Chapter Two Hundred Thirty-Nine: The Namesake
Lina was five years old when she first asked about her name.
She was sitting in the garden with Lily, the sun warm on their faces, the flowers blooming around them. The roses that Katherine had planted were in full bloom, their crimson petals soft as velvet, their scent sweet and heady.
"Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandma," Lina said, stumbling over the words as she always did. "Why am I named Lina?"
Lily smiled. "You were named after my mother. Your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother."
Lina's eyes were wide. "What was she like?"
Lily was quiet for a moment, thinking about her mother. The woman who had survived a coma. The woman who had built a family from the ashes of the one she had lost. The woman who had taught her what it meant to be strong.
"She was brave," Lily said. "She was kind. She was stubborn."
Lina giggled. "Like me?"
Lily pulled her into her arms. "Exactly like you."
---
Lina wanted to know everything.
She asked Lily to tell her stories about the first Lina. About the coma. About the trial. About the rebuilding.
Lily told her everything.
She told her about the hospital bed, the machines, the strangers who claimed to be her family. She told her about the ring on her finger, the twins who called her "Mama," the husband she did not recognize.
She told her about the trial. About the secrets and the lies and the betrayals. About the grandmother who had sold her mother. About Ryan, who had tried to kill her. About Chloe, who had pushed her down the stairs.
She told her about the healing. About Victoria, who had shown her mother that people can change. About Victor, who had waited thirty years to be her father. About Katherine, who had finally told the truth. About David, who had become her brother.
She told her about the love. About Ethan, who had never given up. Who had waited for her mother to remember.
Lina listened with wide eyes.
"She was so brave," Lina said.
Lily nodded. "She was."
"I want to be brave like her."
Lily pulled her into her arms. "You already are."
---
Lina started school.
She was nervous, her small hands clutching Lily's, her eyes wide with fear.
"What if the other kids don't like me?" she asked.
Lily knelt down to her level. "They will. You're wonderful."
"What if I miss you?"
Lily's heart ached. "Then you think about me. And at the end of the day, I'll be right here, waiting for you. I'll always be right here."
Lina nodded slowly.
"Like your mother?" she asked.
Lily smiled. "Like my mother."
---
Lina thrived in school.
She made friends. She learned to read. She discovered a love for science.
"She's so smart," Maria said to Lily one afternoon.
Lily nodded. "She gets it from her namesake."
Maria smiled. "The first Lina?"
Lily nodded. "The first Lina was curious. She asked questions. She never stopped learning."
Maria looked at her daughter, playing in the garden. "She's just like her."
---
Lina came home from school one day with a drawing.
It showed a woman with gray hair and a kind smile, surrounded by stars. At the bottom, in wobbly handwriting, were the words: "My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandma is a star."
Lily read the words twice. Then she read them again.
"Lina," she said, her voice thick with tears. "This is beautiful."
Lina beamed. "Do you think she can see it? From the sky?"
Lily pulled her into her arms. "I know she can."
---
That night, Lina asked to see the stars.
Lily carried her into the garden, wrapping a blanket around her small shoulders. They sat on the bench where Lina used to sit, looking up at the sky.
"Which one is she?" Lina asked.
Lily pointed to a bright star. "That one."
Lina stared at it for a long time. "Hi, Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandma," she whispered.
The star twinkled.
Lina gasped. "She blinked at me!"
Lily smiled. "She's saying hello."
---
Lina visited the cemetery for the first time on the anniversary of Lina's death.
She stood in front of the headstone, her small hand in Lily's, her eyes fixed on the words carved into the stone.
Lina Chen Blackwood
Beloved Mother, Wife, and Grandmother
She built a constellation of stars
"Why does it say she built a constellation?" Lina asked.
Lily knelt down beside her. "Because she built this family. All of us. We're her constellation."
Lina looked around at the family gathered behind her. Her parents. Her grandparents. Her great-grandparents. Her cousins. Her aunts and uncles.
"We're stars," Lina said.
Lily nodded. "You're a star."
Lina smiled. "The brightest one."
Lily laughed. "That's what your namesake would have said."
---
That night, Lina drew another picture.
It showed a woman with gray hair and a kind smile, surrounded by stars. But this time, the woman was holding the hand of a little girl with curly hair and a gap-toothed smile.
At the bottom, in wobbly handwriting, were the words: "My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandma is my star."
Lily framed the drawing and hung it on the wall, next to the photograph of her mother in the green dress.
"She would have loved this," Lily said.
Maria nodded. "I know she would."
---
End of Chapter Two Hundred Thirty-Nine