The Eatons were jetlagged and the whole family was emotional, so Tobias suggested that Amar take him and Tris to their hotel for a while, then pick up the family for dinner at one of Tris' favorite local pizza places. Caleb took Myra to the mall for the afternoon to give his parents some privacy.
When everyone met up that evening for pizza, spirits were lighter all around. Tris was relieved to see her parents holding hands and giving each other genuine smiles.
"Where's Amar?" Andrew asked when the three couples were seated.
"He wouldn't join us," Tris pouted. "Something about 'intruding on family time.'"
"I hope he knows that he's welcome," Natalie said.
"I think he wants some downtime," Tobias said with finality. "Tris is always good about letting him know he's welcome, but he needs to take some time for himself, too. I don't want him to think he's on the clock twenty-four hours a day, and part of making that work is giving him freedom to do his own thing now and then."
The family nodded, accepting Tobias' explanation. A waiter stopped by the table and took the family's drink orders.
When they were alone again, Myra spoke shyly. "Can I… Can I ask you a question?" she addressed Tris.
"Sure," Tris said with a warm smile, fairly certain she knew where Myra was heading.
"Is it weird? Having... servants?" She spoke the last word quietly, as if she were talking about slaves or something offensive.
Tris chuckled. "I asked Tobias the same thing when we were getting to know each other," she said. "It was strange at first, but once I saw the house... I don't know, it just made sense. Our home in Albania is a huge estate. It takes a small staff of full- and part-time employees to care for the property and grounds. We pay everyone a fair wage and make sure they live comfortably. They make sure the estate is maintained and we have food to eat and clean laundry. We put our time into Tobias' businesses, which are all around the world, and my charitable work with children. We see it as a partnership. Our staff is a huge part of how we accomplish the things we do. They are our friends, and… teammates. Yeah, I like that word. They're part of the team. Tobias is the star player, but the rest of us need to be there too. It takes a whole team to play this game."
The waiter brought their drinks, and Tobias shook his head at Tris. "I disagree," he said when the waiter was gone. "I made the team by nepotism; Tris is the star. Since she joined our little team, we're accomplishing so much more. The art show was her idea, and that garnered international attention for Albania. She volunteers two days a week at the family center. We've hosted visitors, held events, and made new friends. My businesses are doing better than ever. She makes me a better man."
"Stop," Tris said, blushing deeply.
"So, yeah," Caleb interrupted. "Having staff isn't weird for Tris, but having the two of them together is a sickening love-fest."
"And you having a sense of humor is just strange," Tris observed wryly.
"Well," Caleb said, "I have my own good woman changing my life, and a good therapist. Plus, I'm no longer on mind-control drugs, so that helps."
Andrew shook his head as the kids' humor leaned into the darkness again. Natalie squeezed his hand in an offering of support and encouragement.
"I've always dreamed of the two of you getting along and being able to joke together," she said to her kids before turning the subject toward what to get on their pizza.
.
The days in Chicago were healing and refueling for Tris. She and Tobias visited the food bank with Natalie, hand-delivered a donation of supplies to Asha at the Chicago Education Agency, and had dinner with her friends, who were all in town for Christmas.
Zeke and Shauna were not loving Houston. They wanted to be back in the Chicago area to be near their families. But work was going well, and they did appreciate the warmer weather. Will was excelling in medical school, as everyone knew he would. He'd been accepted into a school near Philadelphia, and he and Christina had an apartment near the university campus. She worked full-time as a receptionist in an orthodontist's office. It wasn't her dream job by any stretch of the imagination, but it paid the bills and allowed her to be with Will while he was in school. Uriah and Marlene were living with the Pedrads' mother, Hana, and both were working full-time entry-level jobs. Lynn was living in Atlanta, where she'd found a job in her chosen field and the warmer climate she'd dreamed of.
After dinner, when Christina excused herself to use the restroom, Will asked Tris for a moment of her time.
"What's up?" Tris asked as they walked away from the boisterous, crowded table of friends and were safely alone in the lobby.
"So, um, I kind of… I bought Christina a ring," Will said.
Tris stopped in her tracks and spun to look at her friend. He was biting his lower lip, trying to suppress a smile. Tris grinned, and Will allowed himself to do the same.
"I'm going to propose on Christmas," he said.
Tris threw her arms around her best friend's soon-to-be fiance. "Congratulations!" she exclaimed, trying to be quiet as not to draw attention to them. "I'm so excited for you!"
"She'll say yes, right?" Will asked nervously, and Tris giggled. "I mean, when she agreed to move to Philly with me I figured she was in this for the long-haul, right? So I love her, and she loves me, and I know I want to be with her forever, and she was willing to move across the country for me, so… so she's going to say yes, right?"
Tris laughed out loud. "Yes, she's going to say yes," she assured him. "In fact she'll probably damage your hearing in her excitement. You have nothing to worry about. Except maybe a pregnant bridesmaid…"
"You're pregnant?!" Will hissed, excited but trying to stay quiet.
"No!" Tris exclaimed. "No, no, not yet. I just… For Christmas I'm telling Tobias that I'm ready to try. We want a baby, but we wanted to get settled in first with the whole international move and everything. I have this whole elaborate gift for him, but I don't want to be pregnant when you get married, because I won't be able to fly."
"Well," Will said, "I guess we'll just have to keep that in mind. Our engagement will probably be really short or really long. We talked before about getting married after med school, and that's more than three years from now."
"I'd better get working on your ring bearer or flower girl then," Tris teased. "Seriously, Will, I'm so happy for you. You two are perfect together, and I know she's going to be over the moon excited."
"Thanks, Tris," Will said with obvious relief. "We'd better get back to the table before they send out a search party."
.
Having no family of her own, Myra stayed with the Priors all through Christmas break. She and Tris spent time getting to know one another as they cooked and baked with Natalie and spent time with the family. On Christmas Eve the six Priors and Amar served dinner at one of the Chicago fire stations, and then went to church.
Amar was especially curious about the Christmas Eve church service. He grew up Muslim, but was no longer practicing. The Eatons were Catholic, so he had attended Evelyn and Marcus' funeral masses and a few of Tobias' religious milestones. But he had never been to a Protestant Christian service. The Priors assured him that all were welcome to attend the holiday service, and that there were no restrictions in regards to membership or even creed.
Amar found the simple holiday event surprisingly casual and warm. They sang traditional American holiday carols - some by candlelight - and listened to the minister share a simple message about the meaning of the Christmas holiday. People greeted one another warmly and wished one another a merry Christmas, and Amar was glad he'd gotten the chance to experience that part of Tris' life.
.
On Christmas morning, Tris and Tobias woke up in their hotel room. On Tris' side of the bed, a small wrapped package waited.
"Mmm, good, your first Christmas present is here," she said to Tobias.
"First?" he grumbled in his still-sleepy voice.
"Yeah," Tris said. "You have a few gifts to open today, and they'll come one at a time throughout the day. It won't make a lot of sense at first, but trust me."
"Oh-kay," Tobias said skeptically.
Tris handed him the small package, and he opened it to find a single red knit glove, the kind you'd pick up at a department store for a dollar a pair. Aside from the fact that its mate was missing, the glove was also missing one of its fingers. The little pinky had been cut off.
"One glove, missing a finger," Tobias said in amusement.
"Merry Christmas," Tris said flippantly as she headed off to the shower.
.
After the Priors' traditional big Christmas morning brunch, Tris handed Tobias another gift. He opened it to find a star-shaped sugar cookie that was missing one of its "legs." He laughed.
"I don't understand these gifts!" he declared. "You keep giving me the strangest random things, and all of them are broken."
Tris just shrugged.
.
The family exchanged gifts with one another. As he had the year before, Tobias made donations to different charities in the name of each member of the family - above and beyond their Christmas gifts - just as a means of appreciating who they were and what they loved. Natalie and Andrew's gifts again went toward the food bank and fire department where they worked. Caleb and Myra received money toward their educations, which made Myra cry. It was hard for her to make ends meet, so Tobias and Tris' gift toward her tuition was extremely meaningful to her.
After the family gifts were opened, Tris handed Tobias another small package. He opened it to find a tiny canvas the size of a business card, painted with a pretty design that featured the Olympic ring logo. One of the rings was missing, and Tobias laughed again.
"I'm getting a theme of missing things," he said to Tris. "Are you sure this will make sense later?"
"Promise," Tris said smartly, then hurried to the kitchen with Myra to gather snacks for everyone.
.
Tobias received his fourth gift from Tris as the family sat down to their evening meal. That package contained a roll of Lifesavers candies, but it felt weird in his hand. "Let me guess," Tobias said, "some of them are missing?"
Tris shrugged, so he opened the wrapper to see the hard candies lined up red, orange, yellow, white, empty space, red, orange, yellow, white, empty space.
"You're silly," Tobias said, kissing Tris on the cheek.
"Lifesavers missing all the green ones," Caleb said, "a painting of the Olympic rings missing the red one, and a star-shaped cookie missing a leg. Anything else?"
"There was a glove this morning," Tobias said, "it was a red knit glove with the pinky finger cut off."
Caleb abruptly left the table and came back with some paper and a pen. He wrote down the gifts Tobias had received. Tris started dishing up her dinner, and Myra watched her closely.
"Pinky," Caleb muttered. "Finger. Glove. One. Knuckles. Bones. Red."
Tris tried to hold back her laughter as her brother wrote down the words he associated with each gift and its missing part.
"There was just one glove," Tobias said, passing the potatoes without taking any as he got caught up in Caleb's investigation.
"Didn't something go wrong with the Olympic Rings a few years ago? Like in the opening ceremonies or something one of them didn't light up?" Caleb recalled.
"Yeah!" Tobias said, tapping at his phone. "When they were in Russia a few years ago. It was the same ring as the missing one on the little painting, too!"
Tris grinned around a bite of her dinner. Natalie, Myra, and Amar watched her reactions, but Andrew started helping the guys.
"What kind of cookie was it?" he asked Tobias.
"A star-shaped sugar cookie," Tobias said. "Typical American holiday cookie. The frosting is yellow. I'll go get it." He hurried back to the living room where his mystery gifts were with the others he'd received that day.
For a while the men tried to figure out the clues. Eventually Natalie convinced them to eat dinner so she could clean up the table. Even as they ate, the three continued to discuss different possibilities.
"I think the whole thing is just to throw you off," Myra said as she nibbled on her dessert.
Tobias turned to look at Tris. "Would you do that?" he asked.
"That sounds like me," Tris said smugly, "but not this time."
"Maybe it's something in Albanian," Caleb suggested.
Tobias thought about it. "No," he said. "Olympic and ring are the same, and I can't think of any double meanings that make sense."
"Do we even have everything?" Andrew asked, and all heads turned to look at Tris.
"Nope," she said, then grabbed her empty plate and walked into the kitchen.
For the rest of the evening, the family tried to get information out of Tris or get her to give Tobias another gift, but she resisted. There was only one more gift to give, and she'd left it back at the hotel.
.
Once Tris and Tobias were safely alone in their hotel room, Tris brought out the last gift in Tobias' little game. He opened it to find the missing pinky finger to the red glove, the broken leg off the cookie, a red circle sticker that would complete the Olympic rings, and the green Lifesavers from his pack.
He laughed when he saw the missing pieces, then looked sheepishly up at Tris.
"I still don't get it," he confessed.
"How many fingers does a glove have?" she asked.
"Five," Tobias said.
"And how many points on a star?"
"Five," he repeated. "And five Olympic rings."
"Five flavors in a pack of Lifesavers, too," Tris said. Her heart rate picked up, and she took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Everything I gave you today was missing something to be complete. And tonight I've given you those missing pieces. I want to give you number five. Tobias, I want…"
Tris didn't get to finish her sentence. Tobias crashed his lips to hers, and she smiled as he kissed her passionately.
"Are you saying…" he stammered. "Do you want… I mean, are you, are we ready to… to try for baby Five?"
Tris nodded vigorously. "My shot wears off soon. I thought maybe I wouldn't get it again, and we could try for a baby. What do you think?"
Tobias threw his head back and laughed, even as a tear rolled down his cheek. "I never thought I could be this happy," he said. "I never thought I'd have a chance to be a husband and father. I never thought I would be loved. You are the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, Tris. I can't… I can't believe you want to have children with me. It's almost too much to comprehend. You're amazing, and I swear, I'm going to be the father Marcus never was. I'm going to be there like Amar was there for me. I'm going to love our kids the way Andrew loves you and Caleb. I'm going to be a good dad, Tris."
"I know, T'keqen," Tris assured him. "I already know you are. I wouldn't want to have children with you if I didn't believe in you. You're going to be an amazing dad, and our kids will know what it is to be loved every day of their lives."
Tobias threw his arms around Tris and kissed her again. "Let's go make a baby," he said eagerly.
Tris laughed. "I think you're getting ahead of yourself," she said. "I'm not due for my next shot until after we get home. Even after that it usually takes a while. But we can practice…"
Tobias didn't answer, he just threw Tris over his shoulder and carried her to the suite's master bedroom.
.
The next day, Tris and Tobias went back to the Priors' home. Before they even got to the door, Caleb came bounding out to meet them.
"Did you get more clues?" he asked.
Tobias grinned and handed him the small gift bag that Tris had given him with all the missing parts.
"What?" Caleb exclaimed. "It was just a weird joke, wasn't it? I do not understand your sense of humor, Beatrice."
Tris laughed.
"No," Tobias said, still grinning broadly. "It's not a joke. At least it had better not be."
Tris stretched up on her toes to kiss her husband. "No joke," she said.
"I will figure this out," Caleb said distractedly, taking the bag and walking back into the house.
"Should we tell him, or make him keep guessing until we have a real announcement to make?" Tris asked.
"Ooh, mean," Tobias said with a smirk. "Let's do that."
For the rest of the morning, they stuck to their guns and didn't tell the others what Tobias' gift meant. They had lunch with the family, and were sitting around visiting when Tobias said something mildly embarrassing about his wife.
"Tobias Marcus Eaton the fourth!" Tris exclaimed, swatting at him good-naturedly as her cheeks turned red.
Natalie gasped.
Tris looked across the room at her mom. The others weren't paying attention, so Natalie held up four fingers, then five, patted her stomach, and pointed at Tris.
"Not yet," Tris said hastily, "but hopefully soon."
Tris' mom stood up, grinning broadly, then practically dragged her daughter to the kitchen.
"Was that it?" she asked the second the kitchen door closed behind them. "Was that the gift riddle? You're ready?"
Tris nodded, her eyes suddenly filling with tears. "We're ready," she said. "Tobias wanted to wait until I felt settled in before we start trying. I told him last night; I'm ready to give him baby Five."
Natalie grinned and threw her arms around her daughter. "What did he say?" she asked.
Tris giggled. "He practically tackled me! He laughed and cried and went on and on about how he's going to do everything he can to be a good father. I'm due for my birth control shot when we get home, so it won't be immediate, but with any luck, I'll be pregnant by spring. I hope."
"Oh my sweet girl!" Natalie exclaimed.
.
Late on the night of the twenty-fifth, Tris got a text from Christina with a picture of her hand wearing a beautiful engagement ring.
C: Christmas bling!
T: Congratulations, love birds!
C: I'm so excited! I love Will so much, and he was so sweet and nervous. After Christmas with his family, he took me on a limo ride through the best light displays. We had cocoa and cuddled while we looked at the Christmas lights. Then we stopped in a park where there was this HUGE heart made out of snow. It said "Will You Marry Me?" in red on the heart. The limo driver was in on it and everything because it was dark, and he had the lights off when we stopped the car, but then when Will and I got out he flipped on the lights and I could see the snow heart. Then Will got down on one knee and asked me. It was so sweet! The limo driver took pictures of us, too.
A text arrived with a picture of Will proposing. Just as Christina described, he was on one knee in front of a large snow sculpture.
T: What did he use to write on the snow?
C: Red kool-aid. His parents live by the park, and he and his family made the heart yesterday, then his dad and sister went out there while we were on the limo ride to make sure it was still good and add the words. When we got back to their house they were all waiting in the front window. It was so cute.
The friends texted back and forth for a few minutes. Tris confessed that she knew Will was going to propose. Christina told Tris that she was going to have a long engagement so they could have a big wedding when Will was done with medical school. Since they were already living together, they didn't feel hurried to have a wedding.
.
From Chicago, the Eatons flew to New York for three days. Tris and Lauren had worked with Amar and the Coulters' staff in the planning stages, and the two couples got suites in the same hotel. The girls shopped together while their husbands conducted business on the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth. The foursome went out for dinners and saw sites and shows together. They got to know each other better, and attended the annual shipping tycoons dinner. By the time they flew home, Tris and Tobias had plans to visit Scotland in the spring.
"I think I like when you spend time with Lauren," Tobias said on the flight home.
"Why is that?" Tris asked.
"She gets you to shop," he replied smugly.
.
When they touched down in Tirana, Tris was surprised that they were met at the airport not by Jorik and Rrarman, as usual, but by Jorik and Rebekah.
"Did you drive here?" Tris asked her assistant.
Rebekah grinned proudly and nodded. "Jorik has been teaching me while you were gone," she said. "This is my first time driving to the city."
"I'm so proud of you!" Tris gushed.
Jorik and Amar loaded the luggage into the estate's SUV.
"Rebekah," Jorik said once the luggage was stowed, "A po vijnë bashkë me mua?" (Are you coming with me?)
Tris' assistant looked at her, back at the driver, then back at Tris.
"Go," Tris said, trying to stifle a giggle. "We can catch up later."
Rebekah grinned, and when Jorik took her hand as they walked toward the waiting car, Tris grinned too.