**Diary Entry**
*5th June, 2024*
“Mum, please stop lecturing me. Mark and I planned to have a baby in about three years—three at the earliest! Right now, we’ve got projects, plans—Spain, for goodness’ sake. A baby? Really, Mum?” The irritation in my daughter’s voice was so sharp that Catherine William quickly ended the call.
Young, beautiful, ambitious, ready to take on the world—and then, an unplanned pregnancy.
“Darling, just promise me you won’t do anything until we’ve been to Willowbrook,” Mum whispered.
***
For as long as Diane could remember, they’d always celebrated Mum’s birthday in Willowbrook, though she’d never understood the appeal—just a quiet family dinner by candlelight, followed by a visit to the chapel the next morning.
“Dad, why do we always go to that village for Mum’s birthday? It’s so dull!”
“Without Willowbrook, there’d be no you, no Mum… maybe even no me. Understand?” Diane huffed, though she didn’t understand at all.
This year, Dad was gone—heart attack. Seeing Mum weep endlessly, locked in her room, Diane suggested the trip herself. “Mum, let’s go to Willowbrook this weekend.”
“Diane, I thought you hated it there.”
“I love you, Mum… Just us. Mark can’t get leave from work.”
***
The sweltering heat had eased, leaving something magical in the air. Catherine stepped onto the porch, breathing in the intoxicating scent of fresh-cut grass and wild strawberries.
“Wish Edward could see this…”
“Mum, remember when Dad and I baked your birthday cake? Flour everywhere—the kitchen, the porch, the garden shed, even the loo! And you just laughed, calling it a winter wonderland.” Diane smiled, draping a blanket over her mother’s shoulders.
“Darling, I need to talk about the baby.”
“Abort… or keep.” Diane sighed, rolling her eyes. “Mum, don’t start. Mark and I have decided. Our choice is freedom!”
“Just listen,” Catherine’s voice trembled, her eyes clouding. “You know you were a miracle. The doctors said I’d die in childbirth, no question.”
“Mum…” Diane clung to her, feeling her shake.
“Let me finish. When Edward found out, he was wrecked—even took up smoking again. He wanted children desperately, but he loved me more. Said he couldn’t live without me. Then my friend Margaret invited us to Willowbrook. I went to say goodbye, really—to prepare him. I’d already decided: you’d live instead of me.”
“You’d have died for me…?” Diane’s breath hitched.
“I’d made up my mind, but I couldn’t tell Edward. So I prayed at St. Mary’s, begging for guidance. One evening, I walked back and saw the neighbours’ barn on fire. A dog dashed inside, came out with a pup in her jaws, then ran back in. The beams collapsed. She emerged with another, fur singed, eyes blistered. She nosed them, counted, then charged back inside. Five minutes later, she dragged out a third, dropped it at my feet, licked my tear, and… stilled.”
“Edward found me sobbing, clutching those pups. He never asked again—just had red-rimmed eyes till the day you were born. You arrived healthy, on time. The doctors called it a miracle.”
“Mum, why’d you never tell me?”
“I suppose… the time wasn’t right.”
***
A year later, Diane and Mark gifted Catherine a cottage in Willowbrook. On the porch, Diane cradled her baby boy.
“Mum, he’s our greatest project, our joy. I can’t believe I almost traded him for some myth of ‘freedom.’”
Catherine smiled softly, whispering to the sky—
“We didn’t waste our time on this Earth.”
**Lesson Learned:** Some choices aren’t about freedom, but love—passed down like an unbroken thread, silently stitching lives together.
