Chapter 4
"Good morning." Luke rolled over and brushed a few stray hairs out of his wife's face.
"Hello."
"So how do you feel?"
"Um, fine. How should I feel?"
"Do you feel nauseous or woozy or anything?"
"Luke, I just stopped taking the pill a few days ago."
"It takes that long for everything to clear out?"
"Well I've never tried to have a kid before, but yeah, I think it could take some time."
"How much time? Like an estimate."
"Do we have some baby making deadline that I am not aware of?"
"No, it's just …"
"Aww, you're really excited about having a baby, aren't you?"
"Why? Am I not allowed to be excited?"
"It's just kinda cute. You're cute."
"Well I try." He kissed her and climbed out of bed. "I'll go get you some juice."
Lorelai shot up. "I think I must have misunderstood. Did you just say juice?"
"It's good for you."
"Luke, darling, have you ever seen me near juice or any other fruit product?"
"Well no."
"So why the juice?"
"I've been reading and apparently expectant mothers should stay away from coffee and other caffeinated things."
"I'm not pregnant yet. I'm probably not even ovulating."
"Well why not start getting ready now? You should probably flush all of the caffeine out of your body."
"Luke, I need coffee. I'm begging you."
"How about decaf?"
"How about no."
"50/50?"
"Getting better."
"80/20?"
"I'll give it a shot."
"I'll be right back."
Lorelai rolled onto her back and smiled. She couldn't remember the last time she was this happy. A small part of her was afraid that at any moment the other foot was going to drop. The phone rang, making her jump. "I got it!" Lorelai herd Luke call from downstairs. She couldn't think of any one that would be calling this early. "Lorelai! It's for you!"
She picked up the phone on the table next to the bed. "Hello?"
"Who was that man that answered your phone?"
Well there's that other foot, Lorelai thought. "That was Luke, Mom."
"You let him stay the night and answer your phone."
"Uh, yes."
"Where have you been?"
"Well for the past eight hours I've been asleep."
"I tried to call you last week and there was no answer."
"I was busy at work."
"I called the inn and Michel told me you had taken the week off. Is everything alright?"
"Everything's fine, Mom. I gotta go, my call waiting is beeping."
"I didn't hear anything."
"I have to go. Let's, umm, have lunch today. We could meet at the inn around 1?"
"Alright. But I expect a full explanation of your mysterious disappearance. Good bye, Lorelai."
"Bye, Mom."
"Here's your coffee." Luke sat down on the bed and handed her the cup.
"That was my mother," she said before nearly emptying the contents of the mug in one gulp.
"You know, we really need to tell her."
"No we don't. I can just keep my left hand in my pocket whenever she's around."
"Lorelai."
"Fine. I'll tell her today at lunch."
"Promise?"
"Yes, I promise."
"Maybe I'll go with you, for moral support."
"Ok, then you can shield me when she attacks me with her salad fork."
Luke rolled his eyes. "I need to get in the shower."
"Hey, how much water do you think we could save if we only took showers together?"
"I'm not sure."
"Care to find out?" She smiled mischievously and pushed him into the bathroom.
"So how's the DAR going, Mom? Any good benefits coming up?" Lorelai had managed to avoid any talk of her disappearance for half an hour. Luke had gotten stuck at the diner and she was stalling in hopes he would be getting there soon.
"Oh nothing more interesting than what I've been waiting all afternoon to hear, I'm sure."
"Right. Well, Luke and I decided to …"
"Sorry I'm late." Luke kissed Lorelai on the head and sat down next to her. "My bread guy's on strike or something. It's a whole big mess. But I'm here now." He suddenly remembered Emily Gilmore was also at the table. "Hello Emily."
"Hello Luke. Lorelai was just about to tell me that the two of you had decided to do something." Emily looked questioningly at her daughter.
"Right. Well, like I was saying, Luke and I, we decided to get married."
"Lorelai, you told me that a year ago."
"I know. But a few weeks ago we decided to speed things up a bit."
"You set a date? Fantastic!" Emily pulled her date book out of her purse. "So what did you decide on?"
"Two weeks ago." Lorelai squeezed Luke's hand under the table.
"Excuse me?"
"Lorelai and I decided to elope. We flew out to the Virgin Islands and got married."
"You're married?"
"Yes." Luke put his hand on Lorelai's knee, trying to comfort her.
"Married."
"Yeah, Mom, married."
"I can't believe you would do this to me. After all of the planning I've done. Do you know how long I've been planning your wedding, Lorelai? Thirty-five years. Your father will be crushed. I had a caterer and location on stand by and everything. I've told friends to keep their calendars open for when you finally decided to set a date."
"Emily, we hadn't even discussed wedding details like that with each other."
"Like I would leave the planning of a wedding up to the two of you. We all see how well you arrange things."
"Mom, I'm sorry that I didn't consult you on this. But we did what we wanted and needed to do."
"I have to go. I have an appointment at three that I can't be late for." Emily stood and started to leave.
Lorelai looked at Luke. She was confused and a little hurt. "I'll take care of this," he told her. Luke stood and followed his mother-in-law into the lobby. "Emily wait."
"Wait? You mean like the two of you did?" And with that she walked out of the inn.
Lorelai smiled as Luke walked back to the table. "Why are you smiling like that? Your mother just walked out on us."
"I know. That was the best case scenario."
"I see."
She squeezed his knee reassuringly. "Welcome to the family babe."
