Officer Shepherd✔️

My Father

DEREK

Amelia left a few hours ago. Meredith is still sitting next to me and she's reading on her phone.

"what got you into reading?" I ask her, pulling her body closer to mine.

"The school library," she says.

"How old were you?" I ask.

"eight," she answers.

I watch as her eyes start to fall shut. "you're still tired?" I whisper in her ear, kissing her head.

"Mmm, ever since I've woken up I've still been tired,"

"You wanna go to bed," I ask.

"No, the last time we did that I couldn't walk back to bed," she says.

"You said you wanted to do that more often," I say.

"I do, just maybe not with your nieces and nephews down here," she says.

"What's wrong with his nieces and nephews?" One of my other sisters ask.

"Nothing, just don't want them to hear something that they shouldn't be hearing," I say before Meredith can answer.

"Why? She can't talk for herself, is she your pet? And it's not like they didn't hear it earlier," Nancy says.

"Well, there's no way they're going to hear it from their parents so they should hear it from someone, or else how will they know how children are created?" I say.

"did you go to college?" she asks Meredith.

"yes," she answers.

"Which one?"

"Nancy," I say sternly.

"it's just a question,"

"Dartmouth," Meredith answers.

"Wow... not bad," she says.

"Nancy, you didn't even go to college, how would you know what's bad," I say. she shrugs.

I see Meredith shift uncomfortably before she turns to face me.

"she's harmless, I promise," I say.

"I know, I'm just tired," she whispers laying her head on my shoulder.

"eat before you sleep," I tell her.

"I'm not hungry," she mumbles.

"You haven't eaten anything today," I say. "I don't want to," she says. "Meredith... are you still upset about earlier today... with the test?" I whisper so no one can hear.

"A little, maybe that's why I'm not hungry," she says. "You should try and eat something, not a lot, just a little," I tell her.

"Maybe," she says before closing her eyes again.

****
After dinner.

Meredith didn't eat much. She thanked my mother and talked a bit about her job with my father.

It was starting to get late all the little kids were falling asleep. Meredith said she was going to go take a shower.

My sisters helped my mother clean the dishes and put everything away. I thought about what Meredith said on the way here.

I looked outside the sliding door as my father sat on the chair drinking beer.

I walked outside and prepared myself for the worst.

****
MEREDITH

I finished my shower and got dressed in a nice but comfortable dress. I went downstairs to see if I could find Derek.

As I walked into the living room a little girl walked up to me. "Can you hold me?" She asked, tiredly as she put her arms in the air.

I thought maybe she was lost and had mistaken me for her mother. "Honey, I'm not your mommy, do you want me to help you find your mommy?" I asked,  crouching down to her level.

"No, my mommy left. Can you take me please?" She says still holding her arms in the air, her eyes closed from tiredness the entire time.

"Of course," I say before lifting her into my arms. I placed her on my hip as she wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck.

"Can you tell me something first before you fall asleep?" I whisper to her. "Hmm?" She hums. "What's your name?" I ask.

"Grace," she says. "Very pretty name, Grace," I say before letting her fall asleep with her head on my shoulder.

I don't see many people inside. All the adults are gone with most of the kids other than four asleep on the couches minus the one I'm holding.

Carolyn is still in the kitchen whilst I look for Derek. "Have you seen Derek?" I ask her. "Yes, he's outside with his father," she says.

"He's actually talking to him?" I ask a bit surprised. I didn't think he would when I told him he should. "Yes, is that weird?" She asks with a bit of a laugh.

"No, I just didn't think he would," I say walking over to the sliding door and watching as they both spoke incoherently.

"And why's that?" She asks looking up at me as she's now moved to the table close to the sliding door where I'm standing.

"I-I don't know if I should, Derek didn't say whether you knew or not and I don't want to say anything if I wasn't supposed to," I say. She nods understandingly.

"Who's that you've got?" She asks changing the subject as she wipes the table down with a damp tablecloth.

"Grace. When she came up to me I thought she had mistaken me for her mother," I say. "I'd highly doubt that. You can Nancy don't look very similar," she says.

"This is Nancy's daughter?" I ask in a softer voice. "Yes, did you not know?" She asks. "No, but I don't think she'll remember anything when she wakes up tomorrow. I don't think Nancy likes me very much," I say.

She sighs. "Nancy doesn't like anyone very much, I'm not sure why but she's always been her own person and she always liked it that way, I'm surprised she had as many children as she did," she says.

"How many children does Nancy have, I'm sure Derek told me but I'm also pretty sure I was half asleep at four in the morning when he told me," I say.

"She has four. Why were you two up at four in the morning?" She asks. "I was nervous and couldn't fall asleep and Derek tried talking to me to make me less nervous but instead his voice just bored me to sleep," I giggle. She laughs.

"Derek loves his sisters, Nancy is and him or more of a tough-love situation but he does love them, especially their children. He's the only biological uncle they have and he never grew up with a brother so he enjoys the time he gets with his nephews," she says.

"I can see that," I say. I frown a bit as I see Derek's facial expressions go from a small smile to a frown before he looks into his lap and plays with his watch a bit, pretending to look at the time.

He says something before he goes to stand up. "He should know I was here," I say before I walk out of the kitchen.

I walk back into the living room and sit down on one of the empty sofas. I grab a small blanket and pillow. I place the pillow at the end of the couch and lay Grace down gently.

She stirs a bit before falling back asleep as I push the blond hair out of her face and lay the blanket over her gently.

I sit down on the other side of the couch and wait for Derek to come inside and tell me what happened.