Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
After I contained my emotions, she released me and pressed her hands to my chest, guiding me to sit in the desk chair. She stood between my spread legs and covered my eyes. Then she uncovered them, wearing an obnoxiously big grin. Then she covered them again. When her hands left my eyes for a second time, she was squinting with her tongue out.
Again, she covered them, and again, she removed them. This time, the tip of her tongue reached for her nose while she crossed her eyes.
I laughed, and her face relaxed into a soft smile. She took my hand, holding it palm up while her other hand feathered along my skin. It kinda tickled. Then she slowly ran her fingers through my hair. I closed my eyes because it felt so good.
In the next breath, her lips ghosted along my cheek. When her touch vanished, I opened my eyes, and she was tearing open an orange package of Reese’s peanut butter cups. After pulling one from the wrapper, she held it to my nose, and I inhaled. Then she held it to my lips, and I took a bite.
It was our favorite. The perfect mix of sweet and salty.
She didn’t have to write a single word or sign anything. I got it. We experienced the world and the people in it in different ways. Joy was a smile, a funny face, a soft touch, the aroma of something sweet, and the mouthwatering marriage of peanut butter and chocolate.
I held up my hand with my middle two fingers folded in. I love you.
She nodded and smiled while returning the same sign before framing my face and kissing me.
The mind was self-destructive if left to its own devices. Lucky for me, Gabby had a way of interrupting those thoughts. As I held her hand during the OB appointment, she’d occasionally lift it to her lips and kiss it. When the doctor listened for the heartbeat, Gabby released my hand and pressed hers to my chest. Her index and middle fingers tapped, and I realized she was letting me feel the rhythm of our baby’s heartbeat. I covered her hand with mine and mimicked the rhythm until we were in perfect sync. And when I closed my eyes, I could piece together memories of sounds, and I heard it with my mind instead of my ears.
And it was beautiful.
On our way to my car, I squeezed her hand. “I gathered our parents in the front of the church and told them I knocked you up. I thought God would protect me.”
Gabby giggled, shaking her head.
“I think I’m going to stop learning ASL. I kind of like it when you’re forced to be my captive audience, and you can’t talk back to me.”
She hugged my arm while playfully shoving me to the side.
“Careful, I might just tickle you until you pee your pants.” I reached for her sides, and she tried to wriggle out of my hold, bending forward.
I scooped her up in my arms, and her mouth opened. Again, I could hear a faint noise, but my memory remembered the way she released a blood-curdling shriek when I tickled her, and that memory was enough.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
THE B-52’S, “LOVE SHACK”
Gabby
Ben couldn’t stay until the end of semester because he needed to look for a job, but he did the one thing I had wanted him to do since he lost his hearing—he sent me letters.
Dear Gabby,
How are you? Passing your classes? Any juicy gossip on your floor? Are you keeping your plant alive? What else did I want to ask you??? Oh, yeah, how’s our baby?
I found a job. It’s nothing I ever imagined doing, but for now it’s good pay. I’m a ranch hand for Don O’Neill, the rancher who purchased most of the Cory land. He said as long as I completed my tasks properly and on time, no one would say anything to me. I sort of lied about knowing how to ride a horse, so your mom contacted Isaac, and he’ll be here next week to give me a crash course before I start my new job.
I’m mastering ASL, so watch out. When I see you, you’ll no longer be able to sign things I don’t know. My instructor said he’s never seen anyone catch on as quickly as me. Also, I’m working with someone on lip reading. But I’m not planning on reading your lips. I have other plans for them.
Love,
Benjamin Ashford, baby daddy in training
At the end of May, my parents drove to campus to move me back home. Despite everyone’s reassurance and having talked to my dad on the phone, I still felt nervous seeing him because I officially had a noticeable baby bump, even though it was hidden under my oversized T-shirt.
“Hi, darling,” was all he said when he hugged me, and I sank into his embrace.