“She’s doing very well. Dr. Ramirez noted on here that she’ll be able to move to a private room soon, so that’s great news.” She gave me another smile and turned back to Alice. “I’ve been instructed to come back in a bit and raise the bed a little so you can get used to sitting up again, Alice. But we can leave that until after dinner. I’ll get you some juice if you want.” I was happy to see Alice immediately give a short nod. She did it easily, and if I squinted, she looked like she might be relaxing at a spa or something rather than lying in a hospital bed.

“Would you like anything?” Gemma asked, turning back to me. I was going to say that I was perfectly fine until I saw Alice’s pointed look. I realized I hadn’t had a thing in about three hours, so I shrugged.

“Some juice would be great,” I relented, and smiled at Alice’s satisfied look.

Gemma nodded and told us she’d be right back. As soon as she’d left the room, I kissed Alice’s hand. “I like her a lot.”

Al looked at me for a long moment and seemed to be considering this, but after a little while she smiled and nodded. She used her free hand to sign Kallie’s name, and then Gemma’s, and then signed the word “good.” To do that, she had to take her hand from mine, because the sign was to touch the fingers of her right hand to her lips and then to move them into her left palm. It was awkward, but she managed it and I knew what she meant on the first try.

“You’re doing really well at the signing, baby,” I told her. She just rolled her eyes at me, but I shook my head. “No, you really are. I couldn’t remember half of what you do if I tried to.”

She gave me a confused look, and I realized that for as much as I thought I’d forgotten, I was still able to understand what she said. “Just because I know what you’re saying doesn’t mean I can remember how to make the signs myself. And you’re saying really simple things now, but pretty soon you’ll be signing circles around the rest of us.”