Chapter 6: The Makings of a Legend
1960
It was November 2nd, and Etta Douglas, the head waitress at the Crabapple Cove Grill, was appointed to tell all the diners the good news.
"Ahem." She dusted off her palms importantly and straightened her shoulders. "I have just been informed that Margaret Pierce--Benny's charming wife--has delivered a healthy, bouncing, beautiful baby girl."
The restaurant burst into cheers.
"Mother, father, and grandfather are doing well," Etta continued over the noise. "If all goes as planned, they should be home in a week."
"Etta!" hollered Irving Cooper, an elderly man with white hair. "What's her name?"
"From what I heard from Daniel, it's between Anna Lynn or Esther Frances," answered Etta.
That sparked a heated debate about names that didn't end for an hour and a half.
XXX
"I don't care what you say, we are not naming an innocent baby Esther Frances!" Hawkeye said to his father. They were sitting in Margaret's hospital room and trying not to wake up the sleeping woman.
"In case you don't remember, your great-aunt was named Esther Frances," said Daniel.
"I remember all too well."
Daniel shook his head. "Esther Pierce. It's perfect."
"For a horror movie, yes."
"Do you two mind getting a mother's opinion on this?" asked Margaret sleepily.
"Hey, baby, you're supposed to be sleeping," Hawkeye said.
"Eva," said Margaret, ignoring her husband. "Eva Roxanne."
"Perfect!" Hawkeye exclaimed. "It's terrific. Eva Roxanne Pierce."
Daniel sighed, knowing he was out-voted. "All right, all right, all right. Eva Pierce."
"The makings of a legend," intoned Hawkeye. "Someday all this will be memorialized in a tacky book sold in a geisha house in Seoul, telling the romantic and touching story of the head nurse, chief surgeon, and their darling daughter."
Margaret groaned. "Good nitrus, sweet prince," she said, dragging up a phrase she hadn't used since 1952.
A/N: Short, I know. BUT! I have another chapter that has four hundred-some words and will soon be updated.