EpilogueGiuliaWhen we got back to the Maiden's Tower in the Bosphorus Bay, everything had another dimension and connotation. I remembered when I saw her there for the second time, running away from me, desperate. I could see in her eyes that there was the memory of those days, which I wanted to forget. But then she looked back at me, smiling."The last time I was here was..."I put my finger on her lips affectionately."Please don't remind me what an asshole I was. We don't need that.""Yes, I know, but I was going to say that it was devastating for my self-esteem. And now, my life has changed so much that I feel so loved and so lucky, Serkan...""I feel that way too. And you know... " I paused " I'd be that man of legend who swims out there " I pointed " To rescue you from whatever it was and bring you back to me.'She smiled and clasped her hands around my neck."Even against an Ottoman army?""Even.""Even against the sultan's will?""Yes, yes."She was amazed. Her brown eyes sho
Chapter 36Honeymoon Serkan My wedding wasn't the dream wedding. Nor for Giulia. Many factors got in the way, but the important thing was that we were happily married. I couldn't be intimate with my wife as my parents were still at home, so we took a few days off at a luxury hotel on the Rio waterfront. The Hilton Palace might have seemed one of the most exquisite to Giulia, who was a humble woman. But for me, a well-traveled and experienced man, it was just another luxury hotel. I booked one of the best rooms and locked myself and my wife in it for days. We had never had so much sex, or as she preferred to call it, love. I was touched by her romanticism. It's a fact that Turkish men are romantic. When we want them to be. Not every man, of any nationality, is romantic without a purpose. In my case, romanticism came from feeling. I wanted to give everything to that girl and that giving everything involved my feelings and my possessions. It's how I was brought up. That's why I chose
Chapter 35The wedding GiuliaThe wedding had already started long before the ceremony.My mother-in-law really wanted to hold a henna night and kept pestering me to accept. In the end, I agreed, even though I didn't know anything about it. In the days that followed, I just looked it up on the internet and it seemed a bit complicated. Serkan was against it. He thought it was just another way for his mother to annoy me. Mothers-in-law... The most stressful part of the whole marathon was choosing the dress. We all went to a reputable store in the Laranjeiras neighborhood, where Eda had discovered beautiful dresses on the internet. The five women from the families went along, plus my friend Gisele, who wanted to be part of that moment. We hadn't spoken for a long time and when I mentioned everything that was going on and that I was going to marry my ex-boss, she had a bit of an outburst screaming in my ear on the phone. We freaked out together. At the store, Eda didn't like any of the
Chapter 34Night of pleasuresSerkanI couldn't stand the distance we were forced to keep. I was working a lot, putting up with my mother while adoring Ayla and my father, but I missed Giulia too much. She was taking care of the bakery until her father got better, taking care of wedding stuff, but in that time we didn't have any more space for ourselves. I decided to change that. After that dinner, which wasn't a total failure, I decided that I was going to take my fiancée to a motel. I simply told her that we were going to disappear for a few hours. Giulia perked up. I stopped by her house in the evening, after the office, with instructions on how to apologize to her parents. We agreed to say that we were going to look at ties for me. When I arrived at her door, Giulia quickly appeared, looking beautiful in a flowing floral dress that went down to her feet. She was smiling a lot and seemed very happy. As soon as she got into the car, she hugged me and threw herself on top of me. "I
Chapter 33 Part 2Between laces and hennaGiuliaThe dreaded dinner had arrived.It was 8 p.m. on Tuesday. My father had put on a pair of dress pants and a white shirt so that he would look like Serkan's parents. It was absurdly hot. I took his blood pressure, afraid that he might be emotional or tense and that this could affect his health, but he was fine. It was time for me to put on the lilac dress that I had kept in my closet for a long time. I'd never had the chance to wear it because it was a bit more social and even more sensual. It was knee-length and had a beautiful neckline. Jackeline seemed as nervous as I was. My sister made up my eyes with a light shade of brown and I left the same color as the dress for my lips. A beautiful lilac. My high-heeled sandals were black. "Come on, Jaque, don't take any longer, I don't want to see them alone. We still need to get the fans into the living room, I doubt his mother can stand the heat."" It's going to be difficult, Ju, I'm meltin
Chapter 33Traditions Part 1GiuliaMy father was finally home.It was a relief to have him there, recovering from everything bad, relieving us and making us happy with his presence. But he needed to be careful. Serkan's mother wanted to have dinner at his house for all of us, but my father had just been discharged from hospital, so how could I get back and forth? My mother asked me. "Go to Manhattan now?""I thought the same thing, Mom, but I agreed so I wouldn't have to explain. I don't know how Serkan is going to explain it to them and what he's going to say, but I hope it's soon.Jackeline approached with her cell phone in hand."Gi, I'm looking at dresses for you online, one more beautiful than the other.""We'll look together, Jacke, but let's sort out dinner first. I can't take our father to Serkan's apartment right now."We crossed our arms, thinking, in the middle of the hallway."We're not going. "It's dangerous for your father, the doctor has ordered him to rest. ""Then t