❝𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐
𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚍?❞

When Melody was in the first grade, she met Rory and Lane, who were already established friends. However, Rory and Lane decided to reach a hand out and left Melody into their little friendship duo, turning it into a trio.

However, when Melody was nine, the unthinkable happened. One day, Mel's mother dropped her off for a sleepover with Rory and Lane.

When Sunday rolled around, Mel and Lorelai waited all day for Mel's mother to return, but she never did.

So, Rory and Mel were excited for another night, but Lorelai was confused. She tried to get a hold of Mel's parents to pick Mel up, but they never answered. 

So, Mel stayed an extra night since they were on summer vacation. The next day Lorelai had Mel pack up her clothes and took her home, but no one was in the drive way, and the window curtains were gone. When they looked through the windows, the living room and kitchen were empty. When Lorelai tried the door, it was locked.

Lorelai was immensely horrified at the sight, because Mel didn't seem to understand the situation they were in.

"Do you know where they went?" asked Mel.

"No, honey, I don't," Lorelai replied, just as confused and a bit horrified. Where did Mel's parents go? Why did they just leave Mel behind?

Maybe they were coming to get her. Yeah. That had to be it.

"Maybe they're coming back to get you," Lorelai told the girl. 

"Maybe," Mel muttered back. 

So Lorelai took Mel to get ice cream and once they returned, Rory was confused but also happy that Mel gets to stay for another night. 

Lorelai, however, was troubled by Mel's empty house. Where did Mel's parents go? Why didn't they take Mel with them? Why did they move without telling Mel? 

They had to come back to get Mel. Right?

Wrong.

When Lorelai checked the mail while both girls ate cereal, Lorelai got a manila envelope. After opening it, she found Mel's birth certificate and her social security card in it, along with a check that had a very large amount money on it.

Lorelai felt her heart drop at the sight of the items.

Mel's parents were not coming back for her.

The smart thing to do would be to take Mel down to the police station, and let CPS handle it.

But Lorelai glanced back at Mel. 

Mel is a pretty girl. 

Lorelai shuddered at the thought of what would happen to poor Mel in the foster system. She had the same fears towards Rory when she thought about cops coming in and taking Rory away from her because of their living conditions. 

But Lorelai never said that she made good decisions. 

So, she decided to finish raising Mel alongside Rory as Rory's sister.

The first time that Lorelai brought Mel over to Hartford, it was Easter. Sure, it could've been during Christmas, but Richard and Emily were busy that day.

Emily and Richard had been surprised to see Mel because they didn't know that an extra kid was going to be there.

"Hi, this is Mel," Lorelai said to her parents. To Mel, she said, "Mel, this is Emily and Richard."

Mel seemed very shy at first, "Hi."

"She's my sister," Rory added, grinning widely.

While Richard tried to get acquainted with Mel, Emily took Lorelai aside and said, "I didn't know you were going to adopt another kid, especially when you have Rory to look after."

"I didn't know I was going to adopt her either, but her parents were the ones who left her behind when they suddenly moved in the middle of the night," Lorelai explained. "And I couldn't let her go into foster care. I mean, look at her. She's not cut out for foster care."

Emily looked over to see Richard handing over a section of newspaper to Mel and a pen. Emily gave Lorelai a look.

"Look, she doesn't have any grandparents, they died before she was born, and she doesn't have any other relatives," Lorelai explained. "And her parents took off in the middle of the night, leaving her at my place. I just couldn't let that poor girl get abused in foster care or get neglected because she comes with a paycheck. Listen, I spent months listening and holding that little girl while she's crying herself to sleep because she's wondering why she wasn't good enough to make her parents stay."

And then Emily and Richard had made it their mission to act like the grandparents that Mel deserved.

❝𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚜
𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚍𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚌𝚛𝚢.❞