Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls and I don't know if such disclaimers are still necessary. Better safe than sorry? *shrugs*
"Rory, Oh my goodness! Don't you look lovely..." Emily said as she greeted us at the door. "I'm so happy to see you all. Come in, Come in." She practically pulled us into the foyer and proceeded to actually hug us.
This kinder-gentler Emily is still taking some getting used to. She was always nice and polite, even welcoming, but now her smile is completely genuine and lights up the room. All society airs have been put aside. It's refreshing.. and a little bit unnerving.
We finally reached Nantucket and Emily's "Sand Castle", as she now called it. Rory relayed the story of the former name "The Clam Shell" and I must say, I kind of prefer it. More descriptive.
We made it all the way here with only one stop for a rest break for Eli ("Go bathroom, Daddy") slash puke and rally for Rory ("I went too long without eating. I'm going to be sick.") at a mom-and-pop pizza shoppe, which was in a small town before the ferry. They stopped, refreshed themselves with some pizza and (gasp!) a salad, before they were on their way again. We still managed to make good time - the total trip taking a little more than 5 hours.
"Look at this baby bump! You've really popped out, it's so cute! May I touch it? When are you due, again?"
"Sure, you can feel it. She's not super active right now though", Rory answered while looking over at me with a quizzical questioning expression on her face. "Who is this person?", her mouth moved without words towards me and all I could do was shrug back.
"I'm due March 15th."
"Really? So soon? Well you look absolutely wonderful. You're positively glowing." Emily ushered them further inside and implored them to sit down in her 'beach chic' but comfortable sitting area. "Do you have everything that you need?"
"Yes, Grandma, thank you. We still have 4 of everything scattered across all of New England, we don't need a thing."
Eli, who was feigning shyness by sitting on my lap with his face curled into me, perked up at the word Grandma. He looked at Emily and seemed to realize where we were. He hadn't seen Emily since summer.
"Good Gramma", he said as he reached out for Emily. She held out her arms for him to come over and sit with her.
This really was a different Emily. Openly affectionate and warm, even. Freaky.
They made a little more small talk, then they all climbed into the SUV and drove next door to get unpacked.
Luke and Lorelai arrived shortly thereafter, and after some awkward exchanges of pleasantries between my in-laws, I escorted Emily back so she could "be sure dinner was up to standard".
Luke and I unloaded the luggage, gifts and most of the 10,000 books, save for one crate.
"What is all this stuff?", Luke asked of the heavy assortment. "Did Rory bring a book collection for a couple of days? This is worse than when we moved her into the dorms at Yale."
"Rory wants to do a White Elephant slash Blind-Date-With-A-Book tonight, in conjunction with the Christmas Eve tradition of a book flood", explained Logan. "So she bought, wrapped and labeled all these books. I believe she recruited Lorelai to bring the White Elephant figurine and grand prize."
"There has been a steady stream of Prime deliveries over the last week or two. You know me, I don't ask too many questions", Luke added while throwing up his hands in resignation. "Sometimes it's better not to know."
Logan agreed, once the Gilmore Girls get an idea, its best to just let them see it through to fruition. Any input interjected only caused confusion, they both had learned that lesson the hard way.
"Let's just get this done – I'm sure Emily will have dinner on the table at seven and I still need to change."
"Don't sweat it, I got you. We guys have to stick together", Logan said with a smile.
"Thanks, Logan, I appreciate it. This new Emily is still capable of doing some damage. I hate to go into the lion's den without a chair."
"Agreed." They finished, even stacking the books under the tastefully decorated tree, and went to find their wives.
Emily had kept the more rustic décor of this house, in keeping with the look of a cabin, so they were more than comfortable in the four bedrooms, even with Luke and Lorelai coming to stay also.
Dinner turned out to be fairly uneventful. Emily had zero reactions to Eli coming to dinner in his Pjs and insisting to sit in Lorelai's lap for the duration of the meal.
The only hiccup came when Emily asked again what Rory's due date was. Rory glanced at me confused for a moment but dutifully answered again, even though it had only been a few hours since the initial conversation. Lorelai being Lorelai came in with 'Beware the Ides of March' and the collective groans began, effectively breaking the ice of the moment.
After dinner, Rory had all the adults gather in a circle to explain the rules of the swap, which apparently also goes by many names. Lorelai dutifully presented the White Elephant and the final wrapped prize, with a flourish, just like Vanna White would, for which we would all by vying.
Once the game started, everyone read their book description in turn and swapped when a book met their fancy. We played a few rounds until every person had at least three books they were interested in. They person bearing the white elephant at the end traded it in for the grand prize, which was a brand new Kindle Oasis. In the end, Emily triumphed and we spent some time showing her how to get started downloading her own library of digital books.
Eli opened up several books of his own over the course of the evening, which he looked at but now he was ready to be read to. Emily did the honors for the first picture book, patiently reading and expounding upon every page, to engage the toddler.
Rory and I curled up on the couch to start Ninth House for her and This Is The End Of Something But Not The End of You by Adam Gnade for me.
After about ten minutes, Rory switched to another book, Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid. "That book was a little too on the nose for me", she quipped as she snuggled back into my side.
Lorelai and Luke had landed, Daisy Jones And The Six and Recursion, respectively and had comfortably ensconced themselves in side by side reclining occasional chairs with a beautiful Tiffany Dragonfly designed table lamp in between them.
Emily had another popular Taylor Jenkins Reid book, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo to read, which she had been meaning to get around to anyway after one of her cronies mentioned it sometime ago.
Eli made a few more rounds, getting abut four books read to him or being just content to cuddle, before sleep claimed him. Lorelai excused herself and took him up to bed.
Then Emily was ready to call it a night and journey back over to her side of the compound. Luke volunteered to escort her since it was dark out. He even brought out his best manners, gently gripping her elbow, while leading her and offering small talk.
The wine had been freely flowing after all. Except for me and Rory. I generally abstain in company while she's pregnant, for solidarity's sake. She does the same for me, except its all the time.
She has flipped over, with her head on the other side of the couch now, with her sock clad feet resting in my lap. I've somehow managed to turn pages with one hand, while squeezed and massaging her feet with the other.
Somehow, after she noticed we were quite alone, and in front of a romantic roaring fire yet again, she began to lightly rub her feet over my groin region, seeking out a reaction after not too long. I know she knew what she was doing but you now what they say- seek and ye shall find. I kept still and continued to read while she grew bolder in her exploration.
Finally, she broke the silence and just asked if I was ready to go to bed. All evidence pointed to yes, so I helped her up and gathered our book selections for us to retire upstairs.
"You want to do an icebreaker question from the fishbowl? We can adapt it for Christmas if necessary, tis the season."
"Sure, sounds like a good idea after the day we've had."
Rory and Logan had a surprisingly taxing day. They had all returned from Nantucket, a few days before and gone directly into the city to see Honor, Josh and Harper and exchange gifts. They had a great time, as they always do when they are all together. Then, the call came in. Although Honor and her family had seen her parents for Christmas, Logan and Rory had not. Since deciding to present a united front for the holiday with Lorelai and Luke at Emily's, they had not had a kind word spoken to them from the likes of the Huntzbergers.
Shira held no qualms in discussing her displeasure that Emily won the Christmas battle, for what was essentially the second year in a row. She had worked it in to several conversations on Christmas Day, according to Honor, earning eye rolls from Mitchum, who did his best to stay out of it by ignoring them, scrolling on his phone.
Shira, knowing Rory and Logan were supposed to come by Honor's that day, called and cornered them, like only she could. They conceded, and headed to "the estate", as it was called by the family, in Connecticut the next day, as it was on the way back from the city to their house in Hartford.
"I swear, your mom must celebrate Festivus instead of Christmas", Rory recalled regarding their tiresome afternoon. "She roasted us from beginning to end today and not even in a 'nice-nasty' Mean Girls type of way!"
"You know none of that stuff she said means anything right?" Logan paused. "You and I are not any of those things she tried to put on us, and no matter how we went about achieving our goal, it's really none of her business. You also weigh the perfect amount and do not look "overly large".
"I can't believe she had the audacity to say that to me. I am carrying another Huntzberger golden grandchild, for sucks sake."
"Don't let her get to you, Don't let her get you riled up again. I know we were mostly shell shocked on the way home but literally nothing she said matters. She only went there because my dad was not present. He wouldn't have let her go that far at all. But hey- look at it this way- you've officially been hazed into the family. Look at the dressing down as a welcome wagon. You're in, for sure, now."
"I know, but its still so upsetting. Your family life is so different."
"You gotta relax. I'll continue to do my best to shield you and our children from all of that, don't worry. No more Huntzberger drama tonight, you need to keep your blood pressure down, remember?"
"Fine. But no more Mommy Dearest for at least a month."
"Done deal. Let's get to the reconnecting portion of our evening. I'll pull the first question", said Logan. as he reached for the bowl on the nightstand.
The question bowl was something they had put together after doing some soul searching in the first year of their marriage. They kept one at both of the residences, so no matter where they landed, they had access just in case. There were some long days and even longer weeks of work commitments , graduate school assignments and taking care of an infant that had sometimes left them feeling like they were merely orbiting bodies around each other. The bowl was filled with a selection of 'get-to-know-you- better' corporate style ice breakers but they tended to lean towards the more deep questions. They really helped to invite the intimacy back in, when they felt miles apart, by getting them to share things that they had neglected in the years that they were not official.
"What is my go-to feel good movie?"
"Hmm… I think I heard you tell someone that it's Sin City, and I'm not actually sure what that says about your dank personality, but I'm pretty sure its actually a movie called Excess Baggage. I remember it being in your collection at Yale but we never watched it together. Then when I'd be in London with you later, I found it in the DVD player a lot."
"Did you ever watch it?"
"I did once. I realized I had seen it before, a long time ago, from the video store. I watched with Lane, and she raved about the soundtrack."
"She's right, the songs are awesome. And that is my go-to movie. I watch it every couple of months, especially over the last decade. It was a movie the guys at Andover razzed me about but then would end up watching too, well because Emily Thorne was hot… but for me, Vincent has about as cool as you could get. Of course, it came to mean something different to me after a while."
"I get you. We should watch it together some time." Rory paused, noticing how the mood had changed. In an effort to lighten things up, she asked, "You know, what I don't know is, What's your feel good Christmas movie?"
"It's A Wonderful Life is my favorite Christmas movie. I had never seen it until we watched together that first Christmas in London. It really spoke to me. A man figuring out for himself what's important in life. I can appreciate that, even more so now.", Logan's voice dropped off.
"Plus Jimmy Stewart is a boss", Logan continued to try to lighten the mood. "Remember that night we caught Call Northside 777 on the retro movie channel? They don't make noir movies like that anymore. A real time capsule for the newspaper industry."
"I remember what happened after the movie ended...", Rory said in dulcet tones following this walk down memory lane. "We talked and we talked", she added with a smirk.
"Oh we talked alright", Logan chuckled. "Then you climbed on top of me and wanted to do 'His Girl Friday' roleplay. That was a good night for us."
Rory cuddled closer to him, bringing her arm around his midsection, her hand up to his shoulder. "What's my go-to movie?"
"You, my love, are an enigma. You watch all these things with Lorelai but I've not sure you've ever told me your opinion on them", Logan paused. "I would say something like Titanic? We have a bit of history with that one."
"I do love Kate and Leo... there was totally room for him on that door. Probably would have capsized trying to get him on though..."
"And you also watch The Martian a lot and The Fifth Element. Kind of surprising choices for you considering the genre."
"They're great movies to have on the background when I don't want to 'watch' a movie..."
"However- I do know for a fact that the only movie file that you keep on your laptop is Little Women. I would guess that is your go-to movie."
"Yep, that's the one. Perfectly cast and it continues to inspire me. Winona made the perfect Jo and as far as I'm concerned, Christian Bale is Laurie. I'll reserve judgment for Gerwig's adaptation until I've seen it in a theater."
"Christmas movie?", Logan asked.
"That would be All I Want For Christmas. A young Ethan Embry and even younger Thora Birch conspire to get their parents back together after a divorce. It's usually available On Demand at this time of year and I watch it every year. Lauren Bacall is their society grandmother and Leslie Nielsen makes a cameo as Santa." Rory paused. "Mom hated it because it hit a little too close to home. This is before we moved into town so it was close quarters while still living at the Inn. She teased me about liking the rich blond even then. I guess I can see her point now."
Rory seemed even more reserved now that this particular memory has resurfaced.
"Would you like to snuggle up and watch it now? I can check to see if it's available." Logan had already started moving to find the remote and turn the flat screen on to queue it up. Anything to turn this negative memory into a positive one.
"Sure, let's watch it. I'll pull one more question before starts." Rory got the bowl and fished out a slip of paper. "What is the most influential novel you've ever read?"
Logan can see that question has brightened her up a bit. She started smiling as soon as she read it. "Please, you go first, I need some time to think about it."
"The most influential novel I every read was Jane Eyre. It taught me that you could still be smart and not just pretty and still get what you want out of life. She persisted and even love came back to her."
"That is a beautiful lesson and I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that you both smart and beautiful. I would have waited for you for as long as it took. I learned the hard way too. Which brings to mind one of the most influential novels I've ever read, Siddhartha. Life's about finding your peace in the midst of the noise, consciously separating the chaos and acquiring focus. The more I live, the more I understand."
Rory's got that glassy, ready to cry look in her eyes when he looks up. He just opens his arms for her and she comes into the nook. The movie is ready to go, so he starts it and pushes a button to dim the lights.
"Logan, I love you." Some tears have started to fall, he can tell by the way her voice sounds.
They'd had a tough day but it was a good day in his book. Any day with Rory is a good day.
"I know, and I'll always come back to you, remember? Only you, Rory."
They relaxed into each other and let the movie carry them away.