LIB

Chapter 25

On Christmas day, they let Jake come home for good. We invited Sophie, Blake, Cindy, Amanda and Sophie’s mom to join us after lunch. They all arrived bearing gifts, and the first hour was spent opening presents. Blake got me a beautiful silver and emerald bracelet that he told me Sophie picked out. I didn’t care who had picked it out; I still loved it.

            I’d had a hard time deciding what to buy Blake for Christmas. I searched the Internet and found a jewelry maker that actually made jewelry in Braille. I ordered a silver chain and a simple square pendant. On the pendant, I had the words Love is Blind engraved on both sides. One side was in Braille and the other wasn’t.

            When he took the pendant in his hand, he frowned a little as he ran his thumb over the words, obviously surprised to find it in Braille. Then he smiled as he read what it said. “It really is, isn’t it?” he asked.

            “Yeah, it is. I thought you might like something like that. I didn’t even know you could get things like that. It’s amazing what you can find on the Internet.” 

After all the presents were open, Sophie, Blake and I went to my room to hang out until dinner. Blake and I sat together on the bed and Sophie sat in the chair by my desk. “So are you guys going to perform anywhere again?” she asked.

“I don’t think so,” I replied. “The talent show was mainly to show people that people with so- called disabilities are capable of amazing things.”

“Well, you did that pretty well. I heard a lot of people talking about it after the show, before I found you guys in the gym. They were all shocked at how well Blake could sing.”

“We proved our point then. So I don’t see any need to repeat the performance. Unless Blake wants too,” I added, looking at him.

He shrugged. “It was fun, but I agree with you. We proved our point and we did it well.”

“That’s too bad. You guys are really good and it would be cool to see you perform again,” Sophie said.

“Well, we’ll still be playing around at home, so you can hear us there all the time,” I told her.

“That’s true. Do you guys want to play some cards? I brought the ones with Braille on them.”

We both agreed and that’s how we spent the rest of the afternoon, until we were called out for supper. Grace had outdone herself with the meal, and everyone enjoyed it immensely. The entire day and evening ended up being a lot of fun, and it was easy to forget all of our problems, at least for a little while.

When everyone was about to head out, Blake pulled me away from everyone. “Do you want to come spend the day at my place tomorrow?” he asked.

“I kind of want to spend time with Jake tomorrow,” I replied. “He just got home and I want to just hang out with him like we used to.”

Blake seemed disappointed, but he nodded. “How about the day after that then?”

I smiled. “Sure, that sounds like fun. Do you have anything special planned?”

He shrugged. “Not really. It’s just been awhile since we’ve had a day to ourselves to just relax.”

I stepped closer to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, laying my cheek on his chest. “It has been kind of hectic the past couple of weeks, hasn’t it?”

He rubbed my back lightly as he nodded. “Yeah, it has.” He held me close to him for a few moments. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

I nodded and gave him a sweet and gentle kiss. “Love you,” I murmured against his lips.