I’m from the provinces, I came to Washington to study and met a guy. He wooed me nicely, gave me gifts, I understood that he came from a well-to-do family, as he didn’t work himself. He said he was temporary. He dropped out of university, because he didn’t like his parents’ choice of specialty, now he was looking for himself.
I believed him, I saw that he was not a stupid guy, he was well-read and, moreover, he was diligently preparing himself for the university. That’s how he explained his week-long absence to me. Then his parents wanted to meet me. I was very nervous, but I was surprised that everything went so smoothly; they liked me, especially my mother. Usually people from the capital are not too keen on having girls who come from the provinces as daughters-in-law.
The guy proposed to me when I was in my third year. I wasn’t going to get married yet, much less have children, but I gave in under pressure from him and my parents. My father and mother, having visited my future relatives, insisted that I should not miss such a chance. I will live in the capital, a wonderful husband and decent mother-in-law and father-in-law. The more that they give us a two-bedroom apartment. My future husband inherited it from his grandmother. I agreed. A friend, who had only seen my boyfriend twice, said he was unreliable and kind of insecure. She said it a little differently, but I don’t want to voice it. It seemed to me at the time that it was out of jealousy.
After a few months of married life I realized that my husband was addicted to alcohol. I was already pregnant and a divorce was out of the question. My mother-in-law calmed me down, saying that he could stay sober for six months after a binge. Then I understood why they were in such a hurry to get us married, so I wouldn’t have time to see him drunk. Apparently he too was holding out until I got pregnant.
And now my son is three years old. All this time I have been living with an alcoholic husband. My mother-in-law helped me in everything, she even persuaded me not to give up my studies and looked after my child. When I said that I had decided to get a divorce, he said, “If you live with him, I will do anything for you. I will transfer this apartment to my grandson, I will help with money, and after our death everything will be yours. Just don’t leave him.” And that’s two more apartments, a big villa, three cars. They have their own business.
I’m not leaving yet not because of all this wealth. I feel very sorry for my mother-in-law. Apart from kindness and help I have not seen anything else from her. I understand that if I leave, she will not see her grandson very often. I can not do this to her, but to live with a drunken man, too, no longer forces.
Where is the right way out, tell me? My parents are not my advisors, they say just be patient. I know that they are ashamed that my daughter is divorced, because they managed to brag to everybody about how I got happily married.
