AN: Something odd is going on at this site, the chapter looked posted but then again it was not shown for most of the day. Hopefully it has now been solved. Tried reposting it a couple of times, I hope you didn't get too many notifications.
Rory sat at the kitchen counter in their apartment, fidgeting with her wedding ring, while Logan paced back and forth across the living room, waiting for Mitchum to pick up. Waiting to be screamed at was surely worse than the actual screaming? Besides, getting the dreaded call over and done with on a Sunday evening, before Mitchum started his work week surely was the respectable thing to do. It was nearly 10.30 PM in London already, but he knew Mitchum would still be up.
"Logan, what do I owe the pleasure?" Michum replied smugly, almost as if expecting him to come crawling back to London.
"Dad, how's the evening in London?" he inquired politely, delaying briefly. He switched to speaker phone.
"Oh the usual, no snow, lots of rain. Just got back from dinner with the Mountbattens half an hour ago," Mitcum commented.
"Is mom around? I have something I'd like to tell the both of you. Rory is also here with me," Logan said.
"Hi Mitchum," Rory greeted plainly.
"She already went to bed. I'll be sure to pass it on whatever it is," he replied.
"Rory and I got married on Friday," he said, holding his breath.
"Well this was a little unexpected after what you said at Christmas," Mitchum commented.
"We figured, why wait," Logan replied carelessly.
"But to be frank, I am not surprised," he added.
"There's more," he blurted, knowing this would likely be the real trigger. "We've decided I will not be returning to London to work for the HPG," he said. He could've said 'we' but to Mitchum it hardly mattered.
"You're crazy, Logan," he chuckled in disbelief.
"Just crazy enough to really mean it," Logan said seriously. It was as if the old 'stick it to the man' attitude he'd shaken a decade ago had somehow arisen in him. But he couldn't help it. Still saying that out like felt like freedom.
A few seconds of silence followed, only hearing Mitchum's breathing. After which the phone simply went mute.
Logan stared at his phone confusedly. This he didn't expect.
"He hung up?" Rory asked. "No cursing, no screaming, no threats," she added confusedly.
"Not to my face at least," he added.
"Should we be worried?" Rory inquired.
Logan wished he could answer that question. The very worst case scenario he could imagine would be learning a new trade altogether and fighting his father in court for whatever ridiculous claim Mitchum could come up with until he ran out of money. But would his father, who was already having issues with his heart, really go through all that trouble? He desperately wanted to believe his father was not that person.
Logan's reluctance to reply answered itself. She could see it in his eyes, that he wanted to say "no" but couldn't.
She rose and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him from the side. While she now worried too, she was glad he hadn't lied to her.
"I better call Colin just in case," he said after he kissed her temple.
"Hello, darling!" Finn greeted as Rory was visiting the headquarters for their monthly staff meeting.
"Finn, good to see you," she replied, hugging him tightly.
"So how's married life treating you?" he asked.
"Pretty good, just the whole name change is a bunch of bureaucracy. Just spent two hours at the DMV," she muttered.
"I was quite surprised Logan decided to take the Gilmore name," he noted.
"Me too, but now we'll all have the same name at least," she said stroking her bump. "Oh and Finn, I wanted to thank you for setting up the cottage, it was lovely," she said, smilingly.
"Oh, that's the least I could do," he replied.
"Logan is actually thinking we should buy the place," Rory said.
"And what are you thinking?" he asked, as they walked into the elevator. "It's a pretty nice place," he commented.
"I am a little overwhelmed actually. I mean sure I want us to be all settled before the baby comes, but with everything still a little uncertain when it comes to Logan's long term work prospects, Mitchum and my book, I am not sure we're in the right place to be buying a house," she explained.
"The dark lord may think he is the god, but he really isn't. I don't know all the details, but for what it's worth, you two can count on my help if it comes down to it," he said.
"Thanks, you're a true friend," she sighed, as they reached her floor.
Half a week passed hastily with various bureaucracy regarding their name change, their respective job assignments and telling the rest who needed to know. And as expected neither Emily, Christopher or Luke had anything other than positive notions on the matter.
"Paris just texted, she's stuck in a meeting," Rory noted, having been hoping to catch her before her appointment. "I guess I'll see her next week or something," she added.
While Logan knew how much Paris meant to Rory, Paris wasn't exactly the person he wished to spend a lot of time with.
"What's the score on the publishers now, Ace?" Logan inquired, changing the subject, as the two sat in the waiting room of Paris' clinic waiting for their appointment with Dr. Graham. Rory had been bombarded with replies from various publishing companies ever since that Monday.
"I have two outright "no"-s, and four wanting to meet me in person," she replied, feeling cheery about actually getting to choose her publisher. "Not sure whether I should risk it though, I just have tomorrow to meet with one of them, until I have to reply to Antrim Books," she replied.
"If you have that many offers to meet surely you could use that to delay the reply a little, maybe they'll reconsider upgrading their standard contract for you even," he suggested.
"I'll decide tomorrow what to do, I might just try that," she agreed.
"Don't forget we have a meeting with the accountant tomorrow at 12, he's only in Hartford tomorrow, before returning to New York," Logan noted. He'd spent most of the week at his home office, trying to run things from the distance.
"Ms. Gilmore?" Dr. Graham's assistant said, inviting them in. They stepped through and took their seats.
"Good morning Ms. Gilmore, I hope you are both well," Dr Graham greeted.
"We are. But you'll need to change our names in your file. We just got married recently," Rory said, taking his hand.
"Oh, that's wonderful. What shall I change it to?" she asked.
"We're both Huntzberger-Gilmore now," she added, handing over her ID, she'd just gotten the day before.
"Alright, I'll correct that," she said. "How have you been feeling?" Dr. Graham asked.
"Okay I guess, a little more tired than usual, hungry," Rory said.
"And very emotional," Logan added with a smirk, glancing over to Rory.
"All those things are perfectly normal," she replied, friendly. "Any morning sickness?" she asked.
"Other than the food aversions I've been having since the beginning, the nausea related to those, no," Rory said.
"You are one of the lucky ones then," she noted.
"I see your urine and blood tests were alright, a little on the lower range on the iron, so make sure you add some more meat to your diet or take extra supplements," Dr. Graham said. "Let's get your figures straight and then we'll take a look at the baby," she added.
"Marian, can you take her blood pressure," Dr. Graham requested her assistant.
"125/82," she replied a minute later.
"Looking good," Dr. Graham commented, noting it down on her tablet.
"Please step onto the scale, Rory," she instructed.
"130," Marian commented.
"Perfectly in the normal range," she noted, adding, "please lay on your back for a moment, we'll measure your belly," gesturing towards the examination table.
She laid on her back, and Marian pulled down the elastic waist on her leggings and placed the measuring tape from the pubic bone to the top of the uterus. "Just short of 17 cm," she said, and Dr. Graham noted it down.
"So it definitely means we are right on track with the timeline, due date July 1st seems to be accurate, though of course in reality they come when they come," Dr. Graham commented.
"And now we'll just lift your back up a bit so it's more comfortable for you," Dr. Graham added, turning the lights off.
The gel felt cold on her stomach and the probe spread out the gel in search of the image. The image certainly reminded a baby much more now, there was a face, a nose and a mouth, hands and legs. Tears were already falling down Rory's cheeks. Logan handed her a tissue from the side table.
The already familiar galloping sound took over the room again, as Dr. Graham turned on the sound, making Rory smile through her tears.
"Everything is looking good, nice steady heartbeat, 135 BPM. And as you can see there is quite a lot of movement." Dr. Graham explained, noting the baby moving its legs around.
"So, this little tickling feeling I have right here, it's that?" Rory asked, gesturing first towards the side of her bump and then to the monitor.
"It is indeed, you'll feel more soon. It's called quickening or fluttering," she explained. "Would you like to know the gender?" asked.
Rory glanced over to Logan briefly. "Yes. Though I have a feeling it might be a boy," she replied.
"Well, it's a good hunch, it really is a boy," Dr Graham said.
"That's amazing," Logan exclaimed.
"We're having a boy," she sighed, squeezing his hand in assurance. It was becoming suddenly very real.
"Mr. and Mrs. Huntzberger-Gilmore, please come in," the tall bald man gestured towards his office. Rory was a little surprised to hear someone else other than the two of them or the officiant call her by that name, but apparently the accountant was already on top of their changed situation.
"How have you been, Sean? It's been a while since we last met face to face," Logan said.
"I'm great, my wife just had a second baby recently, we're over the moon, thank you for asking," he replied briefly.
"That's wonderful, I'll send over some flowers to her," Logan added.
"So, as far as I understood from your phone call, Mr. Huntzberger-Gilmore, that you've recently married and want to go through the finances with your wife present," Sean said.
"That's right, I want her to have access to everything if anything were to happen, she needs to understand what funds we share. I've already ordered her the new credit and debit cards," Logan explained, while Rory stared at him slightly uncomfortably.
"And do I understand correctly that there is no prenuptial agreement or asset protection trust?" Sean asked.
"That's right," Logan replied.
"Alright, I'll just make a note of that," he said.
"So here you can see your account statements," Sean said a minute later, pulling it up on the screen next to him. The sums on each row left Rory speechless. While it was very likely Emily and her dad were quite used to this type of thing, she'd never seen statements like that in her life. And this was Logan on one of his so-called less than ideal days, having given up his HPG privileges. The way Logan had behaved with money on his first weeks in the US had somehow made it seem as if the situation had been worse, but apparently this was just Logan being cautious and responsible, which was admirable.
"And then here are the shares and their current market value," he explained showing a list comprised of HPG, Alphabet, Morgan & Chase, Inc., Novo Nordisk A/S, Vesta Wind Energy and LH.
Rory wasn't sure if she was seeing straight. "Is it just me or do those numbers look awfully big?" she tried making a joke.
"Yes, the total market value is somewhere around 17 million, but as they are dependent on the market situation they go up and down. The lowest total has been in two years is around 15.4, and the highest 17.5," Sean explained.
"And those HPG shares, how much of the company does Logan own exactly?" she inquired curiously.
"It should be 5%," Logan explained. "But Rory, you don't need to worry about any of this, it's just sits there unless we decide to sell some of them," he explained, adding, "this is why we have Sean here to keep an eye on things," he added with a smile.
"And then of course you still have the LH to your name with 100% percent," Sean added.
"So you own a company?" she asked.
"It's what's left of what I started in California, it's non-functioning at the moment, but it can be brought back to life if needed," Logan replied.
"And then there's real estate," Sean said, presenting a list with just one item on it - his London apartment, estimated value 4.5 million. "The car and the yacht" he continued to list the assets.
"A yacht, Logan? I thought you were done with those," she commented, raising her eyebrows, recalling his past misfortunes regarding various watercrafts.
"Almost forgot about that, it's in Nice," he said. "Sean, thank you, I think we have the general gist right now," he said not doing into the small stuff, noticing Rory looking uncomfortable.
"And what I'd like to do now is to sell the London apartment and put the money into a trust fund for our son," he said, taking Rory's hand.
"Alright, that can be arranged," Sean replied.
"Also, please add Rory to all of my insurances," he requested, squeezing her hand in assurance.
"I am soon expecting to receive a house from my grandmother, I think she's going to gift it, unless you have other suggestions. The house is in her name at the moment," Rory said, finally beginning to gather herself, realizing this was now her accountant as well.
"It depends a little on the market value, but I urge you to send me the details on the house and your grandmother's contact information, I can talk to her, or her accountant, directly to ensure the best course of action," Sean explained.
"And I suppose, I should just combine my personal account to Logan's then, there is ridiculously little money on it, but I'd feel silly not doing it after all of this," she added, awkwardly.
Logan smiled, stroking the top of her hand with his thumb. He knew she'd never truly been comfortable with having money and she felt guilty using it. Hence he had no doubt he didn't need to worry about her spending habits.
"You should tell your employer to change the account numbers then as well, or if you'd like I can take care of that for you. I'll just need to take your signature to get the mandate to do transactions on your behalf," Sean explained.
"I work over at Morgan & Chase, and probably will soon be signing with a publisher," she noted.
"Any other assets you wish to add to your family accounts?" he asked.
"There's my car, but I guess that's like 10 000 dollars or something, nothing much," she added, modestly.
"Send me the registration when you can, I'll add it," he suggested.
"Everything okay?" Logan asked, as they sat into their car, after the meeting.
"That was just a lot to take in," Rory sighed. The whole last week had been a lot.
"You needed to see that, it is now something that is ours," he said.
"But it doesn't seem fair, I am contributing such a tiny proportion," she said hopelessly.
"The Hartford house is not tiny, it's probably worth about the same as my London apartment," he explained.
"Still, it's not a nice feeling. It makes everything people assume about me true somehow," she said.
"What people? The people that don't know you? The opinions of those people you really shouldn't bother yourself with. Those are the same people that will grab onto every vicious rumor, which is also one of the reasons I really would rather not return to London," he said. It had indeed been nice and quiet ever since he moved back. Other than a few emails from certain human interest magazines wanting to know what he was up to these days, there hadn't been any media attention, and those he had turned down with a couple of one-line responses.
Rory knew Logan was right. Money only changed people if they allowed it, and she certainly didn't aim for that to happen.
"I know, it was just a lot, I'll need to get used to it," she replied.
"Have you given any more thought about buying a house, or the house?" Logan asked, knowing they needed to make their mind up about the house if they wanted it.
"Honestly it feels strange making these big purchases if your life is so uncertain. With Mitchum's radio silence, it just feels careless somehow," she said, despite having seen the statements just minutes ago.
"But we need to live somewhere, the apartment is just temporary," he said. "The situation is far from serious, we just need to be smart about what we do," he added.
"I know," she sighed.
"If you want we can look at other places, it doesn't have to be that house," he suggested.
"It's not that, I really did love that place. It was the right size, didn't need a lot of work, location was pretty good too - close to everything," Rory discussed. "But you never said, what was the price?" she asked.
"As far as I've checked the Gilmore house should be around 4 million, this is 1,5, and of course we should have it inspected and evaluated before we decide anything," he said.
"I guess we could do that. Did you check what school district it was in?" she asked.
"Chilton is 20 minutes, Ace, and there are public schools in Meriden and Stars Hollow if you'd prefer," he replied calmly.
AN: If any of you have any suggestions or corrections about their finances, I'm very happy to take them into account. Maybe I forgot something or maybe the sums are just too small? What would be realistic? I've read various threads on this, but this is now 10 years later since those were written. Also I personally think it is quite credible that some people who are wealthy really do act like they have a lot less, drive modest cars etc, and this is one of the things I think shows Logan's growth as a person too. Flashy is Mitchum and the younger Logan. But opinions are welcome on these matters.