After everyone else received their sandwiches, and excited chatter was restored, Rebecca, Jamie, and Laura turned in their seats to ask Catherine, about the itinerary, and what they would be doing this weekend.
Excitedly, Catherine told them they could go on hikes, ice fishing, or sledding, and she brought a few seasonal movies for them to watch. She then added there were skates up at the cabin, and maybe some of them would be able to go ice-skating too.
It was then Catherine looked at Vincent, and with anticipation asked, "And, I am hoping to build a snowman, would you help me?"
With a smile in his eyes, he looked back and said, "Of course Catherine."
Thinking building a snowman sounded fun, Laura signed she would love to help too, and of course, Jamie did as well.
Happily, Catherine said, “Wonderful, the cabin hasn't been graced with a snowman in years."
Wondering if Rebecca would like to help too, Catherine looked over at her, and was about to ask, when she saw Rebecca had a far away look upon her face. Curiously, Catherine asked, “What is it Rebecca?”
Realizing she had been daydreaming, Rebecca snapped out of it, and feeling a bit embarrassed, she said, “Oh its nothing.”
With a bit of a teasing fashion, Vincent prodded, “What? You don’t care to help build a snowman?”
Smiling, Rebecca explained, “I would love to help! In fact, I was actually just thinking about the time, we built a snowman in the tunnels. Do you remember Vincent? Under Central Parks’ bandstand? Pascal, do you?”
To which Pascal answered, "Sure do!"
And with a fondness, Vincent nodded, and replied, “Ahh yes, I do as well. It was during the blizzard of 1969, and the snow had fallen through the grating there. And even though Father thought of more pressing chores for us children to do, our priority was to enjoy the snow before it melted away. You, Winslow, Devin, Pascal, Lisa, and I helped. Ah, he was a magnificent snowman.”
Rebecca laughed as she added, “We had so much snow to work with, I believe our snow man was 8 foot tall. At least it seems so looking back.”
Confirming, Vincent said, “He was tall. And with the help of some vegetables from the cold storage chamber, our snowman was quite impressive.”
With a soft laughter, Rebecca corrected Vincent, by saying, “You mean Egill was quite impressive.”
Recalling they did name their snowman after the Icelandic Viking Age warrior, and Skald, Vincent silently laughed, as he stood corrected, and repeated, “Of course Rebecca, Egill was quite impressive.”
Meanwhile, Pascal the co-pilot, recognizing the exit, urgently instructed, "Here's where we turn-off Peter."
Appreciatively, Peter replied, "I always knew your ears were finely honed, but now I know you have good eyes too! Thanks Pascal, this exit always sneaks up on me. Looks like we're almost there."
It was then Peter told everyone, he would be sleeping at his own cabin this time, wanting to make certain all was in good running order there.
After he announced his decision, a few groans of disappointment could be heard from amongst his friends, and he quickly assured them, “Hey, I am right up the road! And heck, if any of you really miss me, you can come and bunk over at my place.”
Catherine said she understood, and then told everyone, "Look there's Peter's cabin, and here's my family's cabin. They are very close and in walking distance."
As they pulled into the driveway, with much urgency and excitement, they unloaded the van. Mouse in particular was moving a mile a minute, when Jacob urged him to slow down, and asked, "Mouse you are gonna fall and break something! What's your hurry?"
Talking while on the move, Mouse said, "Two days not much time to find Rocky."
Pascal gave Jacob a look, which said he wanted him to tell Mouse the truth! The truth being, that in Pascal’s opinion, Rocky was long gone. And so Jacob carefully said, "Rocky must have moved on to another place by now. I doubt we will..."
Jacob was in mid sentence, when Mouse replied, "I know Rocky will come see me! Like Peter said, stranger things have happened."
Both Jacob and Pascal looked to Peter, with a "Thanks a lot!" manner, leaving Jacob, nothing left to say, but "We'll just have to see."
Meanwhile, a fire in the fireplace was started, and Catherine turned up the thermostat for the furnace, and between them both, it was toasty in no time.
Warmly, Catherine showed everyone to their rooms, and everyone excitedly moved their things in. It was decided Catherine and Jamie would share a room again, Rebecca and Laura would bunk together, with Pascal and Mouse as roomies, and Mary, Jacob, and Vincent would each have their own rooms again.
So after all the supplies had been put away, Peter put another log on the fire, and said, "That should keep the home fires burning for a while. Bundle up everyone; we are taking a moonlit hike up to my place! I happen to know where we can find "Jim Beam" to warm us up when we get there."
To which Jacob recalled, “Jim Beam, wasn’t he a frat brother of ours?”
This comment caused everyone to laugh, as it was implied that as college kids, both Jacob, and Peter had a bit of a wild side past.
Catherine smiled as she offered, "Well I'm bringing the thermos of Hot Chocolate for those who would rather warm up another way."
To which Jamie asked, "Can we bring the marshmallows to put in our hot chocolate too? Remember you told me that's what you like to do?"
Happy to be reminded, Catherine said, "Yes let's do. I am so glad you thought of it. Just grab the bag off the counter, and we will take them with us."
Loving this treat so much last summer, Jamie was happy to hear there was another use for them in the winter too, and so she replied, "Great! I can't wait to try it."
Peter then instructed, “All right, everyone follow me. And oh by the way, stick close to one another, there could be some coyotes stalking about!"
Taking Peter’s warning especially seriously, the girls followed close behind, down the well-worn path to his cabin. As they ventured on, Vincent thought of how wonderful the cold felt, and of how beautiful the scenery was. He always enjoyed the city in the winter, whether it was on a distant rooftop, or on a hidden path in Central Park. But this countryside was so rustic, and isolated, it allowed him a freedom to take pleasure in the vista, in a way he had never known.
Kindly, Catherine asked, "Are you enjoying the view so far?"
Softly Vincent answered, “It is just as you described the beauty of this snowy iced-over land. It is brilliant."
Catherine sweetly hugged his arm, and said, "I was hoping you would like it."
Suddenly up ahead, they heard squealing from the girls! Vincent pulled Catherine along as he raced to the front to see what the problem was!
When they arrived, they saw the girls cowering behind Peter, and Pascal, because of a raccoon in the middle of the pathway. Mouse turned to Vincent, and with his hand up, he halted him, wanting a chance to quiz the Raccoon. And so Mouse asked, "Rocky, is that you?"
The Raccoon scampered up to Mouse, and with a familiarity, crawled up his arm, just as he had done last summer! Mouse beamed, as he spoke to his furry friend, asking, "How are you Rocky?"
Seeing the friendliness of Rocky, Rebecca and Laura approached, saying they were glad to meet him in person, since they heard so many stories about him.
Meanwhile, Mary smiled at Jacob, and said, "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen this with my own eyes!” She then said, “It’s almost as if, Rocky knew Mouse was here!”
In response, Mouse said, “Rocky DID! I knew he would come see me!”
To which Pascal admitted, “You sure did my friend. This will teach me not to doubt your word, as far as critters are concerned.”
Peter happy to be off the hot seat because of his earlier encouraging comment he made to Mouse, said, “It’s like I said, stranger things have happened!”
Both Jacob and Pascal looked to each other, in an “Oh Brother” manner, because Peter turned out to be correct in giving an optimistic point of view, verses the downer viewpoint they had given.
It was then Mary mentioned, “I thought Raccoons hibernated."
In reply, Jacob along with some of the others said, that actually, they thought they did too.
To which Vincent informatively said, "Raccoons become dormant only if the temperature drops consistently below 25 degrees for a span of time, or if the snows are very heavy. And what happens, they may spend weeks at a time in a deep sleep, but not in what we refer to as true hibernation."
To which Mary replied, "Very interesting Vincent." And with an impressive nod, Jacob agreed too.
Peter then trying to get the hike back on track said, "All right the excitement is over, fall in everyone, we are almost there."
Upon hearing Peter bark out his orders, Jacob chided, "This isn't boot camp Peter! Loosen up, have a little fun."
Peter stopped to look at Jacob, and with a laugh said, "Well now, this is a switch! You, telling me to loosen up! Will wonders never cease!"
Everyone else laughed too, and continued down the trail, with the addition of a fuzzy little pal Rocky.
In no time at all, they arrived at Peter's cabin! In an effort to warm things up, Peter turned up his thermostat, and lit a fire in the huge fireplace as well. Seeing the fire ignite so quickly, caused Catherine to admiringly, say, "Dad always said, you can stoke a fireplace quicker than any one he has ever seen Peter."
Peter laughed as he offered, "Its all due to my past Eagle Scout training! That’s where we were taught a lot of survival skills."
With that explanation given, Peter then presented the bottle of "Jim Beam” to pass, and said, "Take a swig, this will warm you up."
Peter thinking he should clarify, quickly added, "And may I explain, warming up with Jim Beam was NOT due to any Eagle Scout Training!"
To which Mary commented, "Let's hope not!"
He then poured a bit and passed it around with some paper cups for those who felt inclined to take a nip.
And it was then Catherine and Jamie prepared the hot chocolate to pass around too. Catherine watched Jamie as she took her first sip with the melting marshmallow, and asked, “What do you think Jamie? Do you like it?”
To which Jamie said, “Yes! It is so good.”
Laura and Rebecca said they loved theirs too, and they all settled about the fireplace as Peter popped some popcorn over the open fire. Joyfully he then told a few stories about Catherine during her childhood. He especially loved telling the fishing story about Catherine when she was a stubborn little whippersnapper. She had decided, come hell or high water, she was going to go ice fishing with him and her dad!
As Peter looked at everyone in the group, he gained their full attention, as he began his story, "It was such a cold blustery day, and no matter what we said, we could not get Cathy to change her mind! She was going to go Ice Fishng. Finally Charles conceded, and told his young daughter to dress warmly because she would be stuck out on the lake with them for quite a few hours."
Peter looked lovingly at Catherine as he continued, "So, the three of us went fishing, or should I say Cathy went fishing! SHE fished the entire afternoon, sitting at her little fishing hole, and caught fish after fish! Meanwhile, Charles and I had no luck at all! When we finally decided to call it a day, we had to help Cathy haul her catch onto the shore!"
When the laughter and comments died down, Catherine laughed as she devilishly mentioned, "You know, neither of you, ever bothered to ask what I was using for bait."
Peter frowned as he inquired, "What do you mean kiddo? Weren't you using the worms your Dad had given you?"
Catherine shook her head no, and giggled as she told him, "Nope, I used the left-over hamburger!"
Peter roared with laughter as he said, "Why you little stinker! Your Dad could not figure out what had happened to his midnight snack, and he accused me of eating it! Now come to find out, it was you behind its disappearance. Well finally, the decade’s old mystery has finally been solved of the missing sirloin burger, and now, I have a new fishing secret!"
Vincent looked down at Catherine who was sitting next to him, and said, "I love hearing stories about you as a head-strong child. Your determined spirit seems to shine through in all you do Catherine, even still."
Catherine thoughtfully said, "In truth, I like hearing Peter speak of those days myself, it’s nice to revisit life back when it was a simpler time."
Vincent looked back, and saw the sadness in her eyes, and knew life for her now was not simple, nor would it ever be again.
A hush fell about the room, as those sitting around this magical fairy tale couple, were all thinking the same thing Vincent was, life would not be simple or easy for either of them, and knew they would do their best, to make it so.
Peter stayed at his place, along with some last minute bunkmates, Mouse and Pascal. Meanwhile the rest of them trekked back to the Chandler Cabin.
After making it back safe and sound, they all climbed into their nightclothes, and it was Jamie, Rebecca, Laura and Mary who opted to watch Miracle on 34th Street, while Jacob, headed on to bed, leaving only Catherine and Vincent outside to enjoy this beautiful winter's night. Vincent held Catherine's hand as they crossed over the bridge, and as they stepped off the path, they headed toward the lake.
Looking at the shoreline, he saw the pier had been brought to shore for the winter. And he thought back on the night last summer, when he and Catherine had sat at the end of it. That was the night they professed their commitment for one another, finally accepting their fates were as one. Softly, Vincent said, "Catherine, our hearts became unified here."
Catherine softly said, "Yes Vincent, you were finally able to accept I treasured you as much as you had me."
Vincent gathered her in his arms, and as he held her, he expelled a breathless voice, as he said, "My devotion grows for you more and more each day."
Catherine passionately said, "That is how I feel too."
Vincent brushed the snow away from the surface of the pier, and as he laid his cloak down upon it he said, "Join me Catherine."
As the two sat down on the dry docked pier, Catherine contentedly said, “The stars are so bright! Nearly as brilliant as they were last summer. We gained such hope that night."
Vincent reflectively said, "Hope provides wonderful things for a man's soul Catherine. The Christmas season does that for us, gives us hope.”
Catherine contemplated what Vincent had said, and knew what he spoke of was true, so true.
Catherine snuggled in closer as she said, "Oh Vincent, this is such a wonderful time of year, and being here with you during the Christmas season, is like a dream."
Vincent kissed Catherine's hair and with a smile in his eyes, and joy in his heart, he hugged Catherine tighter as he whispered, "Ah Catherine, it is a dream, our dream."
To be continued
Part Three
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| Catherine and Vincent’s Christmas in Connecticut! Part Two |
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