Finding Home

Chapter 42

Rory woke to the sun spilling through the windows the next morning. She opened her eyes and immediately saw her engagement ring, and she couldn't help but smile. Last night had been absolutely perfect - from the quiet night on the beach to the the private, emotional proposal to the intimate celebration they'd shared in bed until the wee hours of the morning. She couldn't have been any happier.

She got up out of bed and walked out onto the balcony off of the master bedroom. After doing some quick calculations in her head, she dialed her mom's number from her cell phone.

"Hey, sweets. How's the land down under?" came Lorelai's voice.

"It's fantastic. We're going to go see Finn's family today at lunch. I just wanted you to be the first to know...Finn proposed last night, and I said yes. I'm getting married, Mom!" Rory squealed.

"Oh, Ror! That's amazing! I'm so thrilled for you! Ooh, I know. We can have your wedding at the Dragonfly next winter. It would be perfect, kiddo!" Lorelai said enthusiastically.

"We haven't actually talked about the wedding at all, Mom. I just wanted to call and let you know. I'm going to call Dad and Emily and Francine as well; I don't want to take the chance of the media getting wind of it and them finding out from a newspaper," Rory replied.

"No, you're right. You'd have hell to pay if that happened. Tell Finn that I said welcome to the family, and we'll get started planning the wedding as soon as you get home. I love you, sweets," Lorelai finished.

"Love you too, Mom. I'll talk to you later," Rory replied before hanging up.

Rory called her dad, who offered his sincere congratulations without any wedding advice, and she was grateful for that. She then decided that she only had the energy to have one conversation with her grandmothers, so she got both Emily and Francine on a conference call.

"Hi, Grandma Emily and Grandma Francine," Rory greeted her grandmothers when the calls had connected.

"Oh, hello, dear. How's Australia?" Emily asked. "I didn't expect to hear from you while you were on vacation."

"I wasn't planning on calling, but something happened last night and I wanted to make sure that you all heard it from me first. Finn asked me to marry him last night, and I said yes," Rory beamed happily.

"Oh, Rory! That's wonderful news," Francine gushed. "Have you guys made any decisions on when you'll have the wedding yet or where it will be? We'll need to get moving quickly."

"Oh, that's true. It will take months to plan an event worthy of the union of these three families," Emily agreed. "We could do the Plaza in June, but that's so cliché. That simply won't work for someone of your status. Francine and I can begin interviewing wedding planners while you're still in Australia, and then we can get started immediately when you get back home. You need to be prepared to dedicate quite a lot of time to planning this event."

Rory closed her eyes and sighed heavily. She suddenly knew exactly what the next year of her life was going to look like, and it wasn't at all exciting.

"You know, I think we'll just leave the wedding planning conversations for later. I'll talk to you guys when we're back in New York," Rory said before hanging up.

She walked back into the bedroom and curled back up in bed next to Finn.

"Where'd you go, Love?" he asked sleepily.

"I thought I'd call my parents and grandparents and give them the news. Unfortunately, it was a total buzz kill," Rory replied quietly. That perked Finn up.

"I thought they approved of our relationship?" Finn asked.

"Oh, they do. In fact, my mom and grandmothers are already putting pressure on me to make decisions for the wedding and get started planning the social event of the year," Rory huffed.