Chapter 7

Vincent slipped his arm around her to help support her and headed in the direction of their new living quarters. When they arrived, he swept back the tapestry that had never been lowered on any of Catherine's trips Below. They entered the chamber that looked completely different than before. So different in fact that if it hadn't been for the stained glass window she might have thought they were in the wrong place.

Much of the clutter had disappeared. There was now space on several of the shelves presumably for her things when she brought them Below. A lovely little desk sat in one corner with a delicate chair that hadn't been there before either. However, there was one change that she couldn't understand at all. His bed was gone!

"Vincent! Where is your bed?!" she gasped as she saw a table and chairs where it had been.

He smiled at her and said, "It is in our bedroom Catherine."

She just looked at him blankly almost as if he had spoken in a foreign language. He took in her confusion and told her, "I wanted it to be a surprise for you. All those nights I had to leave because we had an early work crew…well we were working on adding a new chamber onto this one so we have a larger living area. With the baby on the way, I thought we would need it."

Vincent took her by the hand and led her through the private bathing chamber he shared with Father and into a new room that the work crew had opened an entryway to. Here was the other side of the wall from his stain glass window, and his bed was once again placed under it. There were two mismatched dressers in the room as well as a bassinet in one corner.

"Mary suggested you would want the baby close until he or she started sleeping through the night. She said it would be easier for nursing. There is an alcove off of this room for a crib when the baby is ready. Do you like it, Catherine?"

She had been looking around at all he was talking about with a dazed expression on her face. Her eyes lit up as she turned towards him, "Oh Vincent! It's perfect! I love it! You did all this for me?!"

"Well," he blushed slightly, "For us to use, but yet, to please you."

Catherine threw herself into his arms and said, "Oh I am more than pleased! This is so far above what I was expecting! I really can't thank you enough Vincent!"

"I'm glad Catherine. As you can see there is room for you to bring anything down from your apartment that you want."

"I only have a few pieces of furniture that I want to keep. My mother's dressing table and her hope chest, and my glass display case. The rest can be left there for the times I need to use the apartment to keep up Above appearances."

"What do you mean Catherine?"

"I still have a few friends that don't know about this other side of my life, as well as people from work. There might be times when I need a place to meet them. The apartment is paid for, so there isn't any reason not to keep it. Plus, I know how popular you are here Below, Vincent. There might be some times when we want to escape up there for some privacy."

"I guess I hadn't thought of that," he smiled at her. "But we do have a privacy rule here Below too Catherine. Whenever a tapestry is lowered across a doorway it is an indication to 'knock' first, and if a lantern is placed in the hall by the door, it means 'don't even knock'."

She smiled at his explanation and suggested, "Then maybe we should add a tapestry and lantern to the bathing chamber side of our bedroom door?"

Blushing lightly, he apologized for not thinking of that himself.

"It's alright Vincent, we are both new to being married. I am sure there will be things that I will need to learn too.

Vincent nodded and said, "For now, however, I can solve the chance of Father bothering us. I will put a lantern near his entrance to the bathing chamber and we can be assured of privacy until I move it in the morning."

To be continued…..