"Hey Jess, it's been a while," Paris greeted, seeing him walk up with a dark-haired and clearly expecting woman in a mint colored dress.
"Paris, hi," he replied. "This is Sadie, my wife," he introduced, adding, "Sadie, this is Paris, she's an old friend of Rory's." It had taken him some time to convince both himself and Sadie to attend this event, Rory after all being an ex and attending the weddings of an ex was always somewhat complicated. In addition, it wasn't really their scene. But Rory was a friend beyond their romantic past, nearly a relative through Luke, and she had asked nicely. Also Jess had figured Rory could use some more friendly faces at her wedding.
"Nice to meet you," Sadie nodded.
"So Paris, how have you been?" Jess asked politely.
"I've been good, just recently remarried," she said, gesturing towards Finn who was chatting with Colin and Stephanie in the other I've got a pair of 7-year-olds somewhere running around here as well," she explained.
"You sure have been busy," he noted.
"Tell me about it," she sighed. "What about you? Rory told me you were working in publishing?" she inquired.
"I am, also finishing up my second book actually," Jess replied proudly.
"Well at least you're putting your bookworm background to some good use," she commented. "You really should mingle around this place, I think like half the people are in the publishing business," she noted.
"Hi Jess," Lorelai approached, "sorry, but I'm going to have to borrow Paris for a sec," she added.
"Paris, I need to talk to you," Lorelai pulled her away.
"Emily," Shira greeted, walking over to her in her champagne colored evening gown.
"Shira, Mitchum, I hope the ride wasn't too bumpy," Emily replied. The place was definitely not their scene and it's simplicity and a bit of an off the beaten path location at the end of a few miles of gravel road had been half the appeal of this place to Rory and Logan, hopefully keeping the unwelcome pairs of eyes away.
"Oh, that's alright," Shira commented, summoning a fake smile.
"I've got to say, the choice of location is at least refreshing, I've been to most venues around here too many times already," Mitchum added.
"Would you excuse us," Shira began, wanting to continue to her friends.
"You go, I'll catch up," Mitchum told Shira.
"You know, I just wanted to say that I think Richard would've been proud of them today," he said.
"He always did like Logan. And Rory's happiness was everything to him," Emily replied.
"And believe me, I never had a problem with Rory. I made a bad choice of words back in the day and for that I apologize to your family. Rory and I have talked already, and I aim to make sure she is taken care of, as much as she wants it," Mitchum explained.
"Thank you, Mitchum," Emily replied, wishing Richard had been around to hear Mitchum's apology.
"Honor, we don't need to be ready for another half an hour," Logan said to his heavily pregnant sister, who had made it her mission to make sure his brother didn't screw anything up.
"I've seen you two dance around each other for 14 years - I am not taking any chances," she commented, adjusting his brother's tie.
"So, how's my baby brother feeling on his important day?" Honor asked, finally breathing easier knowing that physically her job was almost done - she'd gotten him through the bachelor party without a hangover, over to the venue on time, fed, dressed and ready to go. She laid down on a couch, putting her legs up for just a few minutes. After having tried on her heels an hour earlier, she'd switched to flats five minutes later, realizing that looking hot in heels was not necessarily for 8 months pregnant women approaching their 40s.
"Honestly?" he began, "I can't wait to see her," he added thoughtfully, staring at his reflection in the mirror. His heart was filled with welcome anticipation. Prior to his previous wedding he'd been conflicted, worried and he'd even regretted letting it go that far at all. He was relieved that with Rory it was nothing like that.
"Aw, you're adorable," Honor commented, taking a sip of ice water. "Auch," she reacted. "This little girl objects painfully when I drink something cold, I keep forgetting that," she added.
"Can I feel?" he asked, hoping it'd take his mind off his nerves for a moment.
"Sure," she offered, taking his brother's hand and placing it on the side of her bump.
"She's strong," Logan commented after a few kicks.
"Have you talked to Rory about one of your own? I know it's a gentle subject, but…," she asked.
"We're trying actually," he admitted.
"That's great, I'll keep my fingers crossed then," she said. "You deserve to have this experience," Honor added a few moments later. While she had accepted his previous marriage to Odette, she could see it in his face, that this was something more, and she wanted his brother to feel as complete with his family as she did with Josh.
"Did you get it?" Rory asked her mother, nervously, getting ready to step into her wedding dress.
"I did," she replied, handing her the pregnancy test.
"How did you manage to..?" she began to ponder, almost amazed at her mother's resourcefulness. She'd known it was a long shot to even ask her. However, if anybody could discretely locate intimate necessities at a crowded party, it was her mother.
"Paris," she replied. Paris certainly had difficulty leaving her work at her workplace sometimes. "So you have a hunch or are you just late?" she inquired, taking to Rory through the bathroom door.
"Not late yet, if it is, it's early. But I did gulp down two glasses of apple juice this morning," she explained, stepping out of the bathroom a few moments later.
"It could be just mind tricks, you know of the association with apples and then your brain begins to recognize patterns," she tried to calm her.
"I just want to know already, I can't stand this uncertainty," Rory replied. She wanted to be sure, she wanted to be pregnant, and she wanted to see Logan's face light up when she told him. She'd hoped from the bottom of her heart, that this could be her wedding present to him.
"Come on, the stick needs some time and staring at it won't help. Let's get you in your dress in the meanwhile," Lorelai ordered.
"Alright," she agreed.
"Boy, Logan's going to have fun with these buttons tonight," Lorelai commented as she began buttoning the long row of silk buttons in the back of Rory's dress trailing down the entire length of her spine.
Finally in her dress, she walked over to the side table, where the test lay. One stripe.
"It's a 'no'," she replied, disappointedly, throwing the test in the trash.
"Oh, kid. Honey, it could just be too early to tell," Lorelai tried to comfort her. "Now come on, let's get you married. Don't let this bring you down. Logan loves you, with or without the second stripe," she added.
"You're right," Rory sighed trying to pull herself together.
She slipped on her vintage blue sandals and put on her sapphire earrings Logan had given her, the borrowed antique hair pin from Emily already in her hair.
"You look lovely, Rory," Emily, dressed in a dark grey sparkly sheath dress, commented from the doorway.
"Thank you, grandma," she replied.
"We're ready, when you are," she announced.
"Are you ready?" Lorelai asked.
Rory took a deep tactical breath and a final look at Lorelai for confidence. "Ready," she sighed.
Emily left the room last, grabbing Rory's bouquet. Unexpectedly, she noticed the pink pregnancy test in the trash. She didn't want to pry and she controlled herself enough to not look at it. But the fact alone that there was a test, a possibility, meant she needed to give the caterers a new game plan for Rory's drink menu by providing her with discrete options.
"Hey, kiddo," Christopher greeted Rory, waiting for her at the door to the ceremony hall.
"Dad, thank you for all of this," she replied, giving him a small hug.
She'd had a talk with Luke before asking Christopher to hand her over. After her own experiences with Finn she understood better that she couldn't just deprive him of this. Luke knew he was important to her. And when she looked forward she would completely understand if in theory Leah, one day, would choose Finn, instead of Logan, to hand her over.
As she began to walk down the aisle to acoustic version of Kodaline's The One, her eyes gazed over the immense crowd that had gathered in the ceremony hall for their wedding, catching an occasional familiar face, which were certainly a minority. Yet those smiles seemed brighter and more welcoming than the rest. Her bouquet and decorations in the ceremony hall were made of blue hydrangeas, and ribbons of lace.
Logan's eyes were glued on her, blurring out everything else. He was amazing in her entirety, and she was his.
Neither of them really recalled much of the ceremony, repeating just after the officiant, butterflies in their stomachs and their heads, hidden away in their bubble in front of hundreds of people.
The officiant didn't have to ask twice, when she finally announced they could kiss. Logan pulled his wife up close by her waist with some urgency, laying his lips onto hers passionately. This was surely borderline inappropriate, as Lorelai and Paris, almost simultaneously, let out a "wuhuu" together with their applause, shaking the majority of guests out of their impression that this was just another high society wedding where ever detail was planned in advance and rehearsed. Rory smiled widely at Logan, as they broke the kiss, while he returned it with a smug smile.
Mrs. and Mrs. Huntzberger walked down the aisle, Rory pulling her nearly two year old onto her hip, as the crowd cheered.
Emily pulled them aside, after Rory handed Leah over to Finn, just as they reached the hall, while her assistants continued to guide the rest of the guests towards the dining hall to mingle.
"Congratulations to you both, now this is something very important," she began. "My mother taught me this, and I want to pass this little secret on to you. Don't forget, this is your day, and you need to steal some private moments for yourself today. It's your day, not theirs," she added gesturing towards the guests.
Rory and Logan looked at each other, and truly they didn't need much more than that to already hurry down the hall. Logan's suite was the closest, and closing the door behind them, Logan's lips were again on hers, his hands placed on the small of her back.
"You sure picked a dress that's difficult to get you out of," he muttered, fondling the silk buttons.
"I don't think Emily quite meant 'that' when she referred to a private moment, Logan," she scolded.
"Fine, just know that you look ravishing and I hope you don't aim on wearing this thing again, so I can rip those buttons apart later tonight," Logan noted.
"Hah," Rory laughed, throwing her head back at the thought.
"I love you, you know," he added.
"I love you," she replied, giving him a gentle, more tamed kiss.
"I think it's time I gave you this," he said, pulling out a small key-remote.
"Again with the keys? Haven't we been through this?" Rory laughed at a flashback.
"It's to our house. They finished," he said, handing her the key.
"It's done already?" Rory asked surprisedly.
"I gave them some incentive," he added smugly.
"Wow, we have a house," she sighed, still not quite believing it. "But you better hold on to this, you have better pockets," she smiled.
"I can't wait to live in it with my wife," he added, kissing her again with a little more tongue.
"Logan, I wanted to..," she began trying to stop herself from getting emotional, wondering if and how she should tell him about her gut feeling, that wasn't confirmed by the pregnancy test. "I almost thought I was pregnant, I hoped I could tell you good news today," she said disappointedly.
"You took a test?" he confirmed.
"I did, it was negative, but in theory, it could just be too early. But I did drink like half a bottle of apple juice this morning though, just like I would when I was expecting Leah. But nothing for sure," she sighed.
"Rory, you know that today is the happiest day of my life even without that piece of news," Logan replied, wrapping his arms around her.
"Now Rory, I think we need to go back out there before Emily sends a search party," he began a minute later, reading from her face whether she was indeed okay.
