"I'm here to see Rosemary!" Finn announced as the door opened.
"I'm sorry, you've got the wrong house," Logan stated, pretending to shut the door in his face, before greeting Finn.
"Her name is Hope," Logan corrected after a moment.
"You promised!" Finn cried.
"No I didn't," Logan stated plainly, shaking his head.
"So here they are," Finn exclaimed as he stepped into the living room, where Rory was just finishing breastfeeding Hope. Rory had already grown quite used to breastfeeding wherever and whenever Hope wanted, not caring much about what others thought, especially in her own home.
"No need to cover up on my account, I'm used to it. My sister recently had her's," the Australian added. "It's kind of sexy even," Finn said suggestively.
"Hey, that's my wife you are talking about!" Logan objected jokingly.
"Didn't think you were much of a kid person. Honestly Finn, what more have you been hiding from us?" Rory inquired curiously.
"How dare you? I babysit baby Abigail all the time. We're mates!" Finn replied sounding genuinely surprised they'd think that.
Hope had just finished her meal and Rory placed a towel on her shoulder to burp her.
"Can I do that," Finn offered holding out his hands in front of Rory, "I think it's time we get to know each other, my dear Hope."
"Just be careful with your shirt, she tends to spit up," Rory instructed and placed the towel from her shoulder onto his, adding, "It's her bedtime soon."
"Oh, we'll be fine," he soothed and walked around with Hope on her shoulder continuing his conversation with Hope instead. Hope looked very content.
"Did you know, he could do that?" Rory asked Logan.
"I knew he'd recently become an uncle…," he replied. They were both amazed. After ten minutes of walking around and talking to her, he returned to the living room without the baby.
"Where is she?" Rory began.
"Asleep," Finn explained, "the pram you have in the bedroom is excellent for soothing babies you know, she was out in a few seconds."
Rory couldn't help but to go and take a peek. Hope was indeed perfectly content in the Balmoral. She snapped a quick photo and sent it over to Emily.
"Thanks Finn, you should sell your baby whisperer services as a side job," Rory suggested jokingly.
"Nah, too expensive, nobody would be able to afford it. I prefer to volunteer," he replied.
"You're welcome back any time," Rory invited courteously.
"How's life treating you otherwise?" Logan asked Finn, moving on to other topics.
"Fine now, when Colin's no longer trying to beat me in having the largest collection of bourbon," Finn commented.
"Any word from Robert?" Rory asked.
"Believe it or not the man is actually engaged," he replied, "I tried to prove to him he might be gay the last time I saw him in Atlantic City, but he ended up finding himself a wifey at one of the poker tables."
They spent a quiet evening catching up, Logan even mentioned his father's condition. Rory could see that he was not quite alright, but who would blame him for feeling a bit emotional. Rory went to bed early, as she hadn't slept well the night before, leaving the two in the living room with a bottle of schotch.
The next week Logan returned to his work full time, well as full time as a business owner ever was truly - while his hours were flexible, he probably worked at least 60-70 hour a week no matter the arrangement. Rory had settled into a good life rhythm with Hope sticking fairly well to a schedule. Every once in a while Jess would come over if something needed to be discussed regarding her book in more detail. That day Jess came over in the afternoon, holding a brown paper package.
"What's this?" Rory inquired.
"Unwrap and see," Jess instructed as he placed the package on the kitchen table.
It was her book. The first edition. The dark red cover felt smooth under her palm, and the pages smelled fresh off the press.
Rory hugged Jess. "Thank you, thank you for everything" she said with a slight tear in her eye.
"I knew you could do it," Jess added, "You are a born writer, I've never had to edit so little in a book of this length."
"The ebook is up as well," Jess explained. "Let me show you," he said, asking if he could use her laptop.
After a few seconds he'd pulled up the book on three major sites. "You see this here, this means it's doing very well," he noted pointing at the "trending" marking.
"The work is not done, we'll do a few readings in New York and Boston soon but nothing major until you are up for it. You can probably bring Hope with you if you get someone to help out. I can help out too, even if nobody else can," he offered.
"I can't believe it, I did it, I wrote a book, I wrote 'the' book," Rory sighed.
Logan had just parked his car in front of their house as his phone rang.
"Logan, it's Honor," a serious voice said.
"Hi sis, what's up?" he inquired.
"Mom just called…," she hesitated. "Dad died. His heart just stopped. Apparently he was on some new drug trial in London," she gasped. "I'm at Charles De Gaulle now," she added.
Logan was at a loss for words.
"Thanks for letting me know, Honor. I'll fly out on the red-eye," he said quietly. He never thought it would've happened so soon - he thought there had been more time.
He took a deep breath and walked in to the house. Rory was entertaining their three month old on the baby blanket, but she too stopped cold once she saw Logan's face.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Mitchum died," he replied quietly. "I need to go to London, to my mother. Honor is coming from Paris," he added.
"Of course, you need to go," Rory agreed. "Anything I can do?" she asked.
"Just hold me for a moment, before I go," Logan said, holding back his tears.