– Im not your mother any more, I said.
– Well have to sell the flat, Simon said, staring at the floor, his eyes never meeting mine. And the car too. Those creditors wont leave us alone. It wont be only me who suffers you and little Poppy will feel it as well.
– We could go to the police
– The police? I owe them a fortune, he finally looked up, and the interest is piling up daily. We could drown. Youll have to stay with my mother for a while.
– And you?
– I have to get out of here. I cant repay any debts; the business has been seized. Ill head north where the oil rigs pay well. Maybe things will settle down there.
Natalie had sensed the danger when hardlooked men with criminal pasts began visiting their home, pulling Simon out onto the street for terse talks. He returned each time looking bruised, sometimes shouting at Poppy for the smallest mischief. The child was only four, not a trained dog.
Simons business was murky. He ran an online shop selling computer hardware, but Natalie had no idea where the laptops and monitors came from. Most likely they were counterfeit, because whole batches were periodically withdrawn from sale. To stay afloat he kept borrowing, and occasionally managed to wriggle out. This time, however, he couldnt.
Natalie had grown up in a village and could have moved back in with her parents, but she didnt want to quit her job. She was deputy head at an elite private school that taught English, with a prospect of becoming headmistress soon Mrs. Harrison had already announced she would retire in a year. Walking away would have been foolish.
Living with her motherinlaw also promised no paradise. From the moment they met, relations were strained. At first Natalie was an unwelcome daughterinlaw, dismissed as a country girl you could spot from a mile away. After she graduated with honours and began teaching at the English specialist school, she was called an overseas fop who shouldnt be making borscht. Yet Simon praised her borscht whenever she cooked it. Her teaching schedule often ran late into the evening, leaving little time for home cooking.
Mrs. Harrison, delighted with her granddaughter, was less kind to Natalie:
– Good wives dont run off to the north.
– He didnt run from me, he ran from his creditors. Hes drowning in debt.
– Where have you been looking? A good wife keeps the finances in order. In your world its a business; in ours it was called housekeeping. Youve never prepared a decent dinner for your daughter.
– I cook whenever I can.
– Why dont you have time? What school keeps you until night? Ill check on it. Im sure youre already making excuses for your husband
One evening she inspected the school herself. The foreignlanguage signs werent the worst; the stray cats roaming the corridors were. This is a school, not a zoo, she declared. Proper women wont work in such chaos. She also noticed a tall, lanky teacher eyeing Natalie as if trying to see through her.
The lanky man was David Saunders, an English teacher who seemed to like Natalie but kept his distance, knowing she was married.
The cats were part of a Britishstyle pastoral programme, believed to nurture kindness in children. The school kept a few British Shorthairs that were allowed to roam even onto desks during lessons. They behaved well most of the time.
Simon sent occasional emails about his whereabouts, but they grew rarer. A few times men with obvious criminal backgrounds visited, asking about Simons location.
Then the messages stopped. Natalie feared the creditors had found him, but Mrs. Harrison remained optimistic:
– If they had found him, theyd have stopped bothering us.
– Then why the silence?
– You dont know. Hes a good lad; he wont stay lonely forever.
A year later, just before the school term ended, Simon wrote that he had met another woman and was now living with her. He didnt consider it adultery because they were never legally married. He didnt mention Poppy at all, as if she didnt exist. Mrs. Harrison quickly justified it:
– He must know Poppy isnt his.
– What? She was born while we were together.
– Born to me, not to him. Can that happen?
– Stop this nonsense, mother!
– Im no longer your mother. I may be a grandmother to Poppy, but from now on Im Elizabeth Marlowe, or perhaps nobody at all thats better.
Leaving the flat that had belonged to Mrs. Harrison was inevitable. Renting in the city was expensive, and raising Poppy on a limited income seemed impossible. Even if they scraped by, could she stay in a place where, apart from her daughter, she had no other family? Her own parents, hearing of her plight, invited her back to the village, promising a teaching post rural schools always needed teachers.
Mrs. Harrison set aside her own plans:
– Dont get carried away, dear. I intend to keep the school running, and the board supports it.
– Where will we live then?
– Ill speak to the board. They might give you a stipend for accommodation or a loan. In the meantime, you can move to my cottage. The academic year is ending, May is here, and you wont need heating. My husband only comes out on weekends. Take a summer break and visit your parents.
David offered to drive their belongings to the cottage. All they had left were a few pieces of clothing and some dishes. On the road he asked:
– Where will you stay in winter?
– Mrs. Harrison promised to find us a place to rent.
– Why not stay in my onebed flat? I live with my mother whos ill and cooks for me. Surviving on instant noodles forever isnt realistic.
– Well see. In summer Ill go to the village, maybe stay there permanently.
– What about our school? Youre being set up as headmistress
– Ive been set up for marriage before. Schools exist everywhere.
At the cottage, Poppy thrived on fresh air; her cheeks flushed pink. She bonded quickly with Mrs. Harrison and her husband, becoming part of a single family.
Natalie thought less often of her former life. It was painful, but perhaps for the best. Simon would have left her anyway; he never wanted to register their marriage.
David drove them to the village. After a long farewell dinner, they arrived at dusk. They unloaded, and David began to head back, but Natalies mother stopped him:
– Stay a while, well have fresh milk for dinner.
Natalie followed, saying:
– Did you ever think of David as a husband for me?
– Wasnt that the idea?
– No, theres nothing between us.
– Dont fool yourself. I see the way he looks at you. Poppy could be with him
From a distance, Natalie watched David laughing with Poppy. Perhaps something could happen.
In the quiet that settled over the countryside, Natalie felt a warm, steady calm, like the simple peace of childhood. She realized that hardship can strip away false comforts, leaving only what truly matters: honesty, selfrespect, and the courage to start anew. The lesson was clear when you let go of toxic ties, you make space for genuine love and a life worth living.
