The Secret

Chapter 12

It was now the beginning of February and Rory hadn't yet talked to her mother about the issues they were facing. After Thanksgiving, she and Logan agreed she should hold off until after Christmas to help with the comfort of the family. They worried Rory trying to force Lorelai to face whatever her issues were would make the rest of the family suffer for it. So, they went through a tense Christmas season complete with Christmas party and no present from Lorelai, even though Logan and Rory made sure to give both her and Luke something.

After the New Year, Rory attempted several times to call Lorelai and even tried to visit her in Stars Hollow at work and at home. But, she would always find a way to be busy and dodge Rory. The most awkward one had been when Rory had parked by Luke's, stopping to see him before walking through town to find her Mom at home, where Luke assured her Lorelai was. Unfortunately, when she was almost to the house, Lorelai came careening around the corner and passed Rory without a sideways glance. Rory never did figure out how Lorelai figured out she was coming to see her.

Because of this, it was the beginning of February and Luke worked with her and Logan to get a day where Lorelai wouldn't be able to escape. He even brought the entire town on it by talking to Taylor and staging an elaborate ruse to make the entire town unavailable to Lorelai. Luke and Lorelai were having lunch at The Dragonfly and Logan and Rory would be meeting them, a fact Lorelai was unaware of.

In preparation for the conversation, Rory scoured the internet for articles about Logan's successes with HPG and even went so far as to contact PR at the company to get their internal press releases about the same thing. She had Odette write a letter to Lorelai, which neither Logan or Rory had read. It was private and only Odette and hopefully Lorelai would know its contents. Their hope was that with the proof of Logan's growing up and successes would at least soften Lorelai towards their marriage.

Upon arriving at The Dragonfly, Logan and Rory sat outside for a few minutes, gathering themselves for the coming conversation. "I still can't believe how dead the town was!" Rory said as she checked the printouts she had.

"I know. I'm so used to it being a bustling town. It was so odd to see most of the stores closed. And, did you see Kirk at the end of the driveway with the backhoe? I can't believe Taylor agreed to block the driveway. What about the short cut to Luke's? How are they stopping her from trying to go that way?"

"From what Taylor told me, he's got the path cordoned off with signs stating massive flooding in the area. I'm not sure she'll believe it. But, I guess we'll see."

"What's to stop her from getting one of the horses and going cross country?"

Rory laughed. "You obviously don't know Lorelai Gilmore. She likes to look at the horses, but she does not ride them. But, in the event she decides to get brave, the tack room has been locked. And the stable manager made sure he has the only key to it. Mom won't try to ride without making sure the horse is properly saddled."

Logan nodded. "Well, you ready?" he asked, looking at her.

"As I'll ever be."

They got out of the car. Upon standing, Rory smoothed her dress and cupped her tiny baby bump. Even though she was about 5 months along, her bump still hadn't popped so you couldn't tell she was pregnant unless you looked at her from the side or she wore something that hugged her bump. Gathering their things, they made their way up the steps and into the lobby of the inn. Michel was managing the desk.

Upon seeing them, he broke into a rare smile. "How are you? Oh! Look at you!"

He came from behind the desk and grasped Rory's hands. It was still a little weird to get used to this version of Michel. It seems having a child of his own helped to mellow him some.