Their first week in Tehran had been wonderful, but at the end of it, Paul and Kate admitted to each other that they were getting homesick for New York and their lives there. The time had been so full that they felt like they’d been gone for longer. And Kate missed Annie. She was enjoying Paul’s family but she suddenly felt far away and missed her own.

Kate decided that day to send Annie an e-mail. Instead of using up the dwindling power in her BlackBerry, she asked one of Paul’s cousins to take her to an Internet café after school, and he was nice enough to do it. In the e-mail she told Annie what they’d been doing, that it was very interesting, and that she missed her. And she assured her she was fine. She sent short ones to Ted and Lizzie too. And after writing to them, she missed home even more. Despite the wonders she was discovering in Tehran, she was beginning to get seriously homesick, and when she got back to the house, she looked a little glum. Paul felt sorry for her when he saw it and admired her for being a good sport about everything so far. She had fit into everything they were doing. It had been an action-packed week, and Paul had the feeling at times that his family were subtly trying to convince him to move back to Tehran, and to remind him of how much happier he’d be here, where he belonged. He loved being back in Tehran, but he also realized that it was no longer home for him, and he missed his parents, friends, and familiar life in New York. His grandfather reminded him at every opportunity that he was Iranian, not American, and his uncle and cousins had echoed the same thought. He still felt totally at ease in Tehran, but he was ready to go back to New York. A week had been enough. Two was beginning to seem too long.

Katie felt that way too, and was tired of the charade that they were only friends. She missed cuddling with him and kissing him whenever she wanted. And sometimes she found it exhausting trying to absorb a whole new culture, and to understand all their customs. Paul was glad they had come, and particularly to have shared the experience with Katie. Contrary to all of Annie’s dire warnings, there was nothing either of them regretted about the trip so far. On the contrary they had both loved it. And they were hoping to take a trip to Persepolis before they left. Paul had shown her everything he wanted to and that Kate had been hoping to see before they arrived.

It was the day of their second visit to the bazaar to buy a bracelet for Liz and a belt for Ted that Katie began to feel strange at dinner. She got very pale, said she was a little dizzy, and then broke out in a sweat. Jelveh looked instantly worried, felt her head, and said she had a fever. And looking embarrassed, Kate left the table, went upstairs, and got violently sick two minutes later. She looked considerably worse when Paul went upstairs to check on her after dinner. He helped Katie into bed and went downstairs to tell his aunt that he thought Katie needed a doctor. She went upstairs to see for herself, and by then Katie was shaking violently with chills and had a raging fever. Katie was crying, said she had terrible stomach pains, and Paul was worried sick about her. She insisted she hadn’t eaten or drunk anything at the bazaar, and Jelveh said it looked like a very bad flu they’d all had earlier that winter. Katie said she’d never felt so sick in her life, and Paul bent down to kiss her forehead, just as Jelveh came back into the room to check on Kate again, and saw him do it. She looked at Paul with strong disapproval.

“You can’t do that here, Paul, and you know it. And if you kiss Kate in public, it will cause you both a great deal of trouble. It’s not proper behavior, and even more so since she’s not a Muslim. If your grandfather saw you do that, it would break his heart.” And then she looked searchingly at both of them. “Is she your girlfriend?” she asked her nephew in a whisper, so no one else would hear her. Kate watched him with wide eyes as he paused before he answered, then nodded. He didn’t want to lie to his aunt, and he trusted her to be discreet about it. He knew she liked Kate a lot although not necessarily for him, since she was Christian.

“Yes, she is,” he answered simply.

“Do your parents know?” She looked shocked, as he nodded again.

“Yes, they do. They like Kate, although they’re worried about how it would work out in the future. But it’s different for us. We live in New York, not Tehran.” Jelveh didn’t say anything for a long moment as she thought about it.

“It’s not different for you,” Jelveh said quietly. “You’re still a Muslim, even in New York. And Kate isn’t. I think you’ve been away from home for too long. It’s time for you to come back here and remember who and what you are.” She was very clear on that.

“I can’t do that,” he said quietly. “I have a life in New York, and my parents are there.”

“Your parents were wrong to take you away when you were so young.” And then she took his breath away with what she said next. “We want you to stay here now. You can study here with your cousins. You can live with us.” Her heart was in her eyes as she said it. She meant well, but Paul didn’t want to stay. He was ready to go back. Kate was listening with wide eyes.

“I can’t do that, Jelveh,” Paul said, with a sound of panic in his voice. “My parents would be upset if I didn’t come back. And so would I. I love it here, but it’s not my home anymore.”

“Tehran will always be your home,” she said firmly. And as she said it, Kate ran to the bathroom again, and they could hear her retching through the door. “I’ll call the doctor,” Jelveh said calmly. “We can talk about this later.” But the way she said it made him nervous. They had both his passports, and he couldn’t leave Tehran without at least one of them. And Jelveh made it sound like they were determined to keep him in Tehran.

He didn’t have time to discuss it with her further. The doctor came half an hour later, and by then Katie had a 103-degree fever and was even sicker than before. The doctor examined Katie and thought she had a virus of some kind, or a bacterial infection. He thought about putting her in the hospital, but after discussing it with Jelveh, he decided to leave her at their home.

The fever raged on for three days, while Jelveh nursed her, and Paul visited her every chance he got. And he was grateful that Jelveh hadn’t told anyone in the family that Katie was his girlfriend, but the sicker she got, the more obvious it was. He was out of his head with worry for her. And Katie looked like a skeleton when the fever broke after four days, two days before they were due to go home. She was deathly pale and had dark circles under her eyes, and she hadn’t contacted Annie because she didn’t want to upset her. They were going home soon anyway. When the fever broke finally, Paul told Katie she had been very brave. He patted her hand as he said it but made no move to kiss her again. He knew full well from Jelveh what a scandal that would cause.

The doctor declared that she would be well enough to return to New York on schedule, and Katie looked relieved. She didn’t want to get stuck here. She was still feeling sick and wanted to go home to Annie and her own bed. She had felt like a five-year-old when she was sick. But Jelveh had taken good care of her, almost as good as Annie, although with different remedies. But she had been an excellent nurse, and very motherly to her.

Paul reconfirmed their airplane tickets that day and went to see his uncle about reclaiming their passports. His uncle listened to him, nodded, unlocked a drawer in his desk, and handed him Kate’s, but neither of Paul’s. He handed him Katie’s credit card and traveler’s checks too, but nothing of Paul’s.

“I need mine too,” Paul said quietly, as his uncle shook his head.

“I don’t think you do. Your aunt and I would like you to stay here. This is where you belong,” he said firmly.

“No, it isn’t,” Paul said hoarsely, as a shiver of fear ran down his spine. “You can’t keep me here, uncle. Sooner or later, I’ll find a way to leave. My home is in New York.”

“You don’t belong in New York, Paul. Iran is your country. Tehran is your home.”

“America is my country now too. And New York is my home, not Tehran. I love it here, but this is history for me. My future and life are in the States.”

“That was a foolish mistake your father made years ago. He got lured away by the money he could make in the States. There are more important things than that, like family and traditions. You can correct that now by staying here.”

“I won’t,” Paul said, looking frightened. “And I have to get Kate home. She’s sick, and it’s time for us to go.”

“She can fly alone,” his uncle insisted calmly, as Paul felt like he was talking to a wall.

“Are you telling me you won’t give me my passports?” Paul asked, looking stunned.

“Yes, I am,” his uncle said with a look of iron, as Paul stared at him in disbelief. “I think you need to spend time here. And you need to send Katie home.”

“I’m not letting her fly home alone,” Paul said firmly, as his uncle said nothing and quietly left the room, without another word to Paul.

Paul was in Katie’s room two minutes later with a look of deep concern.

“What’s wrong? You look like someone died,” Katie said only half-joking.

“Someone did. Both my passports. My uncle won’t give them back to me.”

“Are you serious?” Katie looked horrified as he nodded and handed hers to her.

“They want me to stay,” he said solemnly.

“For how long?”

“Forever, it sounds like. As far as they’re concerned, I’m Iranian, and I belong here.” It was the only thing that had worried his mother when they left—the possibility that someone would try to keep him there. As it turned out, she hadn’t been wrong. “You’re going to have to fly back alone. I don’t want you to stay here. You’re sick. You need to go home.”