A light snow was falling, as Luke shook the flakes from his head and drowsily looked at the scene in front of him.
Lorelai did have a point, he reluctantly admitted. Snow could be beautiful. In the darkness, the town lights twinkled like stars. Of course, Taylor's establishments had the most ostentatious lighting, but all in all, the postcard-perfect setting made Luke long for the comforts of home.
He stood up, ready to return to the boat in the garage, but was startled when a woman rounded the corner of the diner and stood before him. Blinking the snow from his eyelashes, Luke noticed that the woman was wearing a hooded cloak, and seemed to be surrounded by fog.
Slowly, the womanly figure raised her head and lifted her hands to the hood of her cloak. Even more slowly, her thin hands brushed the cloak from her face.
Luke gasped. "Mom?"
The cloaked figure slowly nodded, and Luke thought he saw tears in her eyes. The sense of comfort Luke had experienced upon seeing his mother earlier that evening in the scene from his childhood returned to him ten-fold.
"Mom," he repeated, almost reverently, reaching out to try to touch her.
"Yes, my dear son, but tonight I am also your Ghost of Christmas Future," the figure affirmed.
"Mom," Luke repeated, sinking to his knees.
The figure reached out, and softly drew her cloak around Luke. "I loved you so much, my son. I'm so sorry I had to leave you." She caressed his head, then remembered her purpose.
"Stand, Luke, and come with me," she said.
The two walked over towards the gazebo. The fog that had surrounded the woman followed them. As they approached the gazebo, Luke noticed that there was someone there. He suddenly recalled an earlier summer evening, when he and Lorelai had shooed away the bicyclists and sealed their engagement with a kiss.
Luke could see a woman standing in the gazebo. Lorelai! But this Lorelai was a lot older; with a beautiful gray streak in her hair, but a face lined and worn. She stood in the gazebo and was crying.
"Son, she no longer celebrates the holidays she loves," the womanly figure next to him stated.
By now, the anvils the other ghosts had dropped on him had finally made an impression on Luke. "It's because of me, because I didn't trust her and drove her away," he simply stated.
"And look over there..." the figure that had been his mother commanded.
Across the square, by the Twickham House, a teenage girl in a strange helmet rode up and down the street on a bicycle.
"April."
"My granddaughter," the figure stated matter-of-factly.
"What's she doing?" Luke asked.
"She's looking for you. Only you've left town."
"Oh."
Luke looked from the scene of Lorelai to the scene of April, despair filling his heart. Each was lost in her own way.
"Does it have to be like this?" he plaintively asked.
"I know I raised you better than that, my son. I think you know the answer to that question."
"Mom, I've missed you so much..." Luke replied.
"You've done so much good in your life, Luke," she said. "You took care of my grandson when no one else could. You've honored your mother and father in life and in death. Because of this, I will show you indeed that it doesn't have to be this way."
Luke didn't know how, but somehow, they found themselves in front of Lorelai's house. It sure looked like movie night was still going strong. But then Luke realized that it couldn't be movie night, for the home was fully decked out in Christmas décor. Happy sounds came from the house, music intermixed with chatter and laughter, intermixed with a barking dog.
Suddenly, a small car drove up and parked next to the jeep. A door opened, and a young teenage girl ran out, carrying presents. Luke watched her run to the door and ring the bell.
"Rory!" he heard her exclaim, as he watched Rory open the door.
"April! Merry Christmas" Rory replied.
Then, Lorelai appeared at the door, hugged and greeted April, and then stepped outside. She didn't seem to see Luke or his companion as she walked over to the car next to the jeep.
"Won't you come in, Anna," he heard her say.
"Oh that's so nice of you to ask. I've been dying to see the twins."
"They are a handful, alright. Gotta tell ya, it really is a lot harder to do this at forty than at sixteen!"
"Lorelai...we have kids?" Luke whispered. Lorelai looked older, to be sure, but also much happier and, he noted, she was definitely not as thin as she had recently been. His eyes followed the two women as they returned to the house.
He stealthily crept closer to the house, walked up the steps and peered into a window.
A Christmas celebration was in full swing. Rory and April were looking at some book, and Lorelai was ensconced on the sofa, smiling over at...him. He had less hair, but the two tiny babies resting on his chest made him appear younger. Suddenly both Rory and April were sitting between Lorelai and him, giggling, laughing, smiling, teaching Paul Anka tricks. Anna was in the foyer, speaking to a man with a school-age girl. Gigi and Christopher?
"Dinner's ready," he heard, and Sookie's head peered around the corner.
"Your choice, my son. I know you will make the right one," the Ghost of Christmas Future proclaimed. "You've already done the hardest part, Luke darling. Choosing the right woman. I know I would have loved her to death."