Chapter 69

The bright smile on his face was enough to tell her that he wasn't upset by her oversight. In fact he seemed amused. She however, felt bad for her frantic behavior that morning and the fact that he had never seen her in 'hyper getting ready for work' mode. "I'm SO sorry Vincent! I'm not a very coherent morning person. Can you forgive me?" she asked as she came towards him across the room.

"I know you do not have time for an improper good bye, so I will forgive you if you give me a proper one."

"That I can do, and will promise you an improper good night after my father leaves this evening," she told him and then gave him a very wonderful good bye kiss.

Vincent relived it several times on his journey Below.

He knew that William would still be serving breakfast and since they hadn't had time for it before he left Catherine's he was hungry. Also encountering Father for the first time after the weekend might go better if it were in a group setting. His parent would certainly still be able to display his disapproval with his voice and body language, but surely he wouldn't start yelling at Vincent in a crowd.

Going through the food line he got a huge smile from William and was questioned on how well Catherine liked the dinner he had sent. Vincent reported that she had thoroughly enjoyed it.

He walked over to the table he always shared with Father and Mary. It appeared they were finished eating and just enjoying a cup of tea. "Hello Mary, Father," he said as he sat down.

"Vincent you're back! It's good to see you. The nursery children missed you reading them their bedtime story."

"I missed that too Mary. I will drop by this afternoon and read to them if you like."

"That would be fine, but won't you be able to read to them tonight?"

"I am afraid that will not be possible. I am having dinner with Catherine and her father."

"Her father!" Father sputtered. "What has possessed you Vincent? Staying Above all weekend and now exposing yourself to another stranger!"

"Father, Charles Chandler is not a stranger. He is Catherine's father and she wants me to meet him before…" he stopped, realizing what he had been about to just blurt out.

"Before what Vincent?" Mary asked.

"It's actually something I wanted to talk to the two of you about privately. Could we all go to Father's study?"

"You haven't finished eating," Mary protested.

He smiled at her concern, "Some things are more important than food Mary," he told her and rose to his feet.

Usually there was no end of people that wanted to talk to one or more of this trio and interruptions to whatever they were doing was commonplace. But it was as if today everyone knew something big was going on and they were left completely alone as they made their way to Father's study.

Once the two people he had always looked on as parents were seated, Vincent began, "I know you are both aware that I was with Catherine this weekend…" he paused for breath and Father jumped in.

"Yes! I wanted to talk to you about that!"

"I know that Father," Vincent acknowledged, "But I have some important news before that so if you could just wait a moment."

Father was stunned! Vincent had never put him in his place that way before! It was not at all like this son! Spending all this time with Catherine must be a bad influence on him. He would have to find a way to put a stop to it! However, Vincent's next words made that prospect pretty near impossible!

"This weekend I asked Catherine to marry me and she said yes," Vincent reported.

Mary jumped to her feet, clasping her hands, and cried, "Oh Vincent that is wonderful! A wedding to plan! We must get started right away!"

"Mary! How can you approve of this?" Father demanded, outraged.

To be continued….