Gilmore Girls: Wish Upon a Snow

Chapter 29

Rory felt her heart beating in her throat. She closed her eyes in an attempt to heighten her hearing.

Logan sighed again, clearing his throat. "Odette," he said again, "Why are you here?"

"I just wanted to talk," she said. Her voice was not what Rory had been expecting. Her accent was certainly cultured, but it was not the rich and luxurious French accent she had been expecting, having grown up around Michel.

"Go ahead," Logan said lightly. Rory did not appreciate the ease in his voice while he was talking to Odette.

"I know that you want to be with Rory... But us breaking up has not pleased my family at all. You knew what the arrangement was. We both had time to find other partners, but we didn't."

"I understand that, Odette. But we are not in the Dark Ages, either. We don't have to go through with an all-but-arranged marriage for fear of being beheaded," Logan said gently.

"I simply revel in your Marie Antoinette jokes, my love. We can still get married, you know."

Logan was quiet for a moment before speaking. "Odette, me having a love child while we are married is not exactly great for our public image as a couple."

"She lives in America, Logan. No one is going to care. She will have a lovely life over there and you will support her. I have no issue with that at all, it is your duty," Odette urged.

Rory was very uncomfortable in the position she was in. In the process of adjusting herself, she clipped the door handle with the edge of her hand. She winced at the noise.

"Is she here?" Odette asked suddenly. Before Rory could do anything, the door was pulled open in front of her and she nearly fell forward. Blinking in the light, she came face to face with Odette.

Odette was slightly shorter than Rory, with dark blond hair. She had braided the front of her hair into a long ponytail. Her makeup was simple and tasteful and she was wearing a navy blue striped boatneck shirt, pale blue jeans and red flats. She was so put together and real that Rory felt the weight of guilt of how she had been conducting herself over the past year settle onto her chest. Rory's face colored with shame as she folded her arms across her chest and looked down at the ground.

"Rory," she said gently.

Rory looked up and directly into her eyes but said nothing in return.

"Logan told me that you were pregnant," Odette said.

Rory gave a non-committal nod.

"It is okay, you do not have to be afraid of me. I was well aware that Logan was carrying on with you in London, though I respect his trying to be respectful by not discussing it," she added, glancing at Logan. Logan crossed his arms and leaned against his desk. "I was also seeing someone in Paris, though I stopped seeing him when I moved to London. I do not know how much Logan had discussed with you about our situation. We knew that we were not in an exclusive relationship. We had planned to be committed only to one another when we got married," she continued.

"But you were engaged," Rory blurted out. She felt her face blush even more. She had left her sweater in the coat closet, so she wrapped her arms tighter around herself to try to disguise the fact that she was only wearing a camisole.

Odette smiled. "Well, the same could be said about you, I suppose. You were well aware he was involved," she said with a hint of snark in her voice.

"I am sorry," Rory said. Her voice betrayed the wave of anger that had gripped her while Odette was admonishing her.

"Listen, I do not find this situation as strange as you do. We are two people who were planning to get married, but we were not dating. We have love for one another and we get along well, so we would have been able to live together and have a life without having to worry about the intentions of the other. But we were not planning on beginning that life until we were in the same city. I am sure you think that this is odd...but our families have similar expectations for how they are wanting our lives to go, if you will. It is not very often that you can find a partner that both families find to be suitable that you can actually tolerate."

Rory narrowed her eyes, watching Odette intently. Odette smoothed her ponytail.

"Now, I was not pleased to learn that Logan carried on with you after I moved here, as that was not our agreement," she looked over at Logan as she said this, a look of displeasure evident on her face. Logan simply nodded. "But...I myself did not find it very easy to simply cut off my feelings for Rene, either. So, I cannot be overly angry about that particular fact. However, I am very upset about the pregnancy." She crossed her arms and stared back at Rory, her lips pursed and eyes narrowed.

"I am sorry that you feel that way," Rory said dryly.

Odette smiled. "So what can we do about this?"