Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 90498 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90498 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“It’s time for your bath,” I say, smiling at my mother as she reaches behind the chair to tickle him. Laughter bubbles from him. “Oh, I can hear you. Are you behind the curtain?” I yank the fabric back.
“No,” he shouts.
“Are you hiding…” I make a show of looking in the vases, “between the flowers?”
“Nooo,” he laughs.
Gabriel leans against the doorjamb, and crossing his arms over his chest, he watches as we play hiding-go-seek.
“Have you looked beneath the table?” Gabriel asks.
“I’m not there,” Deniz calls out, then suddenly he jumps up with what he thinks is a scary face. “Wha!”
He runs toward me, and I hold open my arms, sweeping him to my chest. “Ready for your bath?”
He nods. “Can I have hotcho…golate?”
“Just a little. It’s almost time for bed.”
Carrying our five-year-old while pregnant is no easy task. Gabriel takes him from me, saying, “You’re getting too big, little man.”
“Like you.” Deniz wraps his arms around Gabriel’s neck.
When we walk past a framed portrait of Babaanne, my heart squeezes with sorrow. She got to see her great-grandchild and spent three wonderful years with him before passing away in her sleep.
I smile at my husband and our son, Deniz, the spitting image of his father.
Entering Deniz’s bedroom, I head to the bathroom, opening the faucet so the water can run while I get his pajamas.
Gabriel and Deniz are wrestling on his bed as I pull the clothes out of the chest of drawers.
Giving them a playful scowl, I say, “Time to bathe.”
“You heard your mother.” Gabriel nudges Deniz toward me, making himself comfortable on the bed.
I take Deniz into the bathroom and help him out of his clothes. Checking the water, I close the faucets, then lift him into the tub.
As I begin to wash his body, he asks, “Tell me the ’tory.”
“Once upon a time, there was a girl named Lara. She lived in a mansion ruled by an evil dragon. He breathed flames and devoured anyone who came near him.”
“Like cookies?”
“Yes.” I nod, a soft smile around my lips as I scrub his feet. “Lara –”
“Like you?”
I nod again. “Yes, like Mama. She scrubbed the floors and washed the windows, staring at the world outside and wondering what it was like.”
Deniz splashes the water, wetting the front of my shirt. “Then Baba came!”
“Yes, I rode in on my black horse, slew the dragon, and stole the princess,” Gabriel suddenly says behind me.
I pull Deniz out of the tub and dry his body. Once I have him dressed in his favorite PJs, covered with tiny planes, Gabriel tucks him into bed.
“My hottochogolate,” Deniz demands.
Just like his father.
“I’ll get it,” Gabriel says, rubbing a hand over my pregnant belly before leaving the room.
I sit down on the side of the bed, caressing my fingers through our son’s silky black hair.
“Is it true?” Deniz asks.
“The story?” When he nods, I smile. “Yes. Your daddy’s my prince.”
“Am I one too?”
I nod, leaning forward to press a kiss on his cheek. “Yes, and one day you’ll also save a princess.”
“No, I’ll steal her,” he argues. “Just like Baba.”
I let out a chuckle. “Yes, you probably will, and then you’ll live happily ever after.”
Gabriel
Fifteen years later…
“Why are you so nervous?” Lara asks as she adjusts my tie.
“It’s her first date.”
She raises an eyebrow at me. “And?”
After twenty-one years of marriage, my love for the mother of my children still keeps growing.
“I’m just nervous,” I growl, unable to explain why. “I don’t want to fuck up tonight.”
“You won’t, Aşkım,” Lara assures me. She stands on her tiptoes and presses a kiss to my mouth. “I’m going to check on Alya. She’s probably still soaking in the tub.”
I nod, moving to stand in front of the mirror so I can make sure everything’s perfect.
When Lara leaves the room, I open the vault and take a box from it. I flip the lid open and stare at the platinum chain with a heart pendant made from sapphires, the color of her eyes. It lies on a bed of red velvet.
I hope she’ll like it.
I suck in a breath of air as emotion washes over me.
It’s my baby girl’s fourteenth birthday, and I’m taking her on her first date, so she’ll know how future dates should treat her.
If they get past me.
Closing the box, I leave the room to wait in the entrance hall.
“You look so handsome, Gabriel Bey,” Nisa says as she comes from the kitchen.
“Thank you.” I adjust the tie, then ask, “Is Deniz back yet?”
“No. I’m sure he’ll be home soon.”
“That boy’s testing my patience,” I mutter. “Since I bought him the R8, he’s never home.”
“He’s nineteen. Let him have some fun,” Nisa chastises me.
Movement catches my eye, and I turn to glance up as Alya stops at the top of the stairs. She’s wearing the pale blue gown I got her, stealing the breath from my lungs.