Lena stood in the garden, holding the hoe in her hands like a foreign object, its cold metal biting into her palms. She glanced up at the sky, at the vast expanse of green around her, but all she could feel was the pressure of her mother-in-law’s gaze, sharp as a blade. The fresh, sweet smell of lilacs seemed a distant memory as Raisa Petrovna’s words rang in her ears.
“It’s work, the land that feeds you,” the older woman had said. “And people like you only know how to consume the fruits of someone else’s labor.”
Lena’s mind wandered back to the morning she had envisioned—relaxing in the hammock with a good book, the scent of sizzling shashlik in the air, the kind of peaceful weekend she had been craving for weeks. Instead, she stood here, under the unforgiving sun, with a rusted hoe in her hand and a mother-in-law who expected her to do manual labor like some kind of farmhand.
“Mom, come on, that’s enough,” Oleg had said, trying to de-escalate the situation, but his voice faltered. He knew how his mother could be. But he also knew how much Lena had been looking forward to this weekend. The conflict between the two women seemed inevitable now.
“Look, Oleg,” Raisa Petrovna snapped, “this is how it should be. We work for what we have. What do you think? You bring her here, and now you think we’re all going to relax like city folk, lying around doing nothing?”
Lena stood still, her mind racing. She had married Oleg knowing his mother would be a challenge, but never had she imagined that the first real confrontation would happen so quickly, and so intensely. She had tried to be understanding. She had even tried to see things from Raisa’s perspective, but the blatant disrespect was too much. She wasn’t just a “city woman” to be belittled. She was a partner, someone who contributed in ways her mother-in-law would never understand.
The heat of the sun seemed to magnify the discomfort in Lena’s chest. She didn’t want to be the villain in this story, but Raisa’s harsh words left her no choice but to defend herself.
“I came here for the weekend, Raisa,” Lena said firmly, her voice steady despite the tension. “I’m not asking for a resort, I’m asking for a break. I’m more than willing to help, but I don’t appreciate being ordered around like this. I’m your daughter-in-law, not your servant.”
There was a long, pregnant silence before Raisa Petrovna broke it with a scoff. “You’re a city girl, Lena. You don’t know what real work is.”
Lena stood her ground. “I may not know everything about gardening, but that doesn’t make me any less capable or less hardworking than you. I contribute to this family, just in different ways.”
Oleg’s face was tight with frustration, and he glanced between his wife and his mother, clearly torn. “Can we just—” he started, but Lena cut him off.
“No,” she said softly but firmly. “We can’t just ignore it anymore. We need to talk about this. All of it.”
For a moment, Raisa’s stern face faltered, her lips pressed into a thin line as if calculating her next move. Lena didn’t back down, and the longer the silence stretched, the more Raisa seemed to feel the weight of her words.
Finally, the older woman exhaled heavily. “I’m sorry, Lena,” she said, though the apology was begrudging. “But you have to understand that this land, this work, is everything. It’s what has kept us alive, kept us going. I wasn’t trying to insult you.”
Lena felt the anger inside her begin to soften, replaced by a quiet understanding. “I get that,” she replied, her tone gentler now. “But I’m not asking for everything to be perfect. I just want us to understand each other.”
Oleg stepped forward, offering Lena a tentative smile. “How about we get the grill going? We’ll work together. Lena can help with the shashlik, and we can all relax afterward, like we planned.”
For the first time since they arrived, Lena saw a flicker of relief in Raisa’s eyes. It wasn’t a full resolution, but it was a start. As the tension in the air lightened, they moved toward the grill, Oleg setting the meat on skewers, and Lena preparing the vegetables.
It wasn’t the idyllic weekend Lena had dreamed of, but perhaps it was a step toward finding a balance between work and rest, between respecting traditions and building new ones. It would take time, she knew, but at least for now, they had made a beginning. And sometimes, that was enough.