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I stood back, watching, keeping the twins from crawling all over their

mother, in hopes that no one noticed how many times I teared up, so

overwhelmed with gratitude. So much gratitude.

After only a couple of hours, I shooed everyone out, declaring that

Alayna needed her rest, and I carried her into our bedroom, and tucked her

into bed with a pain pill.

I brought my laptop in to work at her bedside, but mostly, I watched her

sleep, amazed that I could watch her sleep, that she was in my bed when I

truly thought for a moment that she never would be again.

How my world would have ended.

She woke up later, and I served her dinner in our room. Then, after the

children were bathed and in their pajamas, I let them all come in and gather

around her—carefully. As a family, we watched Beauty and the Beast, the

animated version, and it was wonderful. Even Holden watched

occasionally, when he wasn't too busy walking the edge of the bed, from my

side to Alayna’s, over and over again.

Brett was co