CHAPTER 6 – THE QUESTIONS
They stayed at the cemetery for nearly an hour.
The sun rose higher, turning the damp grass gold. Distant visitors moved between rows of stones, blurred and quiet. Margaret eventually picked up the white lilies and laid them carefully at the base of Daniel’s gravestone. Claire watched, still holding Lily, still unsure whether she had brought a gift or reopened a wound.
Margaret had questions.
So many questions.
She asked them slowly, as if afraid of frightening Claire away.
How far along had Claire been when Daniel died?
Did he know the baby was a girl?
Had they chosen the name together?
Was Claire safe?
Did she have help?
Did she have enough money?
Had the hospital treated her well?
Could she see a photo of Daniel holding the ultrasound?
Claire answered what she could.
Daniel did not know Lily was a girl. They had planned to find out together, but the appointment came after the funeral. The name Lily came from Daniel’s favorite flowers and from the bouquet he used to buy his mother. Claire had one ultrasound photo with Daniel’s handwriting on the back: Tiny troublemaker.
Margaret held the photo like it might disappear.
“I didn’t know this existed,” she whispered.
“I should have told you.”
“Yes,” Margaret said gently. “You should have.”
Claire flinched.
Margaret continued, “And I should have known my son was happy enough to be hiding something beautiful.”
That surprised a laugh out of Claire, small and wet.
Margaret smiled faintly. “He was terrible at secrets when he was young. He once tried to hide a broken lamp by placing a plant in front of it. The plant had no leaves.”
Claire laughed again.
The sound changed the cemetery.
Not because grief vanished.
Because Daniel became real in a new way. Not only dead son. Not only lost love. But a man who broke lamps, bought lilies, cried at pregnancy tests, and left behind a daughter whose tiny fingers had begun to curl around the edge of her blanket.
Margaret looked at Claire. “Will you come home with me?”
Claire went still.
Margaret added quickly, “For breakfast. Only if you want. I won’t pressure you. I just… I don’t want this morning to end at the grave.”
Claire looked down at Lily.
The baby slept on.
May you like
For the first time in months, Claire imagined sitting at a kitchen table where Daniel’s name could be spoken without breaking the room.
“Yes,” she said.
