Read Me Myself Milly for Free Online Page A

exception for this. I paused in the doorway though and said to Carmel, ‘Make sure you fill
in all those forms with Emily – not Milly.’
    Carmel looked up. ‘But I’ve already done them.’
    ‘Well, do them again,’ I said and stomped up the stairs in a way that I hope conveyed the message, ‘Don’t mess with me.’
    David was finishing off the new shower room which he’d just installed in the small room right next to the door that led down to our flat. It had always been used as a large cloakroom where
all the coats and boots and outdoor wear were kept. There’d been loads of things in there and if it was cold and you needed to wrap up you just grabbed what was handy. But in the renovations
that had taken place it had been made into a downstairs loo with a shower. David was fitting the glass door onto the shower cubicle.
    ‘Yes, I vaguely remember,’ he said after I’d explained about the recent discovery.
    He had a couple of bolts in his mouth so it was all a bit mumbled and he had that far away expression people get when they’re trying to remember something.
    Vague wasn’t going to cut it.
    ‘David!’
    ‘Oh, right,’ said David, taking the bolts out of his mouth and putting the screwdriver down. ‘I was just about to stop for tea. Let’s go into the kitchen.’
    ‘As far as I remember,’ said David as he filled the kettle, ‘your mum was dead set on this Pond business, you know – having a name that went with your surname. She had
Lily all lined up and then you popped out and she was a bit stuck. Anyway, when we got to the registrar’s office I thought you should have a proper name.’
    David was smiling at me. I know he’s always had a soft spot for me. In fact, I’d go as far as to say I was his favourite. Now I understood why.
    ‘Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with Milly. It’s just that it sounds like it’s short for something else.’
    ‘You mean, more like it’s long for Mill, as in Mill Pond!’ I said bitterly.
    ‘Yes, well . . . don’t blame your mum too much; she was in a bit of a state . . .’
    ‘Yeah, I know, she went into shock when I appeared!’
    David laughed. ‘You have to admit, it was quite funny. But you were the sweetest little thing – so different from Lily . . .’ He trailed off. Looked embarrassed. I steered him
back onto the subject of my name.
    ‘So you persuaded Mum to call me Emily?’
    ‘I persuaded her to register you as Emily. She was always going to call you Milly.’
    I went round the table and gave David a hug. ‘Thank you,’ I said.
    David hugged me back. ‘Glad you like it. It was a toss up between Millicent and Emily.’
    ‘I’m glad you picked Emily, I love it.’ I let go of him and he went to get the milk out of the fridge. I sat back down at the table.
    ‘I can’t believe no one ever mentioned it!’ I said.
    ‘It was only me and your mum who knew,’ David said. ‘And as far as your mum was concerned you were Milly, so I guess I didn’t mention it again and then I sort of forgot.
Sorry.’
    ‘It’s okay,’ I said, ‘in fact it’s perfect. I’m glad I’ve only just found out.’
    I went back downstairs and looked up the meaning of my name on the internet. It said:
Emily – from the old Roman family name Aemilius, meaning ‘rival
’. Ha ha, I
can’t wait to tell Lily.
    I can’t believe what’s just happened; I’ve got a new name! Just as I was having to become a different person I get a whole new name to go with it. I woke up this morning as
Milly and now I’m Emily!
    I know it might sound daft and nobody else seems to think it’s a big deal, but it is to me.
    We don’t know who our real dad is.
    Mum met him at a festival and they’d had better things to do than exchange personal details, so all she knew about him was that he went by the name of Shaggy. So apt in so many ways,
Mum used to say, whatever that means.
    Lily and I used to dream of one day finding Shaggy and telling him we were