shouldn’t be surprised if one day he makes a real contribution to marine science.’
‘Right,’ he said, with the barest touch of scepticism in his voice.
‘Carson, I’m serious. Joey is deaf, not stupid. His problem is that when he tries to talk he
He looked at her curiously. ‘You’re not just telling me this because you think he has to be bright before I can love him?’
‘Have I said that?’
‘You think it.’
‘Is it true?’
‘No, it isn’t,’ he said shortly. ‘You may not think so but I love my son very much. Give me your glass. I’ll refill it.’
This was so clearly a way of changing the subject that she didn’t pursue it. Carson loved his son, but woe betide anyone who tried to talk about it. She was more convinced than if he’d made a long speech.
She sipped her wine before saying thoughtfully, ‘Tell me, what do you know about wrasse?’
‘Nothing. What is it?’
‘Joey knows all about wrasse. He can talk about them for hours.’
‘Them? Not it?’
‘Right.’
‘I feel as if I’ve walked into a madhouse.’
‘The point is, wrasse is something you ought to know about.’
‘Something to do with marine life?’ he hazarded, clutching at straws.
‘That’s right.’
‘I’ll find out-’
‘No, don’t. Joey’s an expert. Let him tell you.’
‘Will that-make him happy?’
He was studying her face carefully, as a man might watch an unpredictable creature that could spring either way. Somewhere there was a key to this conversation, but only she had it.
‘Very happy,’ she told him.
‘Then I’ll do it.’
‘But no looking it up. That’s cheating. Let him tell you.’
‘Whatever you say.’
He watched her for a moment as she leaned forward to put down her wineglass. Her hair swung free, and after a moment he reached out to gently ease it back, revealing a tiny device behind her ear.
‘Is that the implant you told me about?’ he asked.
‘That’s right. There’s a bit more actually inside my ear. It needs an operation to put it there.’
‘And it cures your deafness?’
‘No, I’m still deaf. If this is switched off I can’t hear any more than Joey. But if it’s on I can discern noises and understand them. Not exactly as you do, but enough for a normal life.’
‘I don’t understand. How can you hear and still be deaf?’
‘In hearing people, the sound comes into the outer ear, crosses the inner ear and makes contact with the auditory nerve. But if the hairs of the inner ear aren’t working, then they can’t pick up the sound and transmit it to the nerve. A cochlear implant stimulates the hairs electrically instead of accoustically, and the sound gets passed on that way. I’m surprised Joey’s specialist didn’t mention implants to you a year ago.’
Carson grimaced. ‘He kind of did, when we realised that Joey was finally deaf. I don’t think I took much in. I was so shattered, I was blocking out a good deal. Besides, it seemed such a terrifying operation, drilling through his skull.
‘We put it on hold-just for a while, we thought. But then Joey caught pneumonia. He’s always been liable to chest infections. And after that he got every bug going-colds, flu, bronchitis. For months it was as if he finished one thing and started another. The doctor said he couldn’t think of operating until Joey had put all that behind him.’
‘And now?’
‘Now he’s well and strong again, so perhaps-do you really think-?’ His face was suddenly as full of eagerness as his son’s when something pleased the child. The likeness made Gina smile.
‘Maybe,’ she said. ‘It might be time to take him back to the specialist and have him assessed for one of these. But, Carson, please don’t pin your hopes on this. Not everyone is suitable. But it’s worth finding out. If it’s going to happen, I’d like it to be while I’m around.’
‘He might be able to hear,’ Carson said slowly, ‘and talk-’
‘Eventually. He’d have to learn to talk from scratch, like a baby does, only he’ll find it hard because he’s older.
‘I was lucky because I learned to talk before I went deaf and that helps a lot. When I started hearing sounds again I could remember what they meant. But Joey hardly had any chance to hear sounds, so he’ll need to learn them all from the beginning before he can start to speak. Joey will need speech therapy and it’ll take time-at least a year, maybe longer.’ She gave him a mischievous look. ‘So you’ll still need to learn that signing, to communicate with him in the meantime.’
‘You’re the boss!’
‘Give me the details of his specialist and I’ll fix a meeting.’
‘All right. I’m in your hands.’ After a moment he added, ‘Perhaps that’s the best place to be.’
He saw her upstairs and together they looked in on Joey, who was sleeping deeply. When Carson had bid her goodnight he went to his own room, thoughtful.
His head was full of Gina, but he couldn’t make out which one. There seemed to be so many of her.
He’d met her first as the sweet, funny, slightly crazy girl who’d dented his car. She’d charmed him, but it had been an hour’s fleeting delight.
When they’d seen each other again, everything had been different. She’d met Joey in circumstances that had made her condemn Joey’s father, and before Carson’s eyes she’d changed into an avenging fury. The sun she’d briefly shone on him had vanished, replaced by thunder and lightning.
Now there was another Gina, practically a schoolmarm, telling him that he would do this and that-or else! He grinned slightly at the memory.
It amazed him that she saw herself as a little brown mouse. Because, of course, she wasn’t a mouse at all. For Joey’s sake she would take on the whole world. She’d taken on Carson Page without trouble, he reflected wryly. He didn’t know how all this was going to end, but deep instinct told him it could end well-although whether only for Joey, or for himself as well, he still wasn’t sure.
Being Carson Page, he arrived home next day with printed sheets showing signs and finger-spelling.
‘I tried to make a start,’ he told Gina. ‘I even practised a couple of letters in my office but my secretary came in and saw me doing it. She gave me the oddest look.’
‘Won’t she just assume you’re doing it for your deaf son?’
‘She doesn’t know. Nobody does.’ She was silent and he challenged her angrily, ‘Say it!’
‘Nobody must know that Carson Page did something less than perfectly,’ she said, angry in her turn.
His temper flared. He was doing his best, dammit, but she wouldn’t give him any credit. ‘By God, you’re a hard, judgemental woman!’
He stormed out, not looking where he went, and collided with Joey in the doorway, so hard that the child fell and Carson nearly lost his balance.
Joey got up quickly and made a sign, folding his hand with the thumb protruding at the top. He touched his chest, circled away and back to his chest.
‘What’s he saying?’ Carson asked tensely.
‘That sign means “sorry”,’ Gina told him.
‘But it was my fault.’
‘Then tell him that you’re sorry. It’s not a difficult sign.’
Joey began to apologise again, but Carson seized his hand and stopped him. Slowly he folded his own fingers
