Chapter 16: Lily Can Hear!!!

Dr. Lee handed the evaluation form back to his colleague. "All finished here."

She turned and hurried out of the office.

Once she was gone, Dr. Lee calmly picked up his phone and dialed. "Mr. Pierce! Your wife and the boy just came in for the pre-surgery cochlear implant screening."

He's calling Nathan.

Lily's ear twitched. Without a flicker of change in her expression, she quietly hit record on her phone and kept signing to Toby as if nothing at all had shifted.

She caught every word.

"Mr. Pierce, you're putting me in a real bind here. If I keep pushing your wife's hearing aid settings any higher, it's going to start affecting her health."

"Worst case, we're talking chronic pain in the ear canal possibly even a ruptured eardrum, which would rule out cochlear implant surgery entirely."

"Mr. Pierce, I'm a physician. This isn't about the money."

"Ha well, you're certainly generous, Mr. Pierce. Fine. We have a deal."

Lily's nails dug hard into the skin between her thumb and forefinger, a wave of pure fury rising through her chest until her whole body shook.

So that's what this was.

A lie.

The claim that late-onset hearing loss disqualified her from cochlear implant surgery a lie.

The idea that her body reacted badly to standard hearing aids a lie.

Nathan had been working with this doctor to trap her in silence for the rest of her life.

A monster.

A silent, seething rage burned behind her eyes, sharp enough that she thought she might actually be sick.

Her fingers trembled, pale and bloodless, as she slid the hearing aid back into place.

Dr. Lee caught the phone screen out of the corner of his eye and hung up quickly. "Mrs. Pierce! Wonderful news Toby's cleared for cochlear implant surgery in a month. Once it's done, he won't need a hearing aid at all."

Lily forced her face into something resembling joy. "That's wonderful. You really do have a healer's heart, Dr. Lee."

He waved it off with a smile. "Actually I ran into your husband recently. He mentioned your hearing aid's been buzzing, making it hard to concentrate. Sounds like a settings issue. Let me recalibrate it for you."

Lily touched her ear, watching him carefully. "Thank you. But, Doctor am I really not a candidate for the implant myself?"

His expression shifted into something practiced and sympathetic. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Pierce. Your case is acquired sensorineural hearing loss. The surgery carries a success rate under ten percent for someone in your situation."

"Worse, it risks damaging what's left of the auditory nerve entirely. Given how sensitive your system already is to standard hearing aids, a cochlear implant would likely be far riskier still."

Her lips parted slightly. "I see... I see."

She reached up, removed her hearing aid, and held it out to him.

Dr. Lee took it and signed quickly: [One moment.]

He disappeared into the lab.

Lily sank onto the sofa.

Toby immediately curled into her side, clinging tight without his own hearing aid in, the silence clearly unsettled him.

She wrapped an arm around him and rubbed his head soothingly.

Half an hour later, Dr. Lee returned and handed the hearing aid back.

He watched, attentive, as she fitted it into place.

"So," he asked, smiling, "how does that feel?"

Lily let her shoulders jump, feigning distress, her expression twisting on cue. "Worse, actually. My ear canal aches, and every sound makes me dizzy almost nauseous."

Dr. Lee cleared his throat. "The settings should be perfectly calibrated to your physiology now. It's possible the earlier settings were miscalibrated to begin with."

"But your body's been compensating so hard for so long that 'normal' now falls outside your comfort range. It'll take time to adjust."

Lily let realization dawn slowly across her face. "Ah I see."

He nodded, walking her and Toby out. "This unit was custom-built for you, at considerable expense, on your husband's request."

"If this doesn't settle either, I doubt any commercial hearing aid will work for you. Give it time. If it's truly unbearable, we'll look at other options."

"Of course," Lily agreed.

As they stepped out of the office, she took Toby's hand and said, warm and pleasant, "Thank you, Dr. Lee. You know what they say what goes around comes around. A kind heart like yours won't go unnoticed. I'm sure it'll be rewarded, one way or another."

Something flickered behind Dr. Lee's eye, his smile going a touch too tight. "Of course, Mrs. Pierce. Travel safe."

The moment Lily was out of sight, Dr. Lee didn't even make it back to his office before pulling out his phone to check his account.

A deposit one hundred thousand.

Willing to risk his medical license for Nathan. Whatever Nathan's paying him, it must be substantial.

And that kind of money doesn't come from nowhere. Nathan's clearly pulling in income he's routing through someone else's name entirely.

Whose name, though?

Ryan's? Or Melissa's?

Lily's thoughts churned the whole drive home, a knot she couldn't begin to untangle.

She'd barely parked and unbuckled her seatbelt when her phone rang from the dash. She finished the call before getting out with Toby.

Toby reached a small hand out to catch falling snowflakes. "So much snow this year!"

As they walked through the front gate, across the driveway, Melissa's gaze followed them from inside a parked pink Mercedes.

Melissa rubbed her temple, replaying the scene in her mind.

Was Lily wearing her hearing aid when she took that call in the car?

No. She wasn't.

That can't be right.

Could her hearing actually be back? And if it is why would she be hiding it from Nathan?

The more Melissa turned it over, the more it nagged at her.

She grabbed her phone, ready to call Nathan and tell him everything.

She dialed. Then hung up before it connected.

Her expression darkened, calculating.

Even if I tell him now, Lily will just deny it flat out. Better to let her think no one's onto her and catch her red-handed instead.

Decided, Melissa unbuckled her seatbelt, climbed out, and hurried into the house.

The call Lily had just taken was from Mrs. Collins she'd assumed the appointment was wrapping up and wanted to let her know she and Eleanor were heading out together for groceries, since the old woman couldn't sit still for long.

Toby, worn out from an early start, kept yawning and asked to lie down for a nap.

Lily smiled, tucked him in, set his hearing aid on the nightstand, and tiptoed out of the room.

She'd just reached the second-floor landing when she spotted Melissa hurrying up the stairs.

Lily kept walking, giving no sign she'd noticed her at all.

She'd taken barely a step past when Melissa's hand shot out and seized her arm, knuckles digging hard into her wrist.

Lily's brow furrowed.

Melissa tossed her curls back, eyes glinting with defiance. "Sister. Can you hear me?”