| All of My Life! By Sharon Holtz Chapter Twenty |
Catherine returned with the pizza, tea and wine, to find Vincent with his head back silently laughing at something Jennifer had said!
As Catherine handed Jennifer her glass, she poured some tea for Vincent, and then quizzically asked, “What have I missed?”
Vincent looked at Catherine, and marveled, “You never told me you have another name you were at one time known by.”
Catherine gave Jennifer a dirty look, and with her eyes widened, she cautioned, “Jen you didn’t?”
She guiltily slunk lower in her seat, and as Jennifer grabbed a piece of pizza, she nodded, saying, “I did."
She then tried to plead her case, by saying, “Well I didn't mean to. We were busy talking about Vinny being a more suitable name for Vince here, and well one thing led to another, and sorry, but your knick-name slipped out.”
Vincent took Catherine’s hand, and lovingly said, “To envision you as a chubby child is so endearing to me. Don’t be upset with Jennifer.”
To which Jennifer butted in, and pushing the envelope, teasingly said, “Yea Pumpkin don’t be upset at me!”
Catherine looked at Vincent, and though she was so embarrassed by Jennifer revealing her nick-name, she couldn’t help but notice, he seemed to be relaxed with Jennifer, and she with him!
Catherine loved seeing him this way, and he really seemed to be enjoying hearing a story from her childhood.
As she served Vincent some pizza, Catherine mischievously looked downward as she said, “You know Vincent, Jen has a knick-name too, Little Lulu.”
Jennifer laughed and said, "I haven't been called that in years! I used to love that cartoon and read Little Lulu in the funny papers. ”
Vincent amusedly replied, "I remember reading Little Lulu comic books as a child. From time to time Peter would bring an assortment of comic books for us children, to have what he would call some "fun reading". He felt we should have some sort of comic relief from reading only the classics of Father's curriculum."
They then spoke for a time about how Peter's name always seems to surface, and of what a great and caring man he is.
Catherine took a sip of wine, as she hesitated for a moment, before changing the subject by saying,
“Vincent, I did visit Lisa today.”
Putting down his tea, and with great concern Vincent asked, “Is she well?”
Catherine nodded, and smiled resignedly, “Yes she is. She asked the same about you.”
The friendship, and concern between Lisa, and Vincent will always be there, Catherine knows that now, and after talking to Lisa today, she can now accept it gladly for Vincent.
She then told him, “I gave her the letters, and she is very excited to come home on Saturday. I told her the children have been rehearsing and are most anxious about performing their encore performance.”
Vincent nodded, and said, “I believe Father is looking forward to seeing her on Saturday as well, he spoke quite fondly of her today.”
Catherine took Vincent’s hand, and said, “I understand so much more now. Lisa and I, well we talked, and we have an understanding. I know what you mean about the change in Lisa. I felt it, and we connected on some level. After all we do have one thing in common, and who knows, maybe down the road, we may even be friends.”
Jennifer was going crazy wondering who the heck this Lisa was, and so finally she asked, “All right, fill me in! Who in the &*#% is this Lisa?”
Catherine looked to Vincent feeling perhaps it should be up to him, to tell Jennifer about Lisa. And so he did, carefully explaining, “Lisa is a woman, who I knew as a young girl, we grew up together down in the tunnels, and then as a teenager, she was suddenly sent away. She has returned recently after many years absence, and her return brought many painful memories, and truths for us all to bare.”
Jennifer asked, “Why Vinny? What had she done?”
Catherine tried to impede Jennifer’s question, as she could see it was very uncomfortable for Vincent to answer, by saying, “It is all in the past now, we don’t need...”
Vincent placed his hand on Catherine’s as he said, “Catherine, there are no more secrets.”
Vincent looked downward as he said, “I loved Lisa when I knew her then, and the pain surrounding our relationship, had resurfaced along with her return. Thanks to Catherine, this past weekend, we faced and abolished our pain.”
Vincent shifted his gaze to Catherine as he said, “Catherine is so giving…setting her own welfare aside, to see Lisa today.”
Catherine looked back at Vincent and said, “I am so glad I did, for everyone’s sake.”
Jennifer started putting 2 and 2 together, and said, “So LISA was the reason for joining me and Ma on our trip to Hackensack! LISA caused the misunderstanding, NOT sexual impotence on Peter’s part!”
Catherine could only shake her head in wonderment, and as she glanced at Vincent, Catherine thought he seemed to have a “Say What” look on his face!
Helplessly, Catherine laughed, as she reminded him, “Do you recall my telling you of Jen’s theory, concerning Peter needing Viagra, the sexual enhancement drug?”
Vincent amusingly recalled, “Indeed I do.”
Since they were all on the same page now, Catherine continued to make her case by saying, “Well what Jen said just now cements my theory she is obsessed with Peter’s sex life!”
Jennifer protested, “I am not, my only concern was for your welfare!”
To which Catherine pointed out, "See what I mean? We had to tell Jennifer everything, just to get Peter off the hook! She is ruthless!"
Jennifer then laughed aloud, when she thought of her last conversation with Peter!
She then shared, “Oh my God, when I think of the grilling, I put that poor man through! I began to imagine all kinds of things, because his answers were so vague about where you were staying! Well now I know why!”
Jennifer looked down, and fearfully noted, “Maybe you are right! I do sound obsessed, but why? Why would I care about Peter’s sex life? Why should I care if he is doing it or not?”
Jennifer looked to both Vincent and Catherine, as she anxiously announced, “I must bring this up with my therapist on Friday! And I better apologize to Peter. Poor Man! I was pretty rough on him!”
Catherine looked at Vincent to check his reaction to Jennifer’s comments, and was surprised to see, he seemed to be getting a kick out of her, in spite of everything!
Vincent raised a brow, and relayed, “I feel, I must tell you, I had a conversation with Peter, directly after he spoke with you, and you are right. You have put him on edge, in fact it was because of his fear of what you thought of him, that initiated the original thought, it was time for you and I to become acquainted. He was very unnerved having you believe he was the secret man in Catherine’s life.”
Jennifer laughed, as she said, “When I see Peter, I will definitely apologize then, if I have the chance that is, he may be running the other way if he sees me first! Oh poor Peter!
Catherine then said, “Oh yes Vincent, speaking of Peter, I had a message from him. He will be returning Thursday night. Will you tell Mary?”
Vincent nodded, and with a smile in his eyes he said, “Of course. She asked me again this afternoon if we had heard anything from him yet.”
Catherine turned to Jennifer and explained Mary, was a lovely woman down in the tunnels, who may have a crush on Peter!
Gently Vincent discounted Catherine's impression, but admitted there seemed to be an interest of late, and as he took a bite of his pizza, he noted, “This is quite delicious Catherine.”
She smiled contentedly, as she sat and watched Vincent chowing down, and replied, “I am so glad you like it. I ordered it from Dano’s, you know, right next to Wong’s restaurant.”
Vincent nodded knowing the place quite well. “Yes, the owner Daniel, is one of our helpers Catherine. Many times, he has sent provisions down to us. Father had been his physician in the days before, he developed the tunnels.”
In astonishment, Catherine said, “I didn’t know that! I have been ordering from Dano’s for years, and to think he has been a helper…”
Jennifer sat fascinated, as she exclaimed, “So what you are telling me is for all of my life, this world has been right here below us, beneath the city? I can’t believe it! Fascinating, just fascinating!”
Jennifer had a zillion questions, and Vincent kindly answered them all, wanting Jennifer to feel confident knowing Catherine was going to a secure new home.
Next Jennifer asked, “Now tell me Vinny, how do we get to your world?”
Patiently, Vincent explained, “There are several accessible entrances throughout the city.”
Tipping his head toward Catherine, he explained to Jennifer, “Catherine comes below in one of two ways, either by her apartment’s basement, or in the park through the old drainage tunnel.”
Vincent looked reminiscently at Catherine and explained, “The latter was where I first carried Catherine into our world to recover from her injuries.”
Jennifer looked at Vincent with such gratitude, and admiration as she said, “Cathy told me all about how you saved her life. It was a miracle you even found her laying out there in the dark!”
Vincent nodded and dreamily said, “Yes, it WAS a miracle I found her. Something drew me to where she laid motionless, even in the darkness I had a sense of her. Now I know it was our bond which drew me, our bond, that perhaps always existed…”
Catherine touched Vincent’s hand, and said, “It took that horrible incident to bring us together.”
Jennifer turned to Catherine, and reminisced, “Cath…you could have met Vincent an easier way. Do you remember how we used to party in the park? That one night we partied all night long in that big drainage tunnel with the gang.”
Jennifer laughed as she remembered, “Oh my God, we got so drunk on that Boones Farm! Do you remember how we turned the headlights of your Volkswagen on, like it was a spotlight or a stage or something, and you stood in front of it and sang along with that old Meat Loaf song, Paradise by the Dashboard lights”?”
Catherine cringed embarrassingly, and said, “Yes I remember JENNIFER!”
She then clapped her hands together, and insisted, “OK! Well that is just about enough reminiscing about me, wouldn’t you say?”
Vincent tipped his head, and said, “Never enough about you Catherine.”
To be continued
Chapter Twenty-one (Final Chapter)
