A/N: I apologize for taking so long to update. However, life has really gotten in the way. Only a couple of more chapters. R&R if you wish. Thank you for sticking with me - cc.
Take The Long Way Home
Chapter 10
Angela had greeted them at the door and was too busy hugging her little girls to notice anyone else who alighted from the vehicle.
"Mommy! We had such a good time! Can we live in the tunnels all the time?" All three daughters cried at once combining their joy at seeing their mother up and around and not sulking and not crying over the baby that was not going to be born.
Angela kissed all three girls and showed them their two newest cousins sleeping peacefully in their parents' bedroom.
"V.J. looks like Uncle Vincent!" Angelica said. "Did you meet our cousins, Momma?"
"No, I'm just so happy that you're home I didn't even realize they were here. Your Uncle Vincent came as well?"
"Yes. You'll like him. He's so tall and different. He reminds me of a big version of Puss in Boots," Miranda told her mother.
"You weren't scared of him?" Angela asked amazed.
"Well, at first, but once he talked to us and told us stories of when he and daddy were little and we met Grandpa," Angelica said.
"We went to school, too, while we were there. It's not like our school, but it was school just as much," Heather Marie volunteered.
"I can notice a difference in you already," Angela said as she stroked the cheek of her youngest. "You already speak differently." It was not just a figment of Angela's imagination or the fact that she had not heard or listened to her children for a couple of months. Heather Marie's speech patterns did, in fact, change. HeatherMarie had a distinctive child like lisp when she left and now on return it was nowhere to be heard.
Looking behind her, Angela suddenly noticed three other children. No need for her to figure out who they were. Jacob and Jonathan looked just like Catherine except for Jacob's beautiful baby blue eyes and then little Mary Margaret all flat nose and kittenish expression peeked out from behind her eldest brother.
"These must be your cousins," Angela said. "You must be Jacob, Jonathan, and this little sweet girl must be Mary Margaret." Angela hugged all three while looking tentative at the attention their aunt was paying them.
Mary walked over to the crib where she looked in and saw her two new siblings.
"These are our new brother and sister?" She asked.
"Yes. Do you know what your mom named them?"
"I heard Uncle Devin and daddy talking. My baby sister is Caroline and my baby brother is Vincent, Jr. Uncle Devin called me V. daddy didn't like it."
Angela smiled at that and gave her niece a little kiss on her flat nose.
Then Devin approached his wife from behind and said, "I'm going to take Vincent to see Catherine if I can find a way of smuggling him in."
"Where is he?" Angela asked eager to finally meet this evidently unusual but lovable man.
"Vincent is in the living room. I think Angelica went to talk with him. Apparently she's been his shadow from what he told me."
"Ok, I'll go out there and meet him and then he can come in here and meet his two new children. They'll need to be fed soon."
"Ok, then come," Devin invited taking Angela's hand in his.
Vincent had sat down on the couch in the living room and breathed in the clean air. The mountain scent seemed to infiltrate the house which smelled of lavender and soap. The furniture of Devin and Angela's house was not glamorous but simple overstuffed country comfortable plaids and calicos. The furniture and decor of the living room reminded Vincent of his and Catherine's cabin in the Adirondacks. Once Father had reconciled himself that Vincent was a grownup and was not in danger of being discovered by some sociopath, Vincent and Catherine spent many autumn weekends there with and without their children.
A creak in the floor announced the coming of Devin and his wife, Angela. He immediately rose as was the polite manner when a lady walked into the room. He did not venture to be affectionate with her because he was not sure of what her reaction to him would be. Despite his grown confidence in meeting people who knew of him, he was still tentative when meeting them face to face for the first time. That seemed to be the one characteristic which truly endeared Vincent to Catherine. As much as she instilled confidence in him through the years of being his wife and lover, his small inhibition and quiet pride made Catherine the proudest of women.
"Honey, this is Vincent, my brother. Vincent, meet Angela Wells, my wife," Devin said gauging their reaction to one another.
"I have heard so much about you from your daughters. I am so pleased to know you are my sister-in-law and that you have taken such good care of Catherine. Thank you so much," Vincent lowered his head in respect.
Angela came forward and hugged Vincent as best she could considering the height and width difference.
As she hugged him, she said into his ear to the best of her ability, "No wonder Catherine loves you."
"I thought you would be afraid upon meeting me. Most adults have a preconceived notion of my disposition. However, I see my brother has definitely influenced you."
"Oh, Vincent, I've been a nurse for many, many years and you would not believe what true "monsters" walk through an emergency room door. If you walked through it, I would have to exclaim and say 'now there's a rock star'."
Vincent smiled and wondered where that description came into play. It had to ber Devin. Devin was one of the few people Vincent knew that would describe him in that fashion. "I'll take that has a compliment and thank you for your kind words."
"Devin's actually," Angela volunteered. "However, I would agree more with Miranda's description-Puss in Boots."
Vincent chuckled at that and felt so at home that he hugged both Devin and Angela in his big strong arms. Turning to her husband, Angela suddenly burst into tears which fell onto her husband's hand which he lifted wiping away any remaining tears falling down her face.
Angela swiped a hand down her face also and then smoothed down her sweater and said in a more vibrant voice, "Let's have you meet your new son and daughter and then we can figure out how to get you in to see your wife."
Angela took Vincent's hand and led him into HeatherMarie's bedrooom which was turned into makeshift nursery.
"Now you sit in that rocking chair and we'll each hand you a baby. They will fuss a little because it's almost feeding time. Listen to me. You're a father of five and I'm telling you how to handle infants."
"It's perfectly understandable. You love them. I can see it," was all Vincent said as first Angela placed Caroline in one arm and then Devin placed Vincent, Jr. in the other.
As little Caroline started to howl for nourishment, Angela said, "On second thought how would you like to feed Caroline? It looks like little Vincent is still asleep."
Vincent overwhelmed at the enormity of having two more children thought he did not want one to think he was already favoriting one over the other he reluctantly kissed little Vincent on his forehead and handed him back to Angela and then took the warmed bottle of formula and began to feed his daughter.
As he looked down into the little cherubic face of his newborn daughter, Vincent smiled and rocked back and forth in the big chair. Caroline opened her newborn eyes, which were not able to see quite clearly yet, and stared at who held her. Her eyes grew large Vincent would tell Catherine at a later time as their youngest daughter stared back at him and knew that he was her father.
It was clear that little Caroline was back to sleep once she had been fed. As little Vincent's schedule was clearly some time after Caroline's, Angela did not need to feed him simultaneously as Caroline was feeding. So Vincent fed his son immediately after his sister who had fallen asleep from her full belly.
Little Vincent proved to be a little more restless than his sister as he fed. He constantly looked up at his father and just stared with his own baby blues. Vincent examined his son's hands and noticed the nailpits which were pointed like his own. Little Vincent did not have much body hair, but figured once he hit puberty he would probably have more male pattern hair coarser and longer than his older brothers would. That was in the future and Vincent had vowed to himself that his child would not see the same struggles he experienced as a child and a youth. Little Vincent, Jr., would have a full home with a mother, father, and siblings. He would grow normally as much as the protection they would give him would allow.
At the thought of a whole family, Vincent's concerns returned to Catherine. He felt that nothing had changed with her condition. He could feel and hear her heart beating with his but nothing new had developed. He surmised she was still in a coma.
Vincent burped V.J. and then rose with the child in his arms. He placed him back in the crib with his sleeping sister. He gently kissed each one on the head and strode into the next room where Devin and Angela sat looking out the window at the six children who played loudly and happily outdoors in the early October morning.
"I can't believe they are still up and playing," Angela commented. "I thought you all would be exhausted after that five hour trip through the night."
"They are children. I have found at least my three have incredible energy which seems to focus on keeping their mother and I awake all night," Vincent remarked.
"Well, now, you have two new reasons to be wakened in the night," Devin laughed and said.
"It is a part of living, Devin. This part of living I never, ever thought of until Catherine came into my life."
"I know, little brother. I was just so happy when it happened for you," Devin said and then looking at his wife's brown eyes extended the wonder by saying "and for me."
Vincent yawned which quickly coerced yawns from both Devin and Angela.
"Do you want to figure out a plan to see your wife or do you want to take a nap?"
"I am yearning to see Catherine and I know that physically I need to sleep, but then so does everybody else," Vincent retorted.
"Well, I am going to get the children in here and put them all in bed for at least a few hours. I'm bushed although those two new little ones of yours are very good and have fallen into a schedule like perfect angels. However, I need some sleep," Angela said kissing her husband and then going to the front door and calling the children in so they could get a little sleep before the day really got started.
After only a couple of hours, Devin found Vincent in the kitchen making himself a cup of tea. The late morning sun shone through the window over the sink and fully illuminated Vincent dressed in his bathrobe and clean white socks on his feet. Devin smiled and scratched the back of his head and tiptoed to see Vincent's large hands manipulate the tea and the hot water as if he were a Geisha girl.
"You know if you were a woman you could service Japanese tea professionally," Devin remarked as he sat at the kitchen table.
Vincent sat down with his steaming cup of tea and just let the scent and warmth waft into his nostrils calming his unsettled nerves.
"Couldn't sleep. Worried about Catherine. Thought I would try to read and have a cup of tea. I apologize if I woke you."
Devin laid a hand on his little brother's arm and said, "No man. I had a hard time falling asleep myself. I was having a bad dream that I had lost one of my girls in the serpentine in the Tunnels."
"Which one?"
"That's the strange thing. I would look around and first Miranda left and I would tell the other two to stay where they were and then I would say I could not find their sister and another one would disappear. Finally I was screaming all three names and hearing Angela's voice in the background screaming at me that I had lost everybody. That's when I woke up."
"You checked on all three girls?" Vincent asked knowing how that kind of loss could feel even if just a dream.
"I checked on all five of yours, too. I wanted to make sure they were all there. I didn't want to have to tell you that one of yours was missing as well."
"They are here. I have a connection with each one of my children just like I do with Catherine."
"So she said."
"Peter's last call said she was the same," Vincent said taking a sip of his tea and then looking worriedly into space.
"That means she's still asleep and healing, Vincent. No need to be alarmed at that. It's what 10:00 am?" Devin said as he spotted the clock over the sink. The kitchen faced the backyard and the sun was shining brightly on this late October morning.
"When Angela gets up we can figure a plan to get you to see Catherine. If I know Chandler, she'll wake up the minute you touch her. Just like Prince Charming and Snow White."
Vincent smiled at the comment and took another sip of tea.
"I suppose we are a little like a fairy tale," Vincent said ruefully. "I must say Angela is such a wonderful woman. I despaired for you when you arrived at the Tunnels."
"It was your wife and your fascinating story that brought her around. Also the fact that Angela had a medical emergency on her hands. That's what she responds best to."
"Just like Father," Vincent remarked looking at Devin and noticing the recognition of the remark.
"Yeah, just like Father," Devin said.
Then one of the newborns was awake and ready to start the day. At the footfall, Devin turned around and found his wife, barely awake still dressed in tank top and pajama pants, holding Caroline. Finding the two men at the table, she asked: "Would one of you like to feed Caroline. I need to go back to bed."
Vincent smiled and said, "I would love to feed my daughter."