THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
April's birthday party brings an unexpected twist that changes Luke's and Lorelai's lives forever. Late sixth season.
Disclaimer: I like Dorothy Parker but I have no claim on her production company.
Chapter Twenty-nine: The Twickham House
The sky was lightening and the birds beginning to chirp their morning songs when Luke awakened early the next day, as was his habit. He was on his side, his chin resting on the top of Lorelai's head, his arm flung across her naked shoulders. She was lying on her side facing him with her hands tucked under her chin, looking like a sleeping little girl.
Luke watched her, smiling tenderly at the memory of the night before. The groping in the hallway, the stumbling up the stairs, punctuated by her giggles and his repeated whispers of "Shhh!" The clothes hastily yanked off and dropped on the floor, the two bodies falling entangled onto the bed. More giggles and gentle teasing until the moment when their bodies joined and they stared into each other's eyes, grim with passion. The incredible release and fulfillment which, for a few moments at least, made everything seem absolutely right in their world.
He thought about them lying in each other's arms, lost in the haze of the afterglow, punctuating the silence with gentle kisses. Luke had been staring at the ceiling thinking about how perfect life could be at times, when he suddenly felt an unexpected wetness trailing down his side. He had looked down at Lorelai to see that her eyes were closed and her face was tight with pain while tears slid down her cheeks and onto his body.
"Honey," he asked anxiously, lifting her chin. "What's the matter? Did I hurt you?" remembering that his thrusts had been quite. . .enthusiastic. He wiped one of the tears from her cheek.
"No, no, Luke. You could never hurt me that way," she assured him, trying to smile. "It's just that. . ."
"Just what?" he encouraged.
She looked up at him. "Understand that I don't regret anything I said or did at my parents' house tonight. But still. . .I don't know how she's going to react." Her face crumpled. "I mean, I know she's impossible but—she's my mother," as she broke into sobs. "And she may never speak to me again."
She cried into his shoulder as he stroked her back and hair, making soft shushing noises but letting her cry all the same. She did not want to talk more, but calmed a little and even smiled before drifting to sleep cuddled up against him.
He remembered that again in the early morning, as she slept peacefully by his side. As frustrated as he knew Lorelai could get with her mother, he had also always been aware of the iron-like connection between them that led Lorelai to anxiously try over and over again to please Emily. She would throw up her hands and give up, only to go back and start all over again. He remembered what she had said the day before—that she went back not only for Rory's sake but also for her own. Although Luke sometimes felt the need to urge her to keep trying, he was aware that he never had to urge too hard before she did it.
He wondered for a moment what Emily's stake was in all this. Certainly she seemed to constantly be displeased with her daughter and constantly tried to change her, which called to question her reasons for them to have a relationship. She seemed pragmatic and realistic enough in her other dealings with the world. Luke wondered why she kept sticking to what was apparently a delusional view of Lorelai and how, in all their years together, she seemed so unable to see her daughter as she truly was. Or to appreciate what an amazing person she had raised.
He suddenly wondered what kind of person Lorelai would have turned out to be if she had been parented by someone other than the Gilmores. He knew that his own character had, in large part, been formed by his own parents and the values they had instilled in him, while Lorelai seemed somehow able to reject everything her parents had offered and to become her own very unique, strong and individual personality. But, he reasoned, she must have gotten something from them that helped make up who she was.
This led him, of course to think about Rory. He could easily see how different Rory might have been if she had been brought up by Emily instead of Lorelai, and from things she had said the night before, he suspected that she was aware of it, too. He wondered, too about April. In many ways, she seemed nothing like Anna and yet he had to acknowledge that his daughter must owe a great deal of her character to her mother. He thought about how different his own life might have been if his mother had lived longer and had a greater influence on his upbringing than she ultimately had, and the impact her early death, as well as his father's, had had on his personality development. And he wondered how Anna's sudden death would affect April in the long run. With a sigh, he determined once again to maintain his patience with the bereaved child and to help her heal in any way he could.
His private thoughts fled when he felt a stirring beside him and Lorelai reached up to touch his face. "Hi," she said, looking up at him sleepily.
"Hi," he whispered, kissing her forehead.
She settled her head back down on his arm. "Do you have to go in this morning?"
"No, not until later," he smiled. "We can sleep in for a while."
"'Kay," she yawned and quieted again. "Hey, what about April? If she gets up, will she need us?"
"It's a little early for her yet. I'll get up and check on her in a while," he promised.
"Mmm," Lorelai said and slipped back into slumber.
Luke watched her for a little while and eventually drifted off himself.
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He awoke again as the sun was shining through the windows and glanced at his watch to see that it was almost eight. Lorelai was now on her back with an arm flung over her head. He slipped out of bed carefully, put on the robe Lorelai had insisted on buying him and treaded softly downstairs.
April was still in bed and apparently asleep. He took a minute to put out a bowl, spoon, glass and box of cereal on the table in case she woke up hungry, and padded back upstairs to rejoin his fiancée.
She was blinking sleepily at the ceiling when he came back in and slid back into bed. "You left me," she said, pouting a little.
"Just for a minute. I went to see if April was awake."
"Is she?"
"Nope. I put out some cereal in case she gets up and wants breakfast." He snuggled down next to her again. "So we're good for a while longer."
"Good," she murmured. "So you want me to call the realtor today?"
"That would be great. Maybe she can get us in to look at it while Rory's still here."
"Yeah." They lay quietly for a while. Then Luke said, "You know, we haven't talked much about the wedding this past week. It's coming up fast."
"I knooooow," she moaned. "There's just so much going on." Another quiet moment, and then she turned to him, more awake. "Hey, I can't remember—did we tell April that we picked a date?"
He looked back at her with a flash of panic. "Jeez, I don't remember," he frowned. "I don't think so."
They stared at each other in concern. "Do you think we should right now? I'm not sure she's in the best of shape to hear it."
He thought. "Well, she's got to know. If we hold off any longer, she might think we've been keeping it from her on purpose or something."
She nodded, looking worried. "Are you still going to ask her to be a bridesmaid?" he wondered.
"Of course," she replied instantly, and sighed. "Maybe that will pick her up a little."
"Maybe."
They both fell silent as they considered their doubts on that subject.
An hour later as they dressed, Lorelai suddenly said, "Do you have any regrets about last night?"
A little slow to catch up, he frowned at her. "Last night?"
"Last night. After I got home. What we—umm—did up here."
He stared at her. "Of course not. Why? Do you?" He felt a bit defensive.
"No, no, I just meant—with April here and all."
"Oh." He considered as he buttoned his shirt. "Frankly, I was so revved up that I didn't think much about her," he confessed with a wry little grin.
"I noticed that," she said, grinning back. "But that's why I'm asking. Now, in the light of day—any regrets?"
He sat down on the bed beside her, thinking. "No," he said with finality.
"No?"
He shook his head. "She's going to be living with us for a long time. She's just going to have to get used to it. I mean, I'm willing to be patient with her on a lot of things, but a man can only take so much." He smiled to soften his words. "And it's not like her room is right underneath us." He slid closer and gently pinched her thigh. "And we weren't too noisy—not like usual," he teased.
She smiled briefly. "But if she did get an inkling. . .well, I guess that might be a new experience for her. I guess I wonder if Anna ever had any men stay overnight."
"Considering how kind of overprotective she seemed, I would guess not."
She sighed. "I just don't want us to do anything that might make her feel more—alienated or more like an outsider or anything."
"Neither do I." He frowned. "Jeez, I wasn't worried before but now I am, a little."
"Well, maybe we should keep it as a. . .rare occurrence."
"I supposed you're right." He nudged her side. "I really enjoyed myself though," he grinned.
"Oh, so did I," she agreed.
They shared a smile and started downstairs.
They found April in the kitchen, dressed and reading a book over a bowl of cereal, Paul Anka by her side as usual. "Good morning," her father said, dropping a kiss on her forehead.
"Morning," she said, glancing up.
"Good morning, April," Lorelai said cheerfully.
She got a brief "Morning" without a direct glance.
Rory joined them a little later. While Luke was fixing breakfast for the late-risers, Lorelai went to the phone to call the realtor as planned. "Well, that was fast work," she reported as she came back to the table.
"What?" Luke asked.
"She said she can show us the house at two today. Can you get away?"
Luke nodded. "Sure. Rory, you wanna stay around and go with us?"
"Absolutely," she said enthusiastically.
April looked up at them with a guarded expression. "You're looking at a house?"
"Yes," Lorelai smiled. "It's actually a house your dad almost bought last year, before he met you. When we decided we needed a bigger place, we thought of that one right away." She did not see any reason to mention her parents' part in that decision. "All three of us have been in it but not for a long time. So we thought we'd better take another look. You game?"
"I guess so," April said, looking a little perturbed.
They went on eating and chatting about the house until suddenly April said, "I have an idea."
As it was practically the first statement she had ventured in nearly a week it took them all by surprise. They stared for a second before Luke thought to say, "What's that, sweetie?"
"Well," she said tentatively, folding her hands on the table. "If you need a new house, why can't we move into my house?"
They stared for a moment. "Your house?" Luke said carefully.
She nodded. "My house in Woodbridge. Where I lived with my mom. I think it's mine now, isn't it?"
"Well," Luke said hesitantly. "I'm pretty sure that your mom wanted it to be sold and the money put towards your education."
"But—it doesn't have to be," she said, looking a little concerned. "I mean, it's a perfectly good house. It's nice. And if we lived there, I could keep going to my school and stay with my friends." She looked around the table. "And I could have my old room back and have enough space for all my stuff."
The three adults glanced at each other. All Lorelai could think was, No! I can't live in Anna's house! But she did not want to seem like she was rejecting it out of hand. So she asked in an interested way, "How big is it?"
Luke and Rory both glanced at her in surprise.
"Well—you were there, weren't you?" April seemed nonplussed. "When you went to pick up my stuff."
"Oh, I only really saw the living room and your bedroom," Lorelai hastened to explain. "I didn't look all around it. How many bedrooms does it have?"
April's enthusiasm began to flag a bit. "Well, it's really only two bedrooms. But there's another little room that we used as a TV room. That could be a bedroom." She looked around at them all again. "It's a great house," she said defensively.
Luke decided to take over. "I know it's a great house, sweetie," he said apologetically. "It was a great house for you and your mom. But while it's a good size for two people, there are four of us now. Three bedrooms probably wouldn't be big enough."
"We're in three bedrooms now," April objected, her voice rising.
"But Rory's room is small. And we're really pretty crowded," Luke pointed out. "That's why we want to get a bigger place."
April cast her eyes downward, the little flash of spirit they had seen disappearing as quickly as it had come. Luke watched her anxiously. "We don't even have room enough for all your things here, honey," he reminded her. "But the rooms in this house we're looking at are really big. For one thing, there's a library with built-in bookshelves that go almost all the way to the ceiling. Plenty of room for all your books," including Rory in that statement. "You could put your rock collection in the living room, where everybody could see it," he cajoled. "And the bedrooms upstairs are huge—room for your microscope and your stuffed animals and everything else." His voice was pleading. "It's very nice of you to offer your house, but I'm afraid that it just won't work out."
April nodded slightly, her eyes still downcast.
Lorelai felt she needed to try to add her support. "You know, April, I think Rory and I kind of know how you feel. We've lived here almost as long as you lived in your place. We're really going to miss it when we leave."
"We really will," Rory nodded.
"But—well, we've created a new family now, and that means changes for everybody, and sometimes sacrifices. Your dad lived over the diner for years, and he was used to it. It was a little hard for him to move out and come here. But he did it so we could all be together."
April sighed. "Yeah, I get it. Okay. Forget I ever suggested it."
"But it was a nice suggestion," Luke assured her.
The four of them sat in silence as they finished their meal. Finally Lorelai looked up and said briskly, "Okay, Twickham house at two. What's on everybody's agendas for the day before that?"
Luke looked at his watch. "I should go in to the diner pretty soon." He was striving for a normal tone to diffuse the uncomfortable feeling that had settled over the room.
Lorelai nodded. "I should go to the inn for a while." She looked at Rory and said, "What about you, kid?" glancing pointedly at April and back to her daughter.
Rory picked up the cue. "I think I'll just hang here for most of the day. Do a little work, maybe, unless I get a better offer. Hey, April," she said, turning to the younger girl. "Lane tells me you're a pretty good Scrabble player. Want to go a few rounds?"
"Oh, you're probably better than I am," April said dejectedly.
"Why do you say that? Lane says you beat her all the time."
April glanced up. "Well, you go to Yale. You probably know lots more words than I do."
Rory was surprised but rallied quickly. "Yeah, but it's not how many words you know. It's whether you can see the patterns in the words that counts. I bet you'd do just fine." She paused. "Or, we have lots of games here. Battleship, Trivial Pursuit, chess—take your pick."
April thought for a minute and shrugged. "Okay. We can play some games."
"Excellent," Rory beamed. "Okay, a game tournament, you and me."
"Gee, now I'm sorry I can't stay and play with you," Lorelai mourned. "That sounds like fun."
Luke smiled and then remembered something. "Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you with everything that happened yesterday. Mrs. Rivera called. She'd like to come by sometime on Monday."
Lorelai frowned. "We've already got the nurse and physical therapist coming Monday. What time does she want to come?"
"Since you weren't there for me to ask, she said she'd call first thing and find out what time was convenient."
Lorelai thought about it and nodded. "Okay." She looked at Luke's daughter. "Better rest up this weekend, April. Busy week ahead," she warned.
April barely glanced at her.
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At two o'clock sharp, the Gilmore-Danes-Nardini quartet was standing on a sidewalk in downtown Stars Hollow, gazing with open mouths at the Twickham house standing before them.
Lorelai was the first to speak. "It's sooooo big," she said almost to herself. Immediately she caught herself and sent a glare to the other two adults. "Shut up."
Rory snorted as she tried to keep back a giggle and Luke smiled broadly while April looked up at them frowning, trying to figure out the joke.
The realtor, Mrs. Crary, bustled up to them having just unlocked the big front door. "Are we ready?" she chirped.
The girls nodded. "Can you two get the wheelchair up the stairs? I'll stay here with April until you do," Luke requested. April stood on her good leg and steadied herself against her father as the two women picked up the wheelchair and transported it to the front door. Luke swung his daughter up in his arms, carried her up the stairs and settled her in the chair. Mrs. Crary opened the door and they trooped in, blinking to adjust to the dimmer inside light.
Lorelai noted that the front of the house looked towards the east and determined to keep track of which direction they were facing as they moved around the big place. The vestibule widened to their left to make a small but separate room. "Kind of like a waiting room in an office," she murmured.
"That's exactly what it was," Mrs. Crary commented. "Guests and trades people would wait here until they could be properly announced."
Straight ahead of them was a long, wide hallway and almost all the way down was a staircase curving up to their right. The wall on their right was short with a wide opening which led to one of the biggest living rooms any of them had ever seen. There was a fireplace in the north wall. The walls on the east and north sides were not straight but pocketed with many indentations, most of them with windows, and under several of them were window seats. "We could almost make two rooms out of this," Lorelai pointed out, her decorator instincts coming to the fore. "A television-watching area and a reading and music area." Luke and Rory nodded. April said nothing but looked around, her eyes wide.
They crossed the hall to the next room, on the south side of the house. The chandelier and sideboard proclaimed it to be a good-sized dining room. The south wall also had numerous indentations with set-in windows and one window seat. A swinging door at the far end, along with a serving window, told them that the kitchen was directly behind it.
They entered the kitchen and gasped. It was huge. Lorelai looked around with satisfaction. "This is almost as big as the kitchens at the Independence and the Dragonfly." She poked Luke in the side. "This is your domain," she declared. "What do you think?"
"Really great," he murmured, noting that the room had been updated in recent years to include a large refrigerator, a late-model dishwasher, a microwave and plenty of counter space with a double sink. He was especially pleased with the island in the center of the room with a top for food preparation and cabinets underneath. He pointed to a bare wall to their right as they entered the room, beyond the serving window. "We could put a table there, to eat breakfast and other meals," he said, "so we don't always have to use the dining room."
There were two doors to the left of the kitchen and they checked those out to find a somewhat modernized bathroom—no tub, but a shower stall—and a laundry room, complete with a deep sink and hookups for a washer and dryer.
Coming back out into the kitchen, they walked to the door at the right side of the room to find themselves back in the central hallway. To their left, at the back of the house, was a door leading to an enclosed vestibule—"Mud room," Mrs. Crary explained—beyond which was a door leading to the wide back porch. Beyond the porch was the extensive yard, dotted with several smaller buildings and lined by tall trees on three sides.
Turning around, they went back into the hallway, with the kitchen now on their right, and went into the room on their left. Another set of gasps came from the two girls as they discovered the library. There were large windows in the left wall and directly ahead of them, and the two side walls were almost completely covered with bookcases, rising halfway up to the ceiling. "Hey, we'd need to get one of those rolling ladders," Lorelai said excitedly. Luke pointed to the open area under the window in the north wall. "We could set up a desk there," he said to Lorelai. "Maybe do our business paperwork here."
"Great idea."
With that, they had finished touring the first floor and Luke and Lorelai started to head to the staircase just outside the library door. "You guys coming?" Luke paused to ask.
April was staring, transfixed, at the bookshelves. Rory glanced at her and shook her head, smiling, at him. "Why don't you two go ahead? We'll come up in a little bit."
"Okay," Lorelai said and she and Luke started up the staircase. It faced the back of the house and curved to their right, graced by a lovely wooden banister. "Beautiful craftsmanship," Luke murmured, giving it an approving pat.
At the top of the stairs, they discovered that the center of the house again consisted of a wide hallway with doors along all four walls.
There were two doors straight ahead of them as they came off the staircase. One door revealed a closet; another was a set of steps that seemed to lead to the attic. Moving along the hall towards the front of the house, they came to the third door which opened to a large, long, sunny room with numerous windows looking out the north side of the house.
Luke's face softened. "Maybe a nursery?" he whispered. Lorelai's smile nearly touched both ears. They stood quietly, holding hands and looking around while they went off for a moment into their own private daydreams.
The last door on that hallway turned out to be a delightfully un-modernized bathroom, complete with a deep claw-foot tub and a pedestal sink, although it did have a small shower stall, there almost as an afterthought. "Oh, how cool!" Lorelai exclaimed while Luke smiled with approval.
Still hand in hand, they turned to the front wall of the house which was taken up completely by two large rectangular rooms, each with a door leading to small balcony. When they stepped outside onto the balconies, they could see the gazebo in the square as they looked over the housetops around them. Both rooms were identical, each with a large closet, and Lorelai said, "Maybe the girls would like these."
Turning to the south wall, they discovered several doors. The first opened to a small, nondescript room that could be used for a tiny bedroom or any other purpose. "You could put your sewing stuff in here," Luke pointed out. Lorelai nodded, pleased at this idea. The next room was another large bedroom with a connecting door to a bathroom, which also had a second door coming back into the hall. "Plenty of bathrooms, at least," Lorelai pointed out. "This could be a guest room, or maybe one of the girls would like it."
They finally reached the wall at the back of the house which featured only one door. As Luke opened it and they peeked inside, Lorelai squealed with delight. It was obviously the master bedroom, and it was huge. The back wall was dotted with windows and there was a door leading to a large balcony like the ones in the front of the house.
"There are rooms on either end," Luke pointed out and they walked to their left to the first one. It was another bathroom, very up-to-date with a beautiful tub and large shower stall, as well as two side-by-side sinks with plenty of cabinets below them. Luke studied the tub. "It's big enough to put in a Jacuzzi," he announced with pleasure. He wiggled his eyebrows in an evil way at Lorelai and she giggled.
They crossed the bedroom to open the last door and here Lorelai nearly lost it.
It was a huge, beautifully set up walk-in closet. The wall facing them sported a long rod, obviously intended for dresses and pants to hang. Poles on the side walls would do for shorter items, like shirts. A row of shelves sat under one side pole and a two-level shoe rack under the other. On the wall directly to their left was the equivalent of a large, five-drawer dresser.
Lorelai simply stood, her mouth open, drinking it in. Luke noted how completely she was mesmerized and chuckled. "I think there's even room enough for all your shoes," he teased.
When Lorelai was finally able to speak, she could only utter one word: "Wow." She looked around some more and again said, "Wow!" Her face shone with delight and she turned to Luke, her eyes bright.
He chuckled again. "I was going to ask what you thought, but I think you just answered my question."
She whirled around again and then faced him, her face serious. "What do you think?"
"I think it's perfect," he admitted. "What do you think?"
"I think it's perfect, too."
"Not too big?"
She shook her head. "Not when you think about it, I guess. There's enough room for both the girls and for any other kids that might come along. Plenty of bathrooms. Great kitchen, great living room." She thought a minute. "I don't think we'll use the dining room much, but who knows, maybe. You like to cook," she reminded him. "At least we'll have the option of having people over for some fancy meals, like on holidays." She whirled around again. "And this is, without a doubt, the greatest master bedroom I've ever seen and the greatest walk-in closet!" Her quicksilver mood changed again and she worried, "I don't how we'll keep it clean, unless we spend all day doing it."
"Let's cross that bridge when we come to it," he replied, putting his arm around her waist and squeezing her excitedly. "Are you sure you don't want something further out of town?"
"Mmmm—I'm not really sure how that would be better. I mean, this is certainly a convenient location. You'd only have a short walk to work. And it's even a little closer to the inn than our house now."
"You'd be nearby Sookie."
"And with that yard, we'd have almost every advantage that we could get in a more country-like setting."
They looked at each other and wide grins simultaneously wreathed their faces.
"Let's not say anything to the girls about what we think," Lorelai suggested. "Let's just get them up here and let them look without us, so they can form their own opinions."
"Okay," Luke agreed and they left the bedroom and clattered down the stairs.
Luke carried April upstairs while the ladies managed the wheelchair and they left the girls up there to explore. As they waited back downstairs, they grinned at each other at the exclamations they heard floating down, and they seemed to be coming from both girls.
While they were waiting, Luke tapped at several of the walls and grinned. "Listen," he said, repeating his rapping.
Lorelai frowned. "I don't hear anything."
"Exactly. Solid walls." He leaned close to her and whispered. "Great soundproofing," with a mischievous grin. Lorelai blushed as she smiled back.
A little while later Rory called down that they were ready, and Luke went up to carry April down while Rory handled the wheelchair.
They walked up to Mrs. Crary, who had been in the front vestibule making phone calls while the girls were upstairs. She finished her call and smiled at them. "Are you finished? Any questions?" They said they did not and assured her she'd hear from them soon. The four followed her out and watched while she locked the house and hurried away.
Luke turned to the others. "Well, ladies, I think we have a lot to talk about. How should we do this? Go home? It's a little early for dinner."
Lorelai smiled. "Let's pick up some ice cream and talk over a snack. And no, we won't ruin our dinners," she said to Luke, anticipating his objection.
He sighed. "As you wish."
Lorelai and Rory took a quick trip to the soda shoppe for take-out. They piled into the SUV and returned to the Crap Shack for the first official Gilmore-Danes-Nardini family conference.
