Chapter 60
"I will see that someone brings food for you both in a little while," Mary offered as she and Father quietly left the new little family to get some sleep.
The first three days Catherine and the baby stayed in their chambers. Vincent would leave only when he had to, but would rush back as quickly as he could. Food was brought to them by many willing volunteers eager to see the new baby. Even though they tried to keep the visitors limited Vincent came up with a way to appease the multitude wanting to see the baby. Twice a day at a preset time, he would bring the baby to their chamber door and anyone in the passageway would be able to see her.
Catherine laughed when he described it to her and she declared that it sounded like a royal viewing. Vincent looked down at their royal bundle and smiled in agreement.
There were no shortage of volunteers for the job of babysitting the tunnel's newest resident, but both mother and father were reluctant to let the little darling out of their care. They had enough trouble letting her be passed around from arms to arms whenever they appeared with her in public.
It almost seemed like their friends would lie in wait as Catherine and Vincent entered the dining hall so they could be the first one to hold the baby. After several verbal fights over whose turn it was, or who had held her longer than they should, William brought out an egg timer from the kitchen. Now each person had only the four minutes until the sands ran out before they had to pass her on to the next pair of waiting arms.
Catherine glared at the calendar every morning as she marked off another day of her maternity leave. How could it be half over already?! It was only three weeks until the baby's naming day and then only two days after that until she had to return to work.
She had sent word to the office about the birth of her daughter and had asked Bennie the bike messenger to also take a note to Jenny's work place telling her the news.
Then before she knew it, the naming day had arrived. Catherine dressed their daughter in the hand knitted pink and white dress her grandmother Mary had made for her, added the matching booties and bonnet made by Sarah then handed her over to Vincent who wrapped her in the quilt that all of Mary's sewing ladies had helped to make.
Catherine and Vincent were also dressed for this special occasion. They were ready to head to Father's study. Vincent was carrying the baby and Catherine had picked up the diaper bag that Vincent had quickly learned you didn't go anywhere without when you had an infant in the family.
Once in the study it seemed like everyone just understood that tonight the baby should stay with her parents. No one raced over to relieve them of their precious load. Instead Vincent and Catherine were able to make their way to the center of the room with the only stops along the way being people that wanted a peek at the baby's new outfit.
It was a tight squeeze in the study, with nearly every tunnel resident present and several of the Helper's too. Father started the traditional ceremony by saying, "We are gathered here tonight to welcome this child into our community. We welcome her with love that she may learn to love. We welcome her with gifts, so that she may learn generosity, and we welcome her with a name," and with that he looked expectantly at Catherine and Vincent.
Catherine smiled at Vincent who was holding their sleeping child and said, "We have named our child Tereasa Makana, which means Blessed Gift."
Applause rang out in the room, which startled the baby awake. Tereasa just cooed up at her daddy, happy to see his smiling face above her.
To be continued…..