For The Sake Of His Child

‘Only because I know I’m no use to him.’

‘Well, that can change, can’t it? You can work on yourself until you are of use to him.’

‘How?’

‘You could learn sign language, for a start, so that you two can communicate. You should have done it long ago.’

‘What time do you think I have-?’

‘I’m disappointed in you, Carson. I thought you were an honest man, honest with yourself as well as everyone else.’

‘Are you saying I’m not?’

‘Why don’t you admit the real reason you haven’t learned sign language?’

‘You’re sure you know the real reason, are you?’

‘You’re asking me that, with my background?’

‘All right. Tell me.’

‘Because you can’t face the truth. Learning to sign would have been an admission that your son is deaf. You probably decided not to admit it long ago. Shut your mind and it isn’t true. That’s it, isn’t it?’

‘Maybe,’ he admitted, tight-lipped.

‘But Joey can’t put it aside like that. For him it is true, every moment of every day and night. There’s no escape. He’s trapped in a cage and all your money and success can’t break down the door and pull him out of it. You can only get in there with him, and maybe lead him part of the way out. If you won’t do that, I’m out of here.’

They faced each other. ‘This is blackmail,’ he said at last.

‘Yes, it is.’

‘Just give me a little time-’

‘The time is now. My terms are simple. I want your promise about several things. Joey has six weeks of the summer holiday ahead of him. You’ve got to make use of that time. You learn sign language, and talk to him. And listen to him. He’s very interesting.

‘Plus you leave work early-no more getting home at ten. If meetings overrun, you cut them short. You take at least a week off to give him a holiday somewhere. I want your solemn word. If I don’t get it, I leave this minute. And when Joey wakes up tomorrow you can explain my absence in any way you can.’

‘And what would that do to him? I thought you wanted to help him.’

‘I’m helping him the best way I know. Do I have your word, or shall I get my coat?’

Silence.

‘You warned me you were tough,’ he said.

‘I had to be. You’ll discover that Joey’s tough too, for the same reason.’

‘No prizes for guessing whose side you’re on.’

‘Carson, I see that little boy facing crippling problems with humour and courage. And I see his father, ducking out. Whose side do you expect me to take?’

‘If I give you those promises, I want one in return.’

‘What?’

‘That you’ll stay with us the whole six weeks. I can do it, Gina, but not without you.’

‘If my employers say yes.’

‘They will.’

She smiled. She knew she’d won. ‘Yes, I’m sure they will, if you say so. All right. I promise if you do.’

He held out his hand. ‘Shake.’

‘Shake.’

He gripped her in an echo of their first handclasp. It had been only a few days ago, but they both felt as though they’d travelled a million miles.

‘I’ve got a meal for you,’ she said prosaically.

Over supper her mood was euphoric. She poured his wine and raised her own in salute. It was the salute of a victor.

‘I’d hate to face you in the boardroom,’ he grumbled. ‘You’d bankrupt me in a week.’

‘We ought to establish some ground rules.’

‘Not bankruptcy. Take-over.’

‘Who cleans this house?’

‘Mrs Saunders used to do it, but I’m not asking you.’

‘Good. My time belongs to Joey. I’ll contact an agency and get someone to come in.’

‘Anything you say.’

Over the second glass of wine, he said, ‘You’d better tell me about sign language.’

‘There’s two kinds. Finger-spelling, which has a different sign for every letter. But it would take too long to spell every word out, so some words have signs of their own. Like this.’

She flattened her hand, fingers together and thumb apart, and laid it on her breast. Then she swept it down and up in a circle until it lay on her breast again.

‘That’s the sign for “please”. Try it.’

He did so, awkwardly.

‘No, keep your thumb separate,’ she advised.

This time he got it right.

‘Your first word,’ she said proudly. ‘If you spelled it out with your fingers it would look like this.’

She showed him, making each letter separately. ‘There are signs for most words, so that you talk fast.’

‘That sounds like an awful lot of signs to learn.’

‘Don’t tell me the man who built up Page Engineering doubts his own ability to learn something his little son can do?’

‘Very clever! Do you take this approach with Joey?’

‘I don’t have this much trouble with Joey. He’s bright as a button, and he never doubts that he can do things. That’s half the battle.’

He grinned, and she felt an obscure disturbance within her. ‘All right, teacher. On with the lesson.’

She laughed at him. She was still high from her victory.

‘It’ll come easier than you think,’ she said. ‘And you’ll have Joey to help you.’

‘If you imagine I’m going to let him see me fumbling-’

‘Give me patience! Carson, Joey will be thrilled that you’re doing this for him, and if you let him teach you it’ll make him happier than anything.’

‘Hmm!’

She could tell that the thought of being seen at a disadvantage was still hard for him to cope with, so she wisely didn’t press the matter.

‘Anyway, you’ll master the signs, but you need the alphabet as well, because some words are too complicated for just one sign.’

‘Then it’s about time I started learning my alphabet.’

She held up her hand. ‘A-B-C-’

He followed her carefully, until he could get as far as M, without prompting. To his chagrin, that was as much as he could master in one evening, but Gina seemed pleased.

‘What would you do if I went halfway and then broke my word?’ he said. ‘About the holiday, for instance?’

She gave him a curious smile. ‘Funnily enough, it never once occurred to me that you’d go back on your word. Was I wrong?’

‘No, you weren’t wrong. It’s rather alarming that you understand me so well.’ He thought for a moment. ‘I’ve got a friend who owns a travel agency. It’s late to be booking Disneyland but he’ll be able-no?’ For Gina was shaking her head. ‘Not Disneyland?’

‘Not Disneyland. Kenningham.’

‘Kenningham? That little seaside resort on the west coast? It’s a dump.’

‘It’s got the best aquarium in the country. We could spend two days there, then go on to the second best aquarium. You know what Joey’s interests are. Or I should say “interest”, singular, because it’s all he cares about. I