The bell rang. Lorelei walked in as the maid answered, wearing a black dress with a spaghetti sleeves.
"Ah, Lorelei. The daughter who things 6:00 is actually closer to 7," Emily said with her customary sarcastic tone.
"I'm sorry, Mom," Lorelei said, with her customary exasperation. "This family at the Inn this weekend is driving us crazy. And then I hit some traffic near Waterbury."
"Who goes to Waterbury," Emily asked. "Is there anything even there anymore? Besides drugs?"
"Yes, Mom," Lorelei said. "It's all drugs. One big city on drugs."
Emily scoffed at Lorelei as she prepared her drink. Just then, Richard entered the room, with another financial newspaper in his hand.
"Lorelei," he bellowed, trying to hide his nervousness as his family's dynamic had changed so drastically without his daughter's knowledge.
"Hello, Dad," Lorelei said. "So, uhm, where is she? You know. What's her name. My daughter. I can't remember her name."
Emily shook her head disdainfully.
"Rory," she yelled. "Your mother's here."
Rory had been dreading this. She had been in her room studying for the past 90 minutes. Her grandmother had purchased for her a dress for the evening – a purple number with a designer with a hard-to-pronounce last name. She put the books down and walked down the steps.
"Hi, Mom," she said sheepishly.
"Why don't you look nice," Lorelei said before turning to Emily. "In an outfit I don't remember buying for you."
"What, am I supposed to let the girl just wear her school outfit all day?"
"Well, Rory has her own clothes at home. And that's why I like you coming home. So you can wear your own clothes and my mother doesn't have to buy you something that costs as much as the mortgage," Lorelei said.
"I know, Mom. I'm sorry. It's just that I have such a big test coming up and you're so busy with this wedding. It made such sense to just come right here. And Grandma…"
Lorelei looked at her mom.
"Yes. I know what your grandmother is like."
Emily just shooed Lorelei away before they headed to dinner.
The meal was the typical fancy affair – some sort of rare bird with fresh vegetables. The Gilmores made their usual talk – Lorelei complaining about this wedding ("Who gets married on a Sunday?" she said) with Rory talking about Chilton and Emily talking about DAR affairs. Richard stayed silent the whole time. This wasn't unusual for him, but his tense nature was clear to Rory, who was the reason why he was so tense.
Finally, as dinner wore down, Rory spoke up.
"So, Mom. I have a question for you."
"Yessssss. Let me guess. You want to know if you can take my Sonny and Cher records. The answer is no. You can't."
"Oh, no. So I found out today that I have to go to one more Chilton golf team outing to get my credit for athletics," Rory said.
Lorelei pointed. "Wah ha!" she said in her best Ralph Wiggums voice.
"I know, I know."
"Rory told me this when she arrived," Richard said. "And I took the liberty of arranging a golf lesson for her at the club. However, the only time I could get was at 7 AM."
"7."
"Yes. 7."
"As in the 7 that comes after 6? And before 8?"
"Yes. That's what time the lesson was available."
"For all the years you have been going to this club, you couldn't have gotten a practice time at something a little bit earlier? Because I am going to have to wake up so early to get her here."
"Well Mom. That's what I wanted to ask. I know how busy you are. So could I just stay here tonight? It would be so much easier… for you. And then I'll be able to go right back to school."
"School? What about Lane? And the Inn? That's, like the only time I can see you this weekend."
"I know, Mom. But this science lab it's so crazy."
"And so is this wedding. We have to release 200 ceremonial birds upon nightfall. These people," Lorelei said.
"So, Lorelei, with this bird wrangling and your daughter's science lab, why can't she stay here tomorrow night as well?"
"Are you sure? Don't you have some, like, galas to attend and people to boss around?"
Emily shook her head.
"Well, it sure beats having to corral birds for strangers," Emily said. "No. It's not a problem. Rory is always welcome here. Anytime she wants."
Rory flashed a nervous smile at her grandmother, who flexed her eyebrows as she sipped water.
"I'll take her home Sunday, Lorelei," Richard explained. "I will save you the trip since you seem so busy."
"Seem is not the word," Lorelei said. "And, with that, I have to get back. Tonight the bride and groom want all of their guests to reenact their favorite songs from Grease 2."
"That musical with the street people," Emily asked.
"No. The sequel to that."
"They made a sequel to Grease?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I don't know. No one knows. But, alas, I have to go." Lorelei stood up.
Rory stood up, too. And her mom embraced her with a hug.
"This is the longest we'll ever be apart," Lorelei said in a parody of a dramatic voice.
"Oh, you'll get over it," Rory said.
The door shut. Rory looked down as her grandparents moved to the living room.
"Now, Rory. What are you upset about?" Emily said a bit sharply. "This is, after all, what you want."
"No, you're right, Grandma. It is," Rory said. "It's just that I've never lied to my mom before. It's… I don't know. I don't like it."
Richard stood up to prepare himself a drink.
"You did not lie, Rory," Emily said. "You just… fibbed a little bit."
"Rory, you will feel guilty about this," Richard said. "In fact, you SHOULD feel guilty."
Emily glared at Richard angrily. The last thing she wanted was for Rory to feel bad.
"But what you did tonight was the first step in learning how the world works. Do you think I just got to where I am in the insurance world by playing fair?" He sipped his scotch.
"There are plenty of people like me who come from fine backgrounds and fine colleges who are industrious and hard working. But to get to where you want to go. To get to where you deserve, sometimes you have to fight a little dirty."
Rory looked up as she stood behind a chair.
"I've had to do some things over the years to move people aside and step over them," Richard said. "It's the nature of the world. No one likes to admit this but it's a fact. You'll have to do it when you start working. Heck, you've probably should be doing this at Chilton already. And if you're able to learn this young by playing your mother like this now… then you'll be able to do whatever it takes to get ahead of people you don't care about."
Rory took a deep breath.
"Rory," Emily said. "It's your mother. She ran away from here pregnant at the age of 16. She ran away from the life we gave her. But I never, not once, stopped loving her. And she'll never stop loving you."
Emily stood and put her arm around Rory.
"She did what was she thought was best. It ripped our heart out, but that was the choice she made. And you're making the same choice for you," Emily said. "And it's the right choice if you want this life."
Rory looked up at both her grandparents.
"This is the life I want," she said. "This is the life I deserve."
Richard and Emily smiled.
"Very good, Rory," Emily said. "You handled yourself fantastically."
"Now, Rory," Richard said. "I've set up a Victrola in your room. And in my study is a record - excerpts from Puccini's opera La Boehme. It's my favorite piece of his. I've set that aside for you, as well as a copy of the best biography written about him. I'd like for you to listen to the opera and read the biography. And then, at 9, we'll discuss what you've learned en route to your golf lesson."
"9? I thought you said 7?"
Richard smiled.
"Like I said, Rory," Richard laughed. "Sometimes you have to say some things to get what you want. And I want you here."
Rory gave each one of her grandparents a hug before jutting off to her room.
Richard smiled as she went up the steps. Out of view, he turned to his wife.
"Emily, I am nervous about this," he said.
"What? About Lorelei? We discussed this already. She's been mad at us her whole life," Emily said.
"No. I'm nervous about Rory," Richard said. "She wants this now. But teenagers are fickle. She could change her mind at any second."
Emily poured a drink and leaned back in the chair.
"Richard, Lorelei was rebellious and wanted to be oh-so independent," Emily said. "She raised Rory not as a parent but as a peer. Rory's not Lorelei. She doesn't want to be independent. She wants to be in charge. She has social ambition."
Emily smirked.
"But she's rebelling against Lorelei by not being rebellious at all," Emily said, pleased. "I could tell from the very first dinner that girl's biggest joy in life comes with a desire to please. But she's learning she doesn't have to please everyone. Just a select few. And, Richard. We're that select few."
"I hope so, my dear," Richard said. "I hope so."