Rory wasn't sure what had possessed her to tell her mother the news, today of all days, out there on the steps of the gazebo. She'd hidden her secret for weeks now. She hadn't intended to tell her mother, or anyone for that matter, until after Luke and Lorelai's wedding day had come and gone.
Then her mother and Luke had decided to elope secretly in the middle of the night. Sitting on the gazebo steps the next morning, she got caught up in the nostalgia of it all. Maybe she felt like her mother's wedding had already passed, the look of contentment on her face as they sat on the steps, how her mother kept saying that it felt right- words Rory had never heard her say before with such conviction. Maybe it was the nostalgia. After growing up in this town and watching the two of them orbit around each other for years in that diner, how it had finally led to this (even if the wedding seemed to come after the actual marriage for the two of them). Maybe it was the memories that hit Rory as she looked across the quiet, sleepy town square. There was a sense of peace, the town quiet, Lorelai and Luke finally married. Yet there was a sense of anticipation of the big event that was to come that day. There were memories of a childhood gone well. Memories of walking through the square with her mother, all the town festivals they attended together, the antics that had taken place (devil egging a car, her mother chasing after her singing her pride after two boys got into a fight over her, trudging to dance marathons early in the morning). Now, it was going to be her turn. Only this time, she was going to be the mother. Suddenly, she found herself saying the words she'd been keeping inside.
Throughout the wedding reception that evening, she'd catch eyes with her mother and she just felt different. She was thankful she'd convinced her mother not to focus on it today, with success. Lorelai wasn't letting it taint her day – she'd been drinking punch, mingling with guests, and hanging all over Luke and laughing for the majority of the party. But, she knew. She knew that every time she looked at her mother and they caught eyes, every time she came up to her during the reception, it probably came to the forefront of her mind.
She knew that her mother had told Luke. She hadn't asked her not to tell him. She hadn't told her anything about telling anybody. She knew her mother was always careful with her daughter's private business. She figured that she'd need someone to unload her feelings on about this. Rory knew this would stress her mother – hell, it stressed her, and she knew Luke would talk her down from whatever ledge she might climb up on. Rory knew she'd told him. She could tell by the little glances he was sneaking her way, the careful way he spoke to her, the gentle smiles he'd give her from across the square when they caught eyes.
Her mother would never admit it, but Rory knew she'd fallen for Luke from the very beginning – probably since that first day she went into the diner. Rory remembered the early years, when she was in middle school, of sitting in the diner and watching her mother tease him, attempt to infuriate him and purposely drive him crazy. Honestly, not much had changed. In fact, she remembered the day that her mother first found Luke's Diner. Rory was sitting at the inn doing her homework after school when she'd heard her ask a million prying questions to her new friend, Sookie. What's up with that diner guy? Duke or whatever? Why's he so grouchy? Sookie went on to tell her all about Luke and then Lorelai had shrugged as if she didn't care before she added, "Makes a damn good cup of coffee, though."
As the years went on, the whole town watched. The whole town knew. Rory knew it, too – but she left her mom alone about it. She had never been sure if it was because she didn't want to give her a hard time, or if she was worried that if anything happened they would have to stop going to Luke's, stop having Luke in their life. Probably a combination of both. And hey, Rory thought, she'd been right after all. She remembered a time period when they had to eat at Weston's after her mother and Luke had a big blowout. The break-ups had been after she'd been away at college, but Luke's had become off limits several times after the relationship started (and then ended). Rory clearly recalled an awkward moment involving the words "I'm not usually in a limo." It was everything she would've expected had it gone wrong, but luckily they always ended up making it right again. Lorelai loved to tell the story of how Luke had kept the horoscope she gave him the day they met, but Rory knew the only reason anyone couldn't claim Lorelai had the same feelings since day one was because she hadn't left tangible proof. Her mother had always been in tune enough with her romantic feelings to know when she was attracted to someone. Very few romances came as a surprise to Lorelai Gilmore. There was no way she hadn't felt anything for this man for all those years before they started dating – but she had been good at pretending she didn't.
Maybe that's what surprised Rory the most about the "I think I'm dating Luke" statement so many years later. She wasn't surprised that this was happening. She had been surprised that her mother finally opened her eyes, that after eight years the magic combination of events must have occurred to make this finally happen. She was surprised at her reaction to the whole thing – crashing into tables and doors like a lovesick teenager- when she'd spent so many years in denial.
Luke was the only man she ever remembered even being in their house for many years. He was always there with his tools, fixing whatever happened to be broken. He fixed the leaky sinks, the broken washing machines, he even checked under their porch for termite damage. He fixed broken windows and creaky floorboards and he probably knew more about the structural makeup of their house than any of them. When she was sick, he brought her mashed potatoes. He set up balloons for her in the diner on her sixteenth birthday. When she would study at the diner late, waiting for her mom to get out of business school, he never asked her to give up the whole table she was occupying with books and no food, even in the middle of the dinner rush. When she moved into Yale, not only did he let her mother borrow his truck several times, he came to help move her mattress (several times). He'd given her his mother's necklace for her twenty-first birthday. She'd introduced him to some friends of her grandmother's that night as her "stepfather to be." Little did either of them know then that it would really be many more years before he officially gained that title.
After everything that happened with her mother and Luke, and then her mother and her father, she never pushed her mother about why she and Luke didn't marry. Her grandmother did plenty of that. Sookie did plenty of that. The town did plenty of that (at first – then they seemed to fall into acceptance that they had the next Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn on their hands). Rory questioned her about it once, but then let it be. By all means, her mother and Luke were happy. She watched Lorelai settle into a life she'd never been able to settle into before. Not with Max, not with Christopher. Only with Luke. Neither one of them seemed to need anything more. And though he didn't have the official title until today, she'd begun to think of Luke as her stepfather as soon as he moved in with her mother. It was easy, after all the years of having Luke in their lives already.
Tonight, it was official. But instead of being able to really relish in the joy, she found herself feeling nervous and apprehensive around him, wondering what he thought of her news. She clearly remembered him raging at Logan at her grandparents' vow renewal with as much anger as her own father.
He finally approached her not long into the reception, found her over by the hot dog cart alone.
"Hey," Rory greeted, surprised by his sudden presence. "Congratulations. Again," she said with a small smile.
"Thanks," he said, holding his hand out to her. "Want to dance?"
Rory smiled, letting the apprehension float away for a moment. "Okay. Sure." She took his hand and let him lead her onto the dance floor. "So, how's it feel?" Rory teased as they danced. "You're really stuck with her now. Legally."
Luke chuckled softly. "I've been stuck with her a long time already. Legal or not."
Rory laughed a little and glanced across the square over Luke's shoulder to catch sight of her mother, talking to Patty and Babette, probably swiping another serving of punch. "That's probably very true." A moment passed before Rory added, "She's so happy." Luke nodded and Rory added, "I always knew. I always knew it would be you. Since the beginning. Do you remember when I was sick with chicken pox?"
Luke did, very clearly. It wasn't long after he first met Lorelai and Rory, though they'd been in Stars Hollow years already. Lorelai had come by ordering mashed potatoes in bulk. He'd argued with her about how much he could give her until she explained it was for Rory who was sick with chicken pox and didn't want to eat anything else.
"Yeah. Your mom tried to make you mashed potatoes, but she claimed they were soggy and lumpy all at once."
Rory laughed, the visual of her mother's mashed potatoes still clear in her mind. "They were. I don't know how she did that."
"Me either," Luke laughed, imagining it.
"And you brought mashed potatoes to me every day for a week. One day when you left, she just stared at the door with this look on her face. I'd never seen it before. Like appreciation and adoration and love all at once. But I've seen it plenty since then. It always had to do with you. You were so patient with her. You waited forever. Even now."
Luke pulled away from Rory ever so slightly to look into her eyes, and she knew it was coming. She felt her stomach dip in nervousness as she waited for him to broach the subject. "I'm not going to say anything more about this today, or ever, unless you ask for my advice. But we're here for you. I'm here for you. Whatever you need. Just know that, okay? And if you want mashed potatoes every day, or whatever you want… you've got it."
Rory felt her eyes fill with tears, despite her best efforts not to cry. Twenty years later and this man was still caring for her the same way he had when she was eleven, he'd been in her life with more consistency than her own father ever had. Damn hormones, she thought. "Thank you."
The thing was, she already knew. She already knew both her mother, and Luke, would be there for her through this whole ordeal. It was more than she could say for her own father, or even the baby's father, one of whom would definitely offer up money as a solution, the other possibly would offer up money as at least part of a solution. She knew Logan had his dynastic plan, and she wasn't going to pull him away from that. She clearly remembered her father's parents insisting that Lorelai had ruined her father's life by taking him down with her when she got pregnant. Her father seemed to wander aimlessly since. He had two daughters he rarely saw, one living in another country, two failed relationships with the mothers of his children, and a relationship with a woman to whom being together with was simply a "Why not?" He'd only now, at nearly fifty, settled into the family business. She had no idea what Logan's reaction would even be to this news, but she had agreed with one thing her dad had said: it was meant to be her and her mother, always. She completely feared telling her grandmother. While Emily and Rory had a far different relationship than Emily and Lorelai, and Rory was not sixteen, she knew her grandmother wasn't fond of her recent life choices and instability and she knew this was going to feel a lot like history repeating to Emily. She knew Emily could be judgmental, especially when taken by surprise with big news like this.
But from her mom and Luke she knew she would get love and support.
She already knew that her baby would see Luke as its grandfather – there was no other way. She knew her father wasn't going to be around. She barely had any idea if Logan was going to be around, let alone his father. Luke was going to end up being grandpa number one, always there by her mother's side, the one the baby knew and loved and felt bonded to in the way she had been with her mother's father.
And she was content with that.
