“She didn’t tell us that,” Jenny said, shooting a look at Shane that made me laugh.

“I didn’t know I was supposed to announce it,” Shane retorted. “Anyway, I think it’s nice. I was trying to find something that would work with both your last names.”

“Okay, but what does it mean?” I asked. I liked the sound of it, and the more I thought about it the better I liked it. Alice hadn’t voiced any objections yet, so I assumed she liked it too. I doubt she would have let it slide if she hadn’t.

“It has several spellings,” Helena said, looking down at the book, where she’d apparently found the name. Jenny leaned over at looked too. “With a C, it means lark,” Helena continued.

“I like it with a K better. It’s Greek for beautiful,” Jenny reported. I glanced at Alice, trying to ask her what she thought without actually asking.

“With the K, it’s also from Arabic and means fortress,” Shane added.

“Well, she does need a fortress,” I said, still pondering.

“And she is beautiful. I think it’s as close to perfect as we’re gonna get,” Alice said from beside me. I looked at her, and it was decided.

“Now we just need a middle name,” I said after a minute. I’d barely gotten the words out when I felt Alice shift so she could whisper in my ear.

“Kallie Lenora? That’s really pretty, honey,” I said. “I like it a lot.” The others seemed to agree with me.

“I don’t know why, I just sorta feel like I should name her after my mom. Sort of,” Alice explained, looking a little embarrassed.

“It’s a good name,” Shane told her. “Really.”

“You’re just saying that because you picked out the first name,” Alice replied. Shane just shrugged. “I’d name her after one of you guys, but…I don’t know, I can’t really explain it. I just always wanted my daughter to have Lenora in her name. Not Lenore, but I think Lenora’s a pretty good middle ground…”

“Honey, really, it’s great. I love it, and it fits her really well. It’s really pretty,” I told her, kissing her cheek. “Thanks Shane. I like Kallie.”

“Sure,” she replied. She’d have said more, but she happened to glance at her watch. “We should probably get some lunch or something,” she said a little nervously. I exchanged glances with everyone but Shane, feeling pretty guilty. I’d completely forgotten about her aversion to hospitals when I’d asked her to come with us. After I’d been released, she’d told me that the whiteness of the walls made her really anxious, and the fact that I’d almost died in here probably didn’t make it any easier.

I tried to apologize on the way back to our cars, but she waved it away. “Its fine, I just don’t want to be in there when we can talk someplace else. I glad you let me come with you.”

“I’m glad you came with us. You guys too,” I said a little more loudly so Helena and Jenny could hear.

I was so distracted by the events of the morning thus far that I didn’t even notice where we were heading for lunch. I knew we had a lot to talk about, but for the moment, I was so happy with my life that there was nothing on earth that could bring me down. I knew Alice felt the same way, and that made it even better.