Chapter 5: The Road You Leave Behind

Several days later Catherine went to the doctor to confirm what she already knew, that she is pregnant. Seemed like right after Vincent's mom brought it to her attention the morning sickness kicked in the very next day. She barely made it out of bed that morning with a bucket, saltine crackers and Ginger Ale by her side she didn't get up until almost noon. She slept well for once she slept a full nine hours and she needed it. She hadn't been getting much sleep worrying about Vincent and going back and forth to and from the hospital.

Catherine felt lonely more now than ever before even with her parents checking on her and her little sister Heather around it wasn't enough to get rid of the loneliness she felt when she was home and everything was quiet. She was so used to being over at Vincent's or having him at her place. She missed his laugh, his presence, his everything. The loneliness became all too consuming over the next few weeks she cried a lot hardly left the house only to visit Vincent and to go work. Even Tess her best friend couldn't find a way to cheer her up. Tess always made her miss Vincent more because Tess and Vincent had this always teasing each other kind of relationship. Every time Vincent would see Tess they were always making jokes about each other and she'd remember them. She would remember laughing with them. Seeing Tess made her remember those times and pregnancy hormones caused her to cry as it seemed like almost everything did.

Catherine tried to keep her head up and keep the faith she made sure to eat right and drink plenty of water so she could bring a healthy baby into the world. She had told Vincent all about how she and the baby were doing every visit placing his hand on her small barely showing belly. she wanted him to wake up so badly it hurt every time she went to visit him. Each and every time she came there was no change.

Catherine was sitting in the cafe at the hospital eating a Caesar salad that was so good even with her current mood made her slightly happy at the moment when someone approached her table.

"Catherine, Hey you mind if I sit down?"

Catherine looked up from her delicious salad and smiled seeing the familiar stranger named Evan.

"Hey! sure have a seat" she had been seeing Evan around a lot they usually would be in passing they would say hello and continue on. Usually, Catherine would be just getting to the hospital when he would be on his way out. Today Catherine was off from work so she was there earlier than she usually was.

Evan pulled out a chair and sat down his tray of food. He had a turkey sub that smelled great and also made Catherine suddenly want one. Being pregnant made her want to eat everything on sight.

"So how have things been?" he asks

"I've been ok but not much has changed"

"Sorry to hear that, my grandma is getting more sicker. she will probably be passing soon" he said sadly

"I am sorry," Catherine said putting a comforting hand over his he nodded a thank you.

"She lived a great life she was a very wise woman" Evan continues. "she taught me a lot, her and my grandfather. He is in the room with her now, I can't imagine what he is going through they have been in love since they were teens"

Catherine nodded listening as he talked about his family. Catherine found herself feeling a little better having her mind off her own situation for a while. Evan was easy to talk to although she didn't talk as much. Evan talked a lot about his life, stories of his childhood as well as living and traveling in Europe it was refreshing. He made her laugh and he gave her companionship. Something she been needing since Vincent's accident.

Over the next few weeks, Catherine had been spending a lot of time with Evan outside the hospital. They had exchanged numbers that day they had lunch together and hung out a few times after. They were just friends Catherine had told herself every time they hung out but she always felt a ping of guilt for being with another guy while Vincent was in the hospital. Nothing happened between her and Evan, he respected her relationship with Vincent he was just there for her but the more and more time she spent with him the closer they became.

For more than half her life she knew Vincent was the one for her. She has only been with one man, her life was mapped out to be with just one person. With Vincent's life at a standstill, Catherine chooses to be as well. She would wait for as long as she could until the man she loved woke up. She hoped it was sooner than later especially since she was about to bring his child into the world in a few months.

As Catherine's pregnancy progressed Evan was there to help her whenever she needed it and she was glad. He was a great friend he accompanied her to a few of her appointments usually the ones Tess couldn't make. He even went baby shopping with her, most guys hate shopping but Evan didn't complain once. He was such a good guy she was always amazed at how their friendship developed so fast. Evan was the one person not connected to Vincent in some way. He was her escape from the pain of Vincent's absence and she didn't want to lose that feeling.

When everyone found out about Catherine spending time Evan she got different reactions from everyone. Her parents and sister were fine with it, they knew Catherine and Evan were only friends. Tess was not ok with it at first, she thought Catherine was moving away from Vincent and Evan was going to cause them to break up whenever Vincent did wake up. Tess realized that wasn't the case when she hung out with them a few times. Evan invited Tess to come with him and Catherine all the time and Tess most of the time accepted just to play interference. Once she got to know Evan she realized he was genuinely a good guy. She saw that Catherine and Evan's relationship was strictly platonic and that put her at ease. Vincent's family was a different story. While Vincent's mother was nice about the situation Catherine could tell she didn't like it Vincent's brother looked at Catherine differently they felt like she was betraying their brother hanging around another man. So they all started to distance themselves from her.

Catherine was disappointed by their behavior she had known them all for a long time she didn't want things to be different. She tried not to stress about it and dwell on it, she had a baby to worry about. It still wasn't a good feeling she didn't want them thinking bad about her. She would never do anything to intentionally hurt Vincent, never.

Weeks turned into months and pretty soon Catherine was nine months pregnant ready to give birth at any time now. Her pregnancy had gone relatively smooth. Other than some mild anemia everything was fine. Everyone was pleased to find out she was having a boy. She knew Vincent would be happy he always talking about having a son and being able to teach him to fish and play sports. Although Catherine wanted a girl she was happy about having a boy hoping the news would get Vincent to wake up. When she found out she couldn't wait to get to the hospital to tell him but no such luck even with the news Vincent still stayed in a coma no change.

Catherine's baby shower was fun, at least at first everyone showed up even Vincent's brothers her baby shower was co-ed. Even though the men were there as with most baby showers the men usually branched off and did their own thing while the women played the games, ate, and oohed and ahhed over the cute baby clothes and accessories. It wasn't until Evan arrived that things got awkward, he came walking in with a huge gift and even smaller gifts on top of that. Everyone was cordial with him but you could tell it was forced. The tension was all one-sided Evan wasn't aware of how they felt but he could feel something was awry.

Evan placed his gifts beside Catherine as she continued to open her other gifts from family and friends. It wasn't until Catherine was on her last few gifts, the ones from Evan that things went from awkward to worse. In the huge box, Evan had brought her this expensive stroller and matching car seat Catherine had been eyeing weeks prior when she and Evan did her baby registry at a few stores. Catherine was shocked as well as everyone else. He also got a custom made Baby blanket with "mommy's little angel" embroidered on it. As well as clothes and a rattle. Catherine absolutely loved his gifts definitely the best out of the bunch. She gave him a huge hug for being so thoughtful and a good friend.

As soon as Catherine let go, William walked over with Daniel close behind him.

"What do you think you are doing?" he said to Evan with venom in his voice.

"William, what are you doing?" Catherine squeezed between them.

"I am sorry, what do you mean?" Evan asked confused

"Don't you know she is a taken she is practically married and pregnant with my brother's child why are you even here"

"Look I don't know what you think but Catherine and I are just friends"

"Yes, there is nothing between me and him I told you that before," Catherine said trying to defuse the situation.

"That might be your intentions Catherine but I know it's not his" He stared at Evan like he was gum on the bottom of his shoe.

"William come on man this isn't the place," Daniel said as he tried to lead him away. William didn't budge

"Stay the fuck away from her, if Vincent was here he would kick your ass for sniffing around his girl. Catherine, I can't believe you are even entertaining this guy.

"You don't even know him!" Catherine shouted

"I know what I see and he is not getting you"

"what is going on over here?" Catherine and Vincent's mother both walked over seeing the tension.

"William needs to learn to mind his own business," Catherine says now angry.

"I didn't mean to cause any trouble I am going to just go," Evan says.

"Yes get out of here and stay away" William shouts to Evan as he walks off.

"That was uncalled for you are assuming and being rude for no reason" Catherine yelled.

William looked at Catherine in disgust "what happened to your loyalty?" he says as he walks off.

Catherine rolled her eyes and stormed off in the opposite direction.

Tess was the only one able to calm her down she was so furious with William he was being a total jerk. She would never betray Vincent, he was her heart the love of her life she just wanted him back she didn't want another man. She was tired of having to defend herself about it.

"Catherine don't listen to him you did nothing wrong you know that. He is just hurting because he misses Vincent and just wants to protect you. He is just going about it completely wrong"

"I will not let him think he can talk to me anyway he wants. I deserve respect if he doesn't want to respect my choices then he can stay the hell away from me"

"Catherine you are giving birth to his nephew we need everyone to be calm and together for the baby. Do you think Vincent would be happy knowing everyone is acting this way?"

Catherine sighed as tears threatened her eyes. "I miss him, Tess, I miss him so much it hurts, Evan is the only one who can ease the pain for a while. He is good to me and I like having him around. Vincent would like him too I know it"

"Catherine I believe your intentions but even I still question what Evan might really feel for you. If William could see something maybe he sees something you can't"

Catherine sighed taking in what her best friend was telling her. She started to question if maybe she was blind to how Evan felt about her. She spent a lot of time with Evan and not once did he try to come on to her or show that his feeling was more than just friends, but that didn't mean they weren't there.

Catherine eventually started to decline Evans offers to hang out which made her sad because most days she really wanted to go but some of William's words got to her. Especially the loyalty thing, he felt like Catherine wasn't loyal to Vincent by spending time with Evan that hurt more than anything. Catherine went to the hospital frequently visited Vincent as often as she could even with her huge belly she still made her way to the hospital. Reading to him, talking to him, making sure he knew every single detail about her and the baby so for William to say she wasn't loyal hurt like hell.

Evan took Catherine to see a movie one night, Catherine had been couped all day now that she was officially on maternity leave. She was just waiting for the baby to come any day now. She had everything set everything she needed her bags packed and ready, nursery ready thanks to the help of Tess and her mom. She was bored and tired of dodging Evan for no reason so she went.

They had dinner and a movie he took good care of her making sure she was comfortable had what she needed and knew where the bathroom was. He already knew how outings were with Catherine he knew eventually she would have to pee. Evan always laughed because Catherine hated that heavy urge to pee only to go to the bathroom and pee a little, it drove her nuts. Evan was there always waiting patiently with a smile on his face when she emerged and she really appreciated that.

As they walked out of the movie theater Evan decided to say what had been on his mind for a while now.

"Catherine, can we talk?"

"Sure"

Catherine had an idea of what he was going to say, probably wanted to know why she had been so distant with him lately. Before he could start she decided to apologize.

"I know what you are going to say, Evan, before you say anything I want you to know how grateful I am having you in my life. You have been there for me through everything. Even with this not so ideal situation, you have been by my side I will always be thankful for that. I apologize for being so distant with you over the last few weeks. I let what other people think cloud my judgment I am so sorry for that" she smiled up at him watching as his facial expression changed. He grinned nervously.

"That isn't exactly isn't what I wanted to talk to you about but you have nothing to apologize for I understand" he sighed then stopped walking and turned to face her. "What William was saying at your baby shower about my feelings for you were true" she was about to stop him but he cut her off.

"I know you are with Vincent and I always respected that I admit from the first time I met you I have always been attracted to you. I didn't intend on us becoming friends at first I just wanted to know you but then the more I got to know you and the closer we become the more I realized I am falling in love with you"

Catherine's mouth dropped Oh my God, she said in her head.

"It took me till now after not seeing you for a few weeks to realize how miserable I was without you. I just wish the situation wasn't this way if only I had met you first"

"Evan I don't know what to say," she said looking down her belly. She didn't know what to do or even how to act this situation was so new to her no one had ever gotten this close to her except Vincent.

He lifted her chin so that she was looking in his eyes, he kissed her tenderly on the forehead and then left a sweet kiss on her lips.

Catherine stood there paralyzed she searched his face for some kind of sign that this wasn't a dream.

"I don't want to rush you I will wait until you are ready, for all we know Vincent could wake up tomorrow and ... but if he doesn't I just want you to know I am here" he brushes a finger against her cheek.

Catherine nodded but said nothing her brain was in overdrive trying to figure out how to fathom what the hell just happened.

Evan kissed her and she was having a hard time trying to figure out why she wasn't as mad as she should be. She loved Vincent, she really loved him and if any other guy had kissed her she would have slapped him. The fact that is was Evan someone who had been by her side all this time she was speechless. She was confused because for the first time a small part of her was attracted to him too. That scared her to the core because she didn't know what that meant for her and Vincent.

Catherine's labor was long and painful, that very night after she got home her contractions begin. They had begun to get intense slowly overnight Catherine couldn't sleep she was exhausted and called Tess over to take her to the hospital. She informed her mom and Vincent's family she was on her way to the hospital and news spread to everyone else. She had texted Evan and told him as well and he hopped right out of the bed to meet her there.

Evan was the first to show up in Catherine's room other than Tess who stood by her best friend's side making sure she was comfortable and had everything he needed. As both sides of the family got there Evan went to the waiting room to give everyone else time with Catherine. Catherine didn't get to start pushing until later that evening her visitors had come and gone some even went home and came back and still there was no baby yet. Then around six that evening the doctors checked her and saw she was ten centimeters and ready to push.

Evan and Heather had just come back to the room just in time to hear the doctor say its time. Both excited they stood on either side of Catherine holding her hand and supporting her as she pushed and pushed and pushed. Then came the cry everyone loves to hear.

Catherine welcomed Vincent Ryan Keller Jr into the world, he was seven pounds and two ounces. He was the mirror image of Vincent as a baby. As soon as Catherine saw his handsome face and Vincent like brown eyes she cried. made her miss him even more. He was the most handsome baby she ever was seen. She loved him so much and couldn't wait to bring him to the hospital to visit his dad this for sure this would be the thing that woke him she just knew it.