Her Angel MAX
Miracles were part of fairy tales.
Or so I thought.
Then I met Max.
He became my miracle, giving me a life full of love and the family I’d yearned for since the death of my parents. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I belonged.
And then I had our son, and I began to lose myself again.
I got lost in the darkness of postpartum and not being able to hear our baby cry when he needed me. Add in the grief of Nova’s death, and I forgot that miracles existed.
Through his own broken heart, Max searched for a way to pull me out of the abyss I’d fallen into. I let him lead, afraid to hope.
But Nova’s reappearance gave us all a reason to believe in miracles again.
Maybe getting the chance to restore my hearing wasn’t impossible after all.
Delaney
A familiar painthundered through my head, but I was getting used to it at this point. It wasn’t nearly as intense as it had been following the first surgery—and then another to fully repair the damage from the accident that had stolen my ability to hear. The last surgery had been four weeks ago, and now I was about to hear for the first time since I was eight years old.
Maybe.
I was trying to be hopeful, but part of me thought I’d used up all the miracles I was allowed in life. I shouldn’t be greedy for more.
First, I’d found Max, and that had been the best gift I’d ever received. Falling for him, knowing he loved me too. Marrying him. Giving him a son. Heck, I thought life was pretty dang perfect when our son was placed in my arms.
But then I got lost in postpartum. Not being able to hear my child cry, unable to know when he was hungry or needed a diaper change. Not getting to experience his first laugh…
Yeah, that had been hard.
On top of all that, we’d lost Nova. My first friend and Max’s beloved little cousin had been taken from us. I’d fallen a littledeeper into the chasm of depression. But even as my husband struggled with his own loss, he was fighting for me. First was therapy. And then came the suggestion of seeking a specialist to attempt to restore my hearing.
I fought it initially, didn’t want to hope, afraid that it would only lead to more problems. When I refused, Max made an appointment for me without my consent. I refused to let him sleep in our bed for an entire week as punishment.
***
Seven nights. That was how long it had been since I’d snuggled up to my husband. Seven awful nights since I’d felt his arms around me, tasted his kiss. I hadn’t slept much, and from the dark circles under Max’s metallic-blue eyes, I figured he hadn’t gotten much rest either.
He hadn’t complained, though—at least not in ASL. If he grumbled to himself, I wouldn’t know. And I hated it. So, so much. His voice was the one thing I craved hearing the most in the world. Even more than our son’s laughter.
Exhaustion was draining the anger out of me, but I wanted to stay mad, dang it. Max Reid was a high-handed asshole. How dare he go behind my back when I’d already told him, emphatically, that I didn’t want to see the stupid ENT specialist. I didn’t want someone filling his head with false hope.
I didn’t want to give the universe another chance to put something I ached for with all my heart right in front of me…and then snatch it away with an evil cackle. There was no way someone could give me my hearing back. It wasn’t worth the risk of complications for such a weak chance at ending the constant silence that had become my world.
What if the doctor did something that made things worse? Not that I could actually imagine a scenario worse than the total silence I currently lived in. It couldn’t get much crappier than what I was already dealing with. Silence. Grief. Feeling like I was missing out on all the most important moments.
Max was an amazing dad, and between my mother-in-law, Aunt Kelli, and my cousin River, they had helped me learn how to be alert to my son’s needs and still stay sane. It had been a challenge in the beginning, definitely, but we were adjusting. Still, I felt like I was losing something precious. When Ronan got that grumpy look on his adorable face, only to give me that breathtaking smile that reminded me so much of his daddy, I knew he was laughing.
And I wanted to hear it so desperately.
Ronan deserved the best version of me that I could provide.
That beautiful boy was worth taking risks.
Staring up at the ceiling above my bed, I fought back the sting of tears. If Nova knew what I was dealing with, she would have already kicked me in the rear. While she was one of my best friends, she didn’t let me mope around. There was no hiding from my fears and letting doubts cloud my head.
