Six months later it was time to celebrate Hope's first birthday. Trudy and Adrian were both so excited about her birthday.
"Mama," Hope said.
"Did she just talk," Adrian asked Trudy in amazement.
Trudy lifted Hope out of the crib.
"Yes," she said, "She said her first word. It was mama."
"Well I'm not surprised," Adrian said, "Our girl absolutely adores you."
Trudy laughed.
"She adores you too," she said
The doorbell rang. Adrian went to answer the door. It was Dwight and Marsha. Hope's eyes lit up to see them.
Trudy looked at Marsha seriously.
"How did you know," she asked.
"Your first word was mama," Marsha explained.
Adrian kissed Trudy.
"Like mother, like daughter," he said.
"You know," Trudy began, "I didn't understand how what happened last year was still a big deal until Hope got sick. Day after day we watched her suffer and we were hopeless to do anything about it. You have no idea how many times Adrian and I cried. Every time we saw her suffering… I wished… and so did Adrian that we could be the ones going through it instead of her. Now I understand how big a deal it is that I'm still alive."
"I do have an idea of how many times you and Adrian cried," Dwight said, "So does your mother. We cried just as much as you did."
"You mean when I had leukemia?" Trudy asked.
"Yes," Marsha replied, "We also mean when Hope was sick."
"When you see someone you love hurting," Dwight said, "It hurts you just as much… if not more."
Trudy nodded.
"I think I remember that when I saw people acting hurtful towards other people it made me sick," she said.
"It did," Marsha replied, "You once threw up after seeing that."
Hope started to fuss. Marsha rubbed her back soothingly. The doorbell rang again. It was Oliver and Jenny. They had their baby, Olivia with them.
"Oliver," Adrian said smiling, "It's so good to see you."
"Good to see you too," Oliver said.
Olivia started crying. That scared Hope who started crying herself. Jenny soothed Olivia and Marsha got Hope calmed down.
"Jenny," Trudy said, "Your baby is beautiful."
"Thanks."
Jenny laughed.
"We were sure she was going to be a boy, so we were going to name her Oliver IV but when we found out that she was a girl we had no idea what to name her. She was just, baby girl for the first 3 days of her life. Finally, Oliver asked me if we could name her Olivia."
"Her name is Olivia? That's such a cute name."
"Olivia Rose," Jenny said, "That was Oliver's idea since my favorite flower is a rose."
"How old is she?"
"She'll be a month-old tomorrow," Jenny said.
The doorbell rang again. This time it was Ambrose.
"Ambrose," Adrian said, "It's great to see you."
Ambrose smiled.
"It's great to be here," Ambrose said.
Hope reached out her arms to him. Ambrose looked at Trudy and Adrian.
"Can I?" he asked.
"Of course," Adrian said.
Trudy nodded. Ambrose lifted Hope into his arms. She babbled happily.
"Hope said her very first word today," Adrian told Ambrose, "Mama".
"Wow," Ambrose said, "I can't wait until she says Uncle Ambrose."
"That may take awhile," Marsha said, "Babies don't normally put words together until at least two."
Ambrose nodded.
"I didn't know that," he said.