Chapter Four
"That's it?" asked Lorelai, squinting her face in confusion.
Rory was sat at her mother's kitchen table picking at pastries and recounting her conversation with Logan and the drama in the foyer. She had not expected Lorelai to be disappointed, she had thought she'd be providing her mother with prime-time entertainment.
"Did you not hear me say I spoke to both Odette and Mitchum?" replied Rory, incredulously.
Lorelai swatting her hand. "I'm not talking about that (yet) I'm talking about Logan. That's all he said? And did?"
"Did you expect him to get down on one knee?"
"Sort of, yes," answered Lorelai seriously, tilting her head. "The boy used to be full of grand gestures, funnily enough, getting down on one knee was one of them. All he said was that he wanted time?"
"As I said, he was shocked, like I was," explained Rory flippantly. "Although the gala was the best opportunity for me to see him it wasn't exactly the best place for him to process the news of a life-altering foetus. Besides, I thought you'd be against any proposals."
"I wasn't keen on the last one, but we can all agree the circumstances are different," stated Lorelai, rolling her eyes and taking a sip from her coffee mug. "Luke better come back with some of his coffee, it just tastes better from the diner. Anyway, you're a more adulty adult now compared to a twenty-two-year-old baby adult so I wouldn't be thrilled but I wouldn't be mad. I'd be happy if it's what you wanted. Do you want him to do that?"
Rory scoffed. "No. I do not want to get married for the sake of the baby and be stuck in a society marriage with in-laws that will hate me and think I'm a gold-digging, home-wrecking mistress and a husband that will slowly resent me for taking away his life choices. He's only said that he wants to be a father, nothing about us."
"I don't want that for you either, Mini-Me," said Lorelai, grabbing her hand. "But don't shut yourself off to options that are there because you have predicted one theoretical outcome. I've seen Doctor Strange – there are billions. Anyway, fill me in with the competition?"
"She's not my competition because I'm not participating in a competition and even if I was, she's won it, she's his fiancée."
"Jeez, baby trumps engagement ring, everyone knows that."
"Mum, she's beautiful and kind, and she was lovely to me," said Rory, her eyes tearing up and her stomach twisting. "I didn't deserve that."
"I'm sure she won't be as nice to you when the cat's out of the bag," joked Lorelai, squeezing her hand. "This is why I've not gone psycho mum on you for this whole affair charade, by the way, I know you feel like crap all by yourself."
"Thanks," muttered Rory, wiping her eyes. "I've just been running the past couple of years and I don't even know what from, but the moments with him felt like rest, not a marathon I clearly haven't trained for. Rest is peaceful, rest is never a bad thing, right? My restfulness is someone else's destruction and I tried my best to pretend that wasn't a factor."
"Deep, Kid, very deep," said Lorelai, trying to lighten the mood. "Well I'm sure you're more beautiful anyway, you've got my genes, so you've definitely won that competition."
"She's like a French Blake Lively," sighed Rory. "I cannot compete with that; I can't even compete with just her legs. She is an heiress as well, so she is actually a French Serena Van Der Woodson."
"Everyone knows Blair was the much more interesting character," scoffed Lorelai. "She was beautiful, clever and you know I really do think Logan is more of a Chuck and she was the only match for him. His dad is definitely Bart! We'll get you a couple of headbands and you're good to go."
"My life is not Gossip Girl."
"It totally could be, rich guys, secret affairs, for all I know you're pulling a full-blown Georgina and that baby's not even Logan's," said Lorelai dramatically, waving her hands around.
Rory laughed. "I can't believe you think I'd be Georgina!"
"Who's Georgina?" called out Luke confused, as he walked through the door, two takeout cups of coffee in hand, a cap on back to front as always. He placed the coffees in front of her and her mum and sat down with them. "Do I know her?"
"Oh, love of my life, you are my saviour," exclaimed Lorelai, kissing him on the cheek and giddily holding the cup with both hands and taking a deep breath of coffee.
"She's a character on a tv show," explained Rory. She pushed the takeout cup away from her slightly. "Also, thank you, but I can't drink this."
"Are you ill?" asked Luke, scrunching up his face. Lorelai put down her cup excitedly, her face with a big grin staring at the two most important people in her life.
Rory tried to ignore how enthusiastic her mum was about this conversation. "I'm pregnant."
Luke's eyes widened. "With a baby?! Oh wow, I'm going to be a – I mean, Lorelai's going to be a Grandma, oh Sweetheart this is, wow."
Rory grinned at his slip up. "Luke, this baby is not going to have a better grandfather than you."
Lorelai squealed and hugged him as he looked dazedly at Rory. "We're going to be the best grandparents."
"Thank you, Rory," said Luke softly, disentangling himself from his wife and pulling Rory up for a hug. "It means a lot to me that you want me to have that title."
"Well your presence in my life has meant a lot to me," confessed Rory. "This baby is also going to need one sane person in their life."
"I take offence at that," pointed out Lorelai, as everyone sat down. "It implies the baby will need sane people, I think otherwise."
"How did Paul take the news?"
"Paul?" asked Rory bemused. "Why would I tell him?"
"I know you Gilmore girls are independent and stick 'em to the man types," ranted Luke, with a scowl. "And I get it, Lorelai did a great job raising you and I know I'm probably biased but your dad just really wasn't much of one. You would have probably been better off without him completely instead of the disappointments you got when he wasn't around, but Paul seems like a dependable guy. He deserves to know and if he isn't going to man up well then at least that's on him and I'll be the first one to tell him to sling his hook if ever shows up again but he needs to know. I would kill to have those years back with April and I thought you knew that Rory."
Lorelai snorted and Luke glared at her. "Which bit of that did you find funny?"
"Oh hun, it's just that I'd forgotten about Paul!" laughed Lorelai. "Poor Paul."
"Luke, Paul isn't the father," explained Rory, calmly. "I know how you feel about April, and honestly if you'd have not been through that I may not have told him because like you said my dad wasn't the best. I could never do what Anna did to you; the father knows about the pregnancy. That's why I went to New York yesterday, to tell him."
"Oh," said Luke, deflating. "Right, well as long he knows."
"I do love it when you get riled up, babe," smirked Lorelai, pulling him in for a kiss.
"Gross, me and unborn baby do not want to see that," groaned Rory. Her mother pouted but at least Luke looked sheepish. "PG ratings only, please."
"So, who is the father?"
Rory looked down at her hands clasped in her lap. "Logan."
"Huntzberger?" asked Luke, confused. "The guy you broke up with after college? Since when has that been back on?"
"Luke, it's a complicated situation," disclosed Lorelai, winking at Rory. "You'll feel better about it if you just don't think about it too hard. The main headline though is that Logan is engaged to be married and I raised someone out of Sex and the City. Logan knows about the baby, he wants to be a father (although based on the one he has who knows what that really means), but Rory and Logan aren't together."
Luke frowned. "Rory, he's engaged?"
Rory cringed. "I know, I messed up, please don't hate me."
"I don't hate you," said Luke, softening his face. "I don't want you to get hurt."
"Thank you," replied Rory. "With you guys in my corner, I'm sure I'll be fine."
"Can we face time your grandma?" asked Lorelai eagerly. "You know you might as well drop the truth bombs early and get them out of the way. Also, from experience, she could be mad and judgemental, but the longer you wait the madder and more judgemental she'll be that you didn't tell her."
"Yay, win-win then," said Rory sarcastically. "Go on then."
Lorelai skipped away to grab the iPad from the other room and Luke excused himself muttering that this was a Gilmore Girls' only moment and retreated upstairs.
As Lorelai set the iPad up in front of them, Rory asked her a question. "Do you think Luke really is okay with it?"
"Of course, he is. You did well saying he'll be the baby's grandfather," smiled Lorelai softly. "I think that's genuinely made him happier than marrying me. And I'm a delight, so that's saying something."
"Girls, not that I'm thrilled to be a part of whatever this conversation is, but it's rude to videophone somebody and then not greet them," said Emily sardonically. Rory smiled. She had been concerned for the Gilmore Matriarch when Richard died but moving to Nantucket seemed to have done her wonders. She looked full of life and content in a life she had built for herself and herself alone. She appeared to be sat in her new lounge with the big windows behind her.
"Hi Grandma," "Hi, Mum," they chorused.
"I suppose that will do," declared Emily. "Now, I am happy to see both of you, but I was about to go to the Whaling Museum."
"We won't be long, Mum," grinned Lorelai, elbowing Rory in the ribs. "My lovely daughter has something to tell you."
"Really, dear?"
"Erm, yes," replied Rory, casting a glare at her mother. "I have some news."
"Well, spit it out," said Emily, impatiently. "I'm certainly not getting any younger."
"I'm pregnant," blurted out Rory.
Emily blinked. "Pregnant? By whom?"
"Take a trip down memory lane," advised Lorelai. "Think carefully about Rory's former lovers and think about which one you would marry if you were forty years younger."
"You're having a baby with Logan Huntzberger?" gasped Emily.
"Thanks, Mum, for putting horrible thoughts in my head," grumbled Rory. "Yes, he's the father."
Emily narrowed her eyes. "I heard he was engaged to a woman from Parisian Society."
"He is," quipped Lorelai. "Bet you wouldn't want to marry him now."
"I see," said Emily, looking pensive. "Well, this is a wonderful announcement, Rory. It's such a shame your grandfather isn't here to share the good news, he would be just as happy as I am for you."
"Thank you, grandma," smiled Rory, her heart twinging at the thought of her grandfather.
"That's it?" shouted Lorelai, scrunching her face in disbelief.
"Lorelai, please stop being so dramatic," urged Emily, rolling her eyes. "This is not about you."
"No lecture? No judgement? Not even questions?"
"Well, on the information given I can presume that Rory and Logan were seeing each other unbeknown to their respective partners, and that resulted in a baby," stated Emily. "There's nothing left to question. As for lectures and judgement, a baby is a blessing."
"There were definitely other things spoken when I told you about my blessing!"
"You were sixteen years old! And for the record, Rory is a blessing."
"Nantucket has mellowed you out," diagnosed Lorelai. "I was expecting fireworks."
"The fireworks will not be for Rory," drawled Emily. "Rory, dear, we'll talk more on our next weekly catch up. Lorelai, I expect to hear from you soon too, it would be nice to know what you're doing with your father's money at the Inn."
They bid her goodbye and Rory relaxed back into her seat with a sigh. "That went better than I thought, although I'm sure I'll get more of a grilling when we speak next."
"That went better than any of us thought," agreed Lorelai disappointedly. "The Emily of thirty years ago would have reacted very differently."
"I'm so glad you're upset she didn't feed me to the wolves," frowned Rory. She was going to ramble on further until she felt the buzz of her phone in her pocket. She got it out and her eyes drunk in the incoming text quickly, her heart beating faster. "It's Logan, he wants to come to see me."
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always I'd love it if you could leave me a review :) I've been rewatching Gilmore Girls recently and falling in love with Logan all over again haha
