Joshua
Lorelai
Lorelai remembered the first time she'd ever met Joshua Twickham.
It had been 1927 and she had just turned 10 years old. She and father had just moved into a new house (mansion) that father had bought. Over half a century later she remembered the party.
Nominally it had been to celebrate her 10th birthday.
Practically it was a chance for father to celebrate another successful year for his investment firm. It had been the height of the roaring twenties and business had been booming.
Everyone seemed elated.
Except Joshua Twickham.
Her father had introduced her to the nervous young man early in the party. Not yet twenty and seemingly anxious at everything he saw.
And everyone.
Apparently the Spanish flu had hit his family especially hard. Both parents dead. Six of his seven siblings also dead (the sole survivor a much younger sister). Aunts, uncles, cousins, and his grandmother. All were gone. He, his sister, and his elderly grandfather the only survivors of the pandemic from a family that had numbered nearly forty in their small town.
A town she now knew must have been Stars Hollow.
The deaths had affected Joshua to a large degree.
A very large degree as it had made Joshua Twickham paranoid beyond all reason.
She'd noticed it as a ten year old, at that first party. Joshua Twickham did nothing to hide it after all. Later meetings only added to her evidence of his peculiarities.
There were constant trips to the bathroom to wash his hands when they were exposed to the elements.
Said hands when rarely exposed however as they were almost always covered with gloves, normally those for evening wear, oftentimes worn even when it skirted the border of propriety.
There was a polite but shaky bow that he used as a greeting in contrast to a handshake when he could get away with it.
Lastly there was his reluctance to stand anywhere that might be touching even slightly close to someone else.
All in all Joshua Twickham seemed to treat life as if he was navigating an active minefield.
In another place of work it would have caused him to lose his job. Lorelai's father never contemplated letting go of Joshua for his eccentricities it because there was one critical detail about Joshua Twickham and in reality the only one that mattered.
He was brilliant.
Her father once said that Joshua Twickham must have made a deal with a spirit of fortune of some kind. Long term and medium term his advice was correct nearly every single time.
Not even her father knew how he did it.
All of this Lorelai had been told before she first met the man.
Which was why the young Lorelai had been concerned with what Joshua was saying when she saw him later in the party after the first meeting.
Father had been deep in conversation with several of the other partners when Joshua had been asked for his opinion on what the future might hold.
Even if he had been very junior he had reaped significant returns for the company already.
"So Joshua what do you think is the right call. The market seems to be on an upward trend." Father had jovially asked the 19 year old.
"Short term the market looks fine… But mid-term? Long term? Gold." Joshua had said simply. "I'd go for gold."
"Poppycock." Another partner chortled. "Gold is for when you think the markets going under. That and cash. This markets going to go up forever!"
The rest of the partners all murmured their agreement. Although Father had looked very curiously at Joshua with a knowing look in his eye.
"It can't go up forever." Joshua had argued.
Most of the other partners laughed. All except father in fact.
Joshua just sighed. With the exception of her Father none had seemed close to believing him.
"As amusing as young Twickham's thoughts are let's turn to more important matters." The original partner said dismissively. "Now Henry. Tell us how you managed to snag this place off Alva when Benjamin was desperate to turn it into rubble. He nearly had a conniption when I asked if he'd lost his interest in it. I know we're all dying to know how you got one past him." The Partner continued.
"Well a few years ago Beatrice and I…" Father had begun the tale at which point Lorelai had tuned out of the conversation. She'd heard the story too often for it to be of any interest any more.
Lorelai was too busy wondering why all the men, except father, had ignored Joshua.
Lorelai thought that was ill advised at the time. Nothing good could last forever. Her mother's death had taught her that. The deaths of her siblings as well.
Joshua had been right of course as others had learned to their great horror just a couple of years later as the market that was going to "go up forever" promptly had a legendary crash.
Much like Cassandra of Troy he had uttered a prophecy that night nearly all present had ignored.
That had been sixty odd years ago.
The Joshua that stood before Lorelai today had aged in that time. Yet in many respects he was almost exactly the same.
Especially as he was clearly trying to move away from the space encroaching figure of the Star's Hollow town selectman.
"I'm glad your health was feeling up to coming today Mister Twickham. We were all worried about your scare last month." Taylor Doose said sympathetically (and while encroaching on his personal space) to Joshua.
"Thank you Taylor." Joshua chuckled nervously darting a little further away from the obnoxious man. "Now is you'll excuse me I need to speak to…?" Joshua was frantically looking for an escape route.
"Joshua. I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw you here." Lorelai swept in. "It has been far too many years. Come, we have much to catch up on."
Joshua gratefully followed her then (at a respectable distance of course) till they found a quieter space.
"Father and I thought you dead Joshua. Explain." Lorelai demanded rather petulantly. Initial thoughts of thanking Joshua had fled on seeing the man up close. She no longer felt the seventy plus years she was. Instead the twelve year old girl distraught that the person she liked best in father firms was no longer there, was in fact dead, reared her ugly head.
Joshua Twickham looked around himself as if noting the various mourners before sighing deeply.
"I can explain Lorelai. Not here though. There are far too many ears and if the town, especially that damned Taylor Doose, knew the truth of what happened all those years ago I'd never get a moments peace again." Joshua explained quietly.
"I have a lot of questions Joshua." Lorelai said with a note of menace to her voice.
"And I owe you a lot of answers. I'd give you my address but it would be easier if you just asked where "Old Man Twickham's" house is when you get to town. Any time you're free would do, except Fridays when I have bridge, and Saturdays when I have my weekly tea at the inn. " Joshua replied.
"Old Man Twickham?" Lorelai smirked.
"A close to inherited title I found myself bestowed with the best part of three decades ago. My grandfather was called the same. It started out as an in joke with those I grew up with who knew the old man. Then it started to eventually become accurate. Now I rarely get called Joshua even by the odd person old enough to still know my name." Joshua grumbled.
Lorelai was openly sniggering now. It didn't last for long.
"Lorelai. I just wanted to say. My condolences on your granddaughter. I saw the girl a couple of times at the inn. I never knew she was related to you though… She never mentioned her last name to me. I just thought I'd pay my respects. I owed your father a lot." Joshua kindly said.
Lorelai sobered and offered her own thanks before Joshua disappeared back into the larger spaces between people in the room.
Richard cautiously made his way over to her.
"Did you manage to thank the man?" Richard asked still perplexed at who Joshua Twickham was.
"We're meeting after Christopher's funeral a week or so from now." Lorelai casually replied.
Lorelai couldn't help but appreciate seeing her son grumble at her lack of a real answer, it was just like he was six years old again and denied his favourite toy for not finishing his reading.
It still amused her.
Rory
"Do you miss her?" Lane asked.
Rory didn't really want to answer her best friend.
She'd had great fun telling Floria how she now had more grandparents and was really happy.
Her thoughts about her mummy were still fraught and hadn't gotten much better after she'd told Aunt Floria.
Lane had liked her mum though so she was confused as to how to step around the question. The silence was starting to drag on.
"I don't think she wants to answer." Another voice chimed in. Rory had been delighted when she had spotted Paris again at the reception. Paris had informed her that apparently as Rory had dragged her away from her book at the funeral earlier she should go and talk to Rory again. Paris had implied that her parents had been so delighted she'd made a friend it was why they had bothered to come to this funeral at all.
"Sorry that your parents made you talk to me again" Rory said. "I know you'd rather read."
"I don't really mind. You're smart. Madeline and Louise, my other friends… they're kind of stupid. They can't even count properly yet, and they can't add at all!" Paris snorted. "Their reading's bad as well!"
Rory and Lane had nodded sagely at this. Both were great at maths, much to Paris' shock, as they tested each other a few minutes earlier after introductions between Paris and Lane. Aunt Hope had been judge.
Paris and Rory was both great at adding (and learning subtracting) but Lane was actually better than both of them.
"Mamma makes me work at math all the time." Lane had explained to Rory and Paris. "She said the further ahead I am at maths the better I can help out in the store."
Both Paris and Rory felt a bit better that their reading was ahead of Lane's. It had been more difficult to test that part though. Plus it made Lane sad. She had only felt better when Aunt Hope said that they were all well ahead of where a Kindergartner should be.
Rory was still trying to find an answer to lanes original question when all three were interrupted by another unexpected arrival.
"Rory! Paris! New girl!" Finn had said happily before giving a squawking Paris a big hug.
"Who's he?" Lane had asked.
"He's Finn. I don't know why he's here." Rory had mused. Unlike with her grandmother's funeral there were far less stuffy people. "Are your Mum and Dad here?" Rory asked.
"Mum?" Lane questioned out loud.
Rory realised it was the first time Lane would have heard her switching.
"Right way of saying it Rory." Finn said delighted at her use of the term. Then he promptly answered her question.
"They weren't sure at first. Then gran said we needed to come out of something called familial obligation."
"What's familial obligation?" Paris asked intrigued.
"No idea." Finn replied cheerfully. "Sounded important though."
"Anyway Finn this is Lane. She's my best friend." Rory said.
"Hi!" Lane said shyly. Rory found that funny though it wasn't much of a surprise. Mrs Kim didn't like Lane talking to boys and Finn was older than they were. Finn was also bit of a shock to meet for the first time regardless.
Aunt Hope looked deep in thought for a moment as if trying to recall something important. Then she began speaking.
"Familial obligation is obligations to family. Things that you need to do for family members."
"Like going to funerals even if they're boring?" Finn said.
Rory felt a bit angry for a moment even if funerals were boring you shouldn't say it out loud like that. Aunt Floria had said so after Grandma's funeral.
It wasn't polite!
Aunt Hope nodded.
"A fairly crude explanation but that's about right. Although you didn't need to add the part about funerals being boring. It could hurt people's feelings." The last part was said gently but firmly.
"Sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings." Finn said looking at Rory guiltily having noticed Rory's face scrunch up a bit.
All three little girls quickly muttered assurances that everything was fine. Hugs of forgiveness were given between Finn and Rory. The situation, had there been anything of significance, was quickly forgiven and forgotten.
"As for why there is family obligation in this case my information is a bit of a guess." Aunt Hope said. "I'm not sure if I'm right but if I recall I think you and young Phineas share an ancestor sometime in the 19th century."
"Indeed they do" Aunt Floria cut in.
The ancient woman had made her way over to where the children had gathered by complete surprise. This time Finn and Paris didn't escape and neither did Lane who also looked terrified.
Floria turned to look at Finn. "If I recall young Phineas you are related to Rory as a fifth cousin once removed through my mother's sister."
"And she's Finn's third cousin once removed through me." A voice with an Australia twang cut through.
Rory watched Aunt Floria's face take on an angry look.
Rory turned to Finn who just pointed at the new woman and mouthed "Grandma"
"Felicity a pleasure." Aunt Floria's voice dripped with venom. "It has been some time since we last met."
The other lady outright laughed.
"That's a nice way of putting it. We haven't seen or spoke to each other in over fifty years. My husband's died since we last met." Felicity said back.
"Pity I never got a chance to better acquaint myself with him." Floria blatantly lied.
If looks could kill Felicity was aiming one at Floria.
It was then that Rory noticed they looked very similar.
Aunt Hope had in the meantime disappeared completely.
"I see the years have treated you well. Dead husband aside of course." Floria said as if it didn't matter. "Your grandson looks healthy at least." Floria said staring at Finn.
"He is." Felicity said back bluntly.
"William and Claudia are doing well in case you wondered." Floria noted.
"We keep in touch. I'd left Emily's funeral before you arrived. I got the message you were here from William when I got back to our house here in Hartford." Felicity replied.
"So you decided to come and cause an awkward social scene at my family's funeral despite being warned of my presence." Floria frostily accused.
"Your family?" Felicity said angrily. "Your family? You say that as though they are not my famil-"
"Flick it's great to see you." Cousin William interrupted, giving the woman a huge bear hug, as suddenly Rory's whole family seemed to appear with him including Aunt Hope.
And she had chocolates with her!
Rory was torn for a moment. The adults looked like they were about to have an interesting talk.
But there was chocolate and Aunt Hope was heading away with it.
The others were already gone.
And at the end of the day Rory was a Gilmore.
Chocolate won.
Richard
In the family there were two things that weren't spoken about ever.
The first was who Richards's maternal grandmother's father was. The second was his mother's "other" first cousin through his great aunt Floria.
Claudia was distant with Floria.
William ignored Floria.
Felicity hated Floria.
The feeling was by all accounts mutual.
Felicity had been the problem child. A society rebel. In many respects had Richards daughter known of her the second Lorelai would have idolised her.
Of all Floria's children it had been Felicity who had made the woman crack.
Claudia has chosen to jump ship from England with the equivalent of American royalty and Aunt Floria had reluctantly acquiesced. She could hardly talk as her sister had done the exact same thing.
Claudia's husband was also very very rich even in the midst of the depression and that fact (along with a number of very generous contributions to various causes in England) ensured Claudia and Floria's relationship remained cordial. Even if it was distant by choice with the advent of commercial airlines making no difference to the relative lack of interaction at all.
Williams's marriage had been the right match for his society level, but a woman chosen against his mother's wishes and constant complaints. In fact William's actions had given Richard the courage to do the same many years later with Emily. Especially as Richard had noted that Floria and William's relationship had managed to survive the incident. Although Aunt Floria was prone to criticise the woman William married constantly before her untimely death.
The woman had never spotted her own attitudes reflected in Trix. Which was fairly hypocritical considering the breakdown that Trix's attitude to Emily had caused in the two's relationship.
Felicity however had only written a note and cheerfully absconded to Australia with the firstborn son of a Baronet (who also happened to be her second cousin). The similarities in absconding from family were striking to Richard now he thought about it. Not quite what Lorelai had done but shockingly similar in the ripples it caused. The marriage had been something close to unacceptable, especially as there were several promising suitors waiting in the pipeline of a higher social class. Effectively eloping, to a foreign country, as the two had was outright scandalous.
Floria had frankly lost it.
Her relationship with Richards's great great aunt (the young baronet's grandmother) had deteriorated from its former closeness and the scandal may have contributed (to some extent) to Floria's short temper when Cousin Edward had insulted her not long after. That in turn contributed to the prideful man's very public downfall, solidifying Floria's reputation on both sides of the Atlantic to never, under any circumstance, provoke the woman.
With regards to Felicity she was effectively excommunicated from the family.
She was excised from conversation after she left, becoming persona non grata at any events where Floria might attend. To even mention her in passing, however inadvertently, was to invite Floria's ire.
Floria from that point on had two children. Felicity did not exist.
Felicity hadn't seemed to overly mind it according to William. The two women's relationship had been troublesome for the entirety of the girl's childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. Felicity had been born six months after the death of Floria's husband in the First World War. It was not a massive leap to realise some of the grief of the situation had translated into a rather cold and austere upbringing for all of Richard's mother's cousins but in particular the young Felicity.
Felicity had left the family and had not exchanged a word with her mother until now. They'd been dead to each other for all intents and purposes. Both were content that the other was the better part of half a world away never to be seen again.
It was a common secret that most of the family kept in touch with Felicity though, even if Floria didn't know or pretended not to. Her siblings were closest to her obviously, but Trix had also kept in touch intermittently and Richard had visited Australia once when he was five years old.
If he was honest Richard had pretty much forgotten the whole thing until that moment. He was ashamed to say he hadn't even remembered Phineas was technically related to Rory.
It was distant enough after all. With the firm Richard didn't have time to keep track of his mother's disowned cousin. Richard could hardly be blamed for not knowing the detailed lives of all of the family. Normally he left that to Emily.
Although Emily hadn't known about Felicity. Even if Emily had been smart enough to lock on to some of the rumours about Trix's grandfather.
As the two women both over 70 eyed each other Richard began to back away.
This was a confrontation that was half a century or more in the making.
Explosive.
Dramatic.
Not to be missed.
When the news spread out, from the few society members kicking about the place, others would be distraught they'd not been there to see it.
And Richard himself had no interest at all. Quickly he made his way over to Hope and the four children.
"Grandpa what's a third cousin once removed?" Rory asked.
"And a fifth cousin once removed?" Paris also asked.
"How can you remove a cousin?" Finn questioned. "Do they disappear or something?"
The questions were giving Richard a headache.
He went for the simple answer.
"Cousins are family." Richard said simply.
All the children nodded. They knew that at least.
"The number before them means how distant they are. A removed indicates even more space."
Rory's eyes went wide.
"Does that mean that Finn is family?" Rory asked in awe. "I have a cousin!"
"Cool. She can be like my sister. I've always wanted a sister." Finn said happily.
"I thought you said you had two sisters." Paris accused.
"They're much older though. Rory is like a younger sister." Finn explained.
"I'd like a sister." Lane sighed wistfully.
"Me too." Paris agreed. "The house is lonely a lot". It's just me and my Nanny most of the time."
"You two can be sisters with each other if you want. Or we can all be sisters." Rory suggested.
"Does anyone want a brother?" Finn asked hopefully.
As the children continued to excitedly discuss the new familial possibilities. Richard began to realise he may have inadvertently created a monster.
Hope just laughed.
Authors note
Hello been a little while. Had a bit of writers block on this chapter but managed to break it recently. Below is a bit of science that helps to explain Joshua Twickham's paranoia. Or not as you might find. The next paragraph contains some distressing statistics so feel free to skip it if you wish for the second paragraph beginning At this point.
In case anyone's wondering why Spanish flu is such a big part of this story up here's an explanation. Until recently it had been comparatively forgotten historically by many although it had always interested me. Incidentally it was an incredibly deadly pandemic. Especially to adults aged 20-40 in the second wave. This is almost in direct contrast to Covid 19 which follows similar patterns as normal flu strains when it comes to being particularly deadly for the older and ill. 2.7% of the global population was wiped out by The Spanish Flu (210,600,000 deaths had the same result happened today.). Taking into account it did not spread everywhere and China in particular was comparatively unaffected the scale of it was horrific. The US conservative estimate is nearly 700000 deaths (rounding up from 680000 or so). As a percentage of the population that was roughly 0.5%. Scaled up if the Spanish flu deaths happened as they did then in the US today using the relevant figure from overall Spanish flu deaths in the US that we have that would be around 1,655,013 deaths. Also take into account record keeping was far poorer 100 years ago and estimates could mean that number was even higher. In addition as the deadlier virus was associated initially with the east coast and Stars Hollow is in New England the feasibility of a family being wiped out by Spanish Flu while not very likely was very much in the realm of the possible. All it would take is Mr Twickham's father to have been a soldier who caught the deadlier strain and made his way home to Stars Hollow confined in close quarters with others in the family home. As always research is important to me in this story even the less pleasant kind.
At this point it should be clear by now in the first phase of the story who the three main characters are. I'm having great fun with Trix who because she is so little developed in cannon I have great leeway with in developing back story for as well. As might have been hinted at already other characters that are only briefly named or referred to in the show will also get a lot of development. Marilynn's storyline already being hinted at last chapter. That's part of the fun of this fic being so very au.
Next time is the conclusion of Lorelai's funeral. Stay tuned!