Chapter Twenty-Five

"Lorelai, are the tables all arranged correctly?"

Across the dining room of The Dragonfly, Lorelai paused her task of straightening candles. "Yes, Mom. They're all arranged correctly. Exactly like you diagrammed for me a month ago. And the tapers are all exactly six inches apart on the tables, and the flower arrangements are in the walk-in so they don't wilt while we finish setting up."

"And Sookie has the last-minute menu change? I cannot believe Dorothy Schrick waited until the last minute to inform us of this stupid made-up wheat allergy," Emily grumbled.

Lorelai smiled. "Everything is ready, Mom."

Emily stood in the middle of the dining room and regarded everything under her exacting gaze. She sighed, "I suppose. You've worked so hard on this. I just don't want anything to go wrong."

"It won't!" Lorelai assured her. She came to stand by her mother and noticed that she shifted her weight in a nervous fashion. Lorelai said in a low tone, "Your posture is perfect and no one is going to ever guess that you couldn't walk six weeks ago."

"Oh I just hate this! Your father keeps telling me how wonderfully I'm doing, but every time he does, it's just a reminder that I'm not where I should be!" she complained.

"What can't you do yet? I know the doctor said nothing too strenuous for another six months after surgery, but it's not like you're playing basketball or swimming in the Olympics. So what of your usual activities can't you do?"

Emily's face fell. "That's just it. I don't think there's anything I can't do, I just keep worrying that anything I do is going to ruin all my progress." She straightened up again. "And I hate everyone else treating me like I'm fragile, checking on me all the time."

Lorelai held her hands up defensively. "Okay, sorry!"

"I do appreciate the concern," Emily added with a small smile. "But I would like it better if you'd just stop."

"Fine. No special treatment for you. Go jog up and down the stairs in your heels," Lorelai teased.

Emily just rolled her eyes and walked away into the kitchen to check in with Sookie.

An hour later, the guests were all arriving for the luncheon. Michel greeted everyone very politely; he was ecstatic to be interacting with all the wealthy women he so admired. Sookie was in the kitchen, sending out flawless, perfectly-timed courses. Lorelai stayed in the background, watching from the doorway to the library. Emily seemed to float around the room, smiling graciously and engaging in the most elegant small talk imaginable. In spite of herself, Lorelai was proud of the work they'd done together. And seeing Emily so happy and in control made her smile. Lorelai had been a part of that. She'd contributed and made her mother happy. And she hadn't hated doing it.

It was miraculous, the changes that had occurred in the past two months. Lorelai had, with the help of Luke and Rory and Richard, let go of all the hurt and resentment of her childhood. And in doing that, she saw Emily with new eyes. Her mother was a woman of tremendous strength and grace and intelligence, who could do anything she set her mind to. And Emily, to her eternal credit, had loosened her hold over Lorelai; she no longer sought to make Lorelai into what she was supposed to be. Because Lorelai was exactly who she was supposed to be, where she was supposed to be, and doing exactly what she was supposed to be doing. Emily saw that and was learning to accept and respect it more than ever before. And somehow, they'd grown to actually enjoy each other's company. Planning this luncheon, teaching the debutantes, covering the rest of Emily's obligations as she recovered—it all gave them a common goal to work at together. The only other time this had happened before, as far as Lorelai remembered, was when Richard was recovering from his heart surgery and Lorelai had showed her mother how to work Quicken on the computer. But that had been one slightly-drunk evening. All this planning had been over weeks. And neither of them had needed to escape the other. It was all working out so splendidly.

"Ladies, I want to thank you all for coming all this way to historic Stars Hollow. The food and ambiance of The Dragonfly Inn is unsurpassed. Before we get started, I wanted to thank the staff at The Dragonfly, especially my daughter, Lorelai, for all the tireless work they've put into this event." Emily applauded towards where Lorelai was standing and the whole group joined in. Emily continued, "And now, I want to invite the new inductees to stand." Four women around Lorelai's age stood in front of Emily as she made her speech about the honor of the DAR, the history and charity of the organization, and congratulating them on their induction.

A few hours later, when the last DAR lady had thanked Emily and left the inn, Lorelai found her mother in the lobby. "Seems like it was a success!"

Emily smiled proudly. "It really was. Everything was absolutely perfect. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for everything you've done."

"It way my pleasure, Mom," she replied sincerely.

Emily lowered her voice. "Did you see Mitzy Lightfoot? I thought she was going to explode from jealousy."

Lorelai laughed. "Her face got so red when she saw the room! And she was practically shaking while you were talking. I think she thought you were on death's door or something. I actually heard one of the other ladies ask her what she had meant when you weren't doing well. I don't think Mitzy Lightfoot is going to be a threat to your reign anytime soon."

"I quite agree," Emily said with a proud grin. She sighed happily. "I'm so glad that's all over. I don't want to plan another one of these for quite some time. But I must say I do love your inn, Lorelai. You've done such an incredible job here."

"Thanks, Mom. You're welcome here any time. I know Michel loves it when you're around. Sookie has the best time feeding you the most incredible food she can imagine for you. And…I kinda like you here, too," Lorelai admitted.

Emily pressed her lips together to keep from grinning. She was touched by Lorelai's words, but this wasn't the time to get more emotional.

"Oh, and Mom? We can talk about this later and stuff but I was wondering what a person does to get into the DAR."

Emily's eyes snapped into focus. "Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"I've been doing a lot of work with those ladies and most of them are very nice and now I know about all the great stuff the organization does and I was thinking that if it isn't too much trouble that I could maybe join. I mean, not that you won't be able to do everything yourself ever again, but in case you need help, I can sorta help in a more official capacity or whatever," Lorelai rambled.

"I can have the paperwork ready for you next week. You're my daughter, so you're eligible to join. Actually, you have patriot ancestors on both sides. The paperwork is just a formality. We did the same with Rory when she was staying in the pool house," Emily said, trying to come off casual so as to not scare Lorelai off from the idea.

"So you wouldn't mind? Not that I'd ever be the most active member. I don't want to do stuff all the time. But I could join?"

"If you want to join, I'd be very happy to have you. But I suppose I'm a little surprised, as you've never shown any interest before."

Lorelai shrugged. "Things are different now."

Emily smiled softly. "Yes, I suppose they are." She blinked and cleared her throat. "Well, I have to go now. The dance is only a few hours away, and I have to get dressed and have Paulo do my hair."

"Luke and I will see you guys there," Lorelai replied with a nod.

Later that night, Richard was wandering around the house, calling for his wife. "Emily! Emily, where are you?" he shouted.

She appeared at the door of his study, of all places. "Richard, stop shouting!" she scolded. "What could you possibly need that requires you to shout at me like that?"

He stood in front of her and huffed, "This tie is extremely uncooperative."

Emily rolled her eyes. "You could have waited two minutes for me to come back upstairs. Come here." She reached up and tied the black silk bowtie with the deft skill of so many years of practice. "There. All done. But now I need to go back up anyway. I haven't decided what necklace to wear yet."

"Ah, perhaps this might help in your choice." Richard reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a blue velvet box. He held it open for her, showing off the choker necklace, dripping in a cascade of diamonds.

"Oh, Richard, it's beautiful!" she gushed.

He grinned. "Turn around so I can put it on for you," he instructed.

"What's the occasion?" she asked as he clasped it around her neck.

"The occasion is that I love my wife very much and it's been a rather difficult few months for us, and I am very proud of you." He kissed her cheek. "And later, I'm going to kiss you properly. But I know better than to mess up your makeup right before we go out."

She chuckled. "I appreciate that. And if I had time to redo my makeup, I would let you mess it up right now. But it's time for us to go. I want to check over the girls before the ceremony."

"I don't know what the debutantes of Hartford would do without you. But if those young ladies can gain even an ounce of your incredible elegance, they will be very lucky indeed."

Emily positively beamed. She had thousands of dollars of diamonds around her neck and her loving husband on her arm. Even if she was worried about Lorelai's instruction of the girls, this was sure to be a lovely evening.

Luke entered the ballroom with a slight look of terror on his face. He fidgeted nervously in his tuxedo. "Aw jeez," he mumbled.

Lorelai elbowed him subtly. "Hey, I did not make you go to this. You offered. I'm just here to see all those sweet, terrifying girls do all those dances I taught them and to support my mom. There was no reason for you to be here."

"But wouldn't it have looked weird if you came unescorted to something like this?"

She wiggled the fingers on her left hand. "Hey buddy, I got the fancy ring. And my parents like me now. I am good to go."

"Speaking of which, where are your parents? I kinda bonded with your dad and he's the only other person I know here."

"Yeah, let's find him. You two can drink and gab all you want. Save each other from the other annoying people at this stupid thing," Lorelai agreed.

Richard, towering over everyone, saw Luke and Lorelai enter. He smiled, seeing his daughter in a lovely pink dress and his future son-in-law in a rather sharp tuxedo. Luke was probably hating every moment of this. He excused himself from the inane conversation with the Sudburys to greet them.

"Hi, Dad!" Lorelai said brightly. She gave the now-customary hug to her father when he came over.

"Hello, Lorelai. You're looking very pretty. And you, Luke, are looking rather smart."

"At least I look smart. I definitely don't feel it," Luke replied.

Richard laughed. "Why don't you and I find the bar? Lorelai, your mother is in the dressing room with the girls. I'm sure you can join her. The ceremony will be in about twenty minutes, so you'd better hurry. After that, they'll serve dinner and open the dancefloor. Which, of course, is why we're all here."

Lorelai navigated the room of people wearing clothing costing more than her monthly profits and found her mother giving the girls a little speech.

"Remember to stand up straight, with your chin parallel to the floor. If you feel nervous, just smile. That hides almost anything. You all look beautiful, and your families are all very proud of you," Emily told them all very kindly.

"And have fun," Lorelai added. "You guys all worked really hard, and we're really proud, too."

Emily turned and smiled at her daughter. "Precisely," she agreed with a nod. She let Lorelai converse with the girls for a bit, happy that they all got along so well. And as far as Emily could tell, Lorelai hadn't ruined them at all. None of them were listening to heavy metal music or wearing sneakers under their ballgowns. It was actually a little amazing how nicely this had turned out. Another lovely thing Lorelai had done, and done very well.

The stage managers announced the five-minute warning, forcing Lorelai and Emily to wish the girls a last 'good luck' and going out to join Luke and Richard. The four of them all sat together at a table to watch the debutante ceremony. Emily commented on how poised each of them was, how happy they all looked. Lorelai noticed that even sour-faced Tiffany seemed pleased. And whiney Caroline oozed self-confidence. Lorelai liked to think she had some hand in that.

Dinner was just as elegant as everything else. A little fancy for Luke's taste, but it was fine all the same. Richard whispered jokes to him all through the meal, helping him feel more at-ease. By the end of dessert, he was actually having a good time. It also didn't hurt that Emily was genuinely kind to him, and Lorelai was enjoying herself at a fancy function, rather than mocking it.

The band struck up an old Sinatra song that Luke couldn't quite place, and all the debutantes and their escorts took to the floor. They all danced the most perfect foxtrot anyone had ever seen. Lorelai beamed with pride. Soon, other couples began to dance as well.

Luke turned to his fiancée. "You wanna dance?"

She was taken aback. "You want to dance?"

"With you, yeah. I've been practicing." He glanced at Emily with a small smile, which she returned.

Lorelai took his hand and walked to the dancefloor. They began to dance with more ability than Lorelai had ever experienced with Luke before. "Wow, you have been practicing!"

"Your mom gave me some tips," he confessed. "After the proposal thing we worked on together, she wanted to know if there was anything else she could help me with. And since you like to dance and I'm not really that good at it, I thought I'd ask for a couple lessons."

"That's so great!" She laughed happily as he twirled her around the floor.

From the table, Emily looked on with pride. "They really do look good together. I never noticed with those horrible flannel shirts he wears or that stupid baseball cap. But they really do look nice."

"And she's so happy," Richard noted.

"Yes, she is," Emily agreed. She turned her attention to her husband, frowning now. "Richard, aren't you going to ask me to dance?"

He looked confused. "I didn't want you to do anything too strenuous. In case something happens. We're in public, after all."

"I appreciate the concern, Richard, but I am fine. I've been teaching Luke to dance for the last two weeks. I'm perfectly capable of a waltz," she insisted.

"Well, alright then." He stood up and held out his hand to her. "Emily, would you do me the honor of this dance?"

And so the Gilmores danced. They danced as skillfully as they had been dancing for over forty years. They danced as though they were the only two people in the room. They danced like two people deeply in love.

Luke and Lorelai watched Richard and Emily from the other side of the floor. "I want us to be like that in forty years," Lorelai mused.

"We will be," Luke promised. He chuckled a little to himself. "You know, before your mom's surgery and everything, I never really noticed how much they love each other. Like really love each other."

"Yeah. It's kind of amazing. I've always noticed it in the little things. They're not always very demonstrative, even to each other." She looked at Luke. "But love is in the little things. Sometimes it's an ice rink or a huppah, and sometimes it's an extra cup of coffee."

"Or buying a perfectly fitted tuxedo or waking up at four in the morning to help unload deliveries," he agreed.

The band finished their song and started on a slower tune. Richard pulled Emily a little closer, swaying with her in perfect rhythm. "I've missed this," he murmured. "I can't tell you how glad I am that you're all healed.

"I'm all better. Everything is better," Emily replied, resting her cheek on his shoulder as the music swelled around them.

The End