The Dreams That You Wish

Chapter 17

Ceylin lets out a yawn that cracks her jaws. She's exhausted. It's been such an eventful week. But a week thankfully full of good events. It started with the arrival of the finalized adoption papers. Seeing the papers, seeing Asen's ID card with the name Asen Kaya printed on it had filled her heart with such joy. He was finally theirs. Officially. And no one could take him away.

They had had a little party to celebrate the adoption in their backyard a few days ago. Everyone in both of their families showed up, minus her mother of course. Even Ilgaz's aunt came and was fortunately on her best behavior. Either that or everyone made sure she never crossed Ceylin's path. In any event, Ceylin was grateful not to have to deal with either woman. And the sad truth is that she hadn't expected her mother to come anyway. She hasn't spoken to her since their last failed encounter. She had almost gotten through to her mother that day, she knows she did. She'll keep trying one day. But today is not that day.

"Baby asleep?" Ceylin asks Ilgaz when he comes into the bedroom carrying the baby monitor. It's back to just the two of them on night baby duty now that Esma moved out. Ibo finished up his business with the Bed and Breakfast and finally joined Esma a few days ago, just in time for the party. Once he got here, the two moved into Ilgaz's old place. So they're still close, but everyone just has their own private spaces now. And they still see Esma every day. Esma still watches Asen whenever both Ilgaz and Ceylin need to be at work.

"Just about," Ilgaz tells her, setting the monitor on their dresser. "Poor guy is so tired."

"It's exhausting being universally adored," Ceylin laughs. She reaches out her arms for Ilgaz when he sits next to her on the bed. Ilgaz happily complies and pulls her to rest her head on his chest. "Our little prince and his court of admirers. He's lucky, though. I'm glad he has so many people who love him. We can be at ease knowing he'll be well taken care of if anything ever happens to us."

Ilgaz tenses for a moment, pulls her closer. Presses a kiss to the top of her head.

"Don't even joke like that," he whispers. "Being without you is actually one of my worst nightmares."

She gets a pang in her heart. Because she feels the same way about him. And now she feels bad for even putting the thought into his head. So she tries to joke with him to change the mood back to happy.

"But don't you get tired of me? Don't you want a break?" she teases him. "I think the longest we've been apart have been those two days I went to jail. Should I arrange another prison visit?"

"I know you're making fun of me, but those were the worst two days of my life, Ceylin," he winces. "Seriously. Once I got you, I never wanted you out of my sight. And not just because of the trouble you tend to get yourself into ...the aforementioned prison stint being a perfect example."

"Hey now, how is it my fault my ex best friend decided to kill himself and frame me for his murder? I mean, who would think anyone would do something like that? Me being in prison was definitely not something either of us could have foreseen."

He gives her a look. She just rolls her eyes and sighs.

"I mean in actual prison. Not just in a holding cell," she clarifies. She hates to admit that she really has spent more than her fair share of time locked away in the holding cells. "But half of the time, you were the one who put me there. So you can't really blame me for that either."

"No more jail, I promise," Ilgaz says, kissing the smile off her lips. "And no more divorce. We were separated for almost a whole week that time."

"Are we really that bad?" she asks. "Are we really one of those couples who can't be apart? Have we really spent nearly every day together since we met?"