I couldn’t respond for a few minutes because I was crying so hard. “I love you,” was all I was able to say, and then she was hugging me and that was all I knew for a little bit. I also knew that she was really ready to do this, and I knew that I was too. “I think that if you’re really sure you’re okay with it, we should set it up,” I told her. The smile she gave me in return was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I knew that no matter what happened, we’d be able to handle it.

**********

Kallie’s birthday party went really well. She got more puppet-thing presents than she knew what to do with, but they made her happy, so I didn’t care. She was happier about the fact that everyone was there and paying attention to her rather than being excited about the presents, though. She totally ate it up and went to everyone for hugs at least three times each that night.

As soon as 9pm hit, she was exhausted and wound up crashing on Shane again. We were all in the living room talking quietly while Kallie and Shane watched a puppet-thing movie together. “See, not only does Shane make my daughter beds, she becomes a bed,” Alice whispered when she saw it. I giggled, and Shane glared at us, but we didn’t care. She glared at us a lot.

We didn’t care. Alice and I had an appointment with Dr. Wilson at the end of the week to see when we could start trying, and we were elated about it. We hadn’t told the others yet, but I’m sure they suspected. It didn’t matter; either way, we were happy.

**********

“You remember that, baby?” I asked her now. She was watching me attentively and her eyes were shining, so I figured that she did. She gave my hand a squeeze and smiled at me when Gemma came in with her sponge and bucket.

“I’ll think I’ll go stretch my legs a little bit,” I told them. Gemma just smiled and said she was going to change the catheter anyway, and that I could go up to the cafeteria for a little bit if I wanted since she was going to raise Alice’s bed.

“It’ll be a little choppy at first. Her equilibrium’s affected from being on her back so long, so it’ll take awhile. Aside from that, I need to move her to prevent bedsores, and that’s embarrassing for her. She hated it when your son was in here while I did that. I nodded, grateful she was telling me.

“If she gets the hang of sitting up again, we’ll get the physical therapist in here for a little bit tomorrow, and after that it shouldn’t be long before she’s able to go to her own private room. All of her readings and monitor results are fine, but we’ll probably do an EKG and an MRI at some point tomorrow. I think Dr. Hernandez wants to get her in for a CT scan at some point too before she gets moved. But all in all, I’d say she’s doing great.”

“Thanks,” I told her with a smile. I called to Alice that I’d be back in a little bit, then left the room so I could call Shane and Charlie and tell them the news.