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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Hey, move over!\u00bb \u2013 a childish voice, like a silver bell, rang out.<\/p>\n
That ringing call instantly pulled Anastasia out of the depths of her heavy thoughts, forcing her to step aside. A little boy, dressed in a gray tracksuit and a white jacket, zipped past her like a tiny tornado. Nastya struggled to regain her breath, disrupted by the surprise, adjusted the bag on her shoulder, and continued on her way.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abOh, how good it is to be a teenager,\u00bb she thought with a hint of envy, mentally transporting herself back to the carefree years of her youth.<\/p>\n
What worries did she have back then? Schoolwork and plans for how to have more fun on the weekends. And she, silly girl, had dreamed of growing up as quickly as possible! Remembering her parents, who had long since passed away, Nastya completely lost her composure.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abI can\u2019t wait to get home,\u00bb she muttered under her breath, \u00abto cry my heart out if I must.\u00bb<\/p>\n
And just moments ago, the chief physician had scolded her so severely that it seemed like the perfect time to write a resignation letter.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abThe best thing I can do for you,\u00bb declared the boss, \u00abis to offer you the opportunity to resign voluntarily.\u00bb<\/p>\n
And all because Nastya had refused to prescribe an ineffective medication to a severely ill child suffering from days of vomiting!<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abMy dear old man will probably threaten to tear my head off, and as for me, a little orphan, they could just kick me out \u2013 no one will even stand up for me,\u00bb Anastasia bitterly reflected.<\/p>\n
Evgeny Vasilievich, the pediatrician, had prescribed enzymes for the little one, insisting he had acute pancreatitis.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abAcute pancreatitis in a three-year-old? What is he, a veteran alcoholic, or did he devour greasy pork with spoons? Such a disease is exceedingly rare in little ones, and certainly, enzymes aren\u2019t the treatment \u2013 especially when the stomach has been empty for days!\u00bb Anastasia fumed. \u00abLet\u2019s wait for the test results,\u00bb she suggested, but the pediatrician objected again.<\/p>\n
At that point, Nastya couldn\u2019t hold back:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abGo to your own children\u2019s ward and call the shots there! This is my territory!\u00bb she shouted, and the nurses of the infectious diseases department hurriedly disappeared into the nurses\u2019 station.<\/p>\n
Nastya had been working as a doctor at the city infectious disease hospital for several years. Her life seemed to have settled into a routine: work, home, books, and rare meetings with a friend. No new experiences, no new acquaintances.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abMaybe I should get a kitten?\u00bb she thought. \u00abOr a hamster? At least someone to wait for me at home.\u00bb<\/p>\n
But she immediately dismissed the idea. Yeah, first a kitten, then a cat, and before you know it \u2013 like Aunt Vera with her twenty cats, a blue stocking.<\/p>\n
Aunt Vera, the downstairs neighbor, often brought her pets for a check-up.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abVera Andreevna, how many times must I repeat? I\u2019m an infectiologist, not a veterinarian! I don\u2019t understand a thing about feline diseases!\u00bb Nastya would say, but the old lady was unyielding.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abHow can that be? Are feline ailments any more complicated than human ones? Look, maybe you\u2019ll find something?\u00bb<\/p>\n
Nastya sighed, took another kitten into her arms, and carefully examined it. As usual, she found either a bloated belly, a broken claw, or a bitten ear.<\/p>\n
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\n\u2013 \u00abSee, I told you you\u2019d manage!\u00bb the neighbor rejoiced, having received some recommendations for her beloved pet.<\/p>\n
Then Aunt Vera disappeared, and all her cats vanished. At that time, Nastya was in town, attending advanced training courses at the regional center. When she returned, new tenants\u2014a young couple\u2014had already moved into Vera Andreevna\u2019s apartment.<\/p>\n
Once again, Nastya adjusted the bag on her shoulder and suddenly heard a strange sound coming from the direction of the river along which she was walking. At first, she thought it was a kitten squeaking, accidentally stranded on a fragment of ice that still floated by in some places despite the unusually warm April. She craned her neck, trying to see something in the water. At this time, the river usually overflowed and flooded the banks. It seemed to her that an upside-down boat was lying on the beach, and the sound was coming from there.<\/p>\n
Nastya walked toward the boat, but when she got closer, she involuntarily recoiled and crossed herself. On the sand lay not a boat \u2013 but a real wooden coffin, unpainted and unlined with fabric.<\/p>\n
It nearly knocked the wind out of her! The last time she had seen a coffin so close was when she was burying her parents, who had died in a car accident. Then, some distant relatives, who handled the funeral arrangements, had taken her along to a funeral home and offered her a choice of a final resting place for her parents. That painful memory had deeply etched itself into her mind. And now, before her, lay this ghastly object, inside of which someone was clearly squeaking or crying.<\/p>\n
Nastya looked around, trying to find an iron rod or at least a sturdy stick to pry the lid open. It was evident that the coffin wasn\u2019t nailed shut; it had simply settled tightly into its grooves. Finally, her gaze fell on a rusty, hole-riddled shovel. She wedged it under the lid and forcefully pried it open.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abHelp!\u00bb \u2013 a childish voice cried out from inside.<\/p>\n
Nastya tossed the lid aside and pulled a girl of about seven years old out onto the sand, cold, wet, and frightened.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abHow did you get here?\u00bb Nastya asked.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abI hid from the police; they were trying to catch me because I stole a bun,\u00bb the girl sobbed. \u00abAnd some tea\u2026 and sleep\u2026\u00bb she listed her simple wishes.<\/p>\n
Nastya was moved to tears. She removed her jacket, wrapped the little one up, and said:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abCome on, I\u2019m hungry too, and I want to have tea with a bun.\u00bb<\/p>\n
On the way, they got acquainted. The girl\u2019s name was Inga. She didn\u2019t remember her parents. She had been sent to an orphanage, but she decided to run away because she disliked everything about the new place: the new caregivers, the unfamiliar children. At first, Inga managed to get to her native orphanage and told the guard that she was home, but for some reason the adults weren\u2019t happy about her return and called a psychologist, who spent several hours insisting that the girl should stay at the orphanage.<\/p>\n
Then Inga ran away again, got to the train station, and boarded a bus that was headed in that direction. She had never been to such a place before: crowds of people, noisy trains, pushing and shoving. But she got very hungry, so she chose the most appetizing, the fluffiest bun from a vendor\u2019s stall and immediately took a bite. A woman shrieked, called the police, and Inga realized \u2013 she needed to run. She lost her bun, the laces on her shoes came undone, and she almost ended up barefoot.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abSo how did you end up in that horrible box?\u00bb Nastya inquired.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abI kept running and running, and then I smelled familiar sawdust. In our orphanage, they sprinkled it on the playground. I stopped, and there I saw a shed with its gates wide open, and they were taking these boxes out and loading them into a van. And I thought, \u2018What if I leave?\u2019 So I jumped inside before anyone noticed. And to avoid being found, the men hid me in one of the boxes. Then the van started moving, I fell asleep, and I woke up only when my box was falling somewhere. There must have been an accident, and all the boxes were dumped out. I was so scared!\u00bb the girl recounted with eyes burning. \u00abAunt Nastya, I even fell into the water with that box!\u00bb<\/p>\n
Nastya gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abYes, it suddenly became so cold that I couldn\u2019t feel my teeth! And then water began seeping through the gaps, and I heard what sounded like crashing waves, and it washed me onto the shore. I tried to get out, but the lid wouldn\u2019t budge!\u00bb<\/p>\n
The girl burst into tears again, and Nastya held her tightly.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abOh, my poor dear! And I thought my own fate was difficult enough!\u00bb<\/p>\n
The living room in Nastya\u2019s apartment was filled with sunlight streaming through a large south-facing window. The woman immediately set the kettle and a saucepan with chicken broth on the stove, and filled a bathtub with fragrant pink foam for Inga. \u2013 \u00abWow! Is that really a bathtub?\u00bb the girl asked in awe. \u00abOh, I\u2019ve always dreamed of splashing around in one!\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abAnd where are your parents?\u00bb Nastya asked.<\/p>\n
Inga, carefully chewing on a cheese sandwich, just shrugged.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abThe caregiver said that my mom brought me to the orphanage herself. And dad\u2026\u00bb the girl shrugged again.<\/p>\n
Nastya couldn\u2019t shake off Inga\u2019s story. The girl clearly had a foreign last name \u2013 Als, and her appearance was unusual: almost black, deep-set eyes and light, curly hair.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abI need to take a day off work,\u00bb Nastya thought, \u00aband start processing the adoption documents. Our meeting was surely not a coincidence.\u00bb<\/p>\n
She called her friend:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abOlya, listen, there\u2019s something going on\u2026 No, everything\u2019s fine, wait, don\u2019t interrupt!\u00bb<\/p>\n
Nastya told her how she had found Inga and under what circumstances. Olya patiently listened to her friend\u2019s sighs and exclamations of shock, and then asked:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abDoes your Vadik\u2019s institute by any chance have a vacancy for a lab technician?\u00bb Olya promised to talk to her husband about the documents for the girl and added immediately: \u00abListen, bring your Inga over to my place; I\u2019m doing an inventory at home and wanted to donate some children\u2019s clothes. Maybe we\u2019ll find something suitable for her.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Olya was on maternity leave with her third child, so she was practically always available.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abPocket phones are made exactly for that\u2014to be carried around at all times,\u00bb she loved to repeat.<\/p>\n
After visiting Olya, Inga returned home, dressed in an almost new denim jacket with white fur, corduroy pants with suspenders, sneakers with LED lights, and a pristine white cap \u2013 a real model for a children\u2019s fashion magazine! Nastya walked beside her, carrying two checkered bags full of new clothes, and was delighted. \u2013 \u00abIsn\u2019t she a princess?\u00bb she thought.<\/p>\n
Then, at home, she began gathering the adoption documents and scrolled through a huge stream of job vacancies. But in the evening, Olya called:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abMy friend, you\u2019re incredibly lucky! Vadik\u2019s institute actually needs a senior lab technician in the virology department. They\u2019re paying more than in the hospital, and there\u2019s much less work. So they\u2019re expecting you tomorrow! And you can bring Inga to my place in the meantime.\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abNot Inga, but Inga,\u00bb Nastya corrected her.<\/p>\n
But Olya just smirked:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abWhat\u2019s the difference? She\u2019s a good girl; I\u2019d adopt her myself if I could, honestly!\u00bb<\/p>\n
Amazingly, the adoption process took Nastya a full seven months! The guardianship and custody authorities, like stubborn bureaucrats, kept trying to deny her, saying, \u00abWhere have we ever seen a single woman raise a child?\u00bb But in the end, the argument about Nastya\u2019s medical education, which guaranteed a stable income, outweighed all the objections.<\/p>\n
And the documents for Inga took even longer. They had been gathering dust in the boarding school from which the girl had run away, and the institution, without much thought, had filed a missing persons report with the police. But once all the obstacles were cleared, Inga finally moved into Nastya\u2019s apartment as her daughter.<\/p>\n
Her new \u00abmother\u00bb\u2014perhaps from joy, perhaps out of habit\u2014often called her \u00abkitten,\u00bb recalling how she had wanted to get a pet to ease her loneliness, and fate had given her an entire daughter.<\/p>\n
One day Inga returned from school, bent over with stomach pain. She barely crawled to the sofa and, without even undressing, curled up into a ball.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abMom, I think I got a bad sausage at school,\u00bb the girl whimpered, and then immediately vomited.<\/p>\n
Nastya, feeling Inga\u2019s forehead, grabbed the phone and called an ambulance. In the children\u2019s ward where Inga was taken, they immediately waved her off due to the severe vomiting:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abWhat? We don\u2019t admit patients with such symptoms! Go to the infectious disease department!\u00bb<\/p>\n
Reluctantly, Nastya had to drag poor Inga to another building. There, the girl was immediately hooked up to an IV. Of course, Nastya was not allowed to stay with her daughter. \u2013 \u00abThat\u2019s not allowed, Anastasia Valeryevna, you know,\u00bb the new head of the infectious disease department said sadly, \u00abonly infants are allowed to lie with their mothers.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Nastya nodded and asked when the test results would be ready.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abBy tomorrow at lunch. Come over, and we\u2019ll set a diagnosis and decide on treatment.\u00bb<\/p>\n
The next day, after noon, Nastya arrived at the hospital and sat on a small sofa in the lobby, her heart pounding like a caged bird.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abLord, please, not hepatitis!\u00bb she prayed, knowing that liver inflammation was a life sentence.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, the front door opened, and Nastya saw the pediatrician, Evgeny Vasilievich, who, without glancing around, hurried toward the staircase. Nastya\u2019s heart beat even faster.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abOh, here he comes again to give his ridiculous advice!\u00bb she thought, and began pacing in the lobby.<\/p>\n
A nurse at the first desk, glancing at her sideways, loudly said:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abMadam, don\u2019t worry, Sergey Vitalievich is an excellent doctor; he\u2019ll cure your little girl!\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abWhat?\u00bb Nastya didn\u2019t understand, distracted by her own thoughts.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abI\u2019m telling you, Sergey Vitalievich can handle any ailment!\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abYes, yes, I know, we\u2019re colleagues, I just don\u2019t understand why Evgeny Vasilievich came here?\u00bb<\/p>\n
Nastya grew even more anxious, but then noticed that Evgeny was dashing down the stairs, leaping over steps.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abAnastasia Valeryevna!\u00bb he almost shouted, \u00abis that you, the mother of Inga?\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abYes,\u00bb she replied with difficulty, trying to keep calm, \u00abwhat\u2019s the matter?\u00bb<\/p>\n
She braced herself to hear anything\u2014even the darkest prognosis\u2014but not what he said in the next moment:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abNastya, you won\u2019t believe it\u2026 it seems Inga is my daughter!\u00bb<\/p>\n
He rushed to her, embraced her with trembling arms\u2014whether from laughter or tears, she couldn\u2019t tell\u2014and then looked straight into her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abHer last name was\u2026\u00bb Anastasia finally managed to reply, stunned, \u00abAls.\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abThat\u2019s her mother\u2019s surname, Agnes. She didn\u2019t want to give Inga my surname. And then, when the girl turned three, she ran away from me. A few days later, Agnes called and said, \u2018You can stop looking for us; we\u2019re in Europe now.\u2019 I don\u2019t know how I ever got over it\u2026\u00bb Evgeny fell silent, as if trying to digest the memories.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abWait, if Agnes took Inga to Europe, how did she end up in an orphanage in a neighboring region?\u00bb asked Nastya.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abIt\u2019s simple. At customs, she was refused exit without the father\u2019s consent. Without much thought, she took the girl to the first orphanage she found and abandoned her there. Can you imagine the level of treachery? Alright, I was unloved, our family was despised, but how could she do that to her own daughter?\u00bb Evgeny waved his hand, his shoulders trembling once more.<\/p>\n
Nastya couldn\u2019t utter a word from shock.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abI was called here by Sergey Vitalievich,\u00bb Evgeny continued, \u00abhe said just pop in for a minute; the case was clear enough, so no examination was necessary, just to keep the protocol. So I came. And when I saw her\u2026 she was the spitting image of Agnes! Then it turned out her name was Inga, and I understood everything\u2026 she\u2019s mine!\u00bb<\/p>\n
Nastya froze, lowering her gaze. What was he trying to say? How should she understand \u2013 \u00abmine\u00bb? Could he really be planning to take away her one joy, her little treasure who had been calling her mom for almost a year? Why was this man, once again, standing in her way and threatening her happiness?<\/p>\n
Evgeny, seemingly realizing her dismay, immediately grabbed both her hands.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abYes, I was wrong! Forgive me, for goodness\u2019 sake! That boy\u2019s diagnosis was indeed exactly what you suspected. That\u2019s why we used your treatment plan. After that incident, I wanted to call you and apologize, but\u2026\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abBut apologizing to a rootless female doctor is not in your rules?\u00bb she snapped, looking him straight in the eyes.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abWhy are you like that?\u00bb Evgeny lowered his eyes. \u00abIt just seemed strange after you lost your position, and instead, Sergey was appointed. By the way, he, too, is trying to treat children without my involvement\u2026 But I\u2019m not such a bad doctor!\u00bb<\/p>\n
Nastya didn\u2019t know what to say. At that moment, it was more important for her to be sure that Evgeny wouldn\u2019t intrude on the peaceful life she had built with Inga or make her daughter suffer or cry.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abAnd how exactly do you intend to help Inga?\u00bb she asked.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abDon\u2019t you know how much a little girl needs? I\u2019ll ensure she has the very best!\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abPlease, don\u2019t do that!\u00bb Nastya cut him off sternly. \u00abRight now, Inga is a golden child \u2013 modest, grateful, affectionate. And your overbearing care will ruin her. No, I won\u2019t let you do that!\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abBut listen, don\u2019t you have any right to refuse a biological father?\u00bb Evgeny\u2019s voice, contrary to expectations, sounded not threatening but pleading. \u00abAt least allow me to see her!\u00bb<\/p>\n
He uttered the last phrase in such a broken tone that Nastya couldn\u2019t hold back.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abAlright, many families live with an intermittent father. I\u2019ll talk to Inga and tell her that you unexpectedly showed up. But let\u2019s wait until she recovers; I still don\u2019t know what\u2019s wrong with her.\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abShe\u2019ll be fine,\u00bb Evgeny suddenly reassured her, \u00abjust a common rotavirus, a disease of unclean hands. So in a week or two, she\u2019ll be off to school again.\u00bb<\/p>\n
The doctor embraced Nastya again, holding her close.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abThank you, Anastasia Valeryevna!\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abFor what?\u00bb she asked, genuinely surprised.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abFor not chasing me away and for listening. And most of all\u2014for saving my daughter!\u00bb<\/p>\n
He stepped back, bowed, and left the lobby. Nastya still caught the lingering scent of his cologne and felt anxious, remembering how tightly he had embraced her.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abWhat tangled fates we have!\u00bb she thought, \u00abAnd how will I ever explain this to Inga?\u00bb<\/p>\n
Returning home, Nastya saw a courier at the door with a huge bouquet of pink roses. Noticing the lady of the apartment, the young man said:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abHow wonderful that I caught you! Otherwise, I\u2019d have had to come back again; I was told to deliver this personally.\u00bb<\/p>\n
He handed her the flowers and a receipt. She mechanically signed for them and timidly asked:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abWho is the sender?\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abThere\u2019s a note inside!\u00bb the courier shouted, hurrying down the stairs.<\/p>\n
At home, Nastya placed the flowers in a vase and retrieved the note: \u00abYou didn\u2019t forbid spoiling your daughter, but you didn\u2019t forbid spoiling yourself either. Zhenya.\u00bb<\/p>\n
For some reason, the note irritated Nastya.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abWhat kind of lordly games is this? Has he decided to win my favor? Does he think I\u2019ll melt and give him my daughter? But nothing of the sort will happen!\u00bb<\/p>\n
She decided that next time, if such an event occurred, she would refuse any gifts and send them back. But in the evening the phone rang.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abNastya,\u00bb Evgeny said in a soft voice, \u00abhave you already spoken with Inga?\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abEvgeny Vasilievich, it seems we agreed to wait until she recovered, or do you have a short memory?\u00bb<\/p>\n
The remark was too sharp, yet Evgeny didn\u2019t seem embarrassed at all, merely smiling:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abWell, why all the hostility? I\u2019d really like to talk.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Nastya suddenly felt ashamed. She imagined what would have happened if her own child had gone missing and she hadn\u2019t known for years. And now he had been found, and she couldn\u2019t even hug him. Perhaps this was too harsh a trial for any parent. Nastya sighed and resolved to act. She called Inga in the hospital and began the difficult conversation.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abKitten, you know that no one can be born without a mom and a dad, right?\u00bb she began.<\/p>\n
The daughter looked at her in surprise.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abOf course, they told us that at school.\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abWell then\u2026 sometimes there are cases when parents lose their children for various reasons. That\u2019s what happened with your dad. Your mom took you and planned to run far away, and then\u2026\u00bb Nastya faltered, not knowing how to continue, \u00abthen something happened to her, and you ended up in an orphanage. And your dad knew nothing about it.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Inga listened, holding her breath. When she heard about the orphanage, she frowned:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abAnd why didn\u2019t dad look for me?\u00bb<\/p>\n
The question nearly caught Nastya off guard, and she blurted out the first thing that came to mind:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abBecause they told him that you had died. And your mom\u2026\u00bb she left the sentence unfinished.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abNo wonder I don\u2019t love them,\u00bb the little girl grumbled, staring at Nastya with her dark brown eyes once again.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abAnd then\u2026 then\u2026 yesterday your dad accidentally saw you in a hospital ward and recognized you. He said, \u2018That\u2019s my Inga!’\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abIs that the doctor who came to see me, and then grabbed his head and ran off?\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abYes! His name is Evgeny Vasilievich, he\u2026\u00bb<\/p>\n
The girl clapped her hands at first, but then suddenly became thoughtful again.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abSo, will you give me to him?\u00bb<\/p>\n
Nastya couldn\u2019t hold back and burst into tears:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abOh, my dear, how could I? I love you so much! But your dad\u2026 he loves you too, you understand? He missed you terribly and wants to hold you.\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abMom, don\u2019t cry,\u00bb Inga wiped her tears with her little hand, and they embraced tightly.<\/p>\n
At that moment, Sergey Vitalievich approached them, handing over a sheet with prescriptions and a note for school. Then the door swung open, and Evgeny Vasilievich, striding briskly, nearly ran past them to the second floor, holding a pink bouquet and a pretty box with a toy.<\/p>\n
Evgeny entered the ward and smiled broadly:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abInga! Nastya! May I come in?\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abYou may, I\u2019ve told her everything,\u00bb Nastya replied.<\/p>\n
The man handed Nastya the flowers and then approached the girl:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abThis is for you,\u00bb he said, offering Inga a box containing a doll and a set of clothes.<\/p>\n
The little girl widened her eyes and, without taking her gaze off Evgeny, accepted the gift.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abThank you. And are you my dad?\u00bb<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abThank you, Dad,\u00bb the girl repeated, tears glistening on her lashes.<\/p>\n
Unable to hold back any longer, Evgeny scooped his daughter into his arms and buried his face in her light hair. Nastya, feeling that she herself was about to cry, turned away, and Evgeny briefly said:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abNastya, let\u2019s go to the car; I\u2019ll drive you both home.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Inga had never seen such beautiful dolls, such big cars, nor had anyone ever hugged her so tightly. And suddenly, everything felt so calm, so joyful, that she wiped away her tears, hugged Evgeny, and said:<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u00abDad, stay for tea! Mom said she bought a cake.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Six months later, Inga became the belle of the ball at the lavish wedding of Zhenya, Inga\u2019s dad, and Nastya, her mom. She was dressed in a long pink dress with sequins and a full skirt, her hair was gathered into an elegant bun with delicate tendrils framing her temples, and a velvet headband adorned with small roses was placed on her head. Nastya, in a snowy wedding dress concealing her pregnancy, looked like Inga\u2019s older sister, and they frequently took photos with guests and a smiling Zhenya as a long, happy memory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hey, move over!\u00bb \u2013 a childish voice, like a silver bell, rang out. That ringing call instantly pulled Anastasia out of the depths of her heavy thoughts,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n