Page 53 of Lorenzo & Lily

Oh my God. Time to change the subject. “Well, honey, it’s not as simple as that. We can talk about that later, but right now I have something else I need to talk to you about.”

“What, Mama?”

Bless the short attention spans of four-year-olds. “Well, it’s about your name. See, your Papa always called me Lily.”

“That’s me!”

“Yes, honey, that’s your nickname. That’s why I picked that name for you, because your Papa liked it so much. But it’s going to get confusing now if we’re both called Lily.”

“Oh.”

“And now that you’re a princess, you name will be changing.”

She frowned. “Who will I be now?”

Lily pulled her close. “Oh, honey. You can still be who you are. You can be anyone or anything you want to be. It’s just that now we’ll be living in the castle, and your Papa’s protecting us. So, you can also change how you’d like to be called. A lot of people will call you by your full name: Princess Liliana Santoro.”

“Oh.”

“Do you like that name? Or would you like, maybe, Princess Ana Santoro?”

Liliana’s head tilted to the side, then back to her mother. “I think Lil-ana.”

“Lil-i-ana.”

“Lil-ana. That’s what I said.”

Lily laughed and kissed her forehead. “Close enough. Are you sure you’re okay about your name changing?”

“Yes. It means I have a Papa now. I like Papa. He played with me and acted like he was a fairy.”

Lily held back a laugh. “It’s not always fun, though. Sometimes, just like me, he might ask you or tell you to do things, and he might scold you if you’ve done something wrong.”

“Like you?”

“Just like me.”

“Oh.”

“But I told you, he likes you a whole lot, and he wants to be the best Papa he can. He’s going to try very hard to make you happy, honey.”

“What about you?”

“Me?”

“Will Papa make you happy?”

A loaded question, if ever there was one.“He will, honey, I’m sure of it. Now, we’ve only got a little time before the movers come. Let’s eat some breakfast and get dressed.”

* * *

Lorenzo walkedinto Perez’s room, startled but fucking pleased to see he was up. A tray of half-eaten food was nearby; half-eaten was better than un-eaten.

Progress.

“Heard from the doc you went to PT yesterday. Guess you wanted to hear about last night, didn’t you?”

Hector picked at a non-existent thread in the bedcovers. “No. Just felt like going.”

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