Into the Ether - Complete

The Winter of Our Discontent: Part 5

"You want me to meet them?" I gasped, looking at Dimitri as though he'd grown a second head.

"Very much so," he said hopefully. "Please? For my birthday?"

We were lying in bed cuddling after making love again. Twice. Every time was better than the time before it. But now it was approaching 9 pm, which was when Dimitri was due to skype his family.

"Dimitri? They won't know me from a bar of soap. It's your birthday. They're going to want to spend the time talking with you not wasting time with me."

"Milaya nothing will make them happier than knowing I've found love, especially with everything else going on. I know it will make Mama feel better to know I've found someone to give my heart to. Someone who cares for me, too. They're going to want to meet you, and I want you to meet them. They're my family, and you're the woman I've fallen in love with. Please let me show you off to them?"

He looked so sweet and genuine I couldn't refuse him.

"Fine. But let me put some clothes on first. I'm not skyping your family wrapped only in the quilt! And you can put some clothes on, too, Comrade!"

"I don't know – it will save them asking if we're having sex..." he teased, a wicked look in his eyes.

"They're not going to ask about that are they?" I groaned.

"No," he laughed. "At least not in English..."

Regretting I'd agreed to this, I threw on my bra, a pretty top and the jeans I'd been wearing earlier. We decided he'd tell them about me first and then introduce me. I thought they might like to sing happy birthday to him, so I put the cake on the little table and put in twenty-five candles, finding Dimitri's zippo in his duster pocket ready to light them when the time came.

Checking I was ready, he sat on the sofa, fiddling with the phone. When it connected, I could hear a gaggle of female voices, all talking in Russian. Dimitri laughed, sounding happy and at ease. He listened for a while, and then he started talking in Russian. I'd catch the odd English word here and there, but most of it was a complete mystery to me.

After a while, I heard 'Missoula' and the name of the bank we'd visited today and then I could hear an older female's voice. Maybe his mother's? He answered a few questions, and then he held up his hand and was talking. After a few seconds, I heard 'Rose Hathaway' and then a few seconds later 'Princess Dragomir.' There were questions and then he had a loving look and said 'Roza.' There were quite a few more questions, most of them excited and happy sounding, although one of the voices sounded annoyed. And then Dimitri said, "She's here now for you to meet!"

He held out his hand to me, and I walked around to sit beside him on the sofa. He had his phone resting against a book on the table, and I could see five small faces on the tiny screen but not in any great detail. Dimitri lifted his arm, and I cuddled in beneath it, tucking my feet up underneath me and resting against the side of his chest.

"Hello, Rose," the older woman's voice said, "I'm Olena, Dimka's mother, this is Yeva his Grandmother, Karolina, Sonya and Viktoria his sisters. It's nice to meet you." She had the same accent as Dimitri but much thicker.

I was feeling very shy, so I smiled and said it was nice to meet them.

"So are you Dimka's girlfriend?" one of the younger women asked.

"Yeah, I am. It's all very new, though," I said softly "although we've been falling for a while now..."

"So you waited until he was going away to declare your love for him?" another of the girls asked. "Nice." It was the voice that had sounded pissed off earlier, and the sarcasm was unmistakable.