Chapter 11
The momentarily startled look on his face told her that he had put that fact out of his mind. Quickly bringing down his emotionless mask that he used in times of stress, he tried to assure her that he hadn't forgotten. "It had merely slipped my mind for a moment," was his claim.
"Alright daddy," she sighed. Catherine wanted to avoid confrontation if at all possible. The books on pregnancy that she had been reading said that stress was bad for the baby even if they were still in the womb. Catherine really hadn't thought about reading such books, but one night she had seen a new stack appear on the table next to Vincent's favorite reading chair. She had asked what they were about and he told her. Seeing how diligently he was preparing for the child's birth Catherine felt she could do no less and also began to delve into the books Vincent had gotten from Father's library. She had been amazed and somewhat frightened to discover just how much she didn't know.
Lunch ended and Charles returned to his office while Jenny and Catherine returned to the stores. They carefully selected outfits that would hide her growing waistline without shouting 'maternity wear'.
It was not surprising that given the reason for their shopping trip talk turned to the baby. Jenny enthused, "I simply can't wait until we can start baby shopping! You will need a whole layette set as well as tons of cute baby clothes! Are you going to find out if it's a boy or girl?"
"Jenny slow down!" Catherine scolded her friend. "Vincent and I haven't talked about finding out the sex yet and as for shopping I doubt I will need to do much at all."
"What?! WHY?!" Jenny demanded.
"Because Below everything is recycled and reused. We already have a cradle and crib in our chamber. Plus every few days someone drops off something for the baby and I'm not due for months yet!"
"But surely you will want things you have picked out yourself? Beautiful new things!"
"Jenny you haven't seen how perfectly preserved the items I've been given are, and as for new, you should see the brand new knitted, crocheted, and hand sewn things Mary and her craft ladies have made for us. I am sure that I will want to pick up a few Above outfits for the baby, but there will be very few chances to even need those."
"But Cathy! There are so many cute things out there! How will you resist?!"
"I won't have to Jenny. I am going to be living Below. Shopping trips like this will be few and far between."
"Oh," her friend pouted.
Catherine put away her purchases in her apartment with some guilt later that afternoon. She had spent more than she had planned and most of that fault could be laid at Jenny's feet. Growing up a poor kid that had to struggle for everything in her life, Jenny still liked to watch her friend spend money. Cathy had planned on two new suits with a couple more interchangeable blouses to make them look different. She would get two more later in her pregnancy when these two were too tight. Instead, she had, at Jenny's persuasion come home with four suits and nine blouses!
It wasn't that she didn't have the money to buy them and more, but she had learned the conserving values Below and now felt guilty for buying so much for just herself. That was why she was leaving them in the apartment, she didn't want Vincent to see what she had done even though he would never have been able to guess the amount she had spent on each one.
After a quiet Sunday Below, Catherine returned to work on Monday, then, on Thursday she discovered something that she didn't know what to do about!
To be continued…..