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And, of course, I know I shouldn't think in general terms. There are exceptions to every rule. People like Penny, like my brother, like my true parents.
I know not everyone is as mean-spirited and selfish as my biological parents were, but their very actions made me wary of the world. Even an entire lifetime of being part of a real family hasn't been able to fully erase this fear from my heart, I guess.
I was a 'normal' little girl up until I was about ten months old, the only daughter of a well-to-do couple. Then I got bacterial meningitis. I've been told I was sick for a long time, and for a while, it seemed like I wasn't going to pull through. But then I did.
The hospital report said it was some kind of miracle. My fever broke, and there was no neurological damage. Any parent would have been grateful I was alive, but mine weren't. As I started to get better and the doctors were ready to discharge me, my so-called parents realized that there was something wrong with my hearing and asked them to check me over better. The diagnosis was sensorineural deafness.
My cochleae, inner ears, and auditory nerves were irreparably damaged, and I was and have been ever since profoundly bilaterally-deaf.
I have no memories of any of this or of the parents who gave me life only to throw me away soon after.
I do remember the years spent in the system, in the dark, in the silence, in an endless state of confusion, surrounded by strangers that didn't bother to teach me to talk or sign and just carted me from place to place, from foster home to foster home like I didn't matter.
And then, Michael and Lisa Bravo —my real parents— found me, gave me back my life, and gave me the best older brother a little girl could wish for.
I was three by then. Jared was eleven. He told me he was resigned not to have any other siblings at that point. Our parents had lost two babies after he was born, and they had stopped trying when it became clear continuing would put our mom's life at risk. They mourned those lost angels for a long time, thinking they could never heal enough to open their hearts to any other little kid but their firstborn, yet their wish to have another child won over in the end.
Dad had been deaf since he was a very small child, having lost his hearing in a circumstance very similar to my own, but he and Mom never set out to adopt a deaf kid specifically. They knew they wanted to give Jared a little sister if possible, and that was it. The social worker that was assigned to my case took a gamble on them, hoping they would be open enough to consider giving me a home even if I wasn't 'perfect.' She hadn't had much luck placing me up until then. Most people wanted newborn babies, and those who were willing to take on an older kid much preferred the idea of taking home healthy children with no issues.
As I grew up, Mom and Dad loved to tell me the story of the first time we met over and over. I never had the heart to tell them it wasn't a story I needed to be told since I could never ever forget that day despite my young age.
They walked into the room, and I was hiding behind the legs of the social worker. Mom started crying immediately, and my Dad dropped to his knees so he could be at eye level with me. He signed'Hello,' smiled at me, and opened his arms to me, and I just threw myself at him.
I still remember a warm feeling running through me. I didn't have a word for it, my speech skills were almost non-existent then, but now I know it was a sense of safety, a feeling of being home. They knew I was their daughter at first sight, just like I knew everything was going to be finally okay when they took me to meet Jared for the first time. It was like fate.
They felt like I was theirs, and I felt like they were mine.
I had beenMilato the parents who threw me away, but I becameMiastarting that day.
Mine, that's what my name means, and the moment I met my parents and my brother, it became true, and they called metheirsbecause I belonged with them. I had a family.
I blink back tears, as always, feeling the acute pain that lances through me when I think about how long they have been gone now and how very much it sucks that we lost them like that.
How much they would have loved Anna if they had had the chance to be with us longer.
How proud they would be of Jared and me.
I sigh, drying my tears.
Dang, I sure am a sentimental mess today…
I really need to get a grip. I better get back to work. I still have to tackle whatever mess awaits me in the Presidential Suite.
CHAPTER6
Mia
As I climb off the cab, I see Jared already standing on the last step of his porch with Anna on his shoulders. I hurry up to pay the driver before my brother beats me to it and saunters up to them to take care of it in my stead.
My little niece squirms to be set down, and as soon as Jared carefully lowers her to the grass, she runs up to me, all bouncing pigtails and big smiles.
She waves at me with both hands, and then she makes a fist, little thumb sticking out, and brings it near her round cheek in a circular motion. She is signing'Aunt'right now, and I feel emotion choke me up like it does every time.
It means the world to me that she's so eager to learn ASL so she can talk to me. She's been steadily learning new words for about a year now.
'Aunt'was the first she showed me she knew how to make.
I tap her head to get her attention and sign back, making sure to use simultaneous communication at the same time.
