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***This is my first ever fanfic. It's very sweet, so those of you who don't like that kind of thing, steer clear. You have been warned. For those of you who do like it...be gentle. :)***



"Tell me again, Momma. Tell me about my name."

Catherine Parker looked into her daughter's blue eyes, and gently stroked her
her hair, her face. "Sure, baby. Go get the album and then come sit by me."

The little girl brought back a photo album, its cover edged in vibrant
tropical flowers. "Here you go, Momma." She climbed up on the couch next to
her mother. Catherine slid an arm around her daughter, gently kissing her
soft, fine hair. She placed her other hand on the album, but did not
open it, not yet. The girl shivered a little; her mother always started the
story this way.

"Well, let's see..." The little girl snuggled in closer, breathing in her
mother's perfume as her voice took on that soft quality it always did when she
began her story.

"A long time ago, in the first few years your father and I were married, we
couldn't have children. We tried and tried, but it never happened. So I became
very sad. That's because all I ever wanted from the time I was young was to
have a baby of my own, and when I couldn't...well, it was very hard for me to
accept.”

"I was so sad that your father became sad too. He tried to think of different
ways to make me happy again, but nothing worked." Catherine's voice trailed
off, but the girl knew not to interrupt her.

"Then one day he came home and told me to pack my suitcase, because he was
taking me to someplace really special."

"But he wouldn't tell you where."

"Right. He kept saying it was a big surprise and that I would like it a lot
when we got there." She paused, then continued. "You know, I didn't even want
to go at first. I kept telling him that, but he wouldn't take no for an
answer. He said I needed to get away from Delaware for awhile and go someplace
where it was warm and sunny. He made it sound so nice, and you know your
father--he can be a very persuasive man." Her mother winked at her.

"So you finally said yes!"

Catherine squeezed her daughter, relishing her happiness. "I sure did. We got
on a plane, and do you know where he took me?" she asked playfully, as she
opened the photo album to the first picture.

"He took you to Hawaii," the girl answered, smiling up at her mother.

"For two whole weeks." Catherine smiled back, then directed her attention back
to the photo. Her daughter's gaze followed hers.

"Here's our first day at the hotel on Oahu."

Her daughter looked at the photo of her parents. Her father was leaning
against a pillar, his slender form dressed in a polo shirt and pale, tailored
slacks. His hair and moustache were dark and, as always, trimmed short. "Daddy
looks so handsome, Momma."

"Yes, he was." Catherine's voice lowered in emotion. "So handsome he took my
breath away." Her slender fingers trailed gently across the image of her
husband.

"You were very pretty." Her daughter's voice broke her reverie. "I like your
clothes." They both gazed at the image of Catherine as she posed next to her
husband, her blue, sleeveless traveling suit fitted to her youthful form.

"Thank you sweetie."

"But your eyes are so sad." It was her daughter's turn to touch the picture,
her fingers gently tracing the outline of Catherine's face.

"I know." Their silence filled the air. Together they turned the page.

"Here's me on the beach the next day." Catherine said. "We were both pretty
tired, but it was so beautiful we had to go out."

"Your sunglasses are so funny!" A girlish giggle was quickly smothered--but
not before Catherine giggled a little too. "Believe it or not, that was the
fashion. Pretty silly, wasn't it?" Her daughter nodded, smiling.

"What else did you and daddy do that day?"

"Well, we slept alot, because we were jet-lagged. But the next few days, when
we felt better, we toured the island and did some sightseeing. We stayed a lot
of the time on the beach, though. It was nice to just sit in the sun and
listen to the waves." Catherine flipped through several pages of island
scenery. She turned the page to the next photo.

"This is the day that your father decided to go surfing. He made me bring the
camera to take pictures--he said he wanted to prove to the other men at the
office that he had learned how to surf while he was in Hawaii." She slowly
turned the pages; the next four photos showed her husband falling off the
surfboard, arms and legs flailing. She smiled to herself. "I must've taken 10
pictures before I realized that he knew perfectly well what he was doing--he
was deliberately falling in just to get me to laugh."

"And did he make you laugh?"

Oh, yes! I laughed so hard, I couldn't take pictures anymore."

"And that's when you started to feel better?"

"Yes sweetie, a little bit better."

They paused a few moments while Catherine let her daughter enjoy the pictures.
Finally, the girl turned the page to the next photo. "What's this one?"

"That's the day we went to a luau." She sighed. "That was a lot of fun. We got
to see a fire dance and your daddy said he wanted to learn how. I told him
only if he wore the outfit." Catherine smiled mischeviously. "For some reason
he changed his mind." She raised her eyebrows at her daughter, who giggled in
response. Catherine said nothing, though her daughter noticed a strangely
bemused smile had come over her face. She was distracted by her mother, however, who had turned to the next photo.

"This is when we flew to Maui--we stayed there three days. We went snorkling,
and the next day your father rented a sailboat and we went sailing for a day
looking for humpback whales. We didn't find any whales, but we got to see some
dolphins. They swam around us for hours. The last day we were there, your
father went out deepsea fishing, and I stayed in Wailea to do some shopping.
That's where I found the necklace and earrings you see me wearing in this
picture," she said, pointing at the photo. "Then, that evening we flew back to
Oahu."

The little girl eagerly turned the page. She shivered again in anticipation.
Here was the part of the story she had been waiting for.

"Here is the evening we went out for dinner and dancing at the hotel. This
photo the hotel photographer took." It showed Catherine and her husband on the
dance floor, their slender forms looking completely at ease. "Your father was
such a good dancer."

"He said you were really good too. That you could have been a professional,"
her daughter observed in awe.

"I'd thought about it at one time, actually. But then I married your father
and decided I didn't want a dancing career."

"Because you wanted to have a family instead," whispered her daughter.

"That's right, honey."

Catherine flipped the page. It showed her posing with her husband, a garland
of tropical flowers draped around her neck. She was smiling, her eyes
glittering with barely perceptible tears. "After we were finished dancing, he
took me outside, where there was a little grotto with a fountain. That's where
he told me I was the only one for him, and that he'd marry me again if he
had to do it all over."

"Then what did you do?"

"We...after a while we went back into the hotel. That's when he had the
concierge bring the box."

"With the flowers in it."

"Yes, these flowers in the picture." Catherine's voice grew husky again. "He
told me that it was customary on the islands to give a new bride a garland of
flowers for good luck. He said he always wanted to remember me like that--as a
beautiful new bride."

"Then what did you do?"

"We had this picture taken...and then we went upstairs to our room, sweetie."
Her mother offered no other comment. "The next morning, I woke up and somehow
I knew I was pregnant. I told your father; he just laughed and said it was
impossible for me to know that."

"How could you tell?"

"I'm not sure--just a sense I had. I even knew deep down I was going to
have a girl." Catherine leaned down and kissed her daughter's temple, then
turned the page.

"This is when we were leaving for home."

The little girl said nothing as she quietly observed the photo. She flipped
back to the first photo, comparing the two. The change was striking. The pale,
shadowed face of her mother had been replaced by a radiance that was stunning.

"You look so different, Momma." The girl observed quietly.

"That's because I knew how much your father loved me--and I was coming home
with you, honey," her mother whispered into her hair.

They looked at the last photo. Catherine was holding her newborn daughter in
her hospital bed, her face tired but glowing. "Your father was so amazed by
you. He still couldn't believe we'd had a baby girl. He kept asking me, 'how
did you know?' She laughed. "Oh, you should have seen his face!"

Catherine hugged her daughter again. "Your father kept saying that we were the
the luckiest people on earth. So that's when we decided to name you 'Mailee'
in honor of the maile flowers your father had given me that night at the
hotel. That's how you got your name, baby--because when we had you, Miss
Mailee Parker," she said, tucking her daughter's hair behind her ear,
"we *were* the luckiest people on earth."

The little girl threw her arms around her mother and snuggled deeply into her
embrace. She loved this story so much--it reminded her that her father loved her
mother--and they loved her. Nothing would change that, ever.


****

Miss Parker closed the faded photo album. She gently stroked its cover for
awhile, before she placed it back in its hiding place. Then her tears began to
fall.


-The End-









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