Unforgiven - Complete

Chapter Nineteen

Lunch started out a little tensely. After Olena served the meal, and the prayers were said, they settled down to eat making small talk. After a little while, Janine started by saying she understood these were Rose and Dimitri's decisions to make, and that she was just trying to provide information that might help them in their decision-making.

"I've done some investigating with our insurance, and Rozalia is covered until she's twenty-one provided she lives at home. Once she's over twenty weeks pregnant, we can add the baby to our policy, so he or she is covered, too. It will be a lot cheaper to do this than buying them their own policy, but of course, it all depends on Rozalia living at home. Obviously, I haven't spoken to Abe about it, but I'm confident once he's calmed down, he'll be open to the idea of Dimitri moving in with us so they can live and parent as a family. With Rozalia being our only child, we have plenty of space and the resources to help them."

Janine was trying to be delicate, but it wasn't a secret that the Mazurs were financially very comfortable whereas the Belikovs struggled. The former were in a much better position to help the young couple. Rose looked at Dimitri carefully. If they didn't have to pay rent, insurance, and groceries, the financial pressure on him would be a lot less. But it would mean Dimitri having to put up with her father – and there was no way Tata was going to be happy about his little girl becoming a mother.

"It wouldn't have to be forever," Janine quickly added. "But it would give the two of them a chance to get some savings behind them. There's still a few months before anyone will guess about the pregnancy, so I thought maybe after graduation, so they're used to living together by the time the baby arrives?" She didn't add it would probably take three months for Abe to calm down enough to consider letting Dimitri move into the house!

Olena and Yeva looked at Dimitri trying to gauge his reaction. They'd made a similar offer to him; that Rose could move in with them to the apartment, but there was a lot to be said for Dimitri being the one to move, not least of which it made sense Rose might want to be near her family as the pregnancy progressed.

"That's a generous offer and something we'll consider," Dimitri said, acknowledging the proposal without committing to anything. He grasped Rose's hand and squeezed it gently.

"How have you been feeling?" Olena asked Rose in a very motherly tone.

"Tired. Sometimes I struggle to keep my eyes open," she admitted. "And sometimes a bit queasy," she added as a wave of nausea overcame her. "I'm actually not feeling well now - could I lie down for a minute?"

"Of course. Dimka take Roza through to your room and make her comfortable," Yeva said, giving the young lovers a sympathetic smile.

"I remember those days," Janine said nostalgically. "I don't know why they call it morning sickness... I was sick twenty-four seven. For the first three months, the only things I could keep down were orange juice and ginger-molasses cookies. Every morning Abe would have to bring some to me before I even tried to get out of bed."

"I only had sickness with Dimka," Olena said with a smile. "But the cravings with Viktoria were shocking. I wanted pickled tomatoes all the time. The little town we're from in Russia – there was not a pickled tomato to be had that winter because I'd eaten them all!"

Janine, Olena, and Yeva chatted over the remainder of lunch getting to know each other, trading war stories of shepherding their respective young people thus far in life.

"I suppose we're going to be family now," Olena said philosophically at one point. "Nothing brings two families together like a baby."

"Yes I suppose so," Janine said with a sigh. "I wish it hadn't happened this way, but he's an admirable young man, Olena. You've done a wonderful job raising him, and I'll be proud to call him my grandchild's father."