A Different Divergent: A Better Tomorrow

~thirty-five~

Chapter 35

I don't know how long I aimlessly wander around Dauntless with Tyler clinging to me like he's afraid I might let him go and Tessa sleeping soundly in her carrier. I am absolutely livid but I'm also at a loss. I need to find someplace quiet so I can process what just happened and also so I can take care of my son who is still quietly sobbing. I soon find myself in the long, narrow hallway that leads to the infirmary and remember the standing appointment for my blood pressure check and decide it's as good a place as any to stop. Upon entering the waiting room, the unfamiliar intake nurse quickly ushers me through the double doors and back to an empty examination room. I sit Tessa's carrier down just inside the door but out of the way of anyone who should enter. I lower myself into the uncomfortable-looking metal chair in the corner of the room and instantaneously feel relief in my sore, tired back. I know I shouldn't be carrying either one of them around but it just couldn't be avoided this morning.

"Tyler, buddy, please look at Mommy," I quietly say to him, trying hard to not let my voice break. It takes him a while but he finally releases his hold on my neck and looks me in the eyes. How did that little bitch pick up on his insecurities? "That mean girl doesn't know what she's talking about. You know your Daddy loves you. He tells you all the time. He loves you just as much as I love you."

"But she say..." He can't finish his thought because he starts wailing again. I swear if I ever lay eyes on her again, she's dead. No one hurts my kids like this, and gets away with it. No one. I hold him tightly as tears roll down my face.

"I'm sorry you had to hear her lies," I whisper, kissing his hair. "I would give anything to take it all back. You're such a sweet boy. You don't deserve people making you think that Daddy and I love you any differently just because you're adopted. It's not true." Wait a minute. How does she know Tyler and Tessa aren't his biological children? They are the spitting image of him. For all she knows, he could have had a relationship before me. Realization slaps me in the face. Someone's helping her, someone who knows all about Tobias. Of this I am 100% certain. "You know Mommy and Daddy love you, right?"

"Yeah," he says, his voice small and wounded. "Why she say it?" I kiss his stray tears away and think about his question.

"I'm not really sure but I think she was trying to hurt Mommy and Daddy," I say. This confuses him.

"She huwt you?"

"Yes, she did hurt me. She made you cry, and that hurts my heart very, very much," I say as silent tears slowly descend my cheeks again. He reaches up and wipes them away.

"No cwy, Mommy," he says before throwing his arms around my neck. "I sowwy."

"I love you, Tyler," I say as we cling to each other. "You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for."

"No, but I do," Tobias says from the now open doorway. Tyler and I both look up at him. "Tris, love, nothing that little ... nothing Olivia said was true, not a single word. I have no idea why she said all those things. I hope you believe me." I stare into his remorseful eyes. He's in pain. That much is obvious.

"I know that everything she said is so far from the truth but I can't lie and say it didn't hurt," I say, sounding distant. "You need to reassure our son though." Tobias tries to take him from me but he refuses to go.

"No!" he wails, holding onto me for dear life. "I want my mommy!" He buries his head in my neck and starts crying again, wounding Tobias further. He kneels down in front of us and runs his hand lovingly over Tyler's head and back until he stops crying and peeks out at his father. They have identical anguished expressions on their faces, which constrict my heart painfully.