Unfinished Business

10

Rory:

I sat in the living room with Logan watching whatever cartoons were playing across the screen, while at the same time not really paying attention. Paulanka was laying on the couch next to me with his head on my lap.

It was him jumping off the couch that signaled that something was outside before I heard the motor from the engine and then the door close. I got up of the couch and made my way to the door looking out the window. I was shocked when I saw that Logan was making his way to the front porch. I thought he was gone. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

"Hey." I said. Not really sure what else to say in this moment. I enver thought he'd come back after he left.

"Hey." He replied from the bottom of the steps where he stopped when he saw me open the door, hands shoved in his pockets. "Sorry I took off like that."

"It's fine." I replied. I looked back into the living room and Logan was enthralled in her show. I quietly closed the door and sat down on the stairs. "So..."

"So." He said.

We were at an impass. Logan was always somebody I could talk to when the chips were down, well he use to be, a long time ago. Now I wasn't sure where we stood. He sat down next to me on the cool steps.

"I don't really know what to say here Logan." I said looking down at my hands.

"So, that's our kid in there." He said drawing my attention to him. He was looking right at me. Not a hint of anger or hate anywhere on his face.

"Yeah. That's our kid." I said replying.

He took a deep breath and all I wanted to know was, what was going on in his head.

"I was furious with you Rory." He said.

"Understandable--" I started to say.

"No. Let me talk." He said. So I didn't continue.

"I was furious with you when I got here and saw her, learning that you had kept this, her, from me all these years. But then I left. I walked around the town square for a while, letting everything really sink in. Then I ran into Lane at Lukes--" I cut him off.

"What were you doing at Luke's?" I asked.

"Getting coffee. Anyway, I ran into Lane and we got the chance to talk, and, well...I understand why you thought you had to go about this the way you did." He told me.

"You do?" I asked.

"Yes. I do." He said, taking my cold hands in his. "But Rory, there's something I need to tell you, something you need to know."

"What's that?" I asked confused.

"Well, it's about what happened when I returned to London. You see, I couldn't go through with it. A couple weeks after I returned to London we had our tasting for the reception and in the middle of it I stood up and told Odette that I couldn't go through with the marriage, and I walked out." He said finishing his thought.

"You walked out." I said, completely in shock.

"Yes. I walked out." He said confirming.

"So, there's no Odette." I said, speaking my thoughts outloud.

"Well, there is an Odette somewhere out the in the world. Probably back in Paris. But there's no Odette and me." He said with a small smile.

"Oh." I said trying to wrap my head around what he was telling me. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because, I thought you had made your decision about us when we parted ways." He said.

"I wanted to tell you so bad. I wanted to tell you that you were going to be a father. But, I didn't want to screw anything up for you. I didn't want to mess up the dynastic plan." I said shaking my head.

"I know. Anyway, I had a chance to calm down and then I thought I should come back here so we could talk. I wanted to let you know..." He started, pausing for a moment and lifting my chin so I was looking at him. "I don't hate you Rory. I could never hate you."

Relief and shock flooded through me. Never in a million years would I think that he would understand why I did this. With the relief came the tears that I had been holding back since he had driven away. He didn't hate me. I sat there next to him as I let all my emotions out. While he sat there with one arm wrapped around me comforting me. When really he should have just been filled will anger, until finally I had finished.

"Sorry about that I said recomposing myself." I said apologetically.

"It's alright Ace." He said, wipping away a tear that I had missed, and I gave him a small smile.

"Well then. Do you want to meet her?" I asked him.

"Yeah. I think that would be great." He replied.

"I do have one little favor for the moment though." I started.

"What's that?" He asked, a puzzled look crossing his face.

"I haven't really gotten the chance to tell her anything about you yet. So, do you mind if we just tell her your a friend at the moment." I asked trying to gauge his reaction.

"Oh." He said pulling away a little bit.

"I don't want you to be hurt. I just think it might be a bit hard to tell her that your her father and then your gonna go away again. At least until we can figure something out. Are you okay with that?" I asked.

"When you put it that way. Yeah, I do. We can do it your way for now. Until we figure things out." He said agreeing.

"Okay then. I guess we're doing this." I said.

Logan stood up first and held out his hand to help me get up. I brushed of my backside then looked at him and smiled. He was here and there was no Odette in sight. Maybe there was hope after all. I opened the door and we made our way inside, to where our daughter sat watching cartoons and eating pop-tarts.