The Price of Pride

Chapter 12

"He's certainly a handful," Reyhan finally says once she has her heart under control.

"He's sweet. He really loves you. You should have seen him when you were in your coma. He never left your side," the nurse says with a sigh. "You had all the nurses jealous of you. Who wouldn't want a man that devoted? Your man is one of the good ones. He reminds me of my late husband."

"My condolences," Reyhan adds, giving the woman's hand a pat.

"Sağol, Kızım," the nurse says. "It's been years, but I still miss him every day. You make sure you appreciate that man while you have him, you hear? Life is too short. I think he knows that now after almost losing you. Don't waste the time you're given."

Or the second chances. Reyhan is lucky. She has a second chance not only in life, but also in love. She can't throw it away.

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

The next few days pass by in a flurry of activity. Once Emir and Reyhan get the approval to take Ayla, things move quickly. With both Ayla and Reyhan still in the hospital, but set to be released soon, Emir needs all the help he can get preparing the house for them both. That's how Zafer finds himself back in Ankara and doing last minute painting of a bedroom in a pale lilac color. Ayla's favorite color. He met the girl in the hospital earlier and he's not ashamed to admit that his new little niece has him wrapped around her tiny fingers. He was more than happy to paint her room whatever color she wanted.

Painting done, he now just has to wait on the furniture delivery to arrive. Ayla's bed was a special order and took longer to arrive than the other furniture. The delivery is set to arrive any minute. He's in the middle of changing his dirty shirt with paint splotches when he hears the doorbell ring. Must be the delivery men.

"Come on in," he yells as he bends down into his bag for a new shirt. He's pulling the shirt over his head when he hears the door open and a gasp.

"Oh my," a soft voice says.

Not a delivery man. He quickly finishes putting on the shirt to greet the unexpected visitor.

"Can I help you?" he asks the flustered woman standing in the doorway. He can hardly blame her for not wanting to come into a house with a half naked man. "Sorry. I had paint on my shirt and I thought you were here with the furniture delivery."

"Um ... I'm Defne," she says, trying to avoid looking at him. "I'm Ayla's social worker."

"Oh! Defne hanim. Of course," Zafer says, holding out his hand to introduce himself. "I'm Zafer."

"Emir's friend. Right. He said you'd be here," she says with a nod, finally looking at him when she realizes he's fully dressed.

Zafer can only wonder why Emir didn't tell him that Defne would be there. Or that she was so pretty. Now that she's finally looking at him, he's noticing that her eyes are kind of hypnotic.

"Before Ayla can be officially placed here, there's going to have to be a house inspection. I came to take a quick look around to make sure there won't be any surprises for Emir and Reyhan," Defne explains. "We all want this placement to go off without a hitch."

"Then by all means ... inspect away."

Zafer gives her his most dazzling smile. He gets a bit of an ego boost when she blushes again.

By the time Defne has gone through the house making notes of things to fix before the official inspection, the furniture has arrived. She helps Zafer and the delivery men place everything where it needs to be. Then she stays to help Zafer finish setting up the room so that Reyhan won't have to worry about doing things like washing the bed linen and making the bed. When they're done, they take a step back and marvel at their work. The room looks like every little girl's dream.