title: The Hearing Heart
author: Schenbeck, Sharon
description: Matt had been completely deaf since he was ten years old. The community where he had grown up mostly ignored him because he never spoke. He could read lips and he communicated by writing in a small notebook he always carried in his shirt pocket. Ruthie's family had taken him under their wing when she was just a toddler. He had been like a big brother to her. Recently there seemed to be a wedge between them. She was afraid she had done something to drive him away. She couldn't imagine what she had done to offend him. Circumstances were not quite what she thought they were. Matt had to distance himself from the people he cared about the most. Not because he wanted to... but because he HAD to.
  When he saw Ruthie on the porch after the longest winter on record, she had changed from the little kid he had known into a beautiful young woman. His heart jumped within his chest. He knew what he wanted but he had no idea how to accomplish it. So he left until he had plan .... that just might work!