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“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Couldn’t have her being like her father, could you? Stubborn as hell about never stepping foot in the ocean.”
“Well, I got him in the water eventually.” Her cheeks pinked. “In fact, I happen to remember the first night he swam with me was one of the best nights of my life.”
I stilled. The light-hearted conversation faded as I remembered why I’d gotten into the sea with her and why I’d pledged my soul to hers as I sank inside her that first time.
Ethan.
My first kill but not my last.
That was my only regret in this new world of light. I’d killed. How many I didn’t want to think about and none by choice. But I was still responsible for taking lives, and eventually, I would have to accept and move on. I would do my best to make up for my sins by ensuring I helped instead of hurt.
For now, though, I was just grateful I’d woken up, untethered from everything that’d haunted me.
I felt...reborn.
“You know I can fix you,” Ayla chirped, interrupting the tangled stare between Neri and me. “I’m gonna be a doctor.” She knocked on my metal shin, then fiddled with the single adjustable strap around the base of the coupling where it attached to my body. “I’m gonna be the best doctor in the whole wide world.”
Neri sighed, love glowing from her every pore. “If I was a bleeding heart when I was little, Ayla is ten times worse.” She leaned over and planted a kiss on our daughter’s cheek. “She wants to fix everyone, don’t you, moonbeam?”
“Moonbeam?” I asked quietly, my heart skipping a beat as I bled with too much affection. How was it possible that I loved this kid with every part of me when I barely even knew her? I would raze the world for her. I would do unthinkable things to keep her safe. I stood by what I said to Neri: I would always love her above everyone else, but Ayla...fuck, my damaged heart expanded so there was enough room to adore them both.
“Yep.” Ayla puffed up her chest. “Everyone calls me that.”
Never looking away from her depthless brown eyes, I whispered, “Ay’i seviyorum. Annen ve benim için çok özel.” (I happen to love the moon. It’s very special to your mum and me).
Her little nose wrinkled, mulling over her second language, understanding me and blowing me away with her quickfire intelligence.
She beamed. “That means I’m special too?”
“Beyond special.” I nodded. “And I have no doubt you’ll make a great doctor.”
“I better start saving.” Neri chuckled under her breath. “With her inheriting your IQ, she’ll be enrolling into medical school when she’s twelve.”
“My IQ?” I asked, smiling as Ayla investigated how the toes moved and the ankle mechanism worked on my prosthetic.
“Your father told me of your family trait. He finally gave me the name for the skill you have that makes math come so easy to you. She has the same gifts. She got into a heated debate with her day-care teacher that colours aren’t named after numbers just because she sees them in different shades.”
I winced. “She has synesthesia?”
Ayla interrupted. “I know that word. It’s when the rainbow comes, and numbers go all pretty.”
“Huh.” I studied the intelligent, inquisitive girl who’d somehow taken all of my good and some of my bad.
What other traits did she inherit?
It seemed there was a piece of Cem in both of us, even now.
The door to Neri’s bedroom suddenly swung wide from where it’d been pushed open by Ayla’s sneaking. Apparently, we’d forgotten to lock it after we’d returned from our shared shower and now had the entire household in Neri’s bedroom.
Sitting taller against the pillows, making sure the sheets covered my nakedness, I stiffened as Teddy stuck his head in.
He caught my eyes, then Neri’s. “Eh, I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but I’m looking for moon—” His eyes fell on Ayla as she knocked her knuckles on my knee, learning what was flesh and what was carbon. “Ah, there you are, you little slippery eel. I told you to eat your orange and not to disturb your mother.”
Ayla stuck her tongue out at him. “But Daddy’s here.”
Teddy shot me a look. “You told her?” His eyes instantly filled with tears. “Oh God...that’s...wow.” Leaning out the door, he yelled, “Eddie, get your ass in here right now.”
Footfalls came running before a second man crowded into the doorway. “What? What is it?” His hazel eyes fell on me, a faint blush dusting his cheeks. “Morning, Aslan. Sorry to disturb.” He pinched Teddy in the side. “What the hell are you doing barging in here with these two love-birds? Jesus.”
