Chapter 186

December 9th, 2016

"I'm sorry, I'm late," Logan said, as he entered the Royal Suite at the Savoy, his meeting having run a little later than he'd planned.

"It's okay, Logan. We were just getting aquainted," Odette explained, casually, not wanting to make a deal about him being late yet again to another joint engagement. But she wasn't even being passive agressive about it - she knew that all the wedding arrangements had been taking a good chunk of his time. She was also under no impression that work wasn't important to him.

"I'm Cinar Benson," the journalist who was going to interview them stood from his seat and shook Logan's hand in greeting. The guy looked definitely younger than him, more inexperienced as well since Logan sensesd some nervousness in him. But Logan had to give him credit for pulling some sorts of connections to get this particular suit for this one-hour exclusive interview. While he had been to this particular hotel a few times, with Rory amongst other occasions, he'd never quite felt like spending 15 grand on a hotel room, and he knew Rory would've never gone for that either. There was a line between just lavish and luxurious and outright wastefulness.

Logan took a seat on the teal blue couch, next to Odette, who had dressed in a collared pink satin dress that had gorgeously embroidered three-headed snake on its chest, and her cautioning look reminded him to return to the present moment for whatever had occupied his mind for those few seconds. Logan didn't know enough about designer lines to know she'd coordinated the dress according to the room - both being Gucci's designs. Naturally, she'd anticipated quick photo shoot that was planned for later. With someone loving the attention as much as Odette did, he really didn't have to bother much with anything other than showing up - nobody would care what he wore which was the way he prefered it.

"So?" he asked, wanting the journalist to get on with it since he had a lot of work to get back to. The press had been asking for this interview for the better part of a year but Logan had pushed and pushed it until he felt he'd run out of reasons.

"Do you mind if I record this?" the journalist asked, making Logan feel like the question was pretty redundant. Logan knew how these things worked, but he also knew he had to ask.

They both nodded.

Knowing body language mattered, Logan reached over to Odette's hand, who wrapped it between her, intertwining their fingers, and brought it to her lap. It wasn't unpleasant, not something he felt forced to do - she was nice. Also fun, intelligent. He cared for her - and there was a certain comfort in being around her - feeling less for her took the pressure off in a way. He didn't really have to pretend with her. Odette had been very understanding about Rory, his own indecisiveness and the lenght of this whole process as it had already been. She also tolerated his parents which he knew was a big ask.

"I hear you've had a fairly lengthy and quiet engagement so far," the journalist began, going on to suggest they tell the story of Logan's proposal. There had been an announcement but for the better part of a year no comment from them.

This was their least favorite story, one of the least favorites at least. Because at that point it had been just cold and calculated agreement. Odette had even picked out her own engagement ring. So what they'd done was memorize a story about a romantic rooftop in Paris, tweaking the truth a little, adding a bunch of romantic charm to the reality. One knee, candellight, a starry sky and champagne - the works.

"How long after you met?" Cinar inquired further. The way this was going sounded as unsurprising as Megan Markle's and Prince Harry's engagement interview.

"Oh, we've known each other for years. But I guess things got a little more serious last year. So something like six months before I proposed," Logan fibbed, thoughtfully as if trying to recall, leaving out the fact that both had seen other people until very recently and had jokingly, often drunkenly, flirted with the idea of being each-other's marriage pacts if all else failed before that.

"How did you first meet?" the journalist asked.

"Through a mutual friend. It was at a birthday party in Saint Tropez," Logan replied curtly.

Odette smiled, telling him wordlessly that the journalist certainly wanted more than that from them. "It was my long time friend who'd accepted a position at Logan's company," Odette took over, beginning to give the journalist some more detail.

"Our family company - the HPG," Logan felt he needed to correct. At this point the company was still very much his father's but he knew this was the image his father would've wanted him to show off at any public interaction.

"Sure, sure," Odette chuckled at his need for precision. "Anyway…," Odette continued, telling about the venue they'd been at and that they'd bonded over joint contempt over the music that had been playing that night.

The interview continued along the same lines - inquiring into their wedding plans that was just a little more than three months away, naturally wanting to know all about Odette's dress, the guest list and the venue. They'd also promised the magazine, a HPG owned one, first rights on their wedding photos as the means to keep paparazzi out of their wedding as much as possible, but that sort of risk was pretty calculated there. The wedding would have security guards and all-in-all one was just supposed to keep oneself prepared that pictures might resurface even through unexpected sources. That was just the way things were, how things were going to be.


June 1st, 2022

"I was worried this might happen," Logan sighed as he sank down onto their living room couch, having explained how it had just been his aunt on the phone, who's call had been followed up by his mother, who'd also gotten several calls already, showing her true colors once again by snorting how while she'd stayed out of their way in terms of wedding planning she'd at least believed she'd raised him better than that hearing he hadn't invited a lot of family.

"So what do we do?" Rory sighed. She was frankly more confused than anything about this whole media interest thing. She'd still stayed clear of the former gossip surrounding Logan for her protection. And as the seven missed calls on her phone showed, the interest towards them wasn't just a one off thing from a few of their relatives.

Rory almost felt paralyzed - she should've known well enough how the media worked. You either hid or you met with the press on pre-agreed terms, giving them access to a part of your life. The latter was often the easier path. But nobody said it'd be pleasant.

"Well - for one I think we'll need to make an announcement," Logan said. Truthfully to him the silence until now had seemed a little unbelievable, and he too had relaxed a little too much, getting used to being just a normal, uninteresting, human being.

"And say what? Just ask everyone to 'save the date'?" Rory replied, sounding a little panicky already. Half of her reaction was the result of her pregnancy hormones, half of it the fact that as the wedding was nearing she was getting more and more nervous about how it was going to go - she was almost fearing that she might turn into a bridezilla at the last minute if anything didn't turn out the way she'd pictured. She wasn't doing this for herself - a big fairy tale wedding was still not something she felt she deserved or needed - her expectations were not grand, but she kept thinking about how Logan deserved what she hadn't been able to give him before.

"Or that we aim to celebrate amongst close family and friends?" Logan suggested, but he knew that logic wasn't fool-proof either.

Rory's phone buzzed again, Rory having set it on vibrate. She, however, felt she needed to show this particular caller ID to Logan. "And what do we tell them?" she asked, showing the name of a journalist she knew from People magazine, the magazine name in brackets after her name, on her phone screen to Logan. The journalist was actually a nice woman, Rory had never minded interacting with her on a professional level, but Rory knew this was not a social call without having to answer it. This also meant that somewhere between Page Six publishing their photos and her being more or less a mystery woman, the media had also put her name to the face and this meant a wider distinction than just their relatives.

Logan shrugged, briefly, running a hand across his face along with a sigh.

As expected, when Rory didn't answer the call, a text followed, asking for an interview.

"They want an interview, " Rory read out the gist of the text.

Logan had expected as much.

"And wouldn't just claiming to having the wedding 'amongst family and friends' be just incredibly rude now that a couple have called and insisted 'their invitations have gotten lost in the mail'?" Rory recalled the call from Marilyn, using air quotes as she spoke.

"They're the ones being rude," Logan snorted. And wasn't that the truth.

"Drew even knows the date, he could be booking tickets as we speak," Rory noted, regretting having told him details. She'd just been caught so off guard, unexpecting a flood of these calls.

"So how many people would that second round of 'close' family be?" Logan asked, facing a very similar situation himself after his mother's call.

"I don't know… 50ish," Rory shrugged, being unsure.

"More like 100 on my end," Logan admitted, reluctantly. "Maybe 75," he added, hopefully thinking that some might already have plans since it was smack down the middle of the holiday season.

The financial aspect of it wasn't an issue. Housing them would be, but that could be solved by simply suggesting people make their own arrangements, which while also a little rude, they could just blame on something or somebody else. But it wasn't as they couldn't just travel in and out, considering that at least a few of them had access to boats or planes upon request. As the wedding was aimed to be an outside one, the ceremony itself taking place on a beachy-looking porch, it would also not stand in the way of things. It was just the added stress of having many people, who didn't really know them but just knew of them, around.

"We can get the organizer an assistant or something, let them deal with them, including the invites. They don't need to be personalised. We'd just need to give them a list. It wouldn't be that big of a deal, would it?" Logan discussed, stepping into action mode. He really didn't care how many people there would be, he wanted his attention on his bride and that was all.

"I guess..," Rory said, but didn't sound particularly excited about the prospect. What she was beginning to realize now was that a lot of people that had called her now were those who had also been to her graduation party, hence witnessing Logan's proposal years ago. She could already imagine all of those conversations - people not knowing anything about how they got back together, when and under what circumstances had they continued seeing each other. She was pretty much expecting to have to admit, even if half jokingly, to several people how she'd been wrong to turn him down in the first place, which was problematic on many levels. There'd be talk and whispers, which had potential for Em to overhear as well.

They both thought about eloping for a second there - just getting it over and done with - but the truth was neither really wanted that. As they really weren't ashamed of doing this, of them, and there were a lot of people they wanted to thank for supporting them. His sister, Em, Rory's mother and father, Finn and so forth. And what kind of an elopement would it really be if they were to bring along half the initial wedding party anyways? So neither was even going to suggest the brief thought out loud.

"So we'll have a big wedding, what's the big deal, right?" Rory threw in the air, needing to convince herself.

"Yeah," Logan assured, stroking her back. "It'll still be ours - our venue, our party, our honeymoon after that with nobody there but us - it's nothing like…," Logan began to explain, but nearly slipped to the painful area of topics, which Rory could finish without him saying it.

"I know," Rory said, nodding along.

"It's real, our wedding is real," Logan said, stepping close to her, wrapped his fingers into the back of her hair and with first placing her forehead on hers, he kissed her. "And I am not ashamed of us, I'm proud - let them see it," he confirmed, breaking the kiss briefly, unsure if she needed the confirmation or not.

"Okey, let them," Rory replied with a giggle, feeling energized by his words.

"You know… I hate to say it but..," Logan began a few moments later, slipping out of the intimate moment after both of their phones had begun buzzing again.

"You think we should give the interview, don't you?" Rory said, beginning to recall better and better how this thing worked.

"I don't want to subject you to uncomfortable questions. I hoped that part of my life was behind me… But you have to consider that it might just be the beginning once I go back to the HPG… Sure, it'd probably have a little bit more tact on this side of the pond, considering we know a lot of people in the business here personally," Logan explained. The British yellow press had been the most vicious sometimes, especially considering Logan was considered an outsider and the general public didn't always have the best view of Americans, as if their faults were somehow rooted in their homeland. Logan, at least, had had positive experiences in the States and knew better how to deal with them. "Neither of us is going around looking for trouble, partying and what not…, so we might not be the most interesting piece of news for long," Logan added, hopefully, basically saying that because they were no longer young and were considered pretty boring family-aged people, they had some home and the media would tire of them.

This certainly gave Rory some food for thought. Five-six years ago this had been one of the things holding her back - she couldn't picture herself as being that arm candy on Logan's hand while he did his thing. It had felt cheap. She'd been too stuck on making it on her own, and she knew that people were going to ask her time and time again what she did for a living. And this time, voluntarily, she wouldn't have anything to tell them. And she could already imagine the assumptions they'd draw from that. It was a big thing to swallow for her, her mother's judgemental words from weeks ago - as long as your entire purpose won't become sitting on committees and running charities - still echoing in her brain on top of everything.

But Rory knew that she'd already gone too far to back down now. She didn't want things to be different. She didn't want to go back to the life she'd had before Logan had returned to her life, even the thought of that made her shiver inside.

"Okay then," she exhaled.

The only way forward was only going forward with whatever came with this life, and that meant supporting Logan in his career among other things.