– No more? What do you mean she’s gone? What are you talking about?! I just talked to her yesterday. – The phone fell out of her hands. The voice on the receiver was mumbling and she couldn’t hear the words.

– No more? What do you mean she’s gone? What are you talking about?! I just talked to her yesterday. We were going to the country together this weekend. Oh, my God…

The phone fell out of my hand. The voice in the receiver mumbled something unintelligible. Laura could no longer hear the words…

Ingrid was gone… Her only true friend, almost a sister, closer than a sister.

They grew up together, always stood behind each other. They were fooling around together, dreaming, then began to build their own adult life, but still did not get lost. At one time they were even friends with families.

Well, while they were, these families…

Laura was not very lucky in her personal life. She made a career by the age of 30, earned decent money, even bought a two-room apartment in a good area. It is cozy and not far from work.

It was time to think about children, about a husband, but she had not met the right person. Laura did not show it, but in her heart she was very worried.

She, a lonely woman, really wanted to have a family, to be loved, to come home not just like that, but to close people who are always waiting.

She was not looking for a prince, but she was not going to tie the knot with anyone either. She had seen enough of such families, where people are together only for the sake of profit, or out of habit.

And yet, sometimes it was overwhelming, especially after parties at work, where employees boasted about the successes of their children and husbands and subtly hinted that it was high time for you to go out.

At such moments Laura came to Ingrid to cry on her shoulder. Her friend baked her signature cake, so delicious… Then they had a long tea and talked, talked

– Tell me, what’s wrong with me? – Laura complained, – I seem to be not so ugly, and God has not deprived me of intelligence, at work I get along with people at once, but I can’t find my soul mate, no matter what you do.

– Stop being poor, – Ingrid was indignant, – You are a real beauty! Men look at you, I can see it.

– They do. And so what? One of them was married, the second one was obviously an alphonse, the third one had the attitude of a boss, walk in front of him like a string, don’t open your mouth. Where did they hide, normal men? Have they completely transferred? There is no one left for me…

– I found my Vince. Is he bad?

– Oh, my friend, your Vince was specially conjured for you somewhere, there are no others like him, – Laura smiled through her tears.

Ingrid was really lucky with her husband. He is kind, attentive, caring and skillful. He can do everything in the house. He almost prays for his wife. In general, he is golden in all respects.

He has only one drawback – his mother. Her mother-in-law resented Ingrid right away and never accepted her. How many years have passed, and the women still do not even speak.

When the son disobeyed his mother’s advice and took Ingrid to the registry office, she pointed to the door and told the young people to go, saying, go live wherever you want, I do not have a shelter for this parentless, ragged girl.

Well and good, they stayed with friends for two days, then rented an apartment. Vince eventually began to communicate with his mother, and she said harshly about her daughter-in-law:

– Do not bring her, I will not let her on the threshold.

Ingrid was offended, but she did not set her husband against her mother-in-law.

Maybe it was for the best. Other women’s mothers-in-law are always teaching their minds, but no one pokes into her soul, and she is her own mistress in the house. If you want – do general cleaning, if you do not want – sit in the kitchen with a cake, comfort your girlfriend.

– You will meet your man, you will definitely meet him. At the most unexpected moment, when you will not even expect. He will appear himself, – Ingrid laughed and poured tea into a cup with forget-me-nots.

She was joking to cheer up her friend. And it turned out word for word…

Laura was in a hurry to work in winter. And then some man tripped right in front of her. People were passing by, but she could not. Suddenly she needed help.

She stopped, asked if everything was okay. The man joked awkwardly, then asked for the phone, and for some reason she dictated it, although she usually did not ask for it on the street. Then she was worried all day, suddenly something was wrong again.

The man called only a week later, when Laura began to forget about this accidental meeting.

He apologized, explained that he was on sick leave, and then invited her to a restaurant. And that’s how it started. Alex turned out to be an interesting, well-read man with a lot of life experience and a great sense of humor.

Laura laughed with him more than in her entire previous life. They got closer and closer and were surprised to notice how much they had in common.

After 3 months Alex proposed to live together and Laura agreed. Why not, they were happy together. And there will be time to think about the white dress and rings, you can wait a little.

But in fact, it was a little bit stretched for 5 years. At first everything was wonderful, like in a dream. Laura just flew on wings, they lived soul to soul. You think, without a stamp, not in papers happiness, even if her husband is a civilian, but the best.

A few years later Laura hinted to her beloved that it was time to have children, she was worried how he would react. And he was so happy, he said that he dreams of a child. Better two or three at once, he said. Laura laughed, cried with joy and kissed Alex with salty lips.

After this conversation, a year flew by somehow unnoticed, followed by another and another. It did not work out with the children. It turned out that it would not work.

She could not have children. Laura was stunned by this. Probably, she simply stopped paying attention to her husband, did not notice that he stopped joking and clinging with kisses at the most inconvenient moment, that he began to stay late at work, and at home he sat staring at the phone, answering in short dry phrases.

To be honest, it suited her, because she wanted silence, loneliness. And when Alex said the phrase:

– Shouldn’t we live separately?

Laura just indifferently shrugged her shoulders:

– “Of course, darling, you know best. You are right as always.

He packed his things and left, and she stayed…

Everything happened too ordinary and simple, no drama, no quarrels. I guess it does happen. It’s a pity that you can’t look into someone else’s soul. Maybe he hoped that Laura would come to her senses and notice the emptiness around her, and then just pick up the phone and call:

– Hi, how are you? You know, I missed you…

That’s what happened, only too late, almost six months later. A long time, enough for everything to be forgotten: both grief and love.

When Laura dialed the familiar number, she heard a cheerful woman’s laughter from the other side and silently hung up. What to talk about now? Everything is clear. So, Alex was not her soul mate, and it’s a pity…

Gradually, life made sense again, entered the usual rut. Ingrid with her husband and tiny daughter helped to cope with periodic boredom. Three years ago, her friend gave birth to a charming little girl – Emilia – a red sun with curls.

Laura played with her from the very first day, reveled in even the temporary illusion of motherhood, laughed:

– Ingrid, you just have to give birth to another boy, I want to be an aunt twice.

And now it turns out that Ingrid is gone and Vince is gone, both of them died at the same time when they were going to the kindergarten to pick up their daughter

– Oh God! – Laura suddenly emerged from the depths of her memories.

Emilia, what about her now? Where? With whom? Probably, her mother-in-law took the little girl. This is her own granddaughter, the child of her only son. Will she allow the girl to visit? We need to call, offer help, because now she has such grief and so many worries.

With trembling hands Laura dialed the number she had written down long ago just in case. Well, here it was… The conversation was short:

– Help? And who are you, dear, that I should borrow from you? The wake is not your concern, I’ll take care of it myself. You know, I don’t care about the friends of the woman who twisted and killed my boy. Please don’t call here again. Emilia? I have no idea. I don’t need her, I’ve never seen her in my life and I’m not going to. Check with child welfare. Someone must have taken her.

And that’s it, the ringing in the phone…

Laura could not realize for a long time that all this was really happening.

Wouldn’t her mother-in-law’s heart wake up? Would she really send her granddaughter to the shelter?

Later she was convinced – it does happen. The decision came by itself – she wanted to be Emilia’s aunt, and she will become a mother!

She will not let this child grow up without parents, she already knows how hard it is.

Laura started pounding the doorsteps, people smiled at her, promised to help her, said that there should be no obstacles to the paperwork, and then they stumbled upon her status as a single woman and frowned.

They explained:

– Only full families are considered for adoption of the girl, it is unlikely that you, a single man, will be given a child, especially since there are those willing. Just the other day, a married couple came to visit us and they really liked Emilia. It is clear that the girl is like your own, but there is an order. If only you had a husband…

In despair, Laura was even going to advertise for a husband. Well, not much, maybe for money or for a residence permit. She asked her friends for advice. And one of them suggested:

– You can’t ask your ex-boyfriend, Alex, can you? He seems to be lonely now, something did not work out in his personal life, he left his last madam.

Laura waved her hands:

– Are you kidding? No, no!

Then she sat, thought, time was running out, the guardianship called again with another refusal.

– I had to do something urgently! And what do I risk? Well, if he doesn’t agree, I will survive.

And she dialed the number from memory, as if she had never forgotten it, had not crossed it out of all her notebooks. While dialing, she made a promise to herself:

– Wait only 10 rings, no, only 5, if he doesn’t pick up, it’s not meant to be.

Alex answered right away:

– Yes, who is it?

Laura was embarrassed and spoke brokenly, then cried and talked, talked about Emilia, about Ingrid and Vince, about Vince’s shameless mother, about problems with documents, she asked for something, promised something, apologized and cried again. Alex listened in silence. When Laura stopped talking, she was surprised at her own stupidity and decided to say goodbye. The answer:

– I understand, I’ll be right there.

How Laura appreciated his brevity, his readiness to drop everything and fly to the rescue. Why did she not mention it then, pushing her beloved away with her own hands?

An hour later they were sitting in the kitchen, and Laura was explaining the situation without tears:

– “Don’t worry, we’ll have a marriage on paper, I have no claim on your freedom and I won’t burden you with anything.

– We’ll see, – Oleksiy grumbled and went to his friends, who, according to him, could speed up the marriage procedure.

A month later, the newlyweds together with Emilia solemnly entered the apartment. The little girl clung to Laura, but at the same time looked at Alex with great interest. Laura thought that he reminded her of her father, the same tall, strong man.

They had dinner, put Emilia to bed, kissed each other good night, went out and closed the door behind them.

– Are you going to your room now?” Laura asked uncertainly. – What if she wakes up in the night, or something else happens?

– You know, make me a bed in the kitchen for now, then we’ll figure out what to do.

Then – an amazing word, very capacious.

Then I had to sign a lot of papers.

Then I had to go with Emilia to the zoo for the weekend with the whole family, as it should be.

Then we bought her new clothes together.

Then Emilia got weaker and they took turns at her crib, taking care of her.

Then the spring ended, in the summer they decided to go to the sea, so that the daughter could enjoy the sun, so they went to the market together to choose the brightest swimming circle and the most beautiful panama hat.

When Emilia received a huge inflatable hare as a gift from Alex, she laughed out loud and rushed to hug him:

– Daddy, Mommy, I love you so much!

Laura and Alex looked at each other as if they were seeing each other for the first time.

In the evening they sat in the kitchen again. Emilia was long asleep, exhausted from the day. They still could not say good night to each other.

– Maybe… – Laura asked uncertainly and realized that they said this phrase in chorus.

Alex picked her up and carried her to the bedroom…

A month later, Laura woke up and found a small velvet box on her pillow with two wedding rings inside.

– What is it?

Alex rubbed the bridge of his nose in embarrassment:

– We are already married to some extent, and I never proposed to you. Yes, I understand, it’s my fault. Laura, I’m so sorry, I’ve been so stupid, I’ve made so many mistakes. I promise, if you say yes, I’ll be the most perfect man in the world. So, what do you say?

– I say I think I’m going to be sick,” Laura exclaimed and rushed to the bathroom.

The next day they sat together, hugging each other, and admiringly looked at the pregnancy test with two cherished strips

It turns out, it does happen.

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– No more? What do you mean she’s gone? What are you talking about?! I just talked to her yesterday. – The phone fell out of her hands. The voice on the receiver was mumbling and she couldn’t hear the words.