Chapter 35

"That is true," he told her as he turned back the covers on their bed. "Catherine, I have the afternoon free, would you like it if I read you to sleep?"

"Oh Vincent, I know we haven't been married long, but you have to know there is something else far preferable that I would rather do with you when we have time together!" she coyly said, holding out her hand to invite him to join her in bed.

"But Catherine, you are so very tired! I could feel it all the way from Jenny's to here," he protested.

"Vincent, I am never too tired to make love with you, and I will sleep even better after than I would any other way."

He took her at her word and undressed as she watched from the bed. Vincent was still a bit shy about undressing in front of her, but their few months of marriage had gone a long way towards relieving that. Still he made quick work of it and slid under the covers to limit his exposure.

Catherine hid her grim at his shyness and wondered if he would ever feel completely comfortable about his body. But she quickly put those thought aside as he took her in his arms and began to make slow tender love to her.

They woke just in time to make the tail end of dinner time in the dining hall. William had made a rich hearty beef stew with potatoes, carrots and gravy. There was also thickly cut slices of homemade bread to go along with it. Desert was piping hot, cinnamon rich, apple crisp.

They both ate until they could hardly move and when Vincent teased her about it, she retorted, "Hey! I'm eating for two! What's your excuse?!"

"Catherine, even though you are eating for two, I am still twice your size!"

"Ha! More like two and a half times my size!" she quipped.

"That is true! Maybe I should have third's of the apple crisp!"

"You'll explode!" she protested.

"You may be right!" he laughed, and got up from the table to lead her out of the room.

"Devin, do you remember when we were kids, how you taught me to swim in the Mirror Pool?" Rebecca asked as she fed him his lunch.

"Sure, I taught a lot of the kids here to swim! Vincent included," he answered between bites.

Sorry that he just thought of her as one of a group of kids, she tried again, "I remember how safe I felt when you were holding me up as you taught me how to float."

"If memory serves, I was surprised at how long it took you to learn to float. Everything else came so easy to you."

Blushing a bit an hoping he wouldn't notice, she stopped feeding him to make a cup of tea, Rebecca knew that the only reason it had taken her twice as long to lean to float as it had the other kids was because it had been Devin holding her up. "Yeah, once I got that though I got the rest pretty fast."

"Yes you did," he agreed. "Rebecca?"

"Yes?" she asked eagerly.

"What was it that led you to candle making? You always seemed so quick and active and…well…candle making is hardly that."

She gave him a soft smile, glad that he was showing a personal interest in her. "It was the Winterfest before you left the tunnels, I was ten. That year it seemed like my list of candle deliveries included all of the housebound and eldest of our Helpers. I wanted to be the first one done with my deliveries as I had been the year before, but this year it seemed like every person on my list wanted me to stay and chat with them. Most told me that Winterfest was the only time they went out all year. They caressed those candles that I delivered as if they were the most precious thing in the world. That got me to looking at the candles and realizing just how lovely and special they really were. The care and time that went into making them was also important. So I slowed down and when someone wanted me to stay and talk, I did. A couple of times I even stayed for tea and cookies. But each one had stories of Winterfest gone by to tell. They were all so wonderful. That year instead of being the first one back I was the last, and not just by a little, I think I was hours behind everyone else."

To be continued…..