Yasmin couldn’t stop staring at her son. He was so tiny and perfect, his bald head nestled at her breast where he was drinking thirstily. He grew bigger and stronger each day and each day that passed, she gradually accepted that her son was going to be okay.

Three weeks earlier, Tarkan Ajay Kartel was born exactly thirty-six minutes from the moment the ambulance left the dockyard. Yasmin was rushed into an emergency c-section where Dr. Abbidi and her staff removed the baby and artificially breathed life into him, bringing him back from the brink of death.

Yasmin had been sedated, but aware as the team of medical staff worked to save her son’s life. Volkan had knelt on the floor next to her, holding her while she cried into his shoulder, begging him to tell her that her baby had survived.

The happiest moment of her life was when she’d been rolled in a wheelchair to the incubator where she could touch him through the holes in the side. She’d had to wear gloves, but feeling his warm body, and placing her fingers on his chest, feeling the gentle rise and fall of his tiny ribcage as he slept had made every terrifying experience leading up to that moment worth it.

Her son was alive. He was breathing. He was going to be fine.

And he was.

Yasmin had been released from the hospital four days after she’d gone over the side of the dock. She and Volkan had spent every waking minute in the hospital until Tarkan was released after one week in the incubator and another under medical supervision.

Despite her sadness over her daughter’s arrest, Narin had given both Yasmin and Tarkan a heartfelt homecoming. When they were in the hospital, Narin hadn’t once visited, so Yasmin worried that Narin blamed her for what happened to her family. Yasmin was indirectly responsible for the loss of two of Narin’s children. But it had turned out that Narin hadn’t visited because she’d been ensuring her daughter received fair treatment in the justice system, insisting Defne be assessed by mental health professionals. She’d also completed the nursery so baby Tarkan had a place to go when he came home.

Now, she sat opposite Yasmin, her gaze softening on her first grandchild as he ate. Narin spent hours each day in Yasmin and Volkan’s suite. Yasmin welcomed her presence. Volkan had a lot going on at work and spent a few hours a day in the office. Narin made sure Yasmin had the support she needed with the baby.