Author's Notes:

Special thanks to TheTrebbledMom for beta-reading this chapter

-=o0/&\0o=-

We pulled in to the driveway behind Mama's car. As Rose and I began walking up to the front porch, Rose asked me, "This is where your whole family lives? You, your mother, and your sisters?"

Instantly, my thoughts turned to shame at the embarrassingly small house that we all lived in. Every instinct in me wanted to hide the truth, but I knew that I couldn't lie to her ever again.

I turned to face her as we walked and said, "Actually, Sonja and Karolina's three children live here, too. And my grandmother."

I was surprised to see that Rose's face was showing neither pity nor disgust that so many of us lived in a run-down house so small. If anything, I would say that she was in awe.

"Nine people? All in this house?! Dimitri, you and your family have done so much with so little," she said, taking my hand as we walked, "I would love you no matter how you grew up, but this only makes me love you more. Thank you for sharing your life - your real life - with me."

When we got to the door, the wonderful smells of Mama's cooking came wafting out towards us.

Rose looked at me and grinned. "I know that smell," she said. It was stroganoff and black bread.

As soon as I opened the door, we were met by Babushka. "Dimka," she said to me in Russian, "You've finally brought your flower home. Be sure to water it."

"This is my grandmother," I told Rose, "Yeva Belikova. Babushka, this is Rose. My ... girlfriend?"

I looked at Rose with a question in my eyes, but she was already focused on Babushka. Rose stretched out her hand to shake Babushka's, but Babushka just stared at it cryptically. "It's an honor to meet you, ma'am. Your grandson is an incredible person."

"Yes, he is. Don't ever take him for granted. If he weren't with you, I probably would have pretended not to speak English, but I know that Dimka would certainly tell you right away."

What a strange thing to say to her. Stranger how I didn't know that I would tell her right away, but Babushka seemed to. I shrugged it off as we began to walk further into the house, but Babushka added in Russian, "Ditya zmei mozhet ne byt' zmeyey, no ona mozhet vladet' yego khitrostyami. Roza mozhet vyrasti, chtoby kogda-nibud' stat' chlenom etoy sem'i, no etot den' ne segodnya. YA yey ne doveryayu. Yeshche net." 

The child of a snake may not be a snake, but she may possess his tricks. Rose may grow to become a member of this family someday, but that day is not today. I don't trust her. Not yet.

Rose bristled when Babushka began talking, but then quickly relaxed her posture. I wasn't sure if her reaction was because Babushka was speaking so cryptically, because she was speaking in Russian, or because of something she had said. Without missing a beat, Rose replied to Babushka, "Inogda prozvishcha neopravdanny. I inogda ulovki zmey dlya ikh sobstvennogo vyzhivaniya. Odnako ne vse zmei zlyye. Nezavisimo ot togo, eto ne imeyet znacheniya. Tebe ne nuzhno doveryat' mne, potomu chto ya zdes' ne dlya tebya. YA lyublyu Dimitri i ne sobirayus' ukhodit' v blizhaysheye vremya." 

Sometimes, nicknames are unwarranted. And sometimes, snakes' tricks are for their own survival. Not all snakes are evil, though. Regardless, it doesn't matter. You don't have to trust me because I'm not here for you. I love Dimitri and I'm not going away anytime soon.

I was in awe that Rose would admit her love for me to my family so readily, especially like this.

"I like her, Dimka," Babushka told me, breaking into a big smile, "She has backbone. And fire. She will make a good Belikova someday."

Rose just looked at me as I laughed at my grandmother's antics, puzzled. With a shrug, I told her, "Not everything she says makes sense. But the good news is that she likes you."

I continued, pulling Rose along by her hand, in to the dining room, where Karolina sat feeding the last of some chunks of cut strawberries and cantaloupe to her one-year-old daughter, Zoya, who was sitting in the high chair. Zoya would take every third strawberry and toss it back at Karo, and was making a funny squashed face as she ate if one of the pieces of fruit must have been particularly sour.

"Muh, muh, muh," Zoya intoned, holding her hands out to Rose.

Before I could say anything further, Mama and the others all walked into the room. Zoya continued to hold her hands out.

"Dimka," said Mama, "You didn't tell me you'd be bringing a guest home with you. Is this Roza?"

Rose looked at me and smiled. I squeezed her hand and said, "Yes. Everyone, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Rose Mazur."

"Rose," said Mama, "I'm Olena, Dimitri's mother. It's so nice to finally meet you. Dimitri is quite smitten with you. I'm so glad that the two of you were able to work things out."

Roza squeezed my hand. "I'm glad, too. Dimitri isn't the only one who is 'smitten'."

"Are you by any chance related to someone named Ibrahim Mazur, Rose?" Mama asked, "He used to live near our family in Russia. I know the chances seem small. I wouldn't ask, but you look so much like him."

Rose looked surprised. "Actually, Abe is my father," Rose said, "People who know him don't usually get to meet me. He's living just outside of Springfield now. Not far from here, actually. I didn't know him until I was seventeen, though."

"It's such an amazingly small world," said Mama, "Your father is an interesting man. He demands a high price for his work at times, but he is always fair."

"He's a lot to take in," said Rose, pulling me close to murmur at my ear, "I'll tell you more about him later."

Holding a sleeping Katya in her arms, Sonja said, "Actually, Rose and I have already met. Rose, this is my daughter, Katya. If you hadn't come to my rescue that day, I probably would've had her by a very different father years ago."

Rose smiled warmly. "It's good to see you again, Sonja. I'm glad I could help."

All eyes turned to Vika.

"Don't look at me. Rose and I met a week ago,"Viktoria added.

"Muh! Muh, muh!" Zoya yelled, poking her arms out at Rose in an exaggerated motion, "Duh, duh, duh!"

Karolina laughed. "This is Zoya, that's my son Paul over there in the corner playing video games, and I'm Karolina. I think she likes you," she said, "Could you help her out of the high chair?"

Rose looked at me uncertainly and whispered, "Dimitri, I'm not good with kids. I haven't even been around one since I was one."

"I'll help you," I told her, walking with her over to Zoya's high chair.

Karo said, "There are two handles under the tray. If you push them both in while pulling the tray up, you can lift it off."

Karo was smiling. She never trusted anyone but family with her kids. Rose looked nervous, but I couldn't believe what a monumental step this was for my sister to trust her like this right after meeting her.

Once Roza and I had Zoya's high chair unbuckled and had lifted the tray, I was about to lift her up, but Zoya lifted her hands to Roza again. "Muh! Duh! Wuh!"

"She wants you to pick her up, Roza," I told her.

Hesitantly, Rose picked Zoya up and held her. As soon as Zoya was in Roza's arms, she wrapped her own arms around Roza and leaned her head in close, snuggling in to Roza.

Collectively, all the other women in the room said, "Aaaawww!" I had to admit, it was pretty adorable.

Karolina said, "Welcome to the family, Roza."

I couldn't help but smile.

-=o0/&\0o=-

Four years later:

As I lifted the last of the boxes from the back of the moving truck, I turned towards the house, set the box down in the living room, and searched for Rose. Once I walked inside the kitchen, I saw her leaning against the kitchen counter and chugging a bottle of cold water. In her rush to down the bottle, drops spilled out the sides of her mouth, sluicing down her neck to her white tank top. Rose had been spending a lot of time outside lately and the contrast of the stark white against her tanned skin was absolutely stunning. I watched helplessly as the drops ran to the valley between her breasts, dampening the shirt and rendering it enticingly nearly transparent.

I groaned, thinking, That's mine now.

As Rose finished the bottle, she pulled back and ran the back of her hand across her damp face.

"You know what this reminds me of, Comrade?" she asked.

I was almost so distracted by her barely-there top that I didn't catch what she had said at first. Rose waved her left hand in front of her face, showing off that 'rock star' engagement ring I had managed to save money for the previous two years to afford for her, and said, "Dimitri?"

I came out of my reverie and smiled. "What does it remind you of, Roza?"

"The day we met. It was even hot like today. Except, that day, only one of us was moving." Rose smiled wistfully.

"And Lissa was moving furniture that day, instead of eight and a half months pregnant," I added.

Just as I had said that, I heard the sound of Lissa and Christian's car pulling up in the driveway. "Speak of the devil," Rose said, looking out the kitchen window, "I didn't even know you'd given them the address."

I chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "When your fiancée's very, very pregnant best friend catches you a day before your wedding and tells you that she wants to surprise her with a gift when you get back from your honeymoon, you couldn't very well tell her about it and have it still be a surprise, now could you?"

"Still with the damn eyebrows?" Rose laughed, tugging on one of her own with a finger. "One of these days, I will figure that out." After a few seconds of pressing and tugging on her face to try to get one eyebrow raised, she let go, muttering, "Oh, fuck it," then added, "What's the surprise?"

"She didn't say," I told her, with a wink.

"You get away with it this time, Belikov," Roza said, giving me a wary glance, "But watch yourself."

Rose and I moved to the front door, watching Lissa, who was to the point where she was more baby than woman right now. Christian had to help her out of the car and she walked up the steps with one arm pressed to her lower spine, as though she was supporting her hips with her lower back. When Lissa and Christian got to the door, I held it open so that they could enter.

"Come in, Liss!" Rose said, enthusiastic to see her best friend after our week-long honeymoon, "It's so good to see you!" Rose hugged Lissa and then Christian helped Lissa over to the couch.

I sat down on the easy chair on the other side of the living room, pulling Roza into my lap. After an entire week of nothing but each other, I almost couldn't bear to keep from touching her when we were in the same room. I ran a hand along her outer thigh, anxious to feel her skin. It didn't matter how much I had seen her naked or touched her before; I always wanted more.

Rose asked, "What brings you here today, Lissa?"

Lissa smiled. "Dimitri? You didn't tell her?"

"I just said you had a surprise," I said, "Not the details. I thought I would leave that up to you."

"Good boy," Lissa said, with a devious smile. If I didn't know better, I'd think she was going to pat me on the head. "I actually have two surprises. First, let me tell you about the one Dimitri knows. Rose, there's one major advantage to maternity pants. You know what that is?"

"What's that, Lissa?" Rose asked.

Pulling out a small gift box and passing it to Christian to hand to Rose, Lissa said simply, "Big pockets."

Excitedly, Rose began to tug away the wrapping paper and bow. I hadn't seen exactly what it would look like, but I knew that Lissa had gotten a family heirloom out of storage to give to Rose.

As Rose opened the box, I saw a pink beaded bracelet with a small metal cross studded with diamonds in the box before her. Lissa had told me it was an antique chotki - a prayer bracelet - that had been in her family for generations.

"Lissa, this has been passed down for generations. It's got to be worth hundreds of dollars. I can't accept this. It's too much," said Rose.

"Rose, even if you're not my blood, you will always be my sister. Now that you've taken on yet another last name, I want you to know that you will always be a Dragomir to me. And I can't take it back, because I had it inscribed. Look at the back of the cross."

As Rose flipped the cross over, I leaned in, trying not to get distracted by the beautiful view of my wife's flawless breasts down her shirt, and read the inscription, in the tiniest of lettering I had ever seen.

Rosemarie Hathaway Mazur Dragomir Belikova

I kissed the side of Rose's neck as she smiled at Lissa. "Wow, Liss! Thank you so mu-"

Lissa interrupted, "Up-bup-bup! Don't thank me yet until you hear our next gift."

Rose turned to look at me wide-eyed.

"Don't look at me," I told her, "I only knew about the first one."

Lissa took Christian's hand and smiled at him, then looked at us. "Rose, Christian and I have talked it over and we just feel like, without you in our lives, neither of us would be who we are today, and we wouldn't be together. The baby is going to be a girl and, if it's okay with you, we were thinking of giving her a middle name of Rose. We'd also like you and Dimitri to be the baby's godparents."

I could see tears glistening in Lissa's eyes. At first, I thought it was just her pregnancy hormones until Rose got up and hugged Lissa, tears streaming down her own cheek. Christian and I shared an amused look as the girls cooed to each other about how meaningful it was. A few moments later, he shrugged and joined in the hugging. The three of them motioned for me to join, too, so I sat on the coffee table in front of the couch, hoping against hope that it wouldn't break under my weight, and joined in the group hug.

A few moments later, Christian said, "And for our final gift, we are giving you the thing that all newlywed couples need most."

"And what's that?" I asked him.

With a wink, he said, "Privacy. Lissa and I are going to leave now and give you two the time alone that you need. But next week, assuming Liss doesn't pop, we'll plan to have you over for dinner. Does that sound good?"

I was ready to say that sounded great, anxious to have time alone with my Roza.

"Depends," Rose said with narrowed eyes, "What kind of food are we talking about here?"

Lissa said, "I think what you really mean is which one of us is cooking. Don't worry; Christian is. No pregnancy-brain cooking is in store."

"I got to try Lissa's pregnancy baking on a girls' night we had a week before our wedding. She made chocolate frosted brownies but added salt instead of sugar," Rose explained, making a face.

Lissa gave Rose a gentle swat on the hip, eyes aghast, saying, "Rose! You promised you'd never tell anyone about that!"

"Oops," Rose said, covering her lips curled in glee with one hand.

"I found this recipe for a bacon-wrapped meatloaf I've been dying to try out," Christian said, "Although with the way you two eat, I might need to triple the recipe."

Rose's mirthful expression turned to annoyance as she scowled at Christian. I could do nothing but smile. No one could get to Rose the way he could. Lissa and Christian were like her extended family and he was the irritating older brother she never had.

"I guess we will see the two of you next week," I said, trying to diplomatically get them out of the house. My eyes locked on Roza and dipped to the tank top she was wearing, clinging to those amazing breasts. I couldn't wait any longer to rip that tank top off of my beautiful wife.

After knowing me for even longer than Rose had, Christian could see right through me and began helping Lissa to stand, saying, "We'd better get out of here. We'll see you next week."

We said our goodbyes, urging them to visit again later, and they left. Rose waved to their car as they drove away, then the two of us walked back inside the house.

I closed the front door and turned to Rose. She was already in the kitchen again, bent at the waist and rooting through some boxes next to the counter, her beautiful ass pointed straight out at me, granting me an amazing view. Her shorts were so tight that I could see the definition of her beautiful curves, and clearly tell that she was not wearing panties.

I groaned. I was gone. And this utterly bewitching woman was all mine.

"Are you hungry, Comrade?" she asked, "Maybe we should have something."

I came up behind her and licked my lips, gripping her hip with one hand and preparing to move the other to slide along the smooth, silky skin of her thigh. I leaned forward over her and rasped against her neck, "So very hungry, Mrs. Belikova."

I gently nipped at her nape as I ran my fingers along her thigh. Roza's breath hitched. Her skin was so hot that I almost stopped breathing, feeling her exquisite skin on my fingers. I ran my hand up her thigh and let my fingers run along her shorts-covered sex, peppering her neck with kisses and gentle licks.

"How about we take some of this off?" I asked, tugging on the button of her shorts with the other hand. Rose rose up from her bent position over the boxes and ran her hand behind her to trail along my hip towards my thickening shaft, using the other hand to support herself over the kitchen counter.

Rose moaned a low, "Uh-huh," and gave a slight nod, then tilted her head to give me more access to her neck. As soon as I had her shorts unbuttoned and unzipped, I lifted the hem of her shirt and tugged it up to her neck, exposing her full breasts, then moved my hand back down to cup one of them, letting the pad of my thumb circle her already-engorged nipple. Rose let out a whimper, arching her back to push her full, luscious breast further into my hand, as I pinched it between my fingers.

I took the hand that was caressing the apex of her thighs through her shorts and slid it up to slide inside the shorts where I had unzipped.

As my fingers caressed the outside of her slit, I could feel just how truly wet she was for me, already running down her thighs. Roza moaned in pleasure, bucking her hips with a total loss of control. Her hand found my cock and she began squeezing me through my shorts and stroking my length. I groaned at the feel of her near-magical hands, so familiar with my body that she could - and had before - make me come before she even got my shorts off.

"I want you now, Roza," I told her as my finger circled her clit torturously slow, "I don't know if I could wait another minute to have you. But first, I want to make you come. And then, once I do, I'm going to have you. On the kitchen counter. On the couch. On the stairs. In the tub. I'm going to have you on every flat surface in this house. I'm going to have you all. night. long."

Rose began pushing her core desperately into my fingers, riding them, moaning and panting, still goading my hard manhood with that relentless stroking. I couldn't take anymore. I pulled away from her body and threw her shorts down to her ankles, letting them pool around her feet on the floor. Rose stepped out of her shorts, then I sat on the floor between her feet, positioning myself with my back resting against the counter in front of Rose so that I could lick and kiss her wet heat.

I cupped the muscles of her cheek with one hand, keeping the other one ready to slide inside her when the time was right. As I began to lick and kiss my way up her inner thigh, I glanced up at her body, seeing just how amazing she really was. Her face was so lovely. Her hair was like the finest silk and I desperately wanted to run my fingers through it. Her beautiful breasts were so full and firm, her dusky pink nipples standing at attention and just begging to be sucked. And those eyes. Her hypnotically exotic brown eyes were sparkling, staring right at me, pleading for me to make her come.

Oh, I will, Roza. I will. Just be patient, my beautiful little wife.

I slowly traced the length of her opening with my tongue, letting Rose feel the full length of my tongue, teasing her by letting my tongue be everywhere except her most sensitive part. After a few moments, I reclined back a few inches and gently blew on the outside of her folds. Rose let out a startled gasp as the cooling air hit her slickened clit, then I leaned back in and just touched the tip of my tongue to her clit, so softly I could barely feel her there. I flicked my tongue back and forth against her in little whisper-soft licks, knowing how I loved it when she had done the same to the head of my shaft on our honeymoon.

Roza shivered and I could tell I was doing this right. Just the way she deserved. I wanted to have her coming all night long tonight in our new house. Needed to.

She cried out and I began to slide my finger inside her, back and forth, in and out. My cock practically broke through my shorts to get to her when I heard her needy voice moaning my name, so sweetly, over and over again. I was half-way convinced that the lust-fueled haze of want would kill me this night - that this beautiful woman would be the absolute death of me - but honestly, if that were the case, at least I would die happy.

I added a second finger and began pumping in earnest while my tongue continued to flick fast and furious along her nub. Roza's moans turned to yells and then to screams. Somewhere in the back of my desire-addled brain, I worried that the new neighbors would hear, but I couldn't be bothered with that right now. I slowed my tongue and curled my fingers, stroking leisurely again inside her, well aware that I was pressing directly on her sweet spot inside her with my curled fingers.

"Dimitri," Rose pleaded, a touch of weeping in her voice, near-choking on her desire, "Please. I can't take anymore."

"'Please' what, Roza?" I asked her, murmuring against her damp flesh, giving her another long lick. I could hear her breath hitch as my tongue rasped against her clit.

"Please." She paused. "Make me come, Dimitri. Make me come now!"

I growled at her subtle shift from begging to demanding, then moved my tongue and fingers in the same frenetic rhythm I had used before. Roza screamed out as I felt and tasted her orgasm on my tongue and fingers.

God, I love this woman.

I felt Rose's knees buckling around my shoulders and quickly hopped up to stand, dropping my shorts in a pile and finally letting my erection out of its cloth cage. Before Rose had a chance to come down from her climax, I had positioned myself at her entrance and was sliding into her from behind, leaning her against the counter. I had her hip gripped in one hand and the other on her breast.

I could still feel the ending of Rose's climax as I thrust inside her tightness the first time. That tight clutching of her drenched womanhood was almost enough to rob me of my seed, but I gritted my teeth and continued plunging inside her.

I kissed Rose's nape and nipped at her earlobe. I groaned as I squeezed the large breast in my hand and teased the pebbled tip with my fingers.

"Roza," I whispered against her neck, "I love you so much. I've never loved anyone else. I love you like I never believed I could. It has always been you. It will always be you. I'll love you forever. Tell me you'll love me forever, Roza. Tell me."

I pulled my length all the way out of her and slammed back in, causing another brutal yell to come from Rose.

"Yes!" she screamed, "Yes, Dimitri!"

I pulled all the way out again and asked her, "'Yes' what, Roza?"

I gave her nipple a pinch and then circled her entrance with the head of my cock, awaiting her answer to slide back inside.

"Yes," she whimpered.

"'Yes' what?" I asked, and let just the tip slide back inside, swirled it around inside her for a moment, and then pulled it back out again.

"Yes, Dimitri. You know I'll love you forever. Only you. Always you. I'm yours. Always yours."

I nipped her earlobe again and then whispered against her ear, "That's all I needed to hear."

I began pounding into her faster than I ever had before, calling on all of the years of physical training I had gone through in high school and college to keep thrusting faster and faster. I felt as if I couldn't possibly push myself as far into her as I needed to be, as though I couldn't possibly move fast enough, relentlessly plunging into her again and again. I moved the hand that had been stabilizing her hip to rub circles into her clit as I plunged inside her with all my might.

I heard Roza begin to scream out my name over and over again before I felt the clenching spasms of her climax squeezing and milking me for all she was worth. It only took a few more thrusts before I was joining her over the edge, calling out her own name in a loud bellow. I pumped into her just a few more times to help us both ride out our climaxes, then kissed her neck and her cheek, wrapped both arms around her, and told her, "I love you so much, Roza Belikova. I'm so glad you're mine."

Roza placed one of her arms around mine, squeezing tightly, then said, "I love you, too, Dimitri. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you."

-=o0/&\0o=-

-THE END-

-=o0/&\0o=-

Author's Notes:

It's DONE! It's finally DONE!  Don't worry, though: in addition to some other stories I still have to transfer to Wattpad, I also have an in-progress short story called 'Get the Picture' that I'll be posting to my Romitri Short Stories soon, another in-progress longer story called 'Hot for Teacher - Romitri style' that I'll be posting, and I have a good start on my next longer story, 'Ride the Lightning' (a crossover between Vampire Academy and Immortals After Dark).