Forever comes when one accepts the truth that their life, and most importantly their love, is much more gratifying if it is shared with the soulmate they are meant to find. When one accepts the gifts that Fate is eager to bestow upon them. Forever may come bearing gifts so unexpected and so indescribable that one would have never dared to believe that life could be so amazingly beautiful and fulfilling. To believe one could possibly be worthy of those gifts. And even more important, learn that all life would ask in return is acceptance of those gifts and the marvelous things that would come along with them.
A lonely boat swayed gently on the waves of a calm Aegean Sea. The stars that filled the night sky played joyously with their reflections in the placid waters. In that boat, two souls in love with each other, Can and his beloved Sanem, were on their way back from the Galapagos Islands. Feeling the strain of a long day's journey, Sanem slept peacefully, dreaming of what had just passed, when she had finally finished her second novel. It was inspired by Can and his road back to her heart, and now they were more in love than ever before. They had spent the most beautiful days of their lives together in the Galapagos. She smiled in her dream, because her heart and soul were content. She knew everything would be okay because she had Can by her side. Holding her hand. Never letting go. They chose to walk the road of love, and she was grateful that Fate had brought them together. They had shared so many ups and downs, but the love they shared now was proving stronger than any of life's misfortunes. They were together, and together they would remain. Sanem was finally confident in that fact.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Can watched Sanem's serene face as she lay sleeping. He could not bring himself to turn his gaze away from her. His eyes shone with a deep feeling of happiness and contentment. With the passing of each day and night, his heart filled with more love for her, his beloved Sanem. He thought of the day they met. He thought of that day very often. She had changed his world, changed his heart, changed him. He never realized how much he had closed himself off from the happiness life had to offer until the day Sanem walked into his heart in such a quiet but powerful way. He could have said she barged into his life with a loud and quick mouth and a personality larger than life. But it was in the gentleness of her love that Can both lost and found himself. She never pushed herself onto him. Quite the opposite. She innocently waited on the sidelines for his love. He still had a hard time believing that she could ever have felt she was not good enough for him. Not good enough for the broken and stoic man he was when they met.
In the light of the candle burning on the table beside the bed, illuminating her beautiful face, Can looked at Sanem and felt his heart swell and fill with love. Deep down inside, he finally understood that during the year he was away from Sanem, he had come to realize the value of their love and the deafening void he felt without her next to him. He could hardly believe that eleven months, two weeks, and four days had passed since the day she became his wife. Since the day they sailed away toward the Galapagos Islands. Those days, and the love they shared during their journey, were enough to fill his soul for the rest of his life. She was his wife now. She was Sanem Aydin Divit, an author, a businesswoman with a knack for perfumes, and soon to be the mother of their unborn child. That thought still scared him as much as it filled him with love, wonder, and gratitude.
He had always feared being left behind, being told he did not matter. Somewhere deep down, he had always felt he was not good enough for his own mother. That scar had never fully healed until he met Sanem. And now? Now he would become a parent himself soon. He remembered the dream he had of having children with Sanem. How content he had felt in that dream. How happy and grateful to know that even for a moment, she had accepted him back into her life at a time he was too scared to tell her how much he still loved her. It was a dream that had become his silent hope ever since, that someday it might come true and now it would.
Sanem lay close to him with one hand on her belly. She had started several months ago to show signs of the new life they had created. She wore a white summer dress, his favorite color. He gently caressed a strand of hair away from her face. That was a daily ritual he would never grow tired of. Sanem always looked stunning, but her pregnancy glow in the past few months made her even more beautiful. He placed his hand on top of hers. The Albatross ring he wore glowed briefly as the light from the candle was reflected on it. Can thought of how surreal it seemed, how indescribably precious it felt. The Albatross in him had finally found his soulmate. His hand rested on Sanem's, so both of their hands were cradling the life they would soon welcome into the world.
He recalled the change in Sanem over the recent months since finding out she was expecting their baby. Shaking his head, Can had to smile. If anyone knew Sanem before she became pregnant, they knew she was as unpredictable as the weather. But pregnant? Ahh, Sanem, ahh. She was the wrath of the seas. She cried when she was happy and laughed when she was sad. But what Can feared and respected the most was her silent days. Oh, those silent moments made him feel as if he were walking on eggshells. He had come to just immediately fulfill her every wish and command on the days of Sanem's avowed silence. She had adopted what Can could only describe as "Sanem's stare". He did not know what else to call it. He would simply give her space, and stay out of her sight until the moment her mood would lighten up, and she would come to him and embrace him again. Those embraces after her hormonal mood swings were something he would always value with all of his heart. He could always count on her coming back to him with love, and that her love for him would always be there.
The moment when Sanem had told Can he would become a father, his heart stopped and his soul sang. They were sitting on the beach under a starry sky by the warmth of a bonfire, listening to the melody of the waves crashing softly against the shifting sand. The full moon was shining down on them, and Sanem's face was glowing in the moonlight. She handed Can their bandana and when he unwrapped it, inside was a little blue origami shoe. He was baffled, then awestruck. Did that really mean what he thought it meant? Could it be true? One look into Sanem's eyes that were filled with love, hope, and joy told him it was. They were going to become parents. He would become a father, a father. Sanem had given him her unconditional love, and now she would give him the precious gift of a child. For the first time in his life, Can cried tears of joy. Sanem kissed those tears away, one tear at a time. They decided that night that their firstborn would truly be called Deniz, meaning "Sea", as Sanem had always hoped.
They left the Galapagos Islands behind and headed home. Home. That word would now take on a different meaning to Can. Because now his home and his heart would be in the same place, with Sanem and their child. As their boat glided along the Bosphorus, they passed the Maiden's Tower. Sanem asked him if he knew the Tale of Leander. He said that he did. That story was close to his heart all those months he was away when they had parted ways long ago. Standing now beside her, embracing her in his arms, he told her the story of the Maiden's Tower. He spoke softly with eyes searching somewhere far into the distance, in a way that always captured Sanem's heart whenever he told her stories of the olden days.
Can recounted the story of the priestess Hero who had lived in the Maiden's Tower and of her beloved Leander. How they fell in love and how she gave in to his love. How she would light the torch of her tower to guide him to the safety of her loving arms. How one night the thundering winter storm tossed Leander's boat onto the crushing seas, and because the cold breeze blew out the tower's guiding light, Leander lost his way and his life. How Hero had given up her own life from the despair of lost love and lost hope. Can could not help but wonder at how fortunate he was to have found his way back to Sanem and back to her heart. She had been through a lot when he left. They both went through a lot. He gave thanks that their love had not ended the way that Leander and his beloved Maiden's love had done.
As they neared the dock of their home on Mihriban's land, Can looked at their hands linked together on the boat's steering wheel. Funny, he thought, how Sanem fought for control of that wheel the first time she stepped foot on their boat. How confident and Can-like he felt to have been able to steal away those moments when they could be all alone, on his turf, on his ground. How much it mattered to him that she came to him thinking he was leaving again. It still mattered and it always would. Now they were holding the steering wheel of the boat together. What they went through had renewed them and made them stronger. Above all, it forced them to acknowledge the indescribable value of their love. Sanem had come out of her shell to become the woman and the writer Can always knew she was. Can faced his past and the ghosts that haunted him. And thanks to Sanem's unwavering love, instead of fearing mistrust, he learned he could have complete confidence and faith in their love.
No sooner did Can dock the boat that his phone rang. It was Emre. He called asking if they were still in Galapagos or if they were close to home. Can laughed, and replied they were closer to home than ever. He could hear that Emre did not understand his response because he asked again. But his tone seemed odd. He asked Emre if everything was alright. He said things were fine at the moment although not completely. Emre said that it appeared their family would unexpectedly be growing as Leyla was now pregnant. This news filled Can's heart with joy because it meant that the little Divit's coming into the family would be growing up together.
Then Can's smile disappeared. Sanem noticed this change in his face and became worried. Can shook his head, offered her a faint smile and placed a hand on her belly in a way that calmed her down. The words he heard from Emre had grabbed at his heart, making it stop in mid-beat. Aziz was back in Istanbul but all was not good. Aziz and Mihriban had both collapsed and were in the hospital. Bulut had also come back. Can did not understand what one had to do with the other. So, Emre explained it, as calmly as he could.
Not only was Bulut back. He was their half-brother...