"Dad's coming this afternoon right?" Kyra asks, staring at her father as he adjusts Lydia, her youngest sister, into her high chair. "He's not going to miss my graduation is he?"
Louis grabs Lydia's sippy cup from the kitchen table, setting it down on the platform before her. "There we are bub. Apple juice!" he cheers, bopping the end of her tiny nose.
Kyra sighs loudly. "Papa."
"Yes dear?" he asks, turning to face her. His face shows no recognition of what she's asked moments prior. He's not exactly forgetful, but he's not exactly attentive either. It's more of a distraction ordeal to be honest. Between the recording company, his three daughters, travel, and his ill-fated husband it sometimes feels as though his head is spinning in precisely four different directions at once.
"Is Dad coming to my graduation?" she sounds annoyed, which isn't an uncommon tone for her. Out of their three daughters, one being a little over two, one recently turning ten, and then freshly aged sixteen year old Kyra, she is the one who retains a major sense of superiority - and Louis doesn't know where it comes from. It isn't as though he or Harry are materialistic people despite all the wealth and estate guaranteed to them. They've never instilled in the girls to mock others for what they may lack.
"Oh I don't know, love. He hasn't been feeling very well these last few days, and I don't want him pushing himself." As he speaks, he moves to the cupboard, standing on his tiptoes to retrieve a half empty box of Lucky Charms cereal. Pulling it down and setting it on the shelf, he searches for a plastic bowl to dump a portion of them in.
Kyra forces a scoff. "Right. Well he can just come the next time I graduate secondary school." she huffs, sarcastic.
Louis ceases his efforts to locate a bowl. He faces her yet again, leaning back against the counter, arms crossed defensively over his chest. "You understand it's not his fault, don't you?"
"It never is." she says, sharp.
"You can't blame him for having a neurological imbalance, Kyra." he argues, drawing in a deep breath before he continues, "I understand you're angry about the way things have played out. Hell, I've been taking care of him since I was eighteen years old, and as much as I want to be angry with certain things, there's nothing anyone can do. We can't fix it, and I've learned to love every aspect that is your father, you should to."
Kyra glances at Lydia, and her nose scrunches with the realization of the time her younger sister has left under the reigns of this household, "He can't do anything right. He's never seen one of my freaking dance competitions -"
"Watch your tone." Louis warns, meeting her wary eyes with stern ones. "He's seen every single one of your dance competitions. I've always brought home the DVD's for him to watch. You don't give your dad enough credit babe. He's a great person and he tries so hard, harder than I do, for you girls." Finally, he reposes himself to get to dumping the cereal into the bowl so Lydia can munch on her breakfast while he starts cooking for the older occupants of his home.
Kyra shakes her head. "But you don't have to try."
"Yes I do, all parents do, but your dad - he does more for you girls than most parents. He's always home, cooking meals for you, helping you with homework, buying you whatever you want, supporting you, so I guess I don't understand why you're so angry with him." Louis expresses, setting Lydia's breakfast down in front of her. She giggles, bouncing in her seat, as Louis ruffles her mass of red hair.
He thinks it's endearing how similar she looks to Doris when his she was a baby. Now, Doris and her twin Ernie are in their early twenties. Doris is the newest face to appear on the Victoria's Secret catwalk with her stunning curly red hair and piercing blue eyes while Ernie chose a more mundane route, currently attending school for a career in Chemical Engineering. He's similar to Fizzy in the area of intelligence as she's a renown public speaker and author nowadays.
