Name: Philomena Mathilda “Tilly” Davenport
Pronouns: She/Her or They/Them (Genderfluid)
Age and Birthday: 34, September 10, 1985
Occupation: Owner of Camelot Playhouse and Children’s Book Author
Hometown: Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts
Length of Time in the Cove: 1 year
THE L O N G AND S H O R T OF I T:
“In that book which is my memory,
On the first page of the chapter that is the day when I first met you,
Appear the words, ‘Here begins a new life’.”
― Dante Alighieri, Vita Nuova
[TRIGGER WARNING: Death of a child, cancer, death]
1. Philomena Mathilda “Tilly” Davenport is the firstborn daughter of Rachel and Jacob Davenport. She would never be called Philomena, however—that was only on her legal documents. The name Philomena was given to her when she was born as her family did not think she would make it. She was born at 28 weeks, far sooner than expected and earlier than one would hope. St. Philomena is the patron saint of babies—and her parents were praying for a miracle. After nearly two months in the hospital, Philomena Mathilda came home to her four brothers. As the months getting to know her went on, they realized more and more she was hardly a Philomena and much more of a “Silly Tilly” according to her 2-year-old brother Simon. So, “Tilly” stuck.
2. Before her came four brothers: John, Joseph, Andrew, and Simon. After her, despite the complications with Tilly’s birth, would come four more brothers: Adam, James, and then the twins: Peter and Mark. If it isn’t apparent by the names and number of children, Mathilda grew up in a very Catholic family. Church every Sunday, Catholic school from kindergarten to 12th grade, CCD every year from First Holy Communion to Confirmation. Crosses hung in nearly every room of their farmhouse, including the barn where the cows slept. In the Davenport family, the existence of God was not a question, but a reality. The Davenports didn’t grow up with much– especially with nine kids to support, but what they did have they thanked God for.
3. School was a little different. Tilly never fit in very well with any particular group of kids. She was boisterous, loud, and very talkative according to all of her elementary school teachers. Her uniform was clearly made from a collection of hand me downs from relatives, tailored shirts and sweaters from her older brothers, and plaid skirts made from carefully matched plaids from her local JoAnn’s Fabrics. To top it all off, Tilly and her brothers were all scholarship kids. Her brothers for sports and Tilly for, well, pity mostly. She wasn’t a very good student, she wasn’t athletic, and any prayer she had of getting a scholarship for her behavior was pretty much out of the question. Things got better in high school—she made a small group of friends and gathered the courage to join a few clubs including the art and creative writing clubs. Her grades improved, too—the switch from her coeducational elementary and middle schools to an all girls’ high school meant she was no longer graded against the shadows of her brothers, but able to make her own way.
4. She received a scholarship to Boston University where she attended their School of Education as an Early Childhood Education major with a minor in English. Boston was good for Tilly. It was close enough to home that she could go back and visit her parents when she wanted, but most importantly it was big. For the first time, Tilly began questioning things she was raised to believe or her place in the world. While her parents were the most liberal people in their parish (her father even being a doctor who provided abortion care to his patients) there were still a lot of questions that Tilly had for the world that were never answered at home. Tilly discovered while in college she wasn’t attracted to only men but the wider spectrum of people. She dated several art majors, theatre kids, and even a few of her roommate’s friends.
5. But, like in all good young adult romances, Tilly met someone special at a college party: Luke Callahan. Luke was older than Tilly by several years and, at the time, a dual student at Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Law. They met at the party hosted by Zack, his younger brother and roommate, who was also a freshman at BU. Instead of falling for Zack’s countless advances at the party, Tilly fell hard for the charismatic older boy with who was convinced he’d be president one day. They talked and talked, so much so that the party ended hours before they even noticed. She wouldn’t say she believed in love at first sight before this very moment, but that damn Callahan boy had her right where he wanted.
6. On Mathilda’s thirty-second birthday, on a trip to Luke’s family lake house in Winnepasaukee, she discovered she was finally pregnant after two miscarriages and a Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome diagnosis. She and Luke were over the moon–they immediately began discussing names, planning the nursery, and determining who among their friends was mature enough to be their child’s godparents. At 22 weeks Mathilda went in for a routine scan, but what happened was not something she had planned for. During the ultrasound the technician paged Mathilda’s doctor who, in hushed tones, discussed what the technician had seen. Soon the technician left the room and from there Mathilda’s memory gets hazy. She remembers being told she would be having a boy, she remembers the smile on Luke’s face when they learned, but she doesn’t remember the words the doctor used to explain that from what could be seen in the ultrasound there were abnormalities in the scan around the baby’s brain and heart. They were set up with an appointment at Boston Children’s hospital later that week. Dandy-Walker syndrome was what she was told. She’d never forget the way those words fell out of the doctor’s mouth with such sadness. Mathilda was scheduled for an MRI later that week where the doctors were able to confirm that was the case. They were told that children with Dandy-Walker syndrome can live normal lives–but the MRI also showed defects in the CNS and hydrocephaly. Matilda and Luke were devastated. They both hoped that the ultrasound had been incorrect and that they would bring home a healthy baby boy, but that wasn’t going to be the case.
7. When it finally felt as if they were hitting their stride once again two years ago, Luke was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Tilly dropped everything to take care of her husband. She sold the daycare center, they moved to Oak Bluffs to be near her parents, and Tilly became Luke’s round the clock nurse and caregiver alongside her mother. Mathilda made sure the last year of Luke’s life was full of love and as much happiness as she could possibly bring him; he passed away in his sleep beside Tilly several weeks before his 40th birthday. Mathilda packed the house up and moved back with her parents for a few months before deciding that she needed a full change of pace. Her mom suggested King Arthur’s Cove as an option–it was her family’s ancestral home and a place designed for peace and quiet. So, she did. She only intended to stay a few months in her ancestral home, but she’s grown quite fond of the Cove. It reminds her of her hometown without being bogged down by the memories of the last few years. Once again she’s begun discovering herself—she’s come out as gender non-conforming, genderfluid (with preference for she/her pronouns, but is exploring they/them pronouns), she’s started opening herself up to the possibility of falling in love again, and she’s purchased the local nursery school “Camelot Playhouse”—but most importantly, she’s realized never let go of her dream of becoming a mother.
MATHILDA DAVENPORT is played by KATHRYN and their FC is HAYLEY ATWELL
