She was in the clinic for four days. The boys were in the clinic for eight — standard for twins born at thirty-six weeks, perfectly routine, the NICU nurses assured her with the calm repetition of people who had given this reassurance many times and meant it every time. Lucas's weight came up quickly. Noah was slower, quieter, but his heart checks were so consistently good that by day five Dr. Holt began referring to the irregularity in the past tense, which was the best sentence Lila had heard in months.
She spent those eight days in a state she had no prior reference for — exhausted in a way that went past tiredness into something almost geological, and also more awake than she had ever been. Kane slept on the clinic room sofa for the first three nights without being asked and without m
