Beauty and the Beast (34 page)

Vincent smiled as he replied, “Actually, no, I’ve been a little distracted.”

Joe chuckled, “I can’t imagine why! I met Peter out in the hallway when I got off the elevator, and he told me that you ended up here, like we all figured you would, last night. I am so happy for you, Vincent!”

Vincent nodded, “Thank you, Joe. No words can describe how wonderful it feels to have my bond with Catherine restored. It is a feeling beyond joy!”

Diana came back into the room, and the electricity between her and Joe was tangible, but they both avoided looking at one another. Vincent smiled and shook his head. Diana looked at Vincent as she blushed again. “I just gave Susan the list, and she is going shopping right now.” Then she finally looked at Joe and asked, “What is going on with your criminal roundup, Joe?”

Joe glanced at Diana, and then he looked at Vincent as he answered her question. “The FBI helped us to move quickly with arrests and indictments of everyone working for Adrian. We have raided and shut down every illegal business on the list. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Adrian Vlas, Jonathan Pope, Steve Palmer, and several of Adrian’s hit-men are missing. With all of his offshore accounts, the FBI’s theory is that he has probably escaped the country, and he is living high and causing trouble somewhere else by now.” Joe finally looked straight at Diana. “Until we know for sure, though, it still isn’t safe for you in the city, Diana. Adrian was bent on revenge. I’m not convinced he is really gone yet.”

Diana met Joe’s eyes for a brief moment, and then she looked at the floor. “Oh, stop worrying, Joe! I’m not going to wait until you are gone, and then escape out the door into the city!”

Joe was firm. “Please see that you don’t, Diana! If you do, I swear 111 paddle you!”

Diana couldn’t help giggling, and then a smart-Alec retort escaped before she could stop it, “Promise?” Diana couldn’t believe she had actually said that. She turned red as a beet and practically ran out the door.

Joe stared after Diana, and then he turned to Vincent. “Did she really just say that?”

Vincent chuckled, “She really did!” Vincent was amused to see a far-off smitten look come over Joe as he wandered out the door without another word.

After Joe and Diana left the room, Mary came in with Little Jacob. She asked Vincent, “Are you ready for a nursing lesson, Vincent?”

Vincent looked overjoyed. “Nothing would make me happier, Mary.” Vincent took Little Jacob from Mary and gazed down into his bright and alert little face as he said, “You kept Mommy’s secret too, didn’t you?” The baby smiled up at his father.

Mary ran the bed up to a sitting position, and then she took Little Jacob from Vincent. Vincent settled on the bed with Catherine cradled in his arms, and then Mary showed him how to help Little Jacob to nurse from Catherine. It gave Vincent a profound sense of peace and satisfaction to know that Little Jacob was being nourished by his own mother’s milk.

Mary sat down in the rocking chair next to the bed, and while Little Jacob was nursing, Vincent talked to her. “It looks to me like you have taken steps to correct that ‘terrible mistake’ you told me about a couple of months ago. You and Father looked very happy together, and I was so glad to see that.”

Mary smiled at Vincent. “Yes, I finally decided to tell Father how I felt. Vincent, he was overjoyed to know! He told me that he had just thought that I wasn’t interested in him that way. We have wasted so much time!”

Vincent shook his head. “Then your time together now will be that much sweeter. Have you noticed the avoidance dance that Joe and Diana are doing?”

Mary giggled, “The entire community is talking about those two. They really are confused, aren’t they? Neither one of them seems to have a clue how the other one feels.

It looks like Father and I all over again, only funnier!” Vincent chuckled, “It really is funny! That all started

when they came out of Gabriel’s mansion, after we retrieved Dr. Vlas’journals and the videotapes. I don’t know what happened in there, but they are head-over-heels in love with each other now. Something has them stuck in reverse, though. I think I might just have to step in and do some interfering.”

Mary laughed, “Please do, Vincent. It is almost painful to watch them!”

The next morning, when Diana returned to Catherine’s room with the toiletries, Vincent surveyed the products, and then he gave her a look of dismay. “I don’t know what to do with most of this! I have seen the women of our community going into the pool chambers and our bathrooms looking like street urchins after an hard day’s work, and afterward, they magically reappear looking like angels. I’ve always wondered how they could transform that way.”

Diana laughed at his bewildered look. “You didn’t think I was going to leave a big Monster like you alone with her and all of this stuff did you? There’s no telling what she would end up looking like!”

Vincent looked vastly relieved as he chuckled. “Well then, little Brat, show me!”

Vincent was fascinated by Diana’s help with Catherine’s feminine grooming. They bathed Catherine and shampooed and conditioned her hair, and Diana taught a delighted Vincent other mysterious female grooming tasks. Diana also showed Vincent how to blow-dry her hair and style it simply. Catherine was then creamed, perfumed, and dressed in a fresh nightgown. When Vincent had carried Catherine back to her freshly made bed, Diana asked him, “There, is that better?”

Vincent sat on the edge of Catherine’s bed and closed his eyes, as he breathed in her scent deeply. “Oh, yes, so much better! Thank you, Diana. Life is really complicated for you women, isn’t it?”

Diana laughed, “Yes, but it is so very worth it to see the effect our efforts have on our men.” Diana shook her head. “You really are an unusual man, Vincent!”

Vincent looked at her and asked, “Why is that, Diana?” Diana giggled at him. “Most men are only interested in the results, not in how those results are achieved.”

Vincent smiled at her. “When Catherine wakes up, I don’t want her to feel neglected. She always took the time to look and smell the way she did. It is a small thing for me to take care of that for her while she can’t do it for herself.”

Diana smiled at him, and then she changed the subject. “I feel like a bird beating its wings against a cage. Thank goodness I don’t sleepwalk, or I would be out in the city every night. I sure wish Joe could catch Adrian!” Vincent understood her restlessness, because he had felt that throughout his life. “Diana, why don’t you go below, and visit the Waterfall Cavern? That always helps me when I feel trapped.”

Diana nodded, “Oh that is such a good idea, Vincent.

I think 111 do just that right now. That should help me to settle down.” She left Catherine’s room then and headed for the tunnels.

Later in the day, ten-year-old Eric knocked softly on the door, and Vincent looked up from eating another delicious meal William had sent to him. Vincent smiled at the boy. “Come in, Eric! What brings you all the way here?” Then he saw the book under Eric’s arm, and he chuckled, “As if I need to ask! Did you want to read to Catherine?”

Eric was tall for his age and slender, with straight blond hair and huge grey eyes, which looked even bigger behind the thick lenses of the glasses he wore. He broke into an happy grin and nodded. “Cathy saved my life when she rescued Ellie and me from that horrible Ridley Foster Home. Father told us that it would be better if we didn’t come here until you found Cathy, but now I want to do something for her. Tony told me that Cathy had told him that her father used to read Rudyard Kipling’s stories to her when she was a little girl. So, I brought The Jungle Book to read to her. I thought I could read a little of it every afternoon to her.”

Vincent remembered how Eric had not been frightened by his appearance when Catherine had brought the child to him for protection, and he was warmed by Eric’s thoughtfulness now. “I know that Catherine will really

enjoy having you read to her. Even if she doesn’t seem to hear it, her subconscious mind and her heart will hear it. Thank you, Eric.”

Eric added, “Vincent, Tony asked me to tell you that he and Jamie have gone together to the Crystal Cavern to get the things you left there.”

Vincent smiled, “That was thoughtful of them. Thank you for telling me, Eric.”

Eric settled on the rocking chair by Catherine’s bed. Then he opened the book and began reading to her. It brought tears to Vincent’s eyes to see how much unselfish love Catherine had inspired in everyone.

Vincent had finished eating and brushing his teeth, and Eric had just finished reading to Catherine, and he was going out the door when Joe stepped in. Vincent looked at Joe in surprise. “You are back! Has there been some new development in Adrian’s case?”

Joe smiled and shook his head. “No, I’m just worried about Diana. I wanted to make sure that she doesn’t decide to go traipsing around the city yet.”

Vincent chuckled, “Don’t worry, Joe, although I’m sure you will anyway. She does have cabin-fever, so I sent her below to the Waterfall Cavern. I think that should calm her down. She doesn’t have a lot to occupy that active mind of hers since she and Father finished translating Gabriel’s notebook. I know that she won’t go running off up top, though.”

Joe still looked worried. “I really hope you’re right,

Vincent. I can’t tell you how much is scares me not knowing where Adrian is.”

Vincent decided this was as good a time as any to “interfere” in Joe’s and Diana’s stalled love life. So, he changed the subject. “You know, Joe, for two law enforcement professionals trained to study and profile people, you and Diana are amazingly obtuse about each other.”

Joe was startled out of his train-of-thought. “What do you mean, Vincent?”

Vincent answered him. “She is in love with you.”

Joe looked confused. “Who is in love with me?” Vincent chuckled at Joe’s clueless look. “Diana is!”

Joe wrinkled his forehead and objected. “I know who she’s in love with, and it isn’t me!”

Vincent suddenly realized what was going on with Joe and Diana. He remembered Diana’s comment that Joe loved Catherine too when she had asked for permission to bring Joe to the tunnels. “You think Diana is in love with me, don’t you?”

Joe nodded his head emphatically. “I think it’s very obvious she is. Of course, she would never act on that feeling, because you are married to Cathy.”

Vincent couldn’t help laughing. He shook his head and sat down at the table, and Joe gave him a completely bewildered look as he sat down too. Then Vincent said, still chuckling, “She loves me all right, and I love her. Our pet names for each other are ‘Monster’ and ‘Brat.’ I don’t

think you even need to guess which name belongs to whom! Now, does that sound like a romantic relationship to you?”

Joe was shaking his head. “Hardly! That sounds like a bullying over-protective big brother and his obnoxious feisty baby sister.” Realization dawned on Joe’s face, and he chuckled as he continued, “And all of the playful banter that involves!”

Vincent nodded his head. “I rest my case. You think Diana is in love with me. She thinks that you are in love with Catherine. But I see the way you two look at each other whenever you each think the other won’t notice.”

Joe shook his head and frowned. “Diana tried to tell me that I was in love with Cathy once before, and she wouldn’t believe me when I told her we were just great friends! I love Cathy, but I’m not in love with her. What makes her think that I love Cathy as more than that?” Vincent explained to Joe his observation of the situation. “Diana is a special crimes investigator, Joe.

Her world involves looking at evil people and events outside of herself. She then must carefully protect herself from the horrors she discovers. She is asleep to the feelings you have for her, and can only see your friendship with Catherine, which has become exaggerated in her mind. If you don’t wake her up, someone else will, and you will lose her.”

Joe felt his heart soar. “Thank you, Vincent. By the way, what made you decide to tell me this?”

Vincent told him, “Two people I love nearly lost each other because of perceived misconceptions about their relationships with each other and those around them.

They have lost a lot of precious time with one another as a result of that, and I didn’t want to see that happen to you and Diana.”

Joe smiled and asked, “Are you talking about Father and Mary? They sure are happy together lately!”

Vincent nodded, “Yes, Mary has been in love with Father for years, but she stayed silent and almost waited too long to tell him. In the beginning, there were his unresolved feelings for his first wife, Margaret, standing in the way. Father had come to the tunnels heartbroken when he was blacklisted above by the medical establishment, and his father-in-law even had his marriage to Margaret annulled. Then Margaret found him and came below when she was dying of pancreatic cancer. Father was able to spend the last seven days of Margaret’s life reunited with her, and that made him very happy, although it was sad to have so little time with her.

“When Father was finally beyond his grief, Mary still stayed silent about her feelings for him; because she thought that it was somehow selfish to want Father for herself in a marriage relationship. Then a woman,

Jessica, who had once lived in the tunnels and had been close friends with Father, came back into his life. She and Father fell in love, and Mary came to me devastated, because she had also convinced herself that Father could never fall in love with anyone after Margaret. She admitted to me that she had made a terrible mistake by not telling Father how she felt about him. As it turned out, Father couldn’t bear to leave the tunnel community he had founded to go above, and Jessica couldn’t bear to leave her career as a world-renowned photographer and come back below. Each wanted the other to be happy, so the two didn’t pursue that relationship any further. Mary has now corrected her mistake, and she and Father are very happy at last.”