The Road Ahead (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 4 of The Hardships Saga)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

❝mute (pronounced mjuːt or myoot), noun
(of a person) lacking the faculty of speech.❞

Scarlette Wren Hayes-Lockhart was sleeping when the nurse brought her in, as was her mother. Hunter shook Ryan awake gently. "My dove?"

Her eyes fluttered open, and she focused on him. "Mmm?"

"She's here," he said softly. "Scarlette's here."

She tried to sit up and hissed in pain. Hunter put a hand on her shoulder. "Slow down, darling. You're not well."

"I know," she mumbled, trying to sit in a position that wouldn't hurt. "May we... may we hold her?"

"Of course." The nurse smiled, handing Ryan the bundle of blankets, and Hunter pulled it down slightly to reveal the tiny baby girl's face.

Her hair was fine and thin, a light golden colour that reminded him of sunlight. Her skin, though red and blotchy, was smooth, soft to the touch. Her hands, her hands so tiny that he was almost scared to touch them, were peeking over the edge of the blanket, ten tiny nails on each tiny finger. Her eyelashes were long and lush, and her forehead was furrowed deeply, a dimple slightly to the left.

"She's so beautiful," murmured Ryan.

Hunter's heart almost stopped when she stirred, and opened her eyes. Her eyes looked like Ryan's- with the dark circle around the iris that seemed to keep all the colour from leaking out- but they were blue, a brighter blue than Hunter's. It seemed that she had Ryan's iris and vibrance, but Hunter's colour. Blue, like the sky. "Wow."

She took a deep breath, as though she was about to cry, and made the face, but no noise came from her throat. She was definitely crying, Hunter had seen enough crying in his lifetime to know, but this... was different. It was like she was a video that had its volume turned all the way down, spare the heavy breathing that came with crying.

"A mute baby," he said in soft wonderment. "Who would've thought?"

Ryan chuckled slightly. "At least there won't be headaches."

Hunter smiled slightly. "She's got your hair. Almost your eyes."

"But blue," she whispered.

He saw a drop of water fall onto the soft blanket that Scarlette was wrapped in, and he hugged her. "Dove?"

"She's gonna live her whole life without singing a song," said Ryan, trying to hide how tearful her voice was. "She'll never be able to speak, we'll never hear her first words-"

"And that won't matter," he said softly. "We'll take care of her- you know that, right?"

"I know, of course I know," she said, and the water began to drip faster. "But-" She took a deep breath, trying not to shake. "I just feel- it's just not fair to her-"

"She'll love us the same," said Hunter. "She's still our little girl, isn't she?"

She nodded, but began to sob. Hunter took Scarlette from her, holding her in one arm before wrapping another arm around Ryan's shoulder. "It'll be okay," he said softly. "It'll all be okay."

<><><><><><><><>

"This is her?" breathed Elle, seeing the bundle of cloth in Hunter's hands. "She's so tiny."

A week had passed since Scarlette's birth, and she and Ryan were now allowed to go home. Elle hadn't yet met her- confined to a hospital bed of her own, she had looked at pictures of the child, and nothing more. Ryan hung back, talking quietly to Drew, who was nodding very seriously.