galina was calm and smiling, kind and understanding. She had told Masha when she was three that she hadn’t come from Galina’s tummy, but from another woman. Galina had her own son, and two adopted daughters—Masha and five-year-old Nastya.
“I’m not sure if I should tell her about her father and brothers,” Galina said. “But I’ll think about it.”
Lena felt terribly guilty for keeping this from Denis, and decided she would tell him—he’d find it harder to refuse, especially after Galina knew his side of the story.
Galina called the next day.
“We agree,” she said. “But Masha is very nervous—if she gets uncomfortable, we’ll leave.”
“Of course,” Lena replied happily. “Absolutely. You have no idea how much this means for Denis!”
She was afraid Denis would be angry that she hid the truth from him for so many days. But he wasn’t mad. He was, however, very anxious.
“What if she doesn’t like me?”
“What do you mean, she won’t like you? You’re her father!”
“Yeah, but what kind of father am I…”
In fact, Lena was nervous too: What if the boys said something wrong? What if Masha asked about her mom? She remembered she hadn’t checked Tatyana’s page in a while. She thought about looking, but changed her mind—she’d just see Tatyana’s new dress and feel upset. Instead, Lena started picking out a dress for herself.
“Well, what do you think, Denis? Is this okay?” she asked her husband, spinning around in her blue polka dot dress.
“Lenochka, you’re the most beautiful woman in the world!”
“Oh, stop lying!”
“He’s not lying,” Maksim suddenly chimed in. “You really are beautiful.”
Something inside Lena shifted, like a string in her heart snapped. Suddenly, she felt both light and warm. Denis got up, hugged her, and winked at Maxim. Lena didn’t try to hide her tears and said:
“At last, we’ve found our girl! Now everything will be alright.”
And she was right: things truly turned out well. Masha turned out to be as straightforward as Maxim, a talented artist like Seryozha, and as gentle as Oleg. The families became friends: Masha and Nastya often visited and spent time with the little one. Masha hit it off with Oleg instantly—and, surprisingly, with Seryozha too. At first, Maxim seemed a little timid around his sister, but he soon warmed up as well.
“She reminds me so much of Mom,” Maxim once confessed to Lena. “Not in how she looks, I don’t know… maybe in her expressions, her gestures. Do you think I should tell Mom about Masha? And about Alyoshka now being with me?”
Lena gave his shoulder an affectionate pat and said:
“Of course, let her know. It’s the right thing to do.”
And she realized she no longer felt jealous or afraid. This was her family—her husband, her children. She was right where she belonged, and Tatiana had her own place too. There was nothing left for them to fight over.
