10 Minutes

The Letter

Journal Entry:
What!!!!..... but Abla!.....I don't understand! You and ....is the ...?" She watched as her sister sank down on her knees to the floor. She held one hand to her mouth, quieting her own voice and the other she held up with her palm facing forward...stopping any further questions. The paper she held in her hand confirmed what her sister had just told her between sobs. She knelt down and hugged Miriban to her own chest. She looked around their room as if there was anything in there that could save them. Although this was happening to her sister it was essentially happening to her too. As twins, they shared a unique and powerful bond. As identical twins it surpassed all understanding. She understood now what she had been feeling for the past several months. She tightened her hold on Miribahn and rocked them back and forth trying to ease her sister's fears. Her mind was whirling with questions that she needed answered but right now was not the time. Soon she would need to coax the answers out of Miribahn but not just yet. Right now she needed to be held and loved and comforted. Soon enough they would need to find a solution.
All of these things happened to us as if a powerful hand where orchestrating these affairs. Both Miribahn and I cried together and alone. My mother whose beauty was her crowning glory appeared to wither before us. What could we do now.

Journal entry:
"Melis....you must listen to me and listen carefully. There is nothing you or I can do about this. Your grandfather has commanded this and without your father here to support us any longer we have no choice but to comply. When Aziz returns you will assume Miribahn's place. You will take up your sister's role as fiancé and you will formally marry Aziz before an official and Allah willing you will have a good and happy life with that young man. In our culture you, I mean....Miribahn and he were already married before he left for his military service but ....." Ehmel nodded her head and wrung her hands as she tried to explain to her youngest daughter what was to come. "If she had only come to me before going to the doctor we may not be enduring this now. You my child are our only hope. Aziz's family is very prestigious and powerful. They would not accept a refusal. Melis..... your place will be with him in Istanbul. You must make a life with him....as your sister would have. There can be no more Melis....only Miribahn. Do you understand what I'm saying?" My mother held her hands tightly and then let them go walking toward the opposite side of the room and standing near the window looking out toward the sea. She continued to speak but her voice now seemed very frail and distant. "When we left Antalya to Istanbul we left with your father's blessings but not so your grandfathers. He wanted the both of you to remain there, in Antalya. Your father expected, correctly; that your father would marry you each off with a powerful family that would strengthen his own holdings, promising or matching you both with wealthy families to further his own power and fortune as it would be fortified with an alliance. Your father didn't want that for either of you. He had seen it done to his sisters and would not let it happen to his children. That is why he sent us away. I begged him to come with us but he said he would follow as soon as he could work off the debts to his father. That was never to be. Not long after we arrived your father mailed me a letter in which he expressed his wishes for you girls to go to separate schools. Miribahn would remain with me in Istanbul and study at the international school for languages and you would travel onto England and study music. He explained that he wanted you girls to thrive at your own individual gifts. He expressed that he didn't want you to share that you were twins either. I didn't understand it at the time but as you know I asked that of you both and since you were not going to be together both of you complied. I know now that these wishes were your grandfathers and not his. All of this was your grandfathers machinations that he employed after we left. The only thing keeping us safe were my parents involvement. Your grandfather was a powerful man but so was my father. As the eldest your father, or rather your grandfather insisted that Miribahn would stay in Istanbul. You....well if nobody knew about you...then he could market you later to another wealthy family without the possibility of having your worth devalued". She looked at me then, realizing that all of this was too much to take in one go and walked back toward me...
"My love...I'm so sorry...this should never have happened. I gave Miribahn too much freedom...too much... autonomy because I believed she needed friends and distractions as you girls had been separated. She grew up more of a free spirit. As she grew her temperament was headstrong and willful. I kept her busy with activities and charities but she had the attention of many. Then one day at a gathering for a charity Aziz was introduced to her, they soon fell in love. Your grandfather had a windfall land in his lap with Aziz and he didn't waste a moment of time. They were engaged quickly but then as you now know their romance turned into your sister's downfall. Aziz left to military service for a year after the engagement with the knowledge that his bride would be waiting for him upon his return. Not long after I received a summons for you to return home to Antalya. Your grandfather had found someone for you. I protested but your grandfather demanded your return immediately. I couldn't refuse as he was paying all of our bills after my parents passed on. When you finally arrived from London we made arrangements to travel to Antalya but by then Miribahns condition was no longer in doubt". My mother  looked like she carried the world on her shoulders then. "Sometimes fate intervenes in ways we just can't comprehend. Your grandfather had secured a young man originally for Miribahn but that was out if his hands once Aziz came into the picture so then of course you were next. The young man's family was wealthy and powerful from Anatolia and Antalya. Your grandfather was a devious man and he did not leave any stone unturned. He inquired about them everywhere and soon discovered that the young man whom had been presented to him had taken a wife the previous year. He also learned he had been injured during his military campaign and that there was a question about his abilities to father a child. Since the marriage the young man had not been fruitful in brining a child into the world, he rejected the young man, cancelling out the match and soon bad blood ensued". All of these things happened to us over a very short period of time. We scarcely had gotten used to the idea that Miribahn was to have a child. I had barely arrived from London when my world and hers changed forever.