.All Yuri and Dorothy's family and friends attended their wedding at Dorothy's church on New Year's Day. Afterwards, the new couple paid a visit to the area where they planned to spend the night in a local bed and breakfast.

"It is similar to your home, yet different at same time," Yuri commented as they ate boiled lobster at a seafood restaurant.

After dinner, they went dancing and then back to the bed and breakfast. Dorothy waited eagerly for her new husband to emerge from the restroom that night. She'd never made love to any man except Stan before. Would her first night with Yuri turn out to be as awkward as her first night with Stan had been? Would he find her too awkward and unskilled? Would she be able to please him?

At last he entered the bedroom, clad only in a terrycloth bathrobe. He sat beside Dorothy on the bed, cupping her face in his hand. "You are little bit nervous, yes?"

She nodded.

"I am as well, but never mind. It will be all right." As they began to kiss passionately, Dorothy felt her anxiety transform into desire. They began to caress one another, and the bathrobe fell away, exposing Yuri's genitals.

Dorothy gasped, slightly taken aback. "I've never seen one of those before."

Yuri laughed. "I do not believe you. You have husband and son. Of course you have seen penis before."

"No, I mean..." She blushed furiously, feeling more awkward then she'd ever felt before. "I meant, I've never seen an intact foreskin before."

"Ah. You would not believe it, Dorothy, but my mother was Jewish."

"Why didn't she have it done, then?"

"It was banned by Soviets long before I was born."

"Oh, well...that makes sense, I suppose."

Yuri smiled. "I hope that you are not disappointed."

"Oh, no, not at all! I was just a little bit surprised, is all."

"You can no longer get pregnant, no?"

"Oh, no. All that was over a long time ago."

"Good. Then there is no worry."

He entered her, and they made love for the first time. "You are happy, Dorothy?" he asked as they cuddled together afterwards.

"I never thought I'd be this happy again." She found that, to her surprise, she was near tears. "Are you?"

"I am very happy, Dorothy, and it is all because of you. I love you so very much."

"I love you too, Yuri." Drowsily content, they drifted to sleep together in one another's arms.

"No reason to be afraid," Yuri told Dorothy. "Beginner's slope is easy."

"I just can't help but think that perhaps I'm...a bit too old for this." Dorothy's teeth were chattering. The newlyweds were at the Blue Hills Reservation in Canton, where Yuri was teaching his new wife to ski.

"Nonsense!" Yuri grinned. "There is no such thing as too old to ski."

"OK...here goes nothing!" Dorothy squeezed her eyes shut as she pushed off. She felt the wind against her face as she flew downward and opened her eyes to see a world of white soaring past. Before she knew it, she'd reached the bottom of the slope, where she looked over at her husband beside her.

"That was out of this world!" she exclaimed. "Now I don't know what I was so afraid of!"

Yuri laughed.

They spent that entire day on the slopes, then returned to the lodge, where they cuddled together eating soup and drinking hot apple cider. Dorothy's teeth were still chattering.

"I don't think I've ever been so cold in my life," she told Yuri. "But I don't think I've ever had more fun, either!"

Yuri held her close. "I am so glad we come," he told her. "For long time I hope to find woman to share fun and adventure with, and at last, I find her."

Dorothy knew that something was wrong as soon as she tried to get up the following morning. Her head was spinning, and she felt weak as she fell back onto the pillow.

"Dorothy?" Yuri looked at her in alarm.

"I'm sorry, Yuri," she said. "I don't think I'm gonna be able to join you on the slopes today."

"What is wrong?"

"I'm not really sure." She frowned. "I just feel weak all over."

Yuri sighed. "It is my fault," he said. "I overdo it yesterday, push you too hard. You are not used to so much activity."

"I'm sorry," said Dorothy. "I feel like I'm ruining your fun. You can go on ahead without me, you know. I'll just stay here and rest. I'll be fine."

"Oh, no," said Yuri. "I would not even think of it."

Dorothy lay back against the pillow and closed her eyes.

"May I say prayer for you?" asked Yuri.

His wife's eyes widened in shock. "I thought you weren't a believer!"

Yuri smiled. "When I was little boy and got sick, my mother pray over me," he told her. "It was prayer her own mother, my grandmother, taught her."

"Well, of course! By all means!"

Yuri placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and began. "Mi shebeirach avoteinu vimoteinu bis'char zeh HaKodosh Baruch hu yishm'reihah yatzilehah mikol tzarah v'tzukal umikol nega umachalah v'yishlach b'rachah v'halzlachah v'chol mooseh yadeha."

"That was beautiful!" said Dorothy. "Maybe I'll learn Russian someday."

"That was not Russian," said Yuri. "It was Yiddish."

"Your grandmother spoke Yiddish?"

"She did at home," Yuri replied. "She was only one in her family to survive pogrom, you know. She hide in cellar when Cossacks come, and when she go back upstairs, she find her whole family dead. She run to closest neighbor. Their house and all belongings are gone of course, but they are still alive. They were working in field when pogrom happen. They take her in and care for her as one of their own, and when she is little bit older, she marry their son."

"Aw, that sounds romantic!" said Dorothy. "So sad about what happened to her family, though. So how did your parents meet?"

"One day my mother tell my grandmother that she is going to study, but she go to dance instead. She meet my father at dance." He laughed, and Dorothy joined in.

"They are together long enough for my mother to have me, and then my father disappear during Stalinist purge. No one ever see him again. My mother remarry when I am little. My stepfather was cruel and beat me. My mother try to protect me but she is not strong enough. After few years, she have another baby. My stepfather adore my sister, but she have bad heart. She die in surgery when she is little girl."

"That's terrible!" said Dorothy. "I'm so sorry!"

"It is all right." Yuri smiled. "Past is behind me now, and I have good life with woman I love."

"So was Rozanov your father's or your stepfather's name?"

"Rozanov was my father. My stepfather was Dvorkin."

"And what was the name of your little sister who died?"

"Her name was Inna."