CHAPTER FOURTEEN
** Something Borrowed **
Genre: Romance
Pairing: Rory/Jess
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: Rory, Jess, Luke, Lorelai, Liz, TJ, Kirk, Miss Patty, Babette, Taylor and all other recognizable "Gilmore Girls" characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, and the WB.
This is the final chapter of "Something Borrowed." I'd like to close out this story by thanking TL22, Jeremy Shane, Kylielink, Emma-and-Eadric Forever and Agent 1332 for their feedback and encouragement.
Jess and Rory were getting married at the diner on the Saturday that fell right after Thanksgiving Day. Luke had hung up quite a few holiday decorations in the diner during the week for Thanksgiving and Rory asked him to keep them up for the wedding because she thought it would make for a more festive atmosphere than using a traditional wedding theme. Lorelai really liked Rory's idea of using Luke's decorations and talked Miss Patty into smuggling in some of the ones that were used during the Stars Hollow Thanksgiving festival. As a final touch to the theme, Rory chose a bouquet of bright orange roses to blend in with the colors of the decorations.
On the morning of the wedding, it began to snow. Lorelai told Rory it was a sign of good luck and invited her to come along with her to take Paul Anka for his walk before they headed over to the diner to prepare for the wedding.
"So kiddo, tell me who you're inviting to today's shindig again," Lorelai asked as Paul Anka leaped and pranced in the snow, he loved snow just as much as his mommy did.
"Well, my official invites include you and Luke, of course, and Lane and Zack and their twins, Sookie, Jackson and their children, Jess mom's, Liz, and TJ and their little girl, Dean and Lindsay, Paris and Doyle, and Marty. Dad's bringing Gigi with him and Jess has some friends coming from Truncheon Books. Unofficially, I sort of invited a few more guests behind Jess' back.
"Let me guess… Miss Patty, Babette, Morey and Kirk?"
"You got it. Jess didn't want me to let any of Stars Hollow's so called freaks come to 'his' wedding, but there was no way I could exclude them, they've been my friends since I was a little girl. I just hope they'll be on their best behavior today."
"Let's forget the freaks of Stars Hollow for a minute. Did you say Dean was bringing Lindsay to the wedding?" Lorelai asked, majorly surprised.
"Yeah… I'm not crazy about her coming, but Dean is Jess' friend now, too, so I didn't think I had much of a choice but to let him bring her when he asked if he could."
"Mmm… well Miss Patty, Babette and Kirk are a handful, but one Lindsay might be cancel out anything even those three could cook up. You didn't put your grandparents on your unofficial guests list, did you?"
"No, I wanted to, but I knew Jess would throw a fit and they'd probably spend the whole time insulting him and Luke, anyway."
"Mama's taught her little girl well," Lorelai declared with relief. "Come on Paul Anka; let's go home, you've had enough fun in the snow for one day."
The wedding was scheduled for three o'clock in the afternoon, but Lorelai and Rory decided they would arrive at Luke's early and leisurely feast on a nice hearty breakfast of pancakes, sausage and scrambled eggs and then hang out for a little while before they started preparing for the wedding. When they walked into the restaurant, they expected a cheerful greeting from Luke and for the diner to be packed with lots of people having breakfast since it was Saturday morning. Instead, Luke looked disappointed when they arrived and there were only three people eating at the diner: Kirk, Babette and Morey.
"Oh, doll, I'm sorry your wedding's gonna get wiped out today by the big blizzard that's coming," Babette rasped out.
"Blizzard? What Blizzard? I don't remember hearing anything about a blizzard," Lorelai commented, hoping that if she repeated the word "blizzard" enough it would magically go away.
"You would have if you ever bothered to turn on the news or pick up a newspaper," Luke replied incredulously.
"I haven't had time to watch the news or read a newspaper, Rory and I have been busy this week trying to get ready for this wedding."
"It's supposed to be the largest blizzard to ever hit the Northeast that they know of since they've started keeping weather records. The National Weather Service has predicted Stars Hollow will be receiving 4 feet of snow," Kirk announced, using his official voice, trying to sound important as he conveyed the bad news to Lorelai and Rory.
"Where's Jess?" Rory cried out in a panicked voice.
"He's upstairs sleeping. He got in about one o'clock in the morning. Apparently he doesn't watch the news either or he wouldn't have bothered to make the trip," Luke commented, shaking his head.
"Well, this isn't what we planned, but if we can only get Reverend Skinner to still come in and perform the ceremony, then we'll still be able to get married," Rory replied, still hopeful. "I'll go ahead and give him a call."
Rory grabbed the phone near Luke's counter and frantically started dialing. While she was on the phone, Sookie came inside the diner with a wedding cake.
"Hello! Hello!" Sookie called out cheerfully. "I wasn't sure if you were still having the wedding today with the blizzard coming, but I figured I'd better bring the cake over here early, just in case."
"Thanks, so much, Sookie. It's beautiful, what kind of cake did you make? " Lorelai asked, admiring Sookie's creation.
"It's a sour cream, lemon poppy cake with a butter cream frosting. Soooo, is there going to be a wedding today?" Sookie asked, her curiosity finally getting the better of her.
"There will be if we can still get Reverend Skinner to come and perform the ceremony. Can we count on you and Jackson to join us if we can get the reverend here?" Lorelai asked, hopeful that her best friend could be at least be there with her to watch her only child getting married.
"Oh, Lorelai, if it were just me and Jackson I could, but they're predicting there'll already be two feet of snow fallen by three o'clock and it'll be really hard for us to bring the kids along in this weather. I'm really sorry, sweetie, I really wish I could come, but I'm glad I got here at least to bring you the cake. Guess I'd better get going before the snow plow comes through here and buries my car in. I really hope you all can get the Reverend to come over here to perform the vows, the sooner he can make it the better," Sookie advised.
Rory hung up from her phone call just as Sookie was leaving.
"What's the verdict?" Lorelai asked, standing on pins and needles.
"He said he could still make it, but only if I agreed to let him come over here in and do it the next thirty minutes, so I told him to come on over."
"Well, you better go wake up your fiancée and give him the news, then. I'll get your dress ready for you to put on and Luke can push some tables and chairs together to make it look a little more wedding like in here. Luke?"
"I'm on it," he replied.
Just then Jess' mom, Liz, came bounding in with her husband TJ and their little girl. Liz and TJ were dressed in the same Renaissance costumes they were wearing from their own wedding ceremony. Luke looked them up and down and rolled his eyes, then had to suppress a chuckle when he pictured what Jess was going to say when he saw them in their outlandish outfits.
"I can't believe you made it in this weather," Luke commented.
"Nothing short of a tsunami would stop me from coming here today to see my oldest child getting married," Liz exclaimed. "Where is the little stinker?" she laughed, already knowing Jess was going to give her a crabby greeting when he saw her.
"He's upstairs getting ready. We almost had to cancel because of the blizzard, but Rory got the Reverend to agree to come over here early to do the ceremony, but only if could do it within the next half hour, so lucky you got here early."
"So… Luke… how do you like my tights? Pretty spiffy, eh?" TJ asked obnoxiously.
"TJ, you ask me about those stupid tights every time you wear them and I always tell you the same thing – you look absolutely ridiculous."
"All right, all right, brother-in-law, but little by little we'll get you to come around and I bet we'll even get you and Lorelai to wear renaissance attire to your own wedding someday," TJ responded, purposely painting him into a corner to get him to comment on his intentions with Lorelai to get him back for insulting him.
Lorelai looked at Luke expectantly, wondering how he was going to respond.
"Look, TJ, don't tell me and Lorelai how to run our lives until you've figured out how to run your own pathetic life," Luke muttered grumpily.
Lorelai looked down in disappointment at Luke's neutral response. She wished just for once that Luke could make his intentions clear and let her know if he wanted to try and get married again. She'd already proposed to him once and she wasn't going to humiliate herself by proposing a second time.
Just then, Taylor and Miss Patty came bursting through the front door of the diner.
"Ah-ha! Just as I suspected, Luke, you and Miss Patty stole these decorations from the festival and I want them back right now!" Taylor screamed out angrily as he looked around the diner and saw the evidence displayed all around him.
"Taylor, you idiot, I haven't seen a single plow truck come through the streets yet and we're in the middle of the biggest blizzard Stars Hollow has had since the last Ice Age and you're worried about a couple of lousy decorations?"
"Those decorations happen to be the product of fine craftsmanship and are very valuable and Miss Patty had no right taking them without asking my permission and I'm holding her and you personally responsible!" Taylor rumbled, still shaking with rage.
Just then, Rory descended the staircase in her wedding dress, looking like a vision and all the petty arguments that had been filling the diner since she'd gone upstairs, dissipated like a vanishing vapor.
"Taylor, Miss Patty! I'm so happy to see you could make it to my wedding," Rory called out enthusiastically, wearing a luminous smile that stretched from ear to ear. She had been so sad a while ago when she realized her wedding celebration had been cancelled, but she'd come to realize that some of Stars Hollows most cherished citizens were going to be there to witness her marriage to Jess and their presence made her feel safe and loved, like she was a little girl again.
"Oh, yes, yes, we know it's a little nippy out today, but Miss Patty and I wanted to be here and I hope you'll find that these lovely decorations from our festival will enhance your wedding celebration," Taylor replied with a rarely spoken gracious remark, trying to hide the real reason he'd come to the diner.
"I love them, they're just beautiful," Rory responded as she glanced around the diner and admired the ornamentations.
The reverend finally arrived, and right behind him came Lane and Zack, all smiles and bubbly, not looking concerned about the blizzard at all.
"Lane, you made it! Thank goodness you're here!" Rory called out enthusiastically, running over to hug her best friend. "I was so afraid you weren't going to be able to make it. Sookie wanted to come, but she was afraid to bring her kids out in this weather."
"Mrs. Kim has the twins today and she's willing to watch them for as long as we need her to. Besides, Steve and Kwan were little monsters last night and we figure the steady diet of fermented tofu and steamed mung bean sprouts she's going to be shoving down their throats, with no candy in sight, will be a pretty good punishment," Lane laughed.
"Well, it means an awful lot to me to have you both here today," Rory said appreciatively.
"Hey, you were there for our wedding. We weren't going to let a little thing like a snow storm make us miss yours," Zack replied warmly.
"Oh… speaking of which, Mom I have a lot of messages on my cell phone. Do you think I should check my voice mail?"
"Hon, I'd say it's a safe bet they all called to say they couldn't make it here today. You can listen to them later and just call them back then if you want to."
"Okay, looks like we have everything we need for a wedding, but the groom," Reverend Skinner joked, "and I hate to rush everyone, but it looks like that snow is really coming down hard now," he noted as the velocity of the winds accelerated, making the snow fall to the earth in the classic diagonal pattern of a blizzard storm.
"The National Weather Service has just revised their previous bulletin and the level of snowfall Stars Hollow will be receiving now will be 6 feet instead of 4," Kirk announced in an almost horror movie tone of voice as he listened to the breaking news item come through the headphones attached to his portable radio.
"Oh my stars! Six feet of snow?" Miss Patty exclaimed. "Go tell Jess to hurry up, Rory honey! I want to have time to eat some of your wedding cake before we have to leave!"
"I second that, sugah, I don't wanna miss out on the cake either!" Babette piped in, even though she had just gobbled up three Belgian waffles, a side order of hash browns, six pieces of sausage and washed it all down with a large hot chocolate with extra whipped cream.
"Okey, doke!" Rory replied, going upstairs to fetch him.
Rory was taken aback when she saw Jess in Luke's apartment, looking so fantastic in his tux that even the world "handsome" was inadequate to describe the way he looked right now.
"Jess!" she exclaimed, feeling faint. "We have to hurry, Reverend Skinner's here to marry us and he has to leave pretty soon because they say this blizzard's going to be even worse than they expected.
"Who all's here?"
"Well, my mom and Luke of course, your mom and TJ and your sister, Lane and Zack are here and um… so are Babette and Morey, Kirk, Miss Patty and Taylor.
"Great! Our wedding is going to be filled with so many freaks it'll be a frickin' circus," Jess muttered sarcastically as he followed Rory downstairs.
The minute he saw Liz and TJ and his little sister dressed up in their Renaissance clothes, Jess almost called the whole thing off, until he glanced over at Rory and saw the look in her eyes and knew how much it meant to her to get married today. He peered out at the rushing blizzard pouring out of the sky like it was never going to end and almost started laughing. His wedding day was turning into quite a bizarre event and that's when he realized he wouldn't want it any other way because things usually didn't go well for him when everything was too "normal" in his world, anyway.
Reverend Skinner fast forwarded the ceremony, leaving out his usual humorous quips, much to Rory and Lorelai's disappointment. Once the Reverend declared Jess and Rory husband and wife, Luke quickly started serving everyone coffee while Jess and Rory cut the wedding cake. After Babette and Miss Patty each polished off their third slice of cake, Kirk made another announcement that as much as three feet of snow had already fallen in parts of Stars Hollow and everyone started to quickly leave except Jess' mom, TJ and their little girl, who had driven in from Brooklyn.
"Well kiddies, I never heard if you were planning on having a honeymoon or not, but I can put you up at the bridal suite over at the Dragonfly…"
"That sounds very nice, thank you Lorelai," Jess replied to Lorelai, displaying uncharacteristic gratitude. He'd actually wanted to surprise Rory with a honeymoon vacation to Belize, but that was out of the question now and he was grateful they'd at least have a nice room at the Dragonfly.
"Liz and TJ, looks like it'll be impossible for you all to make the drive back to Brooklyn. Why don't you all stay at Luke's apartment and Luke and I will head over to my house?" Lorelai offered.
"Thanks, Lorelai, I'm so happy Rory's officially my daughter-in-law. Now I can't wait 'til you become my sister-in-law," she commented cheerfully, having faith it would happen soon.
"You put her up to saying that. Didn't you?" Luke barked at TJ, glowering at him and Liz on his way out the door.
"Oh… don't mind him, he's always like this when we have 6 feet of snow, Lorelai joked, trying to cover up her embarrassment.
When Jess and Rory arrived at the Dragonfly, there was only a skeleton staff there to greet them, but they had taken great care to roll out the red carpet treatment for the boss' daughter and her new son-in-law. When they arrived in the bridal suite, there was a basket waiting for them with Godiva chocolates and gourmet cheeses and crackers and a bottle of Moët was chilling inside a sterling silver bucket of ice. An attendant came up to light a fire for them and told them that whenever they were ready, they could call and have room service deliver their meal.
A half later, they ordered the Chateau Briand for Two and toasted each other with a sparkling glass of champagne.
"Here's to forever, Mrs. Mariano," Jess said as he lifted his glass.
"To forever, Mr. Mariano," she agreed, clinking his crystal champagne flute with hers and drinking in the joy of being Jess' wife at last.
** EPILOGUE – The Wedding Dress**
At the time Rory had gotten married, her only married friends had been Zack and Lane, but about two weeks after her and Jess tied the knot, that quickly started changing when she got a call from Paris informing her that she and Doyle were getting married in a month. Rory figured out rather quickly it was yet another competitive move on Paris' part to keep up with her, but she'd didn't care because she knew the only man in the world that could ever tolerate Paris' neurotic behavior would be Doyle anyway, so she was pleased they'd decided to marry. Paris was happy when Rory "offered" her the wedding dress, especially when she learned it came with the opportunity to have her wedding included in a historical book, so Rory took the wedding gown to the vintage boutique in Stars Hollow and waited outside the shop for Paris, so no one else could grab the "free dress."
Shortly before Paris married, Rory learned that Dean and Lindsay were retying the knot in a few weeks because Lindsay was already three months pregnant, so she asked Paris to meet Lindsay in front of the shop in Hartford after her wedding ceremony, just like she'd done for her.
After Dean and Lindsay married, Rory found out that Amber, from Truncheon Books, had asked Jess to fix Marty up with her and the two of them had embarked on a whirlwind romance and were planning on marrying in Manhattan in another month. Again, she asked Lindsay to make arrangements to meet Amber at the vintage dress shop back in Stars Hollow to make the switch.
About nine months after she'd married Jess, a letter arrived from her mother, telling her that Luke had finally popped the question. Rory called Amber to find out which vintage dress shop in Manhattan she'd taken the gown to after her wedding ceremony and phoned the shop only to find out that'd it been "given" to someone less than a hour after she'd dropped it off. Rory was disappointed about the dress, but ecstatic that her mother and Luke were finally getting married and she hoped their wedding would take place on a snowy day, because those were the luckiest days of all she thought, recalling her own wedding day and that other special snowy day, when her and Jess decided to get married because of a magical dress that was hanging in a little vintage clothing shop somewhere in a quiet corner of Philadelphia.
THE END