A/N: Hello there, it's almost fall and we're back in the Hollow! This is the continuation of A Year in the Hollow, which (Spoilers, Sweeties!) ended with Luke and Lorelai blissfully happy together in a new relationship and Luke taking Rory along on a ring-shopping expedition. This first chapter picks up immediately after the last chapter of Year ended. You may notice some familiar phrases from the show tucked in here and there because I want everyone to realize these are the same people, just existing a little before we first met them on Gilmore Girls. Hope you enjoy!

A Wedding in the Hollow

Chapter 1

Some Sparkles, a Sunset, and a Lot of Smooching

"Squawk like a chicken."

Rory's head jerked up and she turned startled eyes Luke's way. "What did you say?"

He shrugged, keeping his attention mostly on the road ahead. "You've been staring at that ring ever since we left Hartford. I thought maybe you'd managed to hypnotize yourself, and if so, I might as well have some fun with it."

Rory grinned and squawked obediently.

"Uh-oh. Your mom is going to be so mad at me."

"Not once she sees this ring," Rory disputed. Her gaze returned to the open blue velvet box on her lap and the object of fascination held within it. "Was this really the one you liked the best?"

"Yep."

Rory lifted the box to bring it closer to her face and examined the precious stones in more detail. "The little blue ones on either side are sapphires, right?"

"That's right."

"They make me think of Mom's eyes. Is that why you liked this one the best? Because you thought so too?"

"Uh…Well, yeah, I guess I did." Luke felt a little uncomfortable admitting it to Rory, as if even that mere insight into how his mind worked regarding Lorelai's physical attributes somehow crossed a line of intimacy. But it was true. As soon as he saw the ring ornamented with the sapphires, he knew it should be on Lorelai's hand.

Rory glanced from the ring to his face, studying his eyes. "That saleslady in the other store said that we had the same eyes. Do you think we do?"

"No," Luke said firmly. "You definitely have your mom's eyes. But if somebody hadn't seen you with her, then I guess ours could be close enough."

Rory attempted a maneuver on the seat, putting her hand on Luke's shoulder and pulling up her legs, trying to rise up to get a better view of his eyes.

"Hey, sit down!" he ordered sharply.

She plopped back down, unperturbed at his rebuke. "Yeah, your eyes are a little bit lighter. Mom and I have a darker blue, more like the sapphires."

He nodded. "I think that's true."

Rory went back to staring at the ring. "You know, Prince Charles gave Princess Diana a big sapphire ring when they got engaged."

"Oh, yeah. I think I remember seeing pictures at the time."

"It's huge." Rory made a big oval with her fingers. "It's got a whole bunch of little diamonds all around it."

Luke gave a grunt of acknowledgement, not caring too much about the British monarchy or their jewels.

"But now they kind of hate each other, so it's probably a good thing you're only giving Mom a ring with little sapphires in it."

"Uh…yeah." He tapped against the steering wheel nervously, contemplating that. "There's not some sort of stupid superstition about sapphires, is there?"

"I don't think so." Rory turned to look at him, her forehead wrinkling as she sorted through facts stored in her brain. "I could go look it up, though."

"Nah, it's fine," Luke said decisively. "I mean, unless you wanted to," he added a minute later, wavering after all.

"Anyway, I don't think their problems have anything to do with the sapphire," Rory explained earnestly. "From what I read in People magazine, I think Charles is in love with that Camilla woman."

"Well, that's not the case here." Luke grasped the steering wheel and stared down the highway. "Nobody here is in love with anybody else."

"Exactly," Rory agreed. "So it should be fine."

Rory returned to the ring's hypnotic power and Luke concentrated on driving, trying to ignore any small misgivings creeping into his consciousness, all involving reasons why Lorelai would say 'no' instead of 'yes.'

"When are you going to ask her?" Rory wanted to know, interrupting his worry session.

"Tomorrow."

Rory gasped. "Wow! That's fast!"

He gnawed his lower lip for a few seconds before he replied. "I think it's best if neither of us to have to keep the secret too long."

"I can keep a secret!" Rory's voice rose sharply, insulted by his accusation.

"I know you can," Luke soothed her. "But maybe I can't. And besides, tomorrow…" He faded off. "I really want it to be tomorrow."

"Are you going to get down on your knee? You know that's how you're supposed to do it, right?" she informed him, turning bossy.

"Rory…" Luke shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "When I ask your mom…it'll be just her and me. You know that, right? I mean, all three of us can celebrate later, but –"

"Of course I know that, Luke!" she scolded him. "It's not like I'm some stupid little kid!"

"Yeah, right, I know, but just the way you were talking…I didn't want you to be disappointed."

Rory's loud sigh was full of annoyance. "I know you two will want to be alone so you can kiss and stuff."

He drove silently for a mile or two, hoping fervently that she didn't know too much about the 'and stuff.'

"Hey, do you think my dad had a ring when he asked Mom to marry him?"

"What?" Now it was Luke's turn to be startled. "When was this?"

"Back…you know. Back when Mom found out she was going to have me."

Last fall's conversation from inside the corn maze drifted back to him, and he remembered Lorelai saying that Christopher was willing to get married because that's what the parents wanted. "I doubt that a 16-year-old guy was able to buy an engagement ring," he began to point out, but stopped abruptly upon realizing that a 16-year-old in Lorelai's parents' world probably had access to a great many things.

Rory looked down at the box in her lap, considering that. "Well, if he did, and Mom still turned him down, then I think she was really strong. You know how much she likes sparkly things."

Luke chuckled, feeling more relaxed. "Yeah," he agreed.

Rory looked out the window, pensively regarding the scenery rushing by. "Grandma still yells at her about it though," she said quietly, a few miles later.

"About what?"

"Not marrying Dad."

Tension crept back into his neck. "What do you mean, she yells at her?"

"I mean, it's one of the things they fight about whenever we're together. Grandma's always telling Mom she was a fool not to snatch Dad up when he wanted to marry her."

Luke breathed in deeply and let it out slowly, trying to figure out how to respond. Finally, curiosity won. "And what does your mom say?"

"She says that even if she would have caved and gotten married, they would have been divorced by the time they were 18." Rory turned towards him, shrugging. "And then Grandma says, 'But at least you'd have been married, Lorelai.'" She did a pretty good imitation of her grandmother.

Luke smiled half-heartedly, now able to visualize the sparring between Lorelai and the formidable Emily Gilmore. "How do you feel about that?" he gently asked Rory.

She looked confused. "About them fighting? I hate it."

"No, I mean about the not getting married part." He hesitated for just a second. "Do you wish they had?"

Rory looked down at her lap and suddenly snapped the jewel box shut. "When I was little, I guess I did, sometimes." She sighed. "It would have made it easier. It would have made us more…I don't know…normal."

Luke nodded in understanding, remembering what it felt like to be the only kid without a mom.

"But then, we probably would've never moved here, and that means Lane wouldn't be my best friend, and I wouldn't have lived at the Inn with Mia, and we wouldn't have our house, and we wouldn't know you." Rory shot him the sweetest smile imaginable. "And I'd hate that. So I'm glad Mom had the guts to turn him down, even if he did have a big sparkly ring and got down on one knee."

He smiled back at her. "Yeah. Me too."

They lapsed into silence, but as they grew closer to Stars Hollow, Luke noticed that Rory was staring blankly out the window, her thumb anxiously swirling over the blue velvet.

"Still got something on your mind?"

She wet her lips, trying to look unconcerned. "I guess I was just wondering…Does it bother you, when people sometimes think you're my dad?"

"Does it bother me?" He quickly glanced at her, surprised at the question.

"Yeah," she said, extra-quietly.

"No, it certainly doesn't bother me," he stated firmly. Rory stayed silent and he considered her question further. "I guess if anything, it makes me feel guilty."

"Guilty? Why would you feel guilty?"

"Because it makes me feel like I'm taking credit for something I didn't do." He reached over and grabbed her knee, giving it an affectionate shake. "You're a great kid, Rory. Anybody would be proud to be your dad. Me included."

She smiled shyly back at him. "And now, you sort of will be, right?"

He straightened back up behind the wheel. "Again, if your mom says yes."

"She's going to say yes," Rory said with complete confidence. "She really loves you, Luke. So it's a done deal."

After her pronouncement Rory flipped the jewelry box open and studied the ring again. "Would it be OK if I tried it on? For just a minute?"

Luke paused for a fraction of a second before he nodded assent. He guessed there was no harm in letting her admire it on her finger. He started to say 'but be careful' but shut his mouth instead. There was no need to ever tell Rory to be careful. Careful should have been her middle name.

"I'll be careful," she assured him at just that moment, reverently lifting the ring out of the box.

Luke broke out laughing and she looked at him, baffled.

"You're the best kid ever, Rory," he explained, still chuckling. Out of the corner of his eye he watched her shake her head as if he was the crazy one, before she cautiously slipped the ring over her finger. She sighed happily and he did too. He applied a little more force to the gas pedal, because suddenly he wanted to be back in Stars Hollow as soon as possible.

"I've changed my mind," Lorelai announced dramatically after dinner the next evening. "I don't want you to go to Lane's."

"Mom," Rory groaned, glancing at Luke a little worriedly.

Lorelai pouted prettily. "After all, it's my day. Look on the calendar. Any calendar. Mother's Day, it says. That means the whole day belongs to me, all 24 hours of it. You have to do my bidding. It's practically the law. Thus I forbid you to leave my side before midnight."

"Like it's a Cinderella thing? I have to be your servant until midnight?" Rory tried to joke, but her eyes still flicked nervously over to Luke, begging him to give her some help.

"I think you've already had a pretty good Mother's Day," Luke pointed out, answering Rory's silent plea. "Rory made you breakfast –"

"And gave you a great gift!" Rory cut in.

Luke nodded in agreement. "I made you lunch, watched Casablanca with you –"

"Again!" Rory inserted.

"Then I brought you here to the diner and fed you every disgusting thing you wanted for dinner –"

"Dinner was perfect, by the way." Lorelai smiled and smacked her lips, rubbing her tummy. "Exactly enough cheese on my burger."

"Yes, you finally wore me down on that elusive third slice," he sighed. "So I say you've already had a great day."

"It has been great," Lorelai conceded. "But maybe we should shoot for stupendous!" She reached across the table and grabbed Rory's hand. "What do you say, Kid? Stay here and I bet we can convince Luke to make us brownies!" She leaned forward, pretending to whisper. "I know for a fact he can't resist your puppy dog eyes. Go for it – now!"

Rory rolled her eyes instead. "You've already had pie. And besides, Lane's waiting for me to come over. We have to work on our project, it's due on Wednesday."

"Oh, all right." Lorelai leaned back in her chair, feigning disappointment. "I just don't know what right the school has to assign you work that interferes with my day."

"You should lodge a complaint with the school board," Luke said blandly. He put a hand on her arm. "Why don't we walk her over to Lane's? That way you can spend another, oh, say a minute and a half with her."

Lorelai beamed at him because he was playing along and jumped up out of her chair. "Brilliant idea, Hon!"

Ninety seconds later they were standing at the door of Kim's Antiques.

"Happy Mother's Day!" Lorelai greeted Mrs. Kim brightly.

Mrs. Kim looked at Lorelai suspiciously. "Mothers should be treated with respect on every day, not just on this day."

"Well, uh, yes, that's true." Lorelai's happy glow dimmed somewhat under Mrs. Kim's sternness. "But still, today is – you know, special. More special than the usual days of respectfulness….Anyway, here's Rory!" She pushed Rory in front of her.

"You have brought your work?"

Rory nodded, patting the backpack slung over her arm.

Mrs. Kim stepped aside. "Lane is upstairs."

"Bye Sweetie!" Lorelai said as Rory stepped inside. "We'll be back at 8 to pick her up," she informed the sentry at the door.

For some reason Mrs. Kim glared at Luke. "See that you do."

"Absolutely," Luke responded, standing up even straighter under her scrutiny. Mrs. Kim nodded curtly, closed the door, and Luke took Lorelai's hand and hustled them away from the antique shop as fast as possible.

"I don't know why I let her intimidate me," he muttered.

"Because she's scary, that's why," Lorelai replied, shuddering slightly.

"But yet Lane's such a –"

"A doll. A little sweetheart."

"Yeah." Luke took a cleansing breath, now that they were outside of Mrs. Kim's radius. "Hey, since it's such a nice night, why don't we take a walk? Maybe walk down to the lake?"

Lorelai wrinkled her nose doubtfully. "You want to?"

He nudged her shoulder with his and pointed at the sky. "Pretty spectacular sunset."

"Well look at you, being all romantic and stuff," she said with a grin. "And maybe a walk would be beneficial. Help to work off that third slice of cheese." She bumped her hip into his.

"You said that, not me." Luke threw his arm over her shoulder, giving her a quick hug as they turned towards the park, and then ambled down the path by the lake.

Having his arm around her helped him to lead her where he wanted to go, which was to one particular grove of trees, some yards distant from the well-worn path.

Lorelai began to chuckle. "Oh-ho, very smooth, Danes. I do believe I recognize that tree." She shook off his arm and walked over to it, first petting it fondly and then turning around, so that she could lean her back against the bark. "Here we are at the site of our first make-out session. Come here, Babe." She held out her arms to him, waggling her fingers in invitation.

Luke closed the few feet between them quickly and eagerly met her lips. The kiss ended up being a quick one though, as his nerves wouldn't let him linger.

Lorelai looked at him quizzically, lightly scratching her fingernails against his scalp. "What's wrong? You don't want to smooch?"

"No. Well, yes – but not right now. I thought maybe we could talk a little bit first." He cringed, hearing the tension in his voice.

Now Lorelai looked really worried. "You? You want to talk? What about?"

"Just…stuff." He took her hand and nudged her over to a fallen log, urging her to have a seat. He sat down beside her and then froze, not able to recall one word of the careful speech he'd rehearsed. Desperately he took a look around. "Man. Uh, look at that sunset, huh?"

"Luke, I don't want to talk about the freakin' sunset! I want to know what's wrong."

"There's nothing wrong." He grabbed her hand again, lacing their fingers together, using her presence to calm him down. "I just wanted to talk about how today…Well, you know, today's Mother's Day."

"Yes, I'm aware," she said brusquely, frowning.

"Right, sure. Of course you know that." Luke made himself take a breath, trying to regroup. "And you know too, I lost my mom when I was pretty young."

He felt her relax, slightly. She squeezed his hand in sympathy. "Yeah, Hon, I know. I can't imagine how rough that was for you."

He nodded, but hurried on. "So for a long time, I mostly ignored Mother's Day. It meant nothing to me, and truthfully, I didn't want it to mean anything. Just another day, you know?"

"Sure," she commiserated, rubbing his shoulder.

"But then last year, on Mother's Day, Rory came into the diner, to get you a cup of coffee."

Lorelai's face broke into a smile. "Oh yeah, that's right! I remember that. I got out of the bathtub and found a tepid cup of coffee waiting for me." She giggled a little bit. "I drank it anyway, of course."

"Of course."

She snuggled against him slightly. "The pie was awesome, though."

He wrapped his arm around her. "That day, talking to Rory, it changed a lot of things for me. For the first time in years, I thought about my mom. I mean, really thought about her. I remembered the way she taught me to mix up cake batter, and how I spent time in the kitchen with her every day. It was like I could almost see her again, the way she always had her hair up in a ponytail, and wore these short, skinny pants all the time."

"Capris?" Lorelai theorized, always interested in the fashion component.

"Maybe. I don't know. Anyway, it was nice to remember, and I was grateful that Rory came into the diner and unlocked my memory."

"Aww, Luke. Sweet." She turned to him, face upturned, wanting a kiss.

He had more to say, first. "And that also made me see you in a different way."

That made her frown again. "What do you mean, different?"

"The more I talked to Rory that day, the more I realized how great of a kid she was. Funny, and polite, and obviously very smart. And it dawned on me that since you were the one who'd raised her to be that way, maybe I was wrong about you."

"Wrong about me how?" Lorelai demanded icily.

"Wrong in thinking you were nothing but a pretty, coffee-addicted woman with a mouth that couldn't stay shut."

"Wow, OK." She pulled away from him, obviously hurt. "So you didn't like me. Got it."

He shook his head. "It's not that I didn't like you – I didn't know you. Not really. But talking to Rory changed all that. It made me think that you must be pretty great too, to have a kid like her. It made me think that maybe I should listen to you the next time you came into the diner, instead of trying to duck the steady stream of words coming out of your mouth."

Lorelai took in a sharp breath, still upset.

Luke growled and reached for her hand, grasping it over her protests. "Look, this isn't coming out the way I wanted it to at all. What I'm trying to say here is that I love you, and one of the many reasons I love you is because you're a great mom. Rory is amazing and you are the reason why she's so amazing. And I want you to know that's how I feel, OK?"

"O-kay," Lorelai said, now sounding more confused than hurt.

"And…" He wanted to growl again, frustrated at how his words weren't living up to their promise, but stopped himself before he could. "So today, Mother's Day, it's become a big thing to me now, because it's the day my life changed. Rory came into the diner and my life completely changed. Here it's a year later, and I've got you, and her, and I'm…I'm happy, Lorelai. I'm happier than I ever thought I could be."

She looked at him then, the worry and hurt completely leaving her face. Tenderly she put her other hand against his cheek. "I'm glad. I'm happy too. And I'm glad you don't think I'm a mouthy, coffee-addicted woman anymore."

"Oh, I still think that." He chuckled, leaning his forehead over against hers. "But I love your mouth, even when it's coffee-flavored, so it's all right." He gently kissed her lips.

"And pretty? Do you still think I'm pretty?" she demanded coquettishly.

"I think you're gorgeous." He kissed her again, not as softly.

"Mmm. So we can start the smooching now?" Lorelai asked, her eyes closed.

"What? Um, no, not yet." Luke drew back away from her, away from the temptation her lips offered. "Still have some talking to do."

Lorelai looked annoyed. "Seriously?"

"I want to do this today, because it's the anniversary of the day you and Rory came into my life."

"Do what?"

One more deep breath, and then Luke, holding tight to Lorelai's hand, slipped off the fallen tree, and placed one knee on the grass in front of her.

"God – Luke, what are you doing?!"

"Rory tells me this is the proper way to do this." He looked straight into her stunned face. "I love you, Lorelai. Will you marry me?"

"Oh, my – Luke! Geez!" Lorelai jumped up and frantically tried to haul him to his feet. "Get up, get up! Stop this!"

"Why?" He scrambled to his feet, his heart pounding.

"Because – because it's too soon!" She was wringing her hands together and turning from one way to the other, not knowing what else to do. "Don't you think it's too soon?"

"Obviously not, since I'm the one who just asked you to marry me," he pointed out curtly.

"Luke, be reasonable! We just started sleeping together – What? – like three weeks ago?"

"And that's the only thing that defines a relationship? Sex?" he asked scathingly.

"No, of course not. But in our case, that was our turning point. That's when we became a couple."

"Then what were we this whole past year?"

"I don't know! Friends?"

Luke snorted his contempt at that.

"Whatever we were, we weren't together. Come on, Luke, you have to admit that!"

"Lorelai, we were more together this past year than –" He broke off, shaking his head. "Do you think I didn't love you until the first night we slept together?"

That stopped her anxious pacing. Slowly she turned to look at him. "No," she said quietly.

"Damn right."

"But –"

"No buts. I loved you for months, Lorelai. Maybe even back when I thought you were just an annoying, coffee-addicted woman with a gorgeous mouth, I already loved you. I just didn't know how to handle the way I felt about you. I didn't know how to admit it."

Exhausted, Lorelai plopped back down on the log. "I love you too, but this is just too soon."

"Why?" he doggedly demanded, hands on hips in front of her. "After this last year we probably know each other better than 99% of any other couples getting married. Why is it too soon?"

Tiredly she closed her eyes. "It just is."

He sat down beside her. "Is it me? You still have doubts about me?"

"Luke, no. Of course not."

"Then what? Is it you? You think that maybe there's somebody else out there you should be with, somebody like –"

"Luke, stop!" she snapped, putting her hand over his mouth. "I love you. You know I love you. I will love you tomorrow, next week, the rest of my life. No, I don't have any doubts about us."

He stayed quiet after she removed her hand, studying her. "Then let me ask you this," he began, a minute or so later. "How do you see us in the future?"

"What do you mean?"

"Five years from now. Are we together?"

She looked perplexed. "Of course."

"Married?"

"Um, yeah, I guess. Sure." She shrugged, trying to appear unruffled.

"Kids?"

An almost shy smile tugged at her mouth. "Kids would be good, yeah."

"Because I have to tell you, I thought we were on the same page here. From what we said before, I thought that we both knew we'd get married. I thought we wanted to start a family."

"Well, eventually, sure."

He shook his head. "Not in some far-off, make-believe future. Soon."

"Luke –"

"No. No more months of being in limbo. I feel like we wasted so much of this past year, and I don't want to waste another one. We finally figured it all out, and I think this part of our life together should start as soon as possible."

Lorelai laughed, but sounded exasperated. "What's gotten into you? Where's my cautious guy? I'm the poster child for leaping right in without considering the consequences, not you!"

"There are no consequences. Besides, you're the one who sang that damn cowboy song to me!"

She put up her hands. "Cowboy song?"

"Eagles. Desperado. Telling me I'd better let somebody love me before it's too late. Well, I don't want it to be too late. I want it happening soon."

She was now looking more amused than freaked out, and he sensed she was close to capitulating. He suddenly thought of one more piece of ammunition he carried. He reached for his wallet.

"Oh, this is interesting. You're going to bribe me now?"

He handed her the small piece of newsprint.

She looked at it and then looked at him, her eyes dancing. "I remember this!" she chortled. "I can't believe you saved this!"

"You told me to."

"I did?"

"Yes. You told me to put it in my wallet. You said it would bring me luck."

"Well. I will say anything for a cup of coffee, won't I?" Lorelai mused softly, obviously touched by the ragged horoscope she held in her hand. "And you did it? You put it in your wallet?"

"Not right away," Luke admitted. "But I put it behind the counter, someplace where I could find it again."

She nodded absently, lightly running a finger over the lines she'd written around the tattered edge.

"Do you want to know when I did put it in my wallet?"

She nodded, eagerly this time.

"Father's Day. I spent the day with Rory, and I talked to you first on the phone, and then again at the Inn. I knew…When I got back to the diner that night, I knew everything had changed. When we talked at the Inn, I felt…Well, some sort of connection between us. Something that I knew wasn't going away."

"Yeah." Lorelai smiled pensively. "Me too. I felt it too."

"So as soon as I got back to the diner, I found the horoscope and put it in my wallet, just like you told me to. I hoped it really would bring me luck." He put his hand under her chin and raised her face for a kiss. "And it did."

"That's nice," she sighed, handing the horoscope to him for further safekeeping in his wallet. "You really should have led with that story."

He chuckled as he put it back away. "Yeah, I guess so."

"When you reached for your pocket, I thought maybe you had a ring in there," she teased him, never considering that was the truth.

He pushed two fingers into the watch pocket of his jeans and fished out the ring, thoroughly enjoying the shock on her face when he held it in front of her.

"Oh, Luke, you didn't? You bought a ring? I can't believe you actually…" Her protests faded away. "That is…God, really a stunning ring."

"You like it?"

"It's…beautiful. Just…so beautiful."

"Good. Rory thinks so."

Her mood changed in an instant. "Rory? Rory knows about this?"

"Rory helped me pick out the ring."

She sprang off of the log and started pacing again. "Luke, honestly, I don't know how I feel about that. Am I mad? Maybe. Maybe I'm mad. I don't like you talking to her about something so major before you talk to me. You can't just make these decisions on your own. We need to approach her together, or let me talk to her first. You can't –"

"Hey!" He jumped up too, and grabbed her by her shoulders, stopping her panicky movements. "This wasn't something I could do without checking with Rory first. I needed to make sure she was OK with it. I wasn't going to ask you to marry me unless I knew it met with her approval. I don't want to do anything that's going to upset her life, Lorelai."

She sucked in a big breath of air and then fumbled for her seat back on the fallen log. "I'm just so confused!" she wailed, burying her head in her hands.

"What's confusing you?" Luke asked patiently, sitting down beside her yet again.

She raised her head, turning to look at him. "This! You!" She lightly smacked his chest. "This is what I've wanted forever, to find a guy who would love my kid and care about her as much as he loves and cares about me."

"You've got him," Luke said quietly, holding back to see what she'd say next.

"I know, and I love you for that. And I know she loves you and you love her, and I'm incredibly thankful that's the way it's worked out. But I never considered that bringing you into her life would mean that I'd have to let go of her some, that I wouldn't be the only one making decisions for her – I hadn't really thought about that. About how it would work in reality."

"I don't – I don't expect you to let go of her," he protested, a little horrified.

"No, Luke, it's not a bad thing. At least, I don't think so." She looked off into the distance, talking slowly, as if she was working through the problem and explaining it to both of them as she figured it out. "It's just something I hadn't contemplated – you going to her about something before you talked to me – and it sort of threw me. We'll need to discuss it more, I think, to make some guidelines, so we know in the future how we'll handle things with her. But of course you'll be in charge of her when I'm not around, and that will probably include making decisions on your own sometime. Of course that's the way it will be." She nodded decisively.

Luke shook his head doubtfully. "And you're sure you're OK with that?"

"Yes."

"You're sure? Because I don't want to –"

"Luke, yes, I'm sure. You're in our lives forever, and yes, you have the right to talk to her about anything. I trust you completely with her." She nodded firmly again, as if she was reassuring herself.

"And you understand why I told her about this? You see why I needed to get her blessing before I asked you to get married?"

"Yeah, it makes sense, especially in this circumstance. I do understand. You are my cautious guy, Luke." She smiled at him, loving approval shining in her eyes. "I know how much you want to protect Rory. I understand why you cleared it with her first."

"OK. Good." He leaned back a little, trying to find a way to relax on the unyielding bark.

"I guess Rory was in favor of it?"

"Yep. 100% positive."

"Good to know." Lorelai leaned back a little bit too, and quiet settled between them for a few moments.

"Luke?"

"What?"

"Could I…Could I maybe see the ring again?"

He straightened up, fighting a grin. He'd slipped the ring over his pinkie finger to keep it safe during their spirited discussion and now he held it in front of her face.

She looked at it longingly. "It's so pretty." Cautiously she touched the diamond, watched it sparkle as the setting sun hit it. "Could I try it on, just to see?"

"Nope."

She turned swiftly to look at him, irritated. "No? Why not?"

"Not unless you say yes."

She huffed out a breath and then pouted. "I know if I said I needed time to think about it, you'd give me time to think about it."

"Of course I would. I want you to be sure."

"Exactly. So what if I just, you know, wear the ring while I make up my mind? Just to get used to it?"

"No way. Not until you say yes."

Her pout became more pronounced, and he pushed aside the intense desire to kiss it right off her face.

"You're mean."

"Yep," he agreed.

She looked off to the side for a few moments, contemplating. "So…maybe you should ask me again," she suggested begrudgingly.

He didn't bother with the knee business this time. Instead he cradled her face in his hands, looking straight into her beautiful sapphire eyes. "Lorelai, I love you. I want to marry you, and live with you, and take care of you and Rory. I want us to be a real family, not only with Rory, but with more kids, too. I want that with my whole heart, so please, will you marry me?"

She was smiling but also blinking back tears. "Yes," she whispered.

He pulled her against him in a crushing hug, relieved and exhilarated. "Are you just saying that to get the ring?" he asked her gruffly.

"No. I'm saying that to get you," she explained, with a quaver in her voice.

He held her even tighter. "I love you."

She sniffed. "I know. I love you too."

He sighed and released her. "Then let's make this official." He held her left hand and carefully pushed the band over her ring finger to its resting spot, supposedly where a direct line ran to her heart.

"Oh," she breathed out. She leaned against him, holding out her hand and twisting it back and forth, so that they could both enjoy the pretty thing on her finger. "Look at it sparkle! Luke, it's perfect! I love it."

"You're perfect," he murmured, kissing the top of her head.

Reluctantly she tore her gaze from the ring and turned to him. "So is it finally time for a little smooching now?"

"I think it's time for a lot of smooching now."

"Ooh, see, that's another reason why I love you. You have really good ideas." She leaned in, stopping just shy of his mouth. "But check the time. We don't want to miss our curfew with Mrs. Kim."

"No, we do not. We definitely don't want scary Korean ladies out looking for us."

Lorelai giggled. "That would probably be a bad omen."

"Probably, yes." Luke didn't want to think about Mrs. Kim any more. He wanted to kiss the woman who was going to be his wife.

After a few minutes he pulled away, unsatisfied. "Are you looking at your ring while we're kissing?" he asked incredulously.

"No, of course not. Not me." Lorelai shook her head vigorously. "Well, maybe. Just a little. I mean, it's so beautiful, I really can't help it." She flourished it in front of his face. "See?"

Luke blew out a breath, exasperated, and pulled her into his lap. "Then I guess I'm just going to have to keep you so occupied that you'll forget about the ring."

"I'm not sure you can…Oh! Mmm…OK, that's…Ooooh, Babe…Yeah," she sighed.

Sadly, they were late to pick up Rory after all.