Danielle Steel - Family Ties

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.

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 off right outside the NATO building in Brussels, and fifty-six people had been killed.

“Oh shit,” Tom said out loud as he called the network, and reported in.

“Where are you?” his producer asked him. They’d been calling him for hours. “I’m in New York. I got back two hours ago. I was in Tehran this morning,” he said in an exhausted voice.

“Sorry, Tom. We need you.”

“I figured when I saw the news.” He sat up, guessing that he’d be in Brussels soon.

“Can you be on the midnight flight to Paris? We can get you a helicopter from Charles de Gaulle to Brussels, if that works for you.”

“Sure.” This was his life and what he did. He walked into the kitchen to tell Annie. “I’m leaving,” he said, looking tired, but he smiled at her.

“Don’t you want to stay here tonight?” She thought he meant that he was going back to his apartment.

“Very much. I’ve got to go to work. I have to catch the red-eye to Paris. There was a terrorist attack in Brussels.”

“You’re going now?” She looked stunned. She could hardly move. She couldn’t imagine how he could do it after the day they just had traveling from Tehran to New York on two flights. “Can’t you take a day off or something?”

“No, not when there’s a breaking story like that one. I can sleep on the plane.” Annie looked sorry for him as she followed him into the bedroom so he could grab some fresh clothes and pack a bag. She handed him an empty suitcase, and he filled it with on-air shirts and three suits, some jeans, and sweaters. He didn’t know how long he’d be gone. “I’m sorry to leave you so soon,” he apologized, and she smiled at him.

“After what you did for us, how can you apologize to me?” Her eyes were full of everything she felt for him, and he kissed her.

“My ex-wife hated this stuff. Every time I try to make plans or try to do something, I wind up on a plane flying halfway around the world in this business. My ex-wife said I was never there when it counted.”

“You just were,” Annie told him as she put her arms around him and held him. “You went all the way to Tehran to bring two kids home. I’d never have gotten Paul out without you. His uncle wouldn’t have listened to me. I’d say that’s being there when it counts. Wouldn’t you?” He smiled at her, grateful for the praise. In his marriage, he’d always been made to feel guilty. Annie made him feel like a hero, and he was to her.

After he packed, he took a shower and changed. And she made him a sandwich. He leaned close to her and kissed her, as Ted and Katie drifted into the room.

“Where are you going?” Ted asked him when he saw the suitcase.

“Brussels, on a story. No rest for the wicked.” Ted smiled and looked at him in amazement.

“I don’t know how you do it.”

“You get used to it,” Tom said as he stood up and put an arm around Annie, although the last two days had not been normal fare, even for him. He hadn’t been sure how it would turn out for Katie and Paul, although he didn’t show it. But he was tired too. He’d been on four international flights in two days. “I’ll call you,” he said to Annie as he kissed her again, and they walked out of the room together. He picked up his suitcase and smiled at her. And then he laughed with a rueful look. “You know, that broken arm I got playing squash is the luckiest thing that ever happened to me.”

“So was my ankle.” She smiled back at him. “Take care of yourself. I’ll see you on TV.”

He saluted her and then was gone, and she walked back into the apartment and smiled at Ted. It had been an incredible few days, and Ted was happy for her and happy to have his sister home safe and sound. And it had all worked out because of Tom. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind. He was an amazing guy.

The apartment was quiet an hour later. They were all in their rooms, falling asleep. Annie glanced at the clock and realized that Tom was taking off at that moment. It felt good to know that somewhere in the world, he was there, and he’d be back soon. She couldn’t imagine a life without him anymore. And she no longer wondered if there was room for him in her life. He was part of the landscape now. He was one of them. And there was just as much room for the kids as there was for Tom and Annie. It was their turn now.

Katie woke up feeling better the next morning. The trip to Tehran felt like a dream. It seemed so unreal and far away. She called Paul when she got up, and he sounded sad when he talked about leaving his family in Tehran, even though he was happy to see his parents again too and be back in New York. And he had been frightened when he thought of being trapped in Tehran against his will. He promised to come and visit Katie that afternoon. Katie could hear something different in his voice. He sounded quiet and distant.

It felt strange when he came to visit her at the apartment. The trip to Tehran had been exciting and fun, but his almost getting stuck there had shaken both of them. Katie had a sense now that she was in over her head, in a relationship that she wasn’t ready for yet. They had talked about marriage as though it would be simple and easy. Now she realized how different their lives were and how much more complicated his was, torn between two families and two worlds, the old and the new. They both needed time to recover from the discoveries they’d made on the trip. It was a lot to digest, and she realized that neither of them was ready to be fully adults yet, and they both needed a break. Paul thought so too. It was too soon for either of them to make decisions about the rest of their lives. They needed time to just be kids, and things had gotten too intense for both of them. They needed time with their own families and friends in their own familiar worlds. Paul kissed her when he left, and they both knew that they needed time to grow up and just breathe. And Katie looked sad as she closed the door behind him.

They had taken a big bite out of life in the past few weeks and found it too much to chew. Life had turned out to be much more complicated than they thought, and they were both grateful to be home and just be kids again. Neither of them was ready to be a grown-up yet, and they were happy not to be. The dream of blending their two different worlds had turned out to be harder than they thought, no matter what their origins or religions. They had gotten much too serious much too fast and way ahead of themselves.