Catherine smiled at Narcissa, who hugged her. “Narcissa, when you saved Vincent, you saved me too! Thank you!”
Narcissa smiled warmly at Catherine. “Vincent saved all of us, child. Paracelsus would have destroyed our world if it had not been for Vincent.”
Catherine said to the elderly woman, “This is so far away from your tunnels, Narcissa. It must have been difficult for you to make such a trip to help me.”
Narcissa patted Catherine’s cheek softly. “Not so far! You are Vincent’s whole world, and we all love you. Besides, these Tandin tunnels are full of many wonderful new places to explore!” Catherine giggled at Narcissa’s joyous enthusiasm.
When Narcissa left the bed, Catherine took Vincent’s hand and put it to her cheek, “Oh, Vincent, your poor parents!”
Vincent smiled at her. “Catherine, I have a message from them for you.”
Catherine looked at him in surprise. “You have a message for me from your parents? How did that happen?”
Vincent responded, “While I was in your nightmare world trying to awaken you, I had an heart attack.” Catherine’s eye became huge with worry. “Don’t worry, Catherine, the damage has been repaired, and my heart is perfectly sound now.” Catherine was visibly relieved. “Anyway, when I had the heart attack, my parents appeared to me. They told me that it wasn’t time for me to go with them yet. They also told me that they had been watching over me and my twin sister, Elisia, ever since we were separated when they were killed. Then, they told me to tell you how much they love you.”
Tears sprang to Catherine’s eyes as she said, “Oh, Vincent, I love them too. They sacrificed their lives to save yours!” Then, she looked at him in astonishment as another detail of what she was being told came to mind.
“You have a twin sister?”
Elisia then stepped to Catherine’s side of the bed. She sat on the edge of it beside Catherine, and the two women hugged. “I’m Elisia, Catherine, and I am thrilled to finally see you awake!”
Catherine was overjoyed. “Oh, Elisia, you are so beautiful! I have this really strange feeling that I know you somehow.”
Vincent explained, “Catherine, Elisia and my people are telepaths.”
Catherine nodded, “I remember you told me that in the nightmare world.”
Then Vincent continued, “Elisia was the one who supported your mind when you came to me and pulled me out of the hallucination I was having from Paracelsus’ drug.” A look of realization came over Catherine’s face, and she smiled at Elisia. Then Vincent told her, “Do you remember when you entered my mind in the cave the second time Paracelsus attacked me with his vicious lies?” Catherine looked at Vincent in surprise. “Yes,
Vincent, I remember that vividly. I’ve never been more frightened in my life! Your vital signs had ceased completely, and I was afraid that you were dead. I never could figure out how I managed to go into your mind that way. It was as if some powerful outside force took me in there to you. Do you also remember that?”
Vincent chuckled, “I do now. I remember everything now. Anyway, Elisia was that powerful force who helped you to connect with me telepathically, so you could pull me back from death.”
Catherine had tears of gratitude streaming down her cheeks now, and she hugged Elisia tightly. “Oh, Elisia, thank you so much! Vincent is my life! I couldn’t bear to have him leave this world without me.”
Elisia hugged her back. “Thank you for loving and saving my brother, Catherine. His happiness with you is an inspiration to us all.”
Catherine looked at Elisia as another memory came to her. “Elisia, at one time, I had a stalker who nearly drowned me in the trunk of his car by pushing it into a lake. As I was dying, I saw my parents, but before I could reach them, Vincent caught me, picked me up, and carried me back to consciousness. Did you help him do that?” Vincent closed his eyes at the terrifying memory of nearly losing Catherine that time to her obsessed stalker.
Elisia smiled softly. “Catherine, Vincent was so desperate to save you, I think that he probably could have managed that feat on his own, but I did give him just a little boost of support.”
Catherine hugged Elisia again. “Thank you, Elisia. Neither one of us would be alive today if it weren’t for you!” Elisia stood up to give the others a chance to reunite with Catherine.
Catherine smiled and looked at Joe again as she asked, “Who is your little friend, Joe?” Joe had his arm tightly around Diana, and he turned his head to look
down at Diana, but before he could answer Catherine’s question, Catherine cried out in alarm, “Joe, you have been hurt!” She had caught sight of the bandage on the back of his head when he looked at Diana. “How did that happen?”
Joe tried to dismiss it. “Oh, that’s nothing more than a boo-boo! I hit my head traveling between worlds.”
Catherine looked sternly at him. “That’s a very pretty lie! What really happened? I can see now that your lovely little friend has done a masterful job trying to cover up some painful looking bruises, and I know very well that you didn’t give those to her!”
Tanimus decided that Catherine wasn’t going to let anyone sugar-coat events for her, so he decided to explain. “Catherine, we had a conflict, the last one we will ever have, with Adrian on our way to bring you here to our world. Joe was knocked out and Diana was chloroformed in the process. Adrian was particularly angry with Diana, because she was the one who rescued Vincent and Little Jacob from Gabriel after he had imprisoned them in his Staten Island mansion. She then shot his brother,
Gabriel, to death there. We now have Adrian and his men in custody in our world, and they will never be allowed to harm anyone ever again.”
Catherine reached for Diana, and she sat on the bed this time beside Catherine. Catherine hugged her tightly as well. “Diana, how can I ever thank you for saving my husband and my baby?”
Diana replied, “Believe me, Catherine, I have been rewarded many times over by the wonderful changes that have occurred in my life as a result of being associated with Father’s world.”
Catherine smiled at her. “I can clearly see why Joe loves you!”
Diana smiled back at her. “I love him very much too!” Catherine looked up at Joe as she said, “He deserves the love of a really good woman, Diana.”
Vincent spoke up and told Catherine, “Rescuing Little Jacob and me from Gabriel’s mansion wasn’t the first time Diana saved my life, Catherine. Gabriel tried to kill me twice before that. The second time, I ended up badly injured, and Diana found me on your grave. She took me to her home and nursed me for three days, and then she kept the secret of the tunnels and my existence at the peril of losing her job.”
Catherine asked, “What is your job, Diana?”
Joe spoke up and answered Catherine. “Diana is a Unit 210 Special Crimes investigator with the police department. Her profiling skills were what saved Vincent and Little Jacob. I had assigned her to investigate your death, and I really gave her a tough time when she clammed up and withheld information from me, because she was trying to protect Vincent and Father’s world.
When she discovered the existence of Gabriel’s older brother, Adrian, and found information about Vincent’s people, the Tandins, she received permission from the
Council to bring me into Father’s world to help.” Diana stood up and Joe tucked her back in his arm again.
Catherine then looked at Vincent. His account of Diana finding him on her grave caused another realization to come to her. “Vincent, you didn’t know that I wasn’t in my grave, either, did you?”
Vincent shook his head sadly. “No, Catherine, when you lost consciousness on the roof of the old Battery Arms building, I thought that you had died. I carried you back to your apartment, stayed with you the rest of the night, and then I called Dr. Marx to collect your body. My empathic connection to you was still broken, and I hadn’t slept properly for months while I was trying to find you.
My senses were so impaired that I didn’t dete
ct that your vital signs had only slowed down, not stopped.”
Father then stepped forward, took Catherine’s hand, and bent over and kissed her. “Catherine, David Marx did realize that you were alive, and he managed to hide that fact from everyone who had arrived to investigate your death. He sent word to me with Tony, and we then took you to the hospital wing of Peter’s home.” Peter came to Catherine and gave her an hug. Then Father continued. “Tony had stowed away in the coroner’s van after reading David’s note, and he insisted that he needed to help us with you. We didn’t want Vincent finding out that you were actually alive until his empathic connection to you was repaired so that he found you on his own. We were afraid that if we told him you were alive when we found you, he would be so frantic to save you that it would slow down the repair of his connection with you. So, then Tony used a new code that Pascal worked out on the pipes to keep track of Vincent for us in the tunnels, so he wouldn’t find out prematurely that you were alive.”
Catherine looked all around for Tony. “Is Tony here too?”
Tony stepped forward from the back of the group and smiled at her, “Hey, Lady! I told you that I owed you, and that a Gypsy never forgets!”
Catherine giggled at him. “Come here, you Gypsy imp!” He walked to the bedside, and they hugged each other. She kissed him on the cheek. Then she caught sight of Pascal, and she shook her head. “How on earth did they convince you to leave your pipe-monitoring chamber, Pascal?”
Pascal chuckled as he hugged her, “Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss helping to wake you up for all of the pipes in all of the tunnels in the world!”
Catherine giggled, “But you miss them, don’t you?” Pascal was still smiling as he nodded. Then, Catherine saw Rolley, and she smiled at him with pure joy. “Rolley, you decided to come home!”
Rolley smiled shyly as he received his warm hug from Catherine, “Yes, after you were taken, I got myself shot trying to rob a liquor store for drug money. Father and Vincent saved my life. Then, I got myself clean, and I stayed below.”
Vincent spoke up. “Rolley has been serenading you every night on the piano since you were taken to Peter’s home.”
Catherine smiled at Rolley. “Thank you, Rolley! I remember hearing your music in that terrible nightmare I was in. It helped me to keep hanging on in there. I am so glad that I am awake now to hear you play. Vincent had told me wonderful stories about your gift when you were brought into the tunnels as a child.”
Vincent spoke again. “Rolley has a duet partner now. Uncle Tanimus’ grandniece, Chrystal, is also a savant pianist.”
Chrystal peeked out from behind Rolley, and Catherine giggled with delight at the tall Tandin girl. “Oh, Chrystal, you are so pretty! Come here and let me see you.”
Chrystal approached the bed and sat down beside Catherine. Catherine hugged her and asked, “How old are you, Chrystal?”
Chrystal smiled at her. “I’m twelve, Catherine.” Catherine was surprised. “My goodness, you are tall for your age! So, you are enjoying playing duets with Rolley?”
Chrystal lit up with pleasure. “Oh, he is so very good on the piano. It is a lot of fun to play duets with him. I love it!”
After Chrystal went back to Rolley, Catherine saw Isaac, and she shook her head and laughed as Isaac came to her and hugged her. “Things sure have changed a lot since I’ve been asleep! How did you end up in the tunnels, Isaac?”
Isaac laughed and said, “Well, Father and Diana came to me to hire me as a bodyguard for you after Diana discovered that Gabriel had an older brother. I was overjoyed to find out that they didn’t need for me to stake out the graveyard and nab grave robbers!” Everyone laughed with him, and he went on. “I can’t tell you how much joy it gave me to know that you weren’t in your grave!” Catherine laughed as Isaac made room for the others to get to Catherine.
When Catherine saw Devin with his arms wrapped around Elisia, she lit up. “Well, Devin, I see you finally found what you were wandering all around the world looking for!”
Devin laughed as he released Elisia and came to Catherine to hug her. “Yep, I just had to come home to find her!”
Then Catherine looked at Charles with surprised joy. “Charles, is that really you?” Charles grinned and nodded as she exclaimed, “Tell me how!”
Charles came and hugged Catherine very gently, and then he said, “Dev found a research hospital in Sweden where they were doing experimental surgeries on people with neurofibromatosis. They fixed me!”
Catherine held Charles’ hand as she said, “They certainly did! You are such an handsome man, Charles. Lots of women are going to be fighting over you!” Charles
chuckled with pleasure at the compliment.
Mary, Susan, Laura, Jerry, Mouse, Brooke, Rebecca, and Sarah all took turns getting hugs from Catherine as Vincent explained all of the things each of them had done to help take care of her and Little Jacob as well as distract Vincent in the tunnels, while his empathic connection with Catherine was healing.
The last of Father’s people to come and hug Catherine was Jamie. As she left the shadow of a giant Tandin man, Catherine noticed that his eyes followed Jamie with unabashed adoration, and she smiled. When Catherine hugged Jamie, she asked her, “Who is your very large bodyguard, Jamie?”
Jamie looked back at Dresden and giggled, “Who? You mean that big teasing Brute over there?” Dresden’s eyes twinkled at the genuine affection in Jamie’s voice. Jamie motioned for him to come to her, and she introduced him to Catherine. “Catherine, this is Vincent’s and Elisia’s cousin, Dresden, Tanimus’ son.”
Dresden bent over and kissed Catherine on the cheek, and she giggled as she put Jamie’s little hand into his enormous one. “Here, big guy, you can have her back now!”
Dresden chuckled, bowed, and said, “Thank you, Catherine; this little Princess is just what I have always wanted!” Jamie shook her head and giggled as she let Dresden lead her away from the bed.
Tanimus then introduced Catherine to the rest of
Vincent’s biological family who had helped to wake her up. “Catherine, this is Chrystal’s father, my nephew, Tucker.” Tucker hugged a still smiling Catherine. “This is my sister, Marina, and her husband, Michael, who are Tucker’s parents and Chrystal’s grandparents.” They, too, embraced Catherine.
When Tanimus brought Letha to Catherine, she sat on the edge of the bed with Catherine and hugged her tightly. Tanimus said, “This is my wife, Letha. She is the identical twin sister of Vincent’s and Elisia’s mother, Loren.”
Catherine had tears running down her cheeks again as she said, “You are beautiful, Aunt Letha! It must have been hard for you to lose your twin to such violence from the world above.”
Letha answered her. “It was then, but I am ecstatically happy now to see Vincent so happy, loved, and well. You have helped to keep him safe, and I adore you for what you have done for him!”
Catherine smiled happily. “Vincent has done far more for me! Words alone can’t express what he means to me and how much I love him.”
Then Letha introduced Catherine to Vincent’s four grandparents, her parents, Porter and Doreen, and Tanimus’ parents, Vernal and Kaitlin, and she was overjoyed to get hugs from them. Last of all, she met and hugged Tanimus’ and Letha’s son-in-law, Nolan.
After meeting everyone, while they were still waiting for Nina to arrive with Little Jacob, Catherine looked around
with curiosity at the chamber they were in. She exclaimed, “This is such a lovely and relaxing chamber! It smells so wonderful in here. What is that scent?”
Elisia answered her. “That is an aromatherapy blend we use specifically for the healing ceremonies. It is a combination of vanilla and lavender.”
Then Catherine asked about the ceremony. “So, all of you helped me to wake up?”
Vincent explained, “Yes, they formed a circle in the outer corridor of this room, and then my people used their telepathic abilities to link everyone’s minds, so that their
combined mental powers, together with their faith and love, would support me as I went into your mind to wake you up. It was an amazing experience!”
Peter then added, “Catherine, Tanimus told us when he and Elisia came to your room at my home, that the procedure couldn’t be adequately explained. He said that we would have to experience it before we could really understand it. He was right! Words just can’t properly describe what we felt. It was like a warm blanket of healing love enveloping us. It was too wonderful for words! I don’t think there was any doubt in anyone’s mind, once we were all linked, that Vincent would be able to wake you up. Our faith received a powerful boost with that link. With our combined minds, we were even able to repair the damage to Vincent’s heart when he had his heart attack.”
Catherine smiled, “Well, I am really grateful to all of
you for saving Vincent and helping him to get me out of that terrible nightmare!”
Catherine’s face suddenly lit up with pure joy as she looked toward the door, and everyone turned around to see what she was looking at. Nina had just walked in with Donner strapped to her in a baby pack and Little Jacob in his stroller. Nolan went quickly to his wife and took Donner out of the baby pack, and Nina took the pack off. Then, Nina bent over to get Little Jacob out of his stroller.
Vincent climbed off the bed and walked around it to go and get Little Jacob from Nina. He was halfway to Nina when he heard everyone gasp, and a couple of them cry out, “Catherine!” Vincent whirled around to see that Catherine had climbed off the bed, and her legs were crumpling under her. Everyone rushed toward her, but Vincent got there first. He caught her before she hit the floor, and he swept her up into his arms.
Vincent lay Catherine gently back on the bed, and she looked at her legs in consternation as she exclaimed, “Those aren’t my legs! They won’t do what I want them to!”
Vincent couldn’t help but smile, but then he said in a soothing tone, “Don’t worry Catherine, 111 help you teach them to behave again. Just be patient. Remember, you haven’t had any physical activity for months now.”
Beauty and the Beast Page 39