A Father's Love

Chapter 13

Once everyone had their certificates, the students did one last song, saying good-bye to kindergarten and welcoming first grade before Darla dismissed the class.

Shelby rushed over to her dad to show him, her "diploma."

Luke lifted her up and kissed her cheek. "I am so proud of you, kiddo."

"Me, too, peanut," Rachel said, and also reached up to kiss her cheek.

"Congratulations, Shelby," Rory told her.

"How about the five of us go out to dinner tonight to celebrate Shelby's big day," Luke suggested. The girls agreed. Later that evening, they met at the restaurant and had dinner together.

Shelby ended up, wanting to sit in between Lorelai and Rory, playing Rory at Tic Tac Toe. Rory went easy on her until Shelby started wining, several times and made it, harder, to give Shelby a challenge.

Since Shelby was only speaking softly in their ears, Lorelai turned it into a game. One of them would send a message to the other through Shelby. Depending on if the kid heard right or not, and they could not repeat it, the other would either get it or some crazy message that Shelby thought she heard. A few times, Lorelai gave a crazy one, making sure Shelby heard right to make it seem like she heard wrong. It was the Gilmore version of the Telephone game.

The other two couldn't help watch in confused amusement.

Finally, Luke had to ask. "What are you three doing?"

"Playing a game," Rory replied just before Shelby gave her the next message. "I have smelly feet?" She gave the little girl a quizzical look, and looked over at her mom, who snickered. Rory was catching on to her mom's strategy.

The girls let the other two join in. If the phase got too weird for him, Luke would try to back out, stating he was not saying it, even if it was a whisper. Shelby would scoot halfway under the table to try to give her dad a kick in the leg. It was never hard. She never wanted to hurt him, but it was enough to get Luke to cooperate. The important thing was, he knew Shelby wasn't trying to kick him.

While waiting for dessert, Shelby had leaned against Lorelai, eventually dozing off, tired. Luke ended up asking for the dessert, to go. Once he paid, the group left the restaurant with Luke carrying a sleeping Shelby. The kid was still wearing her paper cap, which was now slightly smashed from leaning against Lorelai.

The group parted ways for their vehicles and headed for their homes.

Back at the apartment, Luke laid Shelby down in her bed, removing her shoes and jacket.

"Thanks," he said, after a while of pure silence.

Rachel looked over at him. "For what?" she asked.

"For helping Shelby with her homework and getting her all those books." Luke glanced at the floor. "When her teacher from her old school told me, she was too far behind to move on to first grade, I got worried."

"I barely did anything," she shrugged. "Shelby's a smart kid." Rachel watched their daughter, sleep. "It's also because of you that made it possible."

Luke also watched Shelby. "It's hard to believe this is the same kid who wouldn't get out of the car the day we met."

"You're a great dad, Luke. That's why."

He inaudibly chuckled at the floor.

"I mean it. Shelby talks about you constantly, especially on our walks. She lights up whenever you're mentioned."

"Really?" Luke looked over at Rachel, surprised to hear how much Shelby talks about him.

She gave him a nod. "Yes, really, and she got really sad when you started disappearing." Rachel switched her gaze to the floor this time.