cnu-At my fortieth birthday party, my sister swung a baseball bat into…

said Emma had made it through surgery.

“She’s stable,” she said gently.

Stable is a word that sounds comforting until you realize it is not the same as safe, healed, or whole.

Derek covered his face and cried into his hands.

I did not cry yet.

Something inside me had gone quiet and hard.

Because my daughter was alive, but my family had already begun preparing continue reading …