Tobias, Amar, Rebekah, and a lot of stuff left for Albania on Wednesday evening.
"Sixteen days," Tobias said as he gave Tris one last hug before boarding the plane. "This is our last goodbye. Next time I see you, you'll be coming home to be my wife."
"I can't wait," Tris said through tears.
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During her last two weeks in Chicago, Tris sorted and packed. She checked and rechecked wedding details. She went to church with her parents, spent time at the food bank with Natalie, and baked for the firemen. She went shopping and had game nights with her friends.
The day before they left for Albania, Tris and all the women accompanying her on the trip spent a luxurious day together at a spa. The group included Natalie, Uncle Daniel's wife Danielle and their five-year-old daughter Destiny, Zeke and Uriah's mom Hana, Christina and her mom and sister, Lynn, Marlene, and even Shauna, who arrived that morning from Texas. When they got to the spa, the staff handed each woman a mimosa or champagne flute of juice, and a light bathrobe to put on. Tris was also given a pink envelope, which she opened immediately. Inside was a note in Tobias' familiar handwriting.
My beautiful bride,
Welcome to day one of spoiling you and the people who love you and made you the amazing person you are. I'm so excited to meet you at the airport in Tirana and bring you home. Your castle is ready and waiting for its queen.
Tobias
The spa was closed to the public for the day, so Tris' party had the place to themselves. They changed into their light robes, and noticed that they weren't just the plain ones usually provided by a spa, but were high-quality robes embroidered with their names in Tris' favorite shade of rose pink. Where the other women's had their first names, Tris' said "Mrs. Eaton."
Tris sat in the hot tub with her little cousin Destiny for a while, then the little girl had a manicure and pedicure with the big girls before uncle Daniel came to get her. The other ladies had a full day of manicures, pedicures, facials, massages, lunch, laughing, and reminiscing. When they were redressed, the women met in the lobby, and the spa gave each of them a pink gift bag. Christina opened hers so they could see what was inside. The bag contained chocolates, a pink reusable water bottle with their personal monogram in sparkly gold letters, nail polish, a coffee gift card, and a nice bottle of lotion.
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From the spa the women went to a local restaurant, where the Priors had arranged a party room for their guests. Natalie was surprised when they arrived to find a note from Tobias, along with gifts for the kids in their party. Destiny, her twelve-year-old brother Damon, and Christina's fourteen-year-old siste Rose were coming along on the trip. Natalie opened the note, which was addressed to her and Andrew.
Natalie and Andrew,
I know that in America it is traditional for the bride's family to pay for the wedding, but it's not done that way in Albania. Tris convinced me not to pay for tonight's dinner. She said it was your gift to your guests, and your chance to host part of the celebration. I'm reluctantly accepting that, but please know that Tris has a credit card for my accounts should you want to add anything to your celebration this evening. I really wish I could be there with all of you, and am looking forward to hosting you in Albania very soon.
Thank you for raising Tris to be the amazing, sweet, kind, and generous woman that she is. I know just how lucky I am to have found her and won her heart. I promise you that I will do everything possible to keep her safe, happy, and loved for the rest of our lives. You are welcome in our home any time.
Tobias
The men arrived soon after the women, and the entire party enjoyed the evening together. The gifts for the kids included new tablet devices, cases for them that fit each kid or teen's tastes and style, wireless headphones, and other books and activities for the long flight. Their parents were touched by the generous gifts that Tris and Tobias had put together while he was there for Tris' graduation.
Once everyone was gone, Tris and her parents helped clean up, and Tris added a generous tip to their table on her way out of the room. She knew her dad had provided an adequate tip when he paid, but she was feeling joyful, and wanted to share that joy with whomever she encountered. In that moment she understood why Tobias had paid for the spa day, gift bags for the women, and gifts for the kids. It was just so fun to give to others out of the abundance of her joy.
On Thursday morning Tris couldn't sleep. This was the day she had been waiting for for ten months. This was the day that she would take what was left of her things and leave home to be with the man she loved.
She grabbed her phone, and just as she expected, there were texts from Tobias.
4: I love you - I love you - I love you - I love you
4: It's almost time! Just a few more hours and you leave for Albania! I can't wait to have you home for good!
4: I hope my texts don't wake you up. I'm sorry if they do.
4: I don't know if I've ever been this excited in my life.
4: George and Amar love the table, by the way. The staff is setting up the bride's dowry display in the dining room, so they saw it when they brought their quilt over this morning. Amar teared up and everything. I don't think George has stopped smiling all week.
4: I handed out the cards you sent along for the staff. They're all moved that you thought of them as the "groom's family" and that you made gifts for them and participated in the Albanian tradition even though you're American. I'm pretty sure they redoubled their efforts to prepare the house for you
Tris replied before any more texts could pile up.
T: I love you, too. I'm glad Amar and George like the table and the staff like their gifts. Thank you for the spa day and all the gifts you gave yesterday. The kids were super excited about their tablets, just like we thought they would be. I can't wait to see you tomorrow! I'll be the one in pink (winky face emoji)
4: As if I wouldn't recognize you… You're the only one I see, Zemra ime.
The house was already abuzz with activity. Uncle Daniel, Danielle, Damon, and Destiny were staying with the Priors, and Tris could hear the family laughing and moving about downstairs. She could also smell bacon and coffee, and that finally lured her out of her warm bed.
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A pair of shuttle vans picked up the Priors and Uncle Daniel's family that afternoon, and took them to the private terminal at the airport. A large private jet was waiting for them, and staff members bustled around moving luggage from the vans to the airplane while Tris and her family went into the private terminal.
"Miss Prior!" a hostess greeted Tris. "Good afternoon and congratulations!"
"Thank you," Tris said as the rest of her family looked around the small and luxuriously appointed space in awe.
"I understand there will be eighteen in your party today," the woman continued. "We have water, coffee, and an assortment of baked goods right over here. Restrooms are over there. Your flight crew is all on board, and we'll be boarding in about an hour. Please let me know if you need anything."
"Thanks," Tris said again.
"Is that your airplane?" Destiny asked Tris, pointing out the window. "My mom said you have your own airplane now."
"Nope," Tris replied. "Our airplane is smaller than that. Only ten or twelve people can fly in our plane. Tobias rented this bigger one so all of our friends can come along."
"Like when Mama puts more leafs in the table for company?" the little girl asked.
Tris smiled at her cousin. "Exactly like that. We want everybody to come to the party."
"Is Caleb coming?" Destiny asked.
"No," Natalie interjected. "Caleb didn't want to come."
The Priors were still angry about Caleb's decision not to go to Tris' wedding. He and Aunt Jeanine were being stubborn, and claimed that they had too much work to do to "flit off to Europe just for a wedding." Tris was determined not to think about her brother during the trip. Natalie and Andrew were disappointed, but vowed not to talk about it in front of Tris or Tobias. They all wanted Tris' wedding to be as joyful as possible.
The rest of their party arrived in plenty of time, and when the staff invited them to board, Tris led the way out to the airplane, where a pink carpet was rolled out to greet them. At the top of the stairs, two flight attendants in grey dresses and rose pink neckerchiefs greeted them with pink champagne and raspberry ginger ale.
"Good afternoon Miss Prior," the first attendant said. "I'm Kimberly, and I'll be your lead flight attendant for our flight to Tirana. Please have your guests sit in any seat with a seatbelt for takeoff. Oh, and you have some mail."
She handed Tris a stack of envelopes, which perplexed the bride. The top one had her name on it in Tobias' writing, so she quickly found a seat and opened it while her friends and family boarded the plane.
My beautiful bride,
I hope you enjoy your flight! This plane belongs to Westbound Shipping. Mr. Weston and Mr. Coulter offered it to you for the wedding, free of charge, as a wedding gift from the "Shipping Tycoons." I will never forget the difference you made in my business life when you agreed to go to that dinner with me - or how you looked that evening in your purple dress. I just wanted to kiss you so bad. You are the sweetest and most genuine human being I have ever met, and my life is better every day because you're in it. Try to get some sleep and I'll see you in the morning!
Tobias
Tris snapped a quick selfie with Destiny, who had insisted on sitting by her cousin the bride, and sent it off to Tobias, even though it was well past midnight. She knew he would like to get it when he woke up.
T: We're on board! The plane is amazing, and best of all it's bringing me to you! I'll see you in the morning!
Once in the air, Tris opened the other cards. They were from the different members of the shipping tycoons club, and each contained a friendly note welcoming Tris to their society. They were all written on different fancy stationeries. Many of the names were familiar to Tris, but some were not. The last card was from Eric and Lauren. It offered the usual congratulations and pleasantries, but ended with a post script that said, "Get over here, Tris, I miss you! - Lauren"
The flight was calm and uneventful. Tris told everyone about the shipping tycoons and their generous gift of the flights. Kimberly and the other attendants served a nice dinner. The flight attendants turned some of the seats into beds, and those who wanted went to sleep while others quietly watched a movie. Tris opted to sleep. She knew she had a big day, big weekend, and big life waiting for her at the end of the flight.
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The larger jet didn't need to stop and refuel, but flew straight from Chicago to Tirana. The flight attendants served breakfast in the morning and everyone took turns using the bathrooms and getting ready for the "grooms day."
Tris dressed in the pink lace Dolce and Gabbanna dress that she had bought specifically for her Albanian homecoming. Christina did her hair in a soft loosely braided style, and applied Tris' makeup, too.
By the time the plane touched down, Tris was shaking and on the verge of tears. Her two worlds were coming together in a grand spectacle of a celebration, and it was overwhelming.
The jet taxied toward the terminal. "There they are!" Christina squealed. Tris looked out and saw a lineup of vehicles and a small crowd of people with Tobias front and center. She recognized George, Amar, Tori, Rebekah, Jorik, and Rarman right away, but then the plane turned and she couldn't see them easily from where she was sitting.
The flight attendants opened the door, and one of them carried out the pink carpet roll while another sprinkled a bag of pink flowers down the stairs, over the carpet, and onto the asphalt. Tris giggled at the over-the-top gesture, and the laugh met a sob and stuck in her throat.
"Are you ready, Baby Girl?" Andrew asked his daughter.
Tris nodded, too emotional to speak. When she looked at Andrew, the tears in his eyes were her undoing. Her own tears began to fall as she took her dad's arm and grinned up at him.
"I love you, Beatrice," Andrew said.
"I love you too, Dad," Tris replied, her voice quiet and husky with emotion.
They stepped out of the plane and onto the top step. Tobias surged forward, followed by his entourage. By the time Tris was at the bottom of the stairs, he had reached the carpet, and she let go of her dad to throw her arms around her groom.
Andrew went back up to escort Natalie while Tris and Tobias held one another and exchanged a few kisses.
"Save some love for the rest of us," teased a familiar Scottish accent.
Tris grinned at the waiting friends of the groom. "Coulter," she said. "I'm glad to see you have pants on."
Eric grinned broadly and stepped up to give Tris a quick hug and kiss her cheeks. "I'm saving my kilt for the wedding. Wouldn't want to overwhelm everyone with my sexy legs two days in a row."
Tris laughed and moved on to hug George, Amar, Tori, and Rebekah, and to shake hands with Rarman and Jorik. There were three other men with Tobias, each about his age or a little older, and Tris just nodded and smiled as she waited to be introduced.
"This is Gabe Stanton," Tobias said, pointing to a man about his own age. "We went to school together. He's also friends with Eric, but try not to hold that against him. Beside him is Leo Van de Brakke of Van de Brakke Transport, and beside him is my… cousin, Leka Zogu. Leka's grandfather and my grandmother were cousins. It's not a close blood relation, but neither of us has much family, so we've settled on thinking of ourselves as cousins."
Tris exchanged pleasant greetings with the three men, then Tobias got everyone's attention. He did a runthrough of introductions while telling everyone who they would be riding with back to the Eaton estate.
"Natalie and Andrew Prior are Tris' parents," he said as he began. "They will be in the lead car, the black Mercedes SUV with the Albanian and American flags. Driving them are George and Tori Wu. George is Amar's partner, and Tori is his sister. They own and operate a tattoo shop, and are some of our dearest friends. The second car will be Tris and I, and we'll be driven by my long-time driver and assistant, Amar. The third vehicle is a silver shuttle van, and that will be driven by Jorik, our assistant groundskeeper and part-time driver. He will have Tris' Uncle Daniel, Aunt Danielle, cousins Damon and Destiny, and Christina's family, Jeff, Stephanie, and Rose. Jorik does speak English, and he's an excellent driver. He was Tris' driver last summer when Amar and I weren't around.
"Car four is the other silver shuttle. That is driven by my head groundskeeper, Rarman. Rarman does not speak English, so Tris' assistant and Albanian teacher, Rebekah, is with him. That van will have the Pedrads, Lynn, and Marlene. My cousin Leka is driving car five, the black Mercedes sedan. He also speaks English, and his passengers are my friend and business associate Leo Van de Brakke of Van de Brakke Transport, Tris' best friend Christina, and Tris' other friend, Christina's boyfriend Will. The last car will have my college friends Gabe Staton, and Eric Coulter.
"Every car has at least one person who knows the area and speaks good English, so please feel free to ask questions. We're going to do a bit of a loop around Tirana, Albania's capital city, then we'll head southwest to my family home. Your luggage has been taken from the plane and loaded into a van which will take it straight to the estate or the hotel, depending on where you're staying. Those of you in the village hotel will have Jorik and his shuttle at your disposal all weekend. He will make sure you get to all the different events and festivities. Any questions?"
Everyone started talking excitedly at once, but no one seemed to have any questions or concerns. They loaded into their respective vehicles, and George led the way off the airport property and into the city.
In the lead car, Natalie and Andrew clung to one another's hands and took in the sights of Tirana while George told them about the city and its history. When they left the city, Tori took over, telling the bride's parents what to expect when they arrived at the estate.
"Tobias has a unique situation," Tori began. "Many of the Albanian wedding traditions focus on the groom's family, but he has no relatives."
"What about his cousin?" Natalie asked.
"Leka is… kind of a long story," Tori said, trying to figure out how to describe the situation. "His grandfather was the king of Albania. Tobias' grandmother was the king's sister or cousin or something. King Zog was the only king to rule in Albania. He was kicked out by the Italian fascists. He and his son lived in exile, but Leka, the grandson, lives here in Tirana now and works in government. Technically, he is Crown Prince Leka II, and Tobias is somewhere close in the line of succession, but we have no actual, acting monarchy, so it's all just semantics and fairy tales."
"Wow," Andrew said in shock.
"Yeah," George agreed. "I don't know if Tris knows who he is. I mean, I know they haven't met before, and I don't know if Tobias told her that he's the crown prince. It doesn't really mean anything the way things are, but it's still pretty cool. Besides, I'm sure Rebekah will tell her if Tobias doesn't. Did you see her face this morning when she came downstairs and Leka and Elia were there? I think she about choked on her tongue!"
Tori nodded and laughed, and they were quiet for a few minutes until Tori remembered that she was explaining the wedding.
"As I was saying," Tori continued. "Albanian weddings are heavily centered on the groom's family. Traditionally the wedding lasts about a week. Day one is the bride's day, and you kind of did that by celebrating in Chicago. Day two is the groom's day, and he and the men of his family go get the bride and bring her home. That's what we're doing now. The parade, the cars with flags, it's all part of the tradition. When we get back to the groom's home, the bride is typically met by a young male relative with flowers, and the groom's mother greets her with bread and honey. I'm sure Tris has told you about Edon, right?"
Tris' parents nod. She was quite smitten with the little boy and talked about him a lot.
"Edon's grandmother is Tobias' full-time housekeeper, Roza. She was Tobias' mother's maid when he was a child, and she helped with his delivery and everything. Tris and Tobias love Edon, and he's around the estate sometimes. He and Roza are going to stand in for the groom's relatives since they're part of his household. Edon will meet Tris with flowers when we get there, and Roza will have the bread and honey. The guys might fire guns, too, and there's usually a lot of singing and dancing.
"After the bread and honey, Edon will remove Tris' shoes and magically find some money under them. Then he'll sit on her lap. The dowry gifts you all sent are on display in the dining room, and they'll stay there until tomorrow. Tonight there's a big reception with all the locals to celebrate the arrival of the bride and her family to their community. It's crazy, but it's a lot of fun."
"And that's not even the wedding," George added with a grin. "Here we are in the village."
All the cars in their little parade honked their horns and opened their windows to cheer. People came running outside to cheer and wave at the wedding party. The atmosphere was exciting and festive, and Tris' parents couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the warm reception their daughter was receiving in her new home.
George turned the car into a long driveway, and a gate opened automatically in front of them. Andrew and Natalie gaped at the estate. Tris had tried to explain, but her stories paled in comparison to the real thing. George stopped the SUV by a fountain. A number of people were gathered on the front lawn, including a photographer. Everyone climbed out of the vehicles to watch Tris go through the traditional greeting for the bride.
Amar opened her car door as an adorable little boy hopped down the stairs with a bouquet of poppies in his hands. "Zonjushë Anglisht!" he greeted cheerfully, and Tris' parents couldn't help but laugh, understanding the nickname that Tris had explained before.
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A/N: Crown Prince Leka and his wife are real people, but are obviously not related to the fictional characters from Divergent. In order to not misrepresent them, you will notice that I have not given them any dialog, but have just made them sort of vague but intriguing background characters. It is also worth repeating that I do not speak Albanian, so anything written in Albanian came from Google Translate or another language-learning or cultural site. There is a lot of cool stuff about Albania on the Pinterest board I created for this story. Look me up to check it out - AnnLiberty (all one word)