Chapter 6

Catherine

Luckily the few that did overhear didn’t really think anything of it.

"Devin, I appreciate the gesture but when it comes to Vincent and me…" Diana stopped short as Vincent returned.

"Devin, I trust you have been adequately keeping Diana entertained with rambunctious stories of our youth. Where are the new friends you said were joining us for Winterfest? I had hoped that Father and I would’ve been able to meet them before the festivities had begun." Vincent’s raspy voice seemed lighter-hearted than when Diana had left earlier and she breathed a sigh of relief knowing that he was none-the-wiser to whatever Devin had been plotting.

"Yeah, well, I couldn’t give them a map so my lousy verbal directions had to be enough. They are coming from quite a ways away, Vincent." Devin turned his attention toward Diana. "While I was working as an agricultural engineer, I met this guy that took me to hear his sister, this writer, speak on the political and social issues of our time. I was blown away. She was so articulate and beautiful, and I had enjoyed one of her books years ago when I was visiting the tunnels; I had to meet her. After that night I listened to all of her speeches and we became very close friends."

Both Vincent and Diana had blushed grins across their faces. They were so happy that Devin had seemed to find love. Listening to him was like hearing a seventeen-year-old boy excitedly reveal his first encounter with love; it was so wonderful to behold.

Devin continued, "And then, being so close as we were, I opened up to her and told her about my life in New York. My life in Australia, my life everywhere…my life in the tunnels…"

Shock now swept across their faces, a mix of worry for the tunnel-world and surprise that Devin allowed someone in that close, especially a writer.

"Vincent, don’t worry, I trust this woman with my life she would never betray me."

"Devin!" Vincent anxiously said with a gasp.

"Vincent, it is okay. She loved the stories of the tunnels, she was fascinated by all the things I’ve done in my life, all the traveling, all the careers…She is at the same place in her life as I am in mine, and we have so much in common you wouldn’t believe it!"

Diana stared at Vincent for lack of anything of comfort to say about such a foolish and selfish action.

"So now you’ve invited her down here. A person that we know nothing about…that you only met a few months ago, in a faraway land. And we should trust her with our very lives because you are in love with her." Vincent didn’t want to sound harsh but he was in charge of a large community that depended upon him and Father to do what was necessary to protect all of them.

Disappointment shadowed over Devin’s face.

"So you don’t trust my judgment?! What a surprise, I guess the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Vincent moved closer to Devin, put his arm on Devin’s shoulder and said, "No. It doesn’t, does it Devin?"

An intense moment passed between the two as Diana held her breath in anticipation of what

would transpire next.

In this moment suddenly, her thoughts roamed to Joe at the office, to the recent memory of Joe telling her that he loved her and the kiss they shared. Diana’s heart raced as she now allowed herself to dream of what would’ve happened after that kiss if she hadn’t run out. Astonishingly, she pictured herself rebuking his love for her as a deep friendship and then Joe kissing her again; and this time, she became captivated in that deep, sensual kiss and devoured even more of his heart with an even gesture of passion.

Vincent broke his intense look in Devin’s eyes when he felt Diana’s passion and that it wasn’t for him. Diana knew right away that she allowed herself to drift into reverie too deeply and for too long.

Devin interrupted, "Vincent, I’m sorry, but when you see her you’ll know that I made the right decision."

"I see. Well, we all look forward to meeting her. Shouldn’t you be at one of the tunnel entrances awaiting her arrival…and whomever else she is bringing?" Vincent replied as he straightened Devin’s collar.

"No, well, I mean, I left a note at the entrance telling them the code to tap on the pipes and Pascal would hear and send one of his helpers to bring them to the Great Hall."

"Devin, it’s dangerous to not be the one to meet them. They might be frightened by our world and its eccentricities, a familiar face would be a comfort to them." Vincent cajoled.

"No Vincent, not for her. She loves an adventure and would want it this way. What can I say? She’s a writer through and through. And a romantic to boot! Of course it all depends on when their plane got in; I know she had to change planes in London…"

"Devin! They are coming from another country?! They could be lost in our tunnel system or down in the maze if they veered away from Pascal…"

"Vincent, she’s not going to get lost. Pascal is the best guide there is. Anyway her country is only a stone’s throw from Manhattan."

Devin’s eyes rolled over Vincent’s shoulder, and a smirk became a huge smile as a lovely, Celtic voice spoke as beautifully as if singing a song.

"Dublin is much further than a stone’s throw away Devin. Ya can’t blame him for lack of knowin’."

Vincent’s heart leapt in his chest when he recognized that voice. After how many years?! He had read every book she had written since then and could barely turn around fast enough to face his admired friend from long ago.

"Bridget?!"

"Vincent!" Bridget shouted leaping into his arms and hugging him tight. "Oh, it’s sooo good to see you again! Soon after Dev telling me ‘bout his life down here, he told me ‘bout you. I almost met with an early grave with my spirit nearly jumpin’ right outta my skin for joy!"

Vincent smiled brightly and hugged Bridget again. He introduced Diana to Bridget and explained how they knew each other.

Then a tall, dark man stepped out from behind Bridget, and Bridget was all too happy to introduce him to the group. "This is me younger brother, Ronan, who travels with me always now and is better at keepin’ a secret than all the rest of me family put together."

Vincent extended his hand, "It’s very nice to meet you, Ronan. Let me introduce you to one of our tunnel-dwellers who did work in Ireland for twenty years. I’ll return Bridget; we have a lot to catch up on."

Ronan looked a little uncomfortable at being in such close proximity with someone the likes of Vincent but, he went away with him feeling at ease with leaving Bridget with Devin. 

Devin put his arm around her and kissed Bridget’s cheek. Bridget’s attention followed Vincent to the punch table where he deposited Ronan and then to a chess match where a little boy yelled in victory, "I won! Dad, I won!"

Bridget asked the obvious: "So that is Catherine and Vincent’s child? He is.…"

"Amazing." Diana finished her thought, showing a little bit of her protective nature over Jacob.

Bridget smiled coyly and turned to face Diana. "Aye, that he is. A miracle at the very least, a hero at his utmost."

Devin interjected, "Page one-hundred and forty, paragraph two, half-way down. The Journeyman’s Diary, O’Donnell’s latest book. She dedicated it to me, and it is soon to be published."

Bridget smiled proudly at Dev’s incredible memory. "So what have you been doing here at Winterfest in my absence?"

Devin eyes Diana and replies, "I’ve been trying to get Diana here to admit to Vincent how she feels and visa-versa."

Diana blushed and looked away to be sure that no one else was listening.

"Ah, I see. Startin’ all sorts of new wars on the home front."

Diana cut in, "Bridget, Devin is intent on screwing my relationship with Vincent.…"

"Or lack thereof?" Devin prodded.

Bridget chided him, "Dev stop it now. Are your eyes blind, man? Can’t you see this woman is in turmoil and wants to take care of it herself?"

"Thank you Bridget." Diana graciously replied. "Since Winterfest will be ending in the next few hours, I’m going to mingle a bit more. Away from Devin. It was nice meeting you Miss O’Donnell, I’m sure we’ll be meeting again shortly."

Throughout the next hour of Winterfest Diana divided her time between talking with Lin and Henry, attempting darts with Mouse and Jamie, and finally reading the book that little Jacob had made for her. It was beautiful, and the most touching present she had ever received. Basically, She, Vincent, and Jacob went to the zoo and saw parrots, monkeys, and elephants; and the story ended with a picnic in central park, and all the tunnelers came up to join them. Already she knew that Jacob was going to live a life above ground as well as below.

The musicians started some Celtic-sounding music and much to everyone’s surprise Devin and Ronan were playing flute and drums. Everyone gathered around the dance floor as Bridget started to teach an Irish jig. She grabbed Father’s hand and pulled Mary and him onto the dance floor, and the helpers all cheered as Father attempted the fast, dizzying movements with Bridget.

One by one teams of people started to dance together, and laughter and music filled the whole room. Vincent walked up behind Diana and whispered, "May I have this dance?"

Diana answered back without even turning her head, "Can you jig?"

Vincent stepped in front of her taking her hands in his, "I can try."

They smiled as Bridget and Devin grabbed Diana’s hand and started a large circle of skipping adults with the tunnel children dancing in the middle. Diana’s heart pounded as she felt Vincent’s hand tighten around hers and she wished that he would just say what he was truly feeling, for once.

As the night wound down, Vincent offered to walk Diana to her exit.

Diana’s stomach started turning flip-flops once again but she simply acknowledged, "Yes, that would be nice."

They passed by the beer barrel and said goodnight to Devin, Bridget, Ronan, Geoffrey, and Pascal, who all looked like they were having a grand time together.

Once Vincent and Diana were out of earshot of the rest of the community, Diana mustered up all her strength and finally asked the question. The question that had been weighing on her heart for years but had become unbearable the entire evening.

"Vincent? How do you feel about me?" Diana eyes were searching his dark frame to try and read him before he even answered.

"You are a good woman Diana. You have a beautiful heart, full of strength. You’re intelligent. You are soft enough to be a mother-figure to Jacob and hard enough to deal with the problems of the world above. You have a loving heart. You remind me so much of…"

"NO!!!" Diana couldn’t stop herself from preventing Vincent from comparing her to Catherine again. What was she going do? Try to live up to Catherine’s memory for the rest of her life?! Diana abruptly realized that she wasn’t willing to do that. Maybe Catherine had been willing to slice her life in half and always push to keep things balanced, but Diana wasn’t. Diana was great at being a detective; she could solve unsolvable crimes and understood the facts in the end completely. Everything became black and white. She longed for that kind of clarity and simplicity with Vincent and now knew that it would never be that way for them.

"Diana?" Vincent implored.

Diana’s eyes filled with tears as they reached her exit. She felt so helpless but knew that this was the only thing to do. She had given her heart to this man, but she had never told him that; and now it just felt like it was all too late because her heart had been through too much.

"Catherine. I remind you so much of Catherine. And I understand that, Vincent; but I am not her, and I don’t want to try to be. Not anymore. I fell in love with you years ago, and I’ve been pining away, praying that you would return my affection one day. And now I understand that, even if you did right now, it would be for the wrong reasons. Because I remind you of someone else. I don’t want to play second fiddle to any ghost and her love. And I would want to start fresh, with nothing hanging over us. And I wouldn’t move down here, so what kind of life is that?! I’m sorry if this hurts to hear, but I need some time alone to think."

Vincent reached out for Diana and pulled her close to him. "Diana! Please.…"

Diana felt Vincent tugging her closer, she saw him stare directly into her eyes; and as he leaned down to kiss her for the first time, she said in a whisper: "And when you close your eyes and kiss me, who is it that you’re kissing? Me or Catherine?"

Diana leaned forward, kissing Vincent on the cheek and sniffing away tears, journeyed north through the Central Park tunnel, up the hill and hailed a taxi.

"335 Romero St., please."

~