PART 1
Someday in the future…
Nick couldn't help but smile at the sight of his wife holding their newborn baby girl.
Jo smiled back at him from the rocking chair. "Was Mrs. Reinmueller glad to get home?" Mrs. Reinmueller was the midwife who had assisted in the birth.
"Aw, I dunno," Nick shrugged, moving to her side. "She got pretty attached ta you an' the baby. I think she'd rather have stayed on a while longer."
"I know it's awful of me, but I'm kind of glad she's gone," Jo admitted. "She was wonderful, but so overbearing…"
"Well, she's home with her own family now, and we're here with ours. And you know what that means…" Nick prompted.
Jo grimaced. "Oh, Nick-"
"Jo," he persisted. "She's almost two weeks old! We have to pick out a name!"
During her pregnancy, Jo had been positive (and all the old wives' tales had confirmed) that she was having a boy, and she had her heart set on naming him Teddy. She and Nick hadn't given a thought to any other names, much less for a girl.
"You know Mrs. Reinmueller said again before she left…" Nick began.
But Jo cut him off with an adamant "No!"
"Jo, we owe her more than we can ever repay."
That was the truth, and Jo knew it. The birth had been very difficult, with numerous complications, and Jo owed her own life and the life of her child to the skill and quick thinking of Mrs. Reinmueller.
"But Ludmilla!" Jo exclaimed. "Nick, I just can't!"
"Ludmilla" was the reason their daughter had gone so long unnamed. Mrs. Reinmueller, very conscious of the debt that was owed her, had not-so-subtly suggested throughout her stay that "If the Lord had blessed me with such a lovely little girl, I'd have named her Ludmilla after my dear mother." No one at Plumfield, however, could resign themselves to calling such a sweet little baby "Ludmilla." Rather than hurt Mrs. Reinmueller's feelings, they had just avoided the name question altogether.
"We could call her Millie," Nick suggested, but Jo wrinkled her nose. "What about a family name then? Mrs. Reinmueller can't fault us for wanting to name her after someone in the family. How 'bout after your mother?"
Jo shook her head. "No. Meg and Daisy are both named after Marmee already. What about your mother?"
"Nah. Never much cared for the name Mary. Too plain. What about Beth?"
"I would," Jo admitted, "except for Bess. It would be to confusing. Things are bad enough with Dan, Nan, and Nat. And I don't like any other diminutives of Elizabeth. But we could name her after your sister."
Nick shook his head. "I'd rather not."
"So much for a family name then," Jo sighed. "Well, what girls' names do you like?"
Nick got a mischievous gleam in his eye. "Jo," he responded simply.
Jo smiled. "Thank you. What other names?"
Nick thought for a moment. "Pretty much just Jo."
She rolled her eyes. "There must be some other name besides Jo that you like."
"Josephine?" he suggested innocently.
"Nick--"
"Well, why not?" Nick demanded. "Lotsa girls are named after their mothers."
"It would be confusing," she protested.
"We could call her Josey," he insisted. "I think it would be perfect."
Jo groaned. "This is why I wanted a boy. It would have been so much easier!" She glared at him. "This is all your fault!"
"My fault?"
"You wanted a girl all along!" she accused.
Nick grinned, looking at the beautiful baby girl in Jo's arms. "Yeah, I did. And I wanted to name her Josey. I was gonna let you name him Teddy if we had a boy."
"We agreed on Teddy!"
"I agreed to Teddy 'cause I knew it was important ta you," he contradicted. "Just like namin' her Josey is important ta me."
"Nick, I don't really like my name. I never have. And if I wanted to give my daughter a name I don't like, it would be Ludmilla." She reached for his hand. "You're very sweet, Nick, for wanting to name her for me. It means a lot to me. But there's just no reason."
"No reason?" Nick remonstrated. "No reason 'cept she looks just like you. No reason 'sides I think it's the most beautiful name in the world. No reason but I wanna name her after the woman who changed my life, who means everything ta me…"
The baby began to fuss, and Jo was glad to have a reason to discontinue the subject before she gave in. "We can talk about it later."
Meg and Amy sat fawning over their new niece, which they came over daily for the pleasure of doing.
"How is Nick enjoying fatherhood?" Meg inquired, as Amy made cooing noises at the baby.
"He loves it," Jo gushed. "He thinks the sun just rises and sets around her."
Amy smiled. "I don't wonder. She's beautiful!"
"It must mean a lot to him to have a real family again," put in Meg.
Jo nodded. "I don't think he's ever been so happy. He says he wants a dozen more!"
"As if you two aren't raising enough children already!" Meg laughed.
"The two of you can't name one child, how are you going to name twelve?" Amy pointed out.
"Nick says we can just name them all Josey!"
"What are you going to name her, Jo?" Meg wondered
Jo groaned. "I don't know. We're not making any progress! At this rate her name will just be 'baby'."
"What about Florence? Or Edith?" Amy suggested. "They're both becoming very popular names for girls."
"We've been over every name I can think of," Jo explained, "and Nick doesn't like anything!"
"Except Josey?" Meg queried.
"Except Josey," Jo agreed. "He's just being stubborn."
"He's not the only one," Amy whispered to Meg. Jo glared at her.
"Well, what do you want to name her?" Meg asked, trying to keep the peace.
"I'm kind of partial to Louisa. But Nick thinks it sounds too grown-up. He wants a cute nickname for when she's little. Actually, Nick says that if we aren't going to name her Josey I can choose whatever I want, but…"
"Well, why don't you?" Amy urged.
"Louisa is a lovely name," Meg agreed.
Jo sighed. "I just wanted us to decide on something together. A name that means something; that's special to both of us."
Amy and Meg exchanged glances. "Well, there's always Ludmilla!' Amy put in enthusiastically.
"You want us to help you name the baby?" Nan asked in awe as the entire Plumfield family sat around the dinner table.
"Why not?" Jo countered. "You're all a part of our family, so Nick and I decided you should all have some say in the decision too." She turned to Asia. "Asia, what do you think?"
"Oh, no," Asia warned, getting up and heading for the kitchen. "There's too many cooks in this kitchen already. I'd just as soon stay out of this discussion."
"Alright. Who else has a suggestion," Jo continued.
"Well," began Nan thoughtfully. "If you had a boy you were gonna name him Teddy. Couldn't ya name her Teddy anyway?"
"Teddy's a boy's name, Nan," Emil scoffed.
"But what about Theodora?" suggested Nat. "Then you could still name her for Mr. Laurie."
"It's a nice thought," Jo agreed, "But I don't think Mr. Laurie would appreciate it. The reason he goes by Laurie instead of Theodore is because his friends used to tease him by calling him Theodora."
"How 'bout Laurie then?" Dan suggested. "Or Laura, so it wouldn't get so confusin'."
"I think you should pick something beautiful and romantic," put in Bess, "like Miranda."
"Miranda's too fancy," disagreed Nan. "You need somethin' pretty, but still everyday. How 'bout Isabel?"
"Isabel's the name of that girl Franz went out west for," challenged Emil.
"So? It's still a nice name," she defended. "And besides, I liked Isabel. She was fun. And what do you suggest that's better?"
"I like Una," Emil said simply.
"Una?" responded Nan, ready to make a sarcastic comment.
"Una," Emil explained, "was my mother's name."
Nan rolled her eyes and turned back to her dinner.
"I think Alice would be pretty," suggested Tommy, and everyone exchanged smiles. Tommy was sweet on Alice Young in his Sunday school class.
"I like Lily," commented Nat.
Jo and Nick looked at each other. This wasn't really helping at all. There were lots of good suggestions, but nothing stood out as being perfect. Jo felt Rob tugging on her dress and turned her attention to him. "What name do you like, sweetheart?"
He thought for a moment. "Daffodil."
Everyone tried to suppress their laughter. "Rob," Jo explained, "Daffodil isn't exactly a name. It's a flower."
"But I like Daffodils," Rob protested. "They're pretty. And so is my new sister."
No one could argue with that logic. "Well," began Nick, "We've now got seven new ideas, but no name picked out. What are we gonna do?"
"We could vote," Bess proposed.
"Wouldn't help any if everyone votes for the name they chose," Dan pointed out.
"We could draw names out of a hat," offered Nan.
Everyone considered this for a moment. Then Nick stood up. "Come with me. I got a better idea."
PART 2
