A few days later, Luke calls Lorelai. He asks her to come with him to talk to Anna.
"Are you sure you want me to come?" Lorelai asks hesitantly.
"Yeah, I want you there to support me. I want Anna to see that we're in this together, you know?" Luke replies.
"Okay, but are you sure you're ready to let me get to know April? And will Anna be okay with that?" Lorelai is having some doubts.
"Yes, like I said I was an idiot to exclude you. Anna will have to be okay with that. You're a permanent part of my life, Lorelai, and so is April. It's only right that I blend those parts of my life together."
Lorelai stays silent for a few seconds. She's wondering why Luke hasn't given her the engagement ring back yet. Maybe he isn't as sure as he thinks he is or he isn't sure she's ready yet. But, she remembers that he said he wanted to wait until he sorts out everything with Anna and April.
"Okay. I can come with you to talk to Anna." She tells him.
"Great. I'll come pick you up in half an hour, okay?"
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye."
They don't talk much on the drive to Anna's house. When they arrive, Lorelai follows Luke to the door. He knocks and they wait a couple minutes. Anna opens the door.
"Oh, hi Luke, April's at school." Anna says. She notices Lorelai and looks at her.
"I know April's at school. I'm here to talk to you. Actually, we're here to talk to you. This is Lorelai." Luke gestures to Lorelai.
Lorelai offers Anna a polite smile, "Hi, it's nice to finally meet you."
Anna nods. "You too, we can talk inside." She motions for them to follow her.
Luke and Lorelai follow Anna to her living room. They all sit down. Anna looks at Luke and waits for him to start the conversation.
"So, I just wanted to talk to you about April. I think I should have more of a say of when I get to spend time with her and I want Lorelai to get to know her too, before we get married." Luke tells her, although he already mentioned this to her before.
Anna frowns, "Well, I know April really likes you and she keeps asking when she can see you again. I'm just starting to feel comfortable with you spending time with her; I'm not sure if allowing her to get to know Lorelai would be the best thing."
Lorelai isn't sure of what to say, but Luke speaks before she can think of anything.
"Why not? Lorelai is a great mother. She raised her daughter with little help from anyone. She's caring, she's reliable, and she's my best friend. I think April could only benefit from having a relationship with Lorelai." He taps Lorelai's knee and smiles. Lorelai smiles back and waits for Anna's reply.
Anna nods, she glances at Lorelai, "I'm sure you're a good person. I just can't let April get hurt. I'm worried how April will feel if she gets attached to you and then you and Luke break up and she never sees you again. I don't want to risk April's feelings. I'd rather wait until you two are married and I'm sure you're both sticking around."
Luke opens his mouth to say something, but Lorelai pats his hand and he stops. "I get that. I'm a single mother too and when my daughter was growing up, I didn't let her form any relationship's with anyone I didn't trust. But you can trust Luke. He's a great guy and he wants a proper relationship with his daughter. You can trust us too, Luke and I are stable. We are going to stay together." She gives Anna a meaningful look. "I know how important April is to Luke and I would love to get to know her too."
Anna doesn't reply right away. She looks away for a second then brings her eyes meet Lorelai's. "I just don't know if April is ready for such a big change. She's only had me and a couple relatives her whole life. I appreciate that Luke wants to spend time with her and that you two seem to have a steady relationship. I'm just not sure I'm ready or if April is ready to jump into everything right now, you know? I would just feel more comfortable if we wait until you two are married to get April involved."
Lorelai's brow furrows and she tries to think of a rational response. Luke speaks first: "Anna, I know whatever I said or did in the past made you feel like you had to keep your pregnancy a secret from me, but I've changed. I don't hate kids… yes they can get on my nerves sometimes, but I could never hate my own kid. I know you and I didn't work out, but I would never abandon my own kid. She's my daughter too, not just yours and I would like to have more of a say in things. I only want to do what I think is right and I know allowing April to get to properly know Lorelai is right."
Lorelai smiles softly at him and nods at Anna, "I don't know how long you've know Luke, but I know you haven't stayed in touch with him over the years. He's telling the truth, he would never abandon the people he loves. It was wrong of you to keep April from him all those years. I know Luke only wants what's best for her and he truly cares about her. He's always been there for my daughter, Rory. He's been there to celebrate her birthdays, he attended her high school graduation… I know he loves her and I know he'll never let her down. I will be there to help Luke as he learns to be the best father he can be. And I know all he wants is to be good father and make up for all the years he's lost with April, so please, give him the chance to show you that he can.
Anna looks at both of them. Lorelai gently rubs Luke's arm and it helps him remain calm. The front door opens at that moment and April's voice calls out, "Mom, I'm home!"
"We're in the living room, sweetie." Anna calls back to her. They listen to April's footsteps as she makes her way to the living room. April walks into the room and notices Luke and Lorelai right away.
"Oh, Luke…and this is your fiancée right? We kind of met before when I was filling the salt and pepper shakers, remember?" April smiles gently.
Lorelai smiles back, "I remember. I'm Lorelai. It's nice to officially meet you." April reaches out and shakes Lorelai's hand.
"It's nice to officially meet you too." April replies. Anna watches them carefully.
"April, sit down. We're talking about Luke spending more time with you and Lorelai wants to get to know you too. Would you be okay with that?" Anna asks her daughter.
April blinks and looks back and forth between Anna and Luke and Lorelai. "Yeah, of course, I told you before that I want to spend more time with him. And Lorelai," She smiles at Lorelai again. "Lorelai seems nice and I'd like to get to know her too."
Luke and Lorelai wait for Anna's response with bated breath. Anna sighs, but she doesn't sound too upset. "Alright, I suppose you could spend more time in Stars Hollow." She tells April.
April grins, "Great, thanks Mom." She gets up and walks over to where Luke is sitting. "Um, Luke I just wanted to ask you if it's okay… can I start calling you Dad?"
Luke is taken aback. He smiles softly at her, "Yeah, I'd like that."
"Okay." April replies simply. "I'm going to go upstairs and start my homework." She walks over to Anna and quickly hugs her and whispers, "Thanks again, Mom." She leaves the room and heads upstairs.
"Well, I guess you got what you wanted." Anna stands up. "And I'm okay with it, well as long as April is okay with it and as long as she stays happy."
"She will." Luke stands up too and Lorelai follows. "I'll make sure of it. And also I still want to have more of a say about April's life. I want to have some sort of legally binding contract, you know? I guess what I'm saying is, I want shared custody."
Lorelai is a bit shocked that he brought that up right now. She thought he would wait until after he proves to Anna that he is sticking around.
Anna presses her lips together. "All right, we'll talk about that in the future, once I see that you truly want what's best for April and I know that she's really comfortable with you."
Luke and Lorelai are both surprised by Anna's reaction. "Okay." Luke responds simply. He and Lorelai leave after saying goodbye to Anna and Luke quickly goes up to April's room to say goodbye to her.
Once they get back in the truck, Luke says: "Well, that went better than expected."
Lorelai gives him a warm smile, "I know. I'm glad Anna finally saw that you want to be there for April."
Luke nods slowly. "Yeah, and I'm glad she saw that you're not going anywhere. You and I are stable. We're going to make sure that we really work on us and our issues and we're going to stay together, right?" He asks just to confirm that she feels the same way he does.
"Yep, you and I are going to stay together, babe," Lorelai replies. Luke grins and Lorelai leans in to kiss him. Luke kisses her softly and slowly. They pull back after a few seconds.
Luke takes her hand and holds it in his. He starts the truck with his other hand and pulls out of the driveway. He doesn't let go of her hand for a while.
Author's note: Thank you for reading, following, and reviewing this story. Please feel free to leave more reviews, I really appreciate them.
