Chapter Three

Monica Cross

"Vincent do you have a few minutes to talk before your next class," Catherine asked as she stepped into their chamber.

"I always have time for you my love. What did you need," he replied.

"I was wondering what you planned to wear for Winterfest," she said and sat down across the table form him.

"I haven’t really given it that much thought. Is there something particular you had in mind for me to wear," Vincent asked.

"Well, I always like it when you wear that ruffled shirt; but I was hoping maybe I could get you a new top that matched the dress I am going to wear."

"And which one is that?"

"One of the dark blue ones," she replied lightly not wanting to reveal exactly which one it would be.

Vincent smiled nodding his head, "Anything is fine Catherine, as long as we are together."

"Well I had better go. It is just about time for the children to get here and I have to go get Jacob from Mary. I’ll see you at diner, uh, dinner," she said hoping he did not notice the slip up.

Catherine rose and leaned over to kiss her husband on the lips before turning to leave the room. It still surprised her sometimes that such gestures were now commonplace. They still gave her a little jolt. She hoped they always would. Going through the tunnels toward Mary’s chamber, she thought about the conversation she’d had with Devin the other day. She shouldn’t have been surprised when he told her his plans. At least they weren’t the vintage Devin kind. He had really "grown up".

On arriving to pick up her son Catherine saw Jamie sitting with the little ones instead of Mary, "Hello Jamie, when did you get home?"

"About an hour ago. I just couldn’t stay away any longer, I missed everyone," she said shrugging her shoulders.

"I remember those days. How is school going," Catherine asked as she bent down to sit on the floor with Jacob and his best buddy, Luke.

Luke toddled over to her to pat her on her chin. "Cath, mama?"

"Hey there big man, Mama will be here soon," she said pulling the little boy into her lap. It was just about time for him to be picked up as well.

"School has been really good for me. I am enjoying learning so much. Education in the tunnels is fantastic and the hands on experiences I’ve had are really making a difference. Engineering was the right choice for me. I know that the work that Kanin, Mouse, and everyone else does is really important, and with my degree I hope I will be able to help out more," Jamie said picking up Jacob. "He really has gotten so big hasn’t he?"

"Yes he has. Since he started walking we have had to make sure that the baby gate is up all the time in our chamber. Cullen made us such a lovely one," Catherine said, "well I had better take the young gentleman there and go about my errands."

Catherine rose and traded the children. It was time to go into Father’s study so he could have lunch with her and baby Jacob. Lunch on Wednesdays was a ritual that they had begun shortly after the baby had been born. Father liked to watch the boy play on the rug while he and Catherine talked about all manner of things.

It was just a week or so before Winterfest, and there was still so much to do. The tables and chairs all had to be dusted off and polished. The next morning several of the ladies, headed by Mary and Sarah headed down to the Great Hall to begin the cleaning. They took the back way so they did not have to trudge down the long stairway, even though this was the route they would take in a few days time. Upon entering, they discovered that some work needed to be done to the largest table.

"Mary, should I send a message for some of the men to come and help," Sarah asked seeing the damage to the table.

"Yes, you had better. This looks like a job for Cullen. That table is just too large to move to his workshop, so he’ll have to come here. Vincent should probably be told as well," Mary replied.

Sarah left to tap out a message to the men on the pipes. Soon both Cullen and Vincent showed up. Mary showed them the damage and asked what needed to be done to fix it.

"Mary, I think we can get it repaired before the celebration, but I am going to need to build a new one before next year," Cullen told her shaking his head, "We’ll have to go back up and get the supplies, Vincent."

Vincent nodded his head and turned to go with Cullen as he started up the stairs. "You know Cullen; we really should begin checking the Hall more than a week before Winterfest. It looks likes the table is going to need a complete refinishing."

"Yep it does indeed. After those rains earlier this year I guess more water got in than we thought," Cullen said, "I thought we had taken care of the problem but it appears that one of those pipes was still leaking. There is mold deep in the wood of the table. Like I told the ladies, we can repair it for now but that won’t solve the whole mold issue."

After they gathered the equipment from the workshop, they made their way back down and got to work. By that evening they had the table sanded down and ready for the first coat of new stain, but that would have to wait for tomorrow.

Since he had married Catherine, Vincent had promised to be away from home at night as little as possible. He fully embraced the role of husband and father, nothing giving him more pleasure than sitting in his big velvet chair and reading to his son with Catherine nearby.

"Come on Cullen I think we’re finished for the day. We’ve enough time to make it back for dinner," Vincent said clasping the other man on the shoulder.

"I guess it is about that time isn’t it? So my friend, what do you think our fine chef will be fixing for tonight’s meal," Cullen asked.

"Soup probably. With Winterfest nearly here he is working his fingers to the bone to get the feast ready." And with that they packed up and headed back to the inner hub.

The next day was the day that Jenny and Catherine had decided to go shopping for the instant cameras. Baby Jacob would be accompanying them. Catherine loved to take him above. His father did too. He was glad that his child would be able to enjoy the sunshine.

After stopping in several stores, the perfect camera was found. "Jen, I can’t believe how easy this is. I only wish I had known about them sooner. I could have had a picture of Vincent to keep with me and he of me."

"Well now you can have as many as you like. You’ll be able to have them of Vincent and Jacob as well as the rest of the family. I’m sure everyone will be grateful to have those. Especially as Jacob grows up…and for the rest of your children too," Jenny said slyly.

Catherine began to blush a bit, "I’m sure they will. Now should we get more of the film cartridges too?"

"Yes lots," Jenny told her.

They made their purchases and decided that there was enough time to get some lunch. Catherine just happened to know of a good diner.

Back down Below, Mouse had returned after several days looking for more crystals. Vincent was the only one who had known what had really upset the boy but he hadn’t let on to Father, only Catherine. He had left a note in Mouse’s chamber asking him to come to Vincent’s chamber when he came home. Mouse found it and hurried off to see his mentor and best friend.

"Vincent, Mouse is back," the young man said. He nearly always spoke in the third person.

"I’m glad Mouse. You had me a bit worried," Vincent said quietly.

"Mouse is sorry. Been busy, making present for Jamie."

"I wanted to talk with you about the other day when you ran off. Do you think we can do that," he asked the younger man who had sat down in a chair across from Vincent.

"Ok good, ok fine," Mouse answered, "Mouse sorry for worrying. Prob’ly do it again though, sometime."

"That’s okay. I used to have to go off by myself a lot to think. Is that what you did?"

The young man just shook his head, so Vincent continued, "You love Jamie don’t you, and you want her to be here always?" Again Mouse nodded yes. "I want to tell you something Mouse, Catherine told me that Jamie was going to school so she could come back here and help us keep the tunnels in good working order."

"Jamie did that before. Why school better than here," Mouse asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"She wants to be able to work with you and others. Mouse you have really good ideas for how to help down here. Sometimes we have a hard time figuring out exactly how to make those things happen in a safe way. That’s what Jamie is going to be doing. She has been taking classes in engineering, specifically for water systems. When she is done, you and she will be the experts on how to keep the tunnels from flooding," Vincent explained.

"Mouse and Jamie working together, like before. That makes me…." Mouse had uncrossed his arms and leaned over to listen to Vincent, "happy. Very happy." He was so excited he got up and ran from the chamber with Vincent still sitting there chuckling. He hadn’t seen Mouse so excited in such a long time.

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