Unforgiven - Complete

Chapter Twenty-two

Rose's eyes widened as she saw what was obviously a wedding band. She didn't want to spoil the moment, and she was unsure where he was taking this, so she waited for Dimitri to speak.

"When your Mom suggested I move in, it made me think about us parenting Sasha together. You told me you wanted us to be a proper couple, and I wanted that too. I didn't want people to look at you and see an unwed mother; to think you were unprotected or to cast aspersions on your character. I've known for a while now I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Roza. With Sasha on the way, I thought it was a good time to ask whether you'd like to become Mrs. Dimitri Belikov," he explained looking at Rose carefully.

Rose's heart was pounding. Was this a proposal?!

"And now?" she prompted.

"You're still the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with," Dimitri explained simply. "And I still want to offer you this ring. I haven't changed my mind just because we won't be parenting Sasha, but I'm also conscious that we both have a lot of living to do and you might want to wait before we move on to marriage? I was hoping you'd accept and wear this as a promise ring? A token of my abiding love and constancy, my commitment to you and only you, and a symbol of the lifelong pledge I hope to make to you in the future."

Rose smiled lovingly at him. She was glad he'd suggested she wear it as a promise ring. After creating Sasha, and preparing to pull together for him or her, she couldn't step back to being just boyfriend and girlfriend. But at the same time, she wasn't ready to be engaged quite yet. She wanted to focus on finishing school and going to college. It didn't change the fact she knew she was his as he was hers – she just wanted to be a college student for a while before she became a fiancée and then a wife.

"I'd love to wear your ring, Dimitri Belikov," she said giving him a long loving look and moving closer to grace him with a sweet kiss. "I love you so much," she told him, placing her hands on either side of his face and kissing him again.

"Then let's put this ring on," he suggested with a huge grin, thrilled she'd accepted his loving token. He took her hand and tried slipping the ring onto her middle finger. It was a perfect fit.

"Meant to be," Rose grinned, looking at her man with such love. "And I love it!"

"I love that you're wearing it," Dimitri confessed. "And I love the fact it's here – just one step away from where one day an engagement ring will sit!" he concluded, pointing to her middle finger and then her ring finger.

They sat very close, sharing sweet, devoted kisses.

"I would have put it on the next finger if you'd wanted me to," Dimitri whispered between kisses.

"I know. But right now this is perfect," she told him, absolutely meaning it.

Their pizza arrived, and they were loading their plates when Rose's cell rang. Pulling it out of her bag, she saw it was her Mom.

"Hey Mom," she answered.

"Is everything ok? I tried calling home?" Janine asked, sounding a little worried. "Where are you?"

"Just down at the pizzeria," she explained. "I was sick of being stuck at home, so Dimitri and I came down here to eat instead of ordering in."

"She's down at the pizzeria with Lissa," Rose heard Janine tell Abe in the background before coming back on. "Everything ok?"

"Really good. We needed this time. We've talked about stuff, and we're both feeling a lot better."

"I'm glad, darling."