« Who needs you with five trailers? » – the mother kicked the widow out into the wilderness, not knowing that an inheritance and an overnight guest awaited her in the old house.
The burial site was damp. Clay squelched underfoot, clinging in heavy clumps to Nadya’s cheap shoes. She stood and watched as the workers buried her life. Sergei had died suddenly. At thirty-five. He simply collapsed in the workshop and never rose again.
Galina Petrovna shifted from foot to foot nearby. Nadya’s mother, shivering, wrapped herself in her mink coat and casting disdainful glances at her grandchildren, huddled close to her daughter’s black coat.
« Okay, enough crying, » the mother said loudly when the mound had grown. « Let’s go, Nadya. No need to cry here. We have something to talk about. »
At home, in their cramped two-room apartment, which they had taken out a mortgage, Galina Petrovna immediately went into the kitchen and sat down at the head of the table like the owner.
« So, » she began, without even taking off her hat. « The bank will take the apartment, that’s clear. You have no money to pay. Your earring is gone, and you’re on permanent maternity leave. »
“I’m going to work,” Nadya answered quietly, rocking one-year-old Misha in her arms.
“Where? As a cleaner?” the mother chuckled. “You have five! Five children! Who needs you like that? I’d put the older ones, Tanya and Pashka, in a boarding school. Temporarily. And the little ones… Maybe child welfare will help.”
“There,” Nadya whispered.
« What? » Galina Petrovna didn’t understand.
« Get out of my house! » Nadya raised her head. Her eyes were dry and terrified. « I won’t give up the children. I’ll starve to death myself, but I’ll raise them. »
« What a fool, » the mother stood up and straightened her coat. « I told you: you should have thought about it earlier, before it was too late. But you’re still just a ‘bunny-lawn’. So now sit on your lawn. Don’t come running to me for money. »
A month later, the bank did indeed send a notice. The deadline was two weeks to vacate. Nadya scrambled around among friends, looking for places to stay, but no one wanted to let her in with five children.
And then a letter arrived. From the village of Zalesye. The notary informed her that Nadezhda had inherited a house from a second cousin she’d only met once in her life. « It’s an old house, but it’s mine, » Nadya thought. She had no choice.
Zalesye greeted them with an icy wind. The house stood on the edge, right next to the forest. The logs were blackened, the porch was slanted, the windows looked out on the world with bleary eyes.
“Mom, it’s cold here,” whined five-year-old Lenochka.
“Right now, little one, we’ll heat it up right now,” Nadya tried to keep her voice from shaking.
The first night was a trial. The stove was smoking, the children were coughing, and there was a draft coming from every crack. Nadya covered the little ones with everything she had—jackets, blankets, even rugs. She didn’t sleep herself. She sat and listened to Vanya’s breathing.
The middle son, seven-year-old Vanya, had an incurable illness. He needed serious intervention. They promised a quota in a year, but the doctor at the regional hospital said bluntly, « He might not be able to handle it. His condition is worsening, and his workload is increasing. It would be better to have private treatment in the capital. » The cost was equivalent to the two apartments they had taken away.
In the morning, Nadya climbed into the attic to plug the cracks. Among old junk, half-century-old newspapers, and torn sheepskin coats, she found a tin tea can. Inside, wrapped in an oily rag, lay something heavy.
A pocket watch, massive, with a chain. Nadya rubbed the lid with her finger—silver. A double-headed eagle and the inscription « For Faith and Loyalty » appeared on the darkened metal.
« They’re beautiful, » she sighed. « But are they worth anything? »
The clock was silent. The hands stopped at five to twelve.
Nadya hid the find in the closet. There was no time for antiques now. There was only three days’ worth of food left, the firewood was running low, and Vanya was getting worse. He was barely able to get up; his strength left him with any effort.
A snowstorm began that evening. Snow fell in sheets, cutting the house off from the world. Nadya put the children to bed and sat by the window. She was in great distress. What had she done? Had she brought the children to the wilderness to perish?
There was a quiet knock on the door.
Nadya shuddered. Did she imagine it?
The knock came again. Confident, dull.
She took the poker and went to the door.
– Who’s there?
« Let me in, mistress, the storm has broken out, » the voice behind the door was strange. Creaky, like old wood, but calm.
Nadya, without understanding why, pulled back the bolt. Her grandfather stood on the threshold. He was short, wearing a strange, ankle-length coat, belted with a rope. His beard was gray and full, and his eyes were young and clear.
“Come in,” Nadya stepped aside.
The old man entered, but no snow was falling from him. And there was no cold radiating from him; on the contrary, there was warmth, like from a stove.
He walked into the room where the children were sleeping and looked at Vanya. The boy was breathing heavily in his sleep.
« Is the boy ill? » the guest asked.
« It’s a serious illness, » Nadya exhaled. « I need help. I have no money. »
« Money is dust, » the grandfather sat down on the bench. « But time is gold. Did you find my find? »
Nadya froze.
— Watch? Yours?
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