Evelyn… she faked her death when Tobias was young. She's been living on the streets, in Rome. She died last week, and someone told the authorities who she was. She… she didn't die. She left him. With Marcus."

.

Tris felt the blood drain from her face and her stomach drop. It felt like a ton of heavy black dirt dropped onto her shoulders, and she slumped in her comfortable seat on the master bedroom balcony.

"Breathe," George said firmly from beside her.

Tris tried to breathe and managed a wheezy gasp.

"Why?" she asked.

"No one knows," Amar said gently over the phone. "We may never know. Marcus beat her, we know that, so she ran. Why she faked her death or didn't take Tobias with her… I don't know."

"I don't think she faked her death," Tris said. "Marcus did. She left. He covered his tracks and protected the business and his money. Divorce would have been expensive. He screwed her over. Where is Tobias?"

Halfway around the world, Amar sighed. "He's in the plane. I had to sedate him. He's devastated. No, he's worse than that. He… I didn't have a choice."

"What can I do?" Tris asked breathily.

"Nothing for now," Amar said. "Try to get a few hours of sleep. He'll need you when we get home. George will bring you to the airport. It looks like we'll get to Tirana around six in the morning."

"Okay," she murmured, handing the phone back to George.

Tris wandered like a zombie back into the master bedroom and through to the dressing room, where she changed into pajamas. She went from the dressing room into the bathroom and got herself ready for bed. It was barely dark outside, and her mind was racing, but her hands knew the motions.

Back in the bedroom, Tris found George waiting awkwardly for her, unsure if he should stay or leave. "What do I do?" she asked. "How do I help him through this?"

"I don't know," George admitted. "I guess you listen. You stay close by. You just… be there. It's a lot to process - for all of us - but for Tobias most of all."

"I think I'm going to call my parents before I try to sleep," Tris said.

"That sounds like a good idea," George said. "I'll come get you a little before five."

"Okay," Tris said, her voice little more than a whisper.

.

When George returned at quarter to five, he found Tris dressed in a cute but comfortable outfit of leggings, an oversized sweater, and boots. She grabbed her handbag and hurried to follow him through the house and out to the car.

"Does Roza know?" Tris asked as George turned onto the main road.

He swore under his breath, then asked Tris to text the housekeeper and let her know only that they were on their way to Tirana to pick up Tobias and Amar.

"Amar can call her to explain when they land - if he hasn't already," George said.

"She and Evelyn were close," Tris said in a small voice. "You don't think she knows, do you?"

George shook his head. "If Roza knew, she would have said something when she came back to work for Tobias. Why keep hiding it after Marcus was dead?"

Tris nodded. That made sense. They fell silent again, moving down the dark highway toward Tirana and the airport.

George and Tris arrived just before the Eatons' plane landed. As the jet taxied toward them, George pulled his phone out of his pocket and sighed.

"Tobias is still asleep," he told Tris. "Amar wants us to join them on the plane when they get here."

Tris nodded. She was nervous about seeing her husband. She hadn't slept much after Amar's call. She'd talked to her mom for a while, then spent some time searching the internet for ways to support a loved one with abandonment issues. She'd dozed off eventually and slept fitfully for a few hours before her alarm went off.

The airplane rolled up to the private terminal where Tris and George waited. They hurried outside as Amar lowered the stairs so they could board as soon as the guards they'd hired for the trip disembarked.

Tris' eyes sought out Tobias immediately. He lay on the converted couch/bed, fully dressed but out cold. He was on his stomach, the same way he slept at home, and his back rose and fell with deep, even breaths.

Instinctively, Tris began removing her boots. She climbed onto the bed beside her husband and drew him close.

"What do we do?" George asked.

Amar shook his head. "You brought her. That's what he needs."

George nodded and put his arm around Amar. "I hate to add to your stress," he said gently, "but you need to tell Roza."

Amar groaned, but nodded. "Let's step outside," he said.

.

Tris dozed off beside her drugged husband, but woke when he began to stir. She ran her fingers through his hair gently.

"I love you," Tris murmured quietly. "Të dua, T'keqen. I wish I could take this pain from you. I don't understand how anyone could walk away from you like that. You're wonderful, Tobias. You're kind and calm. You're generous, and you care about people. You're going to be the best daddy someday - hopefully soon."

"Tris?" Tobias questioned, still groggy from the sedatives.

"Shh," Tris soothed. "I'm here, Tobias. You're back home in Albania with me. I'm not going anywhere, Baby. I love you so much."

"I love you," Tobias said, nuzzling into her neck.

He inhaled hard as his memory returned with wakefulness, and Tris felt his body stiffen.

"It's okay," she soothed. "I'm here with you. You're not alone - you'll never be alone. So many people love you and want to be with you, especially me. My mom offered to come stay with us; she wants to come mother you. George was good to me while you were gone, and he and Amar are so upset about Evelyn. I'm so glad you're home."

"She didn't die," Tobias said, and Tris could hear shock in his voice. "She faked her death and left me."

"Mmm," Tris murmured. "I don't think so. I think she ran from Marcus and he faked her death to cover his own ass. Think about it, T'keqen. If she left him, he looked bad. If she left him, she could take you. If she left, she could divorce him and take half of everything.

"On the other hand, if she was dead, he'd be pitied. If she was dead, he kept you away from her. If she was dead, he kept her family's shipping business, and she got nothing. I know she left you, but I don't think she faked her own death. I think she ran, and Marcus used the local police and his other connections to have her declared dead. Someone issued a death certificate. Add an urn full of dirt or fireplace ashes, and no one's the wiser."

Tobias nodded, and Tris thought he relaxed a little.

"I can't believe she was out there," Tobias breathed. "I… I've been to Rome many times. I was right there. I didn't know."

"I know," Tris said, drawing him closer again.

"Why didn't she try to reach me after Marcus died?" he sobbed.

"I don't know," Tris admitted. "I have more questions than answers. But whatever happens, I'll be here with you, Tobias. We're a family now - a real family full of love. I love you, T'keqen."

He pulled her impossibly closer so she was tucked under him, then buried his face in her chest and cried. Her own tears ran from the corners of her eyes toward her ears, and she let them fall unchecked as she focused on Tobias. She held onto him tightly with one arm while her other hand continued to stroke his dark hair. Tris repeated over and over all the things she loved about him.

Tobias' sobs eased, but he continued to cling to Tris. She tipped her face down to kiss the top of his head, and he responded by nuzzling his face between her sweater-clad breasts.

Tris giggled, and when Tobias felt her hand stroking the contours of his muscular arm and shoulder, he felt a little brave. He slid a hand under his wife's sweater and up her side.

"I love the feel of you and your warm skin," he said in a voice husky from crying.

Tris shivered and smiled. "I love having your hands on me," she said softly. "We should go home now so we can go back to bed."

"We're in bed right now," Tobias protested as his hand roamed higher under her sweater.

"Go shut the door," Tris whispered.

Their lovemaking was slow, soft, warm, and affirming. Tobias gasped Tris' name like a prayer as he collapsed onto her chest.

"Is it wrong that I hope you just got pregnant?" Tobias asked once he caught his breath.

Tris giggled. "Tobias the fifth, or a girl named… what? Avia? Gulfstream?"

"Maybe for a middle name," Tobias said with a smile. "Tirana Avia Eaton."

"Tirana?!" Tris laughed. "I'm not naming a baby after the capital city."

"It's actually a name people use," Tobias said as he nuzzled his wife's neck and rested a hand on her belly. "How about Luriana? Or Rovena?"

"Mmm, I like Luriana," Tris said sleepily.

"Mrs. Eaton, I think we need to get dressed so we can go home before you fall asleep."

"We have a bed right here," Tris repeated her husband's earlier words.

"And George and Amar waiting to take us home," Tobias added. "Come on, Zemra ime, let's get you dressed."

Tris sluggishly complied, but as soon as they were situated in the car and back on the road, she snuggled up to Tobias' side and fell asleep.

"Unë mendoj se ajo nuk fle mirë kur je larg," (I think she doesn't sleep well when you are away) George said.

"As unë," (Neither do I) Tobias replied quietly.

"Dashuri e re..." (Young love…) George sighed as he and Amar smiled at one another and linked hands.

The drive home was quiet. Tobias' pain and grief were raw, but holding his sleeping wife made him feel stronger. As they drove through the gate and onto the grounds of the estate, he sighed in relief. Everything had changed since Marcus' death, and the mansion that had once been his place of torture now felt like home.

As the sedan's wheels crunched over the crushed rock driveway, the main door to the house opened, and Roza stepped outside. Tobias could see that her eyes were red, and she wrung a tissue or handkerchief in her hands.

"I'll wake Tris," Amar said gently. "Roza is waiting to see you."

Tobias gently separated himself from his sleeping wife and stepped out of the car. He heard Roza sob as soon as she saw him, so he hurried toward her.

"Djali im! Djali im i dashur! Nuk e dija që ishte gjallë. Nuk e di. pse do të pretendonte se ishte e vdekur?"
(My son! My dear boy! I didn't know she was alive. She left us. why would she pretend to be dead?) the housekeeper sobbed. Tobias held her as his own tears flowed again.

"Tris beson se Evelyn nuk e falsifikoi vdekjen e saj. Ajo mendon se Evelyn u largua nga Marcus dhe ai e bëri atë të duket sikur ajo kishte vdekur. "Vdekja" e saj mbronte paratë dhe reputacionin e tij. Ajo gjithashtu e mbajti atë të mos më largonte,"
(Tris believes that Evelyn did not fake her death. She thinks that Evelyn left Marcus and he made it look like she died. Her "death" protected his money and reputation. It also kept her from taking me,") Tobias explained to the housekeeper.

Roza nodded in understanding. When she glanced past Tobias' shoulder and smiled softly, he turned to see Tris standing between Amar and George, their arms around her shoulders.

Tris was sniffling softly, so Tobias reached for her. She gave him a hug, then moved to hug Roza as well before stepping back to her husband's embrace.

"I didn't know," the housekeeper said in English.

"I know you didn't," Tris assured her.

"I'd like to meet with the staff today," Amar said. "As soon as possible, actually. Let's gather everyone in the kitchen. Tris and Tobias, we'll make sure you're not bothered today, but feel free to call me or Rebekah if you need anything. Roza, after the staff meets, you are free to take the day off, too."

"I'd rather work," Roza said. "I need to keep busy. I'm… I can't find the words. Especially not in English, but not in Albanian, either. I didn't know she left you, Mr. Tobias. Mrs. Eaton wasn't very… I don't know the words. She didn't hug and kiss you a lot, and she didn't talk about love, but she did love you. I don't know what she was thinking when she left. I don't know why she stayed gone when she wasn't dead. I don't know why she didn't fight for you. I'm not even a mother, but I would fight for my Yeta, for Edon and Elira, and for you. But… I couldn't do that when you were young. You were not my child. I had nothing to offer you. I didn't want to leave you with Mr. Marcus. I prayed for you every night, but… but I could not… I could not fight for you. Maybe Evelyn could not fight for you either."

Roza broke down weeping, and Tris was the first to move toward her and comfort the older woman. Tobias followed his wife's lead, and wrapped his arms around both women.

He was touched and even stunned to hear Roza's words. She'd called him her boy when he arrived home, and then confessed everything else. Tobias had never known that his mother's assistant was so attached to him when he was a young child. He didn't know that she had worried about him when she was the one who got fired and sent away. He never knew that she prayed for him while they were apart. The thought was deeply moving.

When that round of tears passed, Tobias looked Roza in the eyes. "Thank you," he said sincerely and intensely. "Thank you for caring for me all of my life - even when we were not together. You are a good, caring aunt to Yeta, and a wonderful grandmother to Edon and Elira. You have a mothering heart, and you have been wonderful to me, to Tris, to Aleksander, and to your nephew. I'm so grateful that I found you again and brought you back here to live and work. I know that you were lied to the same as I was about Evelyn's death. I'm sorry she and Marcus did that to you."

Tris smiled at Tobias' words as Roza hugged him again. She stepped away to give them a moment.

"Thank you for everything, George," Tris said, giving the tattoo artist a hug.

She turned to Amar and did the same for him. "Thank you, Amar," she said close to his ear. "If you would send up a light lunch around noon, I'll try to get Tobias to eat something. Have Rebekah call the center if she's not going without me today. And there's something I want you personally to get for me. I don't need it yet, but… a pregnancy test? I'd like to have one on hand if we need it, but I don't want to announce it to the rest of the staff. Can you do that?"

Amar chuckled, and Tris felt his chest shake as he continued to hold her. "Already done," he whispered in her ear. "They're in the cupboard with your menstrual supplies."

"You're very good at your job," Tris teased as she pulled back from the hug.

"You'll let me know when you learn something, right?" he asked, nudging her playfully with his elbow.

"Of course," Tris replied with feigned indignance. "Who else books our doctor appointments?"

Amar put his hand over his heart. "I hope after everything we've been through you'd tell me for more than just my booking skills."

Tris pretended to consider the question. "I guess," she conceded with a smirk.

Amar laughed and pulled her in for another hug. "Take good care of your man," he teased, waggling his eyebrows and making Tris blush.

.

Amar may have been teasing, but Tris had every intention of 'taking care of her man.' When she and Tobias finally went into the house, Tris led him upstairs to the master suite. She suggested a bath or a steam followed by a shower, and he chose the latter.

Tris laid out towels for them and put the bath mat on the floor outside the steam room so they wouldn't slip and fall. She was quiet, gentle, and patient with Tobias, and he enjoyed her undivided attention and her soothing ministrations as she stripped them bare and took his hand before walking into the steam room.

"How soon after the shot do women usually get pregnant?" he asked her shyly.

Tris smiled wistfully. "According to the internet, anywhere from the twelve week renewal date and two years," she said. "I'm hoping it'll be sooner than later, but sometimes it takes a while to work everything out of your system. It probably helps that I was only on the shot for a year. There should be less of it built up in my system than someone who was on it for a long time."

"Mmm," Tobias mused, his eyes closed and head resting on the wall behind him.

Suddenly, his eyes flew open. "If you're pregnant, should you be in here?" he asked.

Tris giggled. "You mean, in the unlikely event that you impregnated me just a couple hours ago on the airplane? Yes, Tobias, it would be fine. It's way too early to worry about overheating and fainting."

"And how soon can one take a pregnancy test and know?" he asked, trying and failing to hide his eagerness.

"My period is due in a little less than two weeks," Tris said, blushing in spite of the fact that she was only speaking to her husband. "If it doesn't come on time, we test."

Tobias smirked, and it warmed Tris' heart to see him so pleased thinking about the future instead of depressed and dwelling on the past.

"What I hear you saying," Tobias growled as he reached for his naked wife and drew her close, "is that I have two more weeks to try and knock you up this month."

Tris' breath hitched, but she giggled in spite of her growing feelings of arousal. "Where did you learn an expression like 'knocked up,' Mr. Eaton?"

"Movies," he whispered into the ear he'd begun nibbling on. "Do you think it would be safe to knock you up here in the steam room? You're entirely too tempting sitting here naked with that sheen of sweat on your skin."

Tris swallowed hard. "No," she said. The word came out as a breathy sigh. "You make me dizzy as it is."

Tobias crashed his mouth to hers, and in one fell swoop he lifted them both from the bench and stepped out of the steam room. Tris gasped at the sudden change of temperature as Tobias pressed her back against the cool tile.

"I love you," she panted between heated kisses. "I love you so much."

.

Tobias coped with his mother's abandonment and death by focusing on the future instead of dwelling on the past. In theory, it seemed good to Tris. In reality, she worried that Tobias wasn't dealing with his feelings, but was distracting himself. They made love daily - usually more than once. He read books and internet articles about fertility and pregnancy. He ordered Roza to prepare certain foods that were supposed to support fertility.

Tris felt tremendous pressure to conceive. She worried about Tobias' disappointment if her period came, and she worried about his overprotectiveness if it didn't.

One night, the couple crawled into bed. After turning out the light, Tobias immediately reached for his wife.

"Not tonight," Tris practically whined.

Tobias froze.

"I love you," she said gently. "I love having sex with you, and I want to have a baby as badly as you do. But I'm afraid you're becoming obsessed with this idea. I'm afraid you're channeling your feelings about your mother into building a family of our own, and I'm not sure that's healthy. What if I don't get pregnant this month? Are you going to be devastated? Will you be angry with me?"

"Tris!" Tobias exclaimed. "I… I had no idea you felt this way. I'm not sure what to say right now. I guess, if you're not pregnant this month I'll be disappointed, but I'd never be angry with you. It could take a while since you're coming off the shot. You warned me about that, and I understand. As for my mother…" he sighed and took a minute to collect his thoughts before continuing. "I really don't know what to think. Initially, I was hurt, so incredibly hurt. She chose to leave me with Marcus, whom she knew was abusive. I mean, he beat her, so what did she think would happen to me? And then there was the fact that she was living homeless on the streets in Rome. She had a criminal record for solicitation - did I tell you that? My mother, Evelyn Eaton, spoiled daughter of a millionaire shipping magnate and wife of the Eaton fortune, was a homeless street prostitute! While I was here in this mansion, eating fine food and traveling the world. She didn't have to come home to me, but if she'd only told me she was alive… I could have done something! I would have bought her a little flat, helped her find a job, sent her an allowance, something! Am I so unlovable that she would rather live like… like that?!"

The floodgates opened, and Tobias finally vented his feelings for the first time in the week since he'd returned from China. He sobbed big, heaving sobs face down into his pillow. Tris wrapped her small body around his large one as best she could and pressed her forehead into Tobias' temple.

"I love you so much," she crooned into his ear. "You are a wonderful person. Your mother's choices are not a reflection on you. You are kind, and sweet, and you're making the world a better place. I chose you, Tobias. I moved halfway around the world and learned a new language because I love you and you're worth it. You're worth everything. I didn't come here for your money, or your house, or anything but you. You are smart, and generous, and very, very sexy. I love you so much, T'keqen."

Tris poured out her heart in soothing murmurs. She told Tobias everything she loved about him, from his beautiful blue eyes to the kindness of his soul. She had no idea how much of it he heard or understood, but she just kept affirming him and speaking words of love until his sobs faded to gasps, and then to silence. Even after he quieted, Tris just kept whispering words of life and love into her husband's ear. When Tobias let out a small snore, Tris chuckled silently as she realized that her six-foot-three-inch tall, multi-millionaire business tycoon had cried himself to sleep.

"Your humanity and realness may be my favorite part of you," she whispered to her sleeping husband as she settled in beside him for the night.