| Dreams Of Gold! By Sharon Holtz Chapter Twenty |
Elegantly, Lisa nodded at Jacob, and gracefully she approached him. “Father, I am so happy to be here, and happier still, to see you again. I thank you for your correspondence in reply to mine…”
Lisa turned to Catherine, and nodding with a smile she added, “…which Catherine had so graciously delivered to me.”
Lisa then approached Catherine and Vincent, addressing Catherine first, she said, “The good will of your visit resonated with me after you left. It is with me still. Thank you for your kindness.”
Catherine nodded and with a smile she warmly said, “I want you to know I feel the same.”
Lisa lovingly turned to Vincent, and said, “Catherine told me your wound had healed nicely.”
And guardedly she added, “It is wonderful to see you looking so well Vincent…” and as she fleetingly glanced toward Catherine as she continued, “…and looking so happy.”
Samantha ran up to them, and excitedly said, “You came Lisa, you came! Vincent said you would!”
Lisa smiled and said, “Hello Samantha, of course I came. I have been looking forward to coming back home to the tunnels all week long…and I am so glad to know Vincent has faith in me…and in my word.”
Lisa turned to look at Vincent, and she held his gaze easily, as he looked back at her. Both feeling they had managed after all this time to arrive at a comfortable place where they knew and understood what they meant to each other.
Lisa smiled, and took Samantha by the hand she said, “Now tell me everything you have been doing this week Samantha, and don’t leave out a thing. You can tell me as we walk to my chamber, as we haven’t long to prepare!”
Samantha chatted away as they passed by Jacob, and as Lisa looked upward at him, he too, looked at her, and they shared a smile of warm recognition they both understood.
Lisa politely interrupted Samantha, as she held back for a moment to speak to Jacob, “I hope to have a chance to talk with you later Father. I would like to tell you all about my new position at the school.”
Jacob smiled in his heartwarming shaky manner and said, “Yes, yes. I shall look forward to…shall I say catching up? Perhaps over lunch.”
Lisa tipped her head and said, “Yes, that would be lovely Father.”
The chatter around the Dining Hall, returned to normal after Lisa and Samantha departed, Jennifer stood silenced, and awe struck, before she finally said to Catherine and Vincent, “So THAT was Lisa! She looks so familiar to me from somewhere!”
Catherine informed Jennifer, “Lisa should look familiar to you Jen, and I only recently recalled why she looked familiar to me too! In fact I haven't had the chance I don't think to tell Vincent this, but Lisa was the Prima Ballerina in the one, and only ballet you have ever gone to. Remember about four years ago at Christmas-time, I forced you to go to the Nutcracker with me?”
Jennifer expounded, “Yes! Thats it. Oh my, she was so wonderful and so beautiful! Remember how we talked that we wanted to kill her, because she was so perfect!”
Catherine looked downward embarrassingly, and said, “Well Jen, I’m not sure we said KILL!”
Jennifer insisted on reminding Catherine exactly what they had said, and enforced, “Yes we said, Kill! Joking of course, a figure of speech, but we were commenting on her willowy figure, and she was so gorgeous! We were certain she must have had Liposuction done, because she did not have an ounce of cellulite on that skinny little body."
Catherine decided she better try to hush her Dear friend, who might just continue on and on, revealing more of their supposedly confidential girl-talk!
Catherine with much angst said, “All right I remember Jen! Can we drop it now PLEASE!”
Vincent turned to Jennifer, and as he dipped his head in wonder, he asked, “Liposuction Jennifer?”
Jennifer explained, “Yeah Vinny, it’s a procedure where they can suck the fat from your body in hard to tone areas! It’s a great short-cut to diet and exercise!”
Vincent nodded his head, indicating he understood, and then Jennifer added, “I am dying to have it done. In fact, I wanted to use my inheritance money from Aunt Sophie for it, but you know Mom! She said, I have to wait until she dies before I do it, other wise she would kill me, for spending money on something so frivolous! But by that time…I'm gonna be so old, who’s gonna notice!”
Just then, Jamie and Laura approached and asked, if they could take Jennifer to see Jamie’s chamber, and reminded Vincent, he and Catherine promised to see it this morning too.
Eagerly, Jennifer announced, “I would love to! Do you guys mind if I go on ahead?”
Vincent nodded, and said, “Of course. We shall be along directly.”
As Vincent, and Catherine began their slow trek toward Jamie’s chamber, with a smile in his eyes, Vincent asked Catherine, “Tell me Catherine, have you ever gone through this…Liposuction procedure?”
Catherine was too embarrassed to look back at Vincent! She couldn’t believe Jennifer had told Vincent, THAT conversation! Softly she answered, “No Vincent I haven’t. It is not a common day practice to go through such a thing.”
And then Catherine confessed how embarrassed she was Jennifer had told him what they had said about Lisa all those years ago.
Catherine apologetically said, “Vincent, when I said those things about Lisa, well it was a very long time ago, long before I met you, and knew anything about Lisa. It was silly to talk that way. I suppose I must sound pretty catty to you.”
Vincent smiled as he said, “Jennifer is showing me another side of you, I love hearing about. I can imagine you were relaxed, and carefree with your friend, as you critiqued the dancers of the ballet.”
Vincent then added, “Relaxed in such a way, you have never been able to be with me.”
Catherine asked, “Vincent what do you mean? I do feel relaxed with you.”
Vincent sighed as he spoke, “The stories Jennifer relays to me, are from your past. I know you were different then.”
Catherine sighed, and agreed, “I guess I looked at life a little differently back then when I was younger.”
Carefully, Vincent inserted, “Perhaps rather…since the night you were attacked Catherine?”
Catherine looked up questioningly at Vincent, and as her brow furrowed a bit, she wondered where Vincent was going with this assertion.
Vincent answered Catherine’s silent question, as he said, “Something precious was taken away from you that fateful night. Am I wrong Catherine?”
Catherine shook her head, totally unprepared for the tears that came, and clouded her voice so intensely, that it prevented her to speak. “Vincent I…”
Vincent took Catherine in his arms, and said, “I didn’t mean to make you cry Catherine.”
Catherine looked up at Vincent, and asked, “How can you know me so completely? How could you know that night, I did change in ways I have never spoken about.”
Vincent wiped her tears away and said, “I know it only because of what I feel in your heart now, is different from what I felt from you that one brief moment, before you entered that limousine Catherine. Now...there is a guarded weariness within your heart. I don’t always feel it, but I know it is there.”
Catherine took a deep breath and said, “There are things…things we never spoke about, but somehow you know.”
Catherine sighed as she continued, “My heart had been robbed of a blind trust it used to have. I do miss instinctively, finding the good in people. I suppose a lot of that has to do with working at the
D.A., and the cruel traits I have witnessed in some people. The career change had happened indirectly because of the attack, but to be totally accurate, it happened because of you. You helped me to see my strengths, and to be strong Vincent. You empowered me to do what I could, to affect the world in the ways, which were open to me. I want you to understand the night of the attack, the things that were taken away, were replaced by so much more...”
Tearfully, Catherine added “...and it brought me to you.”
She gathered herself, and tried to smile as she suggested, “Maybe we should save this subject for another time. Jamie is so anxious to show us her chamber. I am sure they must be wondering where we are.”
Vincent once again, took Catherine within his arms, and as he cradled her head in his hand he said, “Yes Catherine another time. For now let us enjoy our day.”
Catherine tearfully nodded, and they slowly walked on.
The morning went by quickly, as they spent it visiting with the others from the Tunnel community. Many of them had not yet had the opportunity to tour the new chambers, and they were all anxious to see them completed. Jacob even came by to see Jamie and Laura’s chambers, and sang Mary’s praises, for all the work she had done.
Graciously, Mary accepted everyone's compliments surrounding her decorating expertise, and especially enjoyed when the compliments came from, Jacob.
After the tours, Kipper, and Eric came running up to Vincent, and asked, if he would help Lisa in the Great Hall?
Excitedly, Kipper relayed, “Hey Vincent, Lisa wants you to help move some stuff.”
Vincent turned to Catherine, and said, “If you prefer, perhaps I should send someone else in my place to help Lisa.”
To which Catherine insisted, “Vincent no, don’t do that. I don’t mind.”
Nodding graciously, Vincent said he wouldn’t be long, and promised, “I shall come for you and Jennifer when it is time for lunch.”
Jennifer added, “Oh Vinny would you come for us in my chamber. I want to fix up a little bit before I see Ro…before lunch.”
Vincent agreed, and as he turned to Catherine, as if to double check if it was really o.k. for him to go, her sweet smile told him it was, and then she told him,“ I'll be waiting Vincent.”
Gallantly in reply, Vincent answered with a quote courtesy of Shakespeare, as he recited, “Also thrive my soul.”
They stood looking at one another for an extra moment, not wanting to part company from each other, when Kipper yelled, “Come on Vincent!”
To be continued
Chapter Twenty-one
