Page 21 of Saving You

Oz turned his head to the side. “Is someone shouting for me?”

‘Your mom,’ Ridge signed.

Closing his eyes, Oz tipped his head up toward the sky and let out a slow breath. “Be right back.”

As he stalked off, Ridge couldn’t help but lean against the spot Oz had been resting. The bark of the tree was rough like a pine, but he didn’t mind the sensation that much. He wished he’d brought someone along with him, though he was once again profoundly grateful he’d listened to advice and left Ina with people who would happily include her.

He’d taken her to hearing kids’ birthday parties in the past, and he found himself spending the entire afternoon interpreting for her. He didn’t mind it. He’d do that for the rest of his life if she needed it, but he could see the stress on her little face as the afternoons wore on.

She knew she was standing outside of an invisible wall between her and people who didn’t sign. And while her audiologist might have encouraged him to use that as an opportunity to work more with her implants, Ridge refused to be the father who pushed that on her.

“Hi.”

He jumped a little and looked down to see a small girl with Grady’s face wearing a Birthday Girl tiara. “Are you Sarah?”

“Yep!”

“The birthday girl?”

“Yep! I’m almost a growed up.”

“Looks like it,” Ridge told her with a grin. “You’re almost as tall as me.”

She stretched up onto her toes and lifted her hands into the air. They came to his chin.

‘Almost,’ he signed out of habit.

Sarah’s brow furrowed, and she dropped her hands and flicked them into an echo of the sign he’d just done. “You do that like my uncle.”

‘Signing,’ he answered her in ASL. “My daughter is Deaf,” he said aloud, then followed it up with sign.

Sarah’s eyes widened. “Does she gots ears like Uncle Oz?”

“They’re not her ears. They’re her cochlear implants, and she doesn’t like to wear them very much,” he said, continuing to sim-com in Signed English.

“But hearing’s good for you,” Sarah argued. “My…my mom, she’s…she said that Uncle Oz would be happy if he was hearing and not deaf.”

“Do you think your uncle seems happier when he speaks and listens with his ears?” Ridge asked her.

Sarah bit his lip. “He frowns a lot. So…maybe he’s not too happy.”

“Probably because a lot of Deaf people understand signing better,” Ridge told her. “Their brains are made for signing so they don’t have to try as hard to know what someone is saying. It’s like running. You can both run, right?”

“Yeah! I can run really fast.”

“But what if you were running up a hill and your uncle was running down a hill. Who would win that race?”

Her eyes widened. “But…but he could be faster. My legs would hurt if I goed up hill.”

“Exactly. For your uncle, hearing with his ears and speaking with his mouth is like running up a hill. Whenyouspeak and listen with your ears, it’s like running down a hill. He can do it, but it’s harder.”

Sarah looked nervous. “Does his legs hurt?”

“No,” Ridge said with a small laugh. “But it can make his brain really, really tired when he does it for too long. But when people sign to him, it lets his brain take a nice rest.”

Sarah’s eyes widened. “Um, but my mommy says I’m not allowed.”

“And I’d appreciate if you kept your propaganda to yourself,” came Alora’s voice from behind. She held out her hand. “Come here, Sarah.”

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