Chapter 6 - Lily’s Name Made Helen Worse
We named our daughter:
Lily Margaret Ellis.
Lily because Daniel and I liked it.
Margaret because:
me.
Not Helen.
Not Rebecca.
Not family history.
But years earlier, Rebecca had once told Mom:
“If I have a daughter, I like Lily.”
Casual conversation.
She had also liked:
Grace,
Anna,
Maya.
Helen remembered:
Lily.
When we announced the name, Mom called me privately.
“You can’t use that.”
I laughed.
“What?”
“Rebecca chose it.”
I called my sister immediately.
“Did you?”
Rebecca groaned.
“Oh my God.”
“Do you want the name?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Then:
“I told Mom I liked it six years ago.”
“So?”
“Apparently she notarized the conversation in her brain.”
I laughed.
Rebecca laughed.
Done.
Except:
Helen did not accept it.
She began referring to the baby as:
“your daughter”
instead of:
Lily.
Then:
“the baby.”
Then one night Dad heard:
“Rebecca’s baby should have had that name.”
That was the first time James later admitted he felt:
afraid.
Not merely annoyed.
May you like
He still did not tell me.
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