“Father?” Timidly Catherine peeked into her father-in-law’s chamber her welcome unsure. His eyes rose to meet hers, they were hostile Catherine could tell and her heart broke that little bit more. Nonetheless Father was well aware that Catherine would not seek him out unless it was for a very good reason. Baring in mind that they had said all there had to be said on a certain subject weeks ago, resolving nothing.

“Yes. What is it, Catherine?” He asked, his mouth drawn into a thin stern line, making her tremble all the more.

“Can you take a look at me please?”

Despite his feelings, her humble request brought tears to his eyes, and he was suddenly in the capacity of doctor rather than friend, as she stumbled down the steps leading into his living quarters.

“What’s wrong?” She clutched at her abdomen as she fell into his arms, almost knocking him off of his feet, and for a moment both tottered until they had caught one another and regained their balance. Father led her to his bed, requesting that she should lie down. He didn’t like the look of her colour, not one bit.
Second nature to placing a hand on her forehead, he placed a thermometer under her tongue, surprised when the reading told him that she was quite well. He couldn’t understand it, she looked like death warmed up.

“What are your symptoms?” He asked concern plainly evident in his eyes.

“Vomiting, nausea, back ache, heartburn, hunger…” she even managed a slight grin, “Want me to continue…” she asked.

As she spoke Father ticked off possible causes in his mind, dismissing each until she finally told him one last thing.

“And Father?” Her eyes were wide with a certain hope as she told him, “I’ve missed three periods.”

Immediately he lay his hand upon her abdomen, knowing exactly what her problem was. His examination proved without a doubt that this was so. He stared at her his eyes wide with surprise and shock, not knowing quite what to think and told her softly, “Catherine…you are pregnant.”

If he had expected a gasp of surprise he was sourly disappointed, instead Catherine replied tonelessly, “I thought I was.” Before bursting into tears and despite himself, and his feelings on the matter Father placed his arms around her, if only for the fact that she was a vulnerable mother to be.
He let her cry, waited until she was able to speak again, voicing no opinions of his own. He had much he would like to have said, but refrained from doing so. None of it would help her anyway.

So it stunned him when she sat up and spoke, “It’s Vincent’s.” Her words grieved her when she raised her head and saw him resolutely shaking his own. He didn’t believe her!

“I’m sorry Catherine. You don’t know how much I want to believe that…but it alters nothing…whether it’s so or not. Carrying Vincent’s child…or…or…his child…” He couldn’t even bring himself to say Elliot’s name. “…alters nothing. You betrayed my son and I for one can never forgive you for that.”

“I didn’t…” head in hands, Catherine sobbed, “Father, you’ve got to believe me…I love Vincent so much…” Tears coursed down her cheeks. “I could never do that…anything with another…please believe me Father!” Taking his hands in her own she squeezed them tight, even as he pulled them from her grasp.

“Stop that, Catherine! Nothing you can say will convince me otherwise. Now get dressed, there are some things you need to do to relieve the sickness and I have some exercises to help with the backache.” Back in physician mode again, Father helped her from his bed, ever aware that she would need to know a great deal of things to help her with her pregnancy, while firmly pushing away any possibility that she carried his grandchild. They would cross that bridge when they came to it.

“Father!” Tears coursed down Catherine’s cheeks as she begged him “I’m not doing a single thing until you listen to me!”

“There’s nothing to say Catherine. You know that. In fact perhaps it would be best all round if you were to find alternative accommodation…maybe the father of your child would take you in?” That did it that really did it. Catherine’s first response was to die at his words, her second drew fury from deep within…

“Listen to me, you old goat!” She paused mere seconds before continuing in a lighter vein, “Elliot is not and never will be anything to me! He raped me! Can’t you get that into your thick skull that he raped me!.” Her arms flung wildly around her seizing him by the shoulders as she finished speaking to shake the living daylights out of the old man. “Believe me won’t you!” through clenched teeth she spat, tears rolling down her cheeks. “E.L.L.I.O.T R.A.P.E.D. ME!” She spelt it out, hoping that he would at last believe her.

Funnily enough, though his rage had come like bile to his throat whatever retort Father had been about to make dissolved in that moment. Was it true? He looked at her eyes wide as everything galloped through his mind at once. In fact though Devin had been so sure, they were yet to ask him to his face and Lord only knew when that would be. He still hadn’t returned from Brazil.

“Sit down, my dear.” Those words, such tender words, and the kindly way he guided her to the nearest seat brought on a fresh bout of tears, ones of blessed relief. He would listen now, she was sure of it.

“Thank you, Father.” Her reply covered a multitude of emotions. “Now tell me?” Holding her hands in his across the table, where she sat at one edge and he at the other, with the corner between them, he waited his eyes kindly beckoning her to speak.
Taking a deep breath Catherine started to tell him everything that had happened within those tunnels beneath Ouro Preto, while oblivious to either of them Vincent, who had been summoned by their recent shouting, was listening intently at the entrance of Father’s chamber.

“…so you see,” Catherine wound up by saying, “it wasn’t as you had been led to believe. Just an amazing round of coincidences, and ones that had never been instigated by me, except maybe at the first when I had pig-headedly gone chasing off to Brazil in the most stupid belief that I alone could help Elliot.” Father noticed how Catherine spoke the man’s name most distastefully and that furthered his acceptance in the things she revealed. Of course she had told them all of this before, but he had to admit that at that time neither he or Vincent had been willing to listen.

“I’m so sorry my dear.” Father patted her hands with his, “It would seem that we have done you a grave injustice. How you must have suffered these last few weeks…”tears welled in his eyes, “…it breaks my heart. Will you ever forgive me?”

A watery smile was her only response as she became aware of another presence in the chamber and looked up to see who it was. ‘Vincent!’ Had he been there all along? Turning in her seat Catherine gazed into his eyes, hoping to read her answer there suddenly oblivious to Father’s presence, even as he pulled away, stood and beckoned for his son to take up his seat.

Declining the invitation Vincent shook his head, “No if you don’t mind Father, I would like to take Catherine to my chamber and speak to her there.”

Catherine’s heart soared! It had been weeks since he had permitted her anywhere near his quarters, and soared further still as he held out a hand for her to take. She went to him willingly, feeling the blessed relief as his hand enclosed hers. It had been too long…too long since she had felt the security of her hand in his…tears welled in her eyes and fell steadily down her cheeks for his gentle touch alone.
Her eyes were almost his undoing, there was much yet to resolve. Still, the look she gave him jolted his heart into response and he smiled at her tenderly despite himself. “Come,” he told her softly, “We must talk.”

The walk to his chamber was one of the longest Catherine had ever remembered, and one of the sweetest. To just be beside him again after all those weeks, was a joy in itself. But to have him transfer his hand from hers to around her waist as they walked was a sheer delight.
Reaching his chamber, Vincent let down the heavy drape that led into the tunnel beyond, signalling that he wanted complete privacy to any that might come looking for him. And then leading his wife across the expanse of floor, he bade her sit at the table before pulling up a second chair for himself.
Unable to contain herself any longer, Catherine whispered, “Just how much did you hear, Vincent?”

“I came as soon as I heard raised voices.” He answered, “but anything I did not hear was brought to my attention when Father began giving you his medical advice.” His eyes bore into hers and both knew that there was no need for more words, but still he said them, “You are with child?”

Catherine sobbed, reaching to clasp his hands in hers, “Yes. Vincent, the child is yours, you have to know that!”

He was quiet for a long time, too long a time, but Catherine knew not to interrupt, taking comfort from the expressions that chased across his face and in his eyes as he remained silent.

Finally he spoke, “ I want to believe you, Catherine. And our connection shows me that your heart is sincere, but the facts…”

“…are Devin’s facts!” Catherine retorted angrily.

“Yes. And Elliot’s.” He spoke so softly Catherine strained to hear him, lip reading more than relying upon her ears.

Sighing Catherine squeezed his hands “Devin saw only what he thought he saw, Vincent. And Elliot lied. What you over heard that night were lies, all of them lies! Elliot believes the misguided notion that I love him…I don’t! I love only you, Vincent. Only you.”

For long moments Vincent held her in his gaze, as if doing so could see right into her mind as if her heart and their connection wasn’t enough. His over riding doubt being that with Elliot she would have everything that she had been destined for, and never quite believing that she had chosen to be with him in the face of that.

“Please, Vincent. Believe me. I despise Elliot for what he did, and what he continues to do. He has come between us, and if you continue to disbelieve me then he has won. Can’t you see that’s what he wants?”

“And you’d go to him if I should free you?” After the show they had put on for his benefit Vincent had drawn that conclusion.

“No! Vincent…no!” Fresh tears gathered in Catherine’s eyes, “that’s not what I want at all. You know that! Vincent, we have a life, you and me, here in these tunnels you and me and our child, we have a life to live as a family. Elliot has nothing to do with that!”

“Catherine, we made love only the once without contraception, and then there are my differences…”

“…What are you saying Vincent? That this child isn’t yours?”

Vincent shrugged, letting her see by his silence that was exactly what he thought, though his eventual reply made it plain, “I don’t l know if I could live with a constant reminder of Elliot’s child living with us. Even though you and I will be together, his offspring would be a continuous thorn in my side."

”You want me to go?” Catherine’s tone was flat, broken.

She was surprised to see him nod, “I think it would be best. Catherine…” he pulled his hands from hers, coming to his feet, beginning to pace the floor, “We deluded ourselves Catherine. Don’t you see? We thought we could live the dream…but you’re carrying another man’s child ruined all of that…”

“It’s yours!”

Vincent looked at her steadily, his eyes filled with sorrow, “It won’t be. It can’t be. Catherine accept it, as much as you or I would love to believe it, this child will not be mine!” His words finished on a sob, “You must go Catherine, leave me. You must live the life that you were born for.”

“And if that was to be with you?”

“Then only time will tell. A separation will do us good. In four years we have spent as much time together as possible, yet that time has been filled with risks and impossibilities and wonderful moments, but in all of it neither of us have had the time to stop and catch our breath. A separation would be good for both of us, Catherine.”

“No…Vincent…No…”

“It would, Catherine. And I for one could certainly do with the break.” Though his words were gallant, Catherine saw that he could not meet her eyes when he uttered them.

“Where would I go?” That was the next question, without the apartment she had no other home to go to.

“You have the money to buy yourself somewhere.”

Unable to believe that they were having this conversation, Catherine went on, “And what happens when the baby arrives, and he is born with blue eyes, claws and fangs…what then?” She didn’t mean it to come out the way it sounded, and it broke her heart when Vincent flinched.

Still he remained aloof refusing to be baited, “the child will be born with blue eyes for a certainty, Catherine. Elliot has blue eyes does he not? I hardly think you need worry about those… other… things.”

“Vincent…what does it take to convince you! This child is yours. We created it with our love on the day that we were married.”

“On the day that you ran off to rescue Elliot Burch.” He added sadly.

Sadly Catherine shook her head. They were going nowhere. When it had seemed as though everything was almost back to normal, it had been snatched cruelly away from her. Perhaps a separation would be good for them, though where she would go beat her. Maybe Nancy…or Jenny…

“I’ll pack my things…” Catherine rose from her chair, hopeful at the last that he might stop her. He didn’t, he watched her get up, walk across the worn carpet and exited his chamber. He watched with his heart breaking and breaking again as he heard her sob, “I will always love you, Vincent.”

Months went by, with many days much the same for Vincent. An all pervading emptiness filled his heart that would never ease, and the tunnel folk, now that they had been told the full story could neither make him smile, or make him change his mind that Catherine belonged with him.
Mouse, bless him, and Jamie had kept tabs on her, and gleefully reported back on a regular basis, that Catherine, was not living with Elliot Burch. Neither was she living with Nancy or Jenny, though she had stayed with both for a time. Catherine had, in actual fact, rented a brownstone in the village, and went about her daily life with the same hollow existence as Vincent.
Even so, Vincent believed that once the baby was born, Catherine would see that she needed to be with Elliot, and in actual fact Elliot would insist upon it.

“What if, she gave the child up to its father Vincent, what then?” Father asked one evening as they were discussing the fact that Catherine’s time was growing near.

“I can’t imagine Catherine doing that.” Vincent replied, “I know how her heart has craved a child.”

“But if she loves you, and the child is a constant reminder to you of Elliot, then maybe she would make that sacrifice.”

“A sacrifice I would never allow!” Vincent was adamant on that.

“And if the child does turn out to be yours…what then?” This was the one thing that grieved Father. If the child were Vincent’s then they would never forgive themselves for the joy they had lost in watching the child grow beneath Catherine’s heart nor for the fact that they hadn’t intervened when Vincent had sent her away.

“It won’t be.”

“You say that with such determination. Yet the impossibility of that fact has never been assessed. Vincent, you could be fertile. Have you not stopped to consider this?”

“Of course I have considered it! But it would be impossible with Catherine. Father don’t you see that?”

“In all honesty Vincent, no I don’t. You tell me that you took the risk once, a risk that you took unknowingly, that is unimagined at the time, until Devin, bless him, reminded you of it. And from then on you ensured the impossibility. You forget I examined her, Vincent. I examined Catherine, and her trimester could so easily have pointed to your wedding night.”

“And just as easily pointed to her time in Brazil! Besides everyone is forgetting that Catherine’s menstruation appeared after the risk that we took.” Vincent flared his breathing rapid. “Forget it Father, whatever you say, whatever you believe will not alter things as they are. Catherine had relations with him, with Elliot Burch! And without contraception why do you overlook that fact!”

Father scratched his chin thoughtfully, as something rankled in his mind. Could it be that none of this had anything to do with whose the baby was? Could it be that this separation between his son and Catherine had nothing to do with all the unrest and doubting that had gone before? Rather could it be that the main cause of Vincent’s anger was the fact that Elliot had had intercourse with Catherine? Was that it? Could Vincent not bare to touch her, could not bare the thought of making love to her ever again knowing that Elliot had soiled her for him? If that was so then it answered a lot of questions, and posed a very difficult problem to break.
Father had read of such things. Some husbands, unable to deal with the rape of their wives, secretly harboured this feeling of filth that prevented them from having a normal relationship with their partner ever again. As much as they might love their wife, as much as she suffered, so they suffered too. Many times the suffering of the partner was overlooked…and….Father just thought of something else….”You blame yourself don’t you?” He asked incredulous that he had not thought of it before.

“You blame yourself. Had Catherine of been the victim of rape here in New York, you might have prevented it. But there, so far away, with a man you had come to trust, you could not protect her when she needed you the most.”

Vincent covered his ears with his hands, unwilling to have the words that had been buried deep within his heart brought to the surface. This was something that had rankled him for weeks, dismissing it almost as soon as it rose to haunt him. Yes he blamed himself, but it was more than that. He blamed himself for allowing Catherine to go to Brazil in the first place. Had he of been of like mind as Devin, Father and Peter had been on that day, then none of this would ever have happened, even if Catherine had resented him for a while at preventing her from going. Even that would have been preferable to what they had between them now.

“I trusted him.” Vincent spoke flatly, “Oh I know that he will always carry a torch for Catherine, but I trusted that he would never hurt her, and certainly not in that way. How could he Father? How could he betray us both like that?”

“His betrayal is immaterial now Vincent. Your duty from this moment on is not to dwell on the workings of Elliot Burch. Did Devin not inform us in his recent letter that being in that situation had rendered Elliot quite mad? He noticed that the man did and said things that were totally out of character for him, and very reminiscent of one bordering on insanity. Therefore, your duty is not to dwell on the actions of an unstable man Vincent, but get yourself above the moment it is dark and bring Catherine back with you. You have done her enough injustice. We all have.”

Vincent shook his head, his eyes pained, “No. Father, don’t you see? For the first time since I have known her, Catherine is free of me. It’s been hard for her, I know that, but lately I have felt an almost palpable relief coming via our connection. I, on the other hand will always miss her, but I believe that setting her free was the right thing to do, and then of course there is the fact of Elliot’s child.”

Father sighed heavily, they were back to that were they? When would Vincent ever believe that there was a greater possibility of the child being his? Perhaps not until it were born…and then even so…Vincent could very well blinker his eyes to what was right before him. If the child bore no resemblance to his son, then Catherine could well continue you live her life free of him…free to live without the man that could not walk with her and their child out in the sunshine.
It was all so tragic…and Father despaired that there would ever be an answer to the problem.

“There’s no time…” Catherine panted, “Almost here…”

“Oh Jeez girl you certainly know when to call me…I thought that invitation to tea was genuine…how could you dump this on me…its not as if…”

“Quit whining Jenny…and take a look at the other end…” Catherine grimaced as another contraction hit her. Probably this would all be rather funny in months to come, maybe even tomorrow. But Jenny bless her, was doing a great job, and in the absence of an ambulance too.

“I can see the head!” Jenny screeched, grabbing the telephone receiver as she continued the call she had made to St. Vincent’s. “What do I do now…tell me…tell me…”

A voice calm enough to quieten her spoke precisely, telling Jenny what must next be done, along with the apology, “The ambulance will be there as soon as possible…I’m afraid there has been a RTA that is causing the delay on the route to your house.”

Jenny mumbled something incoherent, her attention diverted on the fact that Catherine’s baby was being born right before her eyes!

“It’s here! It’s here! The baby is here!” She cried dropping the receiver, snatching it up and dropping it again as she panicked not quite knowing what to do next. But Catherine, it seemed knew all about it. With quiet admiration Jenny watched as Catherine leaned forward picked the baby up into her arms, and after a quick examination of counting fingers and toes wrapped the child in a clean white cloth put to the side of her for that very purpose.

“If I hadn’t of seen that with my own eyes, I’d have never have believed it! Catherine just how many babies have you delivered?”

Through her tears Catherine smiled, her reply coming out on a sob, “None, but I’ve watched a lot of video’s recently.”

“Well you’re a natural gel, you should become a midwife. So come on then let’s take a peek.” Jenny stepped toward the bundle enfolded in Catherine’s arms, even as she suddenly became aware of a siren blasting two stories below them in the street outside. “Here come the cavalry…just like those movies one watches, always in the nick of time…except they missed the best bit. Oh Catherine, he’s gorgeous.”

“Allow me to introduce you, Dad. This is Sophia, my wife, and her family” Devin laughed at the look that passed over his father’s face and was quick to reassure him, “that is her brothers and sisters, not her children!”

Vincent laughed, he too had begun to assume the worst from Devin’s introductions. He couldn’t quite imagine Devin playing step dad to around a dozen children, even though Sophia didn’t look anywhere old enough to have borne them all.

“Come, all of you.” Father’s voice was choked with emotion, “You must tell me how this momentous event occurred.”