Sorry for the delay, the weekend was busier than anticipated – but I'm perfectly relaxed and ready to face another week. I hope you'll like the next chapter, and you'll have a minute to post a review.
TwilightStarLaughter, I owe you an explanation and I hope you'll get it from this chapter.
Huge thanks to all who reviewed – I know it's a cliché, but still: You keep me going!
Chapter Eleven
My dearest little lady is already in her pyjamas? What a rare occasion! And you want me to tell you a tale? And do you remember what the last thing I was talking about was? The iPod, very well! I thought you'd forget my tale after Daddy was telling you his tale. By the way, honey, what was Daddy's tale about yesterday and the day before? Oh, you won't tell me?! Why? It is a secret? Okay then, you and Daddy have a secret tale and I and you have another one, right? Right. So we'll move on with our tale…
Will took the iPod and headed right to the police station to ask whether a confession recorded on an iPod would be enough to sentence Wickham to jail and I went home to Jane.
She was in the kitchen, apparently trying to cook us something for dinner but her thoughts were distracting her and when I saw her, I knew she wasn't able to cook anything. So I boiled the water and put in some spaghetti and started to make my favorite cheese sauce.
"How was your day, Lizzie?" she asked absentmindedly and it was apparent she needed me to talk to her and distract her.
"Library was busy, lots of new books. Oh, we got the new one from Jeffery Deaver you wanted to read. I borrowed it, it's in my bag if you still want it."
Jane smiled.
"Sure, thank you – I'm looking forward to reading it." Then she fell silent.
"You don't have to read it now – you have a month. But I thought it'd cheer you up…"
She looked at me with a light smile on her lips.
"Will told you, didn't he?"
"He told me that he talked to you and that he apologized for driving you and Charlie apart," I answered.
"Yeah, I was mad at him – for not believing me, for thinking I'd cheat on Charlie, for thinking I wasn't good enough… But now I'm mad at Charlie! If he loved me, he wouldn't let Will persuade him…"
"Jane!" I grabbed her shoulders and shook her.
"Jane, Charlie loves you. He was just being stupid… And probably questioned the fact that such a beautiful and amazing girl as you would date him. He's not overly self-confident, you know that, don't you?"
Jane nodded but didn't say anything.
"Jane, look at me! Charlie loves you and he was stupid enough to believe Will that you didn't love him back. But I'm sure that he'll come, fall on his knees and ask you to forgive him! Don't give up!"
She smiled but I suspect it was more at my enthusiasm than at the thought of Charlie kneeling in front of her.
I texted Georgie and I had to lie a bit – Will had decided it would be better if Georgie didn't know about what I recorded on the iPod but I didn't want to disappoint her.
"Hi G, Jane loved the sonata and says U R a pro! She asks if she can borrow the iPod cause she likes your choice of songs? Liz"
The next day, Will met me after school and said the iPod recording wasn't solid enough evidence but it gave the procurator what he called a reasonable doubt and Wickham was to be brought to interrogation. As we learned later, the interrogator played the recording to Wickham and indicated that it proved he was guilty. Wickham gave up and confessed – now it was official and in presence of one investigator and a police officer. That would get him to prison for the rest of his days.
Will walked me to my flat and when I saw Charlie's car in front of the house, I raised my brows – but before I had a chance to ask, Will shrugged his shoulders.
"I called him, told him I was being an ass about him and Jane and asked him to come back. I suppose he did…"
I kissed him even though I still couldn't believe he wanted to separate his best friend from my darling sister. But we all make mistakes, don't we?
"What was that for?"
"For trying to make amends."
"Am I forgive then?"
"Ask me later, hon, because now we have no idea how Jane will accept Charlie. She's pretty angry with him…"
"I'm sorry, you don't have an idea how sorry I am."
Sweetheart, he was so cute when he got out of this self-confident, proud shell of his! The boyish look of his face, the uncertainty in his eyes… Of course I'd already forgiven him – and I hoped Jane would too. But he deserved the uncertainty, didn't he?
We came to the flat and found Jane and Charlie kissing passionately on the sofa.
"Get a room you two!" I cried out and when Jane heard me, she came to hug me, tears of happiness in her eyes.
I signed "So he came?" and Jane just nodded and signed "I'm so happy, Lizzie!"
"What are you two talking about?" asked Charlie curiously.
"You!" Jane and I laughed simultaneously.
"Ha ha. But you know what, Liz? I know some new signs, do you want me to sign them to you?"
He was so excited I had to laugh.
"Sure, go on."
Then he signed something that resembled "I'm hungry," and "Where is the toilet, please?" Useful phrases…
Then he signed "I like to eat computer" and when he saw my confused expression, he asked:
"What did I sign?"
"That you like to eat computers…"
Will burst into laughter and Jane had hard time not to.
"Well, I meant chocolate."
Smiling, I corrected him and he happily kept signing chocolate for the rest of the evening – and for the next week or so, to be precise.
Since then, whenever I met him, I said "Hi, Chocolate!" and I signed it at the same time. It'd become his nickname. Charlie was very interested in the sign language and I loved him for being so relaxed about me being different. You don't see that much, you know?
Once I explained him that the deaf people usually don't sign their names – they use the first letter for example. So If I Jane talked about Will, we signed just W. But it is also usual that family and friends use some sort of nicknames, known just to them. For example my nickname is when you hold your right hand in front of your face, fingers slightly curved and you move it in counterclockwise circles – yes, it means dizzy. Why it is my nickname? Because it rhymes with Lizzy which is how my parents call me. No, darling, I'm not Dizzy for you, I'm Mum – no way you call me Dizzy…
So Charlie was given his nickname, Chocolate, and he was very proud of it. Will later confessed to me that he was jealous that Charlie had a nickname and he didn't. But truth be told, Charlie tried to enter my world more than Will did – at least he was more enthusiastic about it. Will on the other hand was shy about the sign language.
I perfectly understood him, he was the type of person who had to know something perfectly before he could present it to others. It was the same with me and drawing. I used to draw when I was a child but wouldn't show my pictures to anyone until I thought they were perfect – and they never were. Just once I took one of my pictures, there was and old, sad tree in it, and I showed it to my mother. I can hear her "That's so gloomy!" even today. And then I stopped drawing.
So yes, I was sad Will wasn't trying to communicate with me in my language but I understood that he was too shy to try.
That's why I was more than shocked when I was signing something to Jane – and Will in fluent sign language joined into the conversation.
"William?"
"Dearie, why do you call me William? It sounds as if you were angry with me!"
"I am! You know sign language and you didn't tell me?"
Again, there was this boyish smile and Will said:
"I wanted to surprise you… I've been attending sing language course since the week you went with Georgie and me to the horse ranch for the first time – and it looks I've learnt something…"
I jumped around his neck and Jane just smiled.
"But why didn't you tell me?"
"As I said, I wanted to surprise you. But there was another reason…"
He looked down and suddenly seemed that he'd said more than he wanted to.
"What is it, Will?"
Reluctantly, he looked at me and said:
"I thought that when we will have children, they might be deaf… And I want to be able to communicate with them."
I was speechless. Children?
"Will, we've never talked about children..."
"I know… And I know it's early to think about them… But one day, after you and I finish school and after we marry, I hope we'll have children…"
I didn't know what to say, it was so unexpected and I hadn't believed Will took our relationship so seriously. Not that I minded, not at all!
"You want to marry me?" was all I could say.
"Elizabeth, I love you more than I thought it was possible to love someone. I'm crazy about you! I want to spend my life with you and have a family with you. Do you… Or… Elizabeth, will you marry me – one day?"
Against my will, I had to smile. It seemed as cut out from some romantic book, or a fairy tale. I felt as a princess and I knew Will was my Prince Charming.
"I will – one day – marry you, Will. I'll be happy to marry you."
Jane stood there, watching us and smiling. I hugged Will and then I hugged her.
"But why would you think our children would be deaf?" I asked.
He looked confused.
"I thought it's hereditary… You have been deaf since you were born, weren't you?"
"Sure I was… And so was my grandmother… So it probably is hereditary but that doesn't mean my children will be deaf, they might and might not."
"Anyway, I want to be prepared, darling. And if they can hear, I'd still want them to learn to sign. You have learnt how to speak and I want to learn how to sign."
I was amazed by the change Will had gone through – from "I won't make a fool of myself just to make her feel like a normal person," to "I want to be part of your world and I want to be able to communicate in your way."
First, I couldn't believe it but when I saw the love in Will's eyes, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.
That was one of the happiest days of my life, darling.
And now, if you promise me you'll sleep now, I'll promise to tell you tomorrow how it all ended, okay? Good night then, sweetheart.
You might have noticed we have come near to the end of the story – I'll write and epilogue to give it a conclusion. It's the highest time because the school year has started and even though my school starts in October, I've already been busy. So look forward to the epilogue and if you have some suggestions about what you want to read there, feel free to write it in a review.
