– Daughter, honey, go live with Grandma and Grandpa, and I’ll find us a daddy and we’ll be together again, okay?
– Okay, Mom.
Kate, Lisa’s grandmother, made a face and pressed her lip. The granddaughter went to live with her grandparents. At first her mother really tried to find her father, but then she got tired of it and began to live at her own pleasure. She forgot all about her daughter and the thought of being reunited with her. She came once with each suitor, brought her daughter’s toy, and left. And she waited for her mother to pick her up this time, but alas.
Lisa grew up and considered her only family members to be her grandparents. She studied very well, never neglected her studies and did not fall under the influence of her classmates, who walked around clubs looking for rich suitors. When the time came to choose an institute for admission, she did not hesitate to choose the Medical School.
She never dated or fell in love with anyone, but in her fourth year she fell in love with her classmate Denis. But when she found out that he was from a poor family, she banished all thoughts of him. And Denis noticed her and began courting. His persistence still won Lisa over, and they began dating. Together they were happy. He looked at her with sincere eyes in love. Her friends whispered to her that he was a womanizer and was using her for fun. All this she did not believe.
Along with the institute they got a job with the same hospital, but, unfortunately, in different shifts. This did not stop them, they used every free minute to spend it together.
Soon it turned out that Lisa was pregnant, she was afraid to talk about her beloved. She knew he wasn’t planning a family yet, he wanted to pursue a career.
It was Denis’ shift at the hospital, and she decided to announce the pregnancy there: there are few people, they won’t yell and won’t accuse. In the corridor she saw her beloved embracing some girl. He was very affectionately fixing her hair. Lisa was confused, leaning against the wall so she wouldn’t fall. Pulling herself together, she walked away. Denis never noticed her. She quit her job, took her academic card, and went to her grandparents’ house.
At home, she told her family about her feelings. She saw anxiety in her grandmother’s eyes, but she said that she would raise her granddaughter the same way she had raised her great-granddaughter. She feared that the granddaughter would resemble her mother. When Charlotte was born, Lisa wouldn’t let her out of her arms, repeating: “I won’t give you up to anyone, I’ll never leave you. You are my treasure.
Grandmother saw her granddaughter’s attitude toward her daughter, and all doubts disappeared. Two years later, Lisa began to think about work. She was offered a position at a local outpatient clinic, but on the condition that she provide a certificate of education from the Medical Institute. When she returned home, she found her daughter in her mother’s arms, playing with a new toy. Lisa was indignant, asking why she had come, “Come to see my granddaughter and go find her a new grandfather?” Her mother apologized and said she wanted her reinstated at the institute, aka she would babysit her granddaughter.
– I have money, I can provide for both you and the granddaughter.
Lisa was confused. She didn’t know what to do. She did not want to entrust her daughter to her mother. To get her daughter to agree, her mother offered to transfer a large sum of money to her, which, even if she disappeared, would cover the entire cost of her education. When Lisa and her grandmother were alone in the room, the grandmother also asked her to trust her. She promised that she and her grandfather would follow her.
Still, Lisa agreed. At first, her mother came every week to visit her daughter. After making sure that Charlotte was okay, and she was surrounded by love and care, she completely immersed herself in her studies.
Lisa had not yet graduated from university when her mother died. It turned out that she had been ill, fighting the disease for years, but she couldn’t. She believed it was her punishment for abandoning her daughter. She tried to redeem herself through her granddaughter. The mother left her daughter a dowry: an apartment from one of her marriages and a decent bank account.
Time passed. Lisa was offered a job at a clinic with a good salary. She hurried to her supervisor’s office. She looked at herself in the mirror, stopped at the door, took a breath, and knocked. Entered with a smile on her face.
What was her surprise when she recognized in the manager the man she had once loved.
– Hello, Lisa, glad to see you. Sit down, – said Denis politely.
– Thank you. Tell me at once, should I leave?
– Of course not! Do you think that because of our past affair I will refuse you the job? Of course, I won’t. In fact, I insist on staying. You’re a good specialist, though you have no experience.
– Thank you.
– Let’s do the paperwork!
– Ok, – embarrassed, she left the clinic.
All that day she was not herself. Her grandmother, who came to visit, noticed all this. Tried to calm her down by giving her chamomile tea. Suddenly, the doorbell rang. The grandmother opened it. Denis was standing at the door with a huge bouquet of flowers and a cake.
– Lisa, why? Why? Why?
