Unforgiven - Complete

Chapter Twenty-one

"Morning Mr. Mazur!" Lissa greeted sunnily the next morning as she slipped into her house slippers in the Mazur's entryway.

"Lissa," Abe greeted pleasantly, his eyes narrowing a little as he turned to look at Janine.

"Lissa's over to study with Rozalia," Janine said by way of explanation.

"I don't want any parties here while I'm away," Abe said obdurately, sensing there was something odd about Lissa turning up at 7 am, but unable to put his finger on it.

"For goodness sake, Abe," Janine growled. "Christian and his family are in mourning, Dimitri has his scholarship exams this weekend, the girls have their history exam to study for, plus Lissa is trying to support her boyfriend through his loss. I don't imagine anyone will be partying," she admonished.

"Oh yes. Of course," he muttered quickly, remembering the Ozera family's loss.

"I know it's early, Mr. Mazur, but Rose said you'd be up, and I needed to drop some things over to Christian's family. Dad has heaps of wine glasses he bought for when they had his fortieth, and Mrs. Ozera asked if she could borrow them. They have an open house over there for the entire family and in-laws, so she needed heaps," Lissa explained. "Andre and I just dropped them over there, and then he brought me here."

"That's fine dear," Janine encouraged, giving Lissa a hug. "You know you're welcome anytime."

Turning to Rose, Janine asked her to step into the kitchen for final instructions. While Lissa kept an eye out for Abe who was taking their bags to the car, Janine gave Rose an envelope with their insurance card and some money.

"Order in tonight for you and Dimitri, wee one," she said lovingly. "I'll call once we're at the campsite. If anything happens, get Dimitri to take you straight to the hospital and call us. Otherwise, we'll be back late tomorrow afternoon." Giving her daughter a final hug, Janine pasted an enthusiastic look on her face and headed to the front door.

"Have fun Mom, Tata!" Rose smiled waving as her father opened the truck door gleefully for her mother. Rose was almost certain she heard her mother say something under her breath but immediately dismissed it. She didn't think her mother would know or use words like that!

Back inside the house, Lissa and Rose sat on the sofas downstairs.

"So what do I need to look out for?" Lissa asked practically.

"A high temp, shivers, really heavy bleeding. I honestly feel ok. It's just like a bad period."

Lissa nodded understandingly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Right now? Not really, but I appreciate you asking. For the moment I want to think about anything but this. How's Christian going?"

"Not so great," Lissa confided. "His Bunica wants him to speak at Tasha's funeral, and he doesn't want to. The house is crazy over there. All his brothers and sisters and their kids are there, even the ones who've moved away. Last night one of the brothers managed to get a message through to Christian's father telling him Tasha had died and how much Mrs. Ozera wants the whole family at the funeral. Lucas texted back saying he'd see if he could make it to the Church. Christian has only met his father a couple of times and can't remember him, so he's freaking out."

"That's rough. I'm so sorry – you should be over there with him," Rose said regretfully.

"It's ok. I told him I'd go over this afternoon. It's a bit freaky with all his uncles and aunts. Christian and I are almost at the age Lucas and Moira were when she fell pregnant with Christian, and they all like to remind us of the fact. It's disturbing! By the way, did I tell you the latest about Jesse?!"