sign {h.s.}

epilogue : the end

E L E V E N Y E A R S L A T E R

"When I said get here early," I hiss at Harry, seeing his legs swinging off the tailgate of his truck, a lopsided smile on his face as Elodie goes running towards him. She attempts to hoist herself on the tailgate, but fails. Harry quickly amends the situation by pulling her up easily, setting her happily down on his lap. "I meant get here at a normal fucking time like a normal fucking person. I certainly did not mean this," I wave my arms around to the setup that Harry had crafted.

He looks smug as he appreciates his work. "What's wrong with it?"

Momentarily, I look at him in shock, trying to decide whether or not he was serious. When I realize how completely serious he is, my jaw all but hits the floor. "Harry!" I refrain from shouting, but only just, "you tailgated our daughter's first dance recital!"

At the state of my shock, Harry just laughs, rolling his eyes at me. "Well it's not like I brought any booze." As if to prove his point, he simply holds up the cubed fruit that he had brought as a snack and gestures to the cooler filled with juice boxes for some of the kids running around, and sodas for the adults. 

As if it weren't bad enough that he had tailgated our daughter's dance recital, he had also invited other parents to join. And they showed up. "Someday, I'm going to kill you," I warn him, my voice threatening and low; though, Harry proceeds to take it as a joke as he smiles widely, puckering his lips as an encouragement for me to lean down and kiss him. I narrow my eyes at him, leaning in close to say, "and I'm going to make it hurt," though, I still comply in giving him the kiss nonetheless.

"I'd expect nothing less." He solemnly agrees, pulling apart just barely before pressing his lips against mine again.

"Ew," Amara whines, causing the both of us to snap apart to look at her. At thirteen years old, she is not afraid of letting the both of us know what she thinks at all hours of the day. Though we've had her since she was three years old, and she refers to the both of us as mamma and papà, she still speaks to us as though we are her friends, rather than her family. Once she has our attention, she signs what had just transpired to Elodie, the newest addition to our family.

Harry and I initially planned on two kids. Amara and Kaia—the only one of our children that I actually gave birth to—were our family. Though we got them both at about the same time, Kaia is only ten years old to Amara's thirteen. 

When traveling for work, Harry and I met Elodie. She was a newborn already in the system as a result of her parents walking out. When her mother found out she was Deaf, it was too much for her to handle as a single parent working two jobs. Immediately, we took Elodie under our wing. French, initially, we brought her into our Italian-American household. 

The majority of the year, we spend in Italy. We lived there full time for a year, but once we had Amara and Kaia, we knew that we wanted to spend time in America, too. The grandparents would have our heads otherwise. So, we spend the summers on Cape Cod and everything is like a dream. Our dream—one we carefully built together.

Of course, there are fights, too. Harry and I wouldn't be Harry and I if everything was perfect. Some of our best moments follow the worst. "Come on." I say, picking Elodie up off of her father's lap. She's only five years old, but she's rather small for her age. I still love to pick her up and carry her around—I want to hold on to her youth for as long as I can. Harry then bends down to carry Amara on his back. Italian was her first language, but she's come along learning English very nicely. Though she speaks with an accent—one that we love and never want her to lose—she still speaks Italian with us on the daily.

We'd raised all of our children to be bilingual, initially. Of course, they quickly learned ASL to communicate with Auntie Leah and Auntie Lola, and once Elodie was brought into our family, they got to use the skill more frequently. 

When we brought Elodie into our family, we knew we had a choice: to either teach her LIS or ASL. Of course, with LIS she'll be more successful in Italy, where her schooling will be. But, she'll need to learn ASL anyway to communicate with her aunts. So, Harry and I decided that we would teacher her ASL. Fortunately, we were able to enter her into a special school for the Deaf. There, she's received the resources she needs in order to thrive. 

"My parents are inside," I tell him, remembering the messages I'd had with them before finding Harry in the parking lot. He nods his head, happy with the information. "Connor and Caleb are coming, too." Caleb's daughter, Emily, is in the recital as well. Connor, a newlywed with a pregnant wife, came because he had nothing else to do. Christian and his wife moved to Chicago for a business opportunity for Simran, his wife. 

The news of my brothers arriving makes Harry smile even wider. With each passing day, he only grows closer with my brothers. Elodie tugs at my hair, forcing me to look down at her as she begins to sign in my arms that she wants to see Uncle Connor. Christian and Lola had been Amara's godparents, and Caleb and Gemma were Kaia's. When finally we brought Elodie into our family, we decided that it would be Connor and Leah. Since, Connor and Elodie have formed a special bond. In the years since my relationship with Harry, Connor never really had a strong enough reason to learn ASL. He never saw Lola or Leah enough to justify learning when Harry, the walking interpreter, was always nearby. But, when I asked him to be Elodie's godfather, he immediately picked up the books and began to learn. All my brothers did, but Connor's dedication was the most obvious. 

Balancing Elodie on one hip, I use my free hand to sign that he is inside. She nods her head and returns to rest her head in the crook of my neck. Elodie is probably the most affectionate of our children.

The four of us head inside and we move to our assigned seats in the auditorium. We'd ordered our tickets right away,  giving us the front row seats. My family is in the row behind us, and as soon as Elodie sees Connor, she begins to squirm in my arms, wanting to run over to him. I let her down, laughing as she runs to her favorite uncle. He takes her on his lap and immediately they begin a conversation. Amara jumps off of Harry's back to walk in Quinn—Caleb's son—direction. 

Harry and I are left alone as our children converse with their family. Instinctively, I reach down and grab his hand. "We really did this." 

"Yeah," he agrees quietly, looking down at me. With his free hand, he tucks a piece of hair behind my ear, "we really did."

n. well, this is it. this is the end. apologies for making it short, but i figured short and sweet was the best way to play it. 

thank you all so much for reading and supporting and being the most amazing people ever. i cannot thank you enough for your kindness along the way. i hope to see you on some of my other work—but, if you're not interested, feel free to read this again and again. i love you all SO much—from the bottom of my heart. this story has been my baby, and it is so unreal to publish this and mark it as completed. my heart is so full. this story got me through my hardships that i had all last spring, and i cannot begin to thank you for all the love and support you offered me. i am eternally grateful to you and for you. 

for one last time: tell me about your day.