Thanks so much for all the encouraging reviews. I guess I wanted to write as much as possible before work starts, so here's the next chapter already. I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 25: Shopping
"Why did you offer to eat in the kitchen?" I ask Lilly. I just have to know if she thought the same.
"Well, I wasn't sure if Lorelai would feel comfortable with me around. You know this is her home, she wasn't here in a long time, I just don't want her to feel weird," she says slowly. I nod.
"But this is your home now as well," I say.
"Thank you. But still…," she stops.
"Still what?" I prod.
"As you said, she's your daughter. Rory and Lorelai are your family. Not us. And I really wouldn't mind to stay in the kitchen. So if you change your mind – "
"I won't," I interrupt her. "Besides, I'm godmother to Becky. That doesn't make you exactly my family, but close. Anyway, thanks for the offer. I appreciate it, but it's not necessary." She nods and is about to go back to her work again, when I notice that I still don't have the answer to my question. "Lilly?" I call her back. "So that was your reason? Nothing more to it?" She gives me a confused look. "I mean the reason for your offer, was it just general concern, or was there something what made you concerned?"
"I don't know. General concern I'd say, but then…" she looks down.
"What Lilly? This is important to me, please be honest," I encourage her.
"Well, I'm not sure, I'm really not sure," she emphasizes, but I look expectantly at her so she continues, "maybe I saw something in Lorelai's eyes. Some kind of jealousy. That she wouldn't want me to be there. But I'm really not sure about this. Maybe it's only my imagination. What I would feel if I'd be in her place," she finishes, looking down again.
"Thank you," I say. So I didn't imagine it. At least I don't think we both did.
When I arrive at the inn Lorelai is outside, cleaning the porch.
"Rory, grandma's here," she yells, before I even reach her. Some seconds later Rory bounces into view.
"Hello Grandma," she greets me happily.
"Hello Sweetie," I reply. "Hello Lorelai," I greet my daughter.
"Mom," she nods at me.
"So are you ready to go?" I ask my granddaughter. She nods excitedly. "I'll bring her home this evening," I say to Lorelai.
"Yes, thank you. Rory, be a good girl, will you?"
"Yes, Mom," she says, kissing her goodbye. Then she comes back to me.
"I'm sure we'll get along very well," I say, taking her hand. She smiles up at me. "Goodbye Lorelai."
"Goodbye Mom. Leave something for the other people, will you?" she adds in a mocking tone.
I just roll my eyes, while leading Rory to the car.
"So which one do you like most?" I say, holding up two dresses. One of them is white, fluffy, with a little petticoat underneath and little pink roses scattered over the dress. The other one is light blue, also petticoat and has white lace upon it. She looks beautiful in both. Rory is looking at both intently.
"I'm not sure. I like them both. I could wear both to the tea, right?"
"Yes," I agree. "They would both fit perfectly."
"May I try them on again?" she asks me.
"Of course. We have time," I say, handing her back the white one. Lorelai never offered to try them on again. After changing and twirling once more – somehow Lorelai must've told her about twirling – she looks at me again.
"I'm really not sure. Which one do you like more, Grandma?"
"You look cute in both of them, but I think I like the white one a tad more," I answer, seeing that she won't decide that all by herself. And well she's only four.
She looks at them again. "The white one," she states. So that's settled. We walk through other parts of the store – where the more daily clothes are. I'll be damned if that one fancy dress is everything I buy for her. And after all, everything Lorelai said was only one fancy dress. And I won't buy her two fancy dresses. I know very well that she has no occasion to wear them.
"Would you like something else, Rory?"
She looks at me with big eyes. "What do you mean?"
"Well, do you like some of the skirts, dresses or shirts here? Anything? Just tell me and I'll buy it as well." Immediately she's looking through the clothes. It's so much fun to watch her, how excited she is by picking whatever she wants. Trying clothes on, giggling, it's refreshing to watch her. I feel younger myself. But I know that I shouldn't overdo it, so in the end I get her one more dress – this time a plaid blue one, and a jeans skirt with a white blouse. She looks darling.
"May I wear the blue dress now?" she asks me. I have to think of myself as a kid. I always wanted to wear new clothes as well immediately.
"Of course you may," I reply softly. After changing into it again she comes up to me with a big smile on her face.
"Thank you so much, Grandma," she says, taking my hand and bouncing next to me out of the store. We go for some ice-cream now. Rory of course doesn't run around with it, when I tell her not to. As we're going along the windows I suddenly notice that she stopped. When I turn around I see her standing in front of a boutique, looking at some dress. A woman's dress I'd never wear. Too funky and colourful.
"Rory? What are you looking at?" I ask her.
"Mom's dress," she replies.
"Your mother's dress? Does she have the same?" I ask. I mean I could picture her wearing something like this, Lorelai's taste was always unconventional to put it nicely, but when I look at the price I wonder that she'd buy this. I didn't think she'd have the money for it.
"No, but sometimes we come here. We mostly look at things, and well mom likes this dress. And she always says that some day she'll wear it. So we call it her dress. And then I look for something I like, though I want mostly books. And sometimes mom buys them for me. But she doesn't buy things for herself. Mostly her things are gone when we come back again, so we look for something else. And we think of things we'll buy later, when we have more money." I nod. For a second I'm tempted to go into the store to buy it for her, but I leave it.
As we go further along the windows we also come by a toy store, which contains some kids books. Inside, her eyes are glancing at everything, but the real sparkle gets into it, once she found the books. She touches them nearly reverently. In fact I have to suppress a smile. "Grandma, look," she says suddenly very excited. I turn towards her. She has a copy of Sleeping Beauty in her hands.
"But don't you know it?" I ask her. After all Flora is one of the fairies in Sleeping Beauty. I thought that's where she got the name from.
"Yes, but this one is so much prettier than the one we have in kindergarten. And look more pictures. See Flora is the red one - though I know that she can wear other colours as well when we want her to," she adds conspiratorially. She's looking at the other pages, trying to read some of it. After a while she puts it back, giving it a longing look. I wonder whether Lorelai told her not to ask for too much.
"Would you like to have it?" I ask her.
"Yes, but you already got me so many things," she replies quietly. Maybe I was right.
"Well only clothes. I don't think some other thing will be too much," I state, picking up the book and buying it.
"Thank you, Grandma," she says sincerely.
"You deserve it," I reply. "You didn't complain once."
"Why should I complain?" she asks me incredulously.
Yes, that was my question as well, when Lorelai complained pretty much every time I took her here. I never understood it. But of course I can't answer that. "Well, some children don't like to try on clothes," I simply answer.
"I thought it was fun. And mom was right. The twirling is great," she says. "Can we go to your garden now, looking for fairies? And reading the book?"
"Of course we can do that now," I reply and together we leave the mall. Both very satisfied with the result. Though I can't get one particular dress out of my head.
At home I call Richard, telling him that Rory and I will be here for another hour before I bring her back. I know he wants to see her as well and he replies he tries to come home in time. Then I take her to the garden.
"So, where are they usually?" she whispers.
"Over there," I say, pointing towards some bushes to the right. We quietly go there. I watch her. She seems excited, it's very cute.
"How many are coming to this place?" she whispers.
"If we're lucky three," I whisper back, thinking of Sleeping Beauty. We're coming close to the point I showed her.
"As in Sleeping Beauty?" she asks excitedly. I nod. I knew she'd make the connection. We watch the place for a while. She's looking intently, but not saying anything. Perhaps she's waiting for me, since this is my place.
"See, there the first one comes, behind that leave, do you see her?"
"Yes, I can see her. She's beautiful. What colour do you see her in Grandma?"
"Violet, and you?"
"Green," she giggles. "And there is another one, and there, you were right Grandma, three fairies. You must be so happy to have three of them in your garden," she sighs. I have to suppress a smile again. I am happy, but not because of the fairies, but because of my angelic granddaughter who is so adorable. After watching them some more, I put my hand on her shoulder. Cold wind is coming up.
"Let's go back inside. It's getting too cold here," I say.
"I'm not cold, Grandma," she replies. I look at her. She can't stand my watch and looks down. "Please, just a tiny bit longer, Grandma, one minute more," she begs.
"But we wanted to read your new book, have you forgotten about it? And I have to bring you to your mother soon," I say.
"Please," she whispers again. Then looking up she states, "See they're dancing now, I guess it's their fall dance." For a second she glances up at me, checking if her strategy works.
"One minute," I state, feeling her leaning into me. We watch their dance for a little while. Rory is even humming a little. "Come Rory, be a good girl and come inside now. We can look at them again next time you come," I say.
"Promised?" she asks me.
"Promised," I reply. Reluctantly she's following me inside.
Lilly brings us milk and cookies and we settle down to open the book. She starts reading a little and I'm helping her. Then when I notice it's getting too exhausting I read it to her. Suddenly I hear the door and some well known footsteps. Richard is home. I knew he would come.