Lorelai shook her head. She was now related to the guy and probably would see him on occasions for the rest of her life. Logan came over and helped Lorelai out of her chair. "That was very gallant of you, Logan, to try to smooth things out between mother and son."As they walked onto the dance floor right near where Luke and Rory danced, the male singer started singing Sly & the Family Stone's "Family Affair." There were quite a few couples on the dance floor. On the other side of the large, white vinyl square, Miss Patty was supposedly dancing with Taylor, but she had her eyes closed and was swaying to music as if she were not a guest at a wedding in 2008, but rather at a dance rehearsal in 1968.

Logan remarked, "I wasn't so much trying to save Jess' ass as trying to bring some harmony to the table. I was taught always to be the diplomat. Trust me, in my family, I know about tense moments, and it's always best to walk away or find a way to ease the tension."

They started to dance to the music. "I know all about family tension myself, except my inclination's to bring the uncomfortable matter to the surface. If there's a subtly grey elephant in the room, I'd go in there and paint it fire-engine red! On the other hand, the rest of my family likes to ignore any tension and not dwell on unpleasant matters. They try to throw a chenille blanket over the elephant."

"Maybe that's why our parents got along so well for all those years, my parents like to cause the tension and your parents ignore it."

Lorelai nodded her head. "Yes, that could be how they remained friends, until the whole fiasco when your mother flat out said that Rory wasn't good enough for you, and your father crushed my daughter's spirit telling her she didn't have what it took to be a journalist!"

"Yeah, well, your parents certainly put my parents in their place."

"That they did," Lorelai responded.

"It would've been interesting being a fly on the wall to witness either of those conversations."

"Absolutely! I would've loved to have access to a Chinese potion that helps one be invisible and witness conversations or events that would've otherwise been unattainable," Lorelai replied.

Logan laughed. "What movie's that from? It does sound familiar."

"That's from Woody Allen's 'Alice.'"

"That's right… 'Alice'… My parents are idiots. They don't know Rory well enough to know of the spectacular individual she is now and the kind of woman she'll become. I know she'll do great things."

"That she will… So what exactly are your intentions with Rory?"

"Completely honorable. You should know that since I did ask you for her hand in marriage."

Lorelai squinted her eyes and shook her head. "Let's get serious for a minute."

Logan sighed. "Okay. We're friends. We speak regularly about every ten days or two weeks, something like that."

"How'd that happen?"

"She didn't tell you that we started speaking again?"

"No, she didn't."

"I thought she tells you everything."

"I think she's mentioned to me once that she spoke to you some time around Thanksgiving."

"That's when we started speaking again."

"Why?"

"Why what? Why did we start speaking again? Do you not want me speaking to your daughter?"

"Logan."

"Why – I don't know. I think I was the one who called her first. I just missed her and regretted how we left things. She seemed glad that I called. She said she was afraid that I would hate her forever."

"What do you want to have happen now?"

Logan shrugged. "I do still love Rory. There's not much I can do about that. I know she's not ready to settle down and move to one location just because I happen to be there."

"No, she's not," Lorelai confirmed.

"And I'm not in a position to be able to follow her either. I'm just starting to get my bearings on my own too. When she and I broke up after she said 'no' to my marriage proposal, I reacted badly. It had to be all or nothing. Somehow, I had it in my mind how everything should unfold, and I never shared that vision with Rory until I sprung the proposal and my view of our future on her. I was furious that she screwed up my vision."

"Maybe there could have been some kind of happy medium that could've been met."

"Are you saying that you think Rory and I belong together?"

Lorelai shook her head. "I'm not saying that at all. I just know that you and Rory seemed happy together for the most part. You both had growing up to do and a lot to learn, but you seemed to grow together and separately while still remaining together. It seemed that here she was this woman you wanted to marry, then, all of sudden, when she didn't have quite the same vision you had, you walked away."

"That's how we react in my family when things don't go our way - we storm out of the room or the yard, in this case."

"Thank you for being honest with me."

Logan smiled. "It wasn't right that I just made all these plans for us without discussing them with her. I totally didn't take into consideration what she wanted and needed. Just a few weeks before I put this whole plan together, I told to her to plan whatever she wanted and I would work my future plans around her. Well, that's exactly what I didn't do."

"I know all about doing what you shouldn't do," Lorelai responded. "We all make tons and tons of mistakes in our lifetime. I'm told that's how we gain wisdom."

Logan smiled as the song ended and they stopped dancing. They went back to the table and joined everyone in their second course of Shrimp and Lobster Cocktail.

Luke told everyone the story of the Valentine's Day when Logan made lobster for him, Lorelai and Rory, and it was the first time he had ever had lobster. It was one of the most amazing foods he had ever had. Logan made it perfectly.

"The first food I knew how to cook was lobster," Logan added. "Most the men in my family wouldn't know how to boil an egg, but they knew how to grill lobsters just right on the barbie," Logan finished in his best 'Crocodile Dundee' accent.

"Luke promised me back then we would have lobster at our wedding," Lorelai chimed in, "so we had to make sure it got on the menu today. It was more of a challenge than you think. We had to accomplish this without the budget getting out of hand and having everyone cracking open their own lobster while in their nice clothes."

"And of course, getting fresh lobster in the middle of winter could also be a challenge," Luke added.

"That's nonsense!" Emily exclaimed. "This is New England! You can get lobster any time of year!"

"That's true," April commented. "Mom and I would go to Cape Cod for Christmas when I was little and we always had great lobster there."

"You would go to the Cape in December?" Rory asked. "Isn't that a bit out of season?"

"Exactly! That's why my mother loved it. My uncle's in-laws live in Sandwich, which is at the very beginning of the Cape. And we would have Christmas Eve and Christmas with them out there. For a few days after that, my mom would close her store, and we would spend a few days touring through the rest of the main island, and even take a ferry out to Nantucket, which was my favorite. The year round population of the entire Nantucket Island is about 10,000, and in the summer months, it goes up to 50,000. The main island of the Cape has a year round population of 230,000 from the fifteen towns that make up the Cape."

"What's it like spending Christmas on the Cape?" Rory asked.

"It's wonderful and quaint. Very New England in an Italian-American kind of way, if you ask me. My uncle's in-laws own a big fish and seafood emporium out there, and being off the boat Italians, their Christmas Eves are very traditional with an all-out fish and seafood feast. Lobster Fra Diablo is my favorite."

"Do you think you could get us an invitation to that Christmas Eve dinner?" Lorelai asked. "I love Italian feasts!"

April smiled. "I can see what I can do about that. Lately, though, mom and I haven't gone so regularly out there for Christmas, especially now that we live across the country! I'd love to do it this year, though, if possible."

"A few years back at the Independence Inn when Sookie had just come back from a three-week Italian cooking course, she cooked all these amazing authentic Italian dishes," Lorelai shared. "There's an entire week in the summer that's dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which is the Saint's day dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and many places have Italian feasts all week. The Independence Inn joined that tradition with Sookie making these elaborate Italian meals!" Lorelai turned to Luke and suggested, "Hey, maybe you and I can just go to Italy for a three-week eating course!"

"Sure, sounds perfectly reasonable. Maybe we can plan something after our two week honeymoon in Hawaii," Luke remarked.

"Spring's an idyllic time to go to Italy," Emily replied.

"I think Luke was kidding, Mom," Lorelai added.

"I understand, Lorelai. But it's still a wonderful time to go to Italy. Yet, it's also very expensive to go to Italy any time between April and September."

"We wouldn't be expecting to go first clas*s Mom," Lorelai answered.

"I just loved Italy in the summer when Rory and I went a few years back."

Rory smiled. "It was really a fantastic trip, Grandma."

"I've only been to Italy in the summer," Logan shared. "The sea in Sardinia is the bluest blue I've ever seen. And off of Capri, you've got the Blue Grotto. I particularly love the Italian Riviera. It's less condensed than the French Riviera and just a little more exclusive. Of course, Hotel du Cap in Antibes is as blissful and serene as any place on the Italian coast."

"Hotel du Cap's a very special place," Richard added. "The last few times Emily and I've been there, we've seen celebrities. We sat right next to Robert De Niro in the dining room a couple of times and saw him out by the pool. Emily had to contain herself to not ask for an autograph."

"Richard! I did no such thing! I wasn't the one ogling over the beautiful African-American model he was with."

"That would've been Naomi Campbell, Mom," Lorelai chimed in.

"She was stunning, I have to admit," Richard added.

"Well, if one believes what one reads in the magazines," Lorelai replied. "Naomi may be beautiful but she appears to be a bit of a crazy biatch."

"Lorelai!" Emily exclaimed.

"I was actually being tactful, Mom. The rags make her out to be quite a high-strung psycho. By the way, she and De Niro are no longer together."

One set of servers were discreetly taking away guests' second course plates and another set of servers were asking the guests if they wanted the beef entrée, or the fish or vegetarian options. The choice was a Garlic Crusted Tenderloin of Beef with Wild Mushroom Port Wine Demi-Glace, Horseradish Mashed Potatoes, Mixed Sauté of Winter Vegetables with Fresh Herb Garni or for the non-meat eaters, there was Asian Roasted Sea Bass with the same accompaniments as the beef, or Vegetable Pasta Pinwheels drizzled with Smoked Mozzarella Sauce joined by Assorted Baby Greens tossed with Herb Vinaigrette.

"I just love the food here," Emily commented as her Beef Tenderloin was placed in front of her.

Luke noted around the table and at other tables that most people did choose the beef entrée, just as Lorelai predicted. There were the one or two people per table who went with either the fish or the pasta choice. This surprised Luke very much. He had suggested that they give people a choice on the reply card whether they wanted a beef, fish or vegetarian entrée. He himself preferred the sea bass. Originally, Lorelai had said that she wanted one entrée – the Beef Tenderloin, and for anyone who was a true vegetarian or does not eat beef, there would be the pasta choice. She did not want to have the choice given to people on the reply card. Let them be surprised by what is offered. However, Emily and Luke separately tried to convince her to offer a fish option. Emily kept repeating to her how she knew very well that her father could not eat red meat anymore. Fish was the ideal option for Richard; and Luke himself would most often choose a fish option on any menu. While Lorelai did relent and allow a fish option, she still insisted that there not be a choice given on the reply cards. She was certain that most people would still choose the beef and only a handful of people would choose one of the alternative options. It looked like she was right, once again.

While the guests ate their food, the music was subdued and stuck to old standards such as "Somewhere over the Rainbow," "The Circle Game," "Carolina on My Mind," and "How Sweet It Is."

A little while later came, "Falling in Love in a Coffee Shop." This was Luke and Lorelai's cue to dance again. After a minute or two of just the bride and groom dancing, others joined them, including Rory and Jess.

I think that possibly, maybe I'm fallin' for you
Yes, there's a chance that I've fallen quite hard over you
I've seen the paths that your eyes wander down
I wanna come to
I think that possibly, maybe I'm fallin' for you

No one understands me quite like you do
Through all of the shadowy corners of me

I never knew just what it was
About this old coffee shop I love so much
All of the while I never knew
I never knew just what it was
About this old coffee shop I love so much
All of the while I never knew

"So what's the deal with Jess and Rory?" Luke asked.

"From what I gathered from Rory last night, she's confused. She cares about Jess and their relationship hasn't remained completely platonic, but she still loves Logan. She's not sure she wants to be with Logan, or Jess, for that matter. She doesn't seem to want to make a decision about either of them right now."

Luke nodded his head. "That daughter of yours, and now my step-daughter, has a good head on her shoulders. She's smart and will make the right decision for her, I've no doubt."

"Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"See, I told you we would be able to get both songs in tonight," Lorelai said.

"I had no doubt you'd find a way," Luke answered as he held her and danced to the music. He wondered how many couples fall in love over time spent in a coffee shop.

"Are you glad I did?" Lorelai asked.

Luke smiled. "Absolutely."

Lorelai beamed. "You know, there's a lot of work that goes into a reception to make it work for everyone – the bride and groom, the families, and then the guests. But as I always tell the brides and grooms that I plan weddings for, the night's really about them. That's great if the guests enjoy themselves too. But it has to be your night. So for me, this night, this whole reception is what would work for us."

"This night is about us," Luke replied. "We're here dancing to this song that should have been made specifically for you and me, in this room that has been transformed to look like the town where we feel at home and where we fell in love."

"Of course, it was important to me that my father be allowed to have a meal he can enjoy, but the only reason I relented to serving fish was because it was what you wanted. I knew you would want fish, and this day was more than what I wanted and thought was appropriate. It would be what would make you happiest. And it was something I could easily compromise on once I stopped tripping over my own stubborn ideas."

"You stubborn? Nah. I thought your Miss Flexibility."

"Ha ha. And it's Mrs. Flexibility to you."

"Well, I thank you for going against your natural selection, and let me have my fish entrée."

"You're welcome. You give me so much of yourself. Whenever it's possible, you go out of your way to make me happy in the biggest or littlest way. I just want you to know that I want to do the same thing in our life together. Whatever little thing I can do to make your life a little better, I want to do it."

Luke closed his eyes and held Lorelai tighter. "You standing next to me for the rest of my life, that's already making my life happier than I ever thought possible. There's no way I'd be anywhere near this happy without you in my life. I love doing anything I can to make you happy because seeing you laugh or smile brightens my world. It's second nature for me to please you, because it only makes my life more meaningful."

If I didn't know you, I'd rather not know
If I couldn't have you, I'd rather be alone

Lorelai moved slightly away from Luke so that she could look at him. She smiled at him and kissed him.

I never knew just what it was
About this old coffee shop I love so much
All of the while I never knew
I never knew just what it was
About this old coffee shop I love so much
All of the while I never knew

All of the while

All of the while

IT WAS YOU.

© E.S.A. 2008