Page 85 of Stone Vows

“I applaud you for handling it so well,” he says.

I laugh. “You didn’t see me six months ago when I found out.” I look down at my nursing daughter and remember the day I got the devastating news. “I was a wreck, Kyle. I thought I was being punished somehow. That Ellie was deaf because of something I did. Maybe I took an Aspirin early in my pregnancy. Maybe I didn’t eat enough vegetables.”

“There is nothing you did to cause this, Lexi.”

“I know that now. I’ve done a lot of reading on the subject. I could probably write my own research paper.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Kyle says. “I know how smart you are. Literatureandeducation. Double major. Impressive.”

I furrow my brow wondering if I’d ever told him that. I was so careful not to reveal any personal details.

“My brother is a private investigator,” he reminds me. “Once I knew your real name, he dug up whatever he could find on you. Grant, too.”

I gaze down at Ellie, feeling sorry for her not because she’s deaf, but because she got dealt the shitty hand of having the world’s worst father.

“Did you find anything on him?” I ask, wondering what Grant has been up to since I left.

“We found plenty,” he says, shaking his head in disgust. “I’m surprised he’s still working in law enforcement with how dirty he is. You were right to do what you did, Lex. You were right to leave him and protect Ellie.”

I smile because he called meLex. He’s giving me a nickname for my nickname. He wouldn’t do that if he didn’t like me. The way he looked at me wearing his t-shirt. The way he was playing with Ellie.

Hemustlike me.

Maybe he just doesn’t realize it yet.

Chapter Thirty-nine

“What other signs does Ellie understand?” Caden asks me from the front seat on our way to collect my things.

I look between Caden and Kyle, wondering how I ever got so lucky—how Ellie got so lucky—to have two accepting men in her life. Grant would never be happy with her. He’d insist she get the implant. He probably wouldn’t even bother to learn sign language. He would no doubt make her feel like less of a person.

“I know for sure that she understands milk, eat, more, all done, and no. I’m working on sleep, dog, cat and mom. But mom is hard since I’m referring to myself.”

Kyle glances back at me. “Maybe we can help with that, what’s the sign for mom?”

With my fingers spread open, I tap my thumb to my chin and show him. Then I watch him sign it back to me and my heart melts.

“When do you think she’ll start signing back?” Caden asks.

I shrug. “Who knows? She’s six-and-a-half months old and I’ve been signing to her since I found out she couldn’t hear. I know they say it’s pointless to sign to a baby younger than four months old, but it just felt wrong speaking to her knowing she couldn’t hear me. Even if I was only doing it for me, at least I felt like I was communicating with her on her terms.”

“Do you know a lot of signs?” Kyle asks, turning his head to speak to me.

“Yes, I pretty much know all of them,” I say and sign at the same time.

Kyle turns around in his seat. “You knowallof them?” he asks.

“I’ve been practicing for six months, Kyle. Sometimes four or five hours a day. There isn’t much else to do in the country, you know. It’s not like I’m proficient at it or anything. I’m still kind of slow, but I’m improving every day.”

“In case you haven’t figured it out by now, my sister is pretty much a genius,” Caden says, with a proud smile. “Maybe now you’ll get to use those awesome brains of yours, Lexi. You know, get a real job like you always wanted?”

“Maybe,” I say, gazing out the window, knowing it’s anything but true. I can’t get any sort of meaningful job. Not if I want to remain anonymous.

After riding in Caden’s truck for more than an hour, we come up on the train station where I left my car.

“What should I do about my car?” I ask them. “I parked it there and took the train into the city.”

“You have a car?” Caden asks. “How?”

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