Chapter 28
Jenny looked deeply into her friend's eyes and understood what a delicate situation this was for Cathy. She simply asked, "When do I get to meet this fiancé of yours, Cath?"
"I'll need to check with Vincent, but soon. Hopefully, some evening this week if you have a night free?"
"Sweetie, for this, I would cancel a meeting with the President himself!"
"Sure!" Cathy laughed along with her friend.
"Okay, so when is the wedding going to be?"
"Late October, we are going to announce the engagement to his people tonight and afterwards we'll have a meeting with Father to talk over our plans."
"Why do you sound nervous about that? Is his father an ogre? And what about his mother? You've never mentioned her."
"Vincent was raised by the man he calls Father. He was abandoned as a baby, so no one knows who his real parents are."
"Well if Vincent is as great as you say, does it do me any good to hope that he has a brother?"
"He does have a brother, but Vincent and Devin are nothing alike. Devin is Father's natural son, there's no blood relation between him and Vincent at all."
"Darn!" Jenny sighed.
The girls finished lunch chatting about Vincent and the wedding. Cathy was still careful to tell Jenny very little about Vincent's world. She knew she would have to get Council approval for Jenny to become a Helper and that needed to wait until after she met Vincent.
Vincent could feel Catherine's frustration mounting throughout the day. The only break seemed to be around lunchtime when he felt her happy and content, and at times very amused. He could tell that the frustration had something to do with both work and him. As the day wore on, the feeling became more and more pronounced. All he could think was that she had so much work to do that she might be late getting home for their date. Then around 6:30pm there was an explosion along the Bond. He knew she wasn't in danger, but she was certainly very upset about something!
"Radcliff, this case is right up your…"
Catherine looked up to see Joe Maxwell approaching her desk with a file in his hand. Slamming down her pen, she barked, "No! No! No! I've been here nearly twelve hours already today and I have a date tonight! Nothing is going to keep me from that! Not even a case right up my alley!"
"Listen, Radcliff, there's no need to get so upset! Take the file home, study it when you have a minute. You can start the interviews tomorrow," he offered magnanimously.
"Joe, you weren't listening! I have a date tonight and I'm going to be late as it is! So you just take that file back into your office and bring it to me in the morning just like this conversation never happened!" she insisted as she grabbed her briefcase and coat and brushed passed him on the way towards the door.
"Really, Radcliff, you know that a romantic life will cut into your work!" he called after her.
"Yeah," she said pausing with her hand on the door, "And if you don't like me cutting back to a sixty hour work week, then I can always quit!"
Holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender, he begged, "Okay! Calm down, Radcliff! Geesh you'd think I was a slave driver or something!"
As Joe watched her retreating back his heart was heavy. This sounded like it might be a serious relationship for her and that would mean the end of any hope that he ever had that she might one day look his way. Who was he kidding? Even though she worked like a plow horse when she there at work Catherine Chandler was still a thoroughbred through and through and too good for the likes of a back ally kid like Joe Maxwell.
All he could do was hope that this guy made her happy and be there to pick up the pieces if he didn't. Joe would have to find out who he was, so if he did let her down, he could put the hurt on him!
