THE STORMS WITHIN

Three of one heart...

Behind closed doors, Mihriban lay in the hospital bed next to Aziz. He was asleep and she felt totally lifeless. Her heart could barely drum up a beat loud enough for her to hear it. She felt like crying, though no tears would come to ease the pain in her dry eyes. She wanted to scream, though her voice was soundless against what she felt deep inside. She tried to make sense of what just happened, but no explanation came to her mind. The world that died within her so many years ago had come back to tug and pull at her heart. She stirred and sat up with her back against the pillow. She looked around and saw him. Aziz Divit. The love of her life. Her beloved. Her one and only. The father of a child she was told had died. She could not remember how many sleepless nights she had lain awake crying over the loss of not one heart but two. She was so in love with Aziz. She was just as in love with him now as she was back then.

Being told by Huma she would never be good enough for Aziz had hurt and wounded her heart through and through. Being told to get out of their lives hurt even more. Only Huma knew how to use the words that would hurt Mihriban in her most vulnerable place. The day she had left Aziz's side changed her life forever because on the very day she was forced by Huma to stay away from Aziz, Mihriban had found out she was going to have a baby. Aziz's baby. The joy of this news of new life turned into the most painful blow she could imagine. She and Aziz had been intimate only one time. He had swept her off her feet at the Maiden's Tower, by the light of the stars and the echoing love of the heroes of the legend of this tower. They were so in love, pure and innocently in love, and Mihriban never forgot how Aziz made her feel. Her heart had chosen Aziz, and being the delicate soul that she was, she had never let anyone else get close to her.

She had lost Aziz but lived with the hope she would carry a part of him with her forever in their child. She would tell him one day that they had created this new life. She would take his child to meet him. When she did go to see Aziz with news of her pregnancy, she was threatened and chased away by Huma. Strange, she thought, how life worked in its mysterious ways. Huma told Mihriban to get out of their lives because she and Aziz had gotten married and she was pregnant. Mihriban told Huma she would not break up a family and left with a broken heart. Even though she was pregnant herself, she knew she would not measure up to the established and over-confident Mrs. Divit.

What Mihriban did not know then was that Huma had lied. Aziz and Huma were not married and Huma was not pregnant. Huma lied the way she so easily did for her own personal gain. When Aziz realized Mihriban had left, his broken heart felt desperate and numb. He did not see Huma's treachery and soon after, they married and Huma did become pregnant, first with Can and later with Emre. One rainy day on her way into the hospital clinic for a checkup, Huma saw Mihriban leaving the clinic. She realized Mihriban was pregnant and only one man that came to Huma's mind. Aziz. Huma was furious at the realization but made sure Mihriban did not see her. Taking full advantage of her status, and the fact that their doctor knew they knew each other, she quietly persuaded the doctor to keep her informed of all of Mihriban's appointments. She did not know then how her intervention would affect their lives.

When Mihriban was eight months pregnant, on her way to the hospital clinic for her regular checkup, she was hit by a car. Unconscious and close to losing her life, Huma was called and rushed to Mihriban's side, spending the next two days holding her hand. Although they had become rivals, Mihriban was Huma's best friend for quite a while and she was not indifferent to the seriousness of her condition. The doctors had told Huma that if Mihriban's child was not delivered soon, the child would die as well.

However bad she had been, Huma could not bring herself to let the child die, even if Mihriban would not survive. She paid for the operation out of her own money, and demanded the hospital keep the secret of who financed the procedure. When it became obvious Mihriban may not survive, and to make sure no one would ever be able to trace the child back to Aziz, Huma requested the hospital place the child for adoption under the anonymous name of Baby B. The only thing Huma permitted was that Mihriban's bracelet, which had one brown moonstone embedded in it, be put with the child when it was adopted. But Mihriban did survive and upon regaining consciousness was told her baby had died during the operation. She never found out about Huma's involvement. She also never found out that during the time she had been unconscious, Huma was the only person close to her, keeping faithful watch over her to make sure she recovered.

Now all of that lay in the past. Mihriban never thought Aziz would find out about the child. Her grieving heart had paid enough of a price for her secret, and she felt that secret was still hers to keep. But when she saw Aziz lying next to her, hooked up to the monitor that quietly registered the beats of his weakened heart, she realized how wrong she was to think and feel this way. She should never have kept her pregnancy and the loss of their baby away from Aziz. Maybe then the shock of finding out who Bulut was to them would not have caused Aziz to collapse the way he did. Seeing Aziz fall to the ground then picked up in his arms by Bulut tugged at her heart. More even than seeing on Bulut's wrist the bracelet Aziz had given her.

Soon after Aziz's collapse, Bulut was faced with both of his parents having fallen to the ground. He telephoned for an ambulance and made sure they were transported to the hospital. Bulut left Mihriban's estate but knew he would be coming back. He had made the decision to return to Istanbul, permanently.

Meanwhile at the hospital, Sanem did not know if she felt more strained from worrying about Aziz and Mihriban. More distraught from learning her close friend Bulut was now her half-brother-in-law. Or due to her pregnancy, just having no more strength to keep pacing up and down the hallway. She glanced over to a doctor passing her in the hallway. That look was enough for the doctor to turn around and approach her. He saw that Sanem did not look well. He asked when she was last seen by her own doctor and if she was taking her prenatal vitamins. Sanem laughed and made a sarcastic remark that there were no doctors on the boat with them on their trip back from the Galapagos.

She thought she had deflected the attention of the doctor only to see him return to her accompanied by a nurse. They told her they were taking her to get checked out, and there would be no argument about it. Sanem's parents and everyone else then became worried. The doctor calmed them down, saying that due to her pregnancy and recent long journey back to Istanbul, Sanem just needed a checkup. The doctor asked Can to follow them and he wasted no time rushing after Sanem.

In the examination room, Can thought he would go mad. The four walls around them felt like a cage. He kept thinking and asking himself what else could happen? What else would they find out? What other surprise would he have endure? He hoped all would be okay and that Sanem and the baby were both alright but could barely think straight. After all, how could he have prepared himself for learning he now had two brothers? Now there were three Divit sons. If that wasn't a prime example of being blindsided, he did not know what was.

Fate had been waiting patiently for these questions from Can. Because on this day, at this moment in time, no words ever rang louder in Can's ears than being told Sanem was carrying not one but three little miracles.

And what's more, she was now in full labor...