Emir watches his wife sleep with the biggest smile on his face.
"My wife," he whispers in awe, tracing her every feature with his eyes. It's been too long since he's been able to just look at her like this.
She doesn't know, but that first night together, after their first wedding, he looked at her much like he's doing now. He allowed himself that one moment in time to just drink her in. She was so sweet and pretty and pure, and his heart instantly ached for her. His first instinct was to keep her close and protect her from the world. But he was too angry and stubborn to let his traitorous heart and those renegade feelings deter him from his plans to prove his father wrong.
"If only."
If only he had listened to his heart. If only he had gone with his feelings. If only he had protected her. Then maybe his mother and Cemre wouldn't have been able to hurt her. Maybe he wouldn't have hurt her the way that he did.
"I'm so sorry," he apologizes quietly, trying to avoid waking her. But she hears him and begins to stir.
"Sorry for what?" she asks with an adorable yawn. He can't help but smile and place a little kiss on the tip of her nose.
She sighs a contented sigh, blinking sleepy eyes at him. She cups his cheek and pulls him down to her, giving him a kiss.
"Günaydın," she whispers, nuzzling his nose with hers. "You should be in as good a mood as I am."
"I'm in a great mood," he tells her, sweeping her hair from her face.
"Then what are you sorry for?" she asks again.
He lets out a heavy sigh at the return to the topic.
"You were mine to protect," he tells her. "And I didn't protect you. I didn't take care of you the way I should have. I let them ruin us."
"Emir," she frowns. "I was the one who left. I ruined us."
"You were just trying to protect our family. I should have realized you wouldn't have done what you did without a reason. Our hearts beat as one," he says, placing one hand over her heart and the other over his own heart. "I can feel you right here. That never went away. I should have known your love for me didn't go away either."
"How about we promise each other, right here, right now, that from now on, we will trust our hearts," she suggests. "And remember that no matter what happens, we'll be able to get through it together."
She gives him a sad smile and blinks away some tears before continuing.
"So many times I thought about what would have happened if I had just trusted in us. If I had come straight to you after Cemre blackmailed me and told you about the video. But I was just so sure you would have turned yourself in. And I couldn't face the fact of this family losing you to jail. So I gave you up instead. It never even occurred to me that Cemre had lied about the whole thing."
"How about another promise?" he says. "Let's remember that no matter how hopeless a situation seems, it will only be worse if we're not together. And that if the only solution to a problem is us separating, then we look for another solution. I can't lose you again, Reyhan."
He hugs her when her tears start flowing more freely than before.
"I hate that I almost hate Cemre," Reyhan admits. "I'm ashamed that I feel that way. Ashamed that I want her to hurt the way that she made me hurt. And the way that she made me hurt you."
You're not the only one, Emir says to himself. He lets her cry herself out, but not for long. Cemre, and the anguish she caused them, doesn't belong in their bed. Even if this particular bed only happens to be a hotel bed.
"Let's get out of here and do something fun, maybe get something to eat," he suggests. "I know I owe you a proper honeymoon. And one day I promise we'll go away for at least two weeks."
"Someplace far, far away?" she asks, her mood perking up. "Alaska is sounding pretty good right about now."
"Alaska it is," he says with a laugh. "Once my dad is better, we'll take a nice, long trip to Alaska ... just the two of us. Unless of course ..."
He trails off, giving her a mischievous grin. He rolls them over until she's on her back and he's looking down at her.
"Unless what?" she asks him suspiciously.
"Well, we do have a lot of time to make up for," he says, kissing one side of her neck. "A lot of babies to make."
"Babies?" she giggles, his facial hair tickling her when he moves to kiss the other side of her neck. "How many babies are we talking about?"
"At least three. All girls like their beautiful mama."
Her face flushes red at the compliment. And also when he starts nibbling at the base of her throat.
"Three ... girls?" Her breath starts to catch as his hands begin to get creative below the covers. And then all thought is gone as she totally gives in to him, whatever plans they had for going out forgotten in the wake of their passion.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
When they finally do get around to getting a meal, they have food delivered to the room. Emir is too unwilling to let her out of bed just yet. He knows they have to go back home sooner than either of them would like, but for now, he has her all to himself and he's not going to waste a single second of their time alone.
"When you dragged me away for this impromptu wedding, I see now why you didn't even bother to pack me any clothes," she teases him, looking down at the shirt of his that she put on so she wouldn't be completely naked.
He just laughs, not even bothering to be ashamed.
"We have to be back home today," he says with a shrug. He leans over to place a kiss on her shoulder that the shirt doesn't quite cover. "I know this hasn't been the wedding and honeymoon you deserve, but I just couldn't go another day without fixing the one thing we had control over. Not being married to you had me so that I could hardly think. I couldn't live a normal life without you, Reyhan."
"Me either," she admits, stroking his cheek with her hand. "I felt like I was dying not being able to be with you. Or to just touch you whenever I wanted. I'm s...."
"Shh!" he interrupts her. "No more apologies, remember? We were both victims of that sick, twisted game my mother and Cemre were playing. But now that we know, we can be ready for whatever they throw our way. Better yet, we can refuse to live that way any longer."
"How? We can't just run away," she points out. "We can't leave my uncle in their hands. And we can't let them get away with what they've done to him. Something tells me it's even worse than what you've told me."
Emir just looks away because she's right. He had taken her from Zafer's house before she could see the video from Kemal's nanny cam. All she knows is the sanitized version of events that he described to her.
"I'm having a hard time believing all that my mother has done," he says quietly. "If she hadn't admitted it - gloated about it, actually - then I'd never think her capable of such evil. But it's all right there on the video, and all from her own lips. She admitted to hiring the guy that shot her. If you remember, she wasn't living at home at the time. So all of this was all her plan to make me forgive her and to let her come back home while also getting rid of my father. She hated him that much. And I never knew."
"The worst for me is the idea that she would say such things to my uncle, knowing he can't do anything about it. It makes sense now why he sometimes has such a sad look on his face," Reyhan says, heart breaking at just thinking about what Hikmet has gone through. "Just think of all she's probably said and done to him before the nanny cam got set up. Think of all she's said and done to us! So much is starting to make more sense. So many times you were angry at me and I could never figure out why. Now I think we know why."
"I feel like such a fool," Emir admits with a dejected sigh. "I treated you so badly, and why? Because I didn't want to admit to myself how quickly I had fallen for you. And every trick my mother and Cemre played made me think you were only with me for my money."
"Emir," she sighs, laying her head on his shoulder to comfort him and to also get comfort from him. "Despite all that they did, you know what's so amazing? We fell in love anyway. And our love has been able to last, even throughout all their tricks. Even when they made me believe you had cheated, I couldn't get you out of my heart and I came back to you. Even when they threatened me and made me leave you again, we fought our way back from a divorce.They have put us through so much. But you know what? We're the winners in all of this because we have each other. No matter what they do, we end up back together."
He smiles and kisses her on the forehead.
"And no matter what they do from now on, they won't be able to split us apart again. I promise." He takes her hand in his and places a kiss there as well. "I'm not letting them take you from me again."
He'll do whatever it takes to protect her from now on. Because if he ever loses her again, he knows he won't survive.
But first he has to get rid of the biggest threat ... Cemre. At the end of the day, his mother is his mother. He believes he can handle her now that he knows what to look out for. But Cemre is another story. She's unpredictable and desperate and he's afraid that one day she'll actually physically harm Reyhan.
He would die before letting that happen.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Cemre moves the vase of flowers from the table to the stand by the bed, unable to make up her mind where she wants them. She wants to make the room cheerful, but not so much that it drives Emir crazy. When this becomes her room, she will know exactly where the flowers will go. And she just knows that there will always be flowers. Emir will always buy her flowers, she'll make sure of it. He's going to be such a good husband to her. Even better than he was to that hillbilly he married. Because Cemre is going to be the best wife he's ever had. He's going to forget all about his marriage to Reyhan.
"I deserve this," Cemre says, looking around the room. She takes a seat on the bed and leans over to sniff Emir's pillow.
"What are you doing in here?"
Cemre jumps from the shock of being interrupted. She sends a seething glare in the direction of an angry looking Zeynep, staring at her from the doorway.
"Why are you in Emir abi's room?" Zeynep questions her again.
"Mind your own business, kid," Cemre snaps at her. "Before you find yourself enrolled in a nice little boarding school thousands of miles away from here."
"Emir abi isn't going to send me away. He promised I would always have a home here."
"Is that so?" Cemre asks with a laugh. "I'm sure he said the same thing to Reyhan too. But look around. Reyhan isn't here. So you better watch your mouth with me or else you'll end up gone too."
Cemre rolls her eyes when Zeynep storms off. That was too easy. The girl is more of a nuisance than a true bother. Not like Reyhan was. She's not going to cause Cemre any serious problems. But maybe she really ought to look into that boarding school she threatened Zeynep with. It might take a bit more manipulation, but Cemre is sure she can get the girl sent away. One less obstacle in the path to her happy life with Emir. He'll thank her for what she's doing one day. She just knows it.
"Nigar!" she yells to bring the woman into the room. Nigar and Sefer returned to the mansion not long after Reyhan disappeared. Then Emir got really busy at work and hasn't been home for the past couple of days. So Cemre has had some time to set certain things up in Emir's room. Nigar has been her biggest helper because she knows that snitch Melike would refuse to do anything without Emir's permission first. And Cemre doesn't have time for that kind of interference. Because everything has to be perfect by the time Emir arrives.
"Nigar!" Cemre calls again before the woman comes scurrying into the room. "Did you manage to do what I asked you to do?"
"Yes, Cemre hanim," Nigar says with a nod. "The throw pillows on the couch have been doused with your scent. And your picture has been placed on the dresser."
"Perfect!" Cemre grins. She doesn't want to over do it just yet. She just wants him to have little reminders of her so that he's always thinking about her. He'll be proposing in no time. "Has Emir said exactly when he'd be arriving?"
If he's too late, Cemre could "accidentally" fall asleep on the bed so that when he gets home, he has no choice but to get into the bed with her. She can barely contain her glee at the thought of sleeping in Emir's arms tonight. Then if she's really lucky, they'll get "caught" in bed together the next day and Emir will have no choice but to propose.
"We don't know what time he'll be home yet," Nigar says, interrupting Cemre's fantasies. "He said he had a couple of things to take care of, but that he'll try to be home around dinner."
Cemre looks at her watch and calculates the time. Just enough to do a little shopping and get to the hairdresser so that she'll be looking her best when Emir arrives. He won't know what hit him. If she plays her cards right, by this time tomorrow, Emir will belong to her.