He woke up in the middle of the night when the pain became too intense. He pleaded with his legs for the burning to stop. He wasn't sure he could even move them at this point. He closed his eyes and whimpered a bit. Suddenly he felt someone standing over him. He stopped whimpering. He looked up and felt relieved when he realized it was the girl who had been folding rags earlier. She gently dabbed his forehead with a cold rag. He never thought a cold rag could make one person feel so much better. He wondered if she spoke English. He started to open his mouth and speak but decided not to. Instead he smiled as much as he could. She nodded and made her way back to her corner. He couldn't help but begin to wonder if Rory knew yet. He'd heard that sometimes it took them weeks to inform the family when someone was either killed, taken prisoner, or simply missing in action. He wondered if they had run a check on him yet. He knew they would be pleased when they found out that his father was Lieutenant General Mitchum Huntzberger. He guessed he would be a good bargaining chip. If only they knew that his being here wouldn't sway or scare Mitchum. His father was a man who was good at hiding his emotions. He willed himself to be his father for the rest of his time here. He would do it not only for himself, but for his father and his family. The pain in his leg subsided a bit and he found himself closing his eyes. It didn't take him much to remember the way his children looked in the last picture Rory had sent them. He loved his little family so much. He wished he could be with them right now. He felt guilty for not being there for Rory to help take care of their three rambunctious little ones. He silently said a prayer for them and then allowed the sleep to take over. He had a feeling they were going to be asking a lot of questions in the morning. He just hoped he could give the right answers.
Tequila burned her throat and made her cough. She had never been much of a drinker so she was pretty sure going straight to tequila was not her best choice. She looked at her mother and sighed. She felt so pathetic. "What was the first thing you did when you found out about Dad?"
Lorelai took a swig of tequila before answering. She had a feeling she would need liquor to make it through this conversation. "I poured myself a cup of bourbon with coffee and then I called your grandmother. You came home later and she was sitting there listening to me moan and groan. You walked into my bedroom and asked me what was wrong. I slurred that those damn Nazis had captured your father. You just started at me. Your little mouth was in a tight thin line. You didn't cry. You didn't do much of anything except nod and gently rub my back for a little while. Two weeks later when I dropped you off at boarding school with Logan you quietly told me that you understood and you loved me. That Christmas I tried to sober up for you but I was so miserable that it was nearly impossible. I entered rehab the next April. You decided to continue going to boarding school even though you could have come home. Your father was released that September." She released a ragged breath. "I always felt so bad about that year. I felt like I was always such a horrible mother. You just can't let yourself heal that way because it'll cause you more pain than you started with."
Rory knew that was such a hard time for her mother. She remembered not really knowing what was okay to say and not say. At the time she missed her father too but on the same note she realized it wasn't the same thing. She hadn't spent almost her entire life like this. She never imagined her heart could hurt that bad and now it was. "You did your best. Boarding school was good for me. It's where Logan and I fell in love. It's where I found a love in history."
"Well see you can never say booze didn't do anything for you." Lorelai joked lamely. She tried to remember what her mother told her that night. She was pretty sure her mother for the first in her life just sat there and listened. She just listened as Lorelai droned on and on about just about nothing. She didn't complain when Lorelai made jokes that she didn't find appropriate. No instead she just smiled and laughed. "Just know that he is going to miss you as much as you miss him."
"You know I thought the hardest thing we would ever go through was when he was going to West Point and I was going to Smith because we never got to see each other. We basically talked once a week and saw each on weekends. He used to write me these letters when he was supposed to be doing something in class. They were so sweet. I kept every last one of them."
"I didn't know that." Lorelai knew her daughter had been worried about him going to West Point. She remembered the day Rory announced Logan's plans like it was yesterday.
Rory was silent as she sat down at the dinner table for dinner. Instead of eating she played with her food. She couldn't even bring herself to eat the pot roast. Rory didn't just like pot roast…she loved pot roast.
Lorelai curiously watched her daughter play with her meal. Rory was never one to mess around when it came to food. Especially not when it was going to be one of her last home cooked meals for at least a couple of months because she would be going back to school soon. She started to ask Rory what was the matter but the phone started to ring. She motioned for Christopher to be the one to answer it.
"Rory it's Logan." Christopher called from the hallway where the closet phone was.
Rory sighed. "Tell him I'll call him tomorrow."
Lorelai now understood why her daughter wasn't eating but was puzzled as to why Rory was suddenly in a fight with Logan.
Christopher poked his head into the room and looked at her surprised. "Are you sure?"
Rory nodded.
"Logan she says she'll talk to you tomorrow." Christopher said slowly. He wasn't surprised when Logan didn't like that answer. "Okay I'll tell her." Christopher said and then hung up the phone. He walked back into the room and sat down at the table.
"What did he say?" Rory asked quietly.
"He said he's coming over in an hour to discuss everything with you."
Lorelai put down her fork. "What happened today?"
Rory sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Uh well we were having a nice time discussing things and then he told me that he was going to West Point."
"And then what?"
"Well he just said that he had gotten his appointment and that he had decided to go. He told me that he would rather go there than Yale or Harvard. He got accepted to both. Still he wants to follow in his father's footsteps." Rory said as if it was the most preposterous thing she had ever heard.
Christopher didn't understand his daughter's distaste. He himself was a West Point graduate and proud of it. "Why don't you want him to go to West Point?"
"Well first off we'll never get to spend time together really during college. We can't really date except for holidays. We can't get married until we graduate. Oh and then he has to serve for at least six years." Rory spit out. The truth was that she didn't mind that he wanted to go to West Point she was just scared that once he was done with his four years there he won't be so willing to be with her. "I mean we've seen each other nearly everyday for the last ten years."
Lorelai willed herself not to laugh. She couldn't believe that Rory thought that Logan would stop loving her. "Rory, fruit of my loins, I can promise you that West Point won't ruin your relationship. If anything it'll make it stronger. Plus think about the dances you get to go to. I loved going to dances with your father. Plus Smith isn't that far from West Point. The train ride would probably be an hour long."
"I'm telling Rory four years at West Point made me miss your Mom so much and made me want to marry her the first chance I got." Christopher remembered calling Lorelai every chance he got just to say I love you.
Rory had at one point starting crying. She wiped her eyes with her sleeves. She knew they were right. Suddenly she felt stupid about doubting their love. "I overreacted didn't I?"
Lorelai laughed softly. "Yeah you kind of did."
As if on cue the doorbell rang. Rory smiled and got up from the table. She rushed to the door and smiled when she saw him standing on the other side. She stood there for a second just staring at him.
"Rory, I'm so sorry I made this decision without discussing it with you first. I just really want this." Logan felt bad about making her so angry. He had been with Rory so long and yet they fought so little. When they did fight he struggled with it.
Rory smiled a little and then kissed him softly on the lips. "I overreacted. I'm the one who should be sorry." She bit her lip a little and shrugged. "You want some pot roast?"
Logan smiled. "When do I turn down dinner with my favorite family, especially when they are serving pot roast?"
Christopher stood up when Logan walked into the room and shook his hand. "Congratulations Logan. I'm happy my future son in law is going to be a West Point man like myself. Mitchum must be thrilled."
"He sent me a telegram saying he'd never been more proud of me." A compliment like that was like giving Logan the keys to the city for Mitchum.
Lorelai walked over and hugged the young man. "I'm very proud of you for getting your appointment. Then again we all knew you would get your appointment. West Point would never turn down the son of one of their most underachieving scholars."
Logan laughed. This was why he loved Rory's family. They were always warm and always bubbly. He couldn't wait to marry her and have them as in laws.
Rory smiled. "I cherished those letters. I would reread them everyday like Teddy does now. I think he gets that habit from me. He would write to me about everything and nothing at the same time. Sometimes we would discuss nothing but what they were learning in his History of War class. He was the only one who had taken that course prior to the academy." Rory stopped talking. She felt like she was going on and on about nothing.
"Well at least you'll have them to get through the day." Lorelai told her softly. She looked at her daughter's hand and saw that was twisting her engagement ring around and around. "I still envy you for that rock."
Rory looked down and smiled. "You know all of his cousins were jealous that she gave it to him to give to me. I still can't believe his grandfather sent money to Ireland just to buy this for his grandmother. Can you?"
Lorelai shook her head. The story of Rory's engagement ring was definitely one that could be made into a movie. Then again so could the entire story of Logan's maternal grandparents. Aidan and Fallon Mulroney come to America from Ireland in the early 1900s. They lived a quiet life in Boston just managing to get by. Aidan wisely invested in a pub with a good friend and ended up making a good deal of money. After years of having a cheap wedding band he sent money to his sister in Ireland for her to buy the most beautiful set she could find for his wife of many years. When Fallon Mulroney died she left the ring set to Logan who gave it to Rory. "It's always going to be proof of his love and of his grandmother's faith that you two belonged together."
"That is why I am going to have faith that he is going to come home. He just has to." Rory said quietly as she stared at her ring. Slowly but surely tears began to fall from her eyes.
Lorelai hugged her daughter and quietly whispered words of faith in her daughter's ear. She knew that Emily would have been very proud.
Sorry it took me a couple of weeks to update. I hope you liked this chapter. I'm glad everyone is enjoying it so far. Please review. I love signing on and finding them waiting for me. You guys are the best!
