Two Mothers, Two Fathers, One Little Girl
Chapter 19 - Two Mothers, Two Fathers, One Little Girl
On Lily's fifth birthday, she asked whether everyone could come to the park. Everyone meant Rebecca and James, Adrian, Emma and June, Aunt Emma's friends, and Miriam, who traveled from Wisconsin with a hand-knitted scarf.
They gathered beneath trees whose leaves had begun turning gold. Lily ran between picnic blankets with a paper crown falling over one eye. Adrian brought a cake decorated with rabbits. James brought the kite Lily loved. Rebecca remembered the extra napkins.
At the end of the party, Lily pulled Adrian aside. "Can I call you Papa Adrian?"
He knelt so they were eye to eye. "You can call me anything that feels right to you."
"Then Papa Adrian," she said and hugged him.
His world stopped for a moment. He wrapped his arms around her gently.
Later, she asked to see another photograph of Mama Rose. Adrian showed her the one where Rose was laughing in the enormous sunhat. Lily laughed too.
"She looks silly."
"She was very good at being silly," Adrian said.
The girl touched the picture carefully. "I wish she could come."
May you like
"Me too, sweetheart."
They sat together until Lily was ready to run back to her party.
