Chapter 30

Catherine sat across from Jenny shaking her head and grinning. "I was only two minutes late!" she protested. "How long have you been here?"

"Five minutes, but I didn't want to waste any precious talk time with ordering and stuff. Now spill! I want details on what has been going on and you better not leave anything out!"

"I hardly know where to start Jen, there is just so much to tell," Catherine told her.

"Okay, well start with how you and this Vincent guy met," Jenny encouraged her.

"We met the night of my attack…"

Jenny jumped in, "He rescued you! How marvelously romantic! And then you must've had gratitude sex!"

"No, Vincent found me unconscious in the park. I wasn't in any condition to have sex!"

"But you said you got pregnant the night the two of you met!" Jenny protested.

The 'caught' look on Cathy's face immediately told her that this was something Cathy had forgotten she'd said. Her bright mind quickly went to work while her friend sat there trying to come up with an explanation. "Oh Cath!" Jenny gasped. Reaching across the table to take her friend's hands in hers, she asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Catherine questioned cautiously.

"That it had to have been part of the attack."

"How…" she couldn't finish the question.

"You said you got pregnant the night you and Vincent met, you just told me you were unconscious and in no condition to have sex so it had to have been…" her voice lowered over the last word as she looked around at the other diners, "Rape."

Catherine hung her head and nodded. She felt both regret and relief to have the truth out in the open with her best friend.

"Oh Cath! Did you think I wouldn't understand? Why didn't you tell anyone when you showed up after those ten days?"

"Because I didn't know until this week when I found out I was pregnant." Catherine went on to explain, "You see, when Vincent found me, he took me to his father who is a doctor. He treated me and Vincent nursed me back to health. They were aware of what had happened, but when I regained consciousness and didn't remember they thought they would spare me the hurt by not saying anything. It was only when I discovered I was pregnant and knew that it couldn't be Tom's that I began to question. That was when Vincent told me the full story. He offered to take responsibility if I didn't want anyone to know the truth, but it seems I'm not a very good liar and it really wouldn't be fair to Vincent."

"You love him!" Jenny declared.

"What? Who?"

"This Vincent, you love him!" Jenny stated firmly.

"Why in the world do you think that?" Catherine questioned incredulously.

"Because of the way you say his name! It's like a caress! You love him! Admit it!"

"Jen I had only started to wonder if I could be interested in him as more than a friend and here you are already jumping to love!"

"Oh don't give me that! Every time you think of him your heart skips a beat. You get a dreamy look whenever you utter his name. I can spot the signs kid! You're in love! Trust Aunt Jenny on this one!"

"You are crazy you know!" Cathy laughed, but she couldn't help but wonder if her friend was right.

Below Vincent had felt Catherine's guilt followed quickly by relief although he had no way to know that Jenny had just found out about the rape. Then he had felt Catherine's surprise followed by confusion about Jenny's declaration and her subsequent wonder.

He wondered what the feelings all meant as well as if he would discover their meanings. He knew he would see Catherine tonight, but the visit would be focused on meeting her friend. There was no way of knowing if the two of them would have time alone afterwards to talk.

Shaking off those thoughts, he brought his mind back to the math class he was teaching. The youngest students were just starting to add and subtract and William had aided that dry lesson by supplying raisins. Each student was asked to count out an equal amount and then they would subtract…by eating…the set amount. The first one to call out the right answer for the number of raisins remaining was given tem more raisins. It was a fun and healthy way to learn the concepts.

That evening, during dinner, Vincent's mind was clearly not on the conversation at the table. When Father had to call his son's name for the third time to get his attention, he finally questioned, "Vincent what has you so distracted? Has Mouse gotten up to another one of his hair-brained escapades?"

To be continued….