Chapter 185

May 19th, 2022

"I feel like we're the oldest ones here," Rory grumbled, self consciously, as she and Logan stood back by the bar and observed the room at the SRV Boston, while the bartender fixed them some drinks, non-alcoholic for Rory, naturally. The drinks were non-alcoholic for many guest at this thing but for a different reason than Rory's.

The room was certainly filled with the latest lines from LoveShackFancy, Reformation, some even from Zimmermann and No Pise La Grama. While the men, most in their twenties or younger, wore full-placket polos, pastels and edgy prints - apparantly huge sneakers with wide pants was a thing, for women floral minidresses were definitely in, and the almost-graduates definitely knew exactly how to show off the best parts of their bodies, many of the cleavages and slits being quite revealing to Rory's more humble tastes. It really wasn't doing Rory's self esteem many favors in her present state. But, thankfully, Logan was consciously making an effort not to stare even if some ofthe girls looked like models. It helped that the dark burgundy wrap dress Rory wore was cut pretty low and really brought out how huge her boobs were these days, not that he would ever comment on that to her verbally.

"No, we're not," Logan replied, noting with the nod of his jaw, as he handed Rory her virgin cosmopolitan, an elderly woman chatting with the man of the hour by the entrance.

"I wonder what they think about all of this…," Rory said, thoughtfully, the idea of her 19-year-old half-sister having an engagement party still feeling unreal. Rory hadn't even had an engagement party, not that she'd missed having one at the time. But this almost made her wish she had. Gigi was so young, yet not scared one bit to show how much she loved Eric, willing to face the potential humiliation that came with the relationship possibly not working out. Surelys she knew the statistics. Even Rory wasn't sure she'd had that much faith six months ago about her relationship with Logan, despite having the will and want. If she looked back now, she recognized herself having cautioned herself during several steps along the way, in case it didn't work out. She wasn't proud to admit it, even to herself.

The woman they'd noticed was probably one of Eric's relatives by the looks of her - hence Rory's pondering. She hadn't been officially introduced yet, but was curious no doubt. It still didn't fit in her head that they were going to be extended family to some guy she barely knew.

Gigi wasn't rushing the wedding, bit she'd jumped at the chance to arrange an engagement party, part of her reasoning being that many of her friends were going to be scattered all over the country, in some cases world even, due to going to college and it'd be more difficult to get together. What had really surprised Rory, however, was that the party had been Christophers idea. He seemed to be taking on the 'cool dad' approach and actually ensuring that Gigi went through with this wedding with all the hoops. Rory hadn't linked it to the fact that it was actually his way of stalling while showing support.

Logan's phone pinged as Rory had taken a sip of her drink, and he fished it out of his pocket to look.

"I wonder which one of them are his parents," Rory pondered, observing a larger group of people arrive, who looked even more out of place than they did, who continued to greet and hug both Eric and Gigi lovingly.

"Our rings are ready," Logan read out from his phone, having just seen a shipping notification. He was actually kind of impressed they'd been shipped out on a Saturday but apparently his name still said something at Cartier. They'd picked out fairly humble wedding rings, feeling like they didn't really need anything too lavish. A curved Ballerine wedding band with a small row of diamonds going around it for Rory, and the same form for Logan without the diamonds. They thought it'd be fitting since just as the wedding bands were a little curved, they'd also had a 'little' bump on their road on their way to where they were now.

"That was quick," Rory commented, casually. They'd had a home showing for the rings, the sales rep having driven over to Harford due to their busy schedules, but had ended up needing to get the rings they liked sized.

"One more thing off the list," Logan said, hoping it'd allow Rory to relax some more. He'd been sensing her getting more nervous about the wedding as it approached, but he desperately hoped she wouldn't, thinking excess stress wouldn't be good for the baby. In his mind there was nothing to worry about. He was not going anywhere, and in whatever form it took place he didn't really care. He just wanted to marry her. But he wanted her to think of it like that too and not get too stuck in the details, which sounded a little overwhelming despite her having an event anner and her mom to help out.

More and more people flooded the room - Gigi and Eric really seemed to have a large combined circle of friends. There were both people with evident money, dressed in designer outfits, but also those dressed more simply. Some were Eric's friends form law background, Rory was pretty sure of it. Gigi's private school may have been a prestigious one, but there was a good chunk of its student body that was on scholarships to maintain diversity. Almost every single one of the younger crowd had their phones glued to their hands, and there was a professional photographer walking around the room as well, if he wasn't taking pictures of people who wanted to pose at the photo booth that kind of had the red carpet effect, despite the event itself being a little bit more laid back.

"Yeah," Rory sighed. "Oh, incoming," she noted seeing Gigi begin to make rounds with two of the people that had arrived earlier. The man was in his 60s, a little thin on the top but looking fairly handsome for his age, and his features had indeed a lot in common with those of Eric, whom Rory had now had a little bit more time to observe amongst his peers. The woman, was petite, a good 8 inches shorter than the man, and at least looked a little younger - maybe 5-10 years or so, but Rory knew well after the example of her own grandmother that in women you weren't really supposed to be able to tell the age, and good haircut, light color choices in makeup and modern wardrobe made all the difference.

"Chistina, Todd - this is my sister Rory Gilmore and her fiance Logan Huntzberger," Gigi introduced her, speaking loudly over the crowd. "Christina and Todd are Eric's parents," she added.

"Very nice to meet you," Christina extended her hand towards Rory.

"Likewise," she replied, and continued to shake hands with Todd, as did Logan.

"Isn't it wonderful?" Christina exclaimed. "Oh, and what a cute venue," she added, looking radiantly happy about the situation.

"Oh, yes," Rory replied, clearing her voice, unable to hide all the judgement, but it was Logan's hand that slipped around her back and gave her a little squeeze, which made her pull back a little. "It's very youthful. Almost makes me wish we'd had an engagement party. But oh, well - now it's too late. Our wedding is next month already," Rory blabbered, a little nervously, trying to focus on something she could talk about without lying. She didn't mean to direct the topic onto them like that, knowing it to be a little impolite, but hoped to correct the topic soon enough.

"Congratulations to the both of you," Christina exclaimed. "And I cannot help noticing what you're expecting as well," she added familiarly. And the way she seemed to be gushing almost made Rory think she was rather eager for the patter of little feet herself. That just brought back a memory from February when it had been made very clear to her how not ready Gigi had been for babies.

"We are. Due at the end of October," Logan replied proudly, and the glow on his face was enough to distract Rory. God, he looked happy and that made her forget how she felt about Gigi's plans.

"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?" Christina inquired further. She really did seem like a very nice person, genuine and cheerful.

"No, it's a mystery baby," Rory replied, smilingly.

"But hopefully we'll have a better idea by next week," Logan pitched in, wanting to definitely make it to their 20-week appointment in case they did another ultrasound. He especially hoped to see the baby move during the ultrasound, like Honor had told him they sometimes did, wanting to bond even more.

"Well you two look like you'll make adorable parents either way," Christina added, which for a moment made Rory cringe internally at the word choice.

"So what is it that you do?" Logan decided to take over the conversation. He wasn't yet quite feeling that this was his family, his extended family he was meeting, but he decided to fake it. It was something to get used to just the same. Odette's family had never really felt like his, not the way Lorelai and Luke felt by now. Logan could make engaging small-talk in his sleep, having pretty much been trained to do it. And considering Rory was very much on the fence about this whole thing still, despite wanting Gigi to be happy above all, he didn't mind taking the lead.

During the entire conversation, which talked about anything else but that, Rory couldn't get past wanting to understand what Eric's parents really thought of this match. Surely, they too had at least some doubts with their 29-year-old son wanting to marry someone this much younger than him. But thankfully, as Christopher joined them with Lana, having gone to pick up Sherry from the airport who's flight had been a little delayed and lost her transfer slot because of it, and they headed over to their tables to talk some more, Rory was able to forget the age difference at least for a while. Gigi did look happy, and the little glances that her and Eric shared, did not go unnoticed. They really looked like they were in love, and that was certainly enviable for many.

There were a few speeches, nothing too elaborate - just people wishing the newly engaged couple well. Rory was thankful that Gigi and Eric weren't rushing the wedding, having set the initial date for next summer. Rory couldn't agree on it being a better idea, wanting Gigi to explore college without being someone's wife, even if being someone's fiance wasn't that much better. She just believed that Gigi needed to find herself, unable to differentiate herself at that age from her enough. But she realized too that that kind of thinking could, in fact, be flawed, so the best she could do was not comment on it too much.

There had been good food and decent music to dance to - something for every taste, and Logan and Rory made it back to Hartford in the darkness of the evening, having not felt like staying at a hotel now that Rory was seriously craving her Boppy Cuddle body pillow at the end of the night, her back beginning to feel a little strained.

It was around Sunday noon when Rory's phone rang unexpectedly, it having been an otherwise calm and blissful morning.

"Hello?" she said to the phone, having not really expected a call. But she knew sometimes couriers called ahead and she was kind of hoping to get the wedding bands into her hands, feeling only then she could really cross that task off her list.

"Am I speaking to Rory?" A male voice asked, confusing Rory for a minute.

"Yes, and who's asking?" Rory asked, skeptically, hesitance in her tone.

"Hello, this is Drew Gilmore," the man said.

"Oh," Rory reacted, realizing he was speaking to her cousin once removed from Richard's side. She didn't recall hearing from him since her grandmother's funeral where he'd come to pay his respects with his family. "Hi, what an unexpected surprise. How are you?" she replied, apologetically for not perhaps having been the most respectful when answering her call. There was no such official protocol as the Gilmore household had had, and as certainly also Drew's house had, when she was picking up her cell phone, especially now when she wasn't really expecting work-related calls.

"We're good," he replied. "I just wanted to call and offer my best wishes on your impending marriage," he added, catching Rory by surprise. "It's certainly the match of a decade," he added. Cousin Drew, as Rory had been used to calling him with her mother, was certainly one of those people to whom reputations and appearances were important.

But Rory was still just as confused how he even knew about it. They'd sent out invitations to their wedding just a week ago and that guest list hadn't really been a very long one - around 75 people or so, which had seemed manageable - concise but sufficient including immediate family, friends and some work contacts. Rory was embarrassed to admit that cousin Drew was not amongst that list of people.

"Well…Thank you very much," Rory replied, realizing that it really would've been quite rude to not invite him now that he was calling.

"So when is it? I hope you're not having it all the way over in London," Drew continued, making it even worse, clearly not knowing too much about where Logan was located these days. He was practically inviting him himself.

"End of July. And no, no London - just Nantucket," Rory replied, her mind going a million miles a minute. "It's been a bit of a struggle with accomodations and we haven't gotten around to sending out all the invitations just yet," she added, realizing that the well-known accommodation shortage on the island in July was probably her best bet.

"That sounds wonderful. I do hope we're not busy that weekend," Drew added.

"I hope so too," Rory replied, uncomfortably.

They finished the call with a few pleasantries, Rory feeling forced to give out the date as well. The minute the call ended she was on the phone to her mother.

"Mom, you haven't told any of our relatives about the wedding, have you?" Rory asked, as her mother picked up.

"Um.… If I've seen any of our relatives, I've usually stayed well clear of them," Lorelai replied bluntly. "Why?" she asked.

"I just got a call from cousin Drew!" Rory explained. "He pretty much invited himself to the wedding, what's that - like 4-5 people?" she fretted, thinking how inviting him probably meant inviting at least his son and his wife as well, in worse case the grandchildren as well.

Rory heard a knocking sound through her phone, knowing it meant there was another incoming call.

"Hold on, I'm getting another call," Rory excused herself for a moment.

"Hello?" she answered the other call.

"Rory! How wonderful to hear your voice. It's your auntie Marilyn," Rory could hear from the other side of the phone, Marilyn sounding as joyous as she usually did, reminding her a great deal of her great-grandmother. Technically she wasn't her aunt, but just as Drew, her cousin first removed - Richard's sister. Frankly, Rory was surprised Marily was still sounding this chipper considering her age.

"Hi, Marilyn," Rory tried to answer with a positive tone, when really she was beginning to panic inside.

"I'm calling you to let you know that my invitation to the wedding must've gotten lost in the mail," Marilyn said, her great-grandmother's tone and attitude shining through.

Rory replied something apologetic and promised to look into it, just wanting to get off the phone quickly.

"That was cousin Marilyn just now. She's claiming her invitation got lost in the mail. Mom, what am I going to do?" Rory fretted, as she'd switched over to Lorelai's call.

"Honey, have you checked Page Six?" Lorelai asked, having done a bit of googling in the meanwhile, because she really hadn't talked to any of their relatives just as long as Rory hadn't.

"No," Rory replied, sounding discouraged already.

"I think your secret's out, and I mean out out." Lorelai replied. Not that they'd hidden their engagement or her bump these past few months, but Rory and Logan had avoided being caught in the public's eye so far, by laying low and just going about their own business. Being in Hartford had certainly helped.

Lorelai sent over a link that had published pictures from Gigi's party. They weren't professionally made or anything but the engagement party had been full of people snapping photos of each other and the event itself. Apparently someone had recognized Logan and/or overheard them, and there it was - the gossip of the week - 'Logan Huntzberger and his new family to be?' written in bold letters above it, several pictures of the two of them prominently displayed, one of them zooming in to her engagement ring, and another one catching a very explicit picture of the profile of her bump with Logan's hand on her lower back, and hers gently rubbing the underside of her bump, bringing out even more. The latter looked deliberately made, waited for.

It was just then Logan emerged from the adjoining room, a similarly worried look on his face and phone in hand.