"Rose, I'd like you to meet my sister, Jill," said Lissa.
"How do you do." Rose smiled and shook Jill's hand.
"It's wonderful to meet you, Rose," said Jill. Lissa had told Jill about the twenty-year coma that Rose had so recently emerged from.
"Marriage must suit you, Rose. You're positively glowing!" Lissa exclaimed. This was the first time she'd seen Rose since the wedding.
"I suppose it does," Rose said with a shy smile.
The three women ordered their food and found a table.
"I've been contacted by a movie producer," Rose told the other two women. "He wants to make a movie about me."
Lissa's mouth dropped open. "You're kidding!"
Rose shook her head. "I couldn't believe it myself at first. When I got the call, I felt sure it was someone playing a joke on me. But when he started talking about contracts and agreements I knew he was serious."
"What does Dimitri think about it?" asked Lissa.
"He thinks it's wonderful that someone thinks that my experience is special enough to make a movie about. He says that perhaps the movie will serve as an inspiration to others."
"And how do you feel about it, Rose?"
"If there's any way at all that it can help other people in my situation, I'm all for it, of course. That's the most important thing in the world to me, to help other coma victims. But my sister..." Rose's voice trailed off.
"Sydney? What about her?"
"She thinks that to make a movie about it would be an invasion of the family's privacy. She's afraid that the movie won't be sympathetic to her and that it will make her look bad. Dimitri thinks she's just being jealous, and I think he's right. Sydney's always been jealous of me."
"Lissa told me that Sydney married your high school sweetheart," Jill told Rose.
"She did! That really hurt me, too. Worse than anything has ever hurt me before."
"I can just imagine," Jill said sympathetically. "Yet she's the one who's jealous of you?"
Rose nodded sadly.
"So how did your lunch date go today?" Dimitri asked Rose that evening. They had just put away the last of the dinner dishes and were snuggling cozily together on the sofa.
"It was great! Lissa's sister Jill is really nice."
"I'm so glad you enjoyed it." Dimitri smiled. "Did you tell them about the movie plans?"
"Yes, and they were really impressed."
"As rightfully they should have been. I can't tell you how proud I am of you, Roza."
"For waking up after having been in a coma for twenty years?"
"For having come as far as you have despite having been in a coma for twenty years. You're truly an inspiration, girl. That's why they want to make a movie about you."
To Rose's surprise, her sister Sydney called a few days later.
"I just wanted to know how the movie plans are coming along," she told Rose. "And to let you know that our family will soon have two celebrities."
"What do you mean?" asked Rose.
"I'm about to become a published author!" Sydney exclaimed, giving Rose time to be duly impressed. "I'm almost finished with the rough draft of my new tell-all book, 'My Sister: The Twenty-Year Coma Girl.' Now all I have to do is find an agent and a publisher to submit it to."
"That's great, Sydney." Somehow Rose just couldn't seem to muster the appropriate enthusiasm.
"I'm sure my book will be at least as big a hit as your movie will," Sydney boasted.
At last everything was ready for the filming of the movie to begin. The part of Dimitri would be played by Jason Schwartzman, that of Rose by Kirsten Dunst, that of Sydney by Drew Barrymore, that of Adrian by Joaquin Phoenix, that of Mason by Nathan Kress, that of Rose at seventeen by Jennette McCurdy, and that of Janine by Cissy Spacek. Rose wasn't able to watch the actual filming, but she and the rest of her family watched a private viewing of the movie before it was broadcast on TV.
Rose, Dimitri, Adrian, Mason, and Janine all showed up to watch the movie.
"Sydney said she had a headache," Adrian explained to the others.
"Well, tell her we missed her," Janine said.
Rose found the first part of the movie, which portrayed her life as a seventeen-year-old cheerleader prior to the coma, very difficult to watch. Hoping that none of the others would hear her, she sobbed quietly during the romantic scenes between her teenage self and Adrian as a teenager. Dimitri heard her and put his arms around her, and she let him hold her.
"Well, that was simply terrible!" Janine spluttered indignantly once the movie had ended. "They made me look like some kind of needy, over-possessive control freak!"
Her words broke the tension that was in the air, and the others all laughed with relief.
"My God, Rose, I just love you so much," Dimitri whispered as he got into bed with her that night. "I don't think I even realized just how much until now."
"That was so very hard to watch," Rose told him. "To see again what my life was like before...to feel all those memories come flooding back..."
"I know, sweetheart. I know," Dimitri murmured into her hair. "You're by far the bravest person I've ever known, Rose Belikov, and I just feel so very honored and grateful to be married to you."
"So, how does it feel to be a student again?" Dimitri asked his wife early one morning in late August.
"Exciting! And...well, I'm a little bit nervous too," Rose admitted with a shaky laugh.
"Oh, you'll do fine!" Dimitri grinned and gave his wife a big hug. 'I have all the confidence in the world in you."
"I'll do my best," Rose said meekly.
"Well, that's all that can be asked of anyone," Dimitri said brightly. "And in your case, I'm sure that will be more than enough."
Rose had registered as a part-time student at the local community college, majoring in education, and today was her first day. She was taking two classes, one that met on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, and another that met only on Monday and Wednesday mornings.
"Good-bye, Dimitri," she told her husband as they were both on their way out the door.
"Good-bye, sweetheart," Dimitri said softly, kissing her lips. "Good luck."
"Thank you."
The sun shone brightly on the college campus as Rose drove into the parking lot. She found a parking space, grabbed her books and supplies, and headed for the building where her first class was. She entered the room, found a seat, and glanced around nervously, expecting to find a sea of eighteen-year-old faces. To her surprise and delight, she saw several women who looked to be around her age. Perhaps I'll get the chance to say hello to them later, she thought.
The morning passed quickly, and after her second class ended, Rose drove back home, made herself a sandwich for lunch, and went over her notes until it was time to prepare dinner.
"So, how did it go?" asked Dimitri when he returned home that evening.
"I think I'm really going to enjoy it," Rose told him.
"I think you will too," Dimitri replied.
Rose began to feel that her life was now complete...except for one thing. It was something she'd desired since early childhood.
"Why don't we just skip the birth control this time?" she asked Dimitri one night as they were about to make love. It was several weeks after her classes at the college had started.
Dimitri paused, startled. "Shouldn't we at least talk about that first?"
"I want a baby, Dimitri. Don't you?"
"Well, sure, but...are you sure it would be safe? I mean..."
"I already talked to my doctor about it, and he gave me the green light."
"Well...all right, then, in that case. It just seems a bit sudden, is all."
When they had finished, Rose lay snuggled in Dimitri's arms, warm and contented. There might be a baby inside me now, she marveled.
It didn't happen the first month. Rose looked at the blood stains on her panties and felt very disappointed, and a little bit anxious.
"Do you suppose it's too late?" she asked Dimitri fearfully.
"I think you're worrying prematurely," he told her. "It doesn't always happen the first month. In fact, it's fairly unusual when it does."
Dimitri thought back to how eager he'd been to start a family with Tasha, how disappointed he'd been when he'd learned that she didn't feel the same way. Things were so very different with Rose. She seemed as eager to become a parent now as Dimitri had been years before. Yet, that had been years before, and he was a lot older now. He loved Rose and wanted her to be happy, but he'd become accustomed to the way his life was now and knew that a baby would mean big changes to it. He wasn't sure how prepared he'd be to deal with those changes.