The Gift- Complete

21

Arthur pov

Lydia has been in the hospital for 2 days. The nurses said her hearing could come back or it could never. Basically they are just wasting our time telling me shit I already knew. Lyd still gets annoyed with it, she starts crying if she can't figure out what we mean but now we just write everything down on paper. She seems to be OK with it all. I think she has wrapped her head around it about as much as a 14 year old can. But she won't be 14 for long. In 3 weeks, Mason turns 16 and in 5 weeks, Lydia turns 15

"Is she alright?" I asked Mason. He was sat in the back on the car with lyd as I drove us home finally

"Ye. She's just sleeping" he replied. I had told the family what has happened and they have all visited atleast once. Its half 10 in the morning and I told them that we would spend the day getting Lydia used to being back. She is still finding it painful to move too much with her stitches. It is just me and Mason looking after her today so she can relax a little

"Baby wake up" I said shaking her lightly as we had parked the car. I know she can't hear me but I'm still getting used to it all so sometimes I say things without realising it makes no difference

"Daddy carry me" she whined opening her eyes. I rolled my eyes but lifted her up anyway and carried her in the house. We sat down on the sofa and just sat there.....in silence......no words.....just awkward silence. I mean what the fuck do I say to you daughter who can't even hear me? God this would be hard to get used to. Hopefully I won't ever have to get used to it and she will get her hearing back soon

"Do you need anything?" Mason asked her. He finished the sentence quickly realising she couldn't hear him so he grabbed a piece of paper and wrote it down

"No I'm alright thanks. Hey can we go to charlies yard?" She asked looking at me hopeful. I grabbed the pad and wrote my answer

'No honey. You need to stay home and rest'

"But I wanna see the horses. Oh please daddy" she begged. I thought for a moment

'I'm sorry princess. The puppy eyes won't work when it comes to your health'

I watched as her face fell reading it but she shrugged her shoulders and grumbled something under her breath, crossing her arms and flopping back on the sofa

'You know I love you don't ya' Mason wrote. She read it and smiled looking at him

"I know mase. I love you too. Both of you. This is all just so weird" she said. She took a breath, trying to stop the tears

"It feels like I'm underwater. I can hear the sounds but not the words" she started crying and put her head in her hands and her elbow on her knees. Mason hugged her and she leant into him

'I know it's hard now lyd. But you'll be OK, and we will be with you every step of the way no matter what.' I wrote. She read the paper and sniffed back her tears as she came over and gave me a hug

"I'm going for a lie down for a little while. Wake me up in 20?" She said. I nodded my head at her and kissed her cheek before she walked up the stairs. Mason sighed and the moment she was out of sight, he burst into tears. I ran over to him on the sofa and let him cry into me shoulder

"I know it's alot to take in son. But we're gonna help her. If she gets her hearing back then great. And if she doesn't that's OK too. Because we will be there for her always" I missed his head and rubbed his shoulder as he wiped away the tears. He went into the kitchen and came back the whiskey. We poured eachother a glass and downed it quickly.

Lydia pov

It was so weird. Imagine being underwater at a public pool, and you can hear so many different noises but you have no idea what they are saying. That's how i feel. The noises keeping hitting my ear drum but just won't form words. And it hurts to know I might never hear them. I won't be able to hear dad's brummie accent or masons cowboy voice. I won't hear my little cousins, John's kids, laugh when I pretend to be the tickle monster before bed. Or polly scold the men of the family which is quite funny. Or esme get her way with John every damn time just by flirting a little. I won't hear any of it

I got into my bed and lay there for abit. I fell asleep very quick but was soon woken up by someone shaking me. When I opened my eyes, I saw daddy crouched by the bed stroking back my wild hair. He said something but I didn't know what he said. I watched him come to the realisation and grab a pad that was in my drawer

'I let you sleep a little longer because you looked so peaceful. Do you want some dinner?' I giggled reading it

"It's 1 o'clock already?" I asked raising an eyebrow. He chuckled and ruffled me hair

"Sure thanks" i said climbing out of bed. He put his arm around my shoulder and we went downstairs where Mason was sat reading quietly. I went over and jumped onto his knee

"Good job I learnt to read ay?" I said making him laugh

'Sure is pumpkin' He wrote down. I gave him a kiss on the cheek and then went into the kitchen to go and get the sandwiches daddy and made for me. I bit into it but paused

"Oh my god what did you out on this sandwich?" I asked spitting it into a tissue

'Mayonnaise and ham. Why?' He wrote down.

"I don't know what that is but it ain't Mayonnaise" I giggled. I went over to see what he had put in the sandwich and on the worktop, was a packet of ham, and next to it, Mayonnaise. So I checked the date.

"Daddy! It's 3 years out of date" I yelled grimacing and laughing. I watched as Mason burst out laughing so I threw some ham at him. I saw dad say something which I would tell was a scolding but I didn't care. I can't hear him yell so I carried on. Safe to say that after 20 minutes, the kitchen was covered in food. The staff would NOT be happy