The Price of Pride

Chapter 9

Like the trip out to the garden, the trip back to the room was made in complete silence. This time, the silence is heartbreaking. But Reyhan can't handle any of this right now. It's all too much. She feels like Emir has lived a lifetime of changes in the short time she was in the coma. And it's all too overwhelming.

When she looked into his eyes, she was blown away by the love she saw there. So unexpected. So powerful. So against anything he's ever said before. It nearly knocked down all her defenses. She needs time and space to put her walls back up. She won't let him hurt her again.

"Thank you," she says once they get back to the room and get her settled back into her bed. "I think I'll rest now."

Clearly a dismissal. But he ignores her.

"Reyhan, can you just talk to me. Please. That was a promise we made to each other not so long ago ... to talk. To communicate. To not let misunderstandings come between what we could have here."

"I just don't understand what's happening," she says to him, tears starting to fill her eyes.

"Don't you remember?"

"It's all a jumble," she shrugs. "Reality mixed in with dreams. I don't know what to believe."

It's a blow to his heart, but he understands. He's never given her a reason to trust or believe him before. He's never given her a reason to believe that he would want this with her. In fact, he went out of his way to let her know he wanted nothing to do with her. But all that was before his heart changed. An event that happened earlier than she realizes.

"This is a lot for you," he finally says. "I get it. But what did I just say? What did we promise?"

"Communication?" she says, repeating his words from earlier. But still sounding unsure.

"We never talked about anything before," he adds. "And we ended up only hurting each other. That's mostly on me. I hurt you so much."

His sad eyes do something strange to her heart. This time, she's the one to reach out for him. It makes no sense, but holding on to him seems right.

'I'm sorry," he apologizes. "For everything. I'll tell you as much and as often as you need until you believe me.

"I'm here for good. I'm not leaving you anymore," he had promised her. "And I won't let you leave me. We're going to work this out and we're going to be fine, okay? There's a lot we need to talk about. Starting with an apology from me."

The memories are getting clearer now. She still has questions, but now she thinks she's ready for the answers.

"Okay, Emir." She gives him a shy smile. "Let's talk. About everything."

"No running? No hiding?"

She nods her agreement. She has to take a leap of faith, she realizes. For the first time in their marriage, there's no one around. No one to stop them. No one to fill Emir's head with who knows what lies to make him hate her. But she's still afraid.

"Can you promise me something?" she asks, needing this more than she realized. "Can you promise to never again do to me what you did to me on that beach?"

"Reyhan," he sighs, looking away in shame. "I'm so ...."

"I know," she interrupts him, giving him a sad smile. "I know you're sorry. I'm starting to remember everything more clearly. You already told me how someone tricked you into thinking something terrible about me. But you never told me who or what."

"I think you can guess the who."

She doesn't say anything to that and he can't help but wonder why. Because he knows she has a theory. He's read her journal. He knows all the things his mother has done to her. But what he doesn't know is why she never told anyone.