Chapter 204
October 10th, 2021
Logan sat in front of his sister's house on a planter ledge, a half-empty water bottle in hand, his elbows leaning onto his knees - waiting. He was waiting for his sister to arrive, having not wanted to agree the staff to let him inside despite the fact they probably would've. He was used to the outdoors these days anyways, and the slight sunburn on his skin showed it, having just come from the Tiger Leaping Gorge trail in China a couple a week ago. So the slight inconvenience actually felt appropriate considering he wasn't at all sure if Honor would talk to him, let alone let him inside. After all - he'd been away for months, only brief voicemails and texts letting her know he was fine. But he hadn't been there when she'd needed him when their father had passed. He knew that was not as easy to undo.
Logan felt relief as he saw Honor's Range Rover pull up and Linus and Conrad poured out of the car, clearly happy to see him sitting there. Logan stood up, and hugged his nephews in greeting. At least they were glad to see him.
Thankfully, the boys didn't seem overly upset because of their father's funeral, the event having already been a week ago. But then again they were probably evel less close to him than Logan and his sister.
"Go on inside, boys! I'll be in in a minute," Honor said to his sons, her voice not being so joyous. But Logan had expected as much. He was prepared for a scolding, possibly some kicking even. And he would've deserved it.
Honor's face held all that frustration, annoyment, anger and sorrow. She looked tired too. He was pretty sure Honor might slap him, maybe shout at him even.
"I'm sorry…," Logan began, humbly.
Honor's angry gaze turned into something softer as she approached him and she simply wrapped her arms around him, holding her little brother very much like she would her sons.
"I'm just so glad you're here," Honor sniffled, as she held him.
And for the first time in months Logan held onto another human being this genuinely as well.
"You timing though," Honor said, as she pulled back, punching him in his upper arm.
"Auch!" Logan reacted, making it sound worse than it was. "I didn't have reception. And tThen I was already out on a trail and once I got back… it just took a while to get back here," he explained, but he knew that he could've technically made it for the funeral had he truly wanted to. He just hadn't wanted to face all the people that would've had more questions for him than he would've had answers to. He'd felt incapable of going through all of that just yet.
"Yeah-yeah, come on…," Honor said, still holding onto her brother, and walked him inside. "I assume you're staying? Are you hungry?" she asked, not really expecting a response.
July 14th, 2022
"Well, well, well! Isn't this a surprise?" Honor chimed at Logan, pushing her sunglasses down to her nose for a second, as she sat by her pool on a lounge chair. She had a bunch of papers on the lap of her floral silk maxi-length caftan, never quite being able to escape the work. But Logan knew she was still happy to be home.
"Ah…," Logan exhaled, deciding to land onto the lounge chair next to him in a boyish manner, not minding the shade and scenery one bit. He quite liked Honor's place - it had a similar feel to the place in Martha's Vineyard, minus the ocean. Well, it was probably even nicer, less worn down certainly. The place looked better than most hotel resorts with the impecable landscaping resembling more of a lush English garden than anything Logan was used to normally seeing this side of the ocean, perfectly sparce distribution of people, minimalist furniture that was easy on the eyes, the scent freshly made sangria and fresh berries topping everything off.
"So what do I owe this pleasure?" Honor asked, placing her papers aside.
"I was just in the neighborhood. Meeting Rory at Birdie's in an hour," Logan shared. He'd been to the City to get his suit fitted again. now that was finally done - thank god - and he could just focus on going on with the actual event. As far as he knew Rory had her back-up dress, and to him it seemed she was content with it just the same. Men - right?
"You're still going? Wouldn't think you two would need it," Honor said, meaning it in the best possible way.
Logan shrugged. The truth was they were just a little afraid to stop going, as if they needed someone to guard them. Their biggest issues were settled, they were talking more - more specifically too, which appeared to make a big difference in the end. Sure, there were deeper issues from their past, but those didn't need to be brought out every single time, the main focus now being their new day-to-day and the impending changes.
"Better than you're going than not, I guess," Honor commented. "So, where did the guys drag you off for your final bash of freedom?" she teased.
"O Canada…," Logan attempted to sing.
"Oh, right… that's a first," Honor replied, sounding surprised.
"Tell me about it," Logan replied. "I was pretty much expecting some new attempt at Monaco, Vegas or Cancun…. I was actually relieved it wasn't. It was exactly what I needed… Just some harmless paintball, dinner and drinks with the guys at this nice cabin," Logan described. To a 25-year-old Logan a bachelor party like that would've probably sounded like the lamest thing ever, and even to a 35-year-old, who'd still appreciated drinking his freedom away. This time he hadn't even truly wanted to get drunk, not feeling like he was losing a thing by this marriage - only gaining. He felt like in the last year he'd grown so much, the things he valued were different - and he knew how little that kind of freedom really was worth.
"Sounds fun," Honor replied. She understood well how the definition of fun changed with time. "Rory's was pretty cool too. I'm not sure if she told you about the place Gigi booked but it was pretty wild, even though I felt like a 100 years old there. What am I saying, of course she told you," Honor continued, just realizing that Rory probably had told him all about it.
"Yeah, she definitely did," Logan admitted, a broad smirk on his face.
"I bet she did," Honor chuckled.
"She also applauded your idea of the late night spa that followed that," Logan commented.
"Yeah, I sort of figured she would. God, I don't envy her coming months," Honor added, knowing that the last stretch of the pregnancy generally wasn't much fun. "Besides, arranging a spa for eight on a Saturday night wasn't at all an easy task," she elaborated. It went without saying some significant financial incentive had gone into getting them all massages, for some the prenatal kind, or if one wanted just a footrub, and mani-pedi-s. They'd had a snacks-and-dessert dinner - cheese balls, fruit-and-prosciutto-skewers, berries and mini-pavlovas among other things - along with those turning the evening's end into a much-needed pampering session, even if Honor was pretty sure Gigi and Lucy would've much rather gone to some club for some dancing instead.
"Well, she appreciated it. And so do I," Logan replied, wanting the woman who was carrying her child to be pampered and taken well care of as much as possible.
Logan stared into the yard for a while, seeing Linus and Conrad playing tennis in the background.
"I actually wanted to ask you about something. Not so much a question but get your opinion…," Logan said.
"Sure," Honor said, turning to him.
"Did you know dad didn't leave mom anything? Nothing significant at least - not the house, not the money," Logan said.
"Um, no…," Honor replied, having not expected that. "Though I doubt she's ever had to think about what she spends during the time she's been with dad," she added with a light snigger.
"Well apparently, dad's inheritage also included me takeing charge of mom, mom's life essentially," Logan explained, finding the concept incredibly odd. Sure, it was the kids' job essentially to look after one's parents when they grew old, but surely this was not that. Having now had some time to think about it, he really didn't like the idea of being in charge of her allowence like she was a child. He really wished he had someone to ask the underlying reasons behind this which would make his decision making a lot easier on what to do about it.
"Wow! Gotta love dad, eh?" Honor snorted laughingly. Michum certainly knew how to impact the living even from the grave.
"Do you think she knows about this?" Logan asked.
Honor shrugged. "But you'll definitely get to bring it up at the rehearsal dinner, I dear you," Honor teased. "It'll make perfect dinner conversation," she added laughingly.
"Sure, and I'll bring up her last face lift while we're at it," Logan added with a chuckle. The rehearsal dinner was what he dreaded anyways. That was where people were going to ask him and Rory all these questions, it was almost like a test that they needed to get through. Logan and Rory had already agreed that if it went too badly, at least they had the perfect excuse to cut it short thanks to the pregnancy.
"But now that you mention it…," Honor pondered. "I bet that was part of her prenup, you know," she added. "That in case she left him or he died, she wouldn't get anything. So she wouldn't be the tempted to leave him or well... kill him," Honor continued, meaning the latter only half-seriously. "You know he tried to get Josh to sign something similar," she recalled.
"He did?" Logan asked. Sure, he'd known there had been some paperwork involved, but he hadn't paid much attention to things like that back in the day.
"We didn't sign it, of course," Honor snorted. "We just did a very basic one - in case Josh cheated or embezzled the family funds - things like that," she explained.
Logan and Odette had had a prenup as well, though as Logan had let Colin handle it, it had been a lot less emotionally fueled. For a brief second he wondered whether he and Rory sould even talk about this, not that he wanted to. But perhaps this was the sensible thing. They're assets were a lot more equal today, so really he felt no need. But there were aspects to consider concerning their child which were probably even more important to him, including how to handle the inheritance of the company someday. For now it were those same boys who were currently playing tennis at the back of the yard that were first in line, and for that Logan was relieved, though he knew that having that weight on their shoulder while growing up was nothing easy, even if there would be more of the younger generation this time to share the resposibility with. It was potential for high expectations, talk of their destinies and dynasties… all of which he'd rather avoid altogether. He wanted all of these kids to see these as possibilities not as resposibilities and he knew he would do anything to make sure it stayed that way.
"But what was the point - so that she'd behave, keep her in check?" Logan discussed, having thought about it for a while. It was not like her mother had ever showed signs of wanting to leave this lifestyle anyways. What use was it that after Mitchum died in a carcrash his wife would be left without everything she'd grown accustomed to. Logan had also realized that this really did have the potential of keeping Shira on her toes when he and Rory were concerned too. And truthfully, he'd already see her try. Maybe she was trying because of that, but in reality didn't approve at all?
"I believe that's the Huntzberger way…," Honor chimed, putting her sunglasses back on and leaning back. These were just the types of things they'd grown up with.
"Well I'm not keeping up with that tradition," Logan said, shaking his head, and laid back himself.
