Triplets? You’re kidding, my dear—giving birth to so many children? You’ve decided to send my son into slavery!» the mother-in-law screamed.
«We need to talk,» Inna’s voice trembled with nervousness. Vladimir looked up from his laptop and watched his wife closely.
«Did something happen?» A flash of worry crossed her husband’s eyes.
«You remember I went for an ultrasound today?» Inna sat on the edge of the sofa, twisting the medical report in her hands.
«Of course!» Vladimir closed his laptop. «And what did the doctors say?»
«We… we have…» Inna took a deep breath. «We are expecting triplets.»
Vladimir froze on the spot, his mouth half-open. There were a few seconds of absolute silence in the room.
«Triplets?» Vladimir repeated. «Three children?»
Inna nodded, unable to say a word. Vladimir suddenly stood up from the armchair and rushed toward his wife.
«It’s a miracle!» Vladimir hugged Inna tight. «My God, five years of waiting and now three at once!»
«Are you really happy?» Inna snuggled against her husband. «I was afraid you’d be scared.»
«Scared?» Vladimir burst out laughing. «I’m ready to shout it from the rooftops! We’ll manage, you’ll see.»
Inna finally relaxed. All those years of trying, of disappointments, of visits to doctors—and here was happiness. Perhaps multiplied by three, but no less desired.
«We have to tell our parents,» Vladimir took out his phone.
«Wait,» Inna took his hand. «Let’s tell them face-to-face. You know how your mother is…»
Vladimir frowned. Margarita Sergeyevna never missed an opportunity to remind her daughter-in-law of her «incompleteness.» Five years of infertility had become pure torture—not so much because of the problem itself, but because of the mother-in-law’s constant insinuations.
«Alright,» Vladimir agreed. «Tomorrow is Sunday; we’ll go visit them for lunch.»
All night long, Inna couldn’t sleep. The doctor’s words, the advice on diet, the regimen… A multiple pregnancy is a high risk. She had to be extremely careful.
In the morning, the couple went to Vladimir’s parents’ house. Margarita Sergeyevna welcomed them, as usual, with a forced smile.
«Come in, I’ve made buns,» she said, opening the door for them. «Innochka, you look so pale. Are you on a diet again? That’s not how you’ll have children; you need strength for that.»
Inna fell silent, taking off her coat. In five years, she had learned to ignore the barbs.
«Mom, Dad,» Vladimir gathered everyone in the living room. «We have news.»
«It’s not a divorce, then?» Margarita Sergeyevna feigned surprise. «I told you so…»
«Mom!» Vladimir raised his voice. «We are going to have a child. Well, children. Triplets.»
Vladimir’s father, Viktor Mikhailovich, choked on his tea.
«What do you mean, triplets?» Margarita Sergeyevna went pale. «After your experiments with IVF?»
«They aren’t experiments, Mom. It is medical progress.»
«Progress?» The mother-in-law threw up her arms. «It’s torture! First, you couldn’t have children for years, and now you want three at once? Do you realize what that’s going to cost?»
«Three beautiful grandchildren,» Vladimir replied calmly.
«What grandchildren? You won’t be able to handle it!» Margarita Sergeyevna jumped up from the sofa. «The apartment is too small, the salary is average. And the diapers? The strollers? The nursery? My son is going to end up in slavery!»
«Margarita, calm down,» Viktor Mikhailovich tried to intervene.
«No!» The mother-in-law was shaking with anger. «I’m going to say it all! It is abnormal to want triplets. Couldn’t you be like other normal women and have just one? You want to have three because you couldn’t manage to have one?»
Inna clenched her fists. Everything inside her was boiling, but she couldn’t give in to panic. She mustn’t…
«Inna isn’t guilty of anything,» Vladimir took his wife by the shoulders. «And we will get by.»
«How will you get by?» Margarita Sergeyevna laughed sarcastically. «With your manager’s salary? Or with the pennies you earn at the travel agency? And I warned you—find a normal woman…»
«That’s enough!» Vladimir slammed his fist on the desk. «We came to share our joy, not to listen to insults.»
«Joy?» The mother-in-law clutched her chest. «It’s a disaster! Three babies at the same time, that’s abnormal! Only cats can do that!»
«Margarita!» Viktor Mikhailovich shouted.
«No, let them know!» The mother-in-law would not calm down. «I am against it! Categorically against it! Let them do what needs to be done before it’s too late…»
She didn’t have time to finish her sentence—Inna swayed and slowly collapsed to the floor.
«Inna!» Vladimir caught her. «Do you feel ill?»
Everything went blurry before her eyes; a buzzing sound filled her ears. The last thing Inna saw was the frightened face of her mother-in-law.
At the hospital, Inna woke up to the monotonous beeping of medical machines. Vladimir was sleeping, hunched over on a chair.
«Everything is fine,» the doctor said immediately, seeing the patient had woken up. «The babies are fine too. But you must rest completely. No stress.»
Vladimir sat up suddenly: «I’ll make sure that happens.»
After being discharged from the hospital, the young family returned home. Inna was lying in the bedroom when the doorbell rang. It was Margarita Sergeyevna at the door.
«I won’t let you in,» Vladimir blocked the way.
«I’ve come to see my daughter-in-law,» said the mother-in-law, pushing past. «I need to talk to her.»
«After your conversations, Inna went to the hospital.»
Margarita Sergeyevna shoved her son and forced her way in: «I said I came, and that’s that! Stop hiding her!»
Inna heard the noise and came out of the bedroom.
«You’re the one who organized this!» Margarita Sergeyevna lashed out. «You think I don’t understand? Triplets! Who would believe such a story?»
«Mom, stop!» Vladimir grabbed her by the shoulders.
«I won’t stop! It’s a setup!» The mother-in-law broke free. «The children probably aren’t even my son’s! And he, the idiot, let himself be fooled!»
Inna leaned against the wall, feeling her head spin: «Leave.»
«I won’t leave! Not until you confess everything!»
«Mom, get out of here!» Vladimir pulled her by the elbow.
«Let go of me!» Margarita Sergeyevna waved her hands. «I am your mother! I have the right to know the truth!»
«What truth?» Inna stepped forward. «That we tried for five years? That I underwent every test? That the doctors said only IVF could help?»
«There!» cried the mother-in-law triumphantly. «You admitted it! Artificially conceived children! They aren’t normal!»
«My children are normal,» Inna straightened her shoulders. «And they are your grandchildren, whether you like it or not.»
«Better to have had no grandchildren at all than these! They come from science!»
Vladimir abruptly turned his mother toward the door: «Get out. And don’t call me ever again.»
«What?!» Margarita Sergeyevna gasped with indignation. «You’re kicking out your own mother?»
«Yes. I’m kicking her out. As long as you don’t respect my family, don’t come back.»
«Is that so?!» The mother-in-law grabbed her bag. «Well then, don’t come see me either! Don’t count on me to help you with your three children!»
«We’ll manage,» Vladimir cut her short. «Goodbye, Mom.»
Margarita Sergeyevna rushed out of the apartment, slamming the door. But a minute later, the key turned in the lock again.
«No, I haven’t finished!» The mother-in-law entered again. «Vladik, think about it! It’s slavery! Three babies at once, it’s abnormal! Only cats can…»
«Get out!» Vladimir pushed his mother out and closed the door, removing the key from the lock.
Behind the door, Margarita Sergeyevna’s screams could still be heard. Inna slid slowly down the wall.
«Don’t listen to her,» Vladimir took his wife in his arms. «Everything will be fine.»
In the following days, the phone rang constantly with calls from the mother-in-law. Vladimir rejected them, but Margarita Sergeyevna persisted.
«Son, they aren’t your children!» her voice repeated in another message. «Think! Three at once, it’s impossible!»
«Yes, Mom,» replied a tired Vladimir, when she finally managed to reach him. «It’s called a multiple pregnancy. The doctor explained everything.»
«What doctor? That quack of yours? The one who creates test-tube babies?»
«Mom, either you accept our family as it is, or we don’t speak anymore. Choose.»
There was silence on the other end of the line. Then Margarita Sergeyevna burst into tears: «Are you really ready to disown me?»
«Yes. If you don’t stop persecuting my wife.»
«Wife!» The mother-in-law began to rant. «How can she be your wife? She couldn’t have children for five years, and now…»
Vladimir pressed the button to end the call. A minute later, the phone rang again.
Days passed, Inna’s belly grew, and Margarita Sergeyevna continued trying to interfere. One morning, she arrived at the door with a bag full of medicinal herbs.
«Here, I read on the Internet,» Margarita Sergeyevna began, entering the apartment. «If you drink this infusion, the extra children will leave on their own.»
Inna took the bag in silence and threw it in the trash.
«What are you doing?!» The mother-in-law threw up her arms. «I want to help! You won’t handle three children!»
«Get out of my house,» Inna said softly but firmly.
«What?»
«Get out!» Inna pointed to the door. «And never come back with your herbs!»
Margarita Sergeyevna pursed her lips: «Well then, give birth to your monsters. And don’t complain afterwards.»
When her term came, Inna gave birth to two boys and a girl. Vladimir ran between the maternity ward and work, beaming with happiness. But Margarita Sergeyevna refused to come.
«I don’t want to see this circus,» she said on the phone. «Call me when you have a normal child.»
A month after they left the hospital, Margarita Sergeyevna finally showed up—with a worn-out baby blanket in her hands.
«Here, I used this for Vladik,» she said, handing over the bundle. «Let them have at least something from their grandmother.»
Inna didn’t even glance at the blanket: «You know what, Margarita Sergeyevna? Either you accept all three, or don’t come at all.»
«Is that an ultimatum?» Margarita Sergeyevna gasped.
«It’s a condition. My children will not be divided into ‘normal’ and ‘extra’.»
«Vladik!» Margarita Sergeyevna turned to her son. «Do you hear how she speaks to me?»
«I hear her, Mom. And I totally agree with her.»
After that conversation, the mother-in-law didn’t return, nor did she call. But family members began to pass on her words:
«You know, they won’t let me see my grandchildren?»
«Imagine, she had three children to get more money out of her son!»
«And anyway, everything is done in a test tube, they’re a bit abnormal…»
But Inna and Vladimir no longer paid attention to this gossip. They had much more important concerns: three pairs of curious eyes, three smiles, three voices calling for Mommy and Daddy.
The little ones grew up healthy. The parents managed surprisingly well—perhaps because they did everything together, with love and patience.
From time to time, Margarita Sergeyevna called—to wish a happy holiday or complain about her life. But now, her words no longer carried the same weight.
«You know,» Inna said one day to her husband while rocking one of the children, «I’m happy everything turned out this way.»
«What do you mean?»
«If your mother had accepted us, the children would have grown up in an atmosphere of constant discontent. But now, they are growing up in love and attention.»
Vladimir hugged his wife: «You’re right. Even if I am sad that she chose to deprive herself of such happiness.»
«It’s her choice,» Inna kissed the sleeping child. «And we made ours.»
And the triplets grew up happy—without the constantly disgruntled grandmother, without criticism, without division between «good» and «bad.» In their home, there was only love, laughter, and joy. And although Margarita Sergeyevna never understood what treasure she had lost, that was no longer their problem.
The main thing was that the children grew up in the environment they needed. Without toxic relatives, without spiteful tongues, without those who did not wish them well. And that was Inna and Vladimir’s true victory: they had known how to protect their happiness.
