FascinatingRhythm by Lynne Connolly Page B

hands before he signed. “They will not
laugh at her.” He moved his hands as strongly as he could in the confined
space. “I won’t let them.”
    “You can’t stop them. You will not be here to do so.”
    He dropped his hands, only to lift them again. “I don’t have
to be here. She has the courage to work through this.” He paused, his hands in
midair, not saying anything for a moment. “She must do as she wishes.”
    Emmelie signed, more agitated than usual, emphasizing her
words by slapping her hands against each other. “If you have the operation,
that won’t make you his equal. It’s experimental. It will not work.”
    When Hunter started to reply, Sabina knocked his hands aside
and signed for herself. “I haven’t made up my mind. Don’t try to make it up for
me.” That morning she’d received a definite offer. She could have the operation
if she wanted it. She had to tell them soon.
    Emmelie hadn’t finished. Her face became more animated as
she spoke, and her hands moved fluently. “If you do, the deaf community can’t
welcome you. After next week, I will have no hearing people on my staff. I have
no choice.”
    Hunter lifted his hands once more. “What do you mean, ‘after
next week’. What’s happening next week?”
    The car stopped, but as someone opened the door on his
mother’s side, Hunter reached across and put his hand on her knee, stopping her
getting out. Their eyes, so similar in color and shape, met.
    Emmelie sighed. “I’ll publish my manifesto for the new
political party. The Deaf Aware.”
    Sabina disagreed with Emmelie’s stance, but as a prominent
deaf separatist, Hunter’s mother had to make the decision. She had no choice
unless she decided to moderate her stance. Already she had compromised her
position by employing Sabina with her residual hearing. “I would be a bridge
between the worlds for you if I have the operation.”
    She’d done all the research, and now she planned to let it
lie in her mind until after the concert. Even though this was an experimental
procedure, people were lining up for it. Right now, thinking about it made her
feel sick. Going on as she was, continuing with a career that paid well and
gave her independence and a place in the world, or starting again, but with her
hearing. She bounced from one extreme to the other, undecided.
    Emmelie dropped her bombshell right
on Hunter’s head. “You know I’m busy, and to invite me to something where sound
is important is unfair. I have no interest in music. I have never heard it, and
I will never do so.” She paused. She’d made all this clear more than once since
Hunter had asked her to come. She could see no reason to do something for her
son, to watch him do what he’d made such a success of doing. Not unless it held
something for her. Emmelie’s movements slowed down. “I’ll launch the party
tonight, at the press conference after the concert.”
    So that was the reason for the constant texting. She was
getting everything in place.
    Something else jolted into Sabina’s awareness. Emmelie had
planned this without her. Hadn’t asked for her help or hinted that she planned
to do anything more than watch her son conquer the land he was born in.
    “You didn’t tell me,” she signed.
    Emmelie stared at her. “No. You’re sleeping with my son. I
can’t trust you not to tell him,” she signed before she turned and left.
    That put her in her place.
    Outside, to be precise. Already, Emmelie was sidelining her.
    Sabina shook off Hunter’s hand when he tried to help her out
of the car but she did alight on his side. Made to choose between Hunter and
his mother. Her life seemed full of unwelcome choices recently. Already weary
from so many sleepless nights, worrying about her decision, she had a moment of
weakness. She just wanted her decision over with, her life set on its new
course.
    All she’d wanted was a respite tonight, a chance to enjoy
herself without fretting. Now she had mother