Secrets Chapter 8
The rest of the week went by pretty fast. Logan was stuck in meetings most of the time, as per usual. Rory was working on two different articles. She was having a hard time concentrating.
It was Friday night. Rory had called Emily to tell her that she would not be attending dinner tonight, but would see her next week for Thanksgiving. Rory and Lorelai played phone tag for a couple of days. Finally they were able to talk. Rory told her she would be at her grandparents for Thanksgiving, but would not be at Friday night dinner this week.
As Rory predicted, Lorelai was pouting, until she told Rory it was okay, she would make it up to her by staying in Stars Hollow over the Thanksgiving weekend and go Black Friday shopping with her. "April will be with Anna, you can stay in your old room." Lorelai told him.
"Mom, we will see. Hey" Rory said, interrupting Lorelai. "I need to go. I have a meeting in a few minutes. I need time to stop off for coffee before the meeting." Rory hung up the phone. She knew getting coffee would be a good excuse for ending her phone call with her mother.
The gang was meeting at Rory and Logan's apartment. They all had been informed of the situation and were told to come up with solutions.
Rory got home first. When she entered the apartment, Finn was sitting at the bar. "How did you get in? Never mind, I don't want to know." Rory asked. "Is Logan home?"
"Love," Finn said. "No, he is not, but you have me. Am I not enough?" He asked. She shook her head as she turned to go up the stairs to change.
"Don't follow," She warned. She could hear him laughing as she entered their bedroom.
Logan was just getting home when she came down the stairs. Colin and Steph followed close behind with the pizzas. Rosemary brought up the rear with Chinese. She worked next to the best Chinese place in this part of town.
They gathered around the table, grabbing pizza and Chinese. They were all talking at once. Filling each other in on their week. When they finished, Logan and the guys retired to the den to fix the after dinner drinks, while Rory and the girls loaded the dishwasher.
"I know we are supposed to wait until we are all together to start this discussion, but What the Hell?" Rosemary said. "We have all done so well for two years, now Mitchum knows?"
"Yeah." Steph said. "Heard they are pictures….What kind of pictures? Are they the good kind.?" All three girls were laughing.
Logan was in the den fixing the drinks while Colin and Finn were fussing over the TV remote. Finn wanted to turn on the TV, while Colin was telling him not to turn it on, they had stuff to talk about.
"That laugh. That is why I do what I do. If I could ensure that she always laughs like that, I would die a happy man." Logan said.
Both Finn and Colin stopped fussing and turned to him. "What are you going to do? Are you going to continue with your plan to propose?." Colin asked.
"Yes, He will continue." FInn said. "They are meant to be together. I will not stand for anyone separating them."
Logan shook his head and chucked. He loves his best friends. Life would be so dull without them. "Shut up. She will hear you." Colin said, throwing a pillow at Finn. Finn was starting to throw it back when the girls entered.
"Finn." Rory said in her threatening voice. "Put my pillow down." Finn sat down on the couch with a little pout. He reminded her of Lorelia so much.
The gang spent several hours, then several weeks setting up the plan. Logan made sure everyone knew he did not care about Shira's reaction. He would just threaten to cut her out of his life. His main concerns are Lorelia and Emily. Emily will be hurt because they kept it a secret. Emily will make sure Rory feels guilty, in return, Rory will feel compelled to accommodate Emily on future wedding plans. Lorelia was the loose cannon. Logan was afraid she would cut Rory off like she did when she quit Yale. This worried Logan.
The plan is for Rory to mention at Thanksgiving that she is seeing someone and has been for a while. The hope is that by Christmas they could announce they are a couple. Rory called Chris to let him in on the plan.
"Ace!" Logan yelled for the bottom of the stairs. "We are going to be late."
"I know." Rory yelled back. Five minutes later, Rory descended the stairs dressed for Thanksgiving with her family. She was dressed in a burnt orange lace trimmed mini dress with brown 'over the knee' boots. Her hair was styled down and curly. She looked great.
"Wow Ace," Logan said. "Worth the wait." He kissed her on the cheek and stepped away.
"That's all I get?" She asked.
"Yes," He said as he helped her into her coat. "If we are late, I will be pulling up to the train station after Lorelai.
Rory nodded her head. She agreed, but it would have been nice to go back upstairs and forget about Thanksgiving. She was not ready to let anyone else into their little bubble.
Logan pulled into traffic heading to Hartford. The plan is for Logan to drop her off at the train station in Hartford while he goes on to Honor's. Lorelia will pick Rory up at the train station because Lorelai thought Rory was coming in on the train so she would not have to drive in Thanksgiving traffic. Lorelai had tried to get her to come home yesterday, but Rory had to work.
Conversation on the way to Hartford was lite. No heavy topics. They talked about work. They talked about going to Aspen the week between Christmas and New Years with the gang. They talked about Gigi spending Christmas with Sherry in France. That is when the conversation got heavy.
"You know," Rory started. "If we had a child and for some reason you lived in London and I lived here, I would insist that you come to us to see her."
"Ace," Logan began, but stopped. He was trying to piece together the puzzle that was forming in her head. "Ace" He started again. "First, is there something you need to tell me?" When she didn't answer he continued. "Second," He was trying to figure out if he should say 'if or when'. He decided to go with when. "When we have a child, there is no way in hell that I would live an ocean away from her." He smiled. She had called their make believe child a her. "Third. I am on Three?" Logan asked. Rory nodded. She was not looking at him. She was looking out the window. "Third, there is no way in hell or high water that I would leave you."
Rory still was not looking at Logan. Logan was trying to look at her and watch the road. Traffic was awful. He took her hand into his, she turned to him and smiled. "I'm not pregnant." He nodded. "You asked me to marry you after graduation, so I assume you will ask again, when you are ready."
"Are you ready?" he asked. She shrugged her shoulders. "That's not an answer." He told her.
"I hope that was not your way of proposing." She said, He smiled and laughed.
"No, That was not a proposal, it was just a question to get the feel for when the time is right." He explained.
Rory sighed deep. She could see the Hartford exit. "I wouldn't say no, if you asked right now, but I think we need to give the parents time to digest we have been living together for two years before we spring an engagement on them." She cut her eyes over to him to see his reaction. He was nodding and smiling.
"No matter the reaction." He said.
"We know we love each other and want to spend the rest of our lives together." She said,
"So they will just have to get over it." They said together.
Logan pulled up to the train station. He kissed Rory and told her he would see her back at home Monday. Rory would take the train back to New York on Sunday. Logan planned to be back in New York Friday.
Rory took her overnight bag and walked through the station. She didn't have to wait long before she saw Lorelia's jeep pulling into the parking lot. The reason this has worked for Rory and Logan for so long is Lorelai did not know how to be on time.