"I don't want you to see her!" Lorelai shrieked.
"Lorelai…." Richard replied.
"I don't want you to marry her!"
Richard laughed lightly. "I am not going to marry her. I am not even going to think about marrying her. It's all in good fun, I assure you."
"No!" Lorelai repeated again.
"Now, see here…." Richard began. "I know you miss your mother. I miss her as well and no one could ever take her place. I'm not trying to replace your mother, Lorelai, I'm just trying to move on with my life. Cecelia is a very nice woman she even has a son about your age and I'm sure if you would just give her a chance…"
"NO!" Lorelai forcefully declared.
"I'm going to see her, Lorelai." Richard sternly remarked. "You're just going to have to get over that."
Richard stormed out of Lorelai's room. Lorelai picked up one of her dolls and whizzed it at the door. How could he do this? Her mother had barely been deceased a year and here he was trying to bring another woman into their house. Lorelai was furious. She would not accept another woman, no matter what. And another child? What on earth was her father thinking getting involved with a woman who had a child. Ridiculous, that'd what this entire situation was.
Joan, who had heard most of the argument gently made her way into Lorelai's room. "Sweetie, please try to understand…"
"Don't tell me you're taking his side?" Lorelai asked as her anger began to give away into tears.
"I'm not taking anyone's side." Joan clarified. "I'm just trying to help you understand why these things are happening."
"Why?" Lorelai asked broken heartedly. "Why are these things happening? Why did my mother have to die? Why was I so stupid that I said the things that I did and never got a chance to make it right? Why is my father wanting to see another woman? Why do I have to go through this?"
The young girl collapsed onto her bed and began to sob. Joan sat down beside her and patted her back softly. "This, sweetheart, is life." Joan calmly replied. "It's not fair that you are getting such a heavy dose so soon, but this is it."
"Well, if this is life then I'm not sure I want to keep living."
Joan cupped her hands around Lorelai's face. "Don't ever say anything like that, Lorelai. Life is the most precious gift you'll ever receive. Besides, if you were gone, I don't know what on earth I would do." Joan smiled.
Lorelai let a small smile cross her face as well. "How come you never had any children?" Lorelai asked. It was a question she had been wondering for a while.
"Well, I would need a husband first." Joan replied. "And I don't have much time for dating…"
"Because of your job?" Lorelai asked drying away at the last of her tears.
"Oh, for a lot of reasons. Most guys are looking for a different type of woman than myself."
"But you're beautiful." Lorelai replied honestly.
Joan blushed. "Thank you… But I'm afraid there's just more to it than that. You'll understand some day."
"Are you lonely?"
"Not at all." Joan replied as she stood from Lorelai's bed. "I've got everything I could ever want, right here. But your father, he is afraid of being lonely…" Joan continued. "You must see things through his eyes, as difficult as it may be."
"How come everything he wants can't be right here?" Lorelai cleverly asked. "Why isn't this enough?"
"I can't answer that." Joan said as she walked towards the door. "But, if you give everything a chance, I'm sure it'll all work out."
(Friday Night)
Richard had been a mess all evening. Lorelai found it pathetic how he was acting, just because she was coming over. Cecelia, even the name sounded dumb. Lorelai sighed as she sat quietly in the dinning room as Richard had instructed. At exactly 7:00 the doorbell rang. Joan glided through the rooms towards the front door.
"Good evening." Joan greeted as she opened the door. "You must be Cecelia."
"I am." The woman replied snobbishly. "And this is my son, Karl."
"Well, hello, Karl." Joan smiled. "Please, come in, Mr. Gilmore is expecting you."
Cecelia walked through the doorway and handed Joan her coat and purse. "Karl, remove your jacket." Karl did as he was instructed and handed his jacket to Joan as well.
"Mr. Gilmore is in the dinning room." Joan replied. "It's straight ahead. I'll put your belongings in the hallway closet."
Cecelia and Karl made their way through the house.
"Ah, Cecelia!" Richard smiled. "You look amazing."
"Thank you, Richard." Cecelia replied as she allowed the man to kiss her hand.
"Hello, Karl." Richard focused his attention to the boy. "You're looking well this evening."
"Thank you, Mr. Gilmore." Karl remarked. "Yourself as well."
Lorelai's mouth nearly hit the floor. Was she hearing things? Did those words come out of his twelve year old mouth? Suddenly, Lorelai realized this was going to be much worse than she had first anticipated.
"Lorelai, come here." Richard called, as if she was some sort of family pet. "This is Cecelia and Karl." Richard's face gleamed with what Lorelai assumed to be fake pride. "And this is my daughter, Lorelai."
"Hello, Lorelai." Cecelia replied. "What a lovely ribbon in your hair."
Karl bowed his head. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Lorelai snickered at Karl's reaction. Karl cast her an unfamiliar look, and clearly did not understand what he had done to deserve a snicker.
"Well, Joan, our maid, has prepared a lovely dinner. Shall we eat?" Richard invited.
Everyone took a seat at the table. Karl and Lorelai sat across from each other, Richard took his usual seat, and Cecelia took the chair that Emily had always sat in. Lorelai's entire body cringed at the thought of another woman in Emily's place.
"Richard, darling, your house is beautiful." Cecelia replied as she took a tiny sip of her wine. "Absolutely breathtaking to be honest."
"Thank you." Richard answered as a smile crept across his face.
Darling? Where did this woman get off calling Richard darling? Lorelai began to glare. She knew she had better watch her step, especially since this was going to be a first impression, but my goodness this woman was a sight.
"I've been considering remodeling the sitting room for quite some while." Richard continued. "It's been that way for years. Time for a change."
"I like the sitting room." Lorelai added in a monotone voice.
"Oh, she speaks." Cecelia remarked with a mild sense of humor. Lorelai however, did not find it funny.
"Lorelai, that room needs redecorated." Richard persisted. "I've grown very tired of it."
"You know, I have a knack for decorating." Cecelia smiled.
"I'm sure you do." Richard replied, his face turning red.
"I'd be more than glad to offer my assistance. Karl likes hard work himself, don't you Karl?"
"Yes, ma'am. Hard work makes a man honest."
Lorelai quickly covered her mouth to keep from bursting out into laughter. Richard's approval skyrocketed.
"That's a smart boy, you have there."
Lorelai rolled her eyes. "May I be excused?"
"Lorelai, we are having dinner."
"I know that." Lorelai stated. "May I be excused?"
"May I ask what for?"
Lorelai thought for a moment. "I need to go to the restroom."
Richard nodded his head. "Then yes, you may be excused. Make haste." Richard added.
Lorelai bolted from the table and went straight into the kitchen. "Oh my God, Joan…" Lorelai groaned. "Please, please, help me."
Joan, who was sitting at the counter eating some leftovers from the night before gazed up at the young girl. "Help you with what?"
"That woman is a disgrace to the female population. And her son, I'm pretty sure he belongs in a special hospital."
"Lorelai." Joan replied sternly. "You shouldn't say things like that about people."
"But it's true." Lorelai defended. "Please, do something. I can't go back out there."
Joan smiled. She knew it was true, in fact she couldn't agree with Lorelai more. "Alright… I'll help you this one time."
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Lorelai generously replied. "I'll do anything you want in return. Anything."
"Well, we'll discuss that part later. You run along upstairs and I'll tell your father that you've went to bed with a stomach ache."
"Gotcha." Lorelai said as she dashed out of the kitchen.
Joan prepared herself, and walked into the dinning room. "I'm so sorry to interrupt, but Lorelai is complaining with a stomach ache. I've given her some medicine and sent her to her room."
Richard set down his fork. "She seemed fine five minutes ago."
"It hit her kind of suddenly." Joan added.
Richard did not buy this story. "Joan, tell Lorelai she has two minutes to bring herself back to her chair."
"Mr. Gilmore, honestly, your daughter is not well."
"Richard, it's not a big deal." Cecelia replied. "Karl and I can leave…"
"No." Richard abruptly countered. "No one is leaving."
"Well, it's obvious we are not welcome." Cecelia said as she stood from her chair.
Joan regretted ever agreeing to this. "Mr. Gilmore… I am terribly sorry, I'll see if Lorelai will return to dinner but…"
"Let her be." Richard interrupted.
"Yes, sir." Joan took this as her opportunity to leave the very thick aired room.
"I'm so sorry." Richard said gazing in the direction of Cecelia. "I assure you nothing like this shall ever happen again."