Mom gripped me by the shoulders, and when I finally looked up at her she had her eyebrows raised expectantly at me.

I didn’t think I was capable of forming any words to speak, so I signed, YES.

YES? Mom repeated, her eyebrows now disappearing up into her hair.

YES!

I couldn’t believe it. I could not believe it.

I got into Cartwright.

Kathleen stood there in the middle of Mrs. Richardson’s classroom reading and rereading my acceptance letter from Cartwright. Each time she got through it and went back to the beginning, her smile grew even bigger.

When she carefully set my letter on my desk, she signed, CONGRATULATIONS! before pulling me in for a hug.

WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL, Kathleen signed when she let me go.

I probably signed, HAPPY, a few too many times, but I doubted she’d hold it against me.

A FEW MONTHS, GRADUATION, AND COLLEGE! Kathleen signed with her brilliant smile.

This time her enthusiasm was contagious. I couldn’t remember the last time I smiled so much.

I looked around when Kathleen paused mid-sentence to sign HELLO to someone behind me. I wasn’t surprised it was Beau walking into class. I was surprised it was his name that came flying from my lips, and that my first reaction was to grab my acceptance letter and literally go running to him.

“Beau!”

I felt the ecstatic smile slip from my face when Beau stopped dead in his tracks, staring down at me with a mixture of confusion and surprise.

SORRY, I immediately signed, now fully aware of the curious stares from our few classmates already seated.

“No,” Beau said quickly, shaking his head. “I’ve never . . . say my name . . .”

AGAIN? I signed in confusion.

It took Beau a moment to sign, I NEVER HEAR YOU SAY MY NAME BEFORE. But he was smiling now instead of looking like a deer caught in the headlights. So, did that mean he was . . . happy too?

Beau gestured to my acceptance letter clutched tight in my grasp, and I suddenly remembered what I’d gone running to him for in the first place.

Wordlessly, I passed the letter over to Beau. If it was possible, he looked even more thrilled than Kathleen. I let out a yelp when he suddenly had his arms around me in a hug that was not totally unwelcome. A little alarming, sure, but once I hugged him back, I had no desire to let him go.

I felt like dissolving into giggles instead of tears like the first time I’d hugged him while in the hospital. I was starting to feel a little lightheaded catching that scent of his—cinnamon spice.