Chapter 35
The next weekend couldn't have come any faster in Shelby's eyes, and after an awkward dinner conversation, Luke couldn't help feel the same way. It was Wednesday evening after Luke closed and brought dinner up for the three of them. He enjoyed asking Shelby how her day was and how school was going. Things seemed normal at first. Shelby told him about having computer class as the class' special and working on their typing. Afterward, the table grew quiet as the three of them ate their burgers. That's when the awkwardness suddenly popped out.
Shelby was swirling one of her fries in her ketchup. It must have been floating around in her mind from the school day because she eventually reached over and tapped him on the arm. "Dad?"
"Yeah," he acknowledged her, briefly glancing up from his turkey burger.
"Where do babies come from?"
Right as the question came out, Luke had taken a bite. It caught him off guard he almost choked. Thankfully, he could cough and clear his airways, taking a drink of his water.
Jess also heard and almost choked as well, but he was taking a drink on his soda when Shelby asked. So it caused the soda to go down the wrong tube, producing a coughing fit for half a minute. "Did she just..." he had to cough again. "... ask what I think she asked?" He coughed one more time.
Meanwhile, Shelby was looking between both guys with a puzzled look on her face as if she said something wrong.
Once Luke could speak, he asked, making sure they heard right, though pretty sure they did, "What did you ask, Shell?"
"Where do babies come from?" Yep, they were right.
"Uh..." Luke looked over at his nephew, who held up his hands to say, "don't look at me. She's all yours. I ain't touching that."
He looked back at his daughter. "Um, why do you want to know, kiddo?"
"For our journal wri-ting today, Ashley told us her mom was having a baby and ta' i' was inside her mom's tummy." Shelby shrugged, innocently but confused, "how did i' ge' in tear?"
Luke froze in his seat as he stared at his kid. This was not happening. Not now. He could feel his face grow warm from the awkwardness, and of course Jess had to add to it.
"Yeah, Uncle Luke. How did it get in there?"
His face had to be as red as Shelby's got whenever she felt embarrassed. "Uh, well... Um..." Luke tried to quickly think up an appropriate response to the kid's question. He knew he couldn't tell her the truth, not at such a young age. Closing his eyes, Luke made up something and just went with it. "Well, when... It's, uh, like this."
Jess was mockingly nodding. "Uh, never saw it that way." Luke just told him to shut up which Shelby pointed out it wasn't nice to tell someone to shut up. "Yeah, should be nicer to me, Uncle Luke."
Ignoring his nephew by this point, Luke turned back to his own kid. "You see, when two people love each other very much, that love creates a baby that forms inside the mother's tummy because that's where it has the most room to grow, closest to the heart," he explained, clearly pulling this from thin air. Thankfully, Shelby accepted the answer. Maybe a little too much. Luke didn't think he needed to be specific.
"Bu' I love you a lo', does that mean I will have a baby?" she asked, with a horrified look on her face.
Luke quickly thought up an answer to that question, as well. "It doesn't work if you share blood or DNA with the person." Jess tried to point out about the deep south but he shushed the boy, interrupting him and told both of them to finish eating, glad the subject was finally behind them and hoped he didn't have to worry about explaining the real answer until much, much later.
"Hey, Scout, want to hear more of Huck Finn's adventures tonight?"
The kid's head shot over in her cousin's direction, her face lighting up in excitement. "Yeah! Can we?"
"Hell yeah, we can. Hurry up and finish eating. The faster you finish, the sooner we can get back to the book."
Shelby continued eating her burger and fries.
Luke made sure she was all packed and ready to go on Saturday when it was time to take Shelby over to Rachel's apartment, making sure she had everything she needed or wanted. Before he left, Shelby hugged and kissed her dad, good-bye.
"Remember, you got this, Shell," he reminded her.
She nodded. "I go's tis."
"And make sure you listen to your mom, all right?"
Shelby nodded some more.
"Your mom's in charge while you're here, just like I'm in charge at home. She can ground you and it will carry over when you get home. Understand?"
Again, she nodded.
Luke smiled. "But, most important, have fun."
Shelby smiled at that, too. "I will." She threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tight.
He squeezed her and told her, "I love you, kiddo."
"I love you, too, Daddy."
Luke found it a challenge to stand to his feet and move towards the door. When he looked back, Shelby was already setting up her game console, taking everything out of her duffel bag. Calling out, "bye," one last time, which Shelby returned happily, Rachel walked Luke out.
When they got out in the hall, Rachel turned to him. "Thanks for doing all this, Luke," she said.
"No problem," he shrugged, modestly. Quickly and unexpectedly, she stepped towards him and hugged him, herself. Luke held his arms around her, awkwardly until she stepped away, shortly afterwards.
Like it usually went, the rest of the day seemed to go smoothly. It was bedtime that was stressful for Luke. Shelby wanted to call him to say good night while Rachel handled the rest of bedtime. Shelby still wanted to call him later in the night, to help calm her down, that was still the same. But that was the last he heard from her until the next day. Rachel sat with Shelby for as long as she needed, having started the first night that way before eventually moving outside her door. It was all unfamiliar territory for Rachel, which brought some challenges for her, too. They all got through it, though.
Shelby wanted to come home early Sunday morning. For one, she loved her dad's breakfast better, and two, she couldn't wait to tell him. Dashing into the diner, Shelby couldn't help yell, "Daddy! Daddy! Guess wha'?" She dashed right over to him, who just served a table, their breakfast.
Luke kneeled to her level. "What, kiddo?" he smiled.
"I did i'! I was 'till 'cared bu' I did i'!"
"Great, kiddo. I am so proud of you," Luke praised her.
When he hugged her that was when Shelby realized they weren't alone. She was so excited to tell her dad; she forgot he had customers. When they let go, Shelby was as red as he had been the other night as her eyes darted towards the floor.
"It's okay, Shell. Everyone gets excited." Luke gave her arm a comforting rub and reached over to kiss her cheek.
In all honesty, they never really had to take away a sticker. Not yet, anyway. Not with Rachel stepping up more and letting Shelby help show her how to be a mom, as well as, taking Lorelai's advice. There hadn't really been a need for it. Plus, having the option to call her dad, if needed, helped too. That hadn't stopped yet and Luke wasn't about to put a stop to it. Also, just having the consequence of having one removed, in place, probably helped.
In fact, things had been going so smoothly, when Lorelai called Luke regarding the guest list to the Independence Inn's Bracebridge dinner, confirming who to place Shelby with on her guest list, he felt confident enough she could put her in the same room as Rachel, and Jess could room with him.
Luke closed up early that evening to make sure he and Shelby had enough time to get ready for the dinner, helping Shelby first. When the kid found out they had to dress up, she tried to get herself out of it, not wanting to dress up.
"Lorelai and Sookie invited us to a nice dinner, kiddo. You have to wear something nice tonight," he told her in a gentle tone. "None of us want to go to this, but we were invited. You can still wear jeans, is that okay?"
Shelby just stared up at him, trying to butter her dad up with a puppy dog look.
"That won't work this time, Shell." In the end, Luke ended up having to ask her, "do you want to be able to spend the first day of your break, playing your game?"
She nodded and reluctantly gave in, pulling on a clean pair of jeans which her dad helped with the button. He also helped with her shirt, buttoning it for her in the front and tucking the bottom of the shirt in, fixing her collar last. Luke at least compromised with her by letting Shelby wear one of her favorite T-shirts underneath as an undershirt. That helped, some. He let her watch TV and play with her toys while he got ready and told Jess for the umpteenth time to get ready once he was done.
"Shell, are your shoes on?" Luke walked over to his bed to sit down and put his shoes on.
"Yeah," she answered, not removing her eyes from the TV screen.
Luke yanked his foot through the first shoe. "Tied?"
"No," she answered honestly.
"Why not?" He leaned over and tied the laces.
"I need help again."
Luke did the same with his other foot before he asked Shelby to turn off the TV and come over to where he was sitting. She asked to finish watching her show, but Luke told her no. As soon as Jess was ready, they were leaving. So she turned off a cartoon about a bunch of talking babies, and went over to join her dad, climbing up beside him. Lifting her leg, Luke held her foot on his leg and showed her once more how to tie her shoe on her own, walking her through the steps. He had her attempt it on her own with her other shoe. Shelby got the first part right and walked her through it while still having Shelby do it herself, messing up on the first try. Luke wouldn't let her quit, though, and insisted on her trying again until she succeeded on her own.
Luke packed both an overnight bag for both him and Shelby. "Are you taking Pikachu and Maggie?" he asked her.
"We spending ta nigh'?"
"Yes, Shell. I told you that already," Luke reminded her.
"Oh, yeah."
"Okay, you have way too much TV and game time." He was mostly thinking out loud. "As soon as Jess gets out of the bathroom, go get your brush so I can attempt to make your hair a little nicer." That hair of hers always seemed to be a mess. It wasn't curly like her mom's, but it wasn't straight either. From a stranger's point of view, it looked like Shelby didn't even own a brush. Thankfully, another good thing about having Rachel in the picture, she was able to find a detangler spray that actually helped them brush out her hair. Luke never thought he would ever find himself brushing someone else's hair in all of his life before his daughter came along.
Between Jess and Shelby, they ended up leaving a lot later than Luke planned on. After what seemed like an eternity, Jess finally came out of the bathroom, changed into clothes similar to theirs. He just didn't tuck in his shirt.
"You both left me very little hot water," he told them, annoyed, walking over to grab his own shoes.
"I told you to get ready earlier while I was closing down the diner," Luke pointed out, not at all feeling sorry for the boy. Turning to Shelby, he reminded her to go grab her brush and the detangler, telling her to hustle.
Shelby hurried into the bathroom and grabbed her brush and spray bottle from her drawer, bringing them back to him. Sitting on the edge of the bed again, Luke had her face away from him. Spraying the stuff first, he then proceeded to brush her hair. Though a little easier, the brush still got caught in a few spots. Luke tried his best not to hurt her, spraying as much as it took for it to glide right through and detangle her hair.
"Shell, can you please stop squirming so much?" he asked after a few minutes of tugging.
"I'm trying no to," she protested pitifully.
"Not, kiddo," Luke corrected. "Not no, not." He continued brushing her hair.
"I'm trying nah to," she tried to repeat.
Close enough. It didn't help the word also ended in one of the sounds Shelby struggled with. Miss Kelly finally got Shelby to open up a little and because of that, could hear the sounds the kid struggled with. They were only starting, though. Miss Kelly told him, practicing at home would help Shelby get better. Remembering that, Luke had her try again, having Shelby break the word down.
"Naaaw-t," he enunciated for her, putting emphasis on the T sound, having her repeat it.
"Naaaw..." Luke reminded her to include the T, "...tuh. Naaw...tuh."
"Close." They didn't get it in one sitting. Luke continued on the way to the inn. On the way out, he called back over his shoulder for Jess to turn out the lights.
"Use your tongue, kiddo," Luke reminded Shelby when they were in his truck and enunciated the T sound for her again, a few times, still using the same word.
"Naaw-tuh."
"That was good," he praised. The entire car ride there was sponsored by the letter T and its ending sound. Finally, Luke pulled up to the inn and parked behind everybody else, ending up one of the last ones to arrive.
"Hey, guys," Lorelai greeted them and smiled at Shelby, "and girl. You look... nice, Shelby," she added, seeming as if she wasn't sure how to compliment the little girl, not knowing that many tomboys.
"It was all I could get her into," Luke explained. "She wouldn't even consider the dress my sister gave her."
"She looks fine," she assured him. To Shelby, "Your mom got here a while ago," and pointed the kid over where Rachel was talking to someone. Looking towards Luke first who nodded, giving her the okay she could leave his side, and dashed over to her mom.
"Sorry we're late," Luke apologized. "Those two took a while to get ready," meaning Jess and Shelby.
"No problem, you didn't miss anything," she assured him. "Besides, we're still waiting on a few more guests to arrive so you're not last. Just make yourself comfortable." Lorelai had to leave to go check on things in the kitchen so Luke headed towards where his kid went.
Eventually, once all the guests arrived, Lorelai got everyone's attention, thanking them all for coming and announced there would be horse-drawn sleigh rides before dinner. As soon as Shelby heard there would be horse-sleigh rides, she perked up in excitement, jumping off of her dad's leg she been sitting on. When Lorelai pointed everyone outside, Shelby started pulling on his arm.
"I can take her," Rachel offered. "Is that okay, peanut?"
Shelby nodded.
"Put your jacket and gloves back on," Luke told her before the girls left. Shortly after, he followed after them to make sure, following outside as well. Of course Rachel had her camera with her, taking a few shots of Shelby with the horses and sleigh, making Luke get in a couple. With the girls' sleigh gone, Luke was left alone, attracting Bootsy until Lorelai came to his rescue, making him get in with her. It wasn't long before she was driving him crazy which he told her to stop talking about the horse's "heiny." She tried to change the subject, commenting on how the town looked beautiful that time of year and Luke was his usual boring, grumpy self. That was when he found out Jess hadn't turned off the lights like he asked him to.
"Knew I should have told Shelby to do it," he muttered to himself, out loud.
"How's it going with you guys?" Lorelai asked. "We spent so much time helping Shelby, I almost forgot Jess was even there."
"Great," he shrugged.
"Great? Really?"
Luke gave a slight nod, "Really."
Lorelai was staring at nothing in particular. "Well, good."
"It is good," he gave another shrug. "I mean, it was hard at first, seemed impossible, you know, but I've learned a lot these last couple of months. And, I really think Shelby's having an effect on him."
She looked at him, impressed. "Really? Like how?"
Luke shrugged it off. "I mean, it's little things, like helping her with her words, helping her when she's upset. Right now, Shelby's even got the guy reading to her. Never would have believed it if I haven't seen it with my own eyes. 'Course, Jess won't let her cuddle with him so Shelby has to listen from her own bed." He chuckled at that last part. "Really wish Rachel could see stuff like that, then maybe she'll be more comfortable with him being around Shelby."
"Rachel doesn't like Jess around Shelby? How come?"
"Well, when I told her why my sister was sending him there, she got uncomfortable with the idea of a troublemaker being around Shelby."
"Does she think Shelby will turn into a troublemaker like her cousin?"
Luke shrugged, "I guess. She got into that fight, but I put a stop to it." He couldn't help chuckle.
She smiled, "What?"
"That kid that would bully the other kids, including Shelby and her friends, now they're friends."
Lorelai gasped in excitement. "You're kidding? Shelby made friends with a bully? How did she do that?"
"By being herself," he replied honestly. "I guess the kid forgot his lunch the other day and missed breakfast because for whatever reason. Nobody else would share with him."
"Everyone but Shelby," she finished, knowing the kid.
Luke nodded, smiling towards his hands. He looked up again, "the kid hasn't given anyone trouble since and now hangs out with Shelby and the twins."
"That's awesome. Good for her."
"Old habits are hard to break, though so Shelby has took to reminding him by kicking him in the leg whenever he tries to be mean. Seems to be working. I at least told her not to do it too hard, just enough as a friendly reminder."
Lorelai laughed, looking away at the scenic view.
"And, just last week, I've discovered the secret of parenting," he continued.
"You did?"
Luke nodded, facing forward, "Yep."
"The secret of parenting?"
"The secret of parenting."
"When last week? Last Tuesday?"
"I don't know the exact day," Luke told her, annoyed a little. She was clearly starting to mock him, now. "Don't mock."
There was a brief break of silence before she said, "Well, tell me. What is..." Lorelai couldn't get her words out without laughing, "Wait, it's a secret, you can't tell me."
"No, I'll tell you," he said. "You visualize the reality you want," Luke slowly panned his hands out in front of him, which Lorelai repeated what he said. "And if necessary, you lie to bring it about."
Lorelai closed her eyes, laughing again as she said, "That is so much worse than I was expecting."
Luke quickly pointed out, "You never lied to your kid?"
"Uh, to save her from great physical pain, yes." He shrugged a hand up, nodding to himself as she continued. "When she was little and she would play in the kitchen, I told her the burners were the devil's hands, but I'd say it in a really scary evangelist voice," and said it in the voice to show him. "She still won't go near the stove."
Luke pointed at her again, "Yes, exactly. You told a little white lie for your kid's protection. Very similar to what I've done."
"Which was?" she questioned.
"You know the winter break is coming," he explained.
Lorelai nodded, "Yes, I do."
"Okay, well, that means Jess has some time off from school. His mom knew that, and she never called."
She let out an annoyed moan. "That makes me sick."
"So I just decided to keep Jess with us, and I told him his mom wanted him to come home, but I thought since he just got there and he was still adjusting, that I thought he should stay. His mom was really upset, but I insisted. He bought it, hook, line, and sinker. Saved him a lot of hurt." Luke looked off at the passing scenery, proud of what he had told her. Things were quiet for a moment until Lorelai finally broke it.
"He didn't buy it."
He swiftly turned back to her. "What? Of course he did," and looked away again.
"He knows."
Luke stared at her in disbelief. "It totally worked on Shelby," he pointed out.
"There's also an eleven-year age gap between them," Lorelai also pointed out.
He looked away, now second-guessing himself in his head.
"So what lie did you tell Shelby to protect her?" she asked, sounding somewhat curious.
Even though it brought back the awkward feeling, he told her about Shelby wanting to know where babies came from and the lie he came up with. "I left some truth in it. I just didn't think she needed to know the actual details of how a baby is made."
"Ah, yes, the infamous baby question kids ask," Lorelai nodded. "I remember Rory coming home and asking where babies come from."
"What did you tell her?" Luke couldn't help ask, curious.
She shrugged, "I just used the movie Dumbo and said the stork brings them."
"And she bought it?" he questioned.
"Sure. Until she found out babies come from the mom's tummy. Then I just told her the truth, leaving out most of the details." Things got quiet again after a while so Lorelai changed the subject. "So is Shelby excited for Santa?"
"Uh, no. Uh, Shelby actually doesn't believe in Santa," he admitted.
"Are you serious?" she stared in disbelief.
Luke nodded.
"Why, what happened?"
"Back when Shelby was four, some punk kid told all the younger kids Santa was made up, and that it was the parents who left the toys under the tree. Instead of correcting the kid, the foster mom panicked and told the kids the truth."
Lorelai shook her head sadly, looking elsewhere. "Poor kid." She looked back at him to ask, "you couldn't use the 'secret of parenting' to get Shelby to believe again?" partly teasing him.
"After Shelby realizing her hat doesn't make her invisible, nope. Besides," Luke shrugged, "I think it would a little hard to have Santa over at our place, considering Shelby will be three feet from the tree and a light sleeper."
"You could set up the tree downstairs in the diner," Lorelai suggested.
"There's no room for a tree in the diner," he stubbornly argued.
"Sure there is. Move the tables around, you could totally fit a tree in that corner in front of the window. That way, Shelby can come downstairs, Christmas morning, and see what Santa brought her, and everyone can enjoy their meal and coffee with an incredible view of a nicely decorated tree."
Luke let out a breath of air, looking forward. "Rachel offered to have a tree put up over at her place."
"Shelby's not spending Christmas with you?" she asked.
"No, she is. There just won't be a tree up," he assured her. "Besides, I explained to her Christmas isn't about the decorations, or the presents. It's about spending time with family."
"Has she ever had a good Christmas?"
He shrugged. "At least one." Luke stared at his hands. "It didn't start out great, though."
"What happened?"
Glancing at her, he said, "That kid who told the younger kids about Santa..."
"Yeah?"
"That was the same kid who locked Shelby in a closet. Happened two days before Christmas."
Lorelai gasped, heartbroken. "Oh, no."
"When the foster parents finally figured out what was going on, they intervened and let Shelby out, but she wouldn't move. The kid was too terrified, I guess. So they tried to help her come out so they could sing Christmas carols together. Shelby ended up head-butting the foster dad in the privates and biting the foster mom. Long story short, they called Madison. With it being so close to the holidays, Madison just kept Shelby at her house and let her spend Christmas with her family. They usually kept spare gifts stashed away in case of moments like that."
"That little jerk," she stated, meaning the older kid.
"Not the kid's fault. I'm sure somebody probably did something similar to him. Not that it justifies what he did to Shelby," Luke shrugged. It was always difficult for him whenever he thought about his daughter's past.
"Well, it doesn't matter, now that Shelby's where she belongs." Lorelai gave him a smile to help cheer him up.
Luke looked over at her and returned it as the sleigh was pulling back into the inn's yard.
"The kid's a tough one."
"She sure is," he agreed. Shelby got his attention, who was over playing in the snow. Hers and her mom's sleigh already pulled in and were waiting for the rest. In the meantime, Shelby wanted to throw snowballs, nailing her dad when he came over. "Hey," he told her. Giving him her best puppy dog look, she stared up at him. Knowing she was just having fun, Luke just gave her a smile and hugged Shelby against his leg.
Once everyone returned, they headed back inside for dinner.
