As we moved towards bedtime, the girls started a routine where they would take turns sitting in the recliner with me and I would lightly drag my fingertips back and forth across their tummies. After Meghan and Lauren had had their turns, they talked Sara into going next. She refused at first but then finally gave in when they persisted, and the whining moved to jet-engine decibel levels.

"You know," I told her, looking up at my little girl as she held the bottom of her T-shirt up so that I could rub her tummy. "I'm in no hurry for you to find some diabolical fiend whose sole desire in...