Chapter 6: Emily
Trix
It's difficult to hate a dead woman.
Lorelai realised this on the day of Emily's viewing. There were friends genuinely upset at her loss, far more than at most society funerals. There were far fewer enemies or those who seemed even mildly pleased she was gone (that one of those who did was a Huntzberger validated all opinions that Lorelai had ever had about Elias and his family.) Most mourners were unexpectedly genuine. It was a very decent turnout given that travel was still difficult during the holiday season.
Lorelai had never felt more conflicted.
If there wasn't an active animosity (on both sides) in a relationship it was very easy to start to feel guilty about one's past behaviour.
Before the funeral Lorelai had told herself that down that path lay ruin and self-doubt. Now though? Now Lorelai's resolve was beginning to weaken.
As the funeral went on Lorelai felt her opinion of Emily being tempered more than it had been in over two decades of her son being married to the woman. She knew Emily had been heavily involved in the DAR and charity work. The sheer extent to which she was involved however was in many respects a career in itself.
Lorelai did not appreciate her image of Emily as a self-indulgent being chipped away by the Reverend Boatwright and other speakers.
When Francine Hayden took to the stage Lorelai almost had a heart attack at what she could say.
The family might never have recovered.
Fortunately the woman (who had been estranged from Emily for more than half a decade) seemed to have a great memory for better times and gave a very respectful, and heartfelt, speech. Lorelai conveniently overlooked that fact the woman looked like death warmed up, with eyes highly bloodshot, and a slight whiff of alcohol (when Lorelai met her after her speech) that indicated just what the woman had been doing till nearly 4:15am the night before.
Francine had sobered up enough however to cleverly omit the fact that Emily's beloved granddaughter was also Francine's own from the speech.
It was, nevertheless, a stirring funeral that matched Emily perfectly.
As Lorelai sat through it, all she could think was it was getting harder and harder to hate her daughter in law. Especially now the woman was deceased.
The celebration after her daughter in laws funeral was even more of a nightmare.
She had to deal with Shira Huntzberger (the woman was up jumped trailer trash who got lucky), Reverend Boatwright (who was tedious), and the unexpected horror that ironically came from conversing with Pennilyn Lott.
Lorelai hadn't expected the results that came from that conversation.
It had occurred quite by accident.
Lorelai had been skilfully avoiding her much younger sister in law, not as many might have thought due to her very "new money" marriage (as long as they were classy about it Lorelai didn't have a problem with new money), but due to Charlotte "Totsi" Gilmore's overpowering use of perfume (a bad habit dating from early adolescence) which left a scent lingering for what seemed like a month (close interaction with Totsi thus being best avoided outside of controllable circumstances). Lorelai was also privately thanking God to herself once more that her other, far more odious (somehow), sister in law was dead. Cecile had been an absolute nightmare of a woman, her failure to understood knock-knock jokes being among the least of her very many crimes. It had not been a coincidence that on Cecile's death a couple years previously Lorelai had been "Too ill to travel from bad flu". She was so wrapped up in her thoughts it was hardly a surprise that she had almost physically collided with Richard's ex fiancé.
"Pennilyn how nice to see you again. How long has it been?" Lorelai had asked Pennilyn as if their near collision had been on purpose.
"Mrs Gilmore…" Pennilyn had stuttered. "It's nice to see you again."
Lorelai frowned inwardly at the response at first, but had ignored it as simple shock, she had pressed on.
"I confess I am somewhat surprised to see you here. I did not imagine you and Emily were on cordial terms." Lorelai had asked politely. A large part of her was hoping that the girl, now a lady of middle age (who might have been her daughter in law) would validate her long held opinion that Pennilyn would have made a better wife for Richard than Emily.
"We weren't friends. Emily avoided most of the committees I was a part of. I avoided the DAR as well. Emily was always better at event planning for them so I steered clear. Richard needs friends here today though." Pennilyn had spluttered.
"Friends? After he ended your engagement to be with Emily." Lorelai retorted. "The invitations had been sent out."
"It was a mutual decision." Pennilyn muttered.
Lorelai paused a moment.
A mutual decision?
"Really?" Lorelai asked frostily. "I had not heard that before."
"Richard did it to save reputations all around. Or rather damage his own as opposed to mine. He found me "in flagrante" with Stephen and one of my friends saw him dining with Emily. Of course Emily was just a "friend" at that point. Thing's never turned carnal as they did with myself and Stephen." Pennilyn said somewhat bitterly before quickly realising what she had confessed.
"You cheated on Richard?" whispered Lorelai angrily.
"We cheated on each other." Pennilyn replied defensively before sighing guiltily (As if acknowledging who committed the greater sin.) "The truth was though, as both our actions showed, was that the romance had been dying for months. I might have acted on my feelings more "robustly" but Richard was certainly not having innocent platonic dinner dates with Emily, and even if those dates never ended with a kiss, or something more, the intent was there. Richard told me so himself."
"And yet you're friends." Lorelai questioned bemused.
"Friends who meet once a year for lunch and only then" Pennilyn said hastily. Seeing Lorelai's expression turn menacing Pennilyn hastily added more. "It's just to keep ourselves updated on each other. There's no romance there anymore. Not for years."
Lorelai was in shock. Pennilyn quickly made her excuses to leave.
"Anyway I need to go back. Stephen was reluctant to come in the first place. He's still a tad jealous of Richard even now. As Emily was when it came to me."
Lorelai was left alone with her thoughts.
A mutual decision? Pennilyn cheating on Richard? Sexually! Emily not being the true harlot of the situation…
Lorelai was starting to have a headache.
A part of her wondered if Emily had known the whole truth of the situation. Lorelai then scoffed at the idea. If Emily had thought she'd triumphed over Pennilyn and that Richard hadn't been cheated on himself Emily would have crowed about it or thrown it back in Lorelai's face over the years.
Then Lorelai thought of the letter. She'd begged Richard not to marry Emily. Begged him on his and Emily's wedding day. With today's news though…Emily had been a better option than Pennilyn.
A better option.
Lorelai wanted to laugh. Years and years of berating and badgering the woman for breaking Lorelai's code of morals and it had been Pennilyn who'd been the real slut. Lorelai had looked for deficiencies in Emily's character and found what she was looking for by sheer persistence.
In the end Emily had won though. As she went to get herself a drink Lorelai contemplated further.
Lorelai still didn't like Emily. The flaws in Emily's character were still there but Lorelai could feel her hatred for Emily diminishing rapidly.
The flaws she'd hated had been minor.
Emily had loved Richard.
Emily had been chaste till marriage (well compared to Pennilyn at least). She would have been a near ideal candidate were it not for a few abrasive personality quirks.
It was getting harder and harder to hold on to her previous opinions of Emily.
Harder and harder.
Rory
Rory was very sad.
Hearing the Reverend go on, and on, and on, and on, and on, was boring.
Rory missed her Grandma.
Grandma was funny, and dressed prettily, and gave great hugs. Now Rory would never see her again and that sucked.
It sucked a lot.
(Mommy had shouted at Grandma just for inviting Daddy. Rory wasn't sure she liked Mommy for that.)
The Funeral ceremony was over now, and Trix and Grandpa were thanking everyone, as they had a funeral lunch, and Rory was so bored.
Even the food wasn't as good as Sookie made.
"Are you bored?" A voice with a funny accent asked her.
Rory turned around to see a boy a year (or two) older than her holding a plate of food.
"I'm bored." The boy with the strange accent continued speaking. "Funerals are boring."
"It's my Grandmas though…" Rory said half-heartedly. She understood it was a super important day but the boy was right.
It was boring.
The Boy must have heard what she wasn't saying out loud and looked super happy, like he'd won a prize at something.
"You're bored as well!" The Boy said.
Rory was about to deny it but then sighed.
"Yeah it was boring." Rory confessed. "I loved Grandma a lot but this whole thing was boring."
"My Grandpa died a few months ago." The Boy said sympathetically. "That funeral was boring too. I think all funerals are. Doesn't mean you're not sad."
Rory decided that The Boy was nice. He was also right.
"I'm Rory." Rory said putting her hand out for a hand shake. (Rory thought that was what Trix would do.)
"I'm Finn." The Boy, Finn, said, shaking vigorously back. "Let's be friends?"
Rory nodded, she liked making new friends. She didn't have a lot though. Most kid's thought she was a bookworm because she could already read very good ("read well" Trix's voice said in her head).
Finn was amazing. He told funny stories, he showed her the book he was reading (James and the Giant Peach, it looked awesome!), he explained what some of the riskier food was (Rory tried all of it except the caviar because it sounded yucky). They were both having fun.
But they wanted to find someone else to play with.
So Rory and Finn then went looking around. There weren't many other kids there.
For a moment they thought there weren't any other kids there at all.
And there weren't.
Except one.
There was a little girl, the same age as Rory, sitting in a corner quietly reading a book.
"Let's say hi" Finn nearly shouted, grabbing onto Rory's arm and practically pulling her to the other little girl.
"Hello." Finn said loudly and energetically.
The other little girl looked up startled. She locked eyes on both of them, curiously, but also suspiciously.
"What do you want?" The Girl asked.
"To be friends!" Finn said happily back. "I'm Finn." Finn continued hand sticking out.
"I'm Rory." Rory added helpfully. She didn't put her hand out as The Girl was yet to shake Finn's hand.
"Why do you want to be friends?" The Girl asked tentative once more. It was like she thought the offer was a joke or a mean prank. She still didn't give her name.
"Why not?" Finn said back. Rory thought was very clever and difficult to answer.
The Girl seemed to agree, although Rory saw the longing look The Girl gave at the book, she was still holding tightly, that meant she'd probably prefer to still be reading.
Rory was half in agreement with her. But Finn was fun!
"I'm Paris." The Girl said warily. She finally shook Finn's hand.
"Let's go find the Quiche. Its names weird, and it looks weird, but it tastes great." Finn said happily, leading the two girls back to the food.
"Your friend is strange Rory." Paris whispered. "How long have you been friends?"
"I think ten minutes." Rory replied honestly back. "Maybe fifteen?"
To which Paris Gellar had nothing to say.
Richard
Richard watched out of the corner of his eye, as Rory engaged in deep conversation with Phineas Shelley, and Paris Gellar.
She was smiling.
At least Rory was able to enjoy herself. Richard felt dreadful.
Julian Johnson and Edward James from the club were currently offering their condolences.
"It's a dreadful situation Richard. I know at the club we're all pulling for you." Edward said kindly.
"The service was excellent though Richard. My Uncle could have hardly done better and he's been a reverend longer than most of the people here have been alive." Julian offered a slight joke in an attempt to cheer Richard up.
It worked as Richard found himself giving a small chuckle.
"You look familiar young man." Mother said to Julian as she came over. "Did I here you say your uncle was a Reverend?"
"Yes Mrs Gilmore the Reverend John Wilder." Julian replied.
"The resemblance is uncanny." Mother muttered just loudly enough for all three men to here.
Julian gave a despairing look to Richard while Edward started sniggering quietly.
"He's been told that since he hit his 21st birthday thirty three years ago" Edward whispered loudly. "There's about twenty years difference between them… Still never fails to be funny."
Richard suppressed a guffaw.
"He's planning on retiring to Florida soon." Julian said slightly louder than he needed to.
"I really must go over my funeral plans again then." Mother mused to herself. "It has been some time."
It was at that moment that Straub and Francine came over.
"Richard." Strobe said curtly but kindly.
Francine meekly smiled. She had clearly been crying.
Mother excused herself. "I really must go find Cousin Claudia. It was very impressive of her to make it here for Emily's funeral when her husband is so ill."
Richard walked over to Rory, who was being regaled with a story by young Phineas.
"So then there are cloud people who attack." Phineas said.
"Really?" Rory asked.
"People who live in clouds, or who are made of clouds?" Paris questioned.
"I think it's both." Phineas replied.
"Rory." Richard asked to get his granddaughters attention.
His granddaughters attention focused on him.
"Grandad it's awesome. Finn was telling me all about James and the Giant Peach. James is kind of like me but kind of not. He's a-" Rory thought for a moment but couldn't get the word right. She looked at Finn who remembered the word she meant quickly. It wasn't in the book but he'd seen a film about Oliver Twist!
"Orphan. James is an orphan. I learned that from Oliver!" The young boy said helpfully.
"That's right. It means someone who doesn't have any parents because they died. And I realised that's like me! I'm an orphan!" Rory declared proudly. Then she frowned. "But it's also not like me because I have you, Trix, and Cousin Marilyn as family. I'm still an orphan because mommy and daddy died but not an orphan like James who only has Spiker and Sponge because you're not like them at all." Rory rushed out excitedly.
Richard wasn't quite sure what to say to that.
Rory was right of course. She was an orphan. With all that entailed.
Her Mother dead.
Her Father dead.
A figure that to other children might even be seen as fundamentally strange.
It was like being stabbed in the heart.
Straub and Francine looked like they shared his feeling as they stood in earshot a metre away. As if the realisation had just sunk in that their granddaughter was an orphan. A figure belonging in Victorian novels, or optimistic musicals, and on occasion a combination of the two… Not their own flesh and blood.
Richard needed anything to help him escape this moment. This awkwardness. This pain.
His Mother answered.
She appeared like a ghost. She was certainly as pallid as one.
"She's coming here." Mother murmured. "Her flight was late, too late to attend the funeral proper, but she's coming here."
"Who?" Richard asked. He had an inkling of who it could be but hoped it was an impossibility. "Who is coming?"
His Mother's cousin cut in.
"My brother. But also…" Cousin Claudia began slightly flustered. That knowledge relieved Richard a little at least, as his mother's male cousin was a good humoured, slightly eccentric, and very witty man who was very good company. However there was only one person Cousin William could be accompanied by that could cause such a panic in his Mother.
There was only one person on Earth who could leave her as flustered as she was.
Claudia was still struggling to vocalise the answer that Richard had already guessed.
"Your mother?" Richard said.
Claudia nodded.
"The Baroness?" Straub interjected while Francine looked somewhat puzzled for a moment as if trying to recall some long forgotten information.
Richard had to admire Straub's memory.
"Is she well enough to travel at her age?" Straub enquired.
"She certainly thinks so." Claudia muttered.
"My Aunt is crossing the Atlantic for the first time in a quarter of a century." Mother confirmed with dread. "God help us all."
All five adults were silent.
"Does anyone want some quiche?" Rory, still standing quietly nearby, asked politely.
It's been longer than I thought. With respect a global pandemic popped up. In addition I felt I needed to do more background research… I'll be honest I may have got carried away. The current family tree for Rory now numbers over 30 people most of whom have birth and death years. I've also been binge reading series scripts to add more relatives who I've missed into this web as time goes on (as well as for other character info). As well as attempting to realistically integrate characters into real world history through butterfly flap their wings changes (I now know a lot more about ww1 nobility fatalities than I think is relevant to everyday life or most trivia). In addition I'm developing Trix's background and Charles's background as a couple. As the old saying goes if you want something done right make Tolkien say "way… slow down on the character back story". Either way as I wade through the romantic troubles Rory experiences in series 3 in my reading I will feel confident in sinking one ship now. Dean will not be a major presence in this story. He will not be a minor presence in this story. He may be vaguely referenced on one or two occasions in far future chapters. This story trajectory does not have a place for Dean as a lead character in it. As for other stars hollow characters many (perhaps even most) will still be key or minor characters! As for how…
Read on…