Chapter 12
"Why, Cath?" Jenny asked.
"Because his boss was in on my kidnapping!" Catherine answered.
"Oh God!"
"I hope he can get to the meeting tonight, the longer he doesn't know about Moreno the worse things can get."
"He's clever, Cath. He'll find a way!" Jenny assured her friend.
"When did you get to know Joe so well?"
"Well, while you were missing we sort of leaned on each other. He cares for you a lot you know…"
"He's a very good friend, Jen."
"He'd like to be more…but that's not possible is it? You have someone else in your life."
"How did you…oh never mind! You always seem to know!" Cathy laughed.
"Someone who's hiding over there in the dark…" Jenny said with a nod of her head in Vincent's direction.
Vincent quietly stiffened. He knew he hadn't made any sounds, there was no way she could have known where he was, and yet she had nodded at exactly where he was standing.
Catherine's smile softened as she turned to face where Vincent was. She said, "Jen, I want you to meet Vincent, the love of my life and the man that I'm going to marry."
Jenny had been looking into the darkness for her first glimpse of Cathy's mystery man, but as her friend added that last bit of information to the introduction, her eyes left the darkness and snapped back to Cathy. "WHAT?!"
Cathy giggled at the look of astonishment on her friend's face, for once she had really surprised the woman who always seemed to know everything. "I'm getting married," she retold her friend, and then added, "In three weeks."
"Good grief, Cath!" Jenny exclaimed, throwing herself into Cathy's arms and hugging her tightly. "I'm so happy for you! But you're going to have to explain what the hurry is about, but for now get that man of your's out here so I can finally meet Mr. Right! He must be something pretty special for you to be in this much of a hurry!"
"He is, Jen! He is!" Catherine assured her and then she reached out a hand to beckon Vincent from his hiding place.
Slowly and carefully he came forward. His hood was pulled low hiding his face in shadows, only his long red-gold hair could be seen.
"Heavens! You're not shy are you? You won't last long with Cathy that way! Come over here and let me have a good look at you!" she insisted.
Vincent moved closer to the two women, but still kept his head down leaving his face in the shadows. "It isn't shyness, Ms. Aaronson, but rather concern for your reaction that keeps me hidden."
Then it was as if Jenny suddenly remembered that she was carrying a flashlight. It had been hanging from her wrist pointing at the ground while she and Cathy had talked. She took hold of it and swung it up hoping to get a look at this man with the dreamy voice.
Vincent instinctively moved away from the light inadvertently raising his head into Jenny's full view. Her gasp was all that he had feared and he immediately started to back away until he heard Jenny say, "Wow! You were right to keep him hidden away, Cath! I might have tried to steal him from you!"
Cathy laughed happily as she reached out to pull Vincent back into the pool of light. With her arms wrapped tightly around one of his, she asked, "Would you really try and take my baby's father away from me?"
"Catherine!" Vincent protested knowing that the plan had been to let Jenny get used to his unusual looks before telling her that Catherine was carrying his child.
"BABY?!" Jenny gasped and hugged both of them at once. "I'm going to be an Aunt! Oh this is so wonderful!"
With Catherine held so close to him there was no way that he could miss her shiver. Even though the building sheltered them from the wind, Catherine had still been through a huge ordeal over the last few weeks and this had left her in a weakened condition. "Catherine, we must get you out of the cold. Ms. Aaronson, if you will come with us the plan was to take you to my home and show you where Catherine will be living."
"I would love to Vincent…on one condition!"
"And that would be?" he inquired softly.
"That you stop calling Ms. Aaronson and start calling me Jenny!"
"All right, Jenny…will you be alright following me while I carry Catherine?"
Catherine's protests were ignored as Jenny assured Vincent that would be fine with her and Vincent swept her up into his arms. They quickly left the building and crossed the park to the drainage tunnel without being seen. Vincent was able to work the well known mechanism even with Catherine in his arms and they soon entered his world.
To be continued….
