Oksana stood by the window, looking at the neighboring plot. A woman was working in the garden beds there, watering flowers. A dacha. Small, simple, but her own. Oksana had dreamed of something like that for years.
“Looking at dachas again?” Pavel asked as he entered the kitchen.
“Mm-hmm,” his wife answered briefly, without turning around.
“Oksana, how long is this going to go on? We don’t have money for a dacha. We’re paying for the apartment, paying off loans. Where are we supposed to get it?”
“I’m saving little by little.”
Pavel smirked and opened the refrigerator.
“Oh yes, saving. How much do you have there? Fifty thousand?”
“One hundred and twenty.”
Her husband turned around.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. I put money aside every month. For three years now.”
Pavel closed the refrigerator and walked over to his wife.
“Oksana, even if it’s one hundred and twenty, that’s not enough. You need at least a million for a dacha. Even for some kind of wreck.”
“I know. That’s why I’m still saving.”
“Why don’t we spend that money on a vacation? Go somewhere. To the sea, for example.”
Oksana shook her head.
“No. It’s for the dacha.”
Pavel sighed.
“Fine. As you wish. But I don’t understand why you need this dacha. Going there, digging in the dirt. Better to have a proper rest.”
“You wouldn’t understand,” Oksana said quietly.
Her husband shrugged and left the kitchen. Oksana kept looking out the window. The dream of a dacha had lived in her for many years. Since childhood, she remembered going to her grandmother’s village. Fresh air, silence, her own apples and strawberries. Oksana wanted the same. Her own plot, her own little house, her own place to rest.
But Pavel did not share that dream. Her husband always found reasons to put off the purchase. Loans, repairs, the car needing to be replaced. Oksana had heard it for years. And still she saved. Five thousand a month. Sometimes less, sometimes a little more. Quietly, unnoticed. Hoping that one day she would save enough.
That weekend Larisa Arkadyevna came over. Her mother-in-law arrived with pies and complaints about the heat.
“Good Lord, it’s so stuffy in the city!” Larisa Arkadyevna lamented, fanning herself with a newspaper. “I’m simply suffocating. If only I had a dacha now. Fresh air.”
“Mom, you don’t have a dacha,” Pavel remarked.
“That’s exactly what I regret. I should have bought one back then. And now it’s too late. My pension is small, where would I get the money?”
Oksana sat at the table, cutting the pie. Her mother-in-law often complained about life. Sometimes about her health, sometimes about money, sometimes about loneliness. Pavel always listened attentively and worried. Oksana sympathized too, but she did not take these complaints seriously. Larisa Arkadyevna simply liked talking about difficulties.
“Mom, maybe you should move in with us for the summer?” Pavel suggested. “You can stay here. It won’t seem so hot.”
“No, son, I don’t want to burden you,” his mother waved him off. “You have your own life. I’ll endure it somehow.”
Oksana said nothing. She knew it was a game. Larisa Arkadyevna refused so that she would be persuaded. But Pavel did not insist, and his mother-in-law sighed in disappointment.
A week later, an unfamiliar woman called Oksana.
“Good afternoon, is this Oksana Petrovna?”
“Yes, speaking.”
“My name is Valentina Semyonovna. I am a notary. Are you a relative of Ekaterina Lvovna Samoilova?”
Oksana thought for a moment. Ekaterina Lvovna. Her second aunt. A woman she had seen only a few times in her life at family celebrations.
“Yes, she was my second aunt.”
“Unfortunately, I have sad news. Ekaterina Lvovna passed away a month ago. According to her will, a sum of money is being transferred to you.”
Oksana sat down on the sofa.
“What sum?”
“One million two hundred thousand rubles.”
Oksana did not immediately understand what she had heard. One million two hundred thousand. An inheritance. From an aunt she had barely communicated with.
“Is it really all for me?”
“Absolutely. Come to our office and we will prepare the documents.”
Oksana hung up and sat in silence for several minutes. One million two hundred thousand. Enough for a dacha. The dream that had seemed so distant had suddenly become real.
That evening Oksana told Pavel. Her husband was sitting in front of the television, switching channels.
“Pasha, I got a call from the notary’s office today.”
“Mm-hmm,” Pavel responded without taking his eyes off the screen.
“I was left an inheritance. From my second aunt, Ekaterina Lvovna.”
Pavel turned his head.
“How much?”
“One million two hundred thousand.”
Her husband turned off the television and fully faced his wife.
“Seriously?”
“Yes. I’m going tomorrow to sign the documents.”
Pavel was silent. Oksana expected joy, support, at least a smile. But her husband simply looked at her thoughtfully.
“Well, good,” Pavel finally said. “Extra money never hurts.”
“Pasha, I’m going to buy a dacha,” Oksana said firmly. “It’s my dream. Now I can afford it.”
Pavel nodded.
“We’ll see.”
“What do you mean, we’ll see? I’ve already decided.”
“Oksana, don’t rush. We need to think about the best way to use this money.”
“I’ve already thought about it. A dacha.”
Pavel got up and went to the kitchen. Oksana remained alone in the room. Her husband’s reaction made her wary. Why wasn’t he happy? Why didn’t he support her? Oksana had talked about a dacha for many years. Pavel knew how badly his wife wanted it.
The next day Oksana completed the paperwork at the notary’s office. The money was transferred to her account. That evening, she sat at her laptop and looked through listings. Plots, little houses, prices. She selected options and saved the ones she liked.
Pavel sat beside her on the sofa, scrolling through his phone. He did not ask what his wife had found. He showed no interest in the area, the condition of the house, or the price. He stayed silent.
“Pasha, look, this option isn’t bad,” Oksana said, turning the laptop toward her husband.
Pavel glanced briefly at the screen.
“Mm-hmm.”
“Are you even listening?”
“I’m listening.”
“Then what do you think?”
“Oksana, I’m tired. I don’t want to discuss it right now.”
Oksana closed the laptop. Her husband’s strange behavior was beginning to irritate her. What was going on with him?
The next evening, Pavel called his mother and invited her to dinner. Oksana found out only when Larisa Arkadyevna was already standing at the door.
“Mom, come in,” Pavel hugged his mother and led her to the kitchen.
Oksana was setting the table. Her mother-in-law sat down and immediately began the conversation.
“Oksanochka, I heard you received an inheritance? Pavlik told me. Congratulations, of course.”
“Thank you, Larisa Arkadyevna.”
“How much was it, if it’s not a secret?”
“One million two hundred thousand.”
Her mother-in-law whistled.
“Not bad! You got lucky. Became rich overnight.”
“Not rich,” Oksana corrected her. “I just got the chance to buy a dacha.”
Larisa Arkadyevna exchanged a glance with her son.
“A dacha? Ah, yes, you dreamed of one.”
“I did, and I still do,” Oksana nodded.
Her mother-in-law poured herself tea and thoughtfully stirred the sugar.
“You know, Oksanochka, I’ve been thinking about a dacha too. I suffer in the city all summer. The heat, the stuffiness. But at a dacha it would be so nice. Fresh air, planting my own cucumbers, tomatoes.”
Oksana looked at her mother-in-law cautiously. Where was this conversation going?
“Yes, it is nice at a dacha,” Oksana agreed carefully.
Pavel sat down at the table and placed his hand on his mother’s shoulder.
“Mom, just imagine how convenient it would be for you. Coming in the summer, resting. Making garden beds, planting flowers. Good for your health.”
Oksana froze. Her mother-in-law nodded.
“Exactly! I would gladly do it. I still have plenty of strength. I could even start a vegetable garden. And treat you, Pavlusha, to my own vegetables. Organic, after all.”
“Wait,” Oksana said slowly. “What are you talking about?”
Pavel turned to his wife.
“About the dacha. It would be convenient. Mom comes in the summer, rests. You can also go there whenever you want.”
“Pasha, it’s my dacha. I’m buying it for myself.”
Her husband shrugged.
“Well, for the family. For all of us.”
“No,” Oksana said firmly. “For me. My money, my purchase, my dacha.”
Larisa Arkadyevna pursed her lips.
“Oksanochka, why are you being so categorical? We’re family. We should share.”
“Share what? My inheritance?”
“Well, inheritance is good, of course,” her mother-in-law began. “But since the money came into the family, you need to think about everyone. Not only about yourself.”
Oksana felt herself beginning to boil.
“Larisa Arkadyevna, what does family have to do with it? The inheritance was left personally to me. Not to us, not to Pavel, but to me. And I decide how to spend it.”
Pavel frowned.
“Oksana, you and I are husband and wife. What’s yours is mine. That’s normal.”
“No, Pavel, it isn’t normal. This is my money. My inheritance.”
“You’re being greedy,” her husband snapped.
Oksana jumped up from her chair.
“What?!”
“You’re being greedy,” Pavel repeated calmly. “Mom simply wants to come to the dacha in the summer. What’s wrong with that? And you’re acting like a dog in the manger.”
“Pavel!”
“What, Pavel? You only think about yourself. Did you think about my mother? The woman worked her whole life, raised me alone. She deserves a peaceful old age at a dacha.”
Larisa Arkadyevna nodded.
“Exactly. I’m not asking you to buy the dacha for me. Just to come sometimes. That’s a normal request.”
Oksana looked at her mother-in-law, then at her husband. She was beginning to understand. The inheritance had already been distributed. Without her consent. They had simply presented her with a fact.
“Are you serious?” Oksana asked quietly.
“Absolutely,” Pavel answered. “And actually, let’s be honest. We won’t buy the dacha for you, but for Mom. She needs it more. You have work, things to do, no time to sit around there. Mom is retired, she has time. She’ll take care of the plot, keep things in order.”
“First we’ll buy one for Mom, and then we’ll think about you!” Pavel smirked, ignoring his wife’s look.
Oksana froze. The world around her seemed to stop. Her husband had just said that he would use her money to buy a dacha for his mother. And they would think about his wife later.
“Are you mocking me?” Oksana said slowly.
“I’m not mocking you. I’m offering a normal solution. Mom gets a dacha, she’ll be happy. And you and I can always go there. What’s the problem?”
“The problem is that it’s my money!” Oksana raised her voice. “My inheritance! And I am not going to buy a dacha for your mother!”
Larisa Arkadyevna threw up her hands.
“My God, what selfishness! Oksana, aren’t you ashamed?”
“I should be ashamed?!” Oksana could not believe her ears. “What exactly should I be ashamed of?!”
“For thinking only about yourself,” Pavel cut in. “Family means mutual help. And you’re acting like a stranger. You received money and immediately built a wall around yourself.”
“I’m not building a wall! I simply want to buy a dacha for myself! I dreamed about it for years!”
“And Mom dreamed about it her whole life,” Pavel cut her off. “And she deserves it more than you.”
Oksana felt tears rising in her throat. But she held them back. She would not cry in front of them.
“Pavel, do you seriously believe I should give the money for a dacha for your mother?”
“Not give it. Invest it in the family. There’s a difference.”
“What difference?!”
“A huge one. The dacha will be ours. Mom will simply spend more time there. And you can come whenever you want.”
Larisa Arkadyevna nodded.
“Pavlik is right. The dacha will be shared. A family one. Everyone comes, everyone rests. I’ll simply spend more time there as a pensioner. That’s logical, isn’t it?”
Oksana slowly exhaled.
“No. I don’t agree.”
“Why?!” Pavel protested.
“Because this is my money. My inheritance. And I will buy a dacha for myself. For myself. Not for your mother, not for the family. For myself.”
Larisa Arkadyevna pouted, offended.
“So that’s what your wife is like, Pavlusha. I always said she was greedy. You just didn’t believe me.”
“I am not greedy!” Oksana flared up. “I simply don’t want to give away my own money!”
“Then you’re greedy,” Pavel stated calmly. “If you weren’t greedy, you would help my mother.”
“Your mother never asked me for help!” Oksana felt herself losing control. “The two of you sat down and decided everything for me! Distributed my money!”
“We thought about the family,” Pavel crossed his arms over his chest. “About everyone’s benefit. And you only think about yourself.”
Oksana looked at her husband. There was no doubt in his eyes, no shame. Pavel sincerely believed he was right. That his wife was obliged to give the inheritance to his mother.
“I will not buy a dacha for Larisa Arkadyevna,” Oksana said firmly.
“Then you are a bad wife,” Pavel snapped.
“Maybe I am. But the money remains mine.”
Her mother-in-law stood up.
“Pavlusha, I’m leaving. I don’t want to watch your wife mock your mother.”
“Mom, wait,” Pavel also rose. “Oksana will think it over. Right, Oksana?”
“No. I won’t think it over. My decision is final.”
Pavel walked his mother to the door. Larisa Arkadyevna cast Oksana one last reproachful look. The door closed. Her husband returned to the kitchen.
“Do you understand what you just did?” Pavel asked quietly.
“What?”
“You offended my mother. In front of me. In our home.”
“I didn’t offend her. I simply refused to give her my money.”
“That’s the same thing,” Pavel came right up to his wife. “Family means thinking about everyone. And you think only about yourself.”
“Pavel, this is my dream. I saved for years. Dreamed about it. And now, when I finally have the chance, you demand that I give the money to your mother.”
“I’m not demanding that you give it away. I’m asking you to invest it in the family.”
“In your family! In your mother!”
“My mother is your family too!”
“No!” Oksana shouted. “My family is you and me! And Larisa Arkadyevna is your mother! If you want to buy her a dacha, buy it with your own money!”
Pavel turned pale.
“I don’t have that kind of money.”
“And I do. But it is my money. And I decide what to do with it myself.”
Her husband was silent for several seconds. Then he slowly nodded.
“Fine. Then that’s how it is. If you won’t help Mom, I don’t know why we should live together.”
Oksana froze. An ultimatum. Pavel had given her an ultimatum.
“Are you threatening me with divorce?” his wife asked quietly.
“I’m saying it like it is. A wife should support her husband. And you don’t support me. That means you’re not a wife.”
Oksana looked at Pavel. This man, with whom she had lived for seven years, was now demanding that she give up her dream for his mother. And threatening her with divorce.
“All right,” Oksana said calmly. “Then divorce.”
Pavel jerked.
“What?”
“I said divorce. If that’s how you’re putting the question, then we’re not on the same path.”
“Oksana, what are you doing? I didn’t mean…”
“You did. You suggested it yourself. I agree.”
“Oksana, wait, let’s discuss it…”
“There’s nothing to discuss, Pavel. You showed what matters more to you. Your mother. And I am just a source of money.”
“That’s not true!”
“It is. You didn’t even ask what I wanted. You simply decided for me. Together with your mother.”
Oksana went into the bedroom and took out a bag. She began packing her things. Pavel followed her.
“Oksana, where are you going?”
“I’m leaving.”
“Where?”
“To my parents.”
“Because of a dacha?!”
“Because of you, Pavel. Because you don’t respect me. Because you consider my money yours. And yours only yours.”
“I do respect you!”
“No. Otherwise you wouldn’t have demanded that I give my inheritance to your mother.”
Pavel tried to take his wife by the hand, but Oksana pulled away.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Oksana, don’t leave. Stay. We’ll talk calmly.”
“There is nothing to talk about.”
Oksana zipped up the bag and left the bedroom. Pavel followed her.
“Oksana, wait! Fine, we won’t buy a dacha for Mom! Buy one for yourself! I agree!”
His wife stopped at the door and turned around.
“It’s too late, Pavel. You showed your true face. And I no longer want to be with you.”
“I was wrong! Forgive me!”
“I forgive you. But I’m not coming back.”
Oksana left the apartment. Pavel stood in the doorway and watched her go. He did not run after her, did not beg. He simply stood there.
Oksana arrived at her parents’ place late in the evening. Natalia Viktorovna opened the door and immediately understood that something serious had happened.
“Daughter, what happened?”
“Mom, can I stay with you for a while?”
“Of course. Come in.”
Alexander Grigoryevich came out of the room. Her father silently hugged his daughter. Oksana did not cry. She simply stood there and felt relief.
“Do you want to tell us?” her mother asked.
“Later. I can’t right now.”
“All right. Go lie down. Rest.”
Oksana lay down in her old room. She stared at the ceiling and thought. The marriage had ended because of a dacha. No, not because of a dacha. Because Pavel did not see his wife as an equal person. He saw a source of money, a helper for his mother, a convenient wife.
The next morning Oksana told her parents everything. Natalia Viktorovna listened, shaking her head. Alexander Grigoryevich was silent, but his face was gloomy.
“He seriously wanted you to buy his mother a dacha with your money?” her father asked again.
“Yes. He said, first we’ll buy one for Mom, then we’ll think about me.”
“What nerve,” Natalia Viktorovna hissed. “Oksanochka, you did the right thing by leaving.”
“I want a divorce.”
Her parents exchanged glances.
“Are you sure?” Alexander Grigoryevich asked.
“Absolutely. I don’t want to live with a person who doesn’t respect me.”
“We support you,” her mother said. “If you’ve decided, then it’s the right decision.”
Pavel called every day. He sent messages, asked to meet. Oksana did not answer. A week later she went to a lawyer.
The man, about fifty years old, listened to her story and nodded.
“The inheritance is your personal property. It is not divided in a divorce. Your husband has no rights to it.”
“And if he demands it?”
“Let him demand it. He won’t prove anything in court. The inheritance was received personally by you; it was not earned during the marriage.”
Oksana signed the divorce papers. The lawyer promised to file the application the following week.
Pavel tried to get his wife back through mutual acquaintances. Their mutual friend Sveta called.
“Oksana, what are you doing? Pavel is apologizing.”
“Sveta, please don’t interfere.”
“But you were together for so many years! Divorcing over a dacha?”
“Not over a dacha. Over disrespect.”
“Oksan, think about it. Pavel is a good guy.”
“He was a good guy. Until he demanded that I give my money to his mother.”
Sveta fell silent.
“Did he really say that?”
“Yes. Word for word: first we’ll buy one for Mom, then we’ll think about you.”
“What an idiot,” her friend exhaled. “Sorry, Oksan. I didn’t know the details.”
The divorce went through two months later. Pavel tried to dispute the inheritance, but lost. The lawyer proved that the money belonged personally to Oksana. Their shared property was divided in half. Pavel got the apartment, and Oksana received compensation.
After the divorce, Oksana began searching for a dacha. She looked through listings and went to viewings. Her parents helped. Alexander Grigoryevich checked the condition of the houses, and Natalia Viktorovna assessed the plots.
A month later they found a suitable option. A small house fifty kilometers from the city. An eight-hundred-square-meter plot, a bathhouse, a well. The price was one million one hundred thousand. Oksana went to see it and fell in love.
“I’ll take it,” the woman told the seller.
The deal was completed in two weeks. Oksana became the owner of a dacha. Her own. Personal. The one she had dreamed of for years.
In spring, Oksana came to the dacha for the first time as its owner. She opened the gate and walked toward the house. She took out the keys and opened the door. She stepped inside.
Quiet. Peaceful. Hers.
Oksana went out onto the plot and looked at the land. She would need to plant flowers. Maybe strawberries. And cucumbers with tomatoes. Like in childhood at her grandmother’s.
The woman sat down on the porch and smiled. Her dream had come true. Without her husband, without her mother-in-law, without other people’s demands. It had simply come true.
Oksana understood that personal boundaries were more important than any marriage. More important than persuasion, threats, manipulation. Pavel had wanted to use her money for his mother. He had wanted his wife to give up her dream for the sake of his family.
But Oksana did not give it up. She defended what was hers. She left a man who did not value her desires.
Now Oksana had a dacha. Small, simple, but her own. A place where she could breathe freely. Where there were no one else’s demands. Where only she made the decisions.
And Oksana was happy. Truly happy. For the first time in many long years.
