Chapter 35: Turkeys and Stuff…
Rory looked at her daily desk calendar sitting on her desk at the Yale Daily News—she couldn't believe that it was already November. The first semester had flown by—in fact in some ways it seemed as if an entire lifetime had flown by. So much had changed in the last few months—her life seemed almost unrecognizable. The year had started out normally—Paris was her roommate, and Logan was Logan Harrison. Then their whole world had come crashing down on them. Rory wished sometimes that she had never laid eyes on Mitchum Huntzberger. She wished that somehow things could be the way they used to. Thanksgiving was coming up in a few weeks and Rory knew it wouldn't be the fun and joyous occasion it had always been in the past. Shira wasn't much of a better cook than Rory's own mother. Rory still had fond memories of the burnt Thanksgiving dinner incident of 1990. After that very failed Thanksgiving dinner attempt, they had always gone over to Luke's diner for Thanksgiving. Luke would cook them a wonderful feast and they would sit around talking and laughing all night into the early hours of the next morning. Thanksgiving was about spending time with those you love—not those you merely tolerate. This year they were going over to the Huntzberger house for what couldn't help being an extremely awkward Thanksgiving dinner. The guest list easily spelled trouble—Mitchum of course would be there, along with Elias, Honor, Logan, Rory, both sets of Rory's grandparents, Rory's parents, and Shira. In theory, Mitchum's wife Sara was supposed to be around as well but Rory had a feeling that she would make herself scarce. Honor already had plans of mixing some special punch to help make the day more "festive" as Honor put it. Rory sighed. She was tired of hiding behind alcohol—it was not the way to deal with her problems. In fact, realistically it only led to more problems. She shouldn't have to be drunk to deal with her extended family—both new and old.
The month of November flew by quickly and before Rory knew it, Thanksgiving morning had arrived. Rory was lying in bed flipping channels—trying to convince Logan that the Jerry Springer marathon on tv would be much more fun than Thanksgiving dinner.
"At least the food should be good," Logan offered weakly.
"Not as good as Luke's."
Logan nodded glumly. "Unfortunately, you're probably right."
"Good then I win. We'll watch Jerry Springer instead. Or whatever else you want to see on tv."
"Rory, we have to go."
"I don't want to."
"I know. Honor is making happy punch."
"Oh joy. Another hangover."
Rory dragged herself out of bed and walked slowly into the bathroom. A while later, she emerged, ready for the day.
The drive over to the Huntzberger house was quieter than usual. They walked up to the door and stood staring at it for a while. Logan reached out and rang the bell. A non-descript maid let them in and took their coats.
"Logan, Rory, welcome! Happy Thanksgiving!" Mitchum reached out and gave both of them very awkward hugs.
Rory managed a weak smile.
"Logan, listen—a small crisis has come up with one of the papers. I have the editor on hold in my study. I'd like you to come with me and see how this plays out."
Before either Logan or Rory could protest, Mitchum had dragged away Logan, leaving Rory alone with the other guests.
Shira and her parents had not arrived yet and Honor seemed to be MIA so Rory found herself alone with her grandparents.
They all said their polite hellos and sat down.
"So Rory, how are classes going?" her grandfather asked.
"Fine," Rory replied. She used to love discussing Yale with her grandfather—he made it no secret how proud he was that his granddaughter had chosen to go to his alma mater.
"So Rory, what do you plan on doing after you graduate?" Straub asked.
"I plan on starting my career in journalism," Rory replied coldly.
"Rory, darling there are a lot of pressures and expectations on a society wife…" Francine started.
"Rory, doesn't intend on being our generation's type of society wife, Francine," Rory's grandmother replied, cutting Francine off.
Rory sat there in shock—surprised to hear her grandmother defend her in such a manner. She hadn't expected such a defense.
"Emily, Rory needs to do what society expects of her," Francine answered in a voice that clearly indicated that she meant business.
"My granddaughter will not waste her brilliant mind or her writing talent," Richard Gilmore stated with an authoritative tone.
Rory wished her mother was there to witness this show. She wasn't quite sure what would happen next.
"Richard, with all due respect, Rory is marrying a Huntzberger. With all the parties and social events she'll be expected to attend and organize, she won't have time for her little career," Straub announced.
"Rory will be able to balance the social obligations of being a society wife with a career," Emily shot back. "Rory has always been able to accomplish whatever she put her mind to and we are not going to discourage her now."
"A society wife with a career will be a disgrace to our family name!" Straub answered angrily.
"That shouldn't be a problem then should it, being that she doesn't have your name?" a familiar voice said joining in the argument.
Rory looked up and saw that her mother, father, and Shira had just arrived.
"Lorelai's right; Rory is a Gilmore. We're proud of her so you don't have to worry about your precious Hayden name," Emily answered back.
Lorelai looked in shock at her mother—who had rarely agreed with her in such a public manner.
Lorelai hurried over to Rory. "Hey kid. Are you ok?" she asked giving Rory a big hug.
Rory nodded. "Grandma and Grandpa are taking care of it."
"I can't believe that you're not going to try to talk Rory out of this nonsense of having a career," Francine stated.
"I would ask that you stop insulting my granddaughter in my presence," Richard shot back looking as if Francine and Straub were both about to meet a terrible fate.
"Rory, dear. Please listen to me. Society will never accept you as a career woman," Francine pleaded.
"Francine, I have no intentions of giving up my dreams. Logan loves me too much to ask me to do that. Your rules of society are antiquated. I will have my career. If you want to shut me out of your life because of it, that's fine by me. I've managed this long in my life without you. You've spent more time being ashamed of me for one reason or another than getting to know me. I'm sick of it. I can't pretend to love and respect someone who doesn't love and respect me for me."
"You heard Rory, Francine. You have no right to interfere in her life," Emily chimed in smugly. Emily had resented Francine and Straub's sudden recent interest in Rory's life and was thrilled to have a chance to argue with them. After all, she and Richard had been a part of Rory's life from the beginning. They hadn't been happy when Lorelai had gotten pregnant at the age of 16, but at the same time, they never regretted having Rory as a part of their lives. They had never been ashamed of her in the way that the Haydens clearly were.
"Mom, Dad, please leave this subject alone. I'm very proud of my daughter and having a career is what is going to make her happy," Christopher joined in the conversation.
Rory sat there in silence as the situation in front of her exploded. The Gilmores traded insult after insult at the Haydens. Shira sat down on the couch next to Rory. "Happy Thanksgiving."
"Something like that," Rory mumbled in response.
The yelling and screaming stopped as Honor Huntzberger entered the room.
"The dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes," Honor announced. She quickly hurried over to the couch with a glass in hand and handed it to Rory. "Here drink this."
Rory took a quick sip. "Very good—sweet with a kick to it. What's in it?"
"It's my little secret," Honor said with a wicked grin.
She turned to Shira, "You're Shira, right? I think we met once in Stars Hollow."
Shira nodded. "It's nice to see you again Honor."
"We both have something in common tonight," Honor replied.
"What's that?"
"No one will be quite sure what to say to either of us under the circumstances."
Shira managed a smile, deciding that perhaps Logan wasn't the only good Huntzberger. "But they'll spend all night trying to awkwardly do the right thing."
"Exactly," Honor said, smiling with her eyes rolling.
The conversation around them had quickly turned from angry accusations to polite conversation with no true point to it.
"I miss Luke's cooking," Lorelai said as she plopped down on the now-crowded couch with Honor, Rory, and Shira.
"Ooh punch," she said spying the glass in Rory's hand. "Rory, is it like Ms. Patty's punch?"
"Only better," Rory nodded.
"Here, I'll get the rest of you some," Honor got up.
"I'll help," Christopher said coming up behind them.
"So where's Logan?" Shira finally had the chance to ask the question that had been on her mind all evening.
"In Mitchum's study, dealing with some sort of newspaper emergency," Rory replied.
"On Thanksgiving?" Lorelai asked.
"Yep."
A short while later and several glasses of Honor's special punch later, Christopher, Lorelai, Rory, Shira, and Honor stumbled into the dining room with the others hoping their slightly tipsy state wouldn't be obvious to all. Mitchum and Logan emerged from Mitchum's study and joined the others at the table. Elias Huntzberger emerged a short time later as well. Mitchum stood up at the head of the table to make a speech.
"Welcome everyone. I'm sorry I haven't been able to be a good host today but I had an unfortunate business matter that I had to attend to. Now that the business is complete, I'm able to give everyone my full attention as we celebrate Thanksgiving together. I'm especially grateful for all the blessings that the Huntzberger family has experienced this year—most particularly the addition of Rory and Logan to our family. Logan is the future of the Huntzberger family. I know he will make us proud. A special welcome also to Rory's family—Richard, Emily, Straub, Francine, Christopher, and Lorelai. And of course a special welcome to Shira as well."
"I think he forgot I existed," Honor mumbled under her breath to Shira.
Shira nodded. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault. I'm the disappointment of the family."
"Oh kid, I have you beat in that category," Lorelai grinned, overhearing their conversation.
"Is there something you wanted to share with everyone, Honor?" Mitchum asked.
Honor smiled. "I was just saying how wonderful it is to have Rory and Logan here, that's all."
Mitchum nodded and turned away from Honor quickly.
The food was brought out shortly after that and everyone began eating and making polite dinner conversation.
"Any chance we could still get some of Luke's turkey and stuffing later?" Rory asked her mother.
"He's saving some for us. We'll stop by after we leave here. Maybe one of us could come down with something so we all have to leave."
The others smiled at the suggestion. After what seemed like hours, they were able to say their goodbyes and head out the door. The ride to Stars Hollow went quickly, and they all drove straight to Luke's diner.
"Hey Luke," Lorelai called out as she entered the door. "We brought Honor and Christopher with. I hope that's ok."
"Not a problem," Luke responded.
"That punch was wonderful," Christopher said to Honor.
"Glad you thought so. I brought the leftovers here," Honor grinned.
"You didn't?" Logan asked.
"I did. Come on, it's out in my car."
Logan followed Honor out to the car and brought in the cooler she had taken with.
They spent the rest of evening—talking, laughing, and drinking.
Rory smiled looking at the scene around her. This was the way that Thanksgivings should be—happy and spent with those you care most about. Rory was just getting more afraid that these type of evenings would become rarer and rarer as Logan became more and more a part of the Huntzberger family…