Her eyes rolled, but she wasn’t laughing. Reaching up, he stroked a finger down her cheek.
“I will love any children you and I have with all my heart, because they will be from our heart. From our love. Part of us.”
“Truly?“ Was that a spark of hope in her face?
“And they’ll have their cousin Parker to hang out with. Sign language all around.”
Her head tilted, and her eyes narrowed. “How did you learn to sign all this?”
“Annie and I got our heads together and learned what we could.”
“Annie knew about this?“ Red tinged her cheeks.
“Don’t blame her. She wants you in the family. Plus, anything we couldn’t figure out your brother helped me with.”
“Brian?”
Blake couldn’t keep the smirk from his face. “No, actually. Evan.”
A snort erupted as she threw her head back and laughed. “Why that little—“
“It took some convincing, but he liked the idea of me groveling at your feet.“
“I don’t see you at my feet.”
“Do you want me there?”He started to get down, but her hand stopped him.“I’d much rather be in your arms. Can we make this work, Carli?”
Staring past him, she bit her lip and sighed. “What about your mother? Will she always be putting roadblocks in our way?”
Too bad his mother wasn’t someone he could control. “It doesn’t matter—“
“No, I won’t.” His mom entered the room, and he and Carli turned to see the rest of the family hovering in the doorway, apparently enjoying the show.
“I’m sorry,“ his mom signed, then shrugged, continuing with speech. “I shouldn’t have treated you the way I did. I hope you’ll forgive me, too. I wanted to make sure Blake was with someone who truly loved him and could be a good partner for him.”
Blake and Annie took turns signing what they could to interpret his mother’s words. Fortunately, Carli read lips pretty well.
“Seeing how miserable Blake has been the last month, I have to believe that you are what will make him happy. And it will certainly come in handy having someone who signs fluently and can help interpret with Parker.”
“Ma ma ma ma ma,” Parker yelled getting everyone’s attention.
“I think he’s saying he wants the cake his mom made,” Harrison said, pointing to the fancy confection on the kitchen table. “How about we eat?”
As Annie took Parker to his highchair, Blake pulled Carli aside.
“Will you stay for the party? Please? I’m sorry I never made you a priority at the benefit. I should have been more attentive to your needs.”
“I didn’t expect you to entertain me, and I know you had a job to do. It just seemed like you were embarrassed that I was deaf when you didn’t even attempt to interpret anything that was said.”
“No, I was embarrassed that I hadn’t learned more sign andknew I’d never be able to tell you adequately what was going on. I promise to study better and practice more. Maybe my teacher would give me some preferential treatment with private lessons.“ He grinned at her, hoping she’d perk up.
A tiny smile crossed her lips. “That could possibly be arranged.”
Parker banging a spoon on his tray got his attention. “I think the birthday boy wants us.”
They moved back to the kitchen table, and Carli showed them all how to sing “Happy Birthday” in ASL. She hadn’t put her processors back on and still seemed to enjoy herself. Once they’d finished their cake and were putting dishes in the sink, he turned her to face him. He’d spilled his guts, proclaiming his love. Her own feelings had never been mentioned. Did he still have more work to do?
“You never answered my question earlier. Things are okay between us now?”
