She just stood there looking in the mirror, it was real. All she could think about was forever as she stood there in her childhood bedroom in her wedding dress. In reality it wasn't a show stopping dress, it was simple and classic just like her and what meant the most was the fact that her mother had made it for her. She stood there thinking about her Dodger. She was picturing them living happily together for the rest of time in that house on the lake. She was picturing brown haired, brown eyed children running around. She just smiled at her thoughts. She had been waiting for this forever since she was seventeen…since she met him. "I am glad to see you happy. I put my blood, sweat, and tears into that dress." Her mother said as she walked up behind her. "And the beautiful girl inside of it." She said softly as she placed her arm around her daughter's shoulders. It didn't take long for Rory to realize that her mother was crying. She prayed that they were tears of joy. "Look at me I feel so old." Lorelai said with a laugh as she wiped her tears away. "My baby is getting married."
"I'm not a baby anymore." She replied as she pulled her mother into a hug. She thought for a moment about what to day next. She had spent the last three days dying to tell her mother the news, but then she didn't want to curse things. She didn't want to have to face everyone if she failed again, but this was different…it should be different. She knew she should want to tell her mother. "You gave me everything I will ever need." She mumbled to her mother as she smiled at her. Not wanting to accept the fact that she was starting to tear up too. "I have something to tell you." She added once the voice stopped fighting in her head.
"Is that you got cold feet? Because I love you to death babe, but after all this time don't you think you would have figured it out before twenty minutes till the wedding?" Lorelai asked as she looked at her daughter with a concerned face.
"No. Trust me only warm feet here. This has been too long in the making." Rory replied as she sat down on the bed pulling her mother down with her. She felt tiny again. Just like the first time that she had to tell her mother this. However, this time she knew it was good news. After all she wasn't eighteen anymore. She still looked down at the ground like she should be ashamed. "I'm pregnant." She breathed out softly. She was waiting for the yelling, but her mother just shirked before hugging her.
"Oh I bet Jess is just on cloud nine." Lorelai said as she smiled at her daughter. Rory just nodded not sure what to really say. She watched as her mother opened her mouth to say something before being interrupted by a knock at the door frame. Rory just looked up to see her step-sister standing there with a smile. Things were crazy when everyone found out that Luke had a daughter too say the least. But, it's been years and now it just seems normal to have April around. That is when Anna does let her around. Anna had some big problem with Lorelai which did cause a lot of tension in the family at first. Now everyone else had seemed to ignore the anger between the two though.
"The groom sent me over here with a gift." April replied as she walked into the room holding a small pink package. "If you ask me you two are way too cutesy." She added as Rory got up to meet her.
"I think it is the whole high school sweetheart thing." Lorelai said as she got up and grabbed a camera off the desk as she watched her girls. Rory tried to ignore the flash from the camera as she un-wrapped the package to find her beat up old copy of Howl. It had been what started everything. She just opened the front cover to see the messages they had wrote to each other over the years as they kept re-gifting the small book. Right under the message that she had wrote him on their last anniversary he had scribbled: What is much? Forever, Mrs. Mariano. Forever. She felt a tear run down her face as she looked at the words again. "Okay time for you two to get a new book." Lorelai said as she looked at her daughter. Rory just glared at her mother as she thought about the first time she unwrapped the book.
It was their second Christmas together. Their first one since they lost the baby. She had just moved back in with her mother the month before. It hurt too much for her to stay in that apartment. He seemed to understand that. He woke her up at 12:01 Christmas morning by knocking on her window. "Just had to be the first one to wish you Merry Christmas." He explained as he climbed through the window.
"You do realize that you crazy right?" She asked him as she sat back down on the bed watching him close the window before coming to sit down next to her.
"How else would I keep up with the Gilmore's?" He asked with a laugh as he wrapped his arm around her.
"Drink a lot of coffee." She answered with a laugh.
"I'll keep that in mind." He replied as he pulled something out of his back pocket. She figured it was a book. He was always carrying books around in his pocket. "But, I figured you wouldn't kill me if I brought a present." He said as he sat a wrapped package on her lap.
"Jess, you really shouldn't." She said as she grabbed it.
"I wouldn't say that if I were you." He mumbled to her as he watched her tear away the paper.
"You wrapped my book?" She asked him as she looked down at the copy of Howl and then at him.
"Look in the cover." He replied. She just opened up the cover to see a message written in his sloppy handwriting.
"Never forget that Ernest only has the nicest things to say about you or that ice cream always taste better in cones or to always turn right. I know I won't because I remember every time I think about how much I love you. I love you so much Ror, but then again what is much?" She read softly remembering every reason why she fell in love with him. She just grabbed a pen from the nightstand next to her and quickly wrote something under his words before closing the book. "Merry Christmas." She said as she handed him back the book.
"I at least wrapped it." He said before he opened up the cover to see the simple words she wrote. She saw how his eyes lit up when he read the words: Dodger, I will always love you.
"This is perfect." Rory mumbled back as she closed the book and placed it on the last box that was sitting in the room.
"Well, sorry to interrupt your perfect moment here, but it's time to marry you off to my cousin." April said with a laugh. She was the one who saw the situation the most comical because in a way Rory was marrying her cousin…step-cousin, but still.
"We were together first." Rory said as she followed April out of the room.
"Luke and I met first." Lorelai replied back with a laugh like she always did.
"I don't have time to fight with you today mother." She replied as she smiled at her mother. "After all I am about to get married." She felt like a giddy schoolgirl as those words came out of her mouth. She waited so long for this moment, but she still felt like she had to pinch herself to make sure it was real.
"That's if Jesse boy didn't change his mind." Lorelai added in as a joke causing her daughter just to glare at her. Why would you put that out in the world for? Rory knew that he would never leave her though. It was going to be perfect. For once things were working in their favor and she loved that.
