“friends” as soon as she had discovered that herself. She kept no secrets from her husband. “Although they seem to be closer to each other than they admitted when they arrived. For a Muslim man involved with a Western woman of another faith, the punishment can be very serious here.” Annie felt faint as she heard his words, and she squeezed Tom’s hand. “For that reason, Paul was wrong to bring Katie here and pretend that they were friends. But they’re foolish and young.” He smiled at them both. “But an alliance between them would not be wise. For that reason also Paul should stay here. There will be no further danger when Katie leaves. I returned her passport, credit card, and traveler’s checks to her. She is free to go. I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you.” Annie and Tom looked immensely relieved by what he’d said. He had no reason to keep Katie there, nor did he want to. She was not a hostage, she was a guest, and they had treated her as one. “My nephew belongs here in his own country. He will not be leaving with Kate.”
Tom looked angry when he said it. “That’s a terrible thing to do to your brother and his wife. Paul is their only child,” he reminded him. “It would break their hearts.”
“Perhaps it will convince them to return,” he said softly. It was his fondest hope.
“That’s not realistic, and you know it. They have a life there now, and a business. It would not be easy for them to come back.” Paul’s uncle nodded. “And I’m prepared to make an enormous fuss if you don’t turn both young people over to me now, with both of Paul’s passports. His parents want him back in New York and have asked me to bring him.” It was a show of bravado but their only hope. Paul’s uncle had every right to refuse Tom.
“I’m not sure he even wants to leave. He has strong ties to his homeland, and to us. To my wife and me, his cousins, his grandfather.” His parents meant more to him, but Tom didn’t say it. And Paul’s uncle stood up. “I will take you to Kate,” he said warmly, as though they were honored guests, and so was Kate.
A moment later all three of them were upstairs, and Paul’s uncle knocked and opened the door. They saw Katie sitting up in bed, with Paul in a chair beside her. They were talking quietly and looking worried, and they looked stunned when Tom and Annie walked into the room. She had asked for Annie’s help but didn’t expect her to come. Katie let out a yell and leaped into her aunt’s arms, as Paul smiled gratefully at Tom, who met his uncle’s eyes with a look of ice.
“I want his passports now too,” Tom said clearly. “Now. You can’t keep him here against his will. I’m a journalist, and I’m prepared to see this through.” There was a long, long hesitation, and then Paul’s uncle left the room without a word. He was back five minutes later, with both of Paul’s passports in his hand. He wanted him to stay, but he didn’t want to cause his country embarrassment if Tom was going to create a scandal in the press, and he looked like he would. His love and respect for his country were greater than his desire to force his nephew to stay. The battle for Paul had been lost. And won by Tom. Paul’s uncle handed him Paul’s passports without a word, and with a look of sadness and defeat.
“Thank you,” Tom said quietly, took them, and slipped them into his jacket pocket, as the young people watched the scene in awe.
Tom told them both to pack immediately. He didn’t want to give Paul’s uncle time to change his mind. Annie stayed to help Katie, and Paul went to his room to get his things. Tom had the passports and would not let them out of his possession now. Paul’s freedom was in his hands.
Ten minutes later they were both downstairs with their bags. Katie looked shaky and wan and very pale. Jelveh had come into the hall by then, and she and her husband both looked grief stricken that their nephew was leaving. Paul’s grandfather was out, so he couldn’t say goodbye to him. And his cousins were in school. The girls had been sent to their rooms and did not emerge. Paul was not going to have a chance to say goodbye to anyone and looked sad.
Annie thanked them both for taking care of Kate, and so did Katie, and Jelveh was crying as she looked at Paul. She knew she would not see him again, and she hugged him as they left. His uncle had tears in his eyes as he turned away and refused to say goodbye, as the four Americans left the house. And Tom was touched to see that Paul was crying too when he got into the cab. He was thinking of the grandfather he would never see again. He looked longingly back at his uncle’s house as they drove away. He was truly torn between his two cultures and two lives. He loved it here, and he loved his family. It had meant a lot to him to come back, and in some ways he would have liked to stay. But he knew he couldn’t. It would kill his parents if he did. And Katie saw the agony on his face too. He was torn between his two worlds, and the people he loved in both. And whichever life he chose, he would be betraying the people who loved him on the other side of that decision.
He cried silently all the way back to the hotel. And no one said a word in the cab. The scene of his visible suffering was too poignant and too hard. Tom almost wondered if he had done the right thing by forcing his uncle’s hand and making Paul leave with them. Maybe he wanted to stay. But Paul followed them into the hotel when they arrived. And he thanked Tom for helping him get his passports back and rescuing them both. Katie had really needed to go home, and she still didn’t look or feel well, although she was better now. And although he hated leaving Tehran, he wanted to go back to his parents in New York and was grateful for Tom’s help.
The hotel booked them on a flight to London three hours later. They didn’t want to stay any longer. Tom and Annie’s bags had gone to the hotel when they arrived. They had just enough time to collect them, leave again, and return to the airport. It had all gone much more smoothly than Annie and Tom had expected, because Paul’s uncle had been reasonable. Annie was haunted now by the devastated look on Paul’s uncle’s face. They clearly loved Paul and would have liked him to stay. But his parents in New York would have been even more devastated if he had.
They called Paul’s parents from the airport, and they were immensely relieved that he was coming home, and grateful that Tom had helped him. They knew that Paul might not have been able to get out otherwise on his own, and his uncle was a daunting figure for a boy his age. It would have been hard to prevail against him, and even Tom barely had. And they had played on Paul’s uncle’s love for his country and loyalty to Iran, not to create a public scandal in the press by refusing to let Paul leave.
Katie and Paul said nothing to each other on the flight to London. They were both looking pensive and shaken, and as the plane took off from Tehran, Paul sat staring at the city that he loved and was so sad to leave. And after a while they both fell asleep, without saying a word. Annie covered them both with blankets and then went back to her seat and kissed Tom and thanked him again. It had been a strange odyssey, for all of them.
They were all exhausted during the brief layover in London. Katie still looked sick, and they all looked emotionally drained. This time on the flight to New York, they watched movies and ate dinner, and Paul and Katie chatted quietly for a while. It was the first time that Katie realized how torn Paul was about his two lives. She had wondered before they left Tehran if Paul was going to bolt and stay after all. He clearly felt far more Iranian than she had realized. In truth, he felt both. He had strong feelings of loyalty to both America and Iran, and it was tearing him apart.
His parents were waiting for him at the airport when they arrived, and his mother burst into tears when she saw him, and clung to him for a moment before she turned to thank Tom and Annie. The two young people were looking at each other sadly. Something had happened to them that day. They had been catapulted into adulthood and had seen how different their cultures were and how important to each of them. Katie was entirely American in every way, and Paul had a foot in two worlds. The situation they’d been in had been frightening for both of them, and far more than they could handle on their own. They were both grateful that Tom and Annie had come. And all each of them wanted now was to be with their families, in their own homes.
Katie kissed Paul lightly on the cheek before they left the airport. It was the first time they had kissed since the trip began, and neither of them was sure now if the kiss was hello or goodbye. They both looked sad as they left, and Annie could hear the sound of breaking hearts as they said goodbye.
Chapter 22
They were all exhausted when they got back to Annie’s apartment. Ted was waiting for them, and he cried in relief when he hugged his sister. Annie put her to bed a few minutes later. Katie was asleep before she left the room. It had been an endless day, particularly for Katie, who had been so sick.
Tom stretched out on the couch as Annie and Ted talked quietly in the kitchen and looked for something to eat. Tom wasn’t hungry, and he was too tired to think as he turned on the TV. He was watching the news on his own network, when they interrupted normal programming to announce a terrorist attack in Belgium. A bomb had gone
