Chapter Eleven
After getting off the phone, Lorelai stared down at the long list of instructions she had taken down. There was no way that all of this had to be done today. The DAR might be urgent if only because those ladies were vultures, and if there were any crack in Emily's leadership, they'd be circling. But Lorelai couldn't imagine that the Horticultural Society or Symphony Board were at all pressing.
She sighed to herself. She had given in to one nice impulse to do her mother a favor, and, no surprise, Emily had taken full advantage.
Lorelai returned to the kitchen to find her father chatting good-naturedly with Sookie. "Okay, it looks like I'll be spending the rest of the day running around Hartford. Anyone else need anything? Lace from Belgium? Chocolate from Switzerland? A crocodile from Kenya?"
Richard frowned at her. "Lorelai, your mother just had major surgery and is bedridden for a week. I think you can imagine how difficult that is for her. And an unexpected incapacitation like this puts a wrench in the works for all the things she's responsible for," he scolded.
Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know. She's sending me to pick up contracts for her to sign. Because God forbid the DAR make their gardener wait a whole week to renew his contract."
"I'm sure that's not what it's for."
She shrugged. "It'll be something like that. But it's fine. I'll go. I'll do all the fetching that Her Majesty, Queen Emily needs."
In the car, Lorelai called Rory.
"Hey, Mom! We're in the bus, so I can talk for a few minutes. How's Grandma?"
"She's gonna be fine. Though being stuck in the hospital for a week might drive her insane. Well, more insane. This morning she was yelling at the contestants on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire," Lorelai told her.
"Really? She's watching daytime TV?" Rory asked with a surprised laugh.
"Yep. She knew most of the answers, actually. She said that she could be a millionaire."
"But she is a millionaire," Rory pointed out.
Lorelai exclaimed, "That's what I said! Dad laughed."
"How's he doing?" she asked with concern.
Lorelai paused. "Um…I'm not sure. He's been really attentive to her. Which is sweet. But I don't know. It almost seems like he's guilty about something."
"Guilty why?"
"No idea. But it's kinda weird."
"Mom, are you being nice?"
Lorelai could just picture the look on her daughter's face as she said that. "I'm being very nice," she assured her.
"Really? Because you're not always great in a Gilmore family crisis."
"Yeah, well, it seems to be going okay so far. Right now I'm on the way to Hartford to run all of Emily's errands. So wish me luck with the Symphony Board, Horticultural Society, and DAR office."
"You'll be fine. But be nice! No jokes!" Rory instructed.
"You're no fun," Lorelai pouted.
"Don't get Grandma kicked out of her clubs!"
"Ugh, fine."
Lorelai went to all the places on her mother's list. The Horticultural Society had allowed her to just take a manila envelope from the receptionist. The Symphony Board engaged her in conversation before giving her whatever Emily needed. But they all got very quiet when Lorelai told them that her favorite composer was Cyndi Lauper.
They handed Lorelai a large folder. "That should be everything Emily needs. Give her our best. I hope she feels better soon."
"Well, when I spoke to her earlier, she was just as she always is. If the doctors would let her leave, she'd be here herself," Lorelai said, trying to hide how desperately she wanted to leave.
"You know, this was her project. She came up with the idea and got the ball rolling on it. We had our doubts, but she was undeterred," the Symphony Board lady told her.
"Yeah, that sounds like her. When she wants to throw a fancy party, she throws a very fancy party."
"Well the gala was wonderful, and we raised more money than expected, but this is for the school."
Lorelai frowned, thoroughly confused.
"Didn't she tell you? The Symphony Board, thanks to the success and quality of the Hartford Symphony, is sponsoring a school in Uganda. There's a man there who wants to create a music academy. Give the children exposure to new things, and so forth. Emily read an article about it and four months later, it's finally time for her to sign all the contracts to transfer the money to start construction."
Lorelai was stunned. "My mom wants to build a music academy in Africa?"
"She wants to, and she is."
"Wow. Well, I'd better get these papers to her. I'm sure I'll be back soon to drop them off."
After that thoroughly strange encounter, Lorelai headed to her final dreaded stop: the DAR office. As she walked in, she was reminded that Rory had once worked here. And for the life of her, Lorelai could not picture her daughter as one of these women. That kid could do anything and fit in anywhere if she wanted to. Everyone loved Rory. But all these women were at least twice Rory's age and exponentially more arrogant and stuffy.
"Lorelai Gilmore, is that you?"
Lorelai spun around to see her mother's nemesis, Mitzy Lightfoot, greeting her. "It's me! My mom sent me to pick up some papers for her?"
"Oh yes, of course. What a pity she couldn't be here herself. Something more important on her plate today?" Mitzy asked with feigned concern.
"Uh, she's in the hospital, so I guess that's slightly more important. But she would be here if she could be," Lorelai assured her.
Mitzy's pale gray eyes widened. "The hospital? For how long?"
Lorelai was taken aback. Was this woman really excited at the prospect of Emily being incapacitated for a length of time? It was absolutely astounding. "She'll be in the hospital about a week. But she'll make a full recovery."
"I suppose that means she won't be teaching the debutante dance classes any time soon." A hint of glee came in through her voice.
"I know those classes are very important to her. She will find a way to take care of everything," Lorelai insisted. "My mother has never let the DAR down yet, and she never will."
Mitzy Lightfoot narrowed her eyes slightly. "I've never seen you at any of our meetings."
"I am not a member of the DAR. But my actions have nothing to do with my mother's capability." The words fell out of Lorelai's mouth before she really thought about them. Somehow, lurking deep under the surface, Lorelai had been harboring the knowledge that her life had reflected poorly on her parents. Obviously they felt that way, but she'd never bought into it. But hearing her mother being subtly attacked behind her back by this ridiculous woman had made Lorelai strangely defensive. "If you could get whatever it is Emily needs to sign, I'll be on my way," Lorelai added coldly.
Mitzy went to get the folder of documents. "It should be rather self-explanatory. Once she approves the plans, she can sign off on the transfer of the funds."
"Plans for what?"
"The new wing for the Veterans Hospital. On our last visit there, Emily found the lack of a mental health rehabilitation center to be of concern. She got the votes to raise and donate ten million dollars," Mitzy explained bitterly.
For the second time that day, Lorelai was stunned. "Oh. Okay. Well, I'll just go now."
She practically ran out to the Jeep and sat there for a few seconds, trying to figure out what on earth had just happened. She had fallen through a wormhole into some crazy parallel universe where Emily Gilmore, who had yet to meet a maid she couldn't fire, was responsible for incredible philanthropic works.
This was just too much. Lorelai pulled her phone out as she started the car and called Rory once again.
"Mom, is Grandma okay? Did something happen?" Rory asked in a panic.
"No. I mean, I don't know. What?"
"You've called twice in one day. We barely talk once a week and now you're calling me twice in one day. I figured it was an emergency," Rory explained.
"Nothing like that. As far as I know. I just got done doing all the errands she sent me on."
"Oh no, what did you do?"
"I was really good!" Lorelai protested. "But get this: apparently Emily Gilmore is the queen of charity around here! The Melinda Gates of Hartford."
Rory was confused. "Well yeah. What do you think all those things she belongs to do?"
"Throw parties for other rich people."
"Yeah, they do that so they can pay for charity things. That's the whole point."
Lorelai felt like Rory wasn't really getting how weird this was. "Okay, but did you know she came up with a plan for the Symphony Board to fund a music academy in Uganda? Or that she raised ten million dollars to build a mental rehabilitation center at the Veterans Hospital?"
"Oh is it time to sign the papers on those?" Rory asked excitedly.
"You knew about this!?"
"How did you not know about this?"
"I don't know! Why doesn't this freak you out at all?" Lorelai asked, slightly annoyed that Rory wasn't on the same page.
"Mom, I worked for the DAR. I lived in that house. I know what she does. She's demanding and annoying and insane, but she does really wonderful things. Seriously, how did you not have any idea?"
Lorelai fell silent. How did she not know? Her father's words echoed in her ear. She and Emily's relationship had been frozen in time since she was sixteen, not having the luxury of growing and developing in the same way Rory had been able to, somehow. Lorelai had been so opposed to her parents' life as a teenager that she'd retained that aversion to anything and everything Emily did. Until today. "Hey kid, I gotta go."
"Yeah, me too. Love you, Mom!"
They hung up and Lorelai drove back to Litchfield Hospital, her mind still swirling with these new realizations.
