Chapter 27: The Witch is Back

Two weeks had now passed since Heather's birthday. Heather was still happier than she could remember being in a long time–happy yet very, very busy. The homework–both the amount and the difficulty level–had definitely gotten more intense at Chilton. As a result, Heather was spending nearly all of her free time studying. Her mother was now stopping by the diner on her way to work every morning so they could have breakfast together. She was also waiting to take her lunch break whenever possible so that she could also be at the diner when Heather arrived home from school to hear about her day. She still had dinner with them every Friday night as well. She had also started a weekly tradition with her grandfather as well. On Thursdays, he got off work early and picked her up from Chilton and they went to coffee shop they enjoyed so much during their first outing together. Heather was beginning to not only adjust to having her family around–she was growing to enjoy it very much. Luke was still her father–and he would always be. Her grandfather, mother, and Max understood that. They had told her they would never take her away from her father. Logan was also wonderful. They spent every moment they could together at school and they usually got together at some point over the weekends as well. Heather was enjoying a now rare, quiet moment alone at Weston's where she had gone for some pie (occasionally she enjoyed a break from her Dad's cooking even though she loved it).

"There you are!"

Heather looked up in surprise at the voice that suddenly interrupted her. Her face immediately fell as she recognized Emily Gilmore. "What do you want?" She asked coldly.

"I think it's about time we had a chat young lady."

"We have nothing to chat about."

"Oh I think you're wrong."

With, that Emily Gilmore immediately helped herself to the seat across from Heather.

"Fine. You have five minutes before I start screaming my head off."

"Fair enough." Emily Gilmore replied eyeing her granddaughter closely for the very first time. The young girl in front of her definitely had a lot of potential. Too bad she wasted it with her jeans and and old "Luke's Diner" t-shirt overtop of them.

"Well, I'm waiting?" Heather said her eyes flashing with a rare coldness and bitterness.

"I think it's time you heard my side of the story."

"So you're going to justify why you paid someone to get rid of me? Oh this will be good. I can't wait to hear how you're going to explain that one away."

Emily ignored her granddaughter's sarcasm and continued on with her narrative.

"Lorelai Victoria Gilmore was poised to be the next young up and coming debutante of society. But my daughter was not satisfied with her place in society–she insisted on rebelling against her upbringing at every possible chance. That ungrateful girl..."

"Get on with it!" Heather said loudly–very uncharacteristically rudely interrupting her grandmother.

"Ah I see the rudeness was passed on to your generation. Anyway, Lorelai had been dating Christopher Hayden off and on. At least he had connections–the son of Straub and Francine Hayden would have been a very good match for our daughter. But then the unthinkable happened. She told me one day that she was pregnant and I watched as all of her dreams went out the door. Everything I had ever hoped for her was ruined. She turned down Christopher's proposal and was destined to live a life in shame. That was not good enough for my daughter. A Gilmore deserves a much better life than that. I had to do something to fix the situation."

"Fix the situation? You mean eliminate the mistake also known as me?" Heather

desperately fought the tears she could feel forming. She did not want to give this woman the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

"So I came up with a plan. I didn't have anything against you–I just thought that Lorelai could live a richer life without you in it. Do you think she really would have graduated from college if she was raising you?"

"From what I can tell, she could do anything if she put her mind to it."

"She would have given everything up to raise you and I couldn't let that happen."

"So you paid someone to take me?"

"So I arranged for you to be taken away. I never meant any harm to come to you.."

"Did you even care what happened? Did you ever wonder? Did you ever try to find me? Or did you hate me so much that you truly didn't care at all?"

"That's not fair."

"I'm a disappointment, aren't I? I'm not the granddaughter you wanted. I don't wear the right clothes, follow the right rules..."

"Yes, your upbringing was unfortunate. But I can fix that. I can help you."

"Excuse me? Did I hear you correctly? Did I just hear the woman that got rid of me at birth offer to help me? What could you possibly have to offer me? Or am I just missing something here?"

"You like Logan Huntzberger, right?"

"How do you know about Logan?"

"I have my sources. You're not good enough for him. You're beneath him."

"Logan doesn't care about any of that. He likes me for who I am."

"Oh how sweet. Mitchum and Shira do. Mitchum and Shira are all about appearances and you my dear don't fit the bill."

"I don't care."

"I think you do. You're afaid that Mitchum and Shira will somehow ruin your relationship with Logan, aren't you?"

"Logan doesn't care what they think."

"Mitchum and Shira will make him care. Do you think he could really do without his money and fancy car?"

Finally, Heather had enough. "Get out of here!"

"Just think about what I said dear. I'll be in touch."

With that Emily Gilmore sauntered with a smug look on her face out of Weston's Bakery. Mission accomplished, she thought happily to herself.

Heather sat in silence for quite a while after Emily left–trying to digest what had just happened. She tried to push it out of her mind. She tried to convince herself that it was just the bitter rants of a lonely bitter woman. A woman that had come to realize that she was alone in the world. A woman that wanted the rest of the world to be as miserable as her. After all, it was Heather's resurfacing that had brought all of her lies to light. Yet, there was a part of Heather that couldn't shake the suspicion that somehow there was some grain of truth in what Emily Gilmore had told her. After all, Emily Gilmore understood society and the Huntzbergers better than Heather ever could...