Finding Home

Part Fourteen

A/N: Hi guys! I have a quick update for you. I recently posted a Finding Home mini series that I am hoping to get running real soon. It's basically one-shots from this story and mostly consisting of Tris' and Tobias' past. Check that out later, even though there are no stories published yet. I will be starting on those real soon, I hope.

Also, I want to say that the only reason I wrote a part in first person because of the Valentine's one shot. It was just a cute story I came up on Valentine's Day and wanted to share with you and I thought it would make more sense to have in Tris' POV. For this story, I'm not planning on writing in 1st POV, unless I want to. I'm not going to be that author who constantly changes between 1st and 3rd like every paragraph. Other than that, I might write in first to give character's perspective on why Tobias cheated (that will probably be in the mini series I'm going to write, hint hint). Also, regarding to why Tobias cheated, I will FOR SURE have a backstory behind that. It's something that will be discovered later on in the story, just you wait. If you have anything else you want me to fix(?) or clarify let me know. I write for my own personal enjoyment, and you guys just happen to stick with me. I thank everyone who follows and leaves nice comments because they make my day. I love each and everyone of you dearly:)

I also want to thank @eunice339 for editing this chapter and being my beta-reader. You make my life a hundred times easier, and also make my chapters make more sense. Just a small notice, this chapter was filled with LOTS of tears when I wrote it....so yeah. This wasn't quick, but whatever.

Song of the Chapter: Ashes Like Snow by Lily Kershaw

Chapter 14

One year ago...

Despite how unexciting it sounds, Tris waits eagerly for the mailman to arrive each day, like a little puppy waiting by the door for its owner, in hopes of receiving a letter from Robert.

He's been deployed to Afghanistan working alongside the U.S. Forces Commander, General John F. Campbell. Tris knows she should be proud that Robert is assigned to work with such a high-ranking army officer, but instead, she feels scared for her fiancé's life. Robert had said he would only be deployed for a year, but both of them knew that wasn't a guarantee because of his important role and the commitment he made to serve for at least two years when he enlisted in the army.

Robert has tried to reassure Tris that he will be fine and come back home in one piece in time for their upcoming wedding, but how does he know that something won't go wrong?

Tris looks forward to his letters as he usually writes as much as possible to her. They're both 'old school' and prefer not to email one another. Though sending an email may be much quicker and efficient, letters are more personal and something they can each keep close by. The couple would sometimes slip in a picture of themselves or with friends just for safekeeping.

At 3:26 and fourteen seconds, she sees the mailman pull up in his truck to her mailbox and deliver some envelopes. She sprints out the door, so eager she forgets to put on her shoes, and reaches the mailbox just as the mailman drives off. She retrieves her mail and runs back inside not realizing that she's hurting her feet by stepping on sharp little pebbles or even that it is lightly sprinkling outside; it is predicted to start raining heavily later on in the evening.

As she hoped, she finds a letter from her beloved and hugs it close to her body. She treats the letter like a secret. Even though no one is currently at her house, she runs to her bedroom and locks the door. Tris puts on her reading glasses and sits cross-legged on her side of the bed. She slowly and carefully slides her fingers through the envelope to open it as she takes in the scent of Robert's cologne around it. It's a tradition that the couple learned from Tris' grandparents when they used to visit. Grandma Wright used to tell stories of how her and Grandpa Wright would keep in contact with one another while he was off fighting during WWII. Tris' grandma told them how she would spray just the tiniest amount of perfume on the letter for her husband, as if the letter were a small part of her that she could send to him.