Epilogue

25th November, 1860

Dear Mama,

You won't believe what I have to tell you. I am writing this letter at the kitchen table in my new home, as I watch my beautiful wife bustle around the room like a busy little hen. Her name is Roza and she is astonishing. She has Vika's fire and Yeva's stubbornness but underneath it all she has your loving spirit as well. She isn't afraid to tell me when I am being a bear, and she takes better care of me than I deserve. Right now she is taking an apple pie out of the oven. It smells delicious but she is poking it with a fork like it might jump out of the dish and run screaming out the door. I don't think I've smiled this much since I was a little boy. I can't wait for you to meet her. You will love her, I'm certain.

Speaking of meeting Roza, it gives me great happiness to finally tell you that I now have enough money to bring the whole family to America. Mr Mazur, a business acquaintance of my mother-in-law Alberta, will contact you soon to arrange the particulars and escort you on the voyage here. Our home is too small for everybody to stay, but let me know of your arrival date and we will ensure a house is ready to accommodate you in town.

Roza says for me to tell you to bring whatever you need, but if there is anything your require such as extra clothing or the like we can purchase it for you when you arrive. Also, there's something I'd like to ask of you personally Mama - please don't tell the others yet, but could you bring the christening gown Yeva made for me when I was a baby? We have no special news on that count yet, but we are hopeful.

I am so thrilled to know that I will be seeing you all again soon. It has been a very long three and a half years and there is so much to tell. Give my love to Yeva, Karolina and Sonja. Tell Vika that Roza is dying to meet her and let Paul know I will be glad of another man around town to keep things in order. Finally, give little Zoya an extra big hug from her Uncle Dimka. I might have missed the first six months of her life, but soon we will all have the chance to make up for lost time. Roza and I are awaiting your arrival with great anticipation.

Love,

Dimka

2nd March, 1861

My Dearest Dimka,

Yeva already told us you were getting married, but it is lovely to hear it in your own words. Of course we will love Roza, I more than any of us because she has made my boy happy again.

I'm afraid we are not able to travel immediately. Sonja is expecting a child and should not attempt the voyage until after the birth. I wish I could say that your sister was happily married but this is not the case, and she has refused to tell us the identity of the child's father so we will be receiving no support from him, whoever he is. I'm truly sorry that we have been a burden to you and I am grateful to you for sending us whatever support you could over the years we've been apart. When we are settled in our new home, I plan to take on work and pay my own way as much as possible. From what you've said in your letters, doctors are few and far between on the western frontier, so I may be able to find a use for my nursing skills. Sonja and Karo will have the children to attend to, but they are willing to take on sewing work or any other menial duties to assist our family. Vika says she would like to be a deputy like you.

I am having trouble convincing Yeva to sail with us as yet, but I'm sure she's just being stubborn. I'll get her on the ship even if I have to pay the quartermaster to carry her on board. She would probably enjoy that!

Keep well, my darling boy, and we will all see you and your Roza before the year is out.

Love always,

Olena

November, 1861

'Hurry Roza or we'll be late,' Dimitri called up to her, nervously fiddling with his hat.

'Hold your horses, cowboy,' came the reply.

The man rolled his eyes and waited until, several minutes later, Rose appeared at the top of the stairs. Dimitri beamed with pride as he watched the woman descend towards him, looking very sporty in her new horse-riding outfit; the narrow, panelled skirt designed with a hidden split up each side to allow for riding astride, her modesty protected by a pair of trousers worn underneath.

'You look amazing Roza,' he caught her hand and pressed it to his lips. 'I'm glad my ring is on your finger or else every man in town would be after you.'

'They wouldn't have a chance,' she looked up at her husband, eyes swirling with a mixture love and desire that set Dimitri's heart racing. 'And no one would be fool enough to try it on with me knowing they'd have Sheriff Belikov to contend with,' she added, running her hands along the sleeves of his leather duster and giving his biceps a firm squeeze.

Dimitri bit back a sheepish grin. He still wasn't used to hearing that name.

Only a week after the transcontinental telegraph line was completed (by the Western Union Telegraph Company, not the incarcerated Victor Dashley), Alberta had sent her daughter and son-in-law a telegram informing them of her retirement as sheriff of Saints Town. With the Civil War building on the eastern side of the country, Hank Croft had volunteered to join the troops guarding the overland mail route from Carson City to Salt Lake City, and he'd asked his wife to take over as sheriff at Greenston until his eventual return.

As her final act of office, Sheriff Peterson had put Deputy Belikov's name forward as a candidate to be her successor, and the townsfolk voted unanimously in his favour. (Jesse Zekeman was so disgusted at losing to the Russian that he immediately made plans to sell his property and move further south.) The newly instated Sheriff Belikov was to commence work as soon as possible, so Dimitri and Rose celebrated their first wedding anniversary travelling from Silver Springs to Saints Town to take up residence in their new home above the sheriff's office.

'So are you nervous about your first day?' Rose asked her husband as they stood at the foot of the stairs, using her handkerchief to shine the already-gleaming six-pointed star pinned to Dimitri's duster.

'Maybe a little,' he admitted, discarding his hat on a chair in the hallway and settling his hands on the woman's waist. He drew her into an embrace, resting his chin on her hair. 'I think I may have made a bad decision when I appointed my deputy.'

'Oh yes?' she asked, her head tucked against his chest, one hand stroking a soothing path along his jawline.

Dimitri turned his face slightly, dropping a kiss to her palm. 'From what I've heard, the new deputy is as tough as they come but has a history of problems with authority. I'm worried some trivial disagreement will get out of hand and spill over into the public eye. I can't have people thinking I'm not in charge of my own jurisdiction.'

Rose stretched up on her toes to kiss his cheek. 'You'll do just fine, cowboy,' she reassured him. 'You tamed me once, remember - I'm sure this deputy of yours will be a piece of cake.'

There was a jingling sound from the front of the building, and they both paused to listen as the front door to the sheriff's office creaked open then closed again.

'Alright. Enough dallying,' Rose returned her attention to her husband. 'Sounds like you've got your first customer waiting for you. I love you, Sheriff Belikov,' she whispered, her lips finding their way to his.

Dimitri closed his eyes and lost himself in the brief, torrid kiss before reluctantly pulling his mouth away. 'As I love you, Deputy Belikov,' the sheriff murmured against her cheek. 'Now, let's get to work, deputy!' he announced, with one of those quiet smiles that he reserved just for his Roza, swatting her on the backside as they headed off to start the next chapter of their lives together.

Meanwhile... off the coast of California...

A small group of women and children huddled together on the deck of a ship, looking out over cold, grey waters towards an unfamiliar shore. They'd been travelling for nearly four months over land and sea, but this first, hazy glimpse of American soil meant that their journey was nearly at an end.

'Look at all the buildings!' a boy among them cried out, dragging his mother towards the railing. 'I wonder if we can see Uncle Dimka's house from here?'

'Don't be ridiculous, Paul,' Karolina chided gently, laughing at baby Zoya's fat little arm as the girl on her hip waved hello to another ship heading towards the Port of San Francisco. 'You know your Uncle Dimka and Aunt Roza live on the other side of the mountains.'

Before Paul could launch into a barrage of questions, there was a gasp and a scuffle of movement at the back of the group, and Yeva - the tough old bat who ruled her entire family with an iron first and a sour wit - lost her footing and buckled over. Somehow, she was caught awkwardly between Olena and Sonja, and they half-led, half-carried the woman back to their cramped cabin.

'What is it, Mama?' Olena forced her mother to sit, waiting for Vika to return with a glass of water.

The old woman gripped the edge of the bunk tightly, her face pale and clammy. 'It's Dimka. I've just seen his death.'

.

Last A/N!:

So Rose is the new Deputy Belikov! Sorry if you were expecting a wedding - there will be flashbacks in the sequel.

The epilogue contains lots of little clues about the sequel to get your imagination going (though don't get too excited - it's literally months away before I'll be ready to start posting). It's going to be a lot darker than the first instalment but plenty of romance too and, of course, a happy ending.

I know it's only a short one, but it would be great if you could leave me a review as this story is now completed - especially if you have been a silent ninja and haven't said hi yet!

Thank yous:

Thank you to... Everyone who read/followed/favourited my story. Seeing the stats continue to go up is very heart-warming :)

A BIG thank you to... Everyone who left reviews & traded PM's with me - whenever writing got tough it was so encouraging to get your feedback & get to know you a bit too. I discovered that some of you are nerds like me, some of you have a bad sense of humour like me, and some of you are horny like me! Mwahaha! (And seriously... over 500 reviews for 26 chapters - you're amazing!)

A SUPER-DUPER thank you with sprinkles on top to... Lea0014 and Annie 2015, who regularly left reviews nearly as long as the chapter itself (and Lea for all the brainstorming sessions/coming up with the idea of Dimitri smacking Rose's bum at the end)! You both kept my mind focused and made the writing process feel meaningful - like the story mattered more than just in my own head!

Random Trivia:

If you've been reading my A/N's you'll know I do a lot of research. Here are some fun facts that didn't make it into the story - some are funny/some just interesting. Here goes...

1. Women's Fashion - In the mid-1800's women wore up to 12 petticoats under their dresses to puff the skirt out. As a result, many women died from their skirt catching on fire or from being dragged by their own horse. To make it possible to go to the toilet in all those layers, girls wore underpants that were essentially crotchless boxer shorts!

2. Men's Fashion - Deputy Belikov would have more likely worn a woollen coat than a leather duster but there was no way I was breaking with canon there. Also, 'cowboy hats' were a late 1800's thing. The bowler hat was far more popular in the west, but I couldn't see Dimitri in a bowler!

3. Drinking - Whiskey is often portrayed in the movies as the favoured drink in the west, but coffee was even more popular. Whiskey was heavily diluted and mixed with anything from burnt sugar, glycerin, prune juice, and sulfuric acid. Yummy! Gin was very popular, especially with the ladies who liked a private tipple at home. Beer was served warm, and wine was more popular than most other alcoholic drinks because it was cheap and readily available.

4. Gun laws - When you see a western movie everyone has a gun on their hip, but it was actually illegal for a citizen to carry a firearm in public in most frontier towns. Some of the big firefights of the time were over gun control - obviously still a huge issue today in America.

5. Communication - In 1841, before the telegraph line was constructed, it took 110 days for the news of the American president's death to reach LA. Now that's a slow news day! The pony express was a courier service that travelled cross-country (off the safe roads) to speed up communication. The company only operated for a year and a half, but was no longer needed when the telegraph line from the east coast-west coast was constructed in 1861. The east-west railway line (think Hell on Wheels) was commenced 2 years later - another huge leap forward in transport & communication across the country.

6. Personal Hygiene - People stink, right?! So in a time before deodorant (or air-conditioning!) certain measures had to be taken. Lots of perfume for men/women - if you could afford it. Everyone made their own scented soap. Girls went crazy on the scented body lotions, and there was a reason women wore flowers in their hat or on their wrists - called a 'nosegay' because they made your nose happier, these flowers were meant to mask all the stinky body odour when you walked through a crowd.

7. Romance - An unmarried woman would only interact with a man outside of her family in public/under supervision. Being kissed by a man - consensual or not - would be considered 'losing your virtue' (making it harder to find a suitable match in the future) and your father would likely hunt down the man with a shotgun. Marriages were often arranged by the parents of a young bride/groom. So... Alberta is just the coolest cat ever to let Dimitri into Rose's life!

8. Tattoos - Tattoos have been around forever, but were often associated with the lower working classes e.g. sailors. In the mid-1800's tattoo 'machines' were operated by hand - lots of repeated stabbing involved, and people with a lot of tattoos, particularly women, were displayed as 'freaks' in the circus.

9. Town Life - Check out Bodie ghost town on google images. This is part of my visual reference for what Saints Town might have looked like.

10. Soiled Doves - Prostitutes (also known as scarlet ladies, fallen angels, and painted cats) charged anywhere from 25c to $1 per customer - redheads really did get the most money for their time ;) Many brothel madams were very colourful characters, reflected in their names e.g. Big Nose Kate, Madam Moustache, Squirrel Tooth Alice.