Chapter Fourteen

Despite Sookie's earlier melodramatic phone call, there was a quiet calm about the Dragonfly Inn. It was the sort of lazy quiet spring morning where the breeze blows softly in the trees and stirs the early spring flowers—crocuses, hyacinths, and forsythia mostly—to gently perfume the air with their fragrances. It was a day of peace and tranquility. A peace that was shattered as Lorelai burst into the kitchen of the Dragonfly. Egg whites, spatula, spoon, and bowl flew through the air as the inn's boisterous chef wheeled around to face her longtime friend and employer. "Ack! Lorelai! There you are!"

Lorelai flushed in embarrassment. "Sorry, I… um… slept in." Perhaps Sookie would let the lie pass for now. A room full of sous-chefs, waiters, and prep cooks was not her image of the ideal place to talk about her reconciliation. Granted, this would not normally bother her; she had spent plenty an hour sitting and gabbing with her best friend over a cup of coffee amidst the hustle and bustle of a working inn's kitchen. However, it seemed crass to her to talk about her night with Luke where anyone could hear, as though she were cheapening something precious or magical. She supposed she was, really. What they had was something special, rare. She had never had a relationship—her heart flipped at that thought, a relationship—like she had with Luke. She felt protected and safe when she was with him. True, she felt that with most guys she dated, but then it was a safety born of distance, of aloofness. She had always held herself apart from them, and thus they could not hurt her, because they could not reach her emotionally. She had never been attracted to violent or dangerous men, so physical safety had never been much of a concern either. Being with Luke, however, was different. Lorelai knew that he would keep her safe from anything: her family, her fears, herself. She had never been one for the whole romantic girly-girl fairies and unicorns happy ending, but she had to admit it. Luke was her knight in shining armor. Lorelai did not want to ruin that, to tarnish that armor, by bearing the details of their relationship in such a public place.

Sookie seemed to agree as she stopped counting her beats to the whites and set the bowl on the table. "It's okay. The food's going okay, and we did most of the decorating last night. The stage for the quartet is all creaky and someone's misplaced the podium for the reverend and the Lourghtons decided to change the cake flavor—again."

"What?" Lorelai paid scant attention to her friend's complaints. Visions of her boyfriend working around her house—possibly with his shirt off when he did the heavier work on the porch—danced through her head. Shirtless Luke, his chest and back slick with sweat from work, his strong muscles pumping in the sun, she liked that image. She liked it a lot. Lorelai shook her head and focused on the conversation once more. "On the day of the wedding! Are they crazy?"

"Apparently." Sookie turned to her friend and grinned. "So, what happened last night?"

"What?" Her friend could be far too observant for her peace of mind.

"You're all glowy."

"I am not."

"You're all smily, and happy, and you…" Sookie gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh my God! You had sex!" She clapped and pulled Lorelai to the stool next to the coffee maker. "Okay, spill."

Lorelai shushed her friend and glowered at her. "Keep your voice down! I don't want it getting around yet."

"What getting around?"

She smiled and felt a warm glow filling her cheeks. "Luke."

"Luke!" Sookie clapped her hands again as she bounced in her stool, her swollen belly rising and falling with every motion. "I knew you two would get back together! I just knew it!"

"Yeah." Lorelai's eyes grew wistful. "Yeah, we did."

"So, how'd it happen?"

"Well Rory had just left to go back to Yale."

"Wait, Rory was here?" Trust Sookie to be easily distracted. On the other, hand, maybe that was a good thing; Lorelai still did not want to ruin the dream of last night by talking about it, like not telling your wish after you blow out the candles. You know that telling the wish will not ruin it, but you still believe if you keep it secret, the wish will come true.

Lorelai nodded. "There was a thing in Boston with Christopher, and she was in desperate need of mommy-daughter time." On second thought, maybe Rory's problems were not the best way to distract Sookie. "Anyway, she leaves and I hear a knock at the door. Naturally, I think it's her."

"But it wasn't!" Sookie's stomach hung far out above the floor as she leaned over the stool in apparent excitement.

"It wasn't." Lorelai smiled kindly, and her eyes dreamily wandered across the floral pattern on the walls. She was not mooning over him. Lorelai Gilmore did not moon! She was just reminiscing about a wonderful night spent with the man she loved. "It was him."

Sookie gave a little shriek of joy and bounced again in her stool. Unfortunately, she was a little too exuberant this time, as she completely missed the stool on her way down and collapsed to the floor as her body succumbed to the inevitable pull of gravity. The coffee cups and pastry platter beside her suffered a similar fate and showered the pregnant cook in lemon custard filling and porcelain shards. Lorelai immediately rushed to her friend's aide, but was waved off. "I'm fine. No. Really. Everything's fine." She patted her stomach affectionately. "Isn't that right, my little Zucchini?"

"Zucchini?" Sookie nodded. "What happened to Parsley or Turnip?"

"Zucchini sounds more unisex." Lorelai nodded in agreement—it was best to smile and nod when Sookie talked. Your tended head hurt less. "But please, continue." Sookie bowed her head and waved her hand in an ushering gesture.

"So, I opened the door thinking it was Rory.

"And it was him!" Were those stars Lorelai saw dancing in Sookie's eyes?

"It was him." Maybe the stars were in her eyes instead. "He was standing on the stairs looking up at me. All we could say was hey."

Sookie laughed. "Oh! Just like in the movies! You have movie love!"

"Thank you, Janice." Lorelai giggled and took a healthy sip of her coffee. "And then we were kissing."

"How romantic. What happened, then?" Lorelai blushed. "Right away? Didn't you talk first?"

"We talked… later."

"How later?"

Lorelai gave her friend a crooked smirk. "Much later. You know how heated and passionate he gets when he rants during town meetings?" Sookie nodded. "Imagine all that emotion and energy focused on one person: you."

"Sookie's eyes widened. "Wow. That's a pretty intense kind of focus."

"Yes it is." She drifted off to space as the wonderful night she had spent with Luke replayed in her mind.

"You two are definitely together?" Lorelai nodded and Sookie squealed again. Lorelai squealed along with her. "This is a good thing, right? I mean we're happy about this, right?"

"Very happy." Lorelai nodded. "So, they changed the cake flavor again?" Her mind drifted off once more as she and Sookie discussed the bizarre workings of the mind of the modern Connecticut High Society bride. She pictured Luke working away at the front porch to Babbette's catcalls. He would fix the rest of the house, too, because that was his way. After this wedding, she would head home, get changed, and then the two of them would finish their plans for the perfect day.

Her smiled claimed its rightful place on her lips and refused to give leave. Sometimes it was small and shy, others it was big and full and beaming. It stubbornly remained in place and Lorelai was glad for it. Everything was going to be fine.