chapter nineteen! the business school graduation
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"I'll get it, Beatrice,"
Emily called out,
rising from her seat at the dinning table and moving across the large house.
"Wow," Rory smiled as Emily guided her into the dining room, taking in the lavishly set table that her twin stood beside.
"It's an English tea service. One advantage of having an English maid. That, and the fact that she speaks English," Emily smiled, glancing over the immaculately set tea table.
"You didn't have to do this," Rory mumbled, dropping her bag onto the floor beside her chair.
"But it's tea time and I wanted to..." Emily trailed off, spotting a mistake on the neatly set table, "Oh no! Beatrice, I told you to doily line the plates!"
"You don't have to doily line the plates," Rory pleaded.
"It's doily city here now," Thea grumbled, ever since her grandmother had hired this maid it seemed as if everything had been doily lined, "She doily lined with my lunch."
"Hello?" Richard called from another room, his voice echoing through the room.
"We're in the dining room," Thea called out, brushing her loose hair out of her eyes.
"Oh, oh, Rory, you're already here," Richard smiled, as he stepped into the dining room.
"You're out of breath," Rory noted, pulling Richard into a hug.
"I ran over from the office," Richard explained, unwrapping his arms from around Rory and pulling Thea into a hug.
"Oh, you didn't have to run,"
"Well, your grandmother said you had something to discuss with us. That certainly justifies a run," Richard smiled, stepping closer to the table.
"All right, everybody, sit, sit," Emily commanded, gently waving her hands, "Pour the tea, Beatrice."
"Um, actually, Beatrice, could you hold off on pouring the tea for just a minute? Thank you very much," Rory requested, Beatrice, nodded at the girl's request,
"Grandma, Grandpa, Thea, I would like to propose an idea to you. Now, you can go for it or not, it's entirely up to you, but I would like for you to promise me that you will not get upset."
"We won't get upset," Emily promised, shaking her head as Thea helped herself to a scone and jam.
"And that you will try to keep an open mind," Rory continued her request.
"All right," Emily nodded.
"And that will you let me finish my presentation completely before you respond,"
"She's been hanging around you far too much," Emily mumbled to Richard, a proud smile crossing his features.
"Rory, we accept your terms. Please proceed," Thea spoke, brushing the crumbs from her mouth, much to Emily's disgust.
"Thank you," Rory smiled.
"First, let me start by saying that Mom doesn't know that I'm here. She'd probably be pretty mad if she knew that I was, but I feel that this is important. As you know, Mom's been going to business school at the community college out here for three years now."
"I believe she's mentioned it," Emily nodded.
"Well, she's doing very well and she's finishing up. Actually, she's graduating Thursday, and there's going to be a ceremony and I think it would mean a lot to her if you guys were there," Rory explained, her blue eyes falling onto Thea,
"It may not seem like it would, but it's true."
"Well, if it would mean so much to her then why didn't she invite us herself?" Emily asked in complete and utter disbelief that Lorelai had failed to mention her graduation.
"Because she didn't think you'd wanna go. And I get that, but I think it's a mistake," Rory, pulling an envelope from her backpack, "Those are the tickets. It's Thursday, at 7 pm. It's indoors so the weather's not an issue. You can use them or not, no hard feelings, do what you feel is best. And if you don't mind, I would really appreciate it if you would keep this conversation between the four of us."
"Beatrice, the tea, please,"
• • • • • • •
"Are you telling me that that is the best commencement speaker they could scrounge up?" Richard whispered to Emily and Thea, crossing his arms across his chest.
"I hope Raul's getting enough shots of Lorelai," Emily panicked, "I don't want the whole damn ceremony and none of her."
"Oh, no, I disagree. I hope he gets every inspired word articulated by the East Coast Marketing Director of Pup 'n' Taco," Richard joked, glaring at the speaker in front of them.
"Raul!" Emily snapped, clicking her fingers and pointing over at the stage.
"John Lawrence Gilfer, Lorelai Victoria Gilmore, Gretchen Greeman," the speaker listed.
Emily reached down and grabbed ahold of Thea's hand. The small family proudly watched as Lorelai moved across the small stage and accepted her diploma, an emotional smile crossing her face as she watched Emily wipe away a tear.
• • • • • • •
"Hey, Mom, Dad, Thea,"
Lorelai greeted, walking up to the family once the ceremony had come to a close, "Well, I did it."
"Raul thinks he got some good footage," Emily nervously spoke up.
"I should hope so. He certainly cost enough," Richard grumbled, looking down at his daughter.
"I'm sure it'll be great," Thea promised, knowing how much this meant to her mother.
"Congratulations, Lorelai," Emily smiled once more.
"Thank you. I'm glad you guys came,"
"Yes, well, we should get going," Emily brushed off, moving to leave the small auditorium, "I guess we'll see you tomorrow for dinner."
"Hey, wait. Aren't we going to take a picture?" Lorelai called after the family.
"Excuse me?"
"The three of us, me in the middle with the gown, you know - the traditional pose," Lorelai elaborated, remembering the pictures Sookie had shown her of her own graduation.
"We don't have a camera," Thea explained, nervously fiddling with the soft material of her navy dress.
"Hold on," Lorelai mumbled, pulling a disposable camera from her pocket.
"That's a camera?" Emily asked, gesturing towards the plastic camera in her daughter's hands.
"It's a disposable camera, Grandma," Thea added, watching as Lorelai scanned for someone to take their picture.
"That looks like a toy,"
"Um, Raul, would you mind?" Lorelai requested, handing the small camera over to the sound guy.
Lorelai moved into the middle of her parents, pulling her daughter into her side. Bright smiles painted across the faces of the Gilmore clan, as they waited for Raul to snap the picture.
"Thank you,"
Emily and Richard exchanged a brief goodbye before moving across the auditorium, assuming that Thea would catch up with them. Thea froze in front of her mother for a moment, before gathering up the courage to speak up.
"I'm proud of you Mom,"