Mitch turned and looked toward that hallway as aunts, uncles, and cousins started to pour out of it. They came from the back hallway too, which branched to the left and led outside and to the right back to a couple of bathrooms and other rooms they used for staging before weddings, parties, and other events.
Cheering started, with the clapping of hands, congratulations, and shouts of “Happy birthday!” and yeehaws.
Link’s smile popped onto his face, and he reached for Misty so she wouldn’t get swept away in the tide of Glovers. He hugged his family members, as did Misty, and things got loud for the next several minutes.
He finally made it to one of the back tables, where he found Finn and Edith, Alex and Nicki, Caroline, Dawson, and Brandon. Ollie stood nearby, talking to Uncle Mister, but Aurora sat at the table, her little boy on her lap as she talked to Nicki about something. Janie sat with Ralf, and they brightened when they saw Link and Misty.
“Hey, you guys.” Link grinned at his friends, glad his mother had included them too. They were important to Link, as Finn, Alex, and Dawson were all in his same stage of life. Starting or running their own ranches, or moving into more leadership roles as their daddies aged and retired.
He went around and hugged all of them, a keen sense of satisfaction moving through him that Misty fit with this table of people. She didn’t just stick with Janey and Ralf, though they were definitely her comfortable place.
She laughed with Edith, put her hand on her bulging pregnant belly, and then took Rory’s little boy from her. She cooed at Mason, and Link swore God had just given him a vision of his future.
True Blue. Another Glover family party. Misty holding a little boy that she passed to someone else,because they wanted to see her son and give her a mini-break from being a full-time caregiver.
She looked over to him, and Link already had his smile in place. He wasn’t sure what she saw, but she ducked her head, so many unspoken things between them that he understood. She wanted kids too, though she’d told him she wanted some time with just the two of them.
In truth, she’d confessed that she wanted to take some parenting classes before she became a mother. She wanted to study up on what she claimed she didn’t know, and Link would support her any way he could.
“Oh, hey, the party’s arrived,” Ollie said, and all eyes moved to Mitch. He carried a huge platter of buffalo wings, which he put on the table.
He laughed and went around hugging everyone too. And with the food out, that meant the party had started. Link was a little surprised that Momma hadn’t made him and Misty sit up on a raised stage in the front, but he hadn’t even seen her yet.
So he took a seat at the table with his friends and faced Mitch. “So tell me about your cochlear implant appointment. You’ve been intentionally vague.”
Mitch’s smile slipped a little, but because not very many people could speak his language, he started signing. Link had a hard time with technical words, and he had to ask Mitch to slow down almost immediately.
I don’t think it’s going to be for me, unfortunately, Mitch said.As much as I want it to be, I wasn’t brought up in a language-rich environment.
“I’m not sure I know what that means.”
It means I haven’t had the opportunity to use my voice. He actually touched his throat, as if indicating his vocal cords.Some deaf people learn to speak from childhood. They learn the sounds the vowels make, and they’re vocal even though they can’t hear. That wasn’t my life.
“So that means you can’t have implants?” Link wasn’t sure why it mattered. Speaking and hearing were definitely linked, but he wasn’t sure how intimately.
They say it could take ten years before I could actually speak. Ten years after I get the implants, and that’s with me doing constant input of hearing and practicing with my voice.
Mitch glanced around, and Link sensed he was done explaining. Or close to it.
It takes a long time to learn to talk, Mitch said.Even when you can hear, and I’m almost thirty years old. Maybe if I were younger….He stopped signing there and shook his head.I don’t feel good about it, so I don’t think I’m going to explore the implants anymore.
Link put his hand over Mitch’s, feeling his cousin’s sadness through his skin. “I’m so sorry,” he said, looking right into his cousin’s eyes. “I know how badly you want to talk on the phone.”
That had been the thing Mitch talked about the most. He was tired of texting and video calls. He wantedto hear the phone ring, and he wanted to pick it up and answer it with his voice. Hear another voice on the other end of the line.
He wanted to communicate with his ears and mouth, not his eyes.
Mitch looked away, his eyes filling with tears. He sniffed and wiped the back of his hand across his face. The tears were instantly gone, and his smile came back for a brief moment.It’s okay, he signed.I mean, it’s not okay, but God is helping me shift my focus.
That made Link’s heart skip a beat. “God is, huh?”
Mitch rolled his eyes.Slowly. I get God is this eternal being, but I think He forgets we’re not, and that some of us would like things to move a little faster.
Link laughed, because that was so Mitch. He had patience in some things, but not with religion. Not with God. He wanted to change quickly and get it over with, and God was more of a master sculptor, pinching out a detail here and smoothing out something rough on that side, slowly, over time.
“Lincoln.”
He turned toward the sound of his mother’s voice, and Link jumped to his feet. “Momma.” He stepped into her arms, as there was nothing as good as a hug from his mom.
