The Simpler Life

8

Chapter 8

Things were looking up for Rory. It was like energy had flowed back into every cell in her body, a smile forming on her lips even if there wasn't anything to be particularly happy about. And just as the first signs of false spring were melting the frost around her, she'd begun to feel better about everything in her life, too. She was pregnant of course - and things were well, the small flutter-like feel a couple of nights ago having now truly become a reality for her. But instead of the scary outlook of becoming the single mom to a daughter whose paternity would remain as something to be ashamed of, she actually had some hopes to co-parent this child with her real father, even if the details were still a little fuzzy. At least the intentions were good - it was a good start, wasn't it? Rory believed that even if this was going to be some half-absent-father kind of thing, from her perspective it really wasn't that horrible either.

A relationship was still valuable to a child even if father-daughter relationships came in a less-than-standard format. Her relationship to Christopher was a prime example of that. Mostly she just believed it was a matter of expectations, and she aimed to set them low to begin with, knowing how busy Logan was. But most importantly - Logan's validation that it was 'okay' that this was happening - had made her a lot less ashamed of her growing belly and the situation that she was in. Sure, there were no plans to broadcast Logan's role any time soon, and the exact details to tell the child were very much to be discussed - but Rory genuinely felt some happiness in her to be able to offer Logan at least something resembling a real fatherhood.

It was for this reason she had finally embraced her maternity wardrobe, and was planning on exposing her little bump through a stretchy knitted dress to everyone at Luke's that morning. One might've considered it self-centered thinking, believing everyone would be studying her so closely when they probably didn't. But it was a big deal for Rory.

"Sit anywhere you like," Luke said, after Rory had greeted him with a nod and looked at him questioningly for a split second, asking which of the two vacant tables to take. Her mother had an early morning meeting with the construction crew at the new Inn annex, so it was just her this morning.

Rory shed her coat, hung it up and straightened her dress, and could definitely sense some eyes darting towards her - but well-meaningly so. She sank down at the table and exhaled in relief, seeing this as a rite of passage in becoming someone's mom. She had a bump. She was pregnant. She was having a baby. So, what? Soon there would be no hiding. Soon it would be her and her little girl, coming here for breakfast. The thought made her smile.

"Pancakes when you get a chance?" Rory said, friendlily, making it easy for Luke to serve her, seeing how busy it was.

"Coming right up. Caesar! Pancakes for Rory!" Luke replied and called out towards the kitchen.

"Thank you, Luke," Rory replied, as the man brought her morning coffee, anticipating her need. She had every intention of really savoring this cup.

"Enjoy," Luke said, knowing any lecture on coffee-drinking would not be heard.

"I will," Rory chimed and smiled.

Rory took a book from her tote bag, and opened it up from where she'd left off the night before, allowing herself a nice relaxing morning.

Another thing seeing Logan a couple of days ago had done was wipe any thought of her weird dinner with Tristan out of her mind. She didn't have any energy for complicated and unpredictable things that seemed supplementary in her life right now - even if some part of her would've liked to explore her options. Her life needed to focus on herself for now. Not that she was getting any hopes up for getting back together with Logan in any form - she hoped to avoid that for the sake of self-respect. She wasn't going to get involved with a married man again. She was determined to avoid making that mistake again, having learned the hard way. She didn't want to be his Geisha, or his second family, tucked away in another country whom he'd visit on holidays. The question remained - if one took sex out of the picture, how much different this really was from the latter?