Chapter 31In a hurryGiuliaI had to tell my mother and Jackeline the news.My in-laws would be arrive in Manhattan within seven days' time, wanting to meet my family. That Eda never ceased to amaze me and I doubt she'd leave me alone for a long time. I told her in the cab on the way home."But what do they want here?" My mother was indignant. "Giulia, my house needs a good tidy up to welcome these people!She knew what Serkan had told me about his family being rich and his mother being a snob. I was also pretty sure that Mrs. Eda would come up with something to humiliate us. I was counting on Serkan to hold on to his mother for as long as he was here, even if not all the time because he had to work. Sometimes I thanked God that my parents understood neither Turkish nor English. I could put up with the humiliations of that woman alone in English. "I know, Mom, Jackeline and I are going to tidy up the whole house and make everything sparkle and smell nice!"Jackeline looked at me wit

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

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 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