Meanwhile, down below the city, Vincent stretched out on his immense bed, to think about Catherine...yes, Catherine was all he could think about, knowing there is no lovelier woman on this earth. And he pondered, how is it, she is wanting to let go of all conventionality, in order to deepen this bond they share.
Vincent really didn't have any answers, but he knew this bond was mutual and real, because he felt it within the deepest part of who he was...and what an amazing gift it was for Catherine to so readily accept him like she had.
And though Vincent had no mirrors within his chamber, he knew there was a fascination for others about his looks. Yes, sensing Catherine found him pleasing, was quite humbling. And even Brigit, as she absorbed the information about his truths...well she made it clear she found him pleasing as well. Yes, for many reasons, last night had been liberating for him, a new beginning.
Dreamily, Vincent considered, at this time yesterday, just twenty-four hours ago, his thoughts were only of Brigit. Little did he know then, his whole life was about to take a major detour, a detour from the only path he believed would ever be open to him. But due to meeting Catherine, there were other passages open to him now. And as he reclined, remembering the sensation of being with Catherine, it awoke his need to be near her, and couldn't wait to be with her again.
Vincent then turned his thoughts to the gift he had delivered to Catherine as she was sleeping.
Yes, after their bitter sweet farewell, Vincent felt restless in his chamber, and it was then he decided to give Catherine his edition of Wordsworth, he in addition, wrote her a letter as well.
In this first letter to Catherine, Vincent wrote:
Dearest Catherine, Though I have just left you, it is hard for me to resist the force that is drawing me back. I know last night was magical and enchanting for us both, and I pray the remains of the night still linger with you, as they do for me. I will be calling on you tonight at the hour of seven. If you wish to see me as well, please leave me either a note, or light a candle, then I will know my visit is welcome. If there is no sign awaiting me, I will not be as persistent as your other suitor had been, but instead, I will silently slip away, and will not torture you or myself with foolish dreams. I shall fill the moments until I can see you again, with thoughts of your loveliness. Be well, Dear Catherine, Vincent
And so, when the new day had been dawning, while Catherine slept, Vincent stealthily returned to her balcony, and placed his folded letter safely beneath the coveted first edition copy of Wordsworth...
Well...up to this point, Fate had been kind to Vincent and Catherine...however sadly, Fate decided to turn fickle and cruel, because as Catherine lifted the book from the bench...a wee November gust came along, and swept Vincent's letter away...
Yes...unfortunately the wind stole it before Catherine ever had a chance to see or read it...
And so now, tragically, Vincent's letter to Catherine was concealed, as it lay nestled between the little iron bench, and the stone balcony wall.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, as Catherine sat in the back of the cab, she thought of how wise it was of her Dad to push her to meet Jennifer. Because doing something ordinary, during this extraordinarily sad time, made her joyful for the fact she was meeting her dear friend.
And so as Catherine arrived at The Sunset Cafe', she saw Jennifer getting out of her cab as well! And as they greeted each other, Jennifer exclaimed, "This is great! Having lunch together two days in a row, and then, on top of that, going to the Perlman Film Fest!"
To which Catherine expressed she was happy to see Jennifer again too, and then said, "It looks crowded, I hope we can get a seat!"
But luckily, they were seated into a coveted booth, and had hardly sat down before Jennifer with concern, asked, "Hey! What's up Cath?"
To which in reply, Catherine sadly informed Jennifer about Peter's Mother, and so Jennifer expressed she was so sad to hear about Mrs. Alcott, and would be sure to tell her Mom, since Peter was her mother's doctor.
But even all the sadness didn't disguise Catherine's enchanted demeanor she hosted, because of meeting Vincent!
And so Jennifer after clearing her voice of emotion, she then changed gears, as she curiously asked, "Okay, onto something happy...so spill it Chandler! Who is he? Who is the hunk you met last night?"
Because Jennifer's question caught Catherine off guard, she felt herself blushing, as she asked, "What makes you think I met someone?"
To which Jennifer slyly smiled at her old friend, and said, "All l I need to do is look at you, you have that "Glow" thing going on! So don't even try to hide anything from me!"
And then Jennifer guiltily added, "Plus...well I gotta confess...after you called, Tom called, and he told me you were with some huge thug!"
Totally put out with him, Catherine angrily inquired, "So Tom called and told you about last night?"
With an affirming nod, Jennifer verified, "Yes he did. But I think he only called ME, so I would tell YOU that he figured out why you broke up with him! He argued the evidence shows you broke up with PERFECT him, in order to date the muscle bound dude you were with last night! So he figures you must have been cheating on him with Mr. Universe! So now, for Tom, the case is solved!"
Upon hearing the scenario Tom came up with, Catherine in disbelief, said, "I hope you set him straight, and told him I broke up with him because he is a conceited, social climbing, money loving heathen!"
To which Jennifer meekly replied, "Wellllllllll, I didn't use those words exactly..."
Still steaming over the fact, Tom would call her a two-timing cheat, Catherine continued, "You know, after how rude Tom was last night, I don't care if I ever speak to him again! But on the up side, hopefully he can now accept the case is not only solved, however wrongfully, but it is now closed...FOREVER!"
And then as Catherine thought back on the confrontation, she added, "You know I am surprised Tom called you to talk about seeing me last night, because I do believe Vincent scared him."
Upon Catherine letting Vincent's name slip out, Jennifer cheerfully, said, "Ah, so his name is Vincent!"
Thoughtfully Catherine sat, knowing she had to tell Jennifer something, but what? What exactly could she share with her oldest, and most dearest friend on this earth?
And so carefully, Catherine began, "Yes, his name is Vincent, and well, he really is quite extraordinarily wonderful Jen."
As Jennifer sat listening, she thought of how smitten Catherine seemed to be over this guy, and as a thought struck, she knowingly questioned, "OMG...You two did IT last night didn't you?"
To which Catherine scolded her friend for such a question, and then said, "Keep your voice down!"
To which Jennifer giggled as she argued, "No one heard me but you!"
As Catherine raised a brow, she asked, "Oh yeah? Then why is that little old lady giving me a very wicked look over there?"
Agreeing that the lady WAS looking wickedly at Catherine, Jennifer replied, "Oops, I am so sorry! But it's not my fault she's eavesdropping! Just wave at her, and she will stop staring!"
And so as Jennifer waved, a sweet little "flitter" type wave, the disgusted lady scoffed, and began whispering to her friend!
With a discreet laugh, Catherine again scolded, "Jen! You are terrible!"
To which Jennifer deviously said, "I know...I could not resist!"
Just then the waitress arrived, and asked, "What can I get for you today?"
So in reply, Catherine without hesitation ordered a Vanilla shake, and the Cafés specialty, the "Sizzle Burger" with Curly Fries!
And so upon hearing Catherine's order, Jennifer wanting to diet, cleared her throat, and indecisively said, "Maybe a salad. Yes a salad! I will have the dinner salad without the croutons, and let's see, what kind of low-cal dressing do you have?"
In reply the waitress helpfully answered, "We have a lovely sugar free tart raspberry vinaigrette for our customers who need to lose a little weight."
The "lose a little weight" comment caused Jennifer to shoot the waitress a dirty look, as she complained, "I hate vinaigrettes, tart or otherwise!"
And so decadently, Jennifer continued to look up and down at the other low-cal specialties, before giving in to the fierce internal struggle, and resignedly said, "What the heck, I'll have the same as Cathy!"
To which the concerned waitress offered, "Did you notice we have a tasty tofu burger on a bun?"
A bit irritably, Jennifer replied, "I did notice, but just bring me the sizzle burger!"
And with that said, the "Helpful Hannah" waitress took the menus from them, and as she glanced up and down at Jennifer, she conceded, saying, "All rightty then, I will be back with your "High-Calorie" shakes."
With umbrage, Jennifer complained, "She had a lot of nerve pushing her diet plates on me!"
To which Catherine laughed as she had to point out, "I think she was just trying to be helpful, after all, you were the one who brought up the diet options. And speaking of dieting, you should forget it when we are together, because you always end up getting what I order anyway!"
Resignedly Jennifer expounded, "You're right! All of my life, I have been on a perpetual non-diet! Of course if you had ever met my Aunt Ruby you would know why! I am really fighting Genetics over here!"
As Jennifer then nestled deeper into her seat, she eagerly whispered, "Okay, back to the original topic, tell me all about this Vincent you are all Goo Goo over!"
And so as Jennifer sat intrigued by Catherine's whole "How she met Vincent" story, she was also thrilled by the fact the waitress had brought their food!
And so as she dug into her burger, Jennifer impressively said, "The way he stuck up for you against Tom, this Vincent sounds like a real gentleman! A rare feature to find in a guy these days to be sure! So...tell me more, what's his shtick?"
Catherine's moment of truth had come! And so she thoughtfully said, "I don't know what all I can tell you. I mean Vincent is wonderful! He is wonderful, and I don't know when I'll see him again."
To which Jennifer expounded, "What? You let him get away without inserting a chip device, or at least getting his phone number, soc, or address?"
Catherine giggled a bit at Jennifer's different modes of keeping in touch, so to speak, and then thoughtfully said, "No Jen, Vincent said he would contact me, and I believe he will. He is so different from any one else I have ever met, and we connected on so many levels. Music, literature, art...Oh and Jen, he knows Paul Klee...he saw my painting and recognized it immediately."
Knowingly, Jennifer noted, "So he knew Paul Klee, now I'm impressed! Well I must admit he sounds pretty special, practically tailor made for a little somebody I know."
With a sincere look back at her dear friend, Catherine vowed, "Yes..."
Jennifer smiled and then jokingly clarified, "So, there really was no sex?"
To which Catherine laughed, as she declared, "No Jen...we just...JUST!"
With a tone of wonderment, Jennifer said, "I can't believe I'm wrong about the sexcapades, but I believe it when you say you just JUST...Unless...oh no! What if...what if there is something wrong with him!"
In reply, Catherine chuckled, and said, "There's nothing wrong with him! Now quit trying to find something. We simply spent time getting to know one another...we spoke about everything last night...we even spoke about our dreams..."
And as Jennifer sat smiling, feeling so happy for her friend, she then slyly asked, "So when can I meet him? He has to pass my approval you know."
In reply, Catherine sorrowfully said, "I don't know Jen. I just want to take this one step at a time."
To which Jennifer totally, and unconditionally accepted Catherine's answer, for she too has feared jinxing a relationship by investing too much hope in its future!
So in agreement, Jennifer said she would not push, and as she checked her watch, she said, "We better head for the Rep."
To which Catherine eagerly replied, "Yes, at least we should be on time for the last movie of the fest."
As Jennifer popped in her last Fry, she looked at Catherine and said, "We should have gotten an earlier start so we could have seen Quest for Fire, and Ice Pirates too! But at least we will catch Name of the Rose. I cannot wait! You know how I love Ron..."
To which Catherine defensively said, "What about me? I love Ron too! There is something about those eyes of his!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Below in the tunnels, as it neared the dinner hour, Vincent headed over to his Father's chamber, contemplating the words he would use to tell him he had met someone...tell him about Catherine.
As Vincent stood at his Father's threshold, he softly said, "Good afternoon, Father."
Jacob looked up at Vincent over the top of his glasses, and sternly said, "A GOOD AFTERNOON indeed Vincent! You missed both breakfast, and the mid-day meal!"
Apologetically Vincent replied, "Yes...I know Father."
Without looking at his son, Jacob asked, "So you enjoyed yourself I take it?"
Without reserve Vincent answered, "Yes Father. It had been a time."
With worry, Jacob replied, "I am glad of that, however to be above into the wee hours of the morning, just seems so, well it seems as though, you like taking chances!"
Soothing his Father, Vincent replied, "It was Hallows Eve. You should not have been concerned since you know how I value everyone's safety here...I do not take chances Father..."
Having to concede to his son, Jacob did soften his tone as he said, "I know you are right. Forgive my fretting so...I DO know it is the safest of all nights for you to walk above."
As Jacob's demeanor seemed more approachable now, Vincent thought this may be a good time to talk about Catherine. And so as he settled himself into the chair opposite his Father, he absentmindedly picked up one of the antique figurines that were setting upon the table, and nervously fidgeted about with it.
And so after a few minutes of some idol chit chat, in the meantime, Jacob became increasingly concerned some harm may come to his keepsake, as he watched Vincent's precarious handling of the porcelain figure.
And so as Jacob could watch no more, he snatched it from his hands, and anxiously said, "Do you mind? You are making me a bit nervous!"
As this action snapped Vincent out of his preoccupied state of wondering how to verbalize what he wanted to say, he humbly answered, "Oh, of course...I apologize..."
Seeing something was on his son's mind, Jacob directly asked, "Vincent? What has you so unnerved?"