Chapter 49
Thankfully, the bus ride ended up being just fine with no problems and Shelby was able to pick out some new games for the ones she didn't want. One game she picked out was a racing game with real car models instead of cartoon characters driving carts that threw turtle shells and banana peels, though the decision may have had some secondhand influence. Another game she picked out ended up being liked by Jess. It was a wrestling game, and the two played it for most of the evening. Jess was glad since it was something he could win at, beating Shelby almost every single time. If he had to get suckered in playing a video game with his cousin, he'd rather it be something not cartoon-ish. Luke ended up coming upstairs to find the two wrestling on the floor after Jess won for the tenth time in a row.
"What are you two doing?" he asked, standing over them with his hands on his sides.
It was Jess who said, "What does it look like we're doing? I'm teaching Scout some wrestling moves."
With Jess distracted, Shelby took the opportunity to pull herself free and body slammed her cousin, trying to pin him. Looking up at her dad as if trying to sound innocent, she said, "Jess keeps bea'ting me."
"You mean on your game?"
She nodded, pitifully.
"Well, kiddo, you can't win at everything. There's always gonna be someone better than you at something," Luke told her. "You beat him at your other games. Let Jess have this one."
"Okay," Shelby gave in and let Jess up. With the high school starting a week before the elementary school, Shelby had to either play alone or find something else to do.
Around lunchtime, though, she played outside, still practicing to dribble the ball under her leg without messing up or losing the ball. Every time Luke looked outside to check on her, he'd smile, seeing the determination the kid had, shaking his head.
Lorelai stopped by around one in the afternoon, which was a surprise considering she hardly stopped by around this time.
"I'm meeting someone for lunch," she explained.
"Oh," he replied with a head motion. Luke faced her once more to ask, "Kirk?"
Lorelai stared at him. "What?"
"You meeting Kirk?"
"W-why would you say that?" she asked of him.
"Well, I know he asked you out," he said. "So, I just assumed."
"How do you know he asked me out?"
"He told me."
"He told you?"
"Yesterday."
Lorelai groaned, "Oh my God."
"Relax," he told her, enjoying teasing her about it. "I think it's great."
"Why? Why would he tell you?"
"Well, actually, he came to me for a little advice," Luke admitted.
"About what?" she asked before heading over to an empty table by the door.
Luke followed to wipe off the table while they continued with their conversation. "About whether or not I thought he had a shot with ya. After all, I know ya. I've been to your house. I know whether or not you have stain-resistant rugs." He placed the menus into their holder in the center of the table.
Lorelai lowered her head as she stated, "I'm lying down now," which he continued.
"When he found out you had wood floors, he seemed very pleased." Now, with the table cleared, Luke finished wiping down the table with a rag.
She moaned in agony.
"I told him you liked movies and junk food, and of course talking incessantly. But we both agreed that there's nothing like some good lovin' to shut a person up, if you know what I mean." He pointed an elbow towards her, which Lorelai closed her eyes and just smiled.
"I'm sorry," she reached for her fork, pointing it at him, "can you bring me a sharper fork? I'm not sure this one will go all the way through your hand." Luke grabbed it away from her, forcibly.
"Okay, I know it's new, so you probably don't want to jinx it, so I won't talk about it anymore." Luke lowered himself to lean on the edge of the table, looking at her from sideways. "But I gotta tell ya, seeing that guy's face when he was talking about you," he nodded with a big smirk on his face, "he almost had an expression."
With a wave of her hand, Lorelai told him, "Far, far away from me."
Luke walked away, singing, "Love is in the air," receiving a spoon thrown at him. When he came around the counter, the phone rang. Grabbing it off its hook, Luke spoke into the phone. "Luke's Diner."
"Luke?" It was Madison calling.
"Madison?" he replied, surprised to hear from her so soon after Shelby's birthday.
"Hi," she greeted, cheerfully. "How are you?"
"I'm good, and you?" Luke smiled.
"I'm doing fantastic. How's Shelby? Has she started school yet?"
"Not yet. She starts Monday."
"I can't believe our little Shelby is gonna be in second grade already." Madison laughed at that. "It seems like only yesterday, she started preschool."
"Man, I know," he agreed, thinking the same thing when Shelby was in kindergarten when Luke first dropped her off. "I keep telling that kid to stop growing so fast," he shrugged a hand up, "but she just won't."
Both of them laughed.
"Have you met the teacher yet?" she asked.
"Not yet. They don't tell you anything until the morning of the first day. I hear there's a new teacher that just moved here so Shelby might get someone completely new that even I don't know. Still can't get over she got my old teacher last year. What are the odds of that happening?"
"In a small town like that, I would assume it would be pretty good."
"Well, yeah, but she wasn't that young when I had her, though," he shrugged and changed the subject. "So what brings your call today?"
"Oh, yes," said Madison, getting to the point of the call. "My husband and I have been doing some deep cleaning we were overdue on, and came across some home movies. Few of which would interest you and Rachel."
Luke stared at nothing in particular, confused. "Why would your home movies interest us?"
"Because they're home movies of Shelby." The moment he heard who the home movies were of, his jaw dropped. "I think the earliest I have is her first steps." That time, his heart skipped a beat, but in a good way.
"You... y-you have her first steps?" he said in awe. He was going to get to see his little girl's first steps?
"Mm-hm. Along with several other moments, including her very first day of school, actually, and her first trip to the zoo." There was a brief pause until Madison added, "I even have some tapes with Bailey. I know it might be too soon, but I thought Shelby would want to see those at some point when she's ready so she won't forget the fond memories they had."
"I'm sure she'd love that. Some friends of ours took her a couple days ago to visit her grave." Truthfully, Luke wished he could have taken Shelby. It wasn't a total loss as he was sure they could always visit again, but still. "Shelby's right outside if..."
Suddenly, he heard Lorelai suddenly raise her voice to someone. He looked over to her table to see her mother sitting with her. "Uh... if you wanted to talk." As Luke said that, Shelby hurried inside, excited about something as Madison commented on the commotion.
Just as Lorelai stormed towards the door, Shelby blurted out, "Lor-lai, guess what!"
But Lorelai scolded, "not right now, Shelby," and left in a hurry.
Shelby looked after her, hurt and confused.
Luke got her attention, "Shell," and whistled her over with a quick motion of his head. She came over, glancing back over her shoulder.
"Is Lor-lai mad a' me?"
"No, kiddo. She's not mad at you. Here," Luke held the phone out to her, letting her know it was Madison, wanting to say hello. Shelby took it, putting the phone to her ear.
"Hi," she said into the phone, shyly. There was a slight pause before Shelby said, "Good...playing bas-ka-ball..." Over the next few minutes, she gave a lot of brief responses until she finally held the phone out to him while he was refreshing the coffee. "Here, Dad."
Luke took the phone, replacing it to his ear. "Yeah."
"I think that is the first time I've held a full conversation with her," Madison said, impressed.
He felt Shelby lean against his leg, hugging it to her, and smiled down at the kid. "She sure has come a long way," he agreed.
"That she has," she replied. "Would Friday be okay to come down there? Possibly some time in the afternoon?"
"Yeah, that would be fine." Already Luke couldn't wait for Friday to arrive.
"Alright then, I will see you Friday."
"Okay," he smiled, and both said their good-byes before Luke hung up the phone, letting Shelby know Madison was stopping by. He then lifted her up onto the counter. "You okay, kiddo?"
Shelby nodded. "Yeah. Why?"
"Just making sure," he assured her. "I'm not really sure what was going on with Lorelai and her mom, but usually it's never good, and I'm sure Lorelai was probably frustrated with her and didn't mean to take it out on you. Okay?"
Again, she nodded.
Smiling, Luke asked, "You wanna tell me what had excited you when you came in?"
Brightening up, Shelby told him, "I finally drib-bowed the ball under my leg wi'ow messing up," pointing over at her basketball on the floor.
"Really? That's great, kiddo," he told her, happy for Shelby accomplishing something she had been working hard at. Luke knew how much the kid has been practicing. "Keep going and you'll be able to do it like a pro." That made Shelby smile more, showing off her dimples. She jumped down from the counter herself, stumbling forward, and used her dad's legs to keep from falling before hurrying back outside with her ball.
Luke smiled after her.
On Friday, Madison stopped by after Shelby gone upstairs after playing outside for over an hour. Luke was bringing a table, their orders when he noticed her walk in.
"Oh, hey," he greeted. "Just give me one second." Luke placed the food on a table on the other side of the diner before coming back over. Luke noticed Madison was holding a cardboard box and asked, "shall we?" motioning towards the stairs, letting her go first like a gentleman would. As he turned to follow, Luke called to Caesar he would be upstairs for a while.
The two of them made their way upstairs.
"Will Rachel be joining us?" she asked as they climbed the stairs.
"Uh, no. Rachel... Rachel left again."
Madison turned around once she reached the top, moving out of the way so Luke could step up there. "What happened?"
Luke shrugged. "It's a long story."
"I'm sorry to hear she left. How's Shelby doing with it?"
"Seems to be keeping her mind busy with basketball, reading, and her video games." He rubbed a hand along the back of his neck. "I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but back in June, Shelby came to me wanting to go to church like she used to. So I've been dropping her off every Sunday, since."
"Yeah, Shelby always did like going to our church. She never came out of the cupboard to participate, but the teacher said she would catch her watching and listening. It's good she remembers and has some faith."
Luke nodded at the floor. "I don't know much about it, but if that's what Shelby wants to do," he shrugged. Unable to stand there any longer, Luke took the box of tapes to hold it for her.
Now with her arms free, Madison placed her fists on her sides. "Have you and Rachel considered counselling?"
"Counselling?" he questioned. "No," and shook his head. "The idea of sitting in a room, on a couch, telling some stranger you're paying several dollars just so they can analyze the tiniest detail of your life... Nope."
"Well, Luke, there might be some deep rooted problem keeping Rachel from being the mom she needs to be, and it'll be good for all three of you. I can even give you the phone number to the practice where I used to take Shelby when she had court-ordered therapy."
The thought of having to sit there and talk about his personal life to some shrink did not sound all that appealing to him. "I don't know. I mean, Rachel's always wanted to get out of here and travel. That's why she's always left. Small town life wasn't for her, so she would wait until the perfect excuse to arise and take off."
"What could possibly come up that would make a person abandon their child?" she asked, staring at Luke with a confound expression.
Taking a deep breath in, first, he said, "Like I said, long story, but Shelby got upset and told Rachel to leave and said she hated her."
Madison's eyebrows rose upon hearing what Shelby had said to her mom. "Oh."
"Yeah."
"Wow. She must have really been upset. That little girl is too sweet to hate anyone."
"Yeah, I know she is, and wh..." Luke started to say it but stopped himself mid-sentence. "Rachel just took it to heart, I guess, and hasn't been back since."
Things were silence for a moment. Madison was shaking her head at nothing, her eyes closed. She opened them, lifting her head to look back up at Luke. "If you both do decide to get help on this, don't hesitate to call me, Luke. I will be happy to pass along the number."
He shrugged, "We've tried everything over the past year. Lorelai had even talked to her."
"Well, maybe bringing in a professional is what you need. I mean, Rachel can't keep coming in and out of Shelby's life, otherwise, there's not gonna be trust between them and could even damage their relationship further," Madison explained. "She either needs to stay and tough it out or..."
Luke nodded, knowing what the woman was saying. "Or close the door."
"I hate to say it, but yeah. Rachel needs to decide if she wants to fill that mom role and not take off just because Shelby gets upset." She chuckled, "if I had a nickel for every time my kids said they hated me because I wouldn't let them have something or do something, I'd be one rich lady."
Luke stared at nothing, thinking about what Madison was saying. Basically, he had made that decision for Rachel, out of protection for their daughter. He didn't want to put Shelby through that again, especially after Rachel had promised she wouldn't and made sure Shelby believed her.
Madison broke into his thoughts.
"Huh?" he snapped out of it.
"I said, are you okay?"
"Yeah," Luke nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." He raised the box in his arms a little. "Shall we?"
Madison nodded with a smile in return. "Sure." They headed inside the apartment where Shelby was playing with her toys, making her dinosaurs battle her Pokemon toys. "Is that Shelby?" she pretended to be surprised.
The kid looked up from where she was standing on her legs at the coffee table before jumping to her feet and hurried over to give the woman a hug. Madison bent over to hug the kid in return. Afterwards, she got a good look at Shelby.
"You grew!"
Shelby smiled brightly at that. She held up seven fingers with both hands.
"You're seven?"
She nodded.
"That's a wonderful age, you know." Madison chuckled. "Did your dad tell you I was bringing over some tapes I have of you?"
Shelby nodded.
Luke nodded over at the coffee table, "Go put your toys away in your toy chest so we can use the coffee table." Shelby hurried over to collect her dinosaurs first, carrying them over to where her toy chest was, setting them on the floor before opening the lid and dropped them inside. She did the same with her Pokemon toys, too.
Once the coffee table was clear, Luke set the box down and the three of them sat on the couch. Madison went through each one, reading off the labels. To say he was anxiously excited would be an understatement. Luke couldn't believe he was going to get to see more flashes of his daughter's first five years. This was one of the best things that has ever happened.
Most of the labels had specific dates, but some had titles like First Trip to The Zoo, First Day of School, even one of Shelby's T-ball games. Luke wasn't sure which one he wanted to see first.
"Ah ha!" Madison pulled one of the tapes out.
"What?" he asked, sounding somewhat eager.
She showed him the label on the side of the tape in her hand. It said Shelby's First Steps.
Shooting to his feet, Luke offered to put it in, taking the tape from her. He walked over to the TV, turning it on, and turned the channel to three, popping the tape into the VCR on top. The cartoon that was playing suddenly flashed to a blank screen. Several horizontal lines moved up the screen as Luke slowly backed away so Madison and Shelby could see. On screen, a small baby with very short brown hair was coming from around the side of a couch, wobbling on two legs. Luke stood there, mesmerized as he realized it was his little girl.
"Shelby is about eleven months here," he heard Madison say as Luke continued to watch, now having to fight back the tears.
He couldn't believe he was getting to see this, after all.
"This was at a foster home she was staying at, at the time, while I was doing my monthly visit. They said Shelby hadn't even tried this. Something caught her eye that made her get up and try walking."
"What was it?" he asked, barely glancing over at her. This was Shelby's first attempt? His little buddy got it on the first try? Seriously, what made the kid suddenly try?
His question was eventually answered after a few falls. Being a stubborn Danes, Shelby got back up and started again. On the other side of the room, sitting on top of the piano keys, was a plain blue baseball cap. Using the piano bench to catch herself, little Shelby reached up and grabbed the hat.
"Oh. I guess I forgot it was a baseball cap that got her to walk." There was a slight pause. "Luke?"
His mouth hung open a tad as he watched the video, seeing his little buddy become interested in the hat. He didn't even have his blue cap when Shelby was a baby, having received it for Christmas right before Shelby entered his life. It made him feel all choked up inside, and Luke fought with all his might not to lose it, right then and there.
The video flashed to another scene. It was the same house in the same living room, only this time, it was decorated in party decorations.
"Oh yeah, I forgot I put Shelby's first birthday on the same tape as her first steps. Her foster parents threw her a birthday party," Madison explained as a lady held little Shelby on her hip while, who Luke presumed to be her husband, brought in a cake with a lit candle. Everyone in the room started singing Happy Birthday.
Luke noticed Shelby was squirming as if trying to get down. Tears were all over her face. Well, when they could see her face. Shelby kept hiding it in her hands or looking away. He could tell she really did not want to be there, nor was she enjoying the attention.
It wasn't right! They shouldn't have had to throw his daughter a birthday party. That should have been his job. That was his kid, and this only reminded him how much Luke had missed out on Shelby's life. Her first steps. Her first birthday. Even though he wasn't a fan of birthdays, he still should have been there for it.
At that moment, the door opened. Jess came in home from school. He wandered over, looking around at the TV.
"What are you watching?" he questioned.
Luke glanced at Jess, turning back to the TV. "It's Shelby's first birthday," he nodded towards it.
Madison stood up, moving closer to the guys. "You must be Luke's nephew," she greeted Jess, holding her hand out to him.
Jess nodded towards the woman. "Hey," he returned the greeting nonchalantly, not taking the handshake.
"Jess, this is Madison. Shelby's caseworker from foster care," Luke introduced the two of them. "Madison, this is Jess." Jess didn't say much from that point on, heading over to his side of the room.
"I noticed over the phone, he doesn't seem too much of a talker like Shelby," she commented afterwards.
"It actually runs in the men in our family," Luke pointed out, "so it's surprising Shelby ended up quiet like the rest of us." Speaking of Shelby, the kid had been digging around in the box, looking at the tapes. At that point, she found one that piqued her interest and brought it over to him, holding it up. "You want to watch this one next?"
Shelby nodded.
Luke took the tape from her, reading the label. It shouldn't have been much of a surprise what the video's title was as he read the words Shelby and Bailey.
Instead of finishing the first tape, Luke ejected it and replaced it with the tape Shelby wanted to see, letting it play automatically. He stepped back so Shelby could see. The video started with the camera pointed at a four-year-old Shelby lying on her back beside a young woman Luke recognized as Bailey from the pictures. Both girls were lying on what he guessed would be Shelby's bed with Bailey holding the camera in the air, pointed at them. Madison explained how only Bailey could get Shelby to talk, so there were moments she'd let the younger woman take her camera and shoot Shelby so they could get her voice on film.
"Ready, Shelby?" Bailey asked, smiling over at the little girl.
Shelby nodded at her with her own smile.
Bailey looked directed at the camera. "This is Bailey and Shelby singing the theme to one of the greatest TV shows on the planet." She looked at Shelby, counting down from three before they started singing the Pokemon theme song. Luke could hear the sounds Shelby used to struggle with as he watched the scene, having taken a seat in the armchair.
Shelby wandered over to her dad, sitting on his leg. Luke wrapped both arms around her waist, kissing the side of her head. Just by watching, he could tell how much of a big kid Bailey was at heart, as the two girls were goofing around together.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Bailey asked once they could stop laughing after they finished singing.
Just like she had said when Luke asked, Shelby shrugged in response to Bailey.
"Come on. If you could be anything in the world, what would it be?"
Shelby looked out the corner of her eye. "Mmm..." Finally she said, "A sing-er."
Bailey chuckled. "You can't be a singer if you don't talk," she replied. "You gotta learn to speak up for yourself first."
"I no do i'," Shelby shook her head. "Only to you."
"Well then, guess you can't be a singer," Bailey shrugged.
A disappointed expression appeared on Shelby's small face. Luke couldn't help look down at his little buddy, seeing the same expression, and gave her another kiss. He heard the young woman continue.
"But you know what? You can't get anywhere in life by saying you can't do something. If you want to do something, sometimes you gotta work harder to do it. I believe you can do whatever you put your mind to."
Not only did four-year-old Shelby nod, Luke caught her nodding at the TV and couldn't help a smile. That's pretty much what he told her, a few months ago during their camping trip.
"We be bes' f'ends forever?" the younger Shelby asked Bailey.
Bailey turned onto her side, the camera shaking as she moved. She leaned closer to Shelby's face. "Always. Best friends forever. No matter how far apart we are." The little girl smiled at that.
Luke looked down to see his little buddy tearing up and tightened his hold on her in a tight embrace.
"And don't worry, kid. Somewhere out there is a family waiting for you, just you wait and see."
"Why no you be my fam-ly?"
"Hey, if I could, I'd definitely take ya, but I've got student loans to pay back after I graduate and I wouldn't want to bring a kid into something like that. Besides, I would just be getting in the way of the family waiting to make you a part of theirs."
There was a long pause between the girls.
Bailey was the one to break the silence once more. "Somebody's out there waiting for you, I know it. I bet they don't even know it, either." The young woman grinned a huge cheesy grin, making both Shelbys smile.
"Bailey always knew what to say at times like these." Luke nearly jumped out of his skin. He had forgotten Madison was in the room. The rest of the tape ended up being the subject of Pokemon, who's favorite was what, strongest one in their opinion, etc. Shelby watched with moist eyes, now missing her first friend.
They watched a few other tapes, as well. Bailey was in a few of the most recent ones. There was one where Shelby was two, hiding in a playhouse tent while Madison's kids played in the upstairs' play area. From what Luke could see, the kid seemed to have always been shy and fearful of the world, and couldn't help wonder had Shelby been with him from the start, would she still been that way? The earliest memory he had of his childhood went all the way back to when he was three, and even then, it was very vague. Luke had been of the quiet nature, barely speaking unless he had to. Thinking extra hard, he tried to remember more. One memory occurred to him. Luke had to have been four or five, though he wasn't sure. But he recalled hiding behind his mom on at least one occasion. But wasn't that an usual kid thing to do, especially when something frightened them?
Then, with that one memory, more followed. When his mom was around, he did cling to her like Shelby would cling to him, sometimes. Later, after she passed, it passed to his own dad until he got older. Though he wouldn't cling to him, he remained close to the man, being there when William needed him. Maybe what he had said to Rachel was right. Maybe Shelby really was more like him than he thought.
It got late where Madison had to leave, leaving the box of tapes for Luke. He and Shelby both walked her out, saying good-bye. While waving Madison off, it was Shelby who noticed Lorelai standing outside of Doose's, talking to Kirk. When Kirk walked away, Shelby looked up at her dad for the say-so before shyly making her way over.
Lorelai noticed the little girl coming over while she was scanning her surroundings and turned around to face her, greeting her, happily. "Hey, sweetheart," meeting Shelby, halfway.
With how quiet and a way's away from him, Luke couldn't hear what the kid said, but seemed like she was double-checking to make sure Lorelai wasn't mad at her.
"Uh huh, I'm not mad at you. Why would I be mad?" Eventually, Luke came over and reminded Lorelai of the other day's event, pointing out he knew it wasn't directed towards his kid and how Shelby got caught in the line of fire.
She turned back to Shelby and kneeled to her level. "Sweetheart, I'm sorry for snapping at you like that. I was upset and needed to get out of there, and wasn't thinking straight. But I promise it had nothing to do with you, I swear. Sometimes my mother just makes me really frustrated, that's all." She paused for a moment before Lorelai asked, "Okay?"
Shelby nodded, holding onto the bottom of her navy blue and white sleeveless, polyester shirt in her fists. She then took a step towards Lorelai and hugged her around the neck.
Lorelai hugged her in return.
The hug was brief since Rory had returned.
This time it was obvious the younger of the Gilmore girls was upset. Rory was kinder when she greeted Shelby, at least.
The four parted company letting them head home while Luke and Shelby headed inside and told her to get ready for bed. However, when Jess returned, he too didn't seem any chipper than Rory was. He tried asking about it but didn't get an answer other than "nothing." So, Luke just asked him to help close up before they headed upstairs for the night where surprisingly somehow Shelby cheered him up.
Yes, not even Jess Mariano could resist this kid's charm. The power the kid possessed was astounding.
