Chapter 8: Family Reunion Part 3

Logan stood outside of Luke's Diner—too nervous to go in and officially meet Heather's father. Mr. Danes had agreed to let him escort Heather on this date. Yet, Logan had a feeling that it wouldn't be quite that easy.

Finally, he pushed open the door to Luke's. He glanced up and saw a man with a flannel shirt, half shaven, and a backwards baseball cap.

"Mr. Danes?"

"You must be Logan. And please call me Luke."

Luke stepped out from behind the counter and offered Logan his hand. He gestured toward a nearby table. "Want to have a seat?"

Logan nodded.

"So you and Heather go to school together."

"Yes sir… Luke we do."

"Tell me about this party tonight."

"We're going with my parents—to one of their friends' house."

"Do you have an address and phone number of this party?"

"Yes, of course."

Logan reached into his pocket and handed Luke a piece of paper.

"Richard and Emily Gilmore," Luke read. "Heather should be down shortly."

Logan nodded. He glanced up and saw Heather emerging from behind the counter. Immediately, his breath was taken away. She had a long dark blue dress on with her hair pulled up.

"Hey Logan."

"You're beautiful."

"You'll have her back by eleven or…"

"I'll take good care of her."

Logan and Heather left for the Gilmores' house.

Meanwhile at the Gilmores' house….

"Mitchum, Shira, it's so wonderful to see you again," Emily Gilmore gushed. "And where's Logan?"

"He's picking up his date," Logan's mother replied grudgingly.

"I take it you don't approve?"

"She's the daughter of a diner owner in Stars Hollow. She is not worthy of a Huntzberger."

Richard and Emily just shook their head in understanding.

"Don't worry we're sure he'll come to his senses."

Outside the Gilmore house…

"Breathe, Heath."

"Easy for you to say."

"You'll be fine."

"I don't belong here."

"Yes, you do. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror?"

"Logan, you know what I mean."

Logan took Heather's hand and he rang the doorbell and they were shown into the Gilmore house by the maid. Heather looked around in awe, the house was huge---it was like a museum. So much so, she was actually afraid to touch things. So this is the life that her classmates at Chilton lead, she thought to herself.

"So what to you think?"

"It's big."

Logan grinned. "Come on, let's see if we can find my parents."

They made their way through the crowd and finally at a distance, Logan spotted his parents.

"So do the Gilmores have children?"

"One daughter. But they haven't seen her in years."

"Oh that's too bad."

"My parents don't talk about it much. I think she was the black sheep of the family."

Heather nodded.

Logan's parents walked toward them at that moment. Heather could tell immediately that she did not at all meet their expectations. She took a deep breath.

"Mom, Dad, I would like you to meet Heather Danes. Heather, these are my parents Shira and Mitchum Huntzberger."

Heather and Logan's parents exchanged polite greetings.

"So Heather, Logan tells us that your father runs a diner in Stars Hollow?"

Heather smiled in response trying to ignore the disdain in Logan's mother's voice as she referred to Heather's father.

"Yes, it's very successful."

"And you're a student at Chilton?"

Heather nodded. Logan immediately piped in, "And Dad, you wait and see, Heather will be valedictorian." Heather blushed at Logan's praise.

"Oh Mitchum, look there are the Corys. We must go over and say hello. It was wonderful meeting you Heather dear."

With that, Logan's parents were off.

"Well, that went well," Heather half muttered under their breath.

"Heather, it's ok."

"Logan, your parents hate me. They think I'm trailer trash."

"Never talk about yourself that way again. You understand?"

Heather nodded.

"No one would be perfect for me. Not even if you had well-connected parents and…"

"Logan, it's wonderful to see you again," Richard Gilmore said interrupting them.

"Likewise Richard. Richard, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Heather Danes."

"Nice to meet you," Richard said, briefly nodding in Heather's direction, without really looking at her. "Logan, I wanted to show you some…" Gradually Richard's voice trailed off as he led Logan away while Logan glanced back at Heather apologetically.

Great, they sent in reinforcements to get rid of her, Heather thought. With that, she walked with her head held high toward the punch bowl and helped herself. She noticed an open door and decided to step out on the patio for some air. As she was doing so, she didn't notice that Emily Gilmore had wandered into her path.

"Why don't you watch where you're…" suddenly Emily's voice trailed off as she looked at Heather in the eyes.

"I'm so sorry. Are you ok?" Heather watched the woman for a while, wondering if she was ok or not.

Emily continued to stare at Heather with her mouth wide open. "It's her eyes…it's…"

"Are you all right? Do you need some water? Do you need to sit down?"

Suddenly Emily bolted away, leaving Heather standing there speechless. Emily looked around frantically for her husband and finally spotted him.

"Richard!"

"Emily, what is it? What's wrong?" Richard said, immediately seeing the look on his wife's face.

"I need you to come see something."

"What?"

"Logan's date."

"Whatever for… you heard Mitchum? It won't last…"

"Richard, now!"

Richard followed his wife to the patio where Heather was still standing, now talking to Logan.

"What is it? What is it Emily?"

"Look at her eyes Richard. Do they look familiar to you?"

Richard stared for a while and suddenly his mouth dropped wide open. "They're Lorelai's eyes."

"You see it too?"

Richard nodded. "Finally, after all these years we found her. Logan's dating our granddaughter."