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yourself.”
    “ You're a lot of help,” Caitlin quipped.
    “ What do you want to do, Caitlin?”
    “ I don't know.”
    “ It will come to you,” Rita offered, and Caitlin sniffed loudly. “Wipe your face, kiddo. Let's take a walk,” Rita said, handing Caitlin a scratchy tissue from the box on the bedside table.
    “ Oh God,” Caitlin groaned, wiping her nose. “Mom, no.”
    “ You sit. I'll push,” Rita offered and Caitlin relented.
    She slid herself with some effort into the wheelchair in the corner of the room. She wondered if she'd ever be a normal size person again.
    “ I'm fat,” she whined, as Rita took position behind the chair.
    “ You just had twins, Caitlin. I think you could cut yourself a little slack.”
    “ I'll be lucky if I ever fit into slacks again.”
    “ You will,” Rita said, steering her daughter into the hall.
    “ Mom, where are we going?” Caitlin asked. The hospital seemed to be waking up around them as they made their way through its hallways.
    “ Do you remember Airplane, Cate?”
    “ The movie?” Caitlin asked, wondering what in the world that had to do with her present predicament.
    “ No. The Airplane game you and Daddy played.”
    “ Yeah. I remember that.”
    “ Wanna play Airplane?”
    “ What?” Caitlin asked with a slight laugh.
    “ Put your arms out,” Rita encouraged.
    “ No!”
    Rita began making a low rumbling sound, which grew louder as the wheelchair gained speed.
    “ Mom!” Caitlin said loudly.
    “ What?” Rita said, stopping the engine sound long enough to answer.
    “ You're crazy!”
    “ I know. Put your arms out.”
    “ Will you stop if I do?”
    “ Eventually. Just do it.”
    Reluctantly, Caitlin did, and the two moved through the hallway at an unacceptable speed, looking as if they belonged on another ward.
    “ Okay, enough. Where are we going?” Caitlin demanded.
    “ Here,” Rita said, stopping in front of the nursery window. “Look at them,” Rita said.
    Caitlin lifted herself from the wheelchair and peered into the nursery window. Her babies lay side by side and her broken heart seemed to heal, if ever so slightly, as she watched them.
    “ You'll find a way to be okay. For them,” Rita said, and Caitlin smiled weakly at her.
    “ Is this how you felt?” Caitlin asked, looking at her mother. A look of sadness  Caitlin didn't understand seemed to consume Rita's face, if only for a moment. “Mom?”
    “ This is how all mothers feel,” Rita said, smiling through unshed tears. “I have to make a call,” Rita said, sounding suddenly distant.
    “ I want to wait here,” Caitlin replied, gazing again at the sleeping twins. “Thanks for the airplane ride.”
    “ You're welcome,” Rita said, with a smile that faded immediately when she turned away. She walked along with a heaviness in her heart, an ache she knew Caitlin wouldn't understand. She remembered gazing at her own sleeping child through the glass separating her from the nursery where her daughter had spent her first few hours. Her heart ached for Caitlin and for herself, and for the fate that seemed to befall those she loved. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't help Caitlin. It was something the girl needed to do herself.
    Rita moved quietly through the hospital into the lobby, through the enormous doors, into the beautiful October morning. She pulled a pack of Newports from her worn hobo bag, strolled fifty feet from the entrance as required by law, and lit a cigarette with the lighter she always had in her pocket. She drew deeply on it, feeling the nicotine calm her frayed nerves. She pulled a cell phone from the bag and dialed the number to her shop. She knew Ella would be there at the crack of dawn filling weekend orders with love and precision.
    “ Good morning, Hollings House,” Ella sang into the phone and Rita felt another pull at her heart.
    “ I knew you'd be there,” Rita said, struggling to find the right words.
    “ Well, well, well, I was wondering