AN: I am still very busy with work, but I did take the time to get one chapter done at least. Huh, feels good.
The sky stretched wide and brilliant above them, a pale winter blue with only the occasional wisp of cloud interrupting the view. The air had that crispness unique to Nantucket winters—cold enough to make cheeks pink, but not bitter, especially when softened by the sunshine. Emily and Rory walked, side by side along the beach, their steps quiet on the damp sand. Besides one other trail of footprints and ones most likely belonging to the Salinger's golden retriever, the sand was still clear. Waves rolled in steadily, their rhythmic hush filling the spaces where conversation hadn't yet found footing.
Emily had invited Rory on the walk first thing that morning, just after her first cup of coffee, that is, leaving Nora happily eating breakfast with Berta. It had been a gentle but firm suggestion that didn't feel entirely optional. Rory had accepted, knowing it was better to face her grandmother head-on than to prolong the inevitable. She knew that in order to maintain the relationship she'd developed with her grandmother, avoidance was not an option. Now, the two of them walked in serene but tense silence, the unspoken weight of the night before trailing behind them like footprints they couldn't erase.
"I didn't bring you out here to yell at you, you know," Emily said finally, her voice softened by the wind but still unmistakably hers—poised, clear, with a touch of command. "I suspect you've already scolded yourself plenty—in your own way."
Rory glanced sideways at her, half expecting to find that tightly pinched expression Emily wore whenever the Gilmores' reputation was endangered. But her grandmother's face, though serious, was surprisingly calm.
"I appreciate that," Rory replied, her hands stuffed into the pockets of her coat. This was what being an adult was about, right? "But I'm guessing you didn't bring me out here just for a lovely morning stroll either."
Emily's lips curved slightly, just enough to acknowledge the truth. "I didn't," she admitted. "I wanted to tell you I do understand—some of it, at least."
Rory blinked in surprise. "You do?"
"I'm not oblivious, Rory," Emily said, pausing to adjust her scarf against the breeze. "Your life has never followed the plan—the one I, or even you yourself, might have thought out for you. But after your mother, that's hardly a surprise. You two always just carve your own path, and I've come to accept that. This—" she gestured vaguely, encompassing everything from Nora to Logan to last night—"This was just… a shock. Not because I think less of you or that I don't understand how relationships can be complicated, but because I never expected to be left out of something so important by you. Your mother, yes—but not you, Rory."
Rory's stomach twisted. "It wasn't about leaving you out," she said quickly. "It was about figuring things out for myself first. Logan wasn't even sure if he could be involved at all at first..." It had been about protecting Logan, too, but Rory was still too mad at him for last night's abrupt revelation to actually admit that out loud.
"Just imagine me thinking all kinds of scenarios of Nora's father. What he was like? Whether he had any brains or manners at all? And despite the circumstances—frankly—finding out it was Logan, it was in a way a relief even," Emily explained.
"I don't just get involved with random guys, Grandma," Rory needed to correct her, leaving the second part of her grandmother's comment to mull for now. She should've added 'usually' but mostly it did apply to her.
"Of course. Not what I mean," Emily said, apologetically.
"It was just complicated," Rory assured.
"But I'm still your grandmother. And more than that, I'm Nora's great-grandmother. I would have deserved to know—not for the gossip, not for appearances, but because we're family. To be able to stand in your corner. To protect Nora if needed. To know what to say or what not to say if I ever came across the rest of the Huntzbergers, for example. I thought we'd come further than this."
Rory looked down at her shoes pressing into the wet sand. She was actually beginning to feel genuinely guilty now. "We have," she murmured. "I'm sorry."
They walked a few more steps in silence, the tension thinning just slightly, the way it does when the truth has been aired—but only just enough.
"He certainly had charm," Emily said after a while, her voice softening in a way that surprised Rory. "And intelligence. Still does. And more than that—he lit you up, Rory. Every time he walked into a room, you brightened."
Rory's throat tightened at the memory, not liking where this was going. She didn't need a lecture about how good they'd been together all those years ago.
"That's why it's so difficult to see Nora caught in whatever this is. C'est dommage," Emily added, dramatically, the phrase softening her meaning—not shameful, but simply sad, unfortunate.
Emily paused, touched her arm gently, and gave Rory a meaningful look. "Can I ask you something?"
Rory nodded.
"How exactly did you and Logan end up back together after all those years? With him being all the way in Europe... I didn't realize you keep in touch? Or did either of you look the other up and reach out?" Emily asked, a hint of careful hopefulness in her tone.
Rory hesitated, but the curiosity in Emily's expression was genuine, not accusatory. "I wouldn't call it 'back together,'" Rory said carefully. "It wasn't some grand reunion. We were both… drifting, I guess. Looking for... someone to talk to. For comfort, too, I guess. Something that was at the same time just 'easy'. I was traveling a lot, and he just happened to be at a conference I was attending."
"Easy," Emily repeated, not hiding her skepticism.
"Not in the way you think," Rory corrected. "It wasn't easy because it was just the... physical. There was always a kind of shorthand between us. The ease to talk to him. Not having to explain how my brain worked or pretend. He always knew how to listen, how to cut through my noise. And his advice mattered," Rory explained with a sigh, having never expected to have to explain this to her grandmother.
Emily's brow lifted slightly. "And his fiancée? Was she always part of the picture?"
Rory's stomach tightened. "Not at first," she admitted. "At least, not in any significant way. But time passed, things changed. Sometimes we didn't see each other for months. I dated on occasion wherever I was, so did he. Our circumstances—our living situations, our jobs—didn't allow anything else," Rory explained how she had seen it at the time.
"Things work so differently nowadays, don't they? Something like that would've been unthinkable back in my day. Of course, there were always affairs..." Emily sighed.
"It wasn't an affair. We didn't see it was such. Not right away at least," Rory corrected her, admitting the latter slightly regretfully.
"I didn't mean to imply it was. Even though I'm sure some might disagree..." Emily exhaled, thinking of her former Hartford circles.
"It honestly didn't feel like it was. Not until he got engaged and it suddenly became necessary to... I don't know—hide me, I guess? It just felt bitter from there on... I tried to pretend it didn't matter—just to hold onto him like... an anchor or something? But it never felt the same. And I ended it," Rory continued.
Emily sighed, her face softening, but some disappointment lingered in her eyes.
"It sounds lonely," Emily said softly. "All those years of coming and going, never having any real footing. That's not what I wanted for you, Rory."
Rory nodded slightly, the wind brushing hair across her face. "It wasn't always lonely," she admitted. "It was never hard to trust Logan. Even after all the time apart, it was easy to let him in again. It wasn't about blind faith, pretending it was something it was't, or hope to marry him for his name like most people around him seemed to want. Trust was the one thing we were always good at, even when nothing else was." She paused, letting the truth of that settle between them. "And it went both ways — he talked to me about his work, his family... He never even asked for a paternity test." There was a flicker of something wistful in her smile. "He just believed me. No questions, no hesitation."
Emily absorbed that with a faint nod, though Rory could sense there was more her grandmother wanted to say. There always was. But this time, Emily kept it to herself, offering only, "Trust is the glue in relationships. Partnerships - whatever you want to call it."
Rory's smile faded.
"Last night didn't exactly solidify my trust in him," she admitted quietly. "I get why he did it, but... it's hard to feel like we're on the same team when he blindsides me like that. He could've just give me some heads up," She kicked at a small ridge of sand with the toe of her shoe, watching as the grains scattered.
Emily stopped walking, turning to face Rory fully. "It's better that he told the truth, Rory. I wouldn't have thought well of him if he hadn't. If I'd found out sometime later or from someone else. By this he maintained my restpect for him, even if it seems the man isn't too different from his father, after all," she replied, adding a crucial hint of critisism.
Rory remained silent. She couldn't really argue with that, not without sounding like he was protecting him. She didn't feel like protecting him, frankly. But there were an odd parallel or two, she had to admit it. It was kind of sad even that Logan hadn't managed to escape it entirely.
Emily's expression softened, and for a moment, she looked more like a mother than a matriarch. "Whatever else you think of Logan, remember — honesty, even uncomfortable honesty, is still a sign of respect. It means he cares about where he stands with this family. With you. With Nora."
Rory exhaled slowly, the tension in her shoulders easing just a fraction. It was strange, seeing Logan's actions through her grandmother's lens — not as reckless, but maybe, just maybe, as something courageous. It didn't erase her frustration, but it layered over it, complicating her feelings even more. The thought settled uneasily in her chest, but it was there nonetheless.
They resumed walking, the waves once again filling the silence between them. But this time, Rory's mind was somewhere else entirely — already forming the words she knew she needed to say to Logan. believed me."