Chapter 6

Catherine hid her sputter of laughter behind her hand, but none of the other three had a doubt as to what she was doing. Vincent's eyes sparkled with mirth both at Jenny's oh so pithy comment, and at his new bride's enjoyment of the situation.

Devin gave Catherine a sweeping bow and announced, "I think I've had enough dancing…I need a drink!"

Vincent offered an arm to both Catherine and Jenny then escorted them from the floor. Once they were seated it hit Catherine just how tired she was. The emotionally charged day, combined with the pregnancy suddenly caught up with her. Vincent sensed this and leaned over to ask, "Catherine, would you like to retire to our chamber now?" He was eager to show her all the work that had gone into their new rooms and he hoped she wasn't too tired to take it all in.

"Why husband! You seem very eager to get me alone!" she teased.

Not quite sure why she had put it that way, but he did want the two of them to be alone when he showed her the surprise, so he answered honestly, "Yes I am Catherine. I have something to show you."

"And I can assure you my love that I am eager to see it!"

'How could she have known about the surprise?!' he wondered. Granted it was very hard to keep any secrets here Below because it was such a close knit community. But Catherine hadn't been Below all that much recently, so how could she have found out?! Unless she had sensed it through the Bond! He had tried to keep all the thoughts of the new living space suppressed, but maybe he hadn't done as good of a job as he thought he had. But did it really matter? In just a few minutes she would see it all for herself. "Then we should go," he suggested, and stood to guide her from the Great Hall.

As people began to notice their progress towards the doors, they parted, leaving the newlyweds a clear path. No one would admit it after the fact, but Father was pretty sure that it had been Devin that started the applause. The doors were opened for them and even after they were closed again the clapping had continued for a bit.

When the strong wind they encountered as they left the room caused Catherine to stagger back against Vincent, he solved two problems at the same time. Both her weariness and lack of strength against the wind was dealt with when he swept her up into his arms.

"Vincent!" she protested. "You can't carry me up those stairs! Especially with the wind tearing at us!" She knew he was strong, but even as strong as he was there was just no way he could do what he had in mind. Catherine had even had to bury her head in his shoulder to hide from the wind, it was so fierce.

Catherine was glad when he took her words to heart and set her on her feet. He must even have been standing in such a way that he was blocking most of the wind from hitting her. She opened her eyes reluctantly, knowing she would now have to face that flight of stairs. However, as she prepared for the climb, she looked around and realized that they were already at the top! "How in the world did we get here?!" she gasped.

"I know how tired you are Catherine and I just wanted to make things easier for you."

Shaking her head in astonishment of what he had done, let alone the fact that he wasn't even out of breath. She wearily admitted, "I would like to lie down for a little bit. Could we go right to your…our chamber?" She had been trying to adjust to the thought of 'his' chamber becoming theirs, but somehow in her mind she always thought of it as just his. Vincent had said they could bring down whatever she wanted from her apartment to make her feel at home, but his chamber was already so full of things that she just couldn't imagine where anything of hers could go.

To be continued…..