The Art of Love

"This Can't be Happening"

Almost a year and there hadn't been much more than the monthly phone calls and one FaceTime conversation. Her little bird had chosen her own path and for the time being they were nowhere near it. She didn't blame her one bit. That stubbornness that had seen her through so many other ordeals would serve her well now. It had to because she deserved to be happy. She sighed and Nihat turned to her and removed his glasses to look at her closely. "What is it Mebkibe...? You know she doesn't want us there and insisting will only push her further away. We're lucky she even allowed us so close this last time. She is in good hands. Both Can and Osman will let us know if anything develops that we should know about". Mevkibe turned to her husband and nodded her head. "No Nihat, I'm not anxious about that. It's the fact that she doesn't know that Can is alive. Imagine how angry she will be at realizing she has been deceived all this time. She left her home believing she had been deceived and then after discovering that the love of her life died she rebuilt her life again until this tragedy. How will she forgive so much deception, even if it was all done to protect her. All of this is because of a lie. A lifelong foundation can't be built on that Nihat. It can't survive. No matter how much love there is...,there must be trust". Nihat watched his wife's concerned face and pondered her concerns before replying. "Believe me Can Divit will find a way to explain this to her. If nothing else that man loves her more than his own pride and dignity. More than himself. What he is doing now in unconventional but he is doing it for her. She needs to stand on her own two feet and then decide what she wants from her life. Who better than he to help her stand?". Mevkibe simply sighed once more and smiled half heartedly before turning off her light and kissing her husband goodnight. He kissed her in return and put his glasses back on to continue reading. He knew Sanem better than most and he was sure after she discovered the truth she would handle it in her own way and then her heart would tell her what the right decision was and she would take it. Then and only then would his daughter finally live the life that he always knew was waiting for her.

"Emre I want to tell her in person. I want her to feel the baby kick and know that she will be an aunty soon. The flight won't be a problem and I'm in perfect health's there is no reason why I shouldn't go. Please Askim, don't be upset with me. She will forgive me once I'm there". Emre understood Leyla more than she thought but she was unaware of Cans presence there and he wasn't sure how she would take it once she did. By now everyone should have known that Can had survived the car bombing that killed his driver. He and everyone else had thought he had been killed in the car bombing and it had remained that way until Yosef had been arrested. Weeks had passed and there had even been a burial with all the prescribed traditions employed. His father and mother along with Miriban had been devastated. Sanem had been the worst of all. Shortly after Leyla's call to her, she had disappeared and it had only been a miracle that she had chosen to make contact later. Emre, Metin, Aziz and a few others had later been told that Can had not been in the car but by then too much had happened and they had been sworn to secrecy. Although Sanem had reached out to Leyla she had been firm in not wanting contact or anyone to know her whereabouts. It had hurt the Aydin's considerably but Sanem was like a fragile little bird with a broken wing. She needed time to heal and she needed to do it in her own way and far from where she and Can had begun and ended their lives together. Then tragedy struck once more when Sanem had had her accident and because they still couldn't afford for the world to know Can was still alive, she remained unaware. Can had been in hiding while those that didn't know he yet lived were kept that way for there own safety until they were sure that Yosef and his cronies had been shut down completely. They could not afford to take a misstep and ruin the case in the eleventh hour. With regard to Sanem, it was bad enough that Can had reentered her life but the way he did had precipitated another series of events that could not have been predicted. However, what was done was done. Emre didn't want to shock his wife and he wasn't sure she wouldn't try and tell Sanem. It would be a mess and he couldn't do that to Can after everything he had been through himself. Everyone empathized with Sanem, including him, but most didn't know what Can had undergone in that time as well. He lived the life of a zombie who wanted nothing more than to be put out of his misery when he was being blackmailed and then when Sanem walked into the trap they laid for them and because of his actions, which he knew put their marriage at risk, she left him. Can had suffered greatly at Sanems leaving him. He was torn between an Interpol investigation where he and Sanem were named as suspects in a huge intercontinental mafia ring and explaining all to his wife risking her safety and the one opportunity they had to break free of the life they never asked for or wanted. He was trapped with the authorities on one side and Yosef on the other. In the  middle were he and Sanem not to mention his mother. It had taken money and time and Metin's expert council to navigate the maze enough to provide evidence against Yosef and work for the authorities and keep Fabri out of the loop. He was not someone he wanted as a lifelong enemy and dealing with the Yosef issue was plenty. The authorities had agreed and he entered into a game of cat and mouse that increasingly put him in a position to not be completely upfront with Sanem. It had led to more than he could have ever anticipated and his failure to tell Sanem about the images with Polen and his belief that he had been set up only added to the fuel that convicted him in her eyes. When he wasn't able to defend himself she filled in the blanks and assumed his guilt. Nobody could blame her, even he thought his brother had lost his mind; but soon it was clear and he understood that Can had tried to free his mother and his wife from a life where they had no control and were cogs in a underworld wheel. No matter how much he planned and had Sanem guarded he had lost her in the end. The months and months of searching for her had culminated in a tip that brought him to where she had been living. Prior to that Sanem had left her family and everything behind when he himself told her that Can had been killed, murdered. It had been such a horrible moment and he hadn't forgotten just had vulnerable Sanem had been. She nearly wasted away until one day she disappeared. Can had found her because of a very simple thing. He took a chance and put a photograph up for sale that he knew, if she saw it, would draw her like a bee to a flower and it had worked. Emre had known all along that Can was the Albatross but when Can explained that Sanem had never learned that her favorite photographer was he himself, Emre couldn't believe it. Can explained that he had wanted to give her the photograph that was the original complete image of the one she had received as a child on their first wedding anniversary and then do the big reveal. She had received the smaller photo, with just a portion of the total image of the nesting albatrosses, but their was always another one he had taken where the entire island of nesting albatrosses could be seen. She had surmised at one point that the famous and anonymous photographer must surely have a stash of his favorites for his own collection and she had been right. Now he intended to hold a raffle where the proceeds would go to charity like normal. As per the typical entry rules, the participant needed to provide a valid email address, complete name and phone number as appeared on official documents and if chosen provide a physical address in order to ship the item. The winner had to provide a drivers license or ID in order to claim the prize. He set up the raffle using all his marketing connections to get the word out to the art world everywhere and all social media accounts he could think of. It didn't take long for the entries to start pouring in and eventually that was how he found her. He knew if she had any connection to the internet at all from wherever she was she would surely enter the contest once she saw it. He had made a marketing campaign promoting the raffle and sold the tickets at $20.00 a piece. The hospital that would benefit from it would be the Childrens hospital of Istanbul Turkey where she herself had been treated as a child. Not only had he done that but he made it so there were three winners. He believed that if she were anywhere near a computer or screen she would see the marketing campaign for the raffle and the benefit affair and she wouldn't hesitate to enter, and he had been so right. She had entered the drawing and provided her information. The raffle would proceed without him because no sooner had he procured her address, he booked a flight. He would make sure that when he revealed that he was the "Albatross" that she would have her photograph. That had been the way he had found her and travelled to where she was. He had been intent on explaining it all to her now that Yosef and his Russian cronies had been caught and tried and sentenced. He had it all planned but he knew there would be a chance that she might not forgive him so easily. He was off the hook with the authorities but because he hadn't known where she was at the time he refused to allow anyone who knew he was alive to go public with it. Not even the authorities because Sanem was still not aware. The risk that she had been under, the whole deception including that of his death and cooperating with the authorities was meant to free them both. It had but she was gone and believed him dead. Allah only knew what she had gone through and what she had done since that time. He was alive and she didn't know it and he needed to be the one to tell her. He expected her anger and wrath but in the end he counted on her love for him to come to the conclusion that he wasn't a cheat and that his love was true no matter how it may have seemed in their last days together. He could never have anticipated how cruelly life could take a turn. Emre couldn't let Layla go but he needed something more than a worried husbands concern for his wife to force her to stay. So he made the decision to tell her the truth and take what he had coming because he had not confided in her. He knew that once she came to terms with it she would see how this had all been done with the right intentions. However he didn't doubt for one moment that he wouldn't be in the dog house for a while. He looked at his pregnant wife whose small belly had just begun to show and smiled as he moved toward her. "Leyla.... I love you so much that your wish is my command..." he watched her face light up as she walked into his arms and snuggled her head just under his chin. "Ask... thank you I will make all..." he groaned inwardly because he knew what was to come. "Leyla.. there is just one small problem that we must discuss. I'm not sure exactly how to start but..." She pulled herself out of his arms and looked up into his face with a frown... "is it Sanem....oh no, did  something...." He stopped her by nodding his head "no, no, all is still as it has been with Sanem. It's not about her health exactly". Leyla's eyes took on that look when she was trying to ascertain something. He felt a little sick knowing that a bomb was about to drop on her, doubly so.. "what is it Emre... your scaring me. What is so important? If it's my sister that we need to talk about before I go to her what else could it be?" She was looking at him and studying his face no doubt wondering if she could detect a lie. "Leyla... please believe  me when I say that all was done with the best intentions". The look she gave him then should have made him reconsider and just come up with something else but he was in this far and he really didn't have another option. "Emre...this isn't funny...what is the problem? Why won't ..." Emre looked up and then put his hands behind his neck and blurted it out before he changed his mind "Can is alive!!.... The bomb that was put in his car killed the driver he had just hired but not him. He had to keep it a secret from all of us.... until a short time later ... and then only a few of us were told... for our own safety. I will explain all of that later, but what you must know now is that he's  with Sanem now. Can is with Sanem.....except she is unaware of it..... because.... uhmmm this is hard to explain... Uhhmmm....he is actually her aide....Leo".