This is a little longer than my normal chapter size. Just couldn't find a place to stop. Enjoy. REVIEW
Secrets Chapter 4
Logan enters the penthouse apartment Saturday night of the Gala. He and Rory talked. Rory felt that things would go smoother if he went with the Huntzburger and she went with the Gilmore/Haydens.
He was dressed in his tuxedo. He kept pulling at the tie, mumbling "there is no way this tie should be this tight." He had two fingers in his collar, trying to loosen it.
Logan stopped in his tracks when he entered the sitting room of the apartment. He didn't realize his parents had company. He was told to be there for cocktails before going to the Gala. He removed his finger from around his neck to scratch his clean shaven chin. He had a feeling something was up. Yep he thought so. Sitting beside her parents was Jessica Harigane. This was a set up. Shit
"Logan," Shira said, bringing attention to her son who stood frozen at the entrance. He could see his father out of the corner of his eye, moving toward the drink cart.
"Logan," Mitchum said. "Scotch neat?" Logan just nodded his head. Shit Shit Shit What am I going to do? Logan thought.
"Logan, come on in." Shira said. "Don't just stand there, come have a seat." She motioned for the only available seat, next to Jessica. "You remember Mr. & Mrs. Harigane? Oh, I know you do. Jessica, you remember Logan?"
Jessica smiled politely and nodded toward Logan. Mitchum handed Logan's drink. Logan was still yet to move.
"Dad," Logan said addressing his father, "Could I speak to you in your office for a moment?" Before Mitchum could answer, Logan turned toward the guest. "I apologize, I need to talk with Dad a minute before the Gala. Business, you know how that is." Logan walked across the sitting room to the office. He turned to see if Mitchum was following. He was. "Mom, I think this may concern you also, could you join us?"
Shira just sat there until Mitchum nodded for her to follow. She knew he was going to be upset, but she didn't care. He was of age now that he needed a wife. A wife that would take care of him and his business, to produce an heir. She knew she could get Mitchum on board by telling him that the board would look favorable, showing how much Logan has grown into his role. She had also heard rumors of Rory joining the crowd of friends Logan insisted on hanging around.
Meanwhile back at the Morgan hotel in Richard and Emily's suite, Rory knocks on the door. Her grandmother Emily answers the door. "Oh, my dear, you look fabulous." Emily said. "Francine, doesn't she look fabulous?"
"Yes, She does." Francine said as she entered the common area from her room. "Rory, I thought you were meeting us in the lobby."
"Oh, Nonsense. I told her we were running late, she needed to meet us up here." Emily said. Francine raised an eyebrow to this. They were not running late.
"Grandma wanted me to look at the jewelry you picked out for me." Rory said as she looked around the room for her Grandpa. "Where is Grandpa?" She asked.
"He is down at the bar. He will be back up in a few minutes to escort us down to the ball. Now, While we wait, come pick out a few pieces of jewelry to wear." Emily said.
Her and both grandmas were looking over the earrings and necklaces, when her grandpa entered the room. Rory turned to greet him, but he was not alone. There,standing behind her grandpa was Jordan Chase. Rory closed her eyes to gain composure. This was a set up.
She whirled around to face her grandmas, but before she could speak, Emily spoke up. "Jordan, don't you look dapper tonight?" She said, "Rory, doesn't Jordan look dapper tonight?"
Rory was frozen. How could they do this to her? She didn't realize tears were running down her cheeks until she felt it on her shoulder. She carefully wiped her eyes, turned to Jordan and spoke. "Jordan. It has been a while. What brings you back to New York? Last I heard you were in Texas."
"Rory, good to see you again. Yes, I am just home visiting my grandparents. Oh, of course, I couldn't refuse to go to the Gala, it being a worthy cause and all. Your grandpa told me you were up here and I thought I would stop by and say hey. Maybe escort you to the Gala. If I am not being too forward." Jordan said.
"Why Jordan, I'm not sure where the misunderstanding came in, but I am not in need of an escort." Rory said.
"Nonsense, Rory, He is here, let him escort you to the Gala. It is just downstairs." Emily said. She had gradually started moving Rory toward Jordan. Rory stopped and turned to her grandmother.
"Can I speak to you in your room?" Rory asked, nodding toward the bedroom.
"Rory, no, we can talk later. It is getting late. We should get going." Emily said. Rory turned to her Grandpa. The look on her face assured him that they need to talk now.
"Jordan, If you will excuse us." Richard said as he moved toward the bedroom. "Emily, Francine, join us." They followed Richard into the bedroom.
As soon as the door was closed, Emily turned toward Richard. "Richard. How could you? That was embarrassing, not to mention rude…"
Before she could continue, Richard looked at Rory. "I believe you are waiting on an explanation."
Rory nodded. "Yes, an explanation would be nice for several reasons. Reasons I will come back to later, but first and foremost, He is married." Rory told them. All three of her grandparents' mouths flew open.
"He is married to a good friend of mine. We got to know each other on the campaign trail. I even attended their wedding in Texas." Rory told them. "Now would someone explain why he is here to escort me to the Gala?"
"Rory, I am sorry. I had no idea. Your grandmother told me to go to the bar, your escort would be waiting. She didn't not tell me anything else. I just assumed, because it was Jordan, that you were aware." Richard said.
"Grandpa, you are not innocent in this. You may not have known what she had planned, but you knew she was planning something. You have been married to her far too long not to know." Rory told him. "And as for the two of you…."
Francine interrupted before Rory could say anything. "Emily, I hate to throw you under the bus, but Rory, I was not aware of any of this. The last I knew, we were waiting for you to call to let us know you had arrived in the lobby."
Rory nodded her head. "The three of you wait here. I want to talk with Jordan." Rory said.
"Rory, you will not….." Emily started but was stopped by the look in Richard's eyes.
She left the room. Jordan was standing by the drink cart. He had fixed himself a drink.
"Sorry," Jordan said. "I needed a drink"
Rory nodded. "Do you really? I know that you and Misty are having problems, but running to the east coast when things get bad? Really?" she said.
Jordan's face turned white. "We are separated. I am here to give her time." Jordan said with a smile. "It is no one's fault. She needed time. I choose to give her time. My grandparents have been begging for a visit, so here I am. It seems they don't like Misty very much." Jordan was pacing in front of the drink cart.
"I am sorry. I should not have agreed to this, but I ran into Emily at the club last week. She mentioned you were living in New York. The Gala was talked about. She asked me to escort you. I should have called you. I knew what they were doing," Jordan would not look at Rory. He was ashamed. "I don't know what got into me, but in my defense, I did call Misty to tell her I would be escorting you. She seemed fine with it. I thought because it was you, we could go as friends"
Rory was shaking her head. She was trying to figure out if she should tell him about Logan or would that cause more problems. "I am going to tell you something, then we are going to call Misty." Rory told him.
Rory went back to the bedroom door. "Jordan and I are leaving now. I will see you at the Gala." Rory told them. Emily was grinning. She started to say something but Rory shut the door before she could.
Logan entered the office and waited for his parents to join him. Shira and Mitchum entered and shut the door.
Shira started before Logan could speak. "Logan, this is rude. I know you were raised better than this…." Logan cut her off.
"Mom, I am a grown man. I do not need you to set me up with a date." Logan said. He then turned to Mitchum. "I thought we had an understanding. I came back to the company, you agreed to stay out of my private life."
"I had nothing to do with this." Mitchum told Logan as he took a sip of this drink. If looks could kill, Mitchum would be in the line of fire.
He then turned to his mother. "I am fulfilling my family obligation by showing up at this Gala. I also happen to believe in this cause. You just had to torture me with having a date waiting on me. What does that say for me? I am a grown ass man that is more than capable of getting a date if I so choose. I changed my plans to meet you here and I was trying to cooperate, doing what my mother wanted me to do, but you have gone too far this time, Mother." If this was a cartoon,you would be able to see smoke coming out of Logan's ears. The whole time he was wanting to call Rory to let her know what was going on.
"Logan, when did escorting a beautiful and lovely girl to a Gala become torture?" His mother asked. "It would be rude. She is here now. What am I supposed to tell her and her parents? 'Sorry but my son refused to escort your beautiful daughter?' No, Logan, I will not."
"Mother, this is your mess, fix it. Don't blame this on me." Logan told her.
Logan went to speak again, but was cut off by Mitchum. "I have had enough. Logan, you will escort this young lady to the Gala. If you must, you can have the driver take her home. You won't have to, but you will be escorting her."
It took Logan a moment, but he turned to his mother. "I don't care what you tell them." Then turned to his father. "Jessica Harigane is the girl that caused the scandal at the Huntzburger Christmas Gala my freshman year. Remember Dad?"
Mitchum thought about it for a moment, then turned to his wife. "I suggest you come up with a reason that Logan will not be escorting Jessica tonight." Shira opened her mouth, but Mitchum spoke before her. "It would be a good idea to take note of what has happened tonight, Our son is more than capable of finding his own date." Mitchum turned to open the door, leaving Logan and Shira standing there. This was new. Logan didn't expect this from his father.
Logan looked at his mother, then his watch. You have one minute to come up with a reason or I will be going in there and telling them that my mother is off her meds." Logan stood there waiting. Shira was in shock. She never thought her husband would side with their son against her.
She walked out of the office ahead of Logan. When she got to the sitting area, she turned to Mrs. Harigane, "I am so sorry. There has been a misunderstanding. Logan already has a date for the Gala. You know how these young people can be. They never tell their parents anything. Logan will meet us there. He has to go pick up his date."
Logan smiled at the guest. "I am so sorry, If I had known, I could have prevented this. Jessica you are a lovely girl, I am sure there will be plenty of eligible men tonight. I know for a fact that Finn Morgan will be unattached." You could see Jessica rolling her eyes at the thought of going out with Finn Morgan.
When Logan got to the lobby of the apartment building he first called his car service, he had earlier dismissed it lue to the plans to ride with his parents. Then he called Rory.
"You are not going to believe this." Logan said the minute she answered.
"Oh, But I have one better than you." Rory told him.
"I doubt it, but going ahead, let's see." Logan told her.
Rory begins to tell him about being ambushed at her grandparents' hotel suite and Francine knows about them.
Logan laughed and told her about his ambush and Jessica Harigane.
"Are you still at the hotel?" Logan asked.
"Yes, I just got off the phone with Misty. She and Jordan are talking now. I am hiding in the lobby powder room." She told him.
He laughed, then said. "I will have my driver go to the back entrance, the one right of the big conference room. Meet me there and we will form a game plan before entering."
"How long before you get here. I don't want to be waiting for someone to see me." Rory asked.
Logan looked around at his surroundings, "Two minutes." He said.
She was going to stick her head out the door to make sure the coast was clear when Paris entered.
"Paris, I am glad to see you. I need your help." Rory said. "I am meeting Logan at the back entrance, I need you to go ahead of me to make sure the coast is clear. I don't need to run into anyone. I promise I will explain later."
Paris stood there for a moment. She could tell Rory was upset. "Okay, but you have to promise me he hasn't done something to hurt you."
"No, nothing like that. Just his parents and my grandparents are all up in our business." Rory said.
Paris nodded. "You know I love you, but you have got to tell your grandparents about Logan." Rory nodded her head.