Chapter 61
Once again Vincent and Catherine were overwhelmed with the outpouring of gifts from the community and Helper's alike. They thanked everyone for their generosity and then people headed to the 'goody' table where William had set out several different kinds of cookies and of course the ever present pots of tea.
Finally the crowd had dispersed and only Father, Mary, Devin, Rebecca, Catherine, Vincent, and baby Tereasa, who was asleep, remained. "It was such a beautiful ceremony!" Rebecca gushed.
"Yes it was," Catherine replied with a smile and then laughingly demanded, "Alright, out with it Rebecca! You have been effervescent all night! What is going on?"
"Oh!" she looked surprised and then lowered her eyes at being caught. "But we didn't want to say anything tonight, after all this was about Baby Tereasa!"
"But the ceremony is over now and it is just us, so it will take nothing away from an event that is over. You can tell us now," Vincent urged.
"If you're sure?" she questioned looking around the room, but it was Devin's nod that had her confessing, "We were going to tell everyone tomorrow…Dev and I just found out this afternoon that we are going to have a baby too!"
"That's wonderful!" Catherine exclaimed, as everyone else rushed to congratulate the couple too.
Later in their chamber, as Catherine nursed Tereasa, she once again expressed her happiness for Devin and Rebecca. "She was so worried that it wasn't going to happen for them. Now we can look forward to our children growing up together!"
Vincent agreed and blew out all but one candle so they could go to bed.
The next day the news Devin and Rebecca delivered at breakfast spread like wild fire through the tunnels and there was an outpouring of well wishes for them as well as some teasing questions for Vincent and Catherine as to when they might be having their next child.
It was Monday morning and Catherine was running late for work. She blamed it all on Tereasa, who was just so cute that it was almost impossible to part with her. Catherine kept promising just one more kiss, or one more coo, but one led to two and two to four. Finally Vincent solved the problem by taking the baby from Catherine and handing her to Samantha who often hung around their chamber hoping and praying they might need a babysitter.
That morning she was in luck as Vincent stepped into the passageway and handed her Tereasa asking if she would take the baby to Mary in the nursery. With a huff, Catherine finally slid into her shoes and jacket and started off to work.
Only slightly worried how Joe would handle her being forty five minutes late to work, she was shocked to find out that he wasn't there either. The gossip wheel was in full gear and before she could walk across the room to her desk Catherine had heard several snippets of conversation about the reason Joe wasn't there. Knowing she would get the most reliable information from Edie, the queen of office gossip, she headed to the computer cubical.
"Hey girl!" Edie greeted her, looking up from her keyboard when Catherine walked up.
"Hey," Catherine answered, and took a seat before asking, "What is going on with Joe not being here? Did he get fired or something?!"
"It was the 'or something'," Edie told her with a grin and then turned serious as she prepared to tell Catherine the story. "From reports I've had, Gina hadn't had an easy pregnancy and the last few weeks she's been battling toxemia. Yesterday she went into labor even though she wasn't due for another two weeks. When Helen called the hospital a few minutes ago for an update, she was told that Gina had the baby about an hour ago, but her uterus came out with the baby and she started hemorrhaging. They couldn't get it stopped Cath! She bled to death and never even saw the baby! Joe's still there dealing with things, but I don't think that anyone expects him to come in today."
To be continued…..