After a round of hugs and congratulations resulting in a pile of Kleenex, Lorelai had to head back to the Inn. The contractor of the new Inn Annex had already called five times during the past hour and she simply needed to get back there.
"Now, Logan, I know you don't want to hear this, but what are you going to do about telling our parents?" Honor added standing in the City Hall lobby, pulling on her coat and getting ready to leave. She was slowly beginning to get used to the idea or Logan and Rory as husband and wife and she couldn't be happier for him, but she also knew this would not go over easily. For their luck, their parents had flown back to London just a few days after Christmas.
"Come one, Honor. Let me have this weekend. I'll handle it, I promise. I'll tell you when I do, so for now just keep it to yourself, and Josh," Logan pleaded.
Honor roller her eyes before relenting. "Fine," she muttered, with a weak smile.
"Do you want to come get some tacos with us?" Rory suggested.
"Oh, I wish I could really. Damn, tacos, really Logan?" she began, "mom's gonna faint if she hears, you know," Honor added.
"Hey, tacos are a religion in the Gilmore family," Logan argued, realizing that he indeed was a part of the Gilmore family now, a family that he actually preferred, not counting his sister.
"I've taught you so well," Rory commented laughingly.
"Another time, I'm going to take your word for it for now. I have another appointment that I am already running a little late to, so sorry, I have to run," Honor said, hugging them both. "Have fun, you two!"
"Thank you for being here. I love you, sis," Logan said.
"See you!" Rory called after her.
"So are you ready to go Mrs. Huntzberger-Gilmore?" Logan asked Rory, pulling her close for a sensual kiss.
"More than ready," she replied, snuggling into his chest.
"Then we'll go. But first…," he said, pulling out his phone and snapping a selfie of the two of them with the City hall atrium in the background. He opened up a new group chat, adding Finn, Robert, Colin, Paris and Lane to the conversation, attaching the picture.
"Let me," Rory asked, taking his phone. She typed:
"Today we jumped. We got married today at 11 AM at Hartford City Hall. You were there with us in our hearts. Mr. and Mrs. Huntzberger-Gilmore. P.S. You are among the first to know other than Lorelai and Honor!"
She pressed send.
It took only a minute before both of their phones began ringing. Apparently leaving would have to wait a while.
"Lane, hi," Rory answered her phone.
"Oh my god, this is amazing, Rory. I am so happy for you," she said.
"Thank you, I feel a little bad now for not inviting you guys," Rory replied.
"Oh, don't be, we'll celebrate later. You'll have to tell me everything. Tell Logan congratulations from us," Lane said.
"I will, thank you," Rory said, ending the call.
At the same time Logan was already on Facetime with both Colin and Robert.
"Tell me, I gave you the idea, didn't I?" Colin boasted.
"Colin, I think it's safe to say, I had the idea first a decade ago," Logan corrected him.
"For what it's worth I think it's great you two finally tied the knot," Robert added.
"And you really went for the Gilmore name? I am not sure what to call you now," Colin continued, looking over the message Rory had sent them.
"I did," he replied, "you can call me whatever you want, Colin," Logan added.
"And your parents don't know?" Colin continued.
"Not yet, I'll tell them next week," he sighed.
"Well enjoy the bliss while you can then," Colin added.
"Congrats! And oh, you owe us a party, Logan," Robert added, before disconnecting.
"Paris, hi!" Rory answered her phone, switching to speaker phone as Logan joined her.
"Hey," Paris greeted.
"Hi, Paris," Logan added.
"So you two finally gave in to the societal pressures or something?" Paris asked.
"We just figured it was time," Rory replied, glancing over to Logan, who had a wide smile painted on his face.
"You guys were smart enough to do a prenup, right? It certainly paid off for me," she inquired.
"We'll I guess that makes us dumb in your eyes, but we were sort of in a hurry and skipped that tiny detail, but no regrets so far," he replied with a wink.
"Mhmh," she muttered all-knowingly. "Well, I suppose congratulations are in order then," she added.
"Thank you, Paris," Rory said.
"I'll see you next week, Rory. You had an appointment on Thursday, right?" she asked.
"That's right," Rory replied.
"Bye, Paris!" Logan said.
While they had been speaking to Paris a text from Finn had arrived saying:
"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person*, and in that sense I think you two have already been married for a while. I'd call but I am at a board meeting. Sending my love, Finn."
"Aww, that's so nice of him," Rory said to Logan, feeling tears in the throat again.
"So, aren't you going to ask what our honeymoon is going to be?" Logan asked as the two sat in their car, having just finished the best beef tacos in the state.
"I thought we'd be going home after this," she replied obliviously, taking another bite.
"Come on, Ace, you really thought I'd just leave it at that? It may have been a low key event, but it doesn't have to mean we can't indulge a little. I just want to hide out with you a little before we go telling the rest of the world," he said.
"Hey, I have no objections, I just hadn't thought that far along honestly. Everything just happened so fast," she corrected her initial reaction. It wasn't even 1 PM yet, and already she felt like taking a nap.
"How did your meeting go by the way?" he asked.
"Pretty good. We didn't have time to discuss all the details but they promised to send me their standard contract to look over, so they're definitely interested," she explained followed by a yawn.
"Are you feeling okay?" he asked caringly.
"Just a little tired," Rory replied, gently running her hand over her bump.
"Well it's been quite the morning. Come on, let's get you home. You'll get some rest," he said determinedly, adding, "then we pack and then we'll go."
"Go where?" she asked, still clueless on what he had planned.
"You'll see," he added.
"What is this place? It looks amazing," Rory said, admiring at white wooden cottage, still in Christmas decor, string lights lighting up the beautiful wraparound porch and large candles lighting their path to the door.
"Well I figured you wouldn't want to spend half a day travelling anywhere, so I just found this place for the weekend. Finn helped a little," Logan replied. They'd travelled just 30 minutes to this place.
"So wait, he knew?" she asked.
"He knew I wanted to do something special for you, and then well... he guessed," he replied.
"Why didn't you say anything? We should've invited him to the ceremony," she scolded.
"I didn't want to ruin the surprise, and he was fine with it, you know how he is," Logan explained.
"Oh you," Rory kissed him.
"Come on, let's go inside, there's food," he suggested, searching his pocket for the key.
Inside a gush of warmth swarmed them, the fireplace lit at the back wall of the living room.
"Feels cozy," she commented, as they took off their coats.
"I'll just go take our bags upstairs," he suggested, heading up the stairs.
Rory walked into the living room along the slightly squeaky wooden floorboards. The place was probably from the 18th century, but had been renovated fairly recently. The Christmas decorations were still up inside, creating a holiday atmosphere. She almost began sitting down onto the incredibly inviting red velvet couch, stopping halfway, when she noticed it.
"Logan, come here," she called.
"Everything okay?" he asked stepping into the livingroom.
"There's a gazebo!" she said, gesturing towards the back yard.
"I knew you'd like it," he noted. "Too bad, it's a little muddy out there just now," he added. There hadn't been much snow so far in the Hartford area, and on most days had been above 30 degrees.
"I love it," she sighed.
"Are you hungry? There's cake," he asked, wrapping his hands around her.
"Not right now," she replied, adding, "I wonder if this place has a bathtub?"
"There is," he replied.
"Is it big enough for the two of us?" she said suggestively.
"We can find out," he replied smugly.
*quote by Mignon McLaughlin, an Australian journalist