For the first time since I’d met her, Patricia seemed unable to find anything to say.
Then Richard, my usually quiet future father-in-law, put down his napkin.
“Patricia,” he said, “I think you’d better go inside.”
She looked at him.
He didn’t raise his voice.
But he didn’t withdraw the request either.
I helped Evelyn settle back into her wheelchair.
Ben came over and took my hand.
He didn’t ask me to leave with him.
He didn’t tell me I’d embarrassed his mother.
He stayed beside me.
Later, we had a long conversation.
He wanted to know why I hadn’t told him sooner.
I explained that at first, I wasn’t sure how to handle the situation.
I’d hoped the remarks would stop.
Then I’d become worried about causing trouble between him and his family.
“I should’ve told you,” I admitted.
He looked upset.
Not only with his mother, but with himself.
He’d known his grandmother was deaf all his life.
He’d even told me he felt guilty about never learning to sign.
Now he understood what that had meant for Evelyn.
He began taking lessons.
Three nights a week.
At first, his hands moved slowly and awkwardly.
He practiced in front of the mirror and sometimes asked me the same questions several times.
I loved watching him try.
We married that September in a little church in my hometown.
There was no prenup.
During the ceremony, Ben signed his vows to me.
He’d worked very hard to memorize them.
But he made one small mistake and accidentally promised to love me until I was a potato.
I tried not to laugh.
I failed.
So did he.
It was one of my favorite moments of our wedding.
Afterward, Evelyn came to live with us.
We made a bedroom for her, and she settled into our home with more enthusiasm than I expected.