A Father's Love

Chapter 15

During the five weeks, Luke would have liked to have Shelby there, considering he found out Max proposed to Lorelai. So that meant he couldn't tell her how he really felt like Rachel told him to. So not only was Luke missing his little girl, so much; he had to swallow all hope of telling Lorelai. As long as she was happy, Luke was okay with it. That's what mattered, most. Luke liked it better when others were happy, even if that meant he wasn't.

Luke tried to be chipper when Lorelai, Rory, and Max stopped in for breakfast one morning. It ended when he handed the guy the lunch menu, stating they stopped serving breakfast in an hour. It also didn't help when construction in front of the diner began and Luke almost got into it with Taylor again. That was also when Lorelai had asked if he was coming and if Shelby would be home in time to make it. Luke changed the subject, letting her know he had phone calls to make before heading back inside. Even with all the calls he made, the traffic light still went up at the unveiling which Luke got into it with Taylor, yet again, and lost, though he'd rather not admit to it. It also included a rant about marriage while Lorelai and Sookie were discussing Lorelai's bachelorette party.

Overall, the five weeks were hard on the guy, moping around and keeping to himself, most of the time, counting down the days until his daughter came home. To take his mind off things during the free time he had, Luke carved out a huppa for Lorelai's wedding and personally delivered it to her.

"Did you make that?"

"Yeah, I had some time since Shelby's still in Ireland with Rachel." He asked for a hand, getting it out of his truck.

Lorelai hurried down the steps and stepped in to help, stating it was beautiful.

"Yeah, well, I saw a picture in a book." Luke finished carefully dragging it off the ramp he used to get the huppa down, moving around it. "Picture looked better."

Lorelai stared at it in amazement. "It's got carvings. Birds and flowers."

Luke pointed out the goat.

She gasped. "A goat?"

"I don't know what it stands for, but it was in the picture, and you like goats, right?"

"Yeah, goats are good."

"Okay," he shrugged a hand in the air, "so, there you go."

"What on earth inspired you to do this?" Lorelai asked.

"You're getting married. You can't just stand in the hot sun, in the middle of a lawn, that hasn't been mowed in weeks." Luke looked around at her lawn, noticing how tall the grass was. "Guess he doesn't mow."

"No, Max isn't a mower."

"Okay, you needed something, here it is." He offered to mow her lawn, but Lorelai assured him, Little Pete usually mowed their lawn. The two of them moved over to sit on the steps.

"Hey, aren't huppas, Jewish?" she asked.

"Maybe."

"Is it...is it okay that Max and I aren't Jewish?"

Luke shrugged. "It's okay by me."

"No, I mean, to stand under it," Lorelai corrected him. "God won't smite us or anything?"

"I highly doubt it," he assured her. "Plus, God would probably have to get a licence from Taylor, to do any smiting in Stars Hollow, on a weekend, so I'd say, you're safe." Luke went silent for a brief moment before he said, "you know, I wasn't putting down Max. He seems like a really good guy."

"He is, and you were putting him down."

"Yeah, well, I didn't mean to."

"Did you mean all those things you said about marriage?" she asked.