THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

April's birthday party brings an unexpected twist that changes Luke's and Lorelai's lives forever. Late sixth season.

Disclaimer: Just borrowing from Amy and Dan.

Chapter Fifty-five: A Little Touch of Hope

Lorelai's eyes widened. "Aunt Hope?" she cried incredulously.

"The one and only!" Hope replied. "How are you, darling?"

Lorelai let out a shriek that made Richard wince, Emily impulsively cover her ears and Luke to tear down the hallway towards her with the rest of the household at his heels. But Hope just laughed, that deep-throated laugh that somehow made Lorelai think of finely aged whiskey straight out of the barrel. It was one of her favorite memories from her childhood.

She and Hope threw their arms around each other, both shrieking and within seconds were hanging on to each other's arms, jumping up and down. Now Emily winced. "Really, Hope, you're as bad as Lorelai," she scolded.

"I thought you wouldn't be able to come!" Lorelai cried.

"Well, I didn't think I'd be able to, with the store still getting its fall line ready and needing me to do a lot more buying," her aunt replied. "But then I was talking with Emily the other day and the second I hung up the phone, it hit me: What am I doing missing my only niece's wedding? So I just told them at work they'd simply have to do without me for a week and hopped the next plane I could get."

Lorelai, her arm around her aunt, looked at her parents who were grinning like hyenas. "You tricksters!" she mock-scolded them. "You sneaky people! How did you keep this a secret, Mom? You're talking to me a dozen times a day!"

"Hope called us as she was getting on the plane last night," Emily said excitedly. "We've only known since then. And she made us promise not to tell because she wanted to surprise you."

"Well, damn, she succeeded," Lorelai marveled.

Emily impulsively touched her daughter's arm. "I'm sorry, Lorelai. I know we're early and I hope we're not interrupting your dinner, but. . .I was so excited I just couldn't wait another minute to get Hope over here and see your face!" By that point, Emily's voice sounded more like that of a teenaged girl than a dignified woman in her sixties.

"Oh, we're done with dinner. We're just beginning to dress for the parties," Lorelai said, drawing them into the foyer. "And it's a great time because we have a houseful of people to introduce to you."

Luke turned to the crowd behind him. "Okay, why don't you all head to the living room and we'll be right there."

"Roger wilco," said Ed humorously and began to shoo the others into the room.

"That's my good traffic cop," Lorelai approved. She grabbed his sleeve and pulled him to her side. "Aunt Hope? This is my fella," she said almost shyly. "This is Luke."

"This is a wonderful surprise, Hope," Luke said, taking her tiny hand in his huge one. "And a great pleasure."

"Oh, the pleasure is mine, Luke," beamed Hope. "I can't tell you how glad I am that our girl is finally settling down! I know how particular she is," she added with a wink, "so you must be very worthy indeed."

"He is," Lorelai assured her, smiling at Luke as he blushed.

"Come in, please, and you'll meet everybody else. And Mom and Dad, there are some people for you to meet, too."

The five went to the living room where Rory had lingered by the door, so she was introduced next. "Oh, my goodness," Hope breathed. "You are just beautiful! You were only a little baby when I saw you last."

"It's so nice to meet you, Aunt Hope," Rory said happily. "I've heard stories about you all my life. And seen pictures. I was so sorry you were out of the country both times I was in Paris."

"Oh, no more than I was, darling! I could have kicked myself for missing the chance to meet you. But sometimes those buying trips just can't be put off."

Luke gestured to April to come over and introduced her. He and Lorelai went through the room acquainting everybody. There was an uncomfortable moment when Emily and Mia were re-introduced but Mia's warmth quickly overcame it and Emily settled down.

"Lorelai, you should all go finish getting ready," Emily suggested. "We'll be fine here in the living room on our own."

"Of course we will," agreed Hope. "I would just ask if there might possibly be a cup of coffee available before you go. I am just dying for a cup of coffee."

Lorelai and Rory burst into laughter. "Aunt Hope, you've come to the right place," Rory told her. "Luke, you're on!"

"So that's where they get it from," he was heard muttering as he went to the kitchen to make a fresh pot.

Richard and Emily wanted some, too, so he served the three in the living room while Lorelai sat with them, chattering away. By the time he and Lorelai were ready to go upstairs and change, Rory and the Phelans were finished and returned to the living room to keep the conversation going.

"You're really excited," Luke observed as they were in their bedroom changing.

"I really am!" she said, her eyes sparkling. "That's how it is with me and Hope. I've only seen her a handful of times in my life, but when I do, it's like we've never been apart." She stopped still, thinking about it, a little smile playing about her mouth. "She was one of the best things from my childhood. One of the few people that didn't think I was a disappointment and made me feel. . .normal, I guess. Mom always says we're a lot alike. Maybe that's why."

"How often did you see her when you were a kid?"

Lorelai thought about it. "Well, she was around more when I was really small. I think she moved to Paris when I was about seven. She would come to visit every couple of years for a month or so. Once when I was ten, I remember, and again when I was thirteen. And then she came for Christmas after Rory was born."

"You've never talked about her much," Luke said. "I don't remember you ever writing her or getting letters from her."

Lorelai shrugged. "Well, neither one of us is much for writing letters. Besides. . ." Her smile dimmed. "She was pretty angry with me for a long time after I left home."

"Why?" Luke asked, puzzled.

"Because it hurt Mom so much," Lorelai said softly.

"Oh." Luke considered that one. "But if you're so much alike, didn't she have some understanding of why you felt you had to?"

"She knew that we didn't get along, but even that was hard for her to fathom. Even though she's very different from Mom in personality, she was never intimidated by Emily, probably because they were so close in age and grew up together. She knew Mom before she became Emily Gilmore, society wife and mother." She shrugged again. "She's always had a bit of a blind spot in that way. She couldn't figure out why, since she found a way to get along with Mom, why I couldn't either. But," she sighed, "I think the biggest thing was that I not only ran away, but I disappeared and it was a long time before Mom knew where I was."

"But your dad knew, didn't he?"

"He knew how to reach me. Not where I was. Hope was pretty mad at him, too, for keeping that from Mom. But she also thought I should have made more of an effort with Mom all those years I was raising Rory, and let Mom be a bigger part of Rory's life. That was the part she didn't get. So things were pretty icy between us for a long time." She stopped and thought back. "I don't think she's been in the states for over twenty years, and I think her anger with me was one of the reasons for that. She sees Mom and Dad when they go to Europe every other year."

"That's a shame, especially if she was such a comfort to you," Luke said softly. "But she's here now."

Her face brightened. "Yes. She's here now," she said simply.

They finished dressing and returned downstairs to find that Jess had arrived and was being taken through another round of introductions. To Luke's, Lorelai's and Rory's surprise, he actually dropped the sardonic, monosyllabic mask for a little while to acknowledge the introductions and even make a little pleasant small talk with the elder Gilmores and the other guests. "The Danes charm is finally kicking in," Lorelai whispered to Luke and he rolled his eyes.

Shortly afterwards, Luke, Jess, Richard and Ed left to go to P.J.'s. There they met Jackson, Andrew, Morey, Kirk (who had begged to be invited), Caesar, Sam, Zach, Brian and their bandmate Gil. A pool game was already in progress and a couple of the men halfway were through their first rounds. For the next few hours, they played pool and threw darts, watched the game on TV, laughed, talked and gave each other a hard time as men will do when they're relaxed and the drinks and snacks are flowing freely.

Remembering T.J.'s bachelor party, Luke had expected Jess to settle in a corner with a book, but his nephew surprised him. Apparently the snide, uncooperative teen was finally gone. Jess wasn't exactly the life of the party, but he played a pretty good game of pool and got in his share of remarks that made the others howl with laughter at his dry sense of humor. He seemed especially taken with Ed; Luke saw them chatting quite a bit throughout the evening. He also appeared to be talking about books with Richard.

Later they retired to a room in the back of the pub for a game of low-stakes poker, and here began some of the raunchier talk of the evening, although Luke and Richard kept it under control. They talked about their wives and girlfriends, groaned over their own weddings and the annoyances of married life and their constant bafflement at the female of the species. Eventually, they slipped into conversation a little more adult in nature.

Somewhat to his surprise, Luke was having a great time.

Meanwhile, the big old house was filling up. Lorelai, Rory, Emily, April, Nancy, Molly, Mia and Hope were joined by Sookie, Patty, Babette, Gypsy ( to Emily's delight), Lane and a couple of Lorelai's staff from the inn.

The evening began with a presentation to Lorelai of a large scroll, decorated with seals and ribbons, of Rules for Married Life. Several of the women had gotten together to create it and it contained instructions that were wise, absurd and hilarious. Conversation turned to memories of weddings, their own and those they had seen, and the wives told funny stories about, as well as complained about, their husbands and married life. Emily retold her story about trying on her wedding dress night after night, a story which was met with a romantic sigh by most of the ladies. She grinned mischievously and said, "And I know somebody else who's been visiting her dress every time she's come over lately." Lorelai got nailed by the women's pointing fingers and laughter but she shrugged and happily acknowledged the truth of her mother's statement.

Eventually, as the alcohol flowed, the talk began to veer towards the more salacious. Hope, who seemed very comfortable at center stage of the gathering, was beginning to tell a story about an impulsive trip to the Riviera with a very recent acquaintance, but Lorelai stopped her and raised her eyebrows to April.

"That's our cue, Molly," April said, getting up. "They're beginning to move into 'Ew' territory. Time for us to go."

"But I wanted to hear Hope's story," objected the irrepressible Molly. But a stern look from her mother quickly ended her protests. The girls bid good-night and ran up the stairs, giggling all the way and taking some snacks and drinks with them. Lorelai and Nancy exchanged satisfied glances that their girls were getting along so well.

"Okay, girls, now the party can really start," declared Patty. "Hope, by all means, please finish what sounds like a fascinating and absolutely delicious tale."

Hope did and some other spicy tales followed. The ladies then brought out some gifts for Lorelai: naughty lingerie (some of which was pretty nice and which she privately vowed to use at some point), smutty instruction books and novels and a few selected sexual aids. The gifts prompted gales of laughter.

They moved towards the mellow part of the evening and, of course, began to talk about their husbands, boyfriends and men they had known in the most intimate way possible. As most of them were acquainted with some of the subjects, the full details were not completely disclosed so to avoid future moments of embarrassment on the streets of Stars Hollow. Even Emily, with a twinkling eye, hinted of a particularly exciting episode she had once shared with Richard which caused the bride to moan, "Mom! That's my father you're talking about!"

They teased Lorelai mercilessly to tell them one thing, just one thing that she liked Luke to do that was "just between the two of you," as Patty put it. Lorelai resisted for a while but finally smiled, knowing she was thwarting their attempt. "Sometimes he just gives me this look. This special look that I've never seen him give anybody else," she said dreamily. "It makes me tingle down to my toes and feel like my entire soul is open to him. We could be anywhere, in the middle of the diner during the lunch rush, and he could be toting four plates of burgers, but when he gives me that look. . ." She paused, looking into space, and sighed. "At the moment, I feel like there's no one on the face of the earth except him and me."

A satisfied silence followed her words. Patty mumbled, "Well, not exactly what I was looking for. . ." but the others hushed her quickly. Mia smiled at her. "I think that's exactly the way it's supposed to be," she said softly.

Lorelai grinned. "And immediately after those moments, all I can think of is to run to him, knock the plates off his arms and take off that flannel with my teeth." Her statement was met with cheer and hoots and Patty finally looked satisfied.

Since it was a weeknight and many of the guests had to work the next day, the party started to break up around midnight. Babette was already asleep on the couch and needed to be poked several times by Patty to awaken and Sookie was giving off head-splitting yawns. "I've got to wait for my ride," Emily complained. "So do I," agreed Sookie. "Jackson doesn't want me to walk home alone at this hour." Lorelai met Nancy's eyes. "I can drive you over to the Dragonfly now if you want, and Luke can take Ed over later," she suggested.

"Or we can drop you off," Emily offered.

"No, thanks, I'm fine here for a while more," Nancy shrugged. "I really don't think they'll be much longer. In the meantime, we can visit."

But Nancy's prediction was correct and a short while later, Luke, Richard, Jackson, Ed and Jess returned. Jess left almost immediately to return to the apartment above the diner and Richard, Emily and Hope departed shortly after with Babette in tow to be dropped off. Lorelai hugged Hope tightly. "We didn't get to talk much," she mourned. "Mom, why don't you and Hope come to the inn tomorrow afternoon so I can show you around? I'm not working for the whole day, and then we can come back here and gab for a while."

"All right, Lorelai," said Emily. "Good," added Hope with satisfaction. She stood up. "Come on, fellow old fogies. Let's hit the road."

Soon the only partygoers left were those living or staying there. Rory excused herself quickly after the last guest had left and Mia a few minutes later. "Don't worry about the mess, we'll get it tomorrow," she advised the pair, gesturing towards the party detritus still scattered around the living room. "We have all day."

Luke sighed. "I hate to leave it, but you're right."

He locked up the house and he and Lorelai made their way upstairs. Lorelai had already carried her various presents upstairs and hidden them in the closet, but she showed Luke the Rules of Marriage poster they had made for her and they both got a few laughs. "Did you have a good time?" she asked as they undressed.

"Yeah, I actually did," he told her with satisfaction.

As they lay in bed, both were a little too keyed up to sleep and they told each other stories of their two parties until they relaxed enough for their eyes to drop shut.

Even the walls of the house seemed sluggish the next morning.

The four adult inhabitants, wiped out from a combination of a late night and the effects of too much alcohol, all slept in. Luke was able to because Caesar, even though he was at the party himself, had offered to open as an early wedding present to his boss.

So the house was quiet past the usual time, except for April and Molly, who were up giggling and shushing each other by seven. Too hungry to wait for the others to appear for the planned breakfast at the diner, they contented themselves with bowls of cereal in the kitchen, talking non-stop as usual.

Eventually Rory, who was not a heavy drinker, joined them, yawning, and put the coffee on. Next was Mia, looking bleary-eyed. The four visited until Luke staggered into the kitchen, still in his nightwear, looking like something the cat dragged in. "Coffee?" he asked numbly.

"Luke!" Rory said in surprise. "You feel that bad that you want coffee?"

"For Lorelai," he clarified. "I don't think I'm going to get her up and out of here in time without a large shot of caffeine." He took the proffered cup and shuffled back towards the stairs while the girls giggled and Rory and Mia grinned at each other. "I'll make him some tea," Rory said.

After a little while Luke returned and gratefully accepted the tea. And shortly after that, Lorelai bounced into the kitchen, looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, calling out, "What are we waiting for?"

They scattered to dress and an hour later entered the diner, where Ed and Nancy were already settled at a table with their first cups of coffee. "So you survived," Nancy greeted them. "We've been sitting here bemoaning the fact that we're both getting too old for this kind of thing."

"Speak for yourself," Lorelai said pertly.

Nancy's mouth dropped. "Is she always like this after a night of carousing?" she asked Luke, stupefied.

"Not at first," Luke said. "But get a little caffeine into her and all cylinders rev up quickly and she's on full speed pretty fast."

"I wish my cylinders would do that," sighed Ed.

Breakfast was great fun, as they recounted to each other stories of the parties the night before. Jess came from upstairs and pulled up a chair and Patty and Gypsy both came in and joined them briefly.

As the plates were cleared and the talk began to die down, Rory said sternly to Lorelai, "Now remember, Mom. Anything you have to do at the inn, you need to do today because you're banned from there as of this evening."

"What? Why?" Lorelai sputtered.

"Because tomorrow we're decorating for the wedding, of course."

"And I can't be in on that?" Lorelai asked.

"No. Grandma wants it to be a surprise."

Lorelai moaned. "Rory, I'm counting on you to keep her reined in. No six-foot ice sculptures of me and Luke or anything."

"Don't worry," Rory said cheerfully. "It'll be in good taste."

"Better be," Lorelai grumbled, taking another sip of coffee. A thought occurred to her and she said, "Hey, if I can't go to the inn, how are we going to do the rehearsal tomorrow night?"

"We're rehearsing at Miss Patty's."

"Miss Patty's?" Lorelai frowned. "How is that going to work?"

"Don't worry, Lorelai," said April eagerly. "We have the exact measurements of the distance from the door of the inn to where the chuppah is standing, the dimensions of the chuppah, everything we need. We can recreate the space exactly so we'll be able to practice it perfectly."

"Well, okay," Lorelai said doubtfully. "Hey, actually that might work. Patty can play the song we're walking in to so we can figure where in the song each pair leaves and how long it takes."

"That's what we're thinking," Rory nodded.

"Hey, what song was that again?" Luke said slyly.

Lorelai grinned. "Not a chance."

When breakfast was over, the Phelans departed for home, promising to return for the rehearsal dinner the next evening. Luke went behind the counter to take over the grill for a few hours, Lorelai set out for the inn and Rory and April headed home, where they planned to do laundry and other preparations for Luke, Lorelai and April for their respective upcoming trips. Mia opted to go along with Lorelai to spend some time at the inn with Lorelai and Sookie.

It was an odd, rushed, unfinished sort of day. Lorelai kept attending to necessary tasks but her mind kept drifting away to other things that needed to be finished for the wedding and was constantly distracted from what she was doing. Mia, seeing her preoccupation, pestered her until Lorelai finally gave her a short list of errands and Mia went off to get them done.

After lunch, Emily and Hope stopped in, as promised. While Emily began to pace around the dining room and back yard, eyeing everything in preparation for the decorating job that would take place the next day, Lorelai proudly and happily gave her aunt a tour of the building and grounds, including a visit to the stables, of course. Hope was duly impressed with what her niece had accomplished.

"This place is stunning," she declared. "I can't believe you didn't have a team of decorators that did all this. I've stayed at a lot of places, Lorelai, including some very upscale inns all over Europe, and this would rival any one of them. Seriously."

Her praise made Lorelai very happy indeed.

Mia returned from her errands and greeted Hope and Emily warmly. Indeed, one of the surprises of the previous evening had been how easily and naturally Hope and Mia seemed to take to each other. Lorelai was pleased, having been concerned that Hope's old anger at her for leaving home might spill over to the woman who had given her sanctuary so she did not have to return to the Gilmores.

By three, Lorelai felt she had done all she could and, as her level of distraction had risen exponentially throughout the day, she decided to call it quits. "Michel, anything else, you'll just have to call me," she told her concierge.

"All right," he said, agreeing more easily than Lorelai would have expected, and without his characteristic snide remarks. She suspected that it had a lot to do with the presence of the three older women at the inn that day. He respected Mia, had always admired Emily (although today she was intimidating him a little) and, from the moment Hope had begun to speak to him in her perfect French, he was completely enchanted with her. So now he nodded and said, "I'll take care of everything. Do not worry, Lorelai. I guess I'll see you next as you walk down the aisle Saturday."

Lorelai grinned. "I'll be here."

She got Emily's distracted permission to take Hope along home with her so they could visit a little more and the three set out, stopping to do a couple more small errands on the way. At home, Rory and April were missing, probably handling some more last-minute details. The three women settled at the kitchen table, enjoying an afternoon coffee break. Lorelai showed them the wedding book and they relaxed in an easy camaraderie.

But at one point, Hope, who had been staring at the table for a few minutes, fiddling with her cup, suddenly looked up at Mia. "Mia, may I ask you something directly?" she said with her characteristic straightforwardness.

Lorelai tensed, suspecting what was coming, but Mia looked calm and expectant. "Yes, of course you may, Hope."

"When Lorelai showed up at your inn with Rory," Hope said, "why didn't you send her home?"

"That was the first thing I suggested to her," Mia answered instantly. "She made it clear that she wouldn't even consider it."

"Why didn't you contact her parents to tell them where she was?"

"Because Lorelai also made it clear that if she got any idea that I was doing that, she would take Rory and run, with nothing but the clothes on their backs if necessary,'' Mia said, matching Hope's directness. "And that this time she would leave the state and go far away, maybe even to Canada, and never tell her parents where she was." She looked Hope right in the eye. "I believed her," she told Lorelai's aunt. "I could see in her eyes that she meant it, and I couldn't have lived with that. God know where she would have gone and what kind of trouble she would have gotten into. I knew I could keep them safe, right there with me. I hoped that eventually she might reconcile with her parents and I planned to encourage that."

"But she didn't contact them for weeks!" Hope cried.

"That was my fault, Hope," Lorelai put in. "Mia started bugging me to call them the day I moved into the inn. I was hesitant to call. I wanted to get really settled first. And I was afraid to contact them," she said bluntly. "They were pushing me to go to college and leave Rory behind with them, and Mom said that if I didn't, they'd get custody of Rory from me. I was terrified of that, and determined it wouldn't happen. Mia was begging me to call and at least let them know I was all right, which I finally did." She smiled at Mia. "And Mia did keep us safe. I don't know what we would have done without her."

Hope's eyes darted between the two as she considered their words and at last she sighed in resignation. "Yes, I thought it might be something like that. I heard something about your mother's threat much later." She thought about it a minute. "I really didn't understand or accept it for many years, as I think you know, Lorelai. . ." Her niece nodded sadly. "But Emily and I have had a number of very frank conversations this summer in which she told me some things I hadn't known. I think I understand it better now. It's still hard for me to accept, though. Emily just delighted in Rory. It broke her heart to have her taken away."

"I know," Lorelai said simply. "And I do feel bad about that. But. . .I really didn't feel I had any choice, Hope. Even when we've been seeing each other regularly the past few years, it's still hard for Mom and I to see eye-to-eye about. . .well, almost everything. I needed to grow up a lot more before I could feel comfortable standing up to Mom without letting her get to me. I wasn't good with boundaries between us and it took a while to realize that."

At that, Hope chuckled. "Well, problems with boundaries runs in our family. You come by that honestly."

Lorelai laughed, too, then got serious and looked at her aunt closely. "So we're okay?"

"Oh, darling," replied Hope, "we're always okay."

"Good," Lorelai said simply. "So start coming back home more often, will ya?"

Hope laughed. "I think I will be from now on," she assured her niece.

Mia simply sat and watched this exchange with satisfaction.

Luke was handling closing the diner that evening, as he was taking the whole next day off. After Rory and April had returned, they decided to have dinner there. When Emily came over to pick up Hope, they were invited to come along but they declined, as they already had a social engagement set for the evening.

"Now, remember, Lorelai, Hope and I will be at the inn all day tomorrow," Emily reminded her. "And you are not allowed to come over. So if you need us, call my cell."

"Got it, Mom. Don't go overboard."

Emily smiled teasingly. "See you tomorrow evening, Lorelai."

The four ladies went to the diner and had dinner. When things calmed a little from the dinner rush, Luke joined them. Jess eventually came in from his visit with Liz and T.J., who were just arriving back in town for the wedding from the Renaissance circuit. He shook his head. "Wait until you see Mom," he told them. "She's huge."

"She due when, in November?" Lorelai asked.

"I think so. It looks like it's going to be sooner." He joined them for a little while before excusing himself to go upstairs.

The ladies returned home and spent a quiet evening catching up with each other. Lorelai kept leaping up to go and check on details she had just remembered. Rory and April took her through the to-do lists with a fine-tooth comb and were finally satisfied that everything that needed to be done either was completed or planned for the next day.

Luke and Lorelai celebrated their day off Friday morning by sleeping until after eight. When he started to get up, she grabbed his t-shirt.

"Hey, not so fast," she said suggestively. "Remember, this is your last chance to fool around as a single man."

He smiled at her. "I haven't forgotten," he said. "But let me go get the girls fed so they can get going. You want to come? Or wait for me here?"

She considered. "I'll come. I'm hungry. But the minute they leave. . ." She slid her hand under his shirt and rubbed enticingly. "Understand?"

He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. "Understand."

And he proved later that he did.

It was another odd day. The girls and Mia were off decorating with Emily. The main task that Luke and Lorelai had to accomplish was packing for their honeymoon. They also each needed to pack a smaller suitcase for the things they would need the next day, Luke after he spent his night at the old apartment, and Lorelai to take with her to the inn when she went to prepare for the wedding.

At six, the wedding party met at Miss Patty's to rehearse. True to their word, April and Rory had measured out the distances they needed to know and even taped the dimensions onto the floor. They determined the order in which they would walk down the aisle and reviewed with Reverend Skinner and Rabbi Barrans the wording of the ceremony that they were planning to use. When the rehearsal was done, Lorelai shooed everybody out except Patty and her attendants. Mia stayed, too. "I'm planning on doing a little stage managing," she grinned. "It might be helpful for me to know this." Patty played the song and they worked out at what point in it each attendant would leave the inn with their counterpart to start down the aisle, timing things so Lorelai would arrive at the altar just as the song ended.

"Okay," Lorelai nodded with satisfaction. "That's done. And now. . .dinner!"

Maisy and Buddy had begged to have the rehearsal dinner at Sniffy's, as they wanted to be a part of the festivities and Lorelai and Luke had happily agreed. "It seems appropriate, doesn't it?" Luke smiled, remembering their second first date. The large group, along with their respective other family members, split up among their various vehicles and traveled to the tavern outside of town.

Maisy and Buddy greeted them warmly and the older woman connected instantly with all of her new guests, even those she hadn't met before. Emily had been concerned about having the dinner there rather than at their club or a similar venue, but within minutes she looked very comfortable. Hope, for her part, looked around delightedly and quickly began quipping with Maisy. Mia, Maisy and Buddy, being long-time friends, greeted each other enthusiastically and the proprietors welcomed the Phelans, the Bellevilles and Jess as if they had known them all their lives. Liz and T.J. arrived and Maisy swooped down on Luke's sister with cries of delight, as she hadn't seen her for years. Liz proved a lively, if slightly unusual, dinner companion and even T.J. was less annoying than usual.

In honor of the occasion, Buddy had even agreed to give Luke approval of the menu so there would be no surprises. The food turned out to be delicious, the atmosphere relaxed and comfortable and the group, spread over two large tables, had a wonderful time.

But they made it an early night due to the big event the next day. The Phelans departed for the inn, where they were staying through the weekend. The Bellevilles returned home. The Gilmores and Hope left for Hartford. "Now, remember, Lorelai," Emily warned as she was leaving. "You and the girls and Sookie have appointments tomorrow for manicures and facials. Nine-thirty sharp. So you have to be up early."

"I know, Mom. See you then."

The others returned to the house and Jess went his way to the apartment. Luke went in to visit for a short time. Then he picked up the small suitcase he needed to take to the apartment and he and Lorelai went out on the front steps.

"Nice party," he commented.

"It really was. Buddy and Maisy outdid themselves. And, more amazing, everybody got along with everybody, even T.J."

Luke chuckled and then got serious. "How are you feeling about tomorrow? Really?"

"I'm feeling. . .excited, nervous, terrified, jumping with anticipation," Lorelai said after some thought. How about you?"

"I'm about the same." He took her into his arms. "The only bad part of all this is being away from each other tonight," he said softly, playing with a lock of her hair.

"I know," she sighed. "I honestly don't know how I'll sleep, I'm so used to having you there. That, on top of the excitement and nervousness, I might be wiped out tomorrow."

"Nah. You had enough alcohol tonight to knock you out," he smiled. "Take a bubble bath or something to relax."

"I just might." She looked at him mischievously. "Want to join me?"

"Gee, I'm sorry, I can't," he said with mock solemnity. "I'm getting married tomorrow. I don't want to get so relaxed that I oversleep and miss it."

"That's a coincidence. I'm getting married tomorrow, too!" Lorelai said brightly.

"Wow, how about that," Luke smiled.

They looked into each other's eyes and then Luke bent and gave her a tender and lengthy kiss. "It all starts tomorrow," he whispered. "The rest of our lives."

"I can't wait," Lorelai murmured.

Finally they reluctantly pulled back from each other. "Okay. Well. See ya around," Lorelai joked, with a small wave.

"Yeah, probably. Someplace. If you're looking for me, I'll be the one in the tux," Luke replied.

"Good to know," Lorelai replied.

They got lost in each other's eyes for another moment and then, with his characteristic half-wave and his special smile, Luke turned and went down the street. Lorelai stood on the steps watching him until he disappeared from sight. "Tomorrow," she whispered.