Game on! (Edser One Shots or Fun Shots)

Queen of the Castle

So when Ayla @hkrmiyy sends you a picture of the inside of a beautiful castle that she is leading a tour on and says "What if Semiha owned a castle . . . . . ." and that is how this story begins

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Semiha Yildrim was many things to many people but to her granddaughter Eda Yildiz she was family. Not that the two women didn't butt heads, they did, regularly, but Eda knew that Semiha loved her like no one else and would always do her best for her. Semiha may have been seen by her Board of Directors as cold and calculating, and she was, but she was also a brilliant businesswoman. To her many employees she was feared and beloved. Feared because one look from Semiha was enough to wither the hardiest man or woman and beloved because she cared for every employee.

What Semiha was not, was immortal. When the doctor told her that her cancer was back again Semiha approached it like a business transaction. She asked for a solid estimate of how much time she had left. Semiha knew that certain things had to happen before she was ready to leave this world and join her husband, daughter and son-in-law on the other side.

When Eda was five, her mother Ayfer and father Evrim decided to take a summer drive, leaving their child at home. Eda had cried that she wanted to go for a drive in the fun car, it was what she called her father's convertible, but her parent's wanted some alone time and they knew the little girl would be bored. Their decision saved Eda's life. The head on collision with a truck that was trying to pass another vehicle coming over a hill happened so fast. Evrim didn't see the truck until the last minute, it was on them before he could do anything. Semiha comforted herself with the thought that they were taken together and that they had been doing something they loved but her poor sweet Eda was left alone. Submerged in grief, Semiha was thankful for the little girl. Eda saved her and kept the darkness of depression at bay. Together they navigated their new life.

When she had received her initial diagnosis three years earlier Semiha knew that she wanted her legacy to continue. She was under no illusion that Eda would want to be a part of the business empire that Semiha built and managed. Eda had carved a different path for herself and Semiha was determined to see that she was successful in her chosen career. Long before the second cancer diagnosis Semiha had begun researching architectural firms. She wanted to pick the one that Eda would fit in with. Semiha was looking for something else too. She was looking for a potential husband for Eda. Not that Eda had asked for her help or that she had expressed an interest in getting married but Semiha needed to know that her beloved granddaughter wouldn't be alone.

She had a lure that few architects would be able to pass up. The renovation of their historic family estate Poyraz Castle. Semiha had conditions. All renovations had to be completed within a year, they needed to restore modern elegance, something the castle was desperately lacking, while retaining the history of the Castle, and the most important, they needed to hire Eda for their project. Semiha knew Eda's worth. The young woman was a talented architect in her own right and had been practicing in Italy for three years while she worked on an additional degree. Semiha wanted Eda to come home, the castle renovation was a lure for her too.

"Gigi are you really doing it? Are you really going to have Poyraz redone?" Eda was breathless in her excitement. She had been after her grandmother for years to work on the castle.

"Yes dear. It's time to get the place back to its former glory. Modernize the drafty old place. Keep the good and get rid of the bad," Semiha explained.

"Where will you live? Are you moving to the apartment in the city? And most important, what firm is going to do the work?" Eda had a million questions for her grandmother.

One at a time the older woman answered them, "I'll live in the apartment in Maslak since it's near the office, though I will ask that they renovate the on-site living quarters first. As far as what firm? I've got interviews with four different ones. Do you have a favorite?"