"You go on in - I need to stop at the restroom. I'll meet you at the bar," Rory told Tristan as they walked into Maggiano's to meet her dad. She walked off toward the restrooms and Tristan walked into the bar area to wait for Rory and her dad, who he'd never met.
He arrived in the bar and looked around, spotting a business associate. "Christopher, it's good to see you, man. How are you?"
"Tristan, wow. I didn't expect to see you in Boston. What brought you to my area?" Christopher asked, shaking Tristan's hand in greeting.
"My family spends every Fourth of July here in Boston. How's business?" Tristan asked.
"It's good. I think we're all set on the merger and should be able to finalize everything in the next couple of weeks, barring any unexpected issues."
"Excellent. I'll be in touch this week to hammer out the final details," Tristan replied as Rory walked into the bar.
He smiled at her brightly, proud to be able to call her his fianceé, but his expression quickly changed as he watched her walk into Christopher's arms. Rory watched in amusement as she saw Tristan's eyes darken and couldn't help but laugh to herself. Apparently he was more jealous than he realized.
"You look amazing, sweetheart," Christopher said, wrapping Rory in a warm hug. "I've never seen you look so...confident, and happy."
"I am really happy," Rory said, kissing her dad on the cheek.
"Well, it looks fantastic on you. So, where's this young man you wanted me to meet?" Christopher asked.
Rory smiled and turned toward Tristan. "Dad, I'd like you to meet my fiancé, Tristan Dugrey. Tris, this is my dad, Christopher Hayden."
Tristan's jaw dropped as he took in this new information. "Christopher Hayden is your dad?" he asked in surprise.
"Yeah. Why do you look so unhappy?" Rory asked. The last thing she wanted was more conflict between Tristan and her parents.
"I'm not unhappy at all - this just complicates things. You don't use his last name, so I had no idea," Tristan replied, signaling the hostess to let her know that they were ready for their table.
They were all seated quickly, and Rory turned her attention toward the two men who were still sitting there shocked.
"Can you guys tell me what's going on? And why does it matter who my dad is?" Rory asked, desperately wanting answers.
Chris finally smiled and patted Tristan on the shoulder. "Well, I guess I should say welcome to the family, right? This is a bit mind boggling - I had literally just been telling my mom that I would love to set you up with Rory, but I guess that's not necessary. Tell me, how did you two meet?" Christopher asked, beaming at his daughter and future son-in-law.
"No way - first I get the answer to my question. What exactly just got more complicated?" Rory demanded firmly.
"You remember me telling you how we've been working on merging with another firm?" Tristan asked, and Rory nodded. "It's your family's firm."
"Oh," Rory said quietly. "Oh! Oh wow. That's..."
"Crazy? Complicated? Uncanny?" Tristan offered. "Look, Christopher, if Rory and I getting married is going to present a problem with the merger, I'll exclude myself from the business side of things. I don't want to cause any problems."
"No, absolutely not. In fact, this should actually make things go a bit more smoothly. My mom will be thrilled that the firm will be staying in the family," Christopher told Tristan. He then turned to Rory. "You don't know this yet, but part of the negotiations for this merger include you sitting on the board for the new firm."
"I'm sorry, what?" Rory asked in shock.
"It was one of my mom's conditions. You and Tristan will actually have a majority stake in the company, between the two of you. We'll need to address this carefully with Colin and Neil. I would suggest you don't say anything to them until we can all sit down together, Tristan," Christopher said.
"I think that might be best," Tristan agreed.
"Alright, now that we've got that out of the way, I have to know how this happened," Christopher said, pointing at Tristan and Rory.
"Tristan and I went to Chilton together, and we started spending time together when we ran into each other again at the reunion in May. He's the one I was telling you about. You mentioned that you'd never seen me so confident or happy - it's all thanks to Tris. He's helped me find myself," Rory said, leaning over into Tristan. He planted a kiss on her temple and wrapped his arm around her.
"Wow, it sounds like things have moved really quickly," Christopher said, processing the information he'd been told.
"Yes and no," replied Tristan. "I've been in love with your daughter since I was seventeen; I just never thought I'd get a chance with her. When she told my sister at lunch last week that she wanted to marry me I knew that I didn't want to wait any longer, so I proposed last night."
"That's really amazing. I'm thrilled for you two. I couldn't have picked a better son-in-law. You've got a good man here, Ror," Christopher said warmly.
"I really do," Rory replied, looking at Tristan with absolute love and trust shining in her eyes. That look always turned Tristan to putty.
They paused their conversation to order and then Christopher began talking again.
"So, is Lorelai beside herself that her only daughter is engaged?" he asked.
Tristan and Rory exchanged a look and she took a deep breath. "Mom isn't Tristan's biggest fan, although in all fairness, she hasn't given him a chance. She hates that he's from society and...I don't know, really. Mom isn't in a good place right now, so I'm not going to focus on that. I'm learning to make my own decisions for my life."
"Well, I'm proud of you, kiddo. You two have my full support. In fact, I would really love to pay for the wedding," Christopher offered.
"There's really no need for that, sir. We're more than capable of taking care of wedding expenses," Tristan protested.
"Look, Tristan, I don't know how much Rory has told you about our relationship, but I missed a lot when she was growing up. I know you guys don't need me to pay for the wedding, but it would make me really happy if you would let me anyway. No strings or conditions - you guys choose whatever you want for your big day and let me take care of it, please," Christopher pleaded.
Rory turned to Tristan with a silent plea and he smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Christopher. That's very generous of you," Tristan relented.
"I'm just trying to be the best dad I can now that I realize what's really important in my life," Christopher replied with a smile.