12.4 Close Relatives Did not See Petar

“During the third year of my wife’s illness, my “half-daughter-in-law” from Maribor proposed me to take my wife to an excursion to Sweden. Her offer was nice and humane, and my wife loved to travel. She endured the illness well at that time, did not vomit, did not wake up and shout during the night, did not faint, and her wound from burns caused by intensive radiation, which extended from the waist up to shoulder, healed well. So, the daughter-in-law departed with my wife for five days. When they returned, she accompanied her to the train and called me to wait for my wife at the train station in Celje.

I noticed that my wife was not satisfied and that she tried to hide it, but I attributed that to her illness; I noticed that she became cold and absorbed in her thoughts. She ceased to express the wish to see her grandchildren, with whom she always walked and played. She did that frequently before the excursion. Less than a month passed when my son came and told me that he was to separate from his unmarried wife, with whom he had two children, and that he left them the apartment in Ljubljana, which I helped him to buy. I could not agree with that. Firstly, all could wait and was insignificant at that time, since his mother was still alive and we knew that she would die soon, and secondly, that apartment was bought with great difficulties, so it would be cleverer to rent another one and pay expenses for children and their mother. My son showed me a certified contract and said that this thing was over for him. My wife listened to our conversation and asked me not to speak with the son so harshly, because the newly created situation in his family was not his fault. I got absorbed in my thoughts: my son suffered in his childhood, because I worked far from home and was socially active, and therefore could not give him enough parental attention and love. I unfortunately realised that too late and will probably be paying for this sin till the rest of my life. It became clear to me why the trip to Sweden was necessary, why my wife was so quiet and miserable after the trip: she could not stand the fact that her grandchildren had no real family, and their parents were in quarrel. Immediately after the event when my wife’s sister and brother wanted to divide our apartment, my son asked me when the probate proceedings were going to be. My son never showed selfishness, he respected his parents, and therefore it was unclear to me why all this was now significant. I told him to take whatever he wanted from the apartment and to come over so that we would discuss the matter. The son and daughter came to a visit and agreed that things would be arranged when the time comes.

Two months before the wife’s death, my son took his mother to Ljubljana, and when they returned, she told me that she wrote a will. I had nothing against the will and thought our children should take everything. At the probate proceedings, the judge explained to the son that mother’s will was worthless, since she enclosed in the will everything gained during our mutual life, not only her half, and therefore he could not handle my half of the property. He also told him that her lawyer, who wrote this will, was obliged to inform her about those facts by his official duty. The probate proceedings turned all right in the end; everyone was satisfied.”

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