My Mil Changed My Baby’s Name While I Was Unconscious.

Carol had nowhere to hide from her own words. Marie stepped forward next to Ruth.

She said she had something to add to this. Her voice was quieter than Ruth’s, but everyone still listened.

She said Carol had been telling her book club for months about naming her granddaughter after herself. She said Carol described it as a special honor we’d bestowed on her.

She said Carol brought photos to book club and talked about how meaningful it was that we chose Caroline. Marie looked directly at Carol and said she felt foolish now for believing those stories.

She said she’d been bragging to her own friends about her sister getting this honor. Now she knew it was all lies.

The crowd started talking louder now. People weren’t even trying to whisper anymore.

I heard someone say they couldn’t believe Carol would lie like that. Someone else said they’d seen those Facebook posts and thought they were true.

The noise got louder as more people shared what Carol had told them. I felt my throat get tight and my hands started shaking.

I’d been standing there holding everything in while everyone else talked. Now I needed to say something.

My voice came out stronger than I expected when I started talking. I described waking up from the emergency surgery.

I told them about the blood loss and being unconscious for six hours. I explained how scared Jester was and how he stayed with me the whole time.

Then I described getting that birth certificate in the mail two weeks later. I told them what it felt like to see Caroline Grace written where Luna Rose should have been.

I said it felt like someone had stolen my daughter’s identity while I was unconscious and couldn’t protect her. I talked about my grandmother who raised me after my parents died.

I explained that Luna was her name and how much she meant to me. I said Carol took that away and replaced it with her own name like my grandmother didn’t matter.

Several women in the crowd had tears in their eyes now. One of them put her hand over her mouth.

Another woman nodded like she understood exactly what I meant. I saw Jester’s aunt wipe her eyes.

The emotional impact was hitting people in a way the legal arguments hadn’t. Carol tried to talk over me; her voice was desperate now.

She said she was protecting our daughter from a silly trendy name. She said Luna would hurt our daughter’s future prospects.

She said kids would make fun of Luna at the school. She said Caroline was classic and professional and respectable.

She kept listing reasons why she was right, like if she said enough of them, someone would agree. Carly spoke up from the side of the crowd.

She said Luna was a beautiful name. She said lots of kids had nature names now and nobody got made fun of.

She said her own daughter’s class had a River and a Sage and a Willow. She looked at Carol and said even if Luna was the worst name in the world, Carol still had no right to make that decision.

She said parents get to name their own children regardless of what grandparents think. More people nodded in agreement.

Flynn raised his hand like he was in a classroom. He asked about the legal costs Jester had mentioned earlier.

Jester shifted Luna to his other arm and explained everything. He said we spent $800 on legal fees.

He said we had to get a court order and publish announcements in the newspaper. He said we had to appear before a judge.

He said the whole process took three months. He held up three fingers to emphasize it.

He said Carol did all that damage in five minutes of paperwork fraud. He said five minutes of her thinking she knew better cost us $800 and three months of stress.

Several relatives looked shocked. I heard someone say they had no idea it was that complicated.

Someone else said $800 was a lot of money for new parents. The financial impact seemed to make it real for people who maybe didn’t understand the emotional side.

Carol’s crying got even louder. She turned to Jester and begged him to make this stop.

She said I was turning the whole family against her. She said he needed to protect his mother.

She reached out toward him like she wanted him to come to her. Jester’s voice was quiet, but everyone heard it anyway.

He told her she did this to herself. He said she violated our trust and our rights as parents.

He said she lied to everyone for months. He said she committed fraud on legal documents.

He said every consequence she was facing now was because of choices she made. He said he couldn’t protect her from the results of her own actions.

His hands were shaking as he held Luna, but his voice stayed steady. Trinity stepped forward from where she’d been standing with Wyatt.

She suggested maybe Carol should apologize to us. She said maybe Carol should offer to pay us back for the legal fees.

She said that would be a good starting point for making this right. She said it wouldn’t fix everything, but it would show Carol actually felt sorry for what she did.

The crowd went quiet waiting for Carol’s response. Carol looked at Trinity like she’d suggested something crazy.

Her face showed complete horror at the idea. She shook her head hard.

She said she wasn’t paying for anything. She said she didn’t do anything wrong.

She said we were the ones who should apologize for embarrassing her. She said we owed her an apology for making her look bad in front of her family.

That response told me everything I needed to know. She still didn’t think she’d done anything wrong.

She still thought she was the victim. Instead of apologizing or even pretending to be sorry, Carol grabbed the bottom of her Caroline Senior shirt.

She pulled it up over her head in one quick motion. She wasn’t wearing anything underneath except a tank top.

She threw the pink shirt on the ground and stomped on it. Then she turned and started running toward the parking lot.

Her flip-flops smacked against her feet as she ran. Several relatives started moving like they were going to follow her.

Ruth held up both hands to stop them. She said Carol needed to sit with the consequences of her actions for once.

She said running after her and comforting her would just teach her that throwing tantrums works. She said Carol had been getting away with controlling behavior for decades because family members always rushed to smooth things over.

She said not this time. The relatives who’d started to follow Carol stopped and turned back.

Carol kept running until she reached her car. We all watched her get in and slam the door.

The engine started and she backed out fast enough that her tires squealed. Then she was gone and the pavilion was completely silent, except for Luna making little baby noises.