AN: Per Blairbear014's request here is Dirty Little Secret.
I don't own the song or the show.
I'll keep you my dirty little secret, don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret - The All-American Rejects
Shira ground the butt of her cigarette into the top of the brick bulkhead in her garden and instantly lit another one. She put it to her lips and inhaled deeply. She couldn't believe this was happening.
"Shira are you out here?" she heard Mitchum call from the terrace.
"Yes," she replied weakly hoping he wouldn't come out to talk to her, he hated it when she smoked.
"Are you smoking?" he asked.
"My son is about to propose to that girl! What do you think?" she shot back bitterly.
"All right, well let me know if you need another pack."
Smoking was Shira Huntzberger's small rebellion. It was the way she dealt with stress. She'd started smoking when she was a teenager, trying to impress the others and look cool. Now she was the perfect society wife, except for the smoking. Mitchum hated it, but she did it anyhow. Sometimes she felt that smoking was the only thing left in her life that was truly her. Nobody in society smoked, so she kept it a secret from everyone but her family. She tried to quit time and again, but sometimes being a Huntzberger was just too darn stressful.
She lit yet another cigarette, her fourth in the last fifteen minutes, and thought about the conversation she had with her son just hours before.
"Hey Mom," Logan called as he entered her parlor.
"Logan? What brings you here today?" she asked. She was surprised to see him. Logan never came home to visit. He occasionally made appearances for family events, and even those, Shira knew, came only when Honor begged him, but he never visited. It had been at least six months since she'd seen him. Maybe more.
"I, uh, came to see how you are," he told her. He was lying and she knew it. People could say that she didn't know her son, didn't know about his life, his business, or his antics, but she knew when he was lying. His tell hadn't changed in the last 20 some years.
"I'm fine Dear. How are you?" She decided not to call him on the lie and just see where he was going.
"I'm doing well."
"What brings you to Connecticut?" she asked, knowing he hadn't spent much time on the East Coast since he started his business venture in Palo Alto.
"The Gilmore's vow renewal anniversary party," he said firmly.
She winced. She'd forgotten that the party was this weekend, she'd better find a new dress. "Oh that's right. I'm surprised you'd want to go to that."
"I don't see why you're surprised. Rory and I got back together almost a year ago," he told her.
"What?" she said weakly. How did she miss that bit of gossip?
"Didn't Honor tell you? Or Dad?" Logan was truly surprised that she didn't know.
"No. Neither one of them said a thing! They both knew?" Shira was mortified. How dare they not tell her!
"Well yeah. Honor helped get us back together," Logan started.
"And your father?"
"We ran into him at a newspaper event in California a month or so ago," he explained.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked quietly.
"Right, because that's a conversation I want to have," Logan said sarcastically. "Hi Mom, I'm just calling to tell you I'm back with the woman of my dreams, you know, the one you hate."
"Logan-" she started, but he cut her off.
"I don't want to hear it Mom. I came here to ask you for Grandmother Huntzberger's ring. I was trying to do things right."
"You're going to propose to her? Again?" Shira exclaimed. She couldn't believe her son would put himself in this position again.
"It's different this time." She knew he was right. It was different, the first time he'd gone and purchased his own ring.
"Sure it is," Shira said snidely. "If she says 'yes' then you can have the ring."
"No. That ring is mine to give to my wife. You have no control over that part of it. I can just go get it from the safe myself. I was just being polite in asking you to hand it over." Logan was seething with anger; he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room.
He was right of course, when Michtum's mother died, that ring was set aside for Logan's bride, but Shira always assumed she'd get to pick that bride. Shira sighed in resignation. "Logan!" she called out to him. But he didn't answer.
She sighed and took another puff on her cigarette. Why couldn't he just marry that lovely Fallon girl? she wondered to herself.
She didn't know why she didn't like Rory Gilmore. She just didn't. Rory was a perfectly lovely girl… or so she was told. She had excellent manners, she was well bred, and she made Logan happy. She began to pace in her garden trying to figure out why she didn't like Rory.
Was it just because Shira didn't pick her for Logan?
Was it because Rory was old money? (Doubly old money – Gilmore and Hayden!) While the she was new money? (Or to be honest – she was no money, and Mitchum was new money, comparatively.)
It wasn't like the girl was unfortunate looking. She was no supermodel, but she was a classic beauty. Those blue eyes of hers would be adorable on a little kid with Logan's blond hair.
Was it because she worked? This one gave Shira cause to pause in her pacing. She respected people who worked. She just didn't understand why people who didn't have to, chose to work. As soon as she'd said "I do," Shira quit her job. That was how it was supposed to work. She didn't marry Mitchum solely for his money, but it certainly didn't hurt the process.
Shira finally decided that she didn't like her because Rory wanting to keep her career, which she established without Logan's help, was just another way of proving to the world that she, contrary to Shira's loudly expressed opinions, was not a gold digger. (And Shira hated to be wrong!) Rory loved Logan for himself and couldn't give a damn about his last name or the size of his trust fund.
Rory would never have children that barely spoke to her. She would never have a Dirty Little Secret like smoking. She would be the perfect wife, society or otherwise, without any guidance or influence from Shira.
She lit her last cigarette and sighed with determination, maybe she could learn to like Rory, and maybe Rory could teach her a thing or two.
AN: Hope you enjoyed this installment. Next up is Misery Business! Anything else you'd like to see, please let me know. I'm really enjoying being able to write different bits about different characters and set in different times.
I'm working on Chapter 11 of Winning Back The Gilmore Girls - that should hopefully be up this weekend!
Thanks for reading and please review - S
