Derek smiled. "Meredith, I picked up a marriage application today, and we have to complete it before a notary public tomorrow if we want to get married on Sunday. The application is due at least three days before the ceremony. I figure Sunday will be day three and okay."

"We can complete it today, and then I can go with you to get it notarized at lunch tomorrow."

"That's a good plan. Now, why don't you show Chrissy your ring?"

Meredith met Derek's eyes and smiled. Of course, he wanted to see her wear the ring. "Chrissy, do you want to see Mommy's engagement ring?"

"Yes, where is it?"

"It's in my bedroom. Come with me, and I'll show you." Meredith and Chrissy disappeared upstairs.

"So what is your plan for Meredith's father?" asked Carolyn as soon as she heard the bedroom door close.

"I'm going to go talk to him tomorrow. He should come to the wedding. I can be very persuasive."

"Yes, you can be."

"I have to be. I also have to tell my sisters and Mark about my wedding when they can only attend by video. I'll send them an email tonight. That's so much easier than calling them!"

"Derek, you're going to have to talk to your sisters."

"I may not have time until after the wedding. You can talk to them."

"Derek, it's your wedding. You walked Kathy, Nancy, and Liz down the aisle; they will want to be here for you."

"They got to go to my first wedding. And we want to limit Chrissy's exposure to germs, and there's no time for them to come."

"We'll see." Carolyn was a bit concerned that her daughters would show up uninvited.

"Don't encourage them to come, Mom. I promised Meredith this would be a small wedding."

"Adding your four sisters wouldn't make it large."

"Mom, no sisters, no Mark. But you get to come."

"Okay, Derek, but you have to explain this to your sisters and Mark."

Meanwhile, Meredith took the ring box out of her sock drawer and showed it to Chrissy. Then she opened the ring box and showed her the ring.

"It's beautiful, Mommy."

"It's a special ring because Daddy's father gave it to Grandma when he asked her to marry her. It's what's called a family heirloom."

"Can I have it when I get married?"

Meredith laughed. She was thrilled that Chrissy was thinking that there would come a time when she might get married. "Well, usually it's the boy who chooses the ring. But we'll see. Let's go downstairs, and I'll ask Daddy to put it on my finger."

"Okay, Mommy." Chrissy ran down the stairs, with Meredith following. "Daddy, you gave mommy a very pretty ring. Can I see you put it on her finger?"

"Sure, sweetie," Derek responded with a smile. He met Meredith's eyes, and she put the ring in his hand. He then put the ring on her finger. Carolyn and Chrissy clapped their hands to show their approval.

Then they heard a knock at the door. Meredith opened the door, and Cristina walked in. "So what's up, Mer? Why did I need to come to dinner tonight?"

"Aunt Cristina, Mommy and Daddy are getting married," Chrissy announced. "Daddy gave mommy a pretty ring. Mommy says it's an airloom."

"That's wonderful," said Cristina. "I think I won the pool."

"What pool?" asked Chrissy.

"I knew your mommy and daddy were getting married, so I placed a bet. And I think I won."

"What's a bet?"

"It's not important," said Meredith. "But it's nice that Cristina is joining us for our engagement party."

"When's the wedding?"

"Sunday."

"Good." Cristina understood the reason for the timing. "And is my goddaughter going to be a flower girl?"

"Yes, Aunt Cristina. I'm going to be a flower girl. Do you want to help choose my dress?"

"I think Aunt Izzie will want to do that."

"But you can help. You have style."

Everyone cracked up at that remark. "Don't I have style?" asked Meredith.

"No, Mommy. But you're beautiful, and I love you."

"I love your mommy's style," said Derek.

"That's because you're a sap," explained Cristina. "Mer's my best friend, but I know she has no style."

"I think she has great style," responded Derek, thinking of the beautiful black dress she wore on the day they met at Joe's.

Before Cristina could respond, Izzie and Alex walked into the house. As soon as she saw them, Chrissy began jumping up and down with excitement. "Aunt Izzie, Uncle Alex, mommy and daddy are getting married, and Aunt Izzie, you're going to help me find a pretty dress."

Izzie and Alex looked at Meredith and Derek, who were both smiling. "Congratulations," they said in unison.

"Thanks," Meredith and Derek responded.

"The wedding is Sunday," explained Meredith.

"That's very soon," said Izzie.

"We know," Meredith said softly, looking at Chrissy.

"A short engagement is great. No time for your mother-in-law to shave your eyebrows," commented Cristina.

"Shave eyebrows?" asked Carolyn.

"Nothing you would do," said Meredith. She didn't want to go into detail on Cristina's engagement and her arguments with Burke's mother with Carolyn.

"There's a lot to do," said Izzie.

"I've already gotten the application for a marriage license, and most of the guests are here now. It's going to be a very small wedding. I need to talk to Bailey about doing the ceremony, and arrange for a video hook-up so my sisters can watch."

"But Meredith needs a dress and Chrissy needs a dress, and you need a cake and food."

"We can do it by Sunday," said Meredith. "Anything we can't get done, we'll just live without."

"I need a dress, Mommy."

"We're going to find you a beautiful dress, Chrissy. We're going to have dinner, and then we'll write a to-do list, and the first thing on the list will be finding a beautiful dress for Chrissy."

"I'm happy to help with that," said Izzie. "And I'll bake the wedding cake. It's a small wedding, so I can do it."

"Thanks, Izzie. Your cakes are delicious. And we can order dinner from our favorite Italian restaurant. They do take-out," commented Meredith.

"That's a great idea," said Carolyn. "And I'll arrange for flowers."

"Flowers?" asked Meredith.

"Yes, every wedding should have pretty flowers," responded Carolyn. "And the flower girl needs flowers."

"Yes, I need pretty flowers," shouted Chrissy.

Derek and Meredith smiled at each other; they were happy to see Chrissy participating in the wedding planning. "Okay, but I want this wedding to be simple."

"Meredith, it will be simple but beautiful," said Izzie.

"Can we start looking for dresses for me?"

"After dinner, Chrissy."

After dinner, Chrissy sat on the sofa in-between Izzie and Cristina and began to look at dresses. "Mommy's favorite color is purple, light purple. I want light purple for my dress."

"What's your favorite color?" asked Izzie.

"It's Mommy's wedding, so we should have light purple for my dress."

Izzie went on the Nordstrom's cite and found three possibilities.

"I don't like them," announced Chrissy. "Give me more choices."

Izzie giggled, and started looking for additional stores.

Meredith grabbed Derek and brought him into the study. "Derek, I know you're planning on talking to my father. I've thought about him a lot today. I decided that I don't want him at our wedding, so don't go and ask him to come."

"Why have you been thinking about him?"

"I went to see Darla's dad. I know you wanted to come with me, but Alice assured him he wouldn't be violent, so I thought it would be best if I went there myself. And it was fine. He just couldn't deal with losing his daughter, whom he appears to love very much. His office is filled with photos of her. He obviously spent a lot of time with her before she got sick."

"If you could go talk to him, why shouldn't I talk to your dad?"

"She's a four year old girl who is dying of cancer, Derek, and she wants her dad. She deserves to have her dad with her, to feel loved by her before she dies. I'm not four, and I'm not dying."

Derek bit his tongue. He knew he could say that Chrissy could be dying, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.

Meredith knew what Derek was thinking. "And Chrissy never met the man. Him being at our wedding is not going to make a difference for her. And I know that he was happy to be there for Molly's wedding. Molly told me about her wedding day when she was hospitalized, long before she knew I was her sister. He walked her down the aisle at the wedding, and he cried because he was so proud of her. She told me that she'd never seen him cry before. So my dad knows how to be a good dad. He's been a good dad for both Molly and Lexie. He chose to forget about me. He never sent me any letters or even any birthday cards after my mother and I moved to Boston. When I stopped by his house after I moved to Seattle, he didn't even invite me in. He asked me if I needed anything, but I was tongue-tied. I couldn't tell him that what I wanted was an apology for being a bad dad."

"But I can."

"Derek, it's not meaningful to me if you have to drag it out of him. He lived here in this house with me when I was a little girl. Susan has been here. He could find me easily if he wanted to."

"Sometimes people need a push."

"Don't you think Susan has tried to push him? And I'm willing to be that Mark and Lexie tried, too. But he has stayed away from me and from Chrissy even though he's known for months that Chrissy is sick. She's his granddaughter just as much as Molly's daughter, but he has refused to go near her or me. "

"I know. You're a great mom, and he stinks as a dad. But you deserve a dad."

"Look, if he wanted to be there, fine, but he doesn't. And I know he doesn't. Knowing he was dragged there unwillingly would make me feel bad on our wedding day, which should be one of the happiest days of my life." Meredith looked into Derek's eyes. "You love me, and I love you, and that's what we're celebrating at our wedding. For me, it's a miracle that you love me. I didn't tell you about Chrissy, yet you love me. I want to focus on you, and I don't need Thatcher Grey to be dragged to my wedding."

"Is it okay if I talk to him about visiting Chrissy with Susan on another day?"

"Knock yourself out, Derek. But don't expect him to come."

"I just don't understand how a dad could ignore such a wonderful daughter."

"That's because you're you, a guy who flew 3000 miles to donate his bone marrow to a child he didn't know but thought might be his daughter. You're a good guy, Derek, and my dad's not, at least for me. The sad thing is I know he's a great father to his other two daughters, but that's about him and maybe about my mom. But I was a kid, and he abandoned me. I don't want to be thinking about abandonment on my wedding day."

"Is it okay if he's invited to watch the video?"

"Sure. I won't know whether or not he watched. That's fine."

"Okay. Now I'm going to write an email to my sisters and tell them I'm getting married."

"Good luck, Derek. If you want, we can have a party in a year when it's okay for Chrissy to be in a crowd. Then she can meet the whole family."

"That's a great idea, Meredith."

"Thanks. I'm going to check on the dress search.

Derek sat down and begin writing the email:

Dear Kathy, Nancy, Liz, Amy, and Mark,

I'm inviting you to join me Meredith and me on Sunday at 5 p.m. via a video link to watch our wedding. I'm very excited that Meredith has agreed to marry me, but, because of circumstances that you know, we need to keep the in-person ceremony very small. Mom will be representing the Shepherds, all of you, and Chrissy is very excited about being our flower girl. She's going to be gorgeous! Please join us via video link. And, if all goes well, we'll have a big party to celebrate our one-year anniversary, and you'll all be invited to come to that party.

Love,

Derek

Meredith found that Cristina, Izzie, and Chrissy had found three possible dresses for Chrissy, and Izzie had ordered them for delivery on Friday, so Chrissy would get a choice. "Mer, I'm also going to stop at some of the bridal stores to see what they have. Now what about your dress?"

"I want something really simple. Let's look online." Meredith sat down beside Chrissy, and they looked for very simple dresses. Meredith quickly zeroed in on two possibilities, one long and one short, and ordered them for delivery on Friday. "We're going to have fun trying on dresses, Chrissy."

"Don't you have a doctor's appointment on Friday?" asked Cristina.

"Yes, and we'll come home afterward and try on dresses. Carolyn will be here to accept deliveries." Meredith turned to Chrissy and said, "Now it's time for bed. Say good night to everyone."

"Good night, everyone."

"Chrissy, use their names."

"Good night Grandma, Good night Alex and Izzie and Cristina." They all replied, "Good night Chrissy." She then went into the study and said, "Good night Daddy."

Derek got up and hugged her and kissed her. "Good night, sweetheart."

"Now you're marrying Mommy, will you sleep with Mommy?"

Meredith and Derek looked at each other. "I can sleep in the trundle bed until we get married, if that's what you want."

"What do you want, Daddy?"

"I'm happy to sleep in the trundle in your room."

"But when you're married, you'll move in with Mommy."

"Yes."

"That's okay."

Meredith smiled. "I'm glad you approve."