Chapter 4

"You may kiss the bride."

Logan leaned down to gently brush his lips across Rory's, then whispered, "Better kiss later, Ace," before pulling back to share a smile with her.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Logan E. Huntzberger," Reverend Skinner announced to the assembled congregation. The ring bearer barked his approval, while Lorelai wrestled with his leash, trying to keep him from jumping on Rory's dress in his effort to 'congratulate' the bride.

Both were given warm hugs by Lorelai, who had cried through the entire ceremony. Emily kissed both their cheeks, while Christopher and Richard both warmly shook Logan's hand and embraced Rory.

Shira gave both a perfunctory kiss on the cheek; Mitchum shared a knowing moment with Rory while shaking Logan's hand. The only members of the Huntzberger clan who greeted the newlyweds warmly were Honor and Josh.

Both smiled as they headed back up the aisle arm-in-arm, waving and occasionally stopping to shake hands or brush the cheek of a well-wisher. The open carriage that Emily had insisted on for the short trip from the church to the Dragonfly awaited Logan's assisting of Rory, at the curb.

"Hi, Kirk," Rory laughed when she saw the footman's outfit her grandmother had made him wear.

"Rory," he replied stiffly, trying to worm a finger inside the heavily starched collar. "Just sit back and enjoy the ride, we should be at the Dragonfly in no time."

"Are you comfy?" Logan asked before moving to sit next to Rory.

"Yeah, it's much easier when you don't have a train, veil, or even a tiara," she smiled up at him.

"Why? Does it matter?" he asked, moving her skirt and sitting down beside her.

"Oh, just a little argument I had with Grandma," she chuckled.

"Whatever it was, I'm glad you won," he smiled. "There's never been a more beautiful bride than you today, Ace," he murmured, kissing her cheek.

"I think you're a little biased, but thank you," she returned, continuing to smile. "Did I tell you that my mom made my dress?" she asked, fingering the tulle. It was a strapless dress with a full tulle skirt and a boned bodice, which was overlaid in antique Brussels pin-lace. It followed the line of the skirt stopping a bit below knee length, forming pointa where it had been trimmed to a handkerchief hem within the lace pattern to graduate upwards about eighteen inches so as to expose the tulle skirt underneath.

"I remember you telling me that a while ago, but then when I saw you today I just assumed you scrapped that plan. She made this?" he asked, shifting to pull her back against his chest, his arms encircling her from behind.

"Yep, she sure did," Rory, returned.

"Wow - I'm impressed, she did an amazing job," he complimented, entwining their hands together in her lap. "You look more beautiful than I've ever seen you."

"We found the lace on this horrible antique dress at an estate sale. It was mauve silk, with layers and layers of lace. The lace was gorgeous, but the dress was horrific. She had to get it cleaned and restored before she could do anything with it, which is why the dress is cream, not white. It ended up costing just as much, I think, as it would have to buy one new. But I love it, and I always thought when I was a little girl I would get married in something she made. She would make dress up clothes that I would play in," she finished as she smiled wistfully, remembering. "There was this little nurse outfit she made me that I loved."

"Nurse outfit, huh," he replied suggestively.

"Get your mind out of the gutter," she exclaimed, poking his thigh. "I was three!"

"I'm sure you were adorable," he grinned at her. "I'll have to get Lorelai to show me pictures some time."

"I'm surprised she hasn't already," Rory laughed back.

"Unfortunately, I haven't been around enough to get to a lot of the pictures from when you were little. She showed me the baby pictures, lots of bare butts, but we haven't gotten much beyond the twos. It's one of the things I look forward to in the future."

"I'm sure - I'll have to go through the picture albums soon and hide the bad ones," she teased.

"No way," he protested with a laugh. "I'm sure there are no bad pictures. From what I've seen, you were just as beautiful of a child as you are today, which means you were exquisite," he finished, kissing her bare shoulder.

"Thank you," she blushed, chin falling into her chest. The sun flashing off the diamonds caught her down turned gaze, reminding her, "I haven't gotten a chance to thank you for the gifts."

"You're welcome, but, they only enhanced how beautiful you are today," he returned putting his hand over hers. "Nothing could outshine you."

"I had planned to wear a brooch of Grandma's in my hair, but at the last minute I decided that would be too many pieces. I like the loose, messy bun that we came up with instead better anyway."

"Well, I like everything."

"Including my blue shoes and snowball bouquet?" she asked, sticking her feet out from under her skirt, and touching the bouquet. It was a series of white floral puffs grounded in tight brilliant green almost moss like flowers, the stems were covered in a wide cream satin ribbon and tied in a bow with streamers hanging down.

"Oh that's cute. And I had been going to ask you about the bouquet. Not what I was expecting."

"I didn't want anything formal, so when we saw the Queen Anne's lace and the viburnum together I really liked it and it reminded me of snowballs and how much Mom loves snow. They have a special relationship, so it was my little wink to her."

"Ahhh, mystery solved," he grinned back as the carriage pulled up to the inn. "So, what's the deal?" he asked, looking up at the festively attired building. "Everything here is white."

"Very astute, Sherlock."

"Well the wedding was pale greens - Paris and Lane's dresses, your bouquet, the ribbons on the pews, as well as Finn's and Colin's and my ties," he said, smoothing his and buttoning his coat. "There's no green here - it's all white. I'm confused."

"Different event, different color scheme," she replied logically. "This one is white."

"With?" he prompted.

"With…" she answered back teasingly.

"There's blue as well," he answered back, pointing at a ribbon festooned vase on the porch.

"Ahh, yes," she nodded. "White with accents of robin egg blue, Grandma made me sit through several meetings to find just the right shade. Must have gone through five thousand choices, who knew there was such diversity of choice for one specific color?"

"To match and enhance your eyes?" he guessed, imagining Emily dreaming up the color scheme with her wedding coordinator.

"Something like that," she blushed with a giggle. The porch had large white tissue paper pom-poms of varying sizes hanging from the ceiling, and oversized glass vases with pedestal bottoms, white candles and white flower petals inside around the base, a brilliant blue satin ribbon bisecting each of their middle. The pom-poms and lanterns continued through the grounds of the inn with pom-poms dressing the trees and back porches, and lanterns lining the pathways waiting for the sun to set to light the guests' way. White, paper, Chinese lanterns were strung around the dance floor to give some soft light, once the sun went down. The tables all had white tablecloths with wide blue runners bisecting them, each with several low vases stuffed full with various white flowers each tied with a blue ribbon. Individual votives and other small detailed touches decorated each place setting.

"Did the ceremony go well?" Michel asked as they climbed the front porch steps. "I mean it's not like I've not known Rory most of her life, like I wouldn't have liked to have been there. Treated like Julia Roberts in that horrible Mary Riley where she was banished under the stairs," he complained in a staccato stream, swatting away a bothersome fly. "I would have looked fantastic at the wedding. But no, your mother makes me stay here to make sure things go smoothly. She could have over seen them herself."

Rory rushed to assure him he had missed nothing, "Well other than GiGi lifting her dress to show the entire congregation what was on under it, Martha sitting down in the middle of the aisle and refusing to move, and the occasional barking from Paul Anka, things went pretty well."

"What do you expect from that untrained, smelly dog?" Michel cut her off with a snap. "I tried to tell your mother, but she never listens to me. Paw-Paw and Chin-Chin are perfectly trained and never bark. They would have looked beautiful in the wedding."

I'm glad you were in charge here," she reassured, placing a hand on his arm. "I knew things would be totally taken care of here, so did Grandma, you know how much she loves you - since Mom had to be at the wedding," Rory laughed, ignoring his suggestions about his dogs.

"So your mother is more important than moi? I see how things are," he huffed, turning to walk off.

"Ok," Logan laughed, head cocked and brow raised, he was still getting used to Michel but this encounter was odd, even for him. "We should head out to see who's here that wasn't at the ceremony."

Because the wedding had taken place at the church-synagogue on the town square, they'd only been able to invite family and a few very close friends to witness the ceremony. Several hundred more people had been invited to the reception.

"Rory," Babette called out from where she was sitting at the piano with Morey and Miss Patty, who were entertaining the early arriving revelers.

"Are they ever not together?" Logan leaned over to whisper in Rory's ear.

"Oh," she giggled back. "Babette is married to Morey, the gentleman playing the piano. But if she's not with him, then she's probably attached to Patty, gossiping away. Hey Babette," Rory called out as she and Logan went over to greet the threesome.

"This place looks gorgeous! Lorelai did a fantastic job, sugah," Babette exclaimed.

"Well, be sure to tell her and my grandmother," Rory reminded her, bending down to accept a hug from Babette. "They both put in a lot of work to make sure this all came together – and didn't make me do much work since Logan was in London and I was finishing up school."

"Congratulations, honey," Patty greeted her. "You look pretty as a picture."

"Thank you, Miss Patty," Rory returned, accepting a kiss on the cheek. "I don't know if Babette told you, but Mom made my dress."

"Well, Lorelai is the best seamstress in Stars Hollow. She helps out with costumes at Miss Patty's every year. Oh, and look at those beautiful earrings and bracelet. You just look a vision," Patty finished.

"Thank you so much, but really I have to thank Logan's wonderful taste," Rory smiled as she touched one of the earrings. "They were his wedding gifts to me."

"Oh, now, see that's a good man," Babette complimented, admiring Rory's new jewelry. "Your children are going to be gorgeous!" she exclaimed.

"You know, he really does remind me of my third husband," Patty mused, while watching Rory and Logan leave to go greet more of their guests.

"Exactly how many times has she been married?" Logan asked with an amused whisper as they walked away.

"Um, I think five or six - or maybe four - but I'm really not sure that anyone knows for sure," Rory laughed after thinking about it. "It's one of the mysteries of Stars Hollow."

"Of which I'm finding there are many."

"There are," Rory replied, a note of whimsy in her voice. "That's part of its charm."

"Paul Anka, come back here," Lorelai yelled, running after the dog, who was loping off in the direction of the grill where a couple of Sookie's kitchen staff were preparing and serving the hors d'oeuvres that she and Emily had chosen - tiny skewers of lamb, chicken, beef, vegetables, shrimp and scallops.

"You know, this is far more entertaining than most of the weddings we end up having to attend," Finn drawled, watching Lorelai dash across the grounds in her heels.

"Events in The Hollow are always unique," Lane laughed. "A couple of years ago, after her first encounter with Founders Day punch, Paris, who had given her phone to Rory and told her to not give it back to her no matter what, attacked people on the square to give her a quarter so she could make a phone call. Drunk, no shoes. It wasn't good."

"Yes, well, you weren't exactly in the best shape that day either, I recall," Paris snapped. "When did we decide to put our happiness in the hands of men?" she continued. "I remember when I first met you we still had our feminist principles intact. We were going to take on the world! What happened to us? Rory gets married in a huge extravaganza to someone that's richer than God! What's wrong with this picture?"

Colin and Finn had both backed away as Paris got wound up. Doyle looked like he wanted a hole to open up below him.

"Well, you were busy pining away for that loser, Tristan," Louise, who had been invited to the reception along with Madeline and several other Chilton friends, reminded her. Jess had also been invited with Luke, but begged off unsure if it would be awkward, instead chipping in with Luke for a gift and sending a card with a note of well wishes for both Rory and Logan. Also, most of the staff from the last few of years at the Daily News had been invited to the reception. "Feminist principles are just the reasoning for the absence of a man. You're much happier now than you ever were in high school. Personally, I prefer a warm bed and a good time."

"Here, here," Finn finally felt comfortable enough to interject. "What was your name, love?"

"Well, I still think we should able to be happy without men," Paris shot back. "We shouldn't let society dictate how we choose to live our lives."

"I don't think I let society dictate when I got married," Lane spoke up. "I'm a drummer in a rock n roll band; I got married because I love Zack. We're still pursuing our dreams of rock n roll stardom; marriage hasn't slowed us down at all. We just need to get our own place, but then Brian would probably have to move into his aunt's rec room, so our independence remains on hold"

"Well, I just think…"

"Oh, stuff it, Paris," Louise cut her off. "If Doyle asked you to marry him tomorrow you would happily say yes. But he's probably too afraid to ask because of speeches like this one."

"Can you blame him?" Bill asked sarcastically under his breath

"Do you really think so?" Paris anxiously whispered to Louise.

"Speaking of Tristan," Madeline spoke up, "he's probably having a heart attack right now. The news of this wedding was in every paper from New York to Baltimore – he couldn't have missed it. He had a thing for Rory from the moment she got to Chilton," she told the group in a dramatic whisper. "She was just never available."

"No, she was smarter back then," Paris interjected again. "She wasn't so easily won over by a cute smile, Porsche, and blonde hair."

"I met Tristan once," Lane spoke up again. "He was a jerk born with a platinum spoon in his mouth. Thought he was entitled to every female that crossed his path. The only reason he was so interested in Rory was she wasn't buying what he was selling."

"And this is different from Huntzberger how?" Paris asked scornfully.

"Well, for one, I've never thought Logan was a jerk," Lane stated firmly. "It's not his fault he was born rich. Sure he's different from Jess or Dean, but that wasn't a bad thing, not at all.

"Plus, they have things in common like writing and loving books that I never got the impression Tristan had any interest in. Like Louise said, he was just interested in Rory because she was unphased by him, and to get Dean's goat. Logan and Rory, they've had their ups and downs, what couple doesn't? But he's always been wonderful to Rory, treats her like a queen."

"The boy completely changed when he met her, I will say," Colin defended his best friend.

"Or maybe Logan has just grown up and we knew Tristan before he had a chance to," Madeline piped in.

"No, Tristan's still a useless waste of a trust fund," Louise said snidely, causing everyone to laugh.

"Kinda like Finn here," Colin said, clapping him on the back.

"For the very few of you that do not know me, I am Richard Gilmore, grandfather of the bride. For those of you that do, you know that one of the true loves of my life is Rory; she is my pride and joy."

Rory, sitting with Logan at the front table, snuggled into his arm; feeling tears of anticipation begin to form.

"One of the proudest days of my life was the one when she told me she was following in my footsteps and going to Yale," Richard continued, turning to face Rory and Logan. "Saturday before last exceeded that evening, watching her graduate, just as I did more decades ago than I like to admit. Today, watching her get married and start a life with one of the few young men I've ever met that I think worthy of her fills me with a different feeling. She's not just ours anymore. Logan, welcome to the family," Richard finished with a raised glass and a tear in his eye.

Logan returned Richard's salute, while Rory dabbed her eyes with her grandmother's 'borrowed' handkerchief from Emily's wedding day.

"I sang this song while a member of the Whiffenpoofs during my undergraduate days, and I convinced my lovely wife Emily to let me sing it for Rory and Logan's first dance. Boys," he motioned to the swing band behind him. Frank Sinatra's Young at Heart began as Rory and Logan took to the dance floor.

"Don't start crying now, Ace," Logan whispered in her ear, trying to distract her from Richard's sweet sentiments, while steering her to the middle of the dance floor. "If you start crying, we'll never make it through our first dance."

"That is, as long as I don't trip, landing us in a heap in the middle of the floor." Rory sniffed.

"Just remember, I'm the one that's supposed to lead," he chuckled, "not you." They had recently taken some lessons together from Miss Patty to be able to fully enjoy the band that Emily had hired to play during the first part of the evening, Rory finally getting the hang of following a lead with a partner who had been forced to learn ballroom style dancing in grade school.

"I remember when Richard dedicated that song to Emily at their vow renewal, but I didn't know he sang," Logan murmured, guiding Rory around the dance floor.

"I know, I thought it was so sweet then. I had no idea that he was planning on doing this," Rory responded. "He…" she couldn't continue, her voice catching.

"No more tears today, Ace. Let's show everyone how it's done," Logan whispered in her ear, then swung her out to twirl her under his arm.

"She's dancing with Luke," Logan nodded toward Lorelai and Luke, who were dancing together across the floor.

"Oh, she is," Rory beamed, following Logan's gaze while he spun her around the floor. The swing band would be on for a couple of more hours, then Hep Alien would be jamming the night away, with a dj filling in during their breaks for anyone that stayed late. They figured that Emily and Shira's friends wouldn't stay as late as some of their own friends from school.

"She's smiling," Rory whispered. "It's been so long since I've seen her happy."

"Luke can waltz," Logan observed with a laugh.

"Yeah," Rory laughed, remembering the first time her mother told her just that. "Luke can waltz."

"Oh Richard, could they be more perfect?" Emily exclaimed, looking at Rory and Logan dancing.

"No I don't think they could," he agreed. "We knew it from the moment they first got together, it was like destiny."

"Destiny, yes, that's what it was," Emily returned wistfully.

"I have to say, even though you had initially wanted to hold this at the Cape or on the Vineyard, this turned out to be a pretty perfect setting," he observed, looking around at all the candlelit tables and walkways further out.

"Yes, it did. Lorelai has done a marvelous job with the inn," Emily said with a wave.

"Yes, she has - she has every right to be proud. It turned out to be the perfect setting for a wedding," he agreed. "Even if she did subject us to that nonsense last night."

"Lorelai was right about that, though," Emily laughed. "It was worth putting up with her nonsense just to see the horrified look on Shira's face."

"Oh, I'm sure that was amusing," Richard chuckled. "Rory made me eat something called a funnel cake - it was actually very good," Richard continued.

"A what?" Emily asked, disdain dripping in her voice.

"Funnel cake. It was some sort of fried bread with powdered sugar on top. Very good."

"Rory, would it be asking too much to beg the bride for a dance?" Mitchum asked, holding out his hand.

"No," Rory returned nervously, accepting the hand of her new father-in-law.

"You look beautiful today," Mitchum said after a couple of minutes, having danced in silence with an awkward Rory. "Your mother and Emily did a wonderful job putting this entire day together."

"Thank you," she accepted stiffly. "My mom made my dress," she informed him, wondering if he would think it uncouth of her, "if you didn't know."

"I seem to remember Shira complaining about that at some point, but I wasn't sure. She did a lovely job; your dress is beautiful, but not as beautiful as you."

"Thank you," she blushed, lapsing back into silence.

"I don't know if you know yet," Mitchum began again. "I can't remember what I agreed with Richard as to protocol, but he and I are putting together some money so you and Logan can buy an apartment in Manhattan when you get back from your honeymoon. Logan will be working out of our office there and I assumed two young people such as you wouldn't want to settle in the suburbs just yet."

"Thank you, I don't know what to say," Rory returned, completely surprised. Not by her grandfather, but at Mitchum. Then again, it had probably been Richard Gilmore's idea and he had just gotten Mitchum to help out.

"I also want to speak with you when you get back," Mitchum continued. "I have a job in mind for you as well."

"As someone's assistant?" she shot back.

"No, Rory," he replied with a sardonic chuckle. "I did deserve that, though. As I told Richard at your graduation, you've come a long way since my first observations of you. You've really grown up and shown what you're made of."

"Which is?"

"Sturdy stuff - you're resilient, you've shown you're ambitious, which I doubted then, and you're talented. You've always been talented; I'm not sure the others were qualities you possessed before. I have a place in mind for you just like I do Logan. I have a feeling the two of you will soon be a media power couple the likes of which we've rarely seen.

"You're a Huntzberger now."

"Is that supposed to be an opportunity or a threat?" Rory asked with a nervous laugh.

"Can you believe our little girl's married?" Christopher whispered to Lorelai with a note of wonder in his voice.

"No, I can't," she returned. "She's all grown up, not just ours anymore."

"I know," he replied with a wistful sigh. "She belongs to the world."

"She's a Huntzberger," Lorelai grumbled.

"You don't like Logan?" he asked with a cock of his head. "I thought you had warmed to him."

"It's not Logan," Lorelai demurred. "I do like him. It's the rest of his family that's still pretty loathsome."

"His father came to Rory's graduation," Christopher pointed out.

"Yeah, I know. But that doesn't make up for the crap he's pulled in the past. Plus, the rest of the family is pretty worthless, except for Honor, Logan's sister."

"I have to say, his mother wasn't what I expected," Christopher observed, watching Shira's blonde head moving across the grounds.

"No, not what one would expect from Mitchum Huntzberger. She's like Dolly Parton trying to channel Babe Paley," Lorelai laughed evilly.

"Ohhh," he guffawed back. "That's a bad image."

"Yeah, well," she replied, waving her hand in Shira's general direction. "So is that!"

"True, that is quite true," he agreed. "Logan seems to have been spared the Dolly side of the equation."

"Yes, which is fortunate for him, and for us," she granted. "I don't think Rory would have fallen for him if the Dolly side of the equation had been dominant."

"Also very true," he allowed, with a sustained chuckle. "She looks beautiful today," he continued as he watched Rory dance with Logan. "You did a wonderful job. Princess Di didn't look as gorgeous."

"Princess Di's dress was horrible; whoever whipped that thing up gave into every single tendency to overdo the princessy meringue," she mocked. Touching a hand to his arm her tone changed to accept his praise. "Thank you, it really wasn't that hard," Lorelai said, her gaze following his. "She's radiating happiness. That makes anyone more beautiful and she's starting at a pretty great advantage to begin with."

"That's true; we did create a damn pretty kid. We're going to have beautiful grandkids."

"Perish the thought," Lorelai shushed him.

"I didn't mean right away," he chuckled, pausing. "You did good, Lor," he murmured. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she nodded. "One day someone, hopefully Sherry, will say the same thing to you about Gigi."

"Hopefully," he replied, a bit of bitterness noticeable in his voice. "But I'm not going to hold my breath. Hey, you can shut me down if you want to," he continued, "but how are things? I saw you dancing."

She looked at him then searched the crowd for the object of his question, Luke. "Things are better," she answered with a sigh. "They're not great, but they're better, which is more than I could have said a few weeks ago."

"Well that's something," he responded encouragingly.

"Yes, it's something," she sighed. "It's more than I had a month ago - it's probably more than I deserve."

"You deserve to be happy, Lor," Christopher assured.

"So do you, Chris," she replied quietly.

"I hated Rory when she first came to Chilton, this small town hick," Paris began, standing in front of the band to give her toast. "I thought I could intimidate her like I had intimidated everyone else in our class. But Rory wasn't going to be intimidated.

"Instead, even though I was an absolute bitch to her to begin with, we became friends, ones that challenged each other and made each other better, and for that, I'm grateful. She also wasn't going to ever be anyone but exactly who she is," Paris continued, not seeming to know where to look, shuffling her feet awkwardly, unused to sentimental speeches. "Sometimes that means Stars Hollow. Sometimes that means Hartford society, Yale, New York, the world. Usually, like today, it means a perfect blend of all of those things and places. I don't think there's a place where Rory wouldn't fit right in."

Rory tried to catch Paris' eye, touched by her words, but as Paris had settled on staring straight out into the darkness, back ramrod straight, she was unable.

"I've watched our own version of Warren Beatty and Annette Benning flower right before my eyes. There have been times where I've been less than pleased with Rory's choice of Logan, but in the end it works. He challenges her; she grounds him," she finally looked over at the happy couple, smiling. "He shows her life can be an adventure. She reminds him that sometimes reading a book is adventure enough.

"To the luckiest guy in the world, Logan Huntzberger, and the best thing that ever happened to him, my friend, Rory," she finished, raising a glass.

"Paris, thank you," Rory exclaimed with a hug.

"You're welcome, I meant every word," Paris accepted with a smile. "Huntzberger, there's no need for token displays of affection," she brushed off Logan who was standing at Rory's side.

"We have a Yale cake," Rory laughed with Richard as they stood looking at the huge berry shortcake, which Sookie had made in the shape of a Y with an outlined face of a bulldog cutting across the letter, for the groom's cake. Their main wedding cake was the s'mores cake Sookie had initially dreamed up for what she had hoped would be Lorelai's wedding. The two cakes were the centerpieces of the candy and desert bar that Lorelai put together. Chocolates from all over the world sat next to homemade twinkies and ho-ho's, twizzlers, sour patch kids, gummi bears, sour balls, raisinettes, and about a zillion more different kinds of sweets, all sitting on covered boxes or glass containers of varying sizes.

"Yes, a Yale cake," Richard chuckled. "I do think it's quite appropriate," he continued approvingly. "She even managed to make it blue."

"She used food dye, I believe," Rory guessed. "There are raspberries and strawberries in there as well as the blueberries. I love how she carved the cake to make Dan's face part of the Y."

"Yes, that is wonderful. Blue and white, it is perfect," Richard agreed, turning to look at a glowing Rory, "You look radiantly happy today."

"I am," she smiled in agreement. "I can't believe that the only things to go wrong were ones we kinda expected. I mean, who doesn't have problems with the flower girls? And I knew when I agreed to let Paul Anka be the ring bearer…"

"Yes," Richard laughed. "That was sure to end up being something which would spice things up. I smell your mother's hand there."

"Yeah, it was her idea," Rory laughed sheepishly. "I couldn't say no. Plus, it was worth it to see the horrified look on Grandma's face when Mom told her to add him to the program. Is that wrong?"

"Oh Rory," Richard laughed, reaching out to hug her shoulders. "I can only imagine your grandmother's face. But then I'm probably guilty as well - I had a very hard time keeping myself from laughing out loud each time he barked during the ceremony and Emily would groan. She looked like she wanted to murder your mother."

"I'm almost sorry I couldn't see her," Rory giggled.

"Had you laughed, she probably would have done bodily harm to your mother," Richard reasoned. "So it was probably best you weren't there to further upset her.

"You look beautiful today," he continued after a minute.

"Thank you," Rory smiled. "Grandma didn't want Mom to make my dress, thought I should go to a couturier, but I think it turned out pretty perfect."

"Yes, it did, Grace Kelly nor Elizabeth Taylor, well for her first wedding anyway, were no more beautiful than you are today."

"Thank you, Grandpa," Rory blushed, reaching up to kiss his cheek.

"I'm going to miss you," Richard returned his voice filled with emotion, tears beginning to form in his eyes.

"I might not be here all the time," she reassured, drawing him into a fierce hug. "But you have my email address and phone number. You're not getting rid of me; you're just getting Logan now, as well."

"I'm holding you to that," he replied, returning her embrace.

"Oh my," Miss Patty laughed. "That is perfect."

"You aimed for me," Lorelai accused with a glare, holding Rory's bouquet in her hands.

"I won't confirm or deny that," Rory replied smugly.

"I think your look says it all," Lorelai grumbled, as the other single girls moved back to their tables.

"And what look would that be?" Rory batted her eyelashes innocently.

"Like Anthony Michael Hall when he was showing off Molly Ringwald's underwear in Sixteen Candles.

"Oh that's pretty low," Rory laughed. "I think it was better than that."

"I don't know…," Lorelai trailed off. They were now alone in the middle of the dance floor, so Lorelai took the unexpected private moment to say something to Rory. "I'm so proud of you, kid," she began as tears started to well in her eyes for seemingly the thousandth time since this day had begun. "Your graduation, today; I never could have imagined when I realized in a panic that I was pregnant that it could ever turn out like this."

"Thanks Mom," Rory replied softly, gathering Lorelai in her arms. "I never could have done any of this if it hadn't been for you."

"Rory…"

"No, Mom," Rory cut her off, "because of you. "I'm here today, having graduated from Yale, which never would have happened had I not gone to Chilton, nor would I have met Logan. None of it would have happened without you. I just…"

Rory knew what she wanted to say - she and Logan had talked about it a lot recently, but she wasn't sure if she should. But if she didn't say it now, she wouldn't get another chance anytime soon. There hadn't been nearly enough time recently really, with the end of school, all the showers and parties given for her, and since Logan had been gone for so long, trying to catch up with him; then today, too many people around, whether hairdressers, her grandmother, or guests. There wasn't enough time now to say everything she wanted to say, so she decided to go with the highlights.

"Be happy Mom. Be patient and be happy."

"I'm tryin', kid."

TBC

AN - as much as I love Rory and Logan my first and most steadfast GG ship is Rory & Richard. I've loved their relationship from him handing her a newspaper & golf all the way through the show. My favorite scene of the entire show is Rory announcing she's going to Yale and Richard's reaction, one of my favorite episodes remains 3.08, Let the Games Begin when Richard gets Rory to visit Yale for the first time. Also, Richard and Rory's sandbagging of Logan in Not as Cute as Pushkin is one of my favorite early Rory/Logan moments. The nose tip! Somehow I never wrote anything Richard & Rory centric, if I ever were to write anything else my guess is it would be about them. Their interactions and Richard parts of this story, particularly this chapter & the graduation one, are my tribute to my love of Richard & Rory. I hope y'all enjoy them as much as I do.

Reviews are extremely appreciated.