It was Sunday and Can and Sanem invited Aziz, Mihriban, Emre, and Leyla over for lunch. Sanem had placed a couple of more chairs in Nonna's room, so that Aziz and Mihriban could talk with her privately after the meal.
When Aziz and Mirhiban arrived, Emre and Leyla were already there. When they came in, Mihriban saw Nonna first. She ran into the room and grabbed her in a hug with tears flowing, saying, "Cemile you look so young, where have you been, it has been over thirty years since I last saw you. How did you wind up at Can and Sanem's?"
Aziz started tearing up saying, "Hello friend, how are you? And everything Mihriban said." Everyone laughed at the old friends greeting each other. They were all laughing and talking over each other, about old memories of school days, colleges, marriages, and their parents.
When the children ran in to greet their grandparents, Dante hung back and found his way over to Sanem. She put her arm around him and told Mihriban and Aziz, "This is Dante, and he is the young man that invaded my dreams for weeks. Dante this is Can's Baba and Anne." He went over and shook hands with both of them then went over and sat with Can, who put his arm around Dante.
Sanem invited everyone to come eat on the patio, as it was such a beautiful day. Can and Dante wheeled Nonna outside, and the old friends had a wonderful time catching up. The children of course tried to fight over who sat by Dante, and Ates said very loudly, "Remember be nice to the ladies." They all sat down with no more fighting.
The adults broke out laughing, and Aziz said, "Can, what are you teaching your son? It worked they stopped fighting." Can said, "I didn't teach him, Dante taught him that, and he loves saying it."
Mihriban said, "I'm pretty sure that is a Divit man saying." The ladies were laughing so hard, that Can said, "Okay, okay you ladies will choke on your fruit if you aren't careful."
After the lunch, Cemile invited Mihriban and Aziz's to her room. She was going to show them some of her photo albums, and for her talk with them. She had talked with Can and Sanem and they all decided now would be the time to tell Aziz about Luca.
All the children were playing in the yard, in their sandbox. Can, Sanem, Emre, and Leyla were sitting on the patio watching them.
Can started talking and told Emre and Leyla, the history of Can dating Elena, then introducing her to Luca, and their love at first sight. He then backed up and told them about Aziz, Mihriban, Huma, and Cemile all being friends in school. He told them what Cemile had told them, the history that she had with Aziz, about going to university, never coming back to Turkey, and about Luca being their brother. Emre was crying when he finished talking and said, "We had an older brother, and we never knew him."
Can replied, "I was privileged to know him; for a short time, but we can know his son Dante. Sanem and I are planning to adopt Dante and we have an appointment for Nonna to have a second opinion for her cancer and maybe treatment. What is amazing is all of this started with Sanem's dreams about a young boy? Nonna is telling Baba right now about Luca. I don't know how he will react, so we have to be supportive to all of them."
Meanwhile Cemile was trying to get her nerve up to tell Aziz and Mihriban about Luca. She was showing them old pictures, when Mihriban said, "Aziz these baby pictures look like the ones I saw of Can and Emre. Cemile are these pictures of Dante? Is he Can's son?"
Cemile took a deep breath and said, "No these are pictures of Dante's Papa', my son Luca. He would have been thirty-three this year; he is about three almost four years older than Can." She sat quietly, and didn't say anything else.
Aziz looked at Cemile and tears started flowing down his face he said, "He was my son wasn't he? This is the reason that you could never come back to Turkey till now. I am so sorry; it was my fault what happened."
Cemile said, "No it was both our fault, as we had been drinking and we were both sad. You had broken up with Mihriban, and I felt so bad for you. I was already in Italy when I found out I was pregnant, but before I left Istanbul Huma came to see me. She told me to stay away from you because she was going to get rid of Mihriban and marry you. She did not know what we had done or anything else, but she knew we had gone out. She actually scared me a little, and then when I found out I was pregnant I thought she would kill me if she had any idea. I did not tell Can and Sanem about Huma and her actual threats. I didn't want to upset Can about his Anne. Mainly though I was ashamed and knew I could never come back to Turkey. My Baba and Anne were upset, but both supported me from day one. My parent's helped me until I finished university, and I met my husband at school. He fell in love with Luca, we were married and he adopted him. He was in the Italian Air Force and that's where Luca got his love of planes and flying. Can actually introduced Elena to Luca, he and Luca had met at school, where Luca took some classes and they hit it off. Can was actually dating Elena, but he didn't tell me that I guessed, and Luca and Elena fell in love at first sight. They had an amazing love and Elena was devastated when Luca died in a plane crash. She died just a couple of months ago from recurring breast cancer. It is amazing to me that Can and Sanem followed up on dreams she was having and found us.
Sanem is a wonderful person, and was willing to take Dante, even thinking he might be Can's son. Dante fell in love with her and calls her Anne now. He loves the triplets, and Can, but Sanem stole his heart. She just opened her arms and he stepped right into her heart. She has already taught him so much about love and loving his parents, she is special.
I have cancer and have been told that what little treatment I am receiving is all and to be prepared to die soon. I had been so worried about Dante and now I have peace of mind. But your children Can and Sanem are determined that I go for a second opinion and have already made an appointment. They are a force to be reckoned with when they make up their minds. I am so sorry that you never got to meet and know your son. It is all my fault and I ask that you please forgive me for Dante's sake."
Mihriban and Aziz both crying stood up and gathered their friend in their arms for a beautiful group hug. When they sat back down and all three were crying.
Aziz ask, "I will always feel sad that I never got to know Luca, but I understand and forgive you. Could we talk more and look at more photos another day very soon? I think my boys and their wives will be wondering if we are okay. Mihriban and I have a lot to tell you about Huma, one thing I will tell you now is that she is in jail right now. I want to know a lot more about Luca, and I want to get to know my new grandson, Dante."
Cemile said, "That would be wonderful. He doesn't know this story yet. I thought maybe Can or you could tell him when he is older, when he can understand human nature a little more."
Aziz pushed the wheelchair and Mihriban held Cemile's hand as they joined the others on the patio. When they went through the door, they saw all four of the children sitting around Sanem, as she told them a story about the stars. The adults were listening just as intently as the children.
Everyone was happy to see the older adults, and Can and Emre jumped up to help Aziz. Can said, "Baba are you okay?" He reached and hugged both of his sons saying, "Yes and we will talk more later. Can, did you tell Emre and Leyla our story?" Can just nodded his head, 'yes'.
The children came running to Aziz and Mihriban giving them hugs. Dante slowly walked over to his Nonna, and held her hand, just watching. Aziz slowly stood up and said, "Dante son, please come over here for a minute." Dante slowly walked his way after a nod from his Nonna. Aziz sat on a chair at Dante's level and said son, "It is okay for you to call us Dede and Babaanne, like the little ones, if you like?"
Dante started grinning and said, "Okay." Everyone laughed as he sounded just like Can Divit when he said okay. Not long after that Aziz, Mihriban, Leyla, and Emre left for home.
Later after all the children were bathed, in bed, and Nonna settled in her room, Sanem and Can finally had time to talk. Can was holding Sanem in his lap on the patio, and ask her, "Are you tired my love?" She replied snuggling down closer on his chest, "Yes, but I am so happy to have our mystery solved, and all of our family here together. Thank you for not thinking I was too crazy with my dreams."
Can said laughing, "I will never doubt your dreams, you found my Baba's lost friend, lost son, and lost grandson. Now we have a new son and Nonna." Sanem getting up slowly, laughed and said as she begin quietly slipping into the house, "Learned a bit about your sex life at age twenty, also." Can was shaking his head, as he laughed, and followed her.
The next few days were hectic, as everyone settled in and got to know each other better. Aziz had come over one day and he and Cemile sat for hours looking at photos of Luca from the time he was born till his death. He learned all of the history of when she found out about the pregnancy, Luca's early years, school days, and military service. He hated the fact that he never got to meet his oldest son. But he was so thankful for the happy life that he had, and for the woman that was a wonderful mother to his son. They waited to talk about Huma until Mihriban could be with them and explain some things from her point of view.
Aziz got to spend some time with Dante and Can as they painted in Dante's bedroom. What was the most fun, was watching Can keeping his three out of the paint and helping, without hurting their feelings. Finally it was Dante who talked the kids into going and playing in the sandbox. He whispered to Can, to please save him some things to paint later, while the younger children napped. Can just winked at him as he raced the younger children outside.
When they went out Aziz hugged Can and thanked him for what he and Sanem had done for their family. Can said, "It was really all Sanem; she just kept telling me that the boy in her dreams, needed us. She was right, they did need us. I couldn't understand why she felt we needed to take the children with us, but it was the right thing to do; the kids were so good for their age. Dante literally fell in love with Sanem, at the first hug. I am so proud of my wife. Even if he had been mine, she would have had him join our family without question."
Aziz had tears in his eyes as he hugged his son, then he went looking for his daughter to hugged her.