Chapter 29
Jenny then left the hospital chamber as quickly as she could. She did not go to the guest chamber as she told Cathy she would, instead, she made for the nearest exit Above and as soon as she could find a pay phone called a cab to take her home. The tears had not waited that long to start falling though. She was lucky that she made it out of the tunnels before they did, but the call to the cab company was barely understood and the sympathetic looks from the driver only made them worse.
The strange thing was that she really wasn't even sure why she was crying. Only that having Devin announce that he no longer wanted to be a part of her life made her sadder than she had thought she would be.
Mary had planned to give Devin and Jenny thirty to forty five minutes to talk alone before she would go back to check on them. But less than fifteen minutes after she had left then she heard Jenny's departure from the tunnels mentioned on the pipes. Knowing in her heart that something wasn't right she returned to the hospital chamber to find out what had happened.
Devin heard her approaching and thought about pretending to be asleep, but he knew Mary would see right through his ruse. So with a sigh he met her entrance with his eyes open.
"Devin what happened?" she asked in concern.
"I gave Jenny her freedom," he stated simply.
"I thought you were going to let her choose for herself what she wanted."
"She was free to tell me she didn't want to stop seeing me!" his tone became defensive.
"What did you say to her?"
"I told her that we'd had fun, but that was over now and she was free to see Maxwell exclusively."
"Devin! If you said it like that, it was like a slap in the face to her!" Mary protested.
"Aw, I doubt she saw it that way, but if you like I will apologize in the morning. Just ask her to come and see me after breakfast."
"How do you think I knew to come back when I did?" she almost snapped at him. "I heard Jenny had gone Above on the pipes!"
"Huh? Why would she have done that? She told me she was going to be Below all weekend."
"Maybe she no longer felt she had a reason to stay!"
Actually taking a moment to think about that before he replied, Devin's "Oh" was a bit shamefaced. "Still I am sure she will be happier with Maxwell in the long run so it will all work out."
She shook her head and took out her knitting. She was too upset with him to continue the conversation without saying something she would regret. Mary had always tried to live by the saying, "If you can't say something good, say nothing at all" so she sat quietly, only her needles making any sound. Before long Devin fell asleep to the rhythmic clicking.
Vincent and Catherine woke the next morning snuggled together and started the day with a routine that had started when the child she was carrying had started to move. The baby was very active in the early morning hours, in fact, that was usually what woke both of them up. Catherine because she could feel the activity within her body and Vincent because he had developed the habit of sleeping spooned against Catherine's back with his arm lovingly around her and his hand protectively resting on her tummy.
They spent time talking about a name for the baby because they were still unresolved on a boy's name. A name for a girl had been an easy choice, Carol after Catherine's mother and her middle name would be Anna for the woman who had found Vincent and brought him to the tunnels. However, a boy's name was proving harder to choose. Vincent was lobbying for Jacob after the man who had been a father to him all his years. Catherine disagreed with the idea on principle. It wasn't that she didn't want to honor Father in that way, but she strongly felt that the baby boy that would carry his name should be his actual grandson.
To be continued…..
