The Price of Pride

Chapter 39

But for right now, he won't worry about his mother. For right now, he'll just focus on the most important things in his life ... his wife, their children, this family they've built.

"I saw this moment," he confesses. "The second I first looked into your eyes, I saw all of this. Scared me to death."

They both laugh.

"You thought I was the new maid," she reminds him.

The baby slows down eating, so she lifts him to her shoulder and begins to gently rub his back. Emir smiles at how easily she's gotten used to this. It took him many feeding attempts to even feel like he wasn't about to drop the baby.

"I had hoped you were the new maid," he smiles. "That would have made you off limits. Because it terrified me to have the feelings you made me have just from one glance. Marriage was the last thing on my mind at that time."

"I never thought I'd get married, either," she says. "Maybe because I didn't think I'd ever be leaving Erzurum. And I wasn't going to settle for any of the men there. None of them made my heart sing the way you do."

Her words touch him. More than he wants to admit. She said he makes her heart sing. Well, she is his heart. She is his everything. And he would do anything for her.

"You're high off of baby pheromones," he jokes instead. Because otherwise he'd be crying over what he feels for her. "Give me my son."

But when he reaches over to get the baby, he brushes her cheek with his lips and whispers to her.

"You make my heart sing too. Always and forever."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Something is happening. Cavidan has been so bored lately that she's taken to standing at her door and eavesdropping on anyone foolish enough to talk personal business right outside her room. She knows that her day nurse is having boyfriend troubles. That her night nurse is having husband troubles. (Probably because the night nurse can't stop flirting with the guards). And that the guards are growing tired of their assignment.

But something else is happening now. She's hearing bits of a conversation from an unknown voice. She peeks out the door and notes that the nurse speaking in hushed tones on her phone is one she's never seen before. She imagines the woman came to this floor for privacy from her normal coworkers. She doesn't blame the woman. The conversation seems intense.

The longer Cavidan listens, the more she's beginning to understand. And with a smile, she saunters back to her bed. The nurse needs money. Desperately. The amount is more than what Cavidan would like to spend from the nest egg she has built up throughout the years (because let's face it, she would have been a fool not to have hidden away some emergency funds). But it will be worth it if it means she's saved from a prison sentence. And she believes this nurse, with the right provocation, will do just that.

When she gets back to her bed, she pulls out the secret phone her lawyer left her with and gives him a call. She gives him the nurse's name and tells him to handle the rest. After this, the nurse will owe her an important favor. One she will call in if her stubborn son can't see reason.

"Don't make me do this, Emir," she quietly pleads, praying that she'll be able to convince him to get her out of this place and change Hikmet's mind about the divorce settlement. Her time is running out. But for right now, all she can do is wait. So she waits.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Barış had walked and thought all afternoon about what to do about Cavidan. Emir is at the end of his rope with his mother and that worries Barış. He has seen what happens when people let anger and vengeance rule their lives. He can't let Emir ruin the happiness he's found with Reyhan. Based on the little he knows of them both, they've been through a lot to get to where they are today. And they deserve this. He wants this happiness for his newfound family. Family is family. Whether by blood or whether by choice. Reyhan is who his parents chose. So she's family now. And he's going to have her back no matter what. He's not going to let Cavidan Tarhun hurt her anymore than she already has.

Barış hasn't come up with any better idea than simply confronting the woman. Her visitors have been limited, but he is a doctor. He can talk his way past the guards to get into her room. But just as he's about to start explaining to the guards what he wants, he notices Cavidan already has visitors. A tall man who looks to be a lawyer. That makes sense. Barış imagines she's been working this lawyer over time trying to get her out of the trouble she's in. But there's also a woman in there too. She looks familiar, but he can't place her. She's wearing scrubs, so he assumes she's a nurse. That would make sense too, since this is a hospital. But her body language seems off. Barış doesn't think she's there on official hospital business. Something else is going on. Something strange. Cavidan hanım is up to something again. But what? Barış has a bad feeling it isn't anything good.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Emir! Emir!"

Emir had been across the room tucking blankets around a now sleeping Ayla. She had tried to stay awake as long as she could looking at her new baby brother, but nap time finally claimed her. At Reyhan's urgent sounding whispers, he runs back over to the bed.

"Are you okay? Is the baby okay?"

"Look at him." Reyhan has a smitten look on her face. She is so in love with this baby. She's barely been able to let him go all afternoon. The nurse had come back after about an hour to take him back, but Reyhan wouldn't let him go. After another hour, the doctors had come to examine them both, but both continued to be healthy and happy. So they permitted the baby to stay a bit longer.

Emir finally looks at the baby and sees what Reyhan is talking about.

"He fell asleep like that?" Emir can't contain his own smile. The baby must have been nursing when he went to sleep because his lips are still puckered, even though his eyes are closed.

"He looks like he's trying to give us a kiss," Reyhan sighs. Yes. She's definitely in love with the little guy. Emir feels a twinge of jealousy, but he understands the feeling. Their baby is the cutest baby he's ever seen. Even all the nurses are in love with him.

Emir grabs his phone to take a picture. They've been taking pictures all afternoon, but he knows this one is going to be one of his favorites. He knows today as a whole is going to be one of his favorite days. What started out as a day with so much worry about Reyhan, and so much anger at his mother, has turned into a day filled with such joy.

But Reyhan's yawn tells him it's time for them all to get some rest.

"You're exhausted, Sweetheart. Let me take him back to the nursery and you get some sleep," he suggests.

"I don't want to let him go," she objects, but her fatigue gets the better of her. She finally let's Emir take him from her arms.

"We'll see him tomorrow," Emir promises, kissing her on the forehead as she begins to drift off. It's been such a long day. He's surprised she stayed awake as long as she did.

Emir gives the baby one last cuddle before laying him back in his little cart. Just then, a nurse comes for him. A different nurse from before. It must be later than Emir realizes if the next shift of nurses is already working.

"Let's get this little guy back to his bed," the nurse says. "Will you be coming with us, Emir bey?"

Emir is about to follow them out when Ayla starts to fuss.

"I'll get her settled and then come to the nursery a bit later," he tells her.

With a nod of acknowledgment, she pushes the baby out of the room and down the long hallway towards the nursery.

If Barış had been there, he would have warned Emir that this nurse is the nurse he'd seen talking to his mother. And neither of them would have let her go anywhere with the baby.