As Vincent continued walking, he said to Lin, "I was expecting you...I knew you would feel compelled to come..."
As Lin struggled to keep up with his stride, she tearfully relayed, "Of course I would be! I had to see if you were all right! You should not have left as you did! Catherine is very upset!"
To which Vincent, with great interest, softly asked, "You have seen Catherine?"
In reply, Lin anxiously explained, "Yes...when you left the restaurant without a word, she went to find you! And when I didn't hear anything back from her, I went to see Catherine at her apartment..."
And so with a knowing tip of his head, Vincent grievously said, "So, now you must know..."
To which Lin tearfully said, "Yes...now I know. Vincent...sending her away from you today, well, you have broken her heart. Don't punish her because of things her old boyfriend had boasted about."
In reply, Vincent sadly clarified, "I am not punishing Catherine..."
With desperation...Lin expounded, "Don't blame her then!"
As Vincent kept walking, Lin was really having a hard time keeping up, and so she suddenly grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop, as she cried, "Vincent! Don't blame Catherine! If you blame anyone, blame me! It was my fault all this happened."
To which Vincent sadly said, "No Lin, it is not your fault. There is no one to blame or to punish! What happened today...has been waiting to happen. My eyes needed to be opened, and now they have been. Believe me...Catherine will be better off, not having to harbor my secrets."
In disbelief, Lin said, "I don't believe that Vincent, and neither does Catherine!"
And it was then, Lin continued as she posed the argument, "Okay, so you say Catherine will be better off, but Vincent, what about you? Will you be better off? You should instead BELIEVE, that you two CAN be better off together."
As Vincent looked at Lin, with emotion, he said, "Lin, you cannot tell me what I should believe."
To which Lin apologetically said, "Of course, I didn't mean to say it that way...it's just that, I want you to think of yourself too for balance...that's all."
Humbly Vincent stood, and then replied, "I appreciate your care and loyalty. I consider you a great friend, and I only hope our difference of opinion, does not alter the friendship we share."
To which Lin lovingly told Vincent, she would remain his friend, nothing could change that, and then added, "No matter how wrong, and stubborn you are!"
And it was then, at that point, Lin informed Vincent, she was now Catherine's friend too, and hoped, he would be able to accept that.
To which Vincent warmly expressed, he is pleased knowing Catherine will have the friendship, of such a good person as Lin.
Upon hearing the word friendship, Lin reached into her pocket, and sadly said, "Speaking of Friendship Vincent, Catherine asked that I return this to you."
As Vincent looked down at the friendship charm Natalie had made for him, a bittersweet look came over him, as he recalled his and Catherine's conversation about it.
As he soberly took it from Lin, he said, "Thank you...Natalie will be looking to see if I have it."
To which Lin softly relayed, "Catherine knew that. She was concerned Natalie would be disappointed if you weren't wearing it."
As Vincent looked downward, he said, "Yes, Catherine understands the importance of this charm, to both Natalie and to me. Please when you see her, thank her."
As Lin took a deep breath, she sternly said, "No Vincent I won't! If you wish to thank Catherine...this is a something you must do yourself."
Thinking of this seemingly impossible task, Vincent closed his eyes, and said, "I can't."
To which Lin resignedly, declared, "And, I won't."
As Lin took in a deep breath, she thought on something her Grandmother had told her, and so she shared, "My Grandmother once told me of an ancient Chinese Proverb, that states: The death of the heart, is the saddest thing that can happen to a man. So don't close off your heart like this Vincent...it can destroy you..."
To which in reply, Vincent then said, "Just know what I have done today, was not because I have hardened my heart...but rather, out of love for Catherine..."
And then Vincent said, "...Mary and the children are expecting me Lin, so if that is all..."
Upon hearing Vincent ask this, Lin desperately said, "No that is not all! Catherine did have something she wanted me to relay...which was...remember love..."
As Vincent heard the words he had forgotten to remember...he slipped a bit deeper into sadness, as he couldn't allow those words to touch his heart again as they once did.
Lin then with hope continued, "...Catherine wanted me to remind you of the dream you had, so do you remember Vincent? And understand all what your dream meant?"
Reflectively Vincent stood for a moment, thinking about the dream which reaffirmed his self worth, and then downheartedly replied, "I do understand...and...I now also understand that our dreams, are nothing more...than mere dreams."
With an urgency, Lin then asked, "Well, do you at least have a reply? Something I can relay back to Catherine?"
With a sorrowful reply, Vincent said, "There is nothing more to say..."
After a request for a response failed, Lin then grievously smiled, as she recalled, "I remember when you first told me about Catherine, you were so happy."
To which, Vincent knowingly looked at Lin, as he thoughtfully observed, "Happiness is allusive and fleeting...it is not meant to remain as a constant state of being."
Upon hearing Vincent's viewpoint, Lin, tried to bait him a bit, by asking, "Allusive and fleeting? Like your love for Catherine?"
As Vincent held Lin's questioning gaze, he unwaveringly said, "No Lin, the only constant I own, is the love I have for Catherine...and will never die."
To which Lin then bewilderingly, and tearfully stated, "You say that, yet you have decided to throw it all away, by turning your back on her, and turning your back on her love for you...all because you think this is best for her."
In reply, Vincent with much emotion, said, "In appearance alone, I must."
Lin looked at her watch, and reluctantly said, "Oh Darn! I am out of time! If I stay any longer, my overprotective husband will worry."
To which Vincent nodded, and said, "You must know, Henry's concern is only because he loves you so."
In reply, Lin raised her brow, and said, "Yes...and sometimes to excess!"
And then wanting to tie their situation in with Vincent and Catherine's, Lin tersely added, "Sounds like another overprotective man I know."
Sweetly, Lin then took Vincent's hand in hers and gently explained, "Sometimes such a protective love, distorts your vision, and you only see your viewpoint as the one that is right..."
Vincent then, in a firm resolve, concluded by saying, "And sometimes love enhances our vision, enabling us to see the bigger picture, beyond ourselves..."
Knowing she could not totally disagree with Vincent's point, Lin looked downward, feeling there was nothing more, or left to say.
Lin then embraced Vincent, as she tearfully said, "All I can say is, I feel so badly how today turned out."
To which Vincent looked kindly at Lin and said, "No need for you to feel badly Lin...things turned out the way they were meant to..."
Vincent then tragically added, "...it is now over...and, it has been a difficult day..."
As Lin looked at her watch once more, she said, "Let me know if there is anything I can do...please Vincent..."
To which Vincent replied, "Just be there for Catherine. With Peter and her Father out of town, she is alone right now, and it is because of who I am...being alone is my fate, and I have accepted this shall always be so..."
Lin's heart broke as she watched Vincent turn and walk away, walking the lonely path he had chosen. Yes, Vincent was bound and determined to re-write his own destiny, tragically though, at the same time, he would be re-writing Catherine's too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meantime, As Vincent stepped into the Library, Mary ecstatically said, "Oh good children look who is FINALLY here! Vincent!"
To which Vincent said, "Hello children, and Mary, thank you for filling in for me..."
The children all cheered hello in reply, and it was then Mary hurriedly said, "Oh Vincent, I am anxious to hear about your date with Catherine, but the sewing circle is waiting for me! We have the D.D.D.D. to deal with this afternoon...so I will have to wait to hear all about it later..."
And as Mary was going on and on, she suddenly stopped to ask, "Vincent are you well?"
And because Vincent did not want to go in to what had transpired between he, and Catherine now, he replied, "Of course..."
As Mary hesitantly, bought his story, she then worriedly expressed, "I am only wondering, if the Pai's food sat all right with you? You look a bit ashen."
And because he wanted to rush Mary along, with a nod, Vincent, assuredly said, "I am fine, now you don't want to keep everyone waiting..."
To which Mary replied, "Indeed I don't....well, all right then, I will go...but I will remind you, there is some baking soda in the Hospital Chamber, on the shelf to the right of the suppositories."
As Vincent placed his hand on Mary's shoulder, he said, "Mary...I AM fine..."
To which Mary smiled a caring smile, and said, "All right then..."
But before she left, Mary turned to the children, and said, "Just to let you in a little secret, I am hoping to coax William into preparing his delicious Gingerbread for dessert tonight! I happen to know we just received a fresh bag of Sultanas and Raisins from Lou!"
Upon hearing they may be treated to such a delicious desert, the children all cheered, and said they hoped she would be successful!
As Vincent now stood before the children, Natalie looked at Vincent's belt and said, "Vincent! You have your charm on! I am glad you found it!"
To which Vincent looked at her and with a sad smile, told her, "It was never lost. I knew it was in a safe place Natalie. I do treasure it, and will not remove it from my belt again."
And so it was after Natalie beamed at him, he then began the lesson.
And though Vincent did his best to hide his melancholy, it is hard to fool a child. And so, an ever perceptive Zach, raised his hand and asked, "What's wrong Vincent? You look kinda sad again, like the last time you and Catherine had problems. Are you having problems with Catherine again?"
Upon hearing Zach's question, Vincent heaved a sigh, and said, "We are not here to talk about me, but rather we are here to study..."
And so, Kipper, matter-of-factly butted in, as he offered, "That sounds like code for yes, there are problems again."
As Vincent pondered what to say, he lowered his eyes, and paced the floor in front of the children.
Deciding to tell them the truth, he looked into their little faces, and shared, "Adult relationships can be complicated. And...yes, both of you are right. Catherine is the reason for my melancholy."
In reply, Seth then worriedly asked, "So whath going on? Did you break up again?"
To which Vincent with a subtle nod, sadly said, "Yes...yes we did..."
Upon hearing this, Heather irritatingly said, "Oh boy, here we go again!"
As Vincent heard Heather's retort, he started to explain the situation, when little Joseph asked, "Aren't we ever going to see Catherine again?"
To which Vincent carefully, told him, "It is uncertain...I know she loves all of you children, and will want to visit...it is hard for me to say right now what you can expect..."
Not liking the sound of Vincent's answer, Joseph replied, "Hope she does visit, I really like her!"
To which little Natalie sadly said, "Yeah, me too..."
Thoughtfully, Zach then lamented, "Awe, it's too bad Father is gone, uh Vincent? Bet he would have some advice for ya."
Upon hearing Zach, and the others say Father could have helped, Vincent then sadly explained, "Father being here would not have made a difference in this case. The situation between Catherine and I, well, I had to deal with myself. You see, there are times, we must make decisions, and do what we know is best for the other person, no matter how difficult or painful it may be for ourselves."
And it was then Kipper asked, "Best? Why? What's going on?"
Wondering if he was right to share so much, Vincent couldn't really stop now, and so he explained, "Sometimes when there are vast variances between two people...and the differences can down the road, grow to be insurmountable."
With a nod, Kipper indicated he understood, and said, "Differences uh? So the problem is that she looks different from you!"
As Vincent heard Kipper's question, it warmed his heart, thinking Kipper viewed Catherine as the one looking different from him, rather than the other way around.
And so Vincent answered as simply as he could, saying, "I suppose if you have a need to narrow it down, then in a word...yes, that is why..."
As Samantha sat, looking perplexed, she then said, "But you always told us we shouldn't care what a person looks like, that we should look past their skin, and see what their heart looks like."
As Vincent looked heavenward, he tried to explain by saying, "Yes, that is still true Samantha...all of it is still true, however..."
Upon hearing Vincent's reply, Samantha began to wonder if maybe Vincent found out Catherine wasn't a nice person inside. And so she butted in and asked, "So wasn't Catherine as nice as she seemed?"
In reply, Vincent helplessly answered, "Yes...Catherine IS as nice as she seems, and Catherine is in fact, the nicest person, I will ever know..."
And it was then Kipper chimed in, and said, "Since Catherine is so nice, I bet she is wondering why the heck you broke up with her!"
To which Samantha urgently asked, "Is she Vincent? Is Catherine wondering why?"
As the queries kept coming, Vincent was beginning to question his decision to be honest with the children! And so he then carefully told Kipper and Samantha, "I told Catherine why, she knows I feel it would be best for her to be with a topsider like herself..."
And so Joseph then asked, "So does she like your idea, or is Catherine sad about it?"
With a mindful nod, Vincent carefully relayed, "Lin told me Catherine does not agree, and does feel badly...and though today she doesn't understand...one day I believe she will."
With a thoughtful nod, Heather then noted, "Doesn't sound like making all the decisions is very fair to Catherine, guess you haven't heard of women's lib Vincent."
After thinking on what Heather said, Kipper curiously asked, "So would you say you are a male chauvinist!"
Feeling badly this talk has gone so off the rails, Vincent urgently answered, "Charvinist? Not at all children."
Putting all the battle of the sexes talk aside, Zach voiced his observation, by offering, "I think the problem is you need to get in touch with your feminine side like Father told Kanin he needed to do."
To which Vincent frustratingly said, "Children, my feminine side, IS NOT the problem!"
As Vincent tried to steady his voice, he said, "Just know this...although Catherine may be sad now, I believe with the passage of time, she will agree, and eventually come around to my way of thinking..."
To which Eric innocently noted, "I have an idea that would be real quick! Why don't you just hypnotize her, and tell her not to like ya anymore? And she can start thinking like you want her to think, right away, and skip being sad."
Upon hearing Eric's interpretation of the situation, Vincent broke in to say, "I would never do anything of the kind, Catherine has free will, and it would be wrong to infringe upon her like that."
Thinking about Vincent's free will comment, caused Zach to question, "So it would be wrong to use mind control?"
In answer, Vincent adamantly said, "Of course it would!"
Feeling totally confused, Samantha noted, "It sounds like you think she has the right to be sad, but not the right to choose you over a topsider..."
Feeling totally at a loss for words, Vincent then said, "I am afraid I have given you children the wrong impression of what has transpired between Catherine and I...however, one day, I will try to better explain..."
To which Zach said, "Well I hope it's soon, cuz I sure wanna know why YOU thought it was best to break up with a beautiful, nice lady like Catherine!"
And it was then, Vincent suddenly saw his situation through the children's eyes!
And because of their wise innocence, he realized, he was being tyrannical, where Catherine's decision making, was concerned.
And Vincent had to ultimately ask himself, "Yes...if Catherine decided to follow her heart, who am I to dictate her path?"
And so because of the children's viewpoint...and Lin's scolding, Vincent's eyes were opened, but this time in a positive way, and so he told the children, how much he appreciated their help, and tonight...he would go to Catherine, and try to make amends.