Blake’s mother greeted them with an air kiss for her son and a bland smile for Carli. Would she ever get any warmth from this woman?
“Hello, Mrs. Wentworth. It’s nice to see you today.” Good manners still won.
The woman responded, but her hands waving in the air kept Carli from reading exactly what she’d said. By the glance she sent to her foot, Carli assumed it was something about her injury.
When she looked at Blake for assistance, he quickly squeezed her hand. “Mom, Dad, Carli doesn’t have her processors in. They broke in the accident. You’ll need to make sure to face her when you talk.”
Blake had been making more of an effort to use ASL this week, and she was so appreciative. He wasn’t fluent by any means, but his effort hadn’t gone unnoticed.
“Oh, sorry,” his mother over-exaggerated her mouth, kind of like how Blake had done it at first. Only this seemed more intentional. Then, she turned and sat next to her husband who was talking with Harrison.
Balancing Parker on his side, Harrison got up, shook Blake’s hand, and kissed Carli on the cheek.
“How’s your ankle?” he asked, facing her and pointing to the appendage.
“Getting better. Thank you. Your brother has been taking good care of me.”
“Just wait until you get his bill.” Harrison grinned, and his matching dimples appeared. These Wentworth men sure knew how to put the charm on a woman.
As Blake took his place next to the other men, Annie motioned for Carli to sit with her.
“I want to ask you about a few signs that I think I’m doing wrong.”
Helping Annie with her baby signs made her feel better and more welcome, but she kept her eye on what Blake and his parents were talking about. Half of it was unclear, though the gist of the conversations was apparent. At first it was mostly job-related, then it moved into information about some hospital event both Blake and his mother had been working on. It wasn’t for another few weeks, but they’d both been busy with preparations. It was one of the reasons Blake had canceled some of their dates.
After a bit, Harrison settled Parker into Annie’s lap and said something to his wife. Carli didn’t get it, like much of what had been said today. Must have been where he was going, because he left the room.
While they showed Parker more signs and played with him, Carli watched Blake. She could only see his profile, but his parents were facing her. Apparently, they didn’t realize she could read them from across the room. Or maybe they didn’t care.
“I wish you…interested in that girl.” His mother shook her head and glanced sideways in Carli’s direction. That wan smile crossed her face again as Mrs. Wentworth continued.
“…not the type…doctor’s wife…help him…”
Blake’s dad joined in. “…disability…impairment to you…your career.”
Mrs. Wentworth sent another surreptitious glance their way, then leaned in closer. Carli only caught a few words. “…Annie…responsible…Parker…deaf.”
Did these people seriously place blame for Parker’s hearing loss on Annie? How the heck could they know that, if they hadn’t done any testing?
“We know…Carli…children…deaf.” There, they’d put that out for Blake to chew on. Not that he couldn’t have figured it out on his own. With both her parents being deaf and all but one of her siblings, it was obviously genetic, and yeah, they’d have a higher percentage of having deaf children. His reaction was what she waited to see.
At the sudden movement of Annie, Carli realized she’d overheard some of what her in-laws had said. Her smile slipped, and she clutched Parker tighter. When Harrison came back into the room, she stood and handed the child to his father, then motioned for her.
“Come help me in the kitchen, please.”
Nodding, Carli followed her slowly, waving at Blake to sit back down when he made to get up. What had he said in response to his parents’ thoughts? Would she be brave enough to ask him later? Without her processors, would she be able to understand all of his reply? His signing wasn’t good enough yet for some conversations. This was definitely one of them.
“Thank you,” Annie signed. “I couldn’t sit around and listen to them anymore. You’d think I was deaf, too, the way they talk about me.” She’d really put a great effort into learning to sign. The times they’d met had helped as Annie had insisted they use ASL with Carli giving her help.
“And Harrison puts up with that?”
“You’ll notice he wasn’t in the room when they started doing it.” Annie opened the oven to check the pot roast, then pulled out a gravy boat.
“He was when they were trying to convince Blake to ditch me.” Resting against the counter, Carli handed Annie two potholders.
Her head whipped up. “You saw that?”
“I managed to get the gist of the conversation. I don’t know how Blake responded.” Would her friend fill her in, or had Blake sided with his parents, the way Annie said Harrison always did?
