Gilmore Girls: More in the Life

Chapter 64

The next day was Valentine's Day. It was a day that many couples celebrated love, whether with small tokens or grand gestures. Today was the day that Jess would become a married man.

Excitement shot through Jess' veins. At the start of fall last year, he never would have thought that by the time spring rolled around, he would have a wife. And not just any wife, but one whom he loved and could not imagine living another day without.

Natalie came into his life at the perfect time. Had she entered even as recent as the start of the previous year, Jess may not have been in a place to accept a blind date or be receptive to the possibility of a relationship with someone other than Rory.

Rory. She was engaged to Logan, whom Luke claims has changed, and was pregnant. Her life had all but fallen apart so he was happy to see things looking up for someone he felt so protective over. But was she making another mistake by falling back into Logan's arms? That is what he feared. Jess was thankful that he was able to talk to Natalie about those very concerns. She didn't read into the comments or try to create issues where there weren't any. She took the relationship at face value and understood that the feelings Jess felt toward Rory were platonic, nothing more.

Jess marveled again at how lucky he was to find someone who didn't feel threatened by a past relationship.

One thing was certain: Jess was not going to screw up what he had with Natalie.

*****

Luke and Lorelai were ready to head to New York for Jess and Natalie's wedding, waiting for Logan and Rory to arrive. Logan had offered to drive everyone once he learned Luke absolutely hated everything about the city.

Standing at the living room window, Lorelai glanced at Luke. She tried to contain the smile that began stretching over her lips. Since becoming pregnant, Luke was fiercely protective of everything Lorelai did. He made sure that she did very little around the house. He even offered to drive her to the inn almost every morning.

Luke's behavior made Lorelai recall how Jackson acted with Sookie when she was pregnant with Davy. Jackson drove exceptionally slowly as to not jiggle the baby and went on a rampage of sorts when trying to eliminate all of Sookie's knives. Obviously, as a chef, that did not bode well with Sookie.

Hearing gravel crunching, Lorelai looked up to see Logan pulling to a stop in front of the house. Luke reached for her arm, gently guiding her toward the door. They made their way outside and to the waiting vehicle. Luke opened her door and saw that she was properly restrained before moving to climb in himself.

The ride was pleasant enough. Rory helped Lorelai keep conversation flowing, each working to keep Logan and Luke interested. The closer to New York City they got, the more anxious Lorelai got to find a restroom. Funny, she remembered clearly how much Rory liked to tap dance on her bladder while in the womb.

Ha! Maybe that's why she was drawn to tap dancing as a way to relieve stress! Lorelai laughed out loud at her thought. When questioned by Rory why she was laughing, she shared her insight. The other occupants of the SUV joined in with chuckles of their own.

Arriving at the courthouse, Lorelai saw Jess and Natalie standing on the sidewalk with a small group of people. Once the four of them met up with the group, everyone was introduced to Natalie's parents and her sister and brother.

Jess looked dapper in a crisp black suit with a red tie. Natalie had chosen an ankle length white satin dress with a relatively full skirt. She had a red sash tied around her waist and carried a simple bouquet of red roses with a bright white ribbon knotted around the stems. Even though her choices could be described as plain, Natalie looked beautiful. Everything seemed fitting, given the location of the wedding.

The happy couple and their families moved into the courthouse, each person having to be checked by security. Once they made it to the designated office, the wait was short and everyone was ushered into one of the judge's chambers.

The wedding itself took no more than fifteen minutes but it was something that Lorelai enjoyed. There was no stress, no hassle to it. The whole point of a wedding was to unite two people in holy matrimony and this format accomplished that goal, same as an elaborate, fancy wedding. Plus, it was great to see Jess committing to someone. He and Natalie hadn't been together very long but there was no denying the connection the two had. Something inside Lorelai told her this union would last.

Lorelai again spied Luke, noting the broad smile on his face. It was apparent that he was proud of his nephew and the man he was turning into. Lorelai knew that Luke felt a strong sense of duty to Jess but she also knew that he had a huge impact on the choices Jess began making as an adult. Opening a printing press with a couple other guys had been able to pave the way to steady employment though entrepreneurship and reliable income, things Jess came to view as important by watching Luke.

On second thought, a lot of things Jess had taken to heart had been inspired by Luke.

Lorelai saw Jess glance at Luke and smile, mouthing a simple "thank you" that spoke myriads to the level their relationship had evolved to.