| Sweet Dreams! By Sharon Holtz Chapter Thirty-Seven |
With two days left to go, Vincent and Catherine's wedding plans, have definitely
taken over center stage, and was the topic discussed in every corner of the
tunnels.
However, even though everyone's excitement level was at a fever pitch, life
carried on as normal as possible, in this busy underworld.
Catherine held her reading class for the children, Vincent helped the men with
the renovations in the expansion chambers, Mary kept the girls busy with the
wedding preparations, and Jacob, well...Jacob sat worrying in his chamber.
And so meantime, because he was summoned, Vincent stepped through his
Father's threshold, and with concern asked, "You wanted to see me Father?"
Continuing with his contemplative stare, Jacob said, "Yes...please sit down."
As Vincent settled down beside his father, Jacob then said, "I sent for you
because I wanted your opinion, and to talk with you about the party Jennifer is
giving tonight, on Catherine's behalf."
He looked at his son and said, "As you know, I gave Rebecca, and the others
my permission to attend. Now mind you...except the younger children with
curfews, they are not required to even ask me. After all, as I always say, no one
is held prisoner here."
Vincent offered, "They respect you Father, and they wanted to have your
Blessing concerning the matter."
Rubbing his forehead, Jacob said, "Yes...yes...I understand that..."
Softly, Vincent inquired, "What troubles you then Father?"
Irritatingly, Jacob replied, "I'm not sure...I suppose I am troubled because, I
have noticed a few members of the younger generation, seem to be growing
restless of late. I am wondering if going above could only exacerbate their
discontentment here."
Vincent, feeling a little confused that his Father would worry about this
occurrence, inserted, "They often go above Father, for supplies, or to deliver
messages to our helpers...it is a necessity to do so."
Interrupting his son, Jacob said, "With all due respect Vincent...this journey
above tonight, will be for an entirely different justification! Attending a party,
will give them a different view-point of the city...and could feed into their
romantic impression of life above. What if they want to leave here because of
it?"
Calmly, Vincent reminded Jacob, "But Father, there have been many in our
history, that have returned to their lives above."
Anxiously Jacob replied, "Yes, there have been! And if you recall...with each
person that decided to leave here, another one went, and then another! Causing
an exodus of sorts for a period of time following."
Seeing his Father visibly upset by this topic, Vincent had to ask, "Why are you
so concerned with this today Father? Like in families everywhere...children
leave home...I thought you have accepted this process as a viable possibility for
everyone here."
Reaching over to touch his son's hand, he then looked sadly upon him as he
said, "For everyone but you Vincent...I fear what the future may bring. What
happens when those of us, that are left in our community...die away?"
Vincent looked downward, trying to hide the fact, these thoughts have plagued
him too, from time to time throughout his lifetime. Like a reoccurring nightmare,
he imagined being the only one that remained, roaming throughout the emptied
tunnels alone.
However, he always seemed to find comfort in the fact, that their numbers have
only increased through the years, not diminished.
And so he told Jacob, "Unfortunately the world above, will always have
homeless needing shelter, the hopeless looking for something to believe in, and
the lonely wanting to belong somewhere. The principles you built this world on
have not grown old, or been rendered useless. I believe your vision will reach
far into the future for generations to come."
Vincent then added, "And Father...I have Catherine in my future now, I will
never be alone."
Squeezing his son's hand, Jacob said, "Yes...I know you have Catherine."
Vincent stood up, and thought for a moment before he shared, "Because I know
you worry about my future Father...and wonder where I could go, should our
world be destroyed or fade away. I want you to know Catherine and I have
discussed such things, and because of her resources, there will always be an
alternative for us. You need not worry."
Feeling reassured to hear this, Jacob let go of an anxiety laden sigh, and said,
"So you have spoken to Catherine about this possibility then...very good
Vincent."
Jacob then objectively said, "It is good to have a plan in case something should
happen to our world...and the last of us die or move away...Yes, you must be
prepared for the day I am gone."
Vincent could not imagine his life, or this world without his Father sharing it.
Saddened by such thoughts, Vincent put his arm around him and said, "You
have many years left. Years that can be measured by decades Father. There is
no need to speak of such things."
Matter-of-factly Jacob replied, "I am only trying to be realistic...how can we
responsibly live out today, without a thought about tomorrow? Uh?"
Vincent looked down at the table as he contemplated his Father's words,
knowing he was right. Still for Vincent they were thoughts too painful to
entertain.
He then suddenly focused on the chess game before him, the game he and
Jacob had started a couple of weeks prior. But because he had been so busy
with all the renovations, and wedding plans, he had somehow forgotten about it.
How bittersweet, that his Father had not disturbed it...there it sat in a suspended
animation waiting for Vincent to find time, so they could finish it. How this
touched him in such a deep sorrowful place, knowing he had been neglecting his
Father.
So, on a lighter note, Vincent cleared the emotion from his voice, and said, "I
see our chess game still awaits us Father..."
With a tremble to his smile, Jacob dejectedly said, "Yes..."
Raising only his eyes, Vincent suggested, "Shall we?"
To which Jacob asked, "Do you have the time?"
Nodding, Vincent said, "Yes, I believe I do. We must provide this game with an
end."
After they both sat back down in their opposing chairs, Vincent offered, "Tea
Father?"
To which Jacob answered, "Yes Vincent, please."
Vincent poured their tea, and discreetly, looked at Jacob. Lovingly he thought,
there is no dearer man than he, and that he was so blessed to be able to call him
his Father.
And so they whiled the afternoon away, together as they did in the past in the
candlelit chamber of the Father.
After the evening meal, the opposing sexes began to get ready for their parties.
The women were allowed access to the Bathing chamber first, and were all in a
high mood, as they got ready to go above.
Catherine and the other women, met in the tunnel main as planned. And as they
laughed and talked on their trek toward the basements entryway, they met up
face to face with Vincent and the men of the tunnels, who were on their way to
the community chamber!
Vincent looked at Catherine with admiration, and said, "You look lovely..."
Shyly smiling, she replied, "Thank you...you look very nice too."
She then added, "I hope you have fun with your friends tonight Vincent."
He in reply said, "It should be a time. Father told me Peter has already arrived
with plenty of provisions for our gathering."
Laughing softly, she bit her lip as she said, "I saw him briefly too, and
yes...from what I saw, he did have plenty of provisions!"
To which Mouse chimed in, "Maybe Peter brought some cider...or better yet
some spirits!"
Mouse's comment caused Mary to caution, "Well if he did Mouse, you better
mind how much you drink!"
Eagerly, Jamie said, "Come on Catherine, we gotta go! We don't wanna be late!"
Catherine agreed, and then said a sweet goodbye to Vincent. As they parted
company they each looked back once more at one another, before they turned
the corner and were out of each others sight.
Catherine led the way, and was the first to climb the ladder. Making sure the
coast was clear, she then summoned everyone else to come up. As they in
unison entered the elevator, the younger girls kept looking at each other, and
giggled out of nervous excitement.
Jennifer welcomed them all inside, and was the perfect hostess, making sure
everyone felt at home.
Right away the girls asked to see their dresses, and as promised, Jennifer tried
hers on. And to every ones delight, she hammed it up a little bit for comedic
affect.
The girls all oohed, and ahhed, at how beautiful the dresses were, and said what
a great choice Catherine had made in picking out the cloak too.
Jennifer then said, "I better change out of my dress now, my luck I will rip it or
do something horrible to it before the wedding!"
To which Catherine laughed and commented, "And that is exactly why, I am
not trying mine on!"
As Jennifer put her dress away, she again complained about all the old dresses
which were hogging up closet space.
As Brooke noticed a beautiful blue dress, she asked what she wore that one for.
To which Jennifer said, "Let's see I wore this blue one in my cousin's Marabelle
wedding, and this green dress, I wore to my college prom, this pastel yellow
frock, I wore in my friend Carrie's wedding, and this pink dress, Cathy has a
match of, because we were both in Jeannie's wedding! Do you still have yours
Cath?"
Laughing, Catherine said she does still have it, and it was in her closet back at
her Dad's!
Catherine so enjoyed laying on the bed, watching Jennifer go through this blast
from the past, and as she noticed the bright peach dress, Catherine asked,
"Wasn't that peachy number the one we had to wear in Claudia's wedding?"
Jennifer pulled it forward, and looking at the tag, she said, "You are right!
Claudia's! I have been in so many weddings, I started to tag them because I was
losing track which dress was from whos!"
As Jennifer then pulled out some dresses from way in the back of the closet, she
said with an awe, "Now these dresses, were from the weddings when I was the
Flower Girl! Do you believe it, I was the flower girl in four weddings? I don't
know why I saved them all these years...but its fun to look at the old styles uh?"
As Jennifer went on and on, much to everyone's amusement looking at these
beautiful frilly frocks, she was struck with a great idea! She could give them to
the girls to wear to the wedding.
And so, as she made the offer known, the girls excitedly said, they would love
to pick one out!
Not wanting to take advantage of Jennifer's generosity, Mary questioned, "Are
you sure Jennifer? These gowns are all so lovely!"
To which Jennifer assured Mary, "Being as sentimental as I am, I cannot just
give these away to a consignment shoppe! I will love knowing they are being
worn by you and the girls. You will actually be doing me a favor, because I
really need to make room in this closet!"
Better knowing Jennifer's point of view of dispersing her dresses, Mary happily
thanked her and stood back, loving to watch the tunnel girls having the time of
their lives as they picked through the treasure trove of designs. And since there
were several, there was enough to go around for everyone, and for everyone's
tastes...even Mary's!
As the girl's found their favorites, and tried on their choices, Jamie said, "Wait
till Father sees us in something other than our usual apparel! He sure will be
surprised!"
They all began to chime in the same, and all were so grateful to Jennifer for her
generosity!
During the commotion of trying on the dresses, Catherine stepped up to
Jennifer, and not wanting to get too sappy, hugged her, and slyly said, "You
know, I am beginning to figure out, you are nicer than you let on to be."
Feeling full-filled for the fact, she was able to do something nice for all these
good people, she played along, replying, "Yeah well don't let it get around
Chandler!"
After all the excitement of getting a new garment, died down, Jennifer bagged
each one up, and put their names on them, so as not to get them mixed up. She
then said, "They are all on the bed, so when it is time, you can just grab and go!"
Getting back to the entertaining, Jennifer told everyone to help themselves to the
snacks and horderves she had made.
Everyone made plates, and since it was such a beautiful night, the balcony doors
were open, and they went out to look at the view. They were all stunned by the
beautiful cityscape, to which Catherine stated was why she had chose this
apartment.
Jennifer then said, "Can you imagine Vinny had to scale this building, all the
way up here to see Cathy?"
With her hand to her heart, Mary looked to Catherine and asked, "What? He
had to climb all the way up here? Oh my Lord! It is a good thing I didn't know
this was going on!"
Rebecca looked down over the side, and in agreement said, "Yes, me either!
But I guess it would have been the only way for Vincent to come and call on
Catherine. He certainly couldn't have come up here the way we did!"
Brooke sighed, and said, "That only adds to it all! He was willing to risk his life
to see you!"
Laura nonchalantly signed, "Awe, this is no big deal for Vincent."
She then pointed to an adjacent building, and revealed that Vincent sits up there
all the time to look down on the city.
Jamie agreed with Laura, saying, "Yeah, Laura is right, this is nothing! Not for
Vincent anyway."
Catherine then admitted to them, "He was never winded, or made it seem like it
was a difficult task...many times, I would turn around, and he would just be
here!"
Brooke loving the whole romance aspect to this story, looked around, and said,
"What a romantic place..."
To which Catherine shared, "We so loved being together on this balcony...yes,
we have many wonderful memories here."
Dreamily Olivia said, "Yes I can see why you would...as Brooke said, it is
romantic."
Jennifer then stepped out to the balcony, to take drink orders, and so she asked,
"How about you Mary, would you like some Coca cola, apple cider or hot tea?"
In a shocked manner, she questioned, "Soda Pop or cider? Me? Well no Dear,
I will have some tea."
The rest of the girl's looked around at each other, and eagerly said they would
like to taste either the cider or have a soda.
Catherine opted for the cider, and this caused Mary to second guess her order.
To which Jamie encouragingly chimed in, and said, "Have the cider Mary. You
only live once."
Admitting it did sound good, Mary reminisced, "I remember the last time I had
cider. It was at my Grandmother's 80th Birthday party. Of course I have had
some of William's Ginger cider at Winterfest...but I am talking about a good
crisp apple cider..."
Smiling she then said, "Yes, cider for me too Jennifer. Thank you."
Accepting a glass from Jennifer she giddily smiled in anticipation at the taste of it.
Glasses were passed all around to everyone, and as Jennifer got ready to make a
toast, Mary looked at her empty glass, and said, "Oh! You are going to make a
toast? Perhaps I need just a little more cider then."
Everyone suppressed their laughter at the fact, Mary downed her first glass of
cider so quickly.
Jennifer made sure every glass was filled or re-filled depending on what the case
may be, and warmly toasted, "To Cathy, may your marriage to Vincent surpass
your every dream!"
With the glass clinking completed, Catherine softly said, "Thank you Jenny."
Mary held out her empty glass, and asked, "Some more please, for I now wish
to make a toast!"
Jennifer looked worriedly toward Catherine, wondering if she should really pour
Mary some more! Catherine in turn looked to Rebecca for guidance, who
indicated that maybe just a half a glass this time.
So Jennifer poured, and then, Mary began her toast, "To Catherine, who has
made Vincent so very hippy...oops, I mean so very HHHappy..."
Laura, Jamie and Brooke could not stifle themselves, and laughed out loud!
Mary looked about and asked, "What do you girls find so funny? I hardly feel it
is an appropriate time to laugh!"
To which Brooke soothingly answered, "We are sorry Mary."
Rebecca then worriedly looked at Jennifer and subtly asked, "Do you have any
tea steeping? Perhaps Mary needs an alternate beverage choice."
Nodding Jennifer said, "Yes I will brew some right away."
Just then the doorbell rang, and Jennifer thought it must be the Pizza delivery
boy. And so she generally announced, "I will get it!"
To be continued
Chapter Thirty-Eight
taken over center stage, and was the topic discussed in every corner of the
tunnels.
However, even though everyone's excitement level was at a fever pitch, life
carried on as normal as possible, in this busy underworld.
Catherine held her reading class for the children, Vincent helped the men with
the renovations in the expansion chambers, Mary kept the girls busy with the
wedding preparations, and Jacob, well...Jacob sat worrying in his chamber.
And so meantime, because he was summoned, Vincent stepped through his
Father's threshold, and with concern asked, "You wanted to see me Father?"
Continuing with his contemplative stare, Jacob said, "Yes...please sit down."
As Vincent settled down beside his father, Jacob then said, "I sent for you
because I wanted your opinion, and to talk with you about the party Jennifer is
giving tonight, on Catherine's behalf."
He looked at his son and said, "As you know, I gave Rebecca, and the others
my permission to attend. Now mind you...except the younger children with
curfews, they are not required to even ask me. After all, as I always say, no one
is held prisoner here."
Vincent offered, "They respect you Father, and they wanted to have your
Blessing concerning the matter."
Rubbing his forehead, Jacob said, "Yes...yes...I understand that..."
Softly, Vincent inquired, "What troubles you then Father?"
Irritatingly, Jacob replied, "I'm not sure...I suppose I am troubled because, I
have noticed a few members of the younger generation, seem to be growing
restless of late. I am wondering if going above could only exacerbate their
discontentment here."
Vincent, feeling a little confused that his Father would worry about this
occurrence, inserted, "They often go above Father, for supplies, or to deliver
messages to our helpers...it is a necessity to do so."
Interrupting his son, Jacob said, "With all due respect Vincent...this journey
above tonight, will be for an entirely different justification! Attending a party,
will give them a different view-point of the city...and could feed into their
romantic impression of life above. What if they want to leave here because of
it?"
Calmly, Vincent reminded Jacob, "But Father, there have been many in our
history, that have returned to their lives above."
Anxiously Jacob replied, "Yes, there have been! And if you recall...with each
person that decided to leave here, another one went, and then another! Causing
an exodus of sorts for a period of time following."
Seeing his Father visibly upset by this topic, Vincent had to ask, "Why are you
so concerned with this today Father? Like in families everywhere...children
leave home...I thought you have accepted this process as a viable possibility for
everyone here."
Reaching over to touch his son's hand, he then looked sadly upon him as he
said, "For everyone but you Vincent...I fear what the future may bring. What
happens when those of us, that are left in our community...die away?"
Vincent looked downward, trying to hide the fact, these thoughts have plagued
him too, from time to time throughout his lifetime. Like a reoccurring nightmare,
he imagined being the only one that remained, roaming throughout the emptied
tunnels alone.
However, he always seemed to find comfort in the fact, that their numbers have
only increased through the years, not diminished.
And so he told Jacob, "Unfortunately the world above, will always have
homeless needing shelter, the hopeless looking for something to believe in, and
the lonely wanting to belong somewhere. The principles you built this world on
have not grown old, or been rendered useless. I believe your vision will reach
far into the future for generations to come."
Vincent then added, "And Father...I have Catherine in my future now, I will
never be alone."
Squeezing his son's hand, Jacob said, "Yes...I know you have Catherine."
Vincent stood up, and thought for a moment before he shared, "Because I know
you worry about my future Father...and wonder where I could go, should our
world be destroyed or fade away. I want you to know Catherine and I have
discussed such things, and because of her resources, there will always be an
alternative for us. You need not worry."
Feeling reassured to hear this, Jacob let go of an anxiety laden sigh, and said,
"So you have spoken to Catherine about this possibility then...very good
Vincent."
Jacob then objectively said, "It is good to have a plan in case something should
happen to our world...and the last of us die or move away...Yes, you must be
prepared for the day I am gone."
Vincent could not imagine his life, or this world without his Father sharing it.
Saddened by such thoughts, Vincent put his arm around him and said, "You
have many years left. Years that can be measured by decades Father. There is
no need to speak of such things."
Matter-of-factly Jacob replied, "I am only trying to be realistic...how can we
responsibly live out today, without a thought about tomorrow? Uh?"
Vincent looked down at the table as he contemplated his Father's words,
knowing he was right. Still for Vincent they were thoughts too painful to
entertain.
He then suddenly focused on the chess game before him, the game he and
Jacob had started a couple of weeks prior. But because he had been so busy
with all the renovations, and wedding plans, he had somehow forgotten about it.
How bittersweet, that his Father had not disturbed it...there it sat in a suspended
animation waiting for Vincent to find time, so they could finish it. How this
touched him in such a deep sorrowful place, knowing he had been neglecting his
Father.
So, on a lighter note, Vincent cleared the emotion from his voice, and said, "I
see our chess game still awaits us Father..."
With a tremble to his smile, Jacob dejectedly said, "Yes..."
Raising only his eyes, Vincent suggested, "Shall we?"
To which Jacob asked, "Do you have the time?"
Nodding, Vincent said, "Yes, I believe I do. We must provide this game with an
end."
After they both sat back down in their opposing chairs, Vincent offered, "Tea
Father?"
To which Jacob answered, "Yes Vincent, please."
Vincent poured their tea, and discreetly, looked at Jacob. Lovingly he thought,
there is no dearer man than he, and that he was so blessed to be able to call him
his Father.
And so they whiled the afternoon away, together as they did in the past in the
candlelit chamber of the Father.
After the evening meal, the opposing sexes began to get ready for their parties.
The women were allowed access to the Bathing chamber first, and were all in a
high mood, as they got ready to go above.
Catherine and the other women, met in the tunnel main as planned. And as they
laughed and talked on their trek toward the basements entryway, they met up
face to face with Vincent and the men of the tunnels, who were on their way to
the community chamber!
Vincent looked at Catherine with admiration, and said, "You look lovely..."
Shyly smiling, she replied, "Thank you...you look very nice too."
She then added, "I hope you have fun with your friends tonight Vincent."
He in reply said, "It should be a time. Father told me Peter has already arrived
with plenty of provisions for our gathering."
Laughing softly, she bit her lip as she said, "I saw him briefly too, and
yes...from what I saw, he did have plenty of provisions!"
To which Mouse chimed in, "Maybe Peter brought some cider...or better yet
some spirits!"
Mouse's comment caused Mary to caution, "Well if he did Mouse, you better
mind how much you drink!"
Eagerly, Jamie said, "Come on Catherine, we gotta go! We don't wanna be late!"
Catherine agreed, and then said a sweet goodbye to Vincent. As they parted
company they each looked back once more at one another, before they turned
the corner and were out of each others sight.
Catherine led the way, and was the first to climb the ladder. Making sure the
coast was clear, she then summoned everyone else to come up. As they in
unison entered the elevator, the younger girls kept looking at each other, and
giggled out of nervous excitement.
Jennifer welcomed them all inside, and was the perfect hostess, making sure
everyone felt at home.
Right away the girls asked to see their dresses, and as promised, Jennifer tried
hers on. And to every ones delight, she hammed it up a little bit for comedic
affect.
The girls all oohed, and ahhed, at how beautiful the dresses were, and said what
a great choice Catherine had made in picking out the cloak too.
Jennifer then said, "I better change out of my dress now, my luck I will rip it or
do something horrible to it before the wedding!"
To which Catherine laughed and commented, "And that is exactly why, I am
not trying mine on!"
As Jennifer put her dress away, she again complained about all the old dresses
which were hogging up closet space.
As Brooke noticed a beautiful blue dress, she asked what she wore that one for.
To which Jennifer said, "Let's see I wore this blue one in my cousin's Marabelle
wedding, and this green dress, I wore to my college prom, this pastel yellow
frock, I wore in my friend Carrie's wedding, and this pink dress, Cathy has a
match of, because we were both in Jeannie's wedding! Do you still have yours
Cath?"
Laughing, Catherine said she does still have it, and it was in her closet back at
her Dad's!
Catherine so enjoyed laying on the bed, watching Jennifer go through this blast
from the past, and as she noticed the bright peach dress, Catherine asked,
"Wasn't that peachy number the one we had to wear in Claudia's wedding?"
Jennifer pulled it forward, and looking at the tag, she said, "You are right!
Claudia's! I have been in so many weddings, I started to tag them because I was
losing track which dress was from whos!"
As Jennifer then pulled out some dresses from way in the back of the closet, she
said with an awe, "Now these dresses, were from the weddings when I was the
Flower Girl! Do you believe it, I was the flower girl in four weddings? I don't
know why I saved them all these years...but its fun to look at the old styles uh?"
As Jennifer went on and on, much to everyone's amusement looking at these
beautiful frilly frocks, she was struck with a great idea! She could give them to
the girls to wear to the wedding.
And so, as she made the offer known, the girls excitedly said, they would love
to pick one out!
Not wanting to take advantage of Jennifer's generosity, Mary questioned, "Are
you sure Jennifer? These gowns are all so lovely!"
To which Jennifer assured Mary, "Being as sentimental as I am, I cannot just
give these away to a consignment shoppe! I will love knowing they are being
worn by you and the girls. You will actually be doing me a favor, because I
really need to make room in this closet!"
Better knowing Jennifer's point of view of dispersing her dresses, Mary happily
thanked her and stood back, loving to watch the tunnel girls having the time of
their lives as they picked through the treasure trove of designs. And since there
were several, there was enough to go around for everyone, and for everyone's
tastes...even Mary's!
As the girl's found their favorites, and tried on their choices, Jamie said, "Wait
till Father sees us in something other than our usual apparel! He sure will be
surprised!"
They all began to chime in the same, and all were so grateful to Jennifer for her
generosity!
During the commotion of trying on the dresses, Catherine stepped up to
Jennifer, and not wanting to get too sappy, hugged her, and slyly said, "You
know, I am beginning to figure out, you are nicer than you let on to be."
Feeling full-filled for the fact, she was able to do something nice for all these
good people, she played along, replying, "Yeah well don't let it get around
Chandler!"
After all the excitement of getting a new garment, died down, Jennifer bagged
each one up, and put their names on them, so as not to get them mixed up. She
then said, "They are all on the bed, so when it is time, you can just grab and go!"
Getting back to the entertaining, Jennifer told everyone to help themselves to the
snacks and horderves she had made.
Everyone made plates, and since it was such a beautiful night, the balcony doors
were open, and they went out to look at the view. They were all stunned by the
beautiful cityscape, to which Catherine stated was why she had chose this
apartment.
Jennifer then said, "Can you imagine Vinny had to scale this building, all the
way up here to see Cathy?"
With her hand to her heart, Mary looked to Catherine and asked, "What? He
had to climb all the way up here? Oh my Lord! It is a good thing I didn't know
this was going on!"
Rebecca looked down over the side, and in agreement said, "Yes, me either!
But I guess it would have been the only way for Vincent to come and call on
Catherine. He certainly couldn't have come up here the way we did!"
Brooke sighed, and said, "That only adds to it all! He was willing to risk his life
to see you!"
Laura nonchalantly signed, "Awe, this is no big deal for Vincent."
She then pointed to an adjacent building, and revealed that Vincent sits up there
all the time to look down on the city.
Jamie agreed with Laura, saying, "Yeah, Laura is right, this is nothing! Not for
Vincent anyway."
Catherine then admitted to them, "He was never winded, or made it seem like it
was a difficult task...many times, I would turn around, and he would just be
here!"
Brooke loving the whole romance aspect to this story, looked around, and said,
"What a romantic place..."
To which Catherine shared, "We so loved being together on this balcony...yes,
we have many wonderful memories here."
Dreamily Olivia said, "Yes I can see why you would...as Brooke said, it is
romantic."
Jennifer then stepped out to the balcony, to take drink orders, and so she asked,
"How about you Mary, would you like some Coca cola, apple cider or hot tea?"
In a shocked manner, she questioned, "Soda Pop or cider? Me? Well no Dear,
I will have some tea."
The rest of the girl's looked around at each other, and eagerly said they would
like to taste either the cider or have a soda.
Catherine opted for the cider, and this caused Mary to second guess her order.
To which Jamie encouragingly chimed in, and said, "Have the cider Mary. You
only live once."
Admitting it did sound good, Mary reminisced, "I remember the last time I had
cider. It was at my Grandmother's 80th Birthday party. Of course I have had
some of William's Ginger cider at Winterfest...but I am talking about a good
crisp apple cider..."
Smiling she then said, "Yes, cider for me too Jennifer. Thank you."
Accepting a glass from Jennifer she giddily smiled in anticipation at the taste of it.
Glasses were passed all around to everyone, and as Jennifer got ready to make a
toast, Mary looked at her empty glass, and said, "Oh! You are going to make a
toast? Perhaps I need just a little more cider then."
Everyone suppressed their laughter at the fact, Mary downed her first glass of
cider so quickly.
Jennifer made sure every glass was filled or re-filled depending on what the case
may be, and warmly toasted, "To Cathy, may your marriage to Vincent surpass
your every dream!"
With the glass clinking completed, Catherine softly said, "Thank you Jenny."
Mary held out her empty glass, and asked, "Some more please, for I now wish
to make a toast!"
Jennifer looked worriedly toward Catherine, wondering if she should really pour
Mary some more! Catherine in turn looked to Rebecca for guidance, who
indicated that maybe just a half a glass this time.
So Jennifer poured, and then, Mary began her toast, "To Catherine, who has
made Vincent so very hippy...oops, I mean so very HHHappy..."
Laura, Jamie and Brooke could not stifle themselves, and laughed out loud!
Mary looked about and asked, "What do you girls find so funny? I hardly feel it
is an appropriate time to laugh!"
To which Brooke soothingly answered, "We are sorry Mary."
Rebecca then worriedly looked at Jennifer and subtly asked, "Do you have any
tea steeping? Perhaps Mary needs an alternate beverage choice."
Nodding Jennifer said, "Yes I will brew some right away."
Just then the doorbell rang, and Jennifer thought it must be the Pizza delivery
boy. And so she generally announced, "I will get it!"
To be continued
Chapter Thirty-Eight
