Other Girls of Gilmore Girls: The Lindsay Lister Story

Chapter 13

View Along: S3 E20 Say Goodnight, Gracie

I looked down at Dean, balancing himself on one knee, my hands between his. "I know I don't have a ring or anything. I know we still have to graduate. But I want you to know that I believe in us and that I am all in with you. Marry me."

"Yes," I said. It came out without my consent, but when I heard myself say it, I knew that I meant it. "Yes," I repeated.

"We will get a ring soon," Dean stood up. "Taylor is getting me more hours at Doose's and helping with town meetings. I'll put it all towards the ring. Your choice. Ok?"

I didn't know what to say. Dean kept going: "And we have to graduate and everything, so it isn't like we have to have a wedding right now. Once we are engaged, which we are now, we can plan the wedding for as long as we want."

"What about college?"

"What about it?"

"You are going, and I am not."

Dean thought about it. "Come with me!" I was already thinking about going with him, but I never told him that. Now it was his idea, too. It was something other than my daydreams, my wandering mind, my hopes. "It's late," I told him, not because I wanted him to leave, but because I wanted to replay the night over and over in my head as I fell asleep. "Goodnight, wife," Dean called to me when he got a few houses away.

***

The next day I realized I had to tell my parents. My mom was making a noodle dish that was my grandma's recipe. It was creamy and comforting, and the smell of it made me feel better about telling her I was engaged. My guess was that 90% of parents would be horrified if their high school senior got engaged. That's today. But it wasn't that long ago when it was normal for 18 and 19-year-old to get married. My grandparents were around that age, and my parents were in their early twenties. All of these lives were fruitful, happy, and full of love and warmth. There may be people out there who make reckless decisions about their relationships when they are 18, but not in my family.

"Mom?" My voice was quiet; I was still nervous. "Dean asked me to marry him." I felt like a child. It sounded so silly.

"What did you say?" she asked me without turning away from the sauce.

"Yes?"

"Did you ask him that or did you say it?" She turned around. "If you are going to be a married adult, it's important to be confident in your choices."

"Yes. I said yes."

This was the moment when she would either congratulate me or yell at me and remind me that I'm in high school. She smiled. "You are an adult now, and I," she paused here. "I will always support your decisions. Dean's just about the best guy in all of Stars Hollow."

"I know! I know!" I jumped up and down and my mom said she wished us the best only after I clarified that we weren't getting married any time soon. We were only engaged and happy to know where we were headed. My mom said she wanted to invite Dean over to eat the noodle dish with us and to take a picture of us together outside to put in the newspaper. She was going to buy an announcement.

The excited energy in me had to come out some way, and I jumped up and down all the way down the hall and ran up the stairs. I went to the hallway computer and logged into Blogger.

||||     Big news, guys. He asked me to marry him and I said yes. To celebrate, we are having a traditional dish passed down over the generations. I'd like to share it with you, but parts are secret. I'll share what I can. ||||

I explained the sauce and the shape of the noodles as best as I could. Then I moved on

||||     This is the start of us becoming a family, connecting our two, which at one point were nothing but the connecting two others. All of history, all of the wars and battles, all our constructs and arrangements have somehow led to the two of us being together. And her? You know who. As gone as she can get. He denounced her in front of me, and in a few months, she will really be out of here and off to Sparta. ||||

It felt good. I posted it.