The Price of Pride

Chapter 26

"Have you seen Suna, Anne?"

Emir figures he should start with an easy question. Or rather, a question that should be easy. He stares at her, carefully trying to gauge her reaction. He notices her eyes widen slightly at his question, but she quickly covers. That must be one of her tells. He's always trusted his mother. Never had the need to detect her lies. But now, he's realizing that nearly everything out of her mouth is a lie of some sort. He knows that whatever she's about to say about Suna will also be a lie.

"Suna? She isn't in her room?" Cavidan asks innocently before her face shifts into feigned outrage. "You mean to tell me that girl hasn't gotten home yet? Shame on her."

"So she went out?" Emir tries to clarify. "Alone? Since when does she do that?"

"She went to see some friends," Cavidan explains. "And she's been doing that more and more since you abandoned her to go to Ankara."

Interesting move, Emir notes. He lifts an eyebrow at her deflection. She's trying to bring his guilt into this. He has to admit, his mother is a master manipulator. If he didn't know what to look for, he wouldn't know he was being played. But fortunately he takes after her. And he can play this game better than she can.

"I didn't abandon Suna. I didn't abandon anyone. I took my wife to get the care she needed very much. Which brings me to my reason for asking for Suna," he tosses out, trying to change the subject. Trying to keep her off balance in hopes that she'll let more clues slip. "But her being gone might be for the best. I have news and she may not like it. It's about Baba."

"What about your father?" Cavidan asks him, genuine curiosity in her voice. Not really concern, he notes. Or care. Just curiosity. Maybe even mild annoyance. And for the first time, he begins to wonder what his mother feels for his father. Is it love? Or hate? Could she have hurt him?

"The doctor recommends a care facility for him. A place where he can get constant care and therapy. And I happen to agree with her," Emir tells her.

"Does the doctor think your father will recover?"

A warning bell goes off in his head. Maybe it's the possibility Reyhan had introduced about someone being responsible for his father's accident. Maybe it's the slow acceptance that his mother had Reyhan locked in a freezer. But for some reason, her question about the recovery doesn't seem innocent. So he takes a page out of her book ... he lies.

"No," he says, adding a note of sadness to his response. "Narin says chances of his recovery are slim. But being at the care facility will stop any further decline. He may not get better there. But he also won't get any worse."

Only the partial truth. What Narin had actually said was that the chances of a full recovery for his father are slim. But with a proper protocol of therapy, medication, and possibly surgery, Hikmet could get back to being close to his old self. It had been good news to hear. News that he initially couldn't wait to share with the rest of the family. But now, he's not so sure he wants his mother to know. Not when she's looking suspiciously satisfied with the thought of Hikmet never recovering.

"So he'll never speak again? Oh, my Hikmet. My poor, poor Hikmet."

Her tears are plentiful. But fake. She's putting on a good show, but Emir can see right through her. It breaks his heart. Oh, Anne. What are you afraid of him saying?

Just then, Melike comes in to give him a report on Reyhan.

"She's awake now," Melike tells him. "I've convinced her to have a little soup. I'm getting it for her now."

He smiles his thanks to her and then turns back to his mother when she asks him a question.

"Is Reyhan sick?"