Chapter 11

Another week had come and gone with Shelby getting to know her mom. Rachel had taken to helping Shelby with her homework. They stopped by the library, one Saturday, which Shelby got her first library card and picked out some books. Every night after Luke gave Shelby her bath and got her ready for bed, Rachel would offer to read to her. At first, Shelby kept her distance, keeping some space apart, but could still see the pictures. The following Friday, Shelby started closing the gap little by little. There was still no bond like she had with her dad, though.

Monday evening, when the diner wasn't as crowded, Shelby sat at the counter, drawing pictures. After Caesar left, she finally spoke, now that they were alone. "How come you no have coloring menus?"

Luke was packing everything up for the night as she followed with her eyes. "I don't know. Never really thought about it, I guess," he replied.

"You should have tem," Shelby suggested.

He couldn't help smile at the suggestion. "I should, huh?"

"Yeah, and kids will no be bored while tey wai' for their food."

Luke playfully grabbed at her head as he walked by. Once he got everything put away, Luke leaned his elbows on the counter across from where Shelby was sitting.

"What's that you're drawing?"

"A dog playing with a 'tick. I saw i' at the park when Mom and I wen'," she replied as she colored the dog in with a yellow crayon.

"Oh, I see." Luke watched for a moment before he continued. "So, you seem to be getting along with your mom."

Shelby kept on coloring, switching to a red crayon for the dog's collar.

Luke tried to think of more to say. "You know, it's going to be her birthday on Wednesday. Do you have any ideas what we can give your mom?"

She stopped to look up. "I can draw her a picture."

"That sounds good." Luke had never been great at gift-giving and was hoping Shelby had any ideas. "Can I put my name on it too so we can say it's from the two of us?"

"Maybe I can make the card and you can buy some-ting," Shelby perked up. "Like a team."

"Why don't I make the card and you buy a gift?" he playfully teased her.

"No, Dad," she shook her head. "I no money."

"Ohhh, I thought you had some money hidden away somewhere."

Shelby smiled. "Nope. You no give me a allow'nce."

Luke smiled in return. "Do I take that as a hint?" he teased her some more.

She giggled to herself.

"Tell ya what. If you want an allowance, you can earn it by doing some small jobs down here, like..." he looked around behind him and around the place. "How about restocking napkins on each table, every day?"

"Okay. How much do I ge'?"

Luke thought about it. "How about...a quarter a day?"

Shelby stared at her dad as if displeased. "Jus' a quarter?"

"For now. Maybe for your birthday, every year, I can give you a raise as you get older."

"Wha' is a raise?"

"A raise is when you receive more money than what you were making before."

Shelby frowned in disappointment.

"What's that look for, kiddo?" he asked.

She glanced up at him with just her eyes, still holding the crayon in her hand. "I have to wai' for my bir-day?"

"Yes, but did you know if I give you a quarter a day, by the end of the week those quarters will add up to a dollar and seventy-five cents? And two weeks, it'll add up to three dollars and fifty cents. In a month, that's seven dollars and fifty cents if you save your money."

"How much I save if I wan' to buy a Nintendoh?"

"Uh, I don't know. Probably at least a hundred dollars."

Shelby frowned again. "Ta' a long time to save."

Luke thought on it. A Nintendo would seem to make a good Christmas present but would probably be a huge seller around the holidays. Then he remembered how much his father would make him work for the things he wanted and even when William would make him work regardless if there was a want or not. It did drive a work ethic into Luke, why not pass it along to Shelby? "If I pay you more, you'll have to do more work than just napkins."

"Like wha'?"

He thought about small jobs a young child like Shelby could be able to do. Shelby was already helping upstairs with chores and she was getting close to turning six. "How about sweeping the floor and wiping down the tables? You do a great job doing it upstairs."

"How much will I ge' for ta'?"

"I think I could probably pay ya..." Pausing, Luke thought some more for a few seconds. "Two dollars and fifty cents a day. That'll add up to around seventy in a month. That's the highest I can go. Deal?"

Shelby nodded. "Deal," she said.

At that moment, Rachel came downstairs. "What's a deal?" she asked, overhearing the last part.

Shelby shut down, burying her face in her arms. Her face turned bright red from being heard.

Luke reached over and rubbed her upper back.

Rachel wandered over. "I'm sorry, Shelby," she apologized, sincerely.

Luke moved his hand and nudged her side, tickling it to get a smile. Shelby tried to nudge away from his hand, but being on a stool didn't make it any easy. She tried to hold her own against her dad's ticklish fingers. The resistance was futile and Shelby had to lift her head, showing him there was a slight smile. He pulled his hand back, folding it in underneath him.

"You two having fun down here?" Rachel looked between the two of them.

Shelby nodded, not meeting eye contact. Luke figured she was still a little embarrassed. Even though they were getting along, Shelby still wasn't fully comfortable having her mother around, yet.

"That's good," she smiled gently and looked over at Luke. "I have dinner ready if you both are ready to eat."

He thanked her and told her they would be up in a minute. Once they heard the door to the apartment shut, Luke continued their original conversation.

"So, you work on the card, I'll get the gift?"

Shelby nodded at the counter. That was the end of it.

The next morning, Shelby decided she wanted to wait and have breakfast when Lorelai and Rory arrived, sitting with them while they played some game they made up.

When Luke came by with the coffeepot, he asked Shelby, "Do I even want to know what they're doing?"

Shelby just shrugged, holding a piece of bacon in her hand.

Rory had been the one to explain the rules. Unintentionally, Luke found himself watching as they waited for guy #3, who ended up being Kirk. Lorelai was bummed while Rory had fun with it.

Luke told Shelby to finish eating before she would be late for school and walked away, congratulating Kirk when he walked in. Kirk thanked him, confused and overheard Lorelai and Rory giggling. Thinking someone put a "kick me" sign on his back again, Kirk felt around behind him before storming out of the diner.

After breakfast, Lorelai offered to take Shelby to school on her way to the inn.

"You don't have to do that," Luke told her, humbly.

"I know, but I want to. The school's on the route I take to get to the inn, anyway."

So Luke agreed.

Later that day, he ended up running into Lorelai, coming out of the Cat Club, a store for cat lovers and a store Lorelai never thought she would see the guy come out of. He tried to walk away, feeling just as embarrassed as Shelby sometimes felt, if not more. But Lorelai followed just like a cat would, probing him until Luke eventually gave in and held the bag out to her. Inside were cat-shaped potholders.

"It's a present," he told her, quietly.

"For someone you hate?"

"It's Rachel's birthday, okay?" Luke confessed, "and don't say anything. She doesn't want anybody to know. She hates birthdays."

"Not as much as she's gonna hate these potholders," Lorelai pointed out.

Luke raised his voice with a shrug, holding it for a moment, "I don't know how to buy gifts. Okay? I don't like to buy gifts. I don't like getting gifts. I mean, this whole gift-giving-and-getting process is completely insane." He then went into one of his many rants until Lorelai stopped him.

"You know you cannot give her these potholders."

He hung his head in defeat. "Yeah, I know."

"Why don't you go to the mall?" she suggested. "Walk around a little? Take Shelby, I'm sure she can help you pick out something."

"No. No malls. I hate malls." Luke held his hands up in disgust and began rant #2.

Lorelai lifted her hand in front of his face, interrupting him again. "Okay, Emma Goldman, I'll tell ya what? I'll go for you."

Luke stared at her, confused. "You're gonna shop for me?"

She shrugged. "I got the day off tomorrow. I was gonna go anyway."

He narrowed his eyes. "You're serious?"

"I'll go get a bunch of stuff, all returnable. I'll bring it to you, you can pick what you want, and the rest, I'll return. I'll do all the work. All you have to do is point."

His mouth was slightly open. "Point?"

"One finger. Preferably your index."

Luke placed his hands on his sides as he stared down at the ground. "I don't know," he sighed.

"Luke," she said and shrugged, "this is the first special occasion you, Shelby, and Rachel will share as a family since she's been back. Don't you want to give her something nice?"

"Well, we are going out to dinner."

"Luke."

"Yeah, I know," he caved. "I gotta get her something nice."

"Then let me help," Lorelai pressed on.

"Alright. Thank you."

She smiled. "You're welcome."

Luke pulled out his wallet to give her his credit card as he gave her strict guidelines. "Nothing too out there, okay? She's not into all that trendy stuff." He took the card out and held it towards Lorelai as Luke continued, "she likes simple, clean nature, okay? Elephants, candles, okay. Oh, hey, if you could find her a candle shaped like an elephant...?"

Lorelai cut him off a third time. "Okay, you know what? I've got it all under control."

"Okay. Thanks."

"Okay." Lorelai handed him back the bag of cat shaped potholders and told Luke to get rid of them as she walked away.

Once he returned them, Luke headed over to the school to pick up Shelby who asked in his ear if he got the gift yet.

"Not yet. Lorelai's gonna help us out."

She looked at him with a puzzled look on her face. "Buh, you buy i' and I make the card."

"I know and I tried, Shell. I got her these potholders that were shaped liked cats, I thought your mom might like. They even meowed. Kind of like your Pikachu you have, only they'll keep your mom from burning herself while she cooks." Luke tried to make them sound super cool to the kid, and he thought they would, but then he saw her smack her hand to her forehead.

"What?" he chuckled. "I thought they seemed like a suitable gift."

"You are bad, Dad."

"Hey, shouldn't you be on my side here?"

"I no tink Mom would like i'."

"How do you know that?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I jus' do."

Back in the apartment, Shelby drew a picture of a cat and showed it to Rachel.

"Aw, that's cute, Shelby," she complimented. "I like cats."

Shelby then drew a mitten around it and showed her again.

Rachel looked at it, confused. "Uh, it's a cat on a mitten?"

She nodded and wrote, would you use tem to cook?

"Would I use them to cook?" Rachel repeated. "What do you mean? Like potholders?"

Again, Shelby nodded.

"Maybe," she shrugged.

"Okay, that's it." Luke went over to where Shelby was standing on her knees at the coffee table and lifted her into the air, gently slamming the kid onto the couch. He then tickled her all over. "You think you're funny, huh?"

She laughed, inaudibly rolling around underneath him.

Shelby tried to squirm away from his hold, but Luke did not let up.

Rachel watched the scene with enthusiasm. "Would you like me to rescue you, Shelby?"

Shelby moved her head up and down as best as she could while she was being "attacked." Her mom held a hand out for her, which Shelby grabbed onto, helping the kid to sit up. Technically, Luke let Shelby move and saw her crawl over to Rachel, smirking up at him.

Luke placed his hands on his sides. "Oh, you think your mom can protect you?"

She nodded.

"We'll see about that." Luke kneeled one knee on the couch and tried to reach out for her, which Shelby backed further behind her mom, still wearing the smirk. At least it showed she knew Luke was playing with her.

"I'll protect you, Shelby." Rachel leaned to the side, catching herself on the back part of the couch.

Luke tried to reach around, grabbing for Shelby. She backed up more, moving up on the arm of the couch. He then stood back up and moved around to that side. It only made her switch back to the other side of Rachel, sitting up on her knees. Luke leaned on the arm of the couch. They watched each other for a moment, like gunslingers, before he pointed at nothing, asking, "what's that?" Shelby fell for it, looking in that direction. While it distracted her, Luke took the time to rush behind the couch and grabbed her up, holding on tight.

"Got ya!"

Shelby struggled in his hold as her dad clasped his daughter, planting a long kiss on her cheek. He then set her on feet. Shelby hugged herself and sulked towards the floor.

"Come here, sweetheart," Rachel called her over.

She didn't move.

"That was unfair of your dad, huh?" she said instead.

Luke kneeled to Shelby's level, holding onto her sides. Shelby backed out of his touch. "I'm sorry, Shell," he told her, sincerely. "I was just having fun with you. I thought it would be funny."

She just turned and headed over for her bed, turning on her music and laid down on her bed, wearing her headphones. Luke hated when Shelby got mad at him. It was rare when it happened. No one was perfect, and now and then he would slip up and do something to upset her. Shelby never stayed mad at her dad for long. It usually lasted an hour or two before she would search him out and hug his leg. Sure enough, an hour and a half later, while Luke was downstairs tending to a customer, Shelby dashed over and hugged his leg tight, burying her face into it. That was when Luke knew all was forgiven.

The following afternoon, while taking a phone order, Lorelai stopped by the diner with several bags of stuff purchased from various stores. There was so much she had to make two trips.

Once he hung up, Luke demanded, "What the hell is this?"

Lorelai smiled at him. "The results of my shopping trip. All accomplished in two hours."

He wandered around her, staring at the stuff. "Impossible."

"I'm a savant." She spun around on her heels to face him again.

"Everything's returnable?" he made sure.

"Yes," Lorelai replied with a sigh. "Now sit down and relax. Let me show you what I got."

Luke slowly lowered himself onto the stool behind him and asked for his credit card back which she gave him. He gave it a once-over, stating that it looked tired.

"Where's Rachel?" she asked, first.

"She's out running some errands, including picking Shelby up from school." He replaced his card back in his wallet, returning it to his back pocket. "Shelby agreed with you, by the way."

"About?"

"The potholders being a terrible gift. She even smacked her hand to her forehead, which I had never seen her do up 'til then. Hopefully, you're not becoming a bad influence." He was mostly joking when Luke said that last part. In fact, he loved the influence the woman had on his kid.

"Kid's smart." Lorelai then explained what she picked out for Rachel. A book and a new camera bag.

"Seems...right," he said, looking at them.

"You like?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Good."

There was still one more question that Luke had to wonder about. "What's all this?" he asked, pointing at the other bags she hadn't mentioned about.

"Well, Luke," she started and put her fingertips together, touching them to her chin. "Timing is a beautiful thing."

He glanced away for a second with his eyes, confused. "It is?"

"It is. So, I'm at the mall and I've already found Rachel's gifts and I've had two sugar/cinnamon pretzels, and I am buzzed on the sugar, and jazzed with the purchases, and I decide to take a victory lap through Bloomingdale's, and it just so happen there was an amazing sale in the men's department. I mean, gorgeous stuff." Lorelai twisted around to grab one of the bags behind her. "Look at this." She then showed off a shirt, stating she had gotten three different colors.

Luke shook his head, still confused. "For who?"

"For you."

"For me?"

Lorelai then ran around either side of him, showing off the rest of the stuff as Luke tried to get a word in. "I thought you might like something new to wear when you take Rachel out tonight."

"Well, thank you, but it's a family dinner. Rachel didn't want to leave Shelby out. So take it back."

She looked up at him, surprised. "You're serious?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I can take Shelby shopping when she gets home. Nothing wrong with a nice, formal family dinner."

"Right now you'll probably scare the crap out of her." They then went back and forth, arguing over Luke trying the clothes on, and him stubbornly not giving in. She ended up chasing him down the back of the diner, cornering the poor guy until finally getting him to cave. Giving him some privacy, Luke tried on each piece of clothing a few times, which Lorelai made him give a fashion show. The arguing continued throughout the process. It made him look like a totally different person.

As Lorelai was helping him with his belt, Rachel and Shelby returned. Shelby was holding a brand new one hundred piece puzzle of dinosaurs.

Luke was the first to notice. "Oh, hi," he greeted, which made Lorelai look up.

"Oh, hi. This is not what it looks like," she held up her hands in defense.

Rachel stared back at them. "It looks like you're dressing him," she stated in observation.

"Then, this is exactly what it looks like."

"There was a sale at Bloomingdale's," Luke explained to Rachel.

"Six trillion percent off," Lorelai added.

Luke shrugged a hand up, "How can you walk away from that, huh?"

Rachel just shrugged.

"I'm gonna change now."

"Good. Well, I can still snag Shelby and take her shopping," Lorelai re-offered.

"It's okay. We can swing by the store nearby and pick up something for her."

"Alright then. I'm gonna go get Rory. Just enjoy the clothes."

"I will," he replied.

"Okay, good. Um, see you later, Rachel. Bye, Shelby." Lorelai gave the little girl a sweet smile, grabbing her purse on the way out.

When she left, Rachel looked back at Luke, confused, as well as Shelby, who was switching between the door and her dad, repeatedly.

Luke noticed the puzzle in Shelby's hands. "What ya got there, kiddo?"

She showed him the front of the puzzle.

"Oh, cool. A puzzle with dinosaurs," he nodded.

"I thought it could be something the two of us can work on together," Rachel explained.

"Oh, that's nice," he nodded, and went to change back into his usual clothes, feeling some awkwardness.

They ended up just letting Shelby change into a clean, striped polo shirt and jeans, and had her take her bath early. It had been a struggle to convince Shelby to wear something nice. Luke couldn't help chuckle at the fact this must have been how Lorelai felt trying to convince him. It was a nice polo shirt anyway, so it wasn't that big of a deal and the restaurant wasn't too fancy.

Shelby sat in between her parents. The restaurant didn't have a coloring menu, so the wait was a little boring.

Luke noticed Shelby slouched in her seat, staring underneath the table. Reaching over, he playfully grabbed at her stomach. Even though she was eating well now, Shelby still looked like she wasn't.

Shelby touched where her dad had grabbed her, a slight smile appearing on her face. She peeked up at him, which Luke returned. No hats were allowed either, for either of them. Luke decided that rule since they were having a nice family dinner.

"Shelby, can you sit up, please," they heard Rachel ask.

Shelby looked from her mom over to Luke, who nodded. Reluctantly, the kid sat up and laid her head back against the seat.

Luke brushed a hand over the top of her hair to flatten the hairs sticking up.

"So, I got a few words today," Rachel said, proudly.

"Rach," Luke reminded her. "We're not supposed to make it a big deal when she speaks, remember?"

"I know, but it's an accomplishment. Right, Shelby?" She turned to her.

Shelby glanced up at her mom before dropping her gaze.

"I just wanted to express how proud I am of you."

Shelby stole another look up at her mom.

"This is all new to me, and I'm still learning how to be a mom. Is that okay?" Rachel was leaning her arms on the table.

She nodded a bit.

"You know what, though?"

Shelby shrugged one shoulder.

"I love it so far. You are a very bright and terrific girl and I love spending time with you." That made Shelby smile again and leaned over to her dad. Luke leaned his ear towards her.

"Can we give Mom her gif' now?" she whispered, softly.

"Sure, why not?" he told her. Luke grabbed the wide gift bag from where he had it under the table and set it on top. "From both me and Shelby."

"Oh," Rachel smiled. On top of the tissue paper was a folded piece of paper. She looked at first. Inside were the words, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM and a drawing of an elephant Shelby drawn. She had Luke write the words and told him which colors to use before coloring around the letters. "This is beautiful, sweetheart. I love it. Thank you." Rachel smiled between the homemade card and her daughter. "Can I give you a hug?"

Shelby nodded and scooted over to half hug her mom. Rachel hugged her head to her and kissed the top of it.

Rachel set the card on the corner of the table and turned her attention to the rest of the gift, removing the tissue paper. Looking inside first, she pulled out the book wrapped individually in matching tissue paper. Rachel stared at it with a look of surprise. "I didn't think you would remember mine and Lorelai's conversation the other day, much less cared."

"Well," Luke tried to come up with a quick excuse. "It... just... popped right into my mind, and since you loved the movie, you would like to read the book."

"Uh huh," she nodded, slowly. Thankfully, Rachel didn't press it further and moved on. She pulled out the camera bag, next.

"I just thought since your old one was falling apart, we'd get ya a new one," he shrugged.

Rachel stared at him, glancing over at Shelby. After a moment, she asked, "So, if you got me a new bag and a copy of Out of Africa, why was Shelby asking me if I would use a potholder with a cat on it yesterday?"

"Uh..." Luke felt caged now. "You know kids, today. Asking random questions." He picked up his Coke to take a drink. By the look, Luke could tell Rachel wasn't buying it and Shelby looked just as confused. "So, what did you two do this afternoon? Anything fun?" Changing the subject seemed best to him.

"Well, I tried to get all the boring errands done before Shelby got out of school, but we stopped by the hobby store where Shelby picked out the puzzle."

Luke raised his eyebrows at that. "You bought Shelby something on your birthday?"

"Sort of. Like I said, it's more for the two of us. I just let Shelby pick it out." She caught Shelby slouching again and reminded her to sit up. To keep her out of boredom, Rachel suggested, "Why don't you tell your dad what you did in school today."

Luke leaned forward so Shelby could speak. "What was it you did, kiddo?"

Shelby leaned closer to his ear and whispered for only him to hear, "I played kickball."

"Really," he responded, excitedly. "Did you score a home run?"

She shook her head. "I did kick it really far."

"That's awesome. Thanks for telling me, kiddo." Luke planted several kisses on her cheek, making her giggle, inaudibly. She clammed up when their waiter brought their food. Rachel moved her gifts back inside the bag and set them back underneath the table so he could set their food down in front of them.

Luke cut Shelby's cheeseburger in half for her and moved her drink away so she wasn't filling up on just juice. He also poured her some ketchup for her french fries. There wasn't much to talk about while they ate unless the topic was about Shelby. Then Luke was a chatterbox. If anyone known the guy, known that was not him. But every time the conversation turned back to Shelby, he would gladly say something and even tried to include Shelby in the conversation. Both of them did. It was Rachel who brought up her special talent. Until this point, Luke was the only one who knew. He had told no one else, not even Lorelai.

"After you went downstairs yesterday, Shelby started singing along to her music," she explained.

"Yeah, Shelby can get pretty involved in her music." He watched her, noticing Shelby wasn't eating her french fries. Instead, she was trying to build with them, using the ketchup as cement. It was getting all over her fingers.

"You know, music lessons might be a good thing for her."

He shrugged, "Shelby refused T-ball. I doubt she'd say yes to music lessons."

"T-ball?" Rachel gave him a knowing look.

"No, I wasn't trying to make her a baseball fan like me," Luke corrected her. "Shelby loves it when we go play catch. The last time we went camping, she wanted to bring along her bat and glove." He caught sight of Shelby licking her fingers before tapping him on the arm. "Yes, Shelby?" he lowered his head for her.

"Can we play catch again?" she whispered, softly.

Luke smiled. "Of course we can, kiddo. How about this Saturday, in between rushes?"

Shelby nodded, eagerly.

Luke gave her a kiss on the cheek, which Shelby reached her neck up to return one on his cheek.

"What did she ask?" Rachel asked with curiosity.

"She wanted to play catch like I was saying." There was a slight proudness in his tone and returned to his own fries.

Rachel turned her attention to Shelby, who was also returning to hers. Just as she was about to open her mouth to speak, Luke beat her to it.

"Shell, please stop playing with your fries and just eat them. They're not Lincoln logs."

Shelby gave him a pitiful, pleading look.

"No," he stood firm. "Eat or I'm taking away the fries." The burger was already gone.

She tried to look over at her mom for help, but Rachel shook her head.

"I was just about to tell you the same thing if your dad hadn't."

Shelby buried her face into her arms on the edge of the table. Her dad placed a hand to her back and rubbed it.

"You're fine, kiddo," he assured her.

"I've noticed Shelby likes to build or makes things, but doesn't have blocks or Legos."

A light bulb went off in Luke's head. "I never really thought about that until now." He made a mental note to stop by the store the next day on his break. Maybe if the kid had something to build with, she wouldn't need to use french fries. Plus, the only toys the kid had were her Pokemon figures and her truck. No wonder the kid watches a lot of TV. "What would you prefer, Shell? Blocks, Legos, or Lincoln logs?"

He saw Shelby shift a little but did not look up. Luke gave her a few minutes before asking again. When another few minutes went by, he tickled her side closest to him. Shelby swatted at his hand with her elbow without looking up. Luke moved his hand out of the way and kept tickling her side. She tried to swat it again, but the whole thing just repeated itself until Shelby finally lifted her head, giving him a kick under the table.

"Hey, no kicking," he scolded her gently.

Shelby stuck her tongue out at him.

"Shelby," Luke warned.

At the sound of his tone, Shelby stopped and wrapped her arms around her dad and lifted her head to tell him something. "I taw we were playing," she whispered in his ear.

That made Luke feel guilty about scolding his daughter. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I didn't realize you were playing." He wrapped an arm around Shelby and gave her a squeeze, rubbing her upper arm. "That was my fault."

"I' okay, Dad."

Luke couldn't help smile at Shelby.

Dinner overall turned out well. They had asked Shelby if she would like to take music lessons. Like T-ball, Shelby turned it down. Then, Rachel suggested of talking with Ms Patty, of working out a deal where it would be one-on-one and no other kids. At least for now. That time, she just shrugged. Well, it wasn't a yes or no, so they agreed to talk it over with Ms Patty first. That would also entail getting Shelby used to speaking around the woman as well before they could start the lessons.

Later, back at the apartment, Luke had Shelby change into her pajamas. Afterwards, she climbed into bed when Rachel called her over, offering to read to her. He joined the girls, expecting Shelby to latch onto him. Instead, Shelby sat next to Rachel and listened to the story. Don't get him wrong, Luke was glad the two were getting along and he really was trying to make this work so they could give Shelby the family she needed. This was what he had wanted. Rachel was his first and only serious girlfriend, and even though she had walked out on him several times and gave up their child, Rachel seemed to make up for it by finally putting in effort. But there was one other part that was still fighting. Something Luke could not shake from his mind.