And so Vincent escorted Catherine over to the vat, saying hello to Devin, Pascal, Rebecca, and William, where they were welcomed into the fold.
After seeing they needed refreshment, William happily filled two goblets with some cider.
As Vincent glanced to his brother, he noticed an introspective look settle upon Devin’s face. He continued to watch as Devin scanned the hall, and in wondering what his brother could be thinking, Vincent asked him, “Is this how you remembered it to be?”
Because Devin was deep in thought, remembering times gone by, he needed to ask Vincent to repeat his question, and so he asked, “What was that?”
With a splay of his hand, Vincent looked about the hall, and asked again, “I wondered if the Christmas Eve celebration tonight is how you remembered it to be.”
With a nod, Devin smiled and said, “Oh yeah, and more. All the outlying dwellers here, and helpers from above, geese there’s a lot of them, and its amazing they have all chosen to spend Christmas Eve here, instead of above, their loyalty is truly amazing."
Incredulously, Devin then added, “You know when we were kids, I guess I didn't give our helpers enough credit. I mean I just thought they were an extended part of us, which they are, but tonight, I don’t know, I am suddenly aware of the double life they lead, and all the sacrifice involved in aiding this world.”
In agreement, Rebecca said, “Yes, its pretty astounding what some of our helpers do for us.
To which Pascal added, “Just keeping our secret, has got to be a challenge, I mean not to tell anyone about our world, must get tough sometimes.”
To which Catherine joined in saying, “Yes it must. When we wouldn't hear from Peter for a span of time, we would worry, and Dad and I would question where he had been, or why he was so scarce at times, and never once had he hinted to your world’s existence. Just to think all those times we were missing him, he was here.”
In validating Catherine’s view point, Rebecca said, “As far back as I can remember, Peter has been here for us.”
Rebecca then smiled as she continued speaking of good ole’ doctor Peter, and then shared, “I don’t know what made me think of this, but do you remember the year he gave us those chemistry sets? Oh Father was so mad at him!”
Devin looked at Vincent and began to laugh, as he told Rebecca, “We were just talking about that!”
Pascal laughed too, as he recalled, “Remember when Winslow mixed up some concoction, and it blew up and singed all of his eyebrows off? That marked the end of the experiments! Father made us turn all the chemistry sets in!”
Shocked to hear about Winslow's incident, Catherine looked at the brothers and mentioned, "Hmmm, seems you two left out this part of the story earlier!"
To which Vincent explained, "Though it is humorous to look back upon now, it upset Peter greatly to know it could have been serious. So Devin and I didn't want to bring it up again in front of Peter."
With a nod Catherine indicated she understood, and then Rebecca gave the three boys a stern look, and reminded them, “Remember? Pascal used some of Elizabeth’s black paint, and painted brows on Winslow to fool Father so he wouldn’t find out.”
To which Devin humbly offered, “Yes, and Pascal, if I may compliment you again my friend, you did a fine job.”
Playfully, Pascal took a gallant bow, and in a mock sophistication, he replied, “You may Devin, and once again, I thank you!”
They all laughed at the two, and though Catherine was still laughing at the thought of painted on eyebrows, she curiously noted, “But the brows must not have looked so great if Father DID find out, and took the chemistry sets away...”
To which Vincent informatively relayed, “Well yes, in fact they did look authentic from a distance that is, however unfortunately for us, it happened to be time for Lou’s scheduled haircuts, and needless to say, the moment Winslow sat down, Lou spotted the faux brows instantly!”
Everyone broke out laughing, and Devin finished the story by saying, “Yeah, and of course, Lou ratted us out!”
Pascal nodded, and said, “He sure did, and Devin, Vincent, Winslow and I had to do dishes for two months straight!”
To which Rebecca devilishly added, “And it was great!”
After all the laughter died away, she then hugged Devin’s arm, and said, “It’s so great having you with us again. We haven’t reminisced like this for ages.”
Devin warmly patted her arm in turn, and sat thoughtful for just a moment before he shared, “You know what I have missed most about this place?”
They all leaned in a little tighter to listen to what Devin wanted to reveal to them, and after a moment he said, “This, just listen.”
He then tipped his head, and as everyone also sharpened their hearing to detect what Devin was referring to, they were confused because they were unsure what they were listening for.
And so Rebecca finally said, “All I hear are people talking and laughing and some singing.”
To which Pascal added, “Me too.”
With a warm smile Devin said, “That’s right, what you all hear is the sound of people in harmony, people getting along. Everyone here cares about one another and wants to be together. It’s rare to find this accord in the world above, where there’s so much anger and hatred. At times...well at times it’s hard to bare.”
It truly was a poignant moment, when he then added, “The longer I was away, the better I understood why Father developed this world. We are all so lucky to have this place for refuge, and so very blessed for Father's vision.”
Vincent knew this was true, for without the tunnels, what would have happened to all these people? Where could they, or most obviously, where could he have gone?
And though Vincent realized Jacob couldn’t have known there would be a unique person, such as himself, who would need a place to be shielded from the world above, well, Vincent believed somehow, deep down, without realizing why, Jacob felt driven to fulfill his concept of this different kind of society.
Looking over at Catherine, Vincent could see tears in her eyes, for she too was wondering what would have happened to him if not for this wonderful place called the tunnels. And so with a smile in his eyes, he tipped his head to privately acknowledge her concern, and then in agreement with Devin, he said, “Yes we are all so very fortunate for Father’s vision.”
They all stood thoughtful for a moment longer, all grateful to Father in their own way, and for their own reasons.
It was then Rebecca broke the mood, by noting, “Oh my look! Jessica just walked in! I thought she was to be out of town...wow...she looks sooo beautiful!"
And then with concern, Rebecca added, "I wonder if Mary has seen her yet.”
But then...Rebecca's question was quickly answered, because just then Mary approached Jessica, and as the bunch looked on, they could see that the two ladies were smiling at one another as they talked, and the onlookers were surprised to see them so cordial and chummy with one another.
Yes...the observers all began to speculate what these two women could be talking about. They then watched as Jacob approached, and as he joined in the discussion with them, Rebecca subconsciously said aloud, “UH oh, here comes Father! Poor Mary!”
Vincent questioned Rebecca’s reaction by asking, “What makes you say that Rebecca? Mary is smiling, she doesn’t seem uncomfortable in any way.”
Defensibly Rebecca replied, “I don’t know, I guess I said it because I know how self conscious Jessica makes Mary feel. I mean look at her! She is so worldly, her hair, and makeup; she always wears the finest clothes.”
To which Catherine offered, “Clothes aren’t everything, and as far as makeup, Mary is a natural beauty, she doesn’t need any.”
In reply, Rebecca whole-heartedly agreed, saying, “Everything you say is true Catherine, I know it, and you know it, and I even think Mary knows it, but still sometimes even though it isn’t right, we compare ourselves to others. And this is what Mary does. She has always compared herself to Jessica.”
As Vincent listened, he knew Rebecca was right about how Mary had felt about Jessica in the past, but then he noted, “It would appear she has moved beyond those feelings Rebecca. Look at Mary, right now she seems quite confident in who she is.”
They all concurred with both Rebecca and Vincent, and summed up the whole theory by blaming or accrediting self consciousness as a major flaw in our human nature, and it is definitely a force we must constantly work at overcoming, and perhaps, Mary had!
It was then Pascal noted, “Hey now Jessica is hugging Father, and now Mary too. They do seem to be pals.”
To which Vincent suggested, “Perhaps Jessica and Mary have found their common ground.”
To which Rebecca curtly inserted, “Yes, and I believe it's FATHER!”
Catherine giggled at Rebecca's response, and watched with great interest too, and then because Devin needed clarification as to what exactly was the relationship between Father and Mary, and so he generically asked, "So what is their relationship anyhow?"
Everyone standing there agreed they were not a couple exactly, and their relationship most likely would not progress further than what it was, but what it was, no one could really say. They all settled on calling their relationship a fond friendship between two people who have a real respect for one another.
Next, they saw Jessica wave, and then turned and left! Jacob and Mary waved back, spoke a moment before Jacob escorted Mary to the buffet table!
Vincent was not one for gossip, but even he had to wonder, “Hmm what do you make of that? I wonder why Jessica left.”
Rebecca looked up at Vincent and with an assertive tone, urged, “Go find out Vincent! Father won’t mind your asking. If I ask, he will just think I am being nosy.”
After everyone else chimed in urging Vincent to go and ask, it was then Jacob and Mary, began to approach them! And so as the little circle of speculating spectators hurriedly looked away, and tried to act as if they were talking of other things, Jacob waited until he and Mary got closer, before he humorously commented to her, “What a bunch of bad actors uh Mary?”
To which she had to agree, and said, “Not an Oscar contender in the bunch.”
They all let down their guard, as they realized they were being obvious in their attempt to cover up their curiosity! And so finally, Rebecca cut to the chase, and openly asked “Why did Jessica stay for such a short time?”
To which Jacob answered, “Since her flight was delayed, she had time to stop in to wish us a Merry Christmas. She is leaving for New Zealand to photograph the devastation left from the earth quakes there.”
To which Devin commented, "New Zealand is such a beautiful island, I hate to imagine what the earthquakes did to it."
Surprised to hear Devin had been there, Jacob asked, "You have been there son?"
A bit humble, Devin answered, "Yes, my time as a merchant marine quite a few years back took me there on a mission of sorts..."
Self-consciously he then added, "...well, it's quite a story, I will tell you all about it sometime..."
To which Jacob kindly said, "Yes...I very much want to hear..."
And then Devin added, "One thing I will say, it is one long trip to get there, whether it be by boat, or by plane."
Thoughtfully, Mary contemplated what Devin had said, and then looked to Jacob, and noted, “Jessica really didn't seem to mind that aspect of it, in fact she seemed very excited about the length of the trip. Didn’t you think so as well Father?”
To which he agreeably answered, “Yes, I thought so. But then again, Jessica has always loved to travel you know, it nearly broke her spirit staying in one place too long.”
Suddenly realizing he was revealing the straw which broke the camels back, and why they couldn’t make a go of it, he chuckled a bit as he added, “To each his own uh? I myself like having my feet planted firmly on the ground.”
In wanting to change the subject, Jacob then cleared his throat, turned to Catherine and with a warm smile, he asked, “Tell me, are you enjoying yourself Catherine?”
To which Catherine joyfully replied, “Very much so Jacob!”
To be continued
Chapter Twenty-Nine
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| Destiny of my Heart! By Sharon Holtz Chapter Twenty-Eight ___________________________________ |
