Chapter 5 #3
After the first few days, Iryna inquired of the building manager and he confirmed that there was another apartment available on the top floor.
With no elevator, it would be a hike to get there.
It was the same size as Danilo’s, and no fancier, but had a small balcony where she could sit and read in the sun.
It would give each of them their own space.
If she took it, she’d have to furnish it cheaply with basics at Ikea or from secondhand stores.
She told the manager she’d think about it.
She was still hoping that life would return to normal in Ukraine soon, and she could get an attractive apartment on her own.
With spousal support from Anton in a divorce, she could rent a more elegant, spacious apartment in a better part of town, even better than the one they had before the war.
It had been traumatic losing their home, but if she got a better one as a result, then maybe it would soothe the sorrow of the loss.
There was nothing wrong with Danilo’s neighborhood, which was just an ordinary commercial area, with buildings similar to Danilo’s, and his apartment was nothing like her large, elegant apartment in Kyiv, filled with expensive art and antiques she had selected carefully.
Her home had always been important to Iryna, as a status symbol to impress her friends, but those days were over for now, and maybe forever.
Her whole life had changed with the war, and she didn’t know how generous Anton was prepared to be in a divorce.
The idea was brand-new, and this wasn’t the time to explore it.
They hadn’t spoken of financial details before she left.
Everyone had more important issues on their minds, like protecting their families and staying safe.
She didn’t tell Danilo that she and his father were planning to divorce.
She had told him about the loss of their apartment when she arrived.
That seemed like enough for him to face right now.
On her first night in Madrid, Danilo had taken his mother to his favorite café nearby.
He said they had delicious food and told his mother what to try.
She followed his suggestions and they were excellent.
The restaurants served delicious tapas and assorted Spanish local dishes, which were hearty but not too heavy.
It was nice to relax with him. He was on call, but hoped to have time to chat with her, to catch up, since he hadn’t seen her since Christmas, when he came home for two days.
He was mostly out with his friends then.
Now they would be sharing a tiny apartment.
“I’m sorry to land on you like this,” she apologized to him. He patted her hand with a warm smile.
“I love the fact that I’ll be seeing you every day, Mama.
We’ll be fine here. And I’m at the hospital most of the time, so you’ll have the apartment to yourself.
” He had been a great sport about giving up his space to his mother and was relieved that she was out of the war zone.
He knew that his father wanted her safe too, and away from the war.
“Thank you, darling,” she said with a tired smile. “It’s so strange to be away from it. No bombs going off, no air raid sirens. The shelters were a nightmare. Some people are living there, they have nowhere else to go. Like us,” she said ruefully. “Your father is going to stay at the hospital.”
He hesitated before he spoke again and then looked at her. “I want to go back. Not now, I can’t take the time out of my internship, but when it’s over. I want to help put the country back together.”
“It will take years,” she said sadly. “You can’t imagine what the damage looks like. And there are other cities that are so much worse than Kyiv.”
“I know. I’ve seen the photos. They’re going to need everyone’s help after. I hate not being there now.”
“I feel a little guilty too,” she admitted, “but mostly relieved to be out of there. It was terrifying once they started bombing us.”
“I hope Papa will be okay,” Danilo said, frowning.
“He will.” She looked like she wanted to say more, but didn’t, and Danilo didn’t press her.
He knew how bad his parents’ relationship was and had been for years.
She wasn’t above making nasty remarks about Anton to their son, which Danilo didn’t want to be involved in.
She had resented Anton for years, and blamed him for everything she didn’t have but thought she deserved.
Things had gotten worse when Danilo left for med school.
Now she was subdued by what she’d experienced in Kyiv before she left, and was grateful to be alive and safe in Spain, where life was normal.
She wished she had access to more money, but even that seemed less important right now, and she didn’t need to worry about her son, unlike the experience of so many women in Ukraine who were losing their children, an agony Iryna couldn’t even imagine and didn’t want to, with her only child. He was safe.
Danilo was gone in the morning when she woke up.
He had left quietly not to wake her and started his shift at six.
He would be at the hospital for forty-eight hours, so she had the apartment to herself, and spent the day walking around Madrid, and had dinner at the same café that night.
She didn’t speak Spanish, but the owner was very nice to her.
After dinner she went back to the apartment and wondered what Anton was doing and if he was with Sasha.
Madrid felt a universe away from what was happening in Ukraine.
It was hard to believe that the whole country was being destroyed, while in Madrid and everywhere else, life was normal, and people were having a good time, going out to dinner, seeing friends, going on vacation, spending the weekend with their families, children were smiling and laughing, safely tucked into their beds at night, while in Ukraine, men and women and children were dying.