FOR THE LOVE OF ISTANBUL

- Epilogue -

Wednesday, October 7th...

The sun shone shyly above the hills in the distance. The birds chirped their joyful morning song as Deb stood in the open doors of the Juliette balcony off of the bedroom of Kader's home. She smiled as she looked down into the steamy cup of her dark and pungent morning çay. And she corrected herself. It was now her home as much as Kader's. She brought the cup to her lips. The Artemis moonstone ring on her finger reflected the sun's rays in the most endearing way. She smiled again. She still pinched herself whenever she thought about how much her life had changed in the last month.

If someone would have told her that an empty bottle of wine would have resulted in her finding true love with a man who turned her world upside down, she would not have believed it. But, alas, she not only found the kind of love she yearned for all of her life, she found it in Turkey. She found it in the heart of a man who was stubborn enough to force her make the first move. To let go of the past. To leap. To love.

She didn't doubt their love one bit. She stayed in Turkey. And she did not regret it. Not once...

Lost in her thoughts, she heard Kader murmur something under his breath as he slept. She turned back to see if he was alright. He was. Boy, he truly was. Deb bit her lower lip at the sight of the man she married the night before. Kader slept in pajama pants, but shirtless. The sun that had just risen over the mountaintops now danced its delicate rays across his bare back. Deb had to restrain herself from walking over and caressing him back into a calm sleep. She looked at the clock on the side table by the bed. 7:06 am. She smiled in a mischievous way. No way would she let him sleep past that! He got her used to early wake ups in the morning, he'd have to get used to it now. Not that he slept past that time anyway, but she vowed to him on their wedding day to always be the one who would greet him with a smile on her face at the break of dawn.

And she fully intended to keep that promise...

She looked back toward the mountains in the distance. She had fallen in love with that view the moment she laid her eyes on it. She took another sip of the hot and dark brew of her çay, and thought of their wedding reception. It was small, intimate, and everything she could have ever hoped for. They had no problem redesigning and restructuring her company so that she could manage it virtually from Turkey. She shook her head as she thought of Margaret. The company was now down two of its members, so to speak, because it took Margaret less than one weekend to fly to Turkey to help Deb with the wedding preparations, only to fall head over heels in love with Kader's cousin Cengiz. And Cengiz fell in love with Margaret even quicker. And harder.

Deb laughed at the mere thought of Margaret preparing her own wedding in less than 7 days. Luckily, both Deb and Margaret found the perfect venue for their respective wedding receptions. Cengiz's lakeside restaurant. Deb had to admit that Cengiz wasn't sure if they could pull off her and Kader's wedding in such a short time. That was... until he met Margaret. The man practically fell in love with Margaret the moment he saw her, and when she told him she was in the mood for cooking her own mean version of the famous Tripe Soup, Cengiz proposed to Margaret that first day they met. Deb was convinced that men like Cengiz worked fast, but Margaret worked faster. Moreover, she agreed to marry him on the spot. Even Ayaz was surprised to find out that his flirtatiously incorrigible nephew Cengiz Gökyüzü finally met his match - though it did not surprise Ayaz at all that it was Margaret.

Thankfully, they were all able to obtain much-needed and indispensable help from Kader's Italian niece who owned her own MSP Productions Company and was the best of the best when it came to setting up and managing online and virtual accounts and outsourcing company management. Yup, Deb sure was glad that Kader's niece Bianca Foxx flew in from Italy not only for the wedding, but to help them with restructuring Deb's company and setting up both best friends' offices in Kader's home office and Cengiz's lakeside restaurant...

As Deb stood there and looked out the window, she felt bare, big, and strong arms embrace her from behind. She turned her head to the side only to come less than an inch away from Kader's grinning lips. He hugged her tight, kissed the side of her neck, and took the cup of çay right out of her hands. She chuckled when he just sent her a mischievous wink and asked "What?" Men! Deb thought and giggled as her husband set the cup down on the dresser beside him and pulled her into an embrace. As she brought her arms around his neck while he kissed her gently, Kader kept his lips locked with hers long enough for her to start smiling.

Ahh, Kader, ahh...

That man surely knew how to swoon a woman off her feet. And not just any woman. Her! They stood there, basking in the delicate rays of the rising sun. Kader whispered to Deb that they should probably get ready for their plane that would take them on their honeymoon in Italy. Deb smiled and told him she was glad they were going to visit Kader's niece Bianca and his family. Deb had grown quite close to her. So close, that she considered Bianca to be more of a close family member rather than a business partner. Deb looked up into Kader's eyes and asked whether he knew if Bianca was in love with anyone. Kader shook his head and replied that she wasn't. Deb smiled, and whispered that perhaps one day Bianca might find the kind of fulfilling love that they found in each other.

Bianca would, in her own stubborn way, but that is a story for another day...

"THE END"