1 Prologue Central Anatolia, Turkey 25th, December 1995...

"Merry Christmas Suzanna!"

"Merry Christmas too mama Bella."Suzanna,a five foot typical gorgeous young woman, murmured back to the passing woman on the streets,not too enthusiastic about the said christmas.Who would be when instead of sleeping in on the fall,you were out in the ruthless cold vending coffee with a baby bump bigger than Mt. Ararat?

Suzanna had nothing against christmas,infact it was her favorite time of the year because then,she wouldn't have to follow her mother up to the washhouse to clean other people's clothes for a meagre pay.Though only twenty,she now had to step up to a mother's role and a single one at that and she had started vending coffee in her neighborhood to save up for when her baby was born.

The wind around her blew making a dramatic whistling sound.She winced and cursed deciding the baby would do with the seven months' savings even if he were to decide to come today.

"Crap!I'm certain the baby will understand the weather!"She bent too fast and had to pause to breathe out a stitch on one lower side of her impossibly large tummy.An odd place to get a stitch...she packed up the remaining unused coffee tumblers and the coffee flask in a bag,folded the makeshift stand.

She almost jumped out of her skin when someone spoke up next to her because she was too engrossed with her little task and didn't hear someone approach.

"I told you to marry me and you wouldn't have to be out in the cold in your condition.I will take care of you and your baby.I will love both you and him like he were my own."

"Go to hell Bedi.You can barely put food on your own table.What are we going to live on,love?"She lifted her bag of goodies.

"Come on love.I'll get a job and besides...that baby will need a father and since his scoundrel one wasn't man enough for you,I'll gladly step up to--"

"Aawh!"Suzanna gasped dropping her bag and spilling the coffee in the flask."Crap!That coffee cost me a fortune!"She groaned."Goodness...I...I..."She stammered breathless and clutched her lower belly.Bedi jumped to her side and secured a hand around the small of her back.

"Suzanna,are you okay?Please tell me it's not the baby..."

"Ouch!"She moaned louder than the first time.

"Take a deep breath...hold it in--"

"Ugh!Fuck you Bedi!Don't tell me to breathe.You do that and let me sit down for a minute please.And please don't tell my mother I swore."Suzanna's face contorted as another pain built up worse than the first two times.She groaned again longer and louder then gasped when she felt some pressure let up from her center and a warm fluid flow down her legs."Oh shit!"She was glad she had on a dress covering her legs entirely,not that she dressed any other way though."Take me home!"

...

"The baby had to come today,for crying out loud!When I least expected mother!"Suzanna sniffled calling out to the only person she could count on.She was a messy sight laying on her cot that served as the sitter when they had a few people over sometimes."I wasn't serious when I said he could come today.Ugh...!"Her head fell back as she tried with all her might to breath calmly.The breathing didn't help much neither was her mother's constant wiping of her face and a look of sympathy but it gave her something to focus on."Mom,I'm tired!"She whimpered.It had been two hours since her water broke out in the streets and Bedi brought her home.The contractions were draining her more and she wished she had attended the neighborhood mid-wiffery classes taught by their neighbor on springs.To make the matter worse,the snow had settled in quickly hence dimmed any chance of them getting a ride to the nearest dispensary or calling in the mid-wife

"Try to relax,take a deep breath and push as hard as you can.You can do this my girl!"Her motivational pitch was pointless because they had been through the procedure several times,but she still did as told,to make her mother's work easier.Her mother did warn her about boys and had dealt with her pregnancy as best as she knew how,despite the neighborhood's critiques.She herself was a single mother, gotten pregnant with Suzanna out of wedlock at only eighteen.The only people who didn't mistake them for sisters were their neighbors and those who had seen her pregnant or had witnessed her delivery.

"Mom,I'm so sorry.I'm sorry for letting you down.For making everyone gossip about us at the market."Suzanna spoke in a hushed tone, a huge lump on her throat.Her mother shook her head hating to see her daughter in so much pain and unable to help it.She bit her teeth hard for the names people called them when Suzanna's belly started to grow big mid year.She would march upto to the doorsteps of the scoundrel who got her pregnant and chop his balls off when he opened the door,that's if she knew who it was but she didn't.And her daughter,just like her twenty years ago to present,had refused to say the name of Suzanna's father and he had remained a mystery.The two women had mutual respect and understanding and Suzanna never pried on the matter.

"Let's not go down that road right now.We have plenty of time after your baby comes."She smiled sadly.

And she understood her daughter's reasons.She had been there,done it and she couldn't help when a tear dropped when she saw herself in her daughter.Her's had been six straight hours of labor and history was likely repeating itself.

"Shit,shit shit!"Suzanna cursed unable to hold her tongue in front of her mother who normally scolded her cursing.She let out a nerve wrecking scream when she felt multiple contractions from her back to her stomach grip her stomach hard.She then pushed as hard as she could aided by the contractions."Emiiiiiiir!"She whimpered into a full sob when the contractions let up.Her mother was too focused to get the baby out to notice the name she screamed.

"One more power push babygirl and we're good!"The woman looked upto her drained sweaty daughter."On the count of three Suzanna...you can do this!"

"Mom,I can't..."She sniffled too tired to master another push."Please take care and love him like your own if I don't make it!"

"Ofcourse you can baby.Stop talking nonsense I can see the baby's head.Now count with me..."

"One,two..."She gripped the edges of her cot and let out another scream, pushing with everything left and motivated by the fact that she was about to see her baby,at long last!She had waited nine of her longest and gruesome months,so the pain and fatigue were worth the joy and relief she felt when she heard the cry of her new born baby.

"It's a boy!My grandson!Merry christmas..."She heard her mother say somewhere in their small living room.Her vision was blurry and eyelids felt abnormally heavy.But who wouldn't be with record hours of contractions and pushing."Suzanna...your son!"Her mother's voice was a distant whisper."Suzanna,open your eyes and look at your son, baby girl."Her mother bent to her daughter still holding the now snuggled baby.

"Emir...Emir Jamal."Suzanna breathed and her mother thought that was the name she chose for the baby and smiled.Emir was a good name,synonymous to power and maybe the baby would liberate them from poverty and doom one day.The two women would work their asses off to give him everything.

"Okay,take a look at baby Emir.He is so handsome!He has emerald green eyes...they are so pretty."

Suzanna wasn't sure if the smile she felt was showing on her face and didn't care about it.Her baby was handsome and had his father's eyes,the one of the several features that captivated her when she first met him...But she couldn't get her eyes to open to look at her baby.

"Yeah,I'll be a minute...mother...just need to rest for a while..."She mumbled inaudibly to her mother whose ear was basically on her mouth.Suzanna's mother grew tense at her daughter's delirious voice and after securing the new born warmly by the fire,went back to try and wake her.

"Suzanna...wake up baby girl.I'll prepare your favorite chicken soup."She shook her gently at first then vigorously when her hand fell from the cot and hang lifeless"No,no,no!Suzanna!"She called again and as a mother felt her baby girl's disconnection from the world of the living.The baby on the other side of the room also felt it as he let out a wail too loud for a new born,probably figured he wouldn't get to taste his mama's tits like every normal baby.

"My baby girl...Suzanna..."The new grandmother took her daughter's cold hand into her's and fondled it then fell on her knees mourning her young inexperienced daughter's untimely death.