Chapter 50

Vincent felt her absence beside him and woke in time to see her walk across the room as naked as the day she was born. That thought made him think of Peter and the story he always told about his and Catherine's first meeting.

What amazed him the most was how unselfconscious she was about her nudity around him. Ever since they'd become lovers, she never hesitated to get out of bed and head to the bathroom or kitchen without putting anything on. He was still very aware of his nakedness around her and although Catherine's love had gone a long way towards erasing his fears about how his physical appearance would affect her, he was still a very modest person.

While he'd been contemplating such matters, Catherine had reached into the closet, pulled out a lovely green velour robe, and slipped it on. She reached in again and this time pulled out one in deep blue. She turned to come back to the bed and saw that Vincent was awake.

"Hi," she said softly.

With a wide grin he said, "Hi yourself. Why are you out of bed and getting dressed?"

"I'd hardly call a robe 'getting dressed'!" she laughed, handing him the blue robe. "Will you come with me? I have a surprise to show you."

"Is this the reason I wasn't allowed on the roof for the past two days?" he asked, getting out of bed and quickly putting on the robe.

"Yes, I wanted to create something special for you. I hope that you'll love it."

"I'm sure I will."

"Will you bring that comforter?" she requested pointing to the one on the foot of the bed. Vincent picked it up and followed her to the stairs that led to the roof.

The two of them climbed the stairs and when they reached the roof door Catherine asked him to close his eyes. Trusting her completely he took the hand she offered and closed his eyes.

She led him to where she wanted and then asked him to wait a moment. He nodded and she let go of his hand and removed her robe. With a grin she reached out and untied the belt of his as he stood there unsuspectingly with his eyes closed. His start of surprise had him opening is eyes and demanding, "Catherine, what are you doing? We're outside! "

"Yes I know!" she giggled. "This is your surprise," she told him.

"Being outside naked is my surprise?" he gasped.

"No silly, this is!" she said and gestured to the rooftop that he hadn't even looked at yet.

His eyes followed her gesture and saw for the first time all the work she'd done up here to surprise him. There was an odd looking wood-framed couch, with a matching low table in front of it. There was also a small round glass-topped table with two wrought iron chairs at it. Large potted plants and some small trees were placed around adding to the feeling of a park-like atmosphere. "Catherine, this is amazing!"

"I was hoping that you would like it. If you go to the other side of the couch," she directed as she went to one side. "All you need to do is pull out the peg there in the side and when the back drops, then place it in the holes that align at the bottom. Now the couch is a bed!"

He did as she directed, watching in amazement as this happened. "What is this? I've never seen anything like it before!"

"It's called a futon. I gave Kanin a picture of it and he made it for us. Of course I had to stop Mouse from adding what he insisted were 'essential gizmos'!" she laughed.

Vincent laughed along with her at the thought of their young friend and his gizmos. Mouse was a wonder, but should never be allowed to do things unsupervised! Vincent wondered if Mouse would ever outgrow the childlike innocence he had. But now was not the time to be thinking of Mouse. He and new bride were still standing on the roof of a building in the middle of the city without clothes on! "Catherine, this is wonderful, but do we really have to be naked to enjoy it?"