I Never Told You I Love You - Complete

Chapter 58 - The Last Night

The call to Alberta took longer than they'd anticipated. By the time they'd finished, and talked everything through between themselves, Dimitri and Rose came down to find Oksana and Mark were already there for lunch, and soon after a knock at the door announced the arrival of Abe and Pavel.

"Happy birthday Rose!" Abe boomed, coming inside and hanging his coat revealing another monstrous scarf. Idly Rose wondered where he found them. Was there, somewhere out there, a store that specialized in expensive but very ugly scarves? Pavel nodded, also taking off his coat and coming inside. It was going to be a full table - the entire family was present as well as Xander, Abe, Pavel, Oksana, and Mark. Fourteen all up, including the kids.

Dimitri had taken Zoya from her bouncer and was playing with her and chatting to Xander and Pavel, while Karolina, Sonya, and Olena were setting out dishes on the table. Rose was talking with Mark and Oksana, while Abe presented Olena with a genuinely enormous smoked ham, and then Yeva with an even larger box of fresh fruit and vegetables. They were both thoughtful gifts. While Yeva's vegetable garden provided a lot, theirs was a big household including a growing young man. By the end of winter, fresh fruit and vegetables were mostly imported and fearfully expensive, and meat was always costly. Abe's gifts would feed the household for a fortnight.

Rose gave Abe an appreciative look. A few weeks, in she'd explained to him that Dimitri's wage was the primary income for the family, other than the little Sonya brought in from working part-time at the pharmacy. While Dimitri sent the lion's share of his wage home each fortnight, and the exchange rate when he'd been paid in American dollars had helped a lot, he was still supporting a family of seven almost single-handedly. Since that revelation, Abe found a way to drop by Baia at least once a week, always bringing generous but practical gifts. He'd also arranged for deliveries of necessities such as kerosene, logs for the fireplaces and bulk deliveries of rice and cereals.

Abe was always beguilingly casual about whatever he brought. He'd claim it had been a gift, or he'd passed a roadside market and seen it, or someone owed him money but had paid in kind. Yeva and Olena would receive the gifts gratefully, and they'd all pretend to believe whatever excuse Abe had invented on that occasion. When Rose had asked Abe about it, he'd admitted he liked being able to help out, and that he also enjoyed sitting down to tea with Olena and Yeva.

"For the first time in a long time I feel part of something bigger than myself," Abe tentatively explained to Rose. "I don't expect you to understand, but I enjoy dropping by and talking to them."

"You know you'd be welcome there even if you didn't bring anything?" Rose had asked him.

"Yes, I do. Which makes it all the more of a pleasure to help them where I can," Abe had explained.

As always, the meal was terrific: roast beef, roast chicken and rabbit pie with heaps of different side dishes. With two different roasts, Dimitri and Xander were both put into service carving. Xander looked truly honored to be asked, and Rose couldn't help but notice Dimitri's approving look as the older man skilfully portioned the chicken while he tackled the beef.

"You're used to carving," Dimitri commented, smiling at Xander. For some reason, Dimitri correlated carving and manliness – probably because in Russian culture it's a task that usually fell to the males of the family.

"Yes. I used to carve for my mother and grandmother. But it's been a long time since I've done it – I'm a little out of practice."

Karolina looked at Xander adoringly, and Rose was pleased to see Yeva and Olena looked approving as well. Even Sonya seemed to like the man, which was pretty miraculous given her mercurial moods of the moment.