She was dressed in a little pink onesie, and had the blanket Alice had knitted wrapped around her. We’d ended up leaving it with her once night when visiting, because she’d managed to clutch it in her tiny fist and we hadn’t had the heart to take it from her. The nurses were all gathered around to say goodbye to her, and they gave us some things to take home. By the time they’d all passed her around amongst themselves and given her to Alice, I was almost crying with happiness.

Al just stood in the nursery for a little bit, holding Kallie close to her. She’d gotten bigger in the incubator, and while she was still small for her age, she was closer to the size a full term baby would have been. I couldn’t stop myself from wrapping my arms around Alice from behind and resting my chin on her shoulder, touching Kallie’s face with one finger. She was looking around as if she was bored, and it made me smile.

Everyone was gathered around just outside the nursery, and they all seemed to want to hold her for a little bit. I was reminded of how it had been when we’d all come to see Angelica, except this time we were all standing in the hallway instead of a room. It was still really good, though. She was passed around for awhile until she ended up back in Al’s arms.

“She doesn’t seem to cry much,” Jenny observed. “Every time I’ve been to see her, she hasn’t.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty quiet most of the time,” I agreed, leaning down a little to kiss Kallie’s forehead. She smelled really good, and I almost laughed at how ridiculous I was being.

“That won’t last long, living with Alice,” Bette quipped. I swear that I didn’t mean to laugh, but I wasn’t able to stop it. Alice shot me a glare, but I could see the beginnings of laughter in her eyes.

The ride home was really nerve wracking for me, but we made it fine. The others had said they’d come by in the next day or so, and we were appreciative because we wanted to spend time with Kallie. She looked around a little as we brought her inside, and I made a bottle for Alice to give to her. When I walked into the nursery and saw them sitting together in the rocking chair, I thought I might actually explode from happiness.