one last try » taylor swift

Ten

Grace

Taylor left me all alone.

I cried for a long, long time, and the only way Mr. Mark could get me to calm down was to promise me that I could call Taylor in a little while.

I was still sniffling when he came back in the room.

"Grace?" He asked.

I looked up from the coloring book he had given me.

"I got in contact with the general in charge of your father, and he has given your father permission to video call you for 15 minutes," he explained.

"I can talk to my Daddy?" I asked.

I never got to talk to him when he left.

He nodded.

He opened a laptop on the table in front of me, and spent a couple minutes clicking buttons.

Then, he aimed it towards me, and it started ringing.

When the ringing stopped, Daddy's face filled the screen.

"Daddy!" I screamed.

"Gracie, I miss you so much," he said.

"I miss you too," I said.

"So, I heard what happened..." He said, his voice getting quieter. "About mom."

I stayed quiet.

"Is it true that she hurt you?" He asked.

I nodded.

"I'm so sorry, Grace..." He said.

"Daddy?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"Are you gonna come home soon? So you can take care of me?" I asked.

"I'm afraid not, pumpkin. I'm here for the rest of the year," he said.

I sighed.

"So do I get to stay with Taywor?" I asked, hoping I could.

"Who's Taylor?" He asked, confused.

"She's the nice woman who took cawe of me," I explained. "She has funny fwiends too."

"Oh, um, I don't know, Grace. I don't know who she is, I'd rather have the state find a suitable foster family for you to stay with," he said.

"But I love Taywor!" I protested.

My dad looked up.

"Mr. Andrews?" He asked.

"Yes?" He said from beside me.

"Who is Taylor? Have you met her? What is she like?" My daddy questioned.

"Sir, this might sound hard to believe, but the Taylor she's talking about is Taylor Swift," Mark said.

My daddy's eyes went wide.

"Oh my gosh," he said.

"So can I stay with hew?" I asked again.

"Grace, Taylor is a very busy person. She has to travel a lot, and you don't want to be a bother to her," he said. "She is a very nice woman, but I don't know if she'll have time to take care of you."

I looked down at my lap.

"I'm a bothew to Taywor?" I asked, suddenly feeling like crying.

"I think what we're going to have to do is find you a very nice family to live with until I get back, okay? I'm going to try very hard to come back to visit for a day or two, but I won't be able to stay," my Daddy said.