“What’s the deal with that?”
I chewed the corner of my lip before I explained.“My mother was born deaf. I was too. She carried the autosomal dominant gene, which means one of her parents passed it down. They refused to be tested because doing so meant acknowledgment and acceptance. Two things they refused where my mother was concerned, so we don’t know which of them carries the gene.”
I paused, thinking of something that I decided to share. If Ryland was serious about me, he would have to consider this.“If I have kids, it’s possible that my children can be born deaf also, or at the very least have some form of hearing loss.”
“Okay…”
His response didn’t give me much by way of how that made him feel.
“Which is why dating me complicates things.”
“For who? Damn sure not me! If our children are born deaf, we’ll give them the same life and love that I’m going to give you and Rylee. I don’t give a damn about having children like you because I appreciate everything that you are. You’re beautiful, baby. Everything about you is beautiful. Tell me about your mother.”
My face warmed from a blush. This man was all gas, no brakes, and not giving me an inch of space to wiggle my way out of a future with him.“My grandparents were not all that accepting of having a deaf child. They never learned to sign, forced my mother to go to public schools that did a poor job of accommodating her needs, and also pushed her toward hearing men so she could have a ‘normal life’. Normal for them was fitting into a hearing world and not acknowledging that Deaf life and culture was beautiful. Because they pushed so hard, my mother was adamant about not dating a hearing man. It was the one thing she could control and her parents hated her defiance. When she met my dad, she wasn’t interested, but he kept pushing and she gave in. Things were good with them until she got pregnant and had me. He told her that dealing with one deaf person was already a challenge. He couldn’t deal with two. That would be too much work. He left, she was crushed.”
Ryland’s jaw was tight when he responded.“So she doesn’t want you dating someone like your father?”
I nodded.
“You know I’m not him right? Nothing about you needs to be changed to appease me. Being with you isn’t work…”He smirked, then added,“Well some shit is work because you stay trying to test my patience by denying I’m your man.”
I laughed.“You’re not my man.”
“See, there you go with that shit. Do I fuck you like you belong to me?”
My body screamed yes and I swore Ryland heard it because he smiled arrogantly.“That’s what I thought. I’m your man, Somee, and don’t think I didn’t see that townhouse you were looking at either.”
I frowned, then remembered what I had been doing before our sex as a distraction session.
“I didn’t want to assume…”
“That you would be with me?”he signed, waiting.
“Yes, we haven’t discussed what you want.”
“I want you. I’m pretty sure I’ve been very clear about that, but if I haven’t, let me do that now. The only thing you need to assume is whether or not I want you in my room now or after we tell Rylee that you’re going to be her sister-in-law. I’m cool with whatever you decide.”
“We’ll talk about it,”I signed.
“There isn’t anything to talk about but I’ll let you pretend there is.”
Ryland’s phone flashed with an incoming video call and he smiled big as shit when he glanced at the screen.
“Rylee,”he signed before his hand was wrapped around the device and he swiped the screen. We left her with my tablet so she could call us whenever she wanted. She was excited about spending the weekend with Areena. This would be her first time doing a sleepover and I wanted to make sure she had access to us just in case she missed us too much. This was the first call since we’d left her, so I assumed that meant she was doing okay.
My heart hurt a little that she called Ryland instead of me, but I also loved that he was becoming her person.
“You having fun?”
I leaned forward so I could see the screen since he placed it on his lap to use his hands.
“A lot of fun. They have a bowling alley in their house. Can we get one too?”
Damn, a bowling alley.
“Let me see what I can do.”
I rolled my eyes at Ryland considering the possibility of granting her wish, because if building one in his house was even remotely possible, Rylee would have one very soon.