The Maine Event

Chapter 14

Logan really couldn't just go back to sleep. The evening had been long and dreadful, not only by having to wear a tailed tux the entire night, but Shira's request ruining any other plans that they had had. He was to parade Odette, dressed in a glittery red trumpet dress Shira had picked out for her, around the party like some trophy, the term trophy wife becoming suddenly very real, and had felt even to Odette a little insulting. They were to be the happy couple, making last minute wedding arrangements, planning their honeymoon, discussing future living arrangements and even babies in detail - from their names to their professions, at least that was what most of the other guests wanted to talk to them about. The latter was becoming a touchy subject for Odette, and even with everything else they were beginning to struggle to show the enthusiasm. There was only so much excitement one could draw up for just a white dress and flower arrangements when there was no sentiment behind it. Also having to pretend to be close also physically, touching her, even if just placing his hand on the small of her back or giving her a small kiss, when it was anticipated, felt just plain wrong now.

Hearing Rory's voice, even if it was 5 AM after he'd only gotten a few hours of sleep, eased his guilt a little - at least she was out, having fun. But with things related to Owen, he was utterly conflicted. His gut feeling was with Rory, only really lacking someone admitting to the relation or finding an actual document linking Owen and Catherine to Mitchum. It seemed too big of a coincidence to be anything else.

Logan didn't know whether he should approach the subject at all with Mitchum, unsure of what kind of Pandora's box it would open. If he did tell his father that he suspected him having had another family in Maine, he would surely trace it back to Rory, which didn't put his own plans into a good position. And his plans were working right now, despite the accompanied guilt.

More than anything he just wanted to understand. If his father did have another son, what had been the reasons for him to give it all up. Who had known about it and who had made him give that up?

The main suspects on that list were Elias and Shira. He just didn't believe that this smiling Mitchum, who seemed to be enjoying life on those photos Rory had sent him, had given that up voluntarily and if he had, even then the reasons were of interest to Logan. So it was more about understanding than about proving anything, or exposing him. Publicity was important for his family, it always had been - it was good for business, and that was his best guess as for reasons. Something like that would surely damage the reputation of the family name considerably. And it made sense that that had been at least one of the reasons to keep that life a secret. And for that same reason he knew that any threat of an expose wouldn't work either.

It also felt strange that Rory was getting to know his half-brother, assuming he truly was that. And frankly he would've gladly wanted to do it himself as well. Honor had been his rock for years, and why wouldn't he want to get to know another person who could be like that. But he knew things were complicated, and if Owen did knew that he knew and Owen learned about the fortune, he could even have wanted his share. All of this coming out could create other types of issues, unless of course the paternity would not determined or the rights had been terminated by Catherine. And there was always the question - would Owen even care?

He was a little hesitant of Owen as well because he'd been the guy who had asked Rory out once - a tad of jealousy tingled in his gut when he thought of it. If he was so similar to him, what would stop Owen from actually impressing Rory? Owen was surely more of her world, exactly the kind that Lorelai wanted her to live.

But Logan realized he was getting ahead of himself, that he was just insecure, just like he always was with Rory, while he rarely showed it. She was the first girl who hadn't been impressed by his money and power, though it had helped of course, but she'd hated his guts in the beginning and it had taken serious convincing to prove to her that he was actually worthy of her. He still felt like he needed to make more of an effort, and fancy gifts were not going to suffice. And here he was, trying to do that from the distance, feeling like he wasn't doing enough, and all he could do, was trust her with his heart.