EMILY

When Luke showed up in that old truck of his? I was surprised Lorelai, Rory, and Katalina were not with him. He told me Lorelai had drove separately with Kat and not Rory, but Jess. My feelings about Jess changed the night he took Katalina to the hospital so I was not upset at hearing he would be arriving. I had told them to arrive early so I could show Katalina her room, but it wasn't until at least fifteen minutes after Luke's arrival that Lorelai showed up. I could smell the coffee on her breath and knew immediately why she was late. Lorelai was also wearing black matte sequin joggers with a white silk tuxedo blouse, a tuxedo blazer, and some wonderful Chanel necklaces. The sequin joggers gave me pause, despite recalling Katalina buying them... I had presumed they were for Katalina at the time. I was about to say something when I realized I actually quite liked the look on Lorelai. It was polished and while it didn't accentuate her or hide her pregnancy? It worked quite well with it. Katalina's attire was exactly as I had expected it to be, lovely and enchanting.

"Luke is in the living room Lorelai, we might want to stop into the kitchen to get you something to hide the coffee on your breath before joining him."

"I probably should come too then," Katalina stated.

"I'm going to go say hi to my uncle." Jess said and I noticed Lorelai shot him a look, "The secret is safe Lorelai, don't worry."

"Mom, why is nobody here? I mean I see the caterers, but why is nobody here?" Lorelai said as we walked to the kitchen.

"Your idea of on time is never on time, so I told you to be here an hour early. It clearly was smart since you were fifteen minutes late. I also wanted to show Katalina something. I should have done the same thing with the band, since while I have their sound system set up? Neither the band nor their instruments are here. Okay... all right now. There should be a tin of lavender pastilles in the cabinet."

"What else you got Mom? Sookie had me try her lavender shortbread cookies once? Eating lavender is not my thing"
"What about peppermints? The maid I fired last week was always sucking on them. You could hear that slurping sound over the vacuum even. It drove me bonkers. I am sure there's probably some left in here from that... Oh yes, here we are. A bag of peppermints. One for each of you."

"Thanks Mom."

"Thank you."

"Now Katalina, let's go upstairs for a second. We need to have a chat and there's something I need to show you."

"So do I just... go into the living room then?" Lorelai asked.

"Come, go, I don't care Lorelai. You're an adult. You are capable of making choices."

"Alright, I guess I am coming. Don't mind my peppermint slurping."

Katalina chuckled and I shot her a look, which only served to make her laugh a little bit longer.

"Please don't encourage her Katalina."

We went upstairs and I showed Katalina her bedroom.

"It's your own special place in the house. Rory has one and I felt you should as well. I couldn't decide if I should redo the pool house and make that your place. However, since you're going to be having a baby, this room works perfectly. We have one other spare bedroom up here, between this room and Lorelai's old room. We can make that into a nursery. The pool house really isn't suited to have a nursery and a place for you, so this is more practical. It has a balcony just like Lorelai's old room and that fireplace. Wood burning. I put a TV above the fireplace for you, had a frame built for around it so it wouldn't look so garish."

Katalina didn't say anything. She just walked around and eventually sat in the same chair that had been in her hospital room.

"You are feeling alright aren't you? It's not that coffee that you and Lorelai clearly snuck on the way here is it?"
"I'm fine. I'm just taking it all in and thinking."

"Well, while you're thinking I can talk to you about something." I sat down on the bench under the window that overlooked the balcony, "I wanted you to have this room so you would know you are welcome in this home. I feel I may have made you feel otherwise the last time you were here. I am sorry for that."

"Did my mother just apologize?"
"Yes I did Lorelai, is that so hard to believe? I was wrong. There I said that too."
"It's hard." Katalina stated, speaking for the first time since we'd left the kitchen, The way she spoke made it clear she was choosing each word carefully. "I understand why it wouldn't seem out of the realm of possibilities that I could have been using stomach pains as an excuse to not eat that night. I wasn't, obviously. However, it is reasonable for you to have thought I was. It's hard for me to navigate what's happening. It has to be hard for both of you as well. I think honest communication though...and trust. Eating disorders... God... I just said that out loud... they aren't always conducive to trust. Eating disorders and white lies or full-fledged lies go hand in hand... So I get certain things make it harder to trust me."

"It is hard." Lorelai said. She almost sounded relieved to get to admit it, "I just want you to be okay and it's hard to not worry about trying to fix the things I think I can fix for you since there's so many I can't."

Katalina stood up and gave Lorelai a hug. I felt like something might be going on that I didn't know.

"We are Gilmore girls so we get through hard times," I said, "Now honestly Katalina, there is no reason to have a bemused look on your face. You are my granddaughter, so you are an honorary Gilmore girl."