My lawyer reminded me to keep any interaction brief and leave if it became difficult.

We discussed directing legal questions back to counsel rather than attempting a settlement at arrivals.

I agreed.

The girls came home two days before Sunday.

I had imagined the moment often.

In the imagined version, I cried on the doorstep, then moved smoothly into a life I had prepared for.

In the real version, I could not find where I had put something important, one baby needed changing, and I stood in the kitchen wondering whether the clock had somehow skipped an hour.

There was joy.