Journeys
Lynn
Chapter Three
Plans for Vincent’s adventure moved ahead, although there was a setback when Vincent learned about the meeting that had been held in his absence. He was angry with Devin not for the subject of the meeting so much as for the secrecy in which it was held. But Devin was equal to his little brother’s rage. Years of familiarity had told him what to do. If you could make Vincent laugh the battle was won. You hadn’t won the argument; he wouldn’t give up his position, but he couldn’t maintain his anger for long after that.
“Just you shut up about this, Vincent. So help me, if I was big enough I’d bust your kisser! Goddammit, you never do anything to protect yourself, and someone had to stop it since you’re too dumb to! These people have been using you unmercifully for years!”
Vincent’s reply was icily correct. 
“I’m
sure you thought you were helping. However, in the future, please
don’t help me so much. Tend your own garden, and leave my
weeds to my pulling, if you please!”
Devin looked at Vincent for a moment, speechless, then shook his head in disgust. “Jesus Christ, Vincent, you’re such a stuffed shirt! ‘Tend your own garden?’ What kind of half-assed way is that to be mad? For Chrissakes swear a little!”
That did it. Vincent’s angry face melted into a small smile, quickly stifled. They argued for a few minutes more, but the bite was out of Vincent’s anger, and they both knew it. The argument ended with Vincent’s admission that he was glad of the outcome of the meeting, although he wasn’t thrilled with the way it was done.
“The offered assistance will be very welcome to me, and I have to thank you for that.” There was a pause, then: “Devin, am I a stuffed shirt?”
***********
‘I…I’d like to surprise you, but I think you should know because you’re going to be apprehensive about this. Devin and I have already made some pretty detailed plans, and I guess it would be best if we let you in on them.” She looked a little wistful. “I wish we could have surprised you, though.”
“So, you have recruited Devin to help you with this project. And he undoubtedly has given you much good advice on how to handle me.” He smiled a little. “He has had some success in the past at that. I can’t think of anyone who knows me better, or has had more success at enlisting me in hare-brained schemes. I suppose one of the things he told you was that it must be a complete and detailed plan before you present it, if you’re to have any chance of success.”
Catherine’s eyes dropped from his. “Well…yes. He did tell me that.” She looked up again at him then, with serious purpose in her eyes. “I will do whatever it takes, Vincent, to get you to agree to my plan. Whatever it takes.”
Vincent shook his head. “Catherine, Catherine, this is not going to be an easy discussion. We are not agreed on any part of the subject.”
“Not true, not at all. We are agreed that if I can minimize all of the problems that you see, you will look at my plans with an open mind. That is what you agreed to, isn’t it?”
He smiled wryly, “Yes, counselor, I did agree to that.”
“All right. Now, Vincent, if you will sit down here,” She sat down at her dining table and indicated a chair across from her, and Vincent sat also. “…We can begin. First…we are going to Egypt….”
Vincent looked up quickly. “You’re joking, I presume.”
Catherine looked at him steadily
across the table. 
“No, I’m not joking. We are going to Egypt. We have an appointment
for a private viewing of the pyramids.” She struggled with herself
briefly to contain her bursting enthusiasm; she was determined to maintain
a businesslike attitude. Then with renewed purpose she continued.
“We can do it, Vincent, it is possible. The plans are all made.”
There was a pause, while he just looked at her, incredulous. When he spoke it was with an effort to maintain a serious manner. “I see. First, we go to Egypt. What is the second stop on your itinerary?”
“Akami National Wildlife Reserve in Zimbabwe. We have reserved a bush camp there for ten days.”
Vincent said nothing for a moment, looking down at his teacup; then, “Gods,” he said softly, “that would be…” A pause, then he raised his head with a jerk and shook it briefly. “Catherine…! Devin has always got some wild notion in his head, but it was unkind of him to draw you into a situation where you are hopeful that this can work.”
“It can work. I agree that Devin is…impulsive, but I am not Devin, and I am certain that this is a feasible plan. I have done extensive research on every facet of it, Vincent. Ask me anything. I can tell you.”
Vincent sat back, his hands flat on the table. “For pity’s sake, Catherine, think of what you’re proposing here. How do you intend to get us there? I don’t believe that American Airlines is the solution to our…unique problem.”
“I’ve got an airplane, a Lear jet, and Devin can fly it. Next question.”
“Passports?”
“I have a current passport. Devin has…several. You don’t need one, you are not going anywhere, officially.”
“And we are going to hope that no one notices me passing through the security gate?”
“We are very fortunate to have a Helper who has a part time job as airport baggage handler at Teeterboro. From 10 pm to 2 am, the very most convenient hours for us. You may be somewhat uncomfortable traveling as baggage, but only until you’re inside the airplane. Next question.”
They sat at the table for nearly two hours, while Vincent posed problems and Catherine solved them. At the end of that time, Vincent was not convinced entirely, but his conviction that it couldn’t happen was shaken.
“All right, I can’t think of any more questions at the moment.” He pushed his chair back from the table, and sat staring straight ahead of him for a few seconds. Then he got up and moved to the door, swinging his cloak around his shoulders.
Catherine came around the table quickly. “Vincent?”
“I just need some fresh air for a minute or two.” He touched her face briefly with the tips of his fingers and then turned to the French doors. He stepped out onto the balcony, and stood staring at New York spread out below him. Catherine followed him and stood beside him, her arms folded tightly, shivering in the autumn chill. Vincent sensed her chill, reached for her without looking away from the cityscape below, and pulled her into the shelter of his cloak. After a moment, he spoke softly.
“Africa? …Catherine, could it be possible? Could I go to Africa?”
“I believe you can, Vincent.”
“If such a thing were possible…” He stopped, unable to articulate his feelings. He turned, and took her into his embrace, holding her tightly against himself, her head tucked under his chin. He tried again to speak what was in his heart. “If this thing could happen, it would be…I can’t say it, I don’t know what words can express how…wonderful such a thing would be for me. Catherine, I’m afraid even to hope that it’s possible.”
“I believe that it’s possible. I believe that we will go to Africa, if you will allow it to happen. Oh, Vincent, let it happen to us, oh please…” She looked up at him with melting tenderness.
He looked down at her for a moment, and his head began to drop lower, his mouth moving closer to hers. Then he dropped his arms abruptly from their embrace and stepped back. He shook his head, as if to clear it of confusion. “I need to think, Catherine, and when I’m holding you…that is not possible. Come, let’s go inside where you’ll be warm.”
Vincent sat on the loveseat and Catherine knelt in front of the fire, warming her chilled hands. In a few moments she settled on the floor with her back against the opposite love seat. “What are you thinking, Vincent?”
He spoke thoughtfully, staring into the fire. “I’m enthralled with the possibilities of this thing, but I need to think about it seriously. I am aware that there is some risk, there always is. I can live with risk, but I need to assess more calmly just how great it is, and balance it against the gain.” He looked up at her then. “I want very much to do this. You have opened up an amazing world of opportunity here, things I never dreamed could happen to me. To see the sun rise over an African landscape…it’s unbelievable, impossible…but I see the prospect blossoming before me, and it’s so wonderful to envision that I…I don’t know how to keep a cool head.”
Catherine looked up at him, her face intent. “Vincent, trust in the future, in Devin, in…me. Trust that you deserve this, that the gods will not snatch it from you, that it will be all that you could hope for. I’m trusting like that. Every moment I’m saying to myself. “This will happen to Vincent, and I will be there with him, to see his happiness, to share his joy.”
He slid down to the floor and moved to put his arms around her and draw her close to his body. “I love you, I love you…” He began to kiss her, small kisses down the side of her face, and into that soft hollow just below her ear. “Catherine, you smell like heaven, like all the lovely, desirable things that ever were. I can’t, I can’t leave you alone.” He leaned back with his head against the loveseat and gazed at her, his eyes glowing blue in the dancing light of the fire.
Then he turned his eyes away from her, gazing into the flames. “I’m afraid that somehow the gods will let me choose this great adventure that you have planned, and then exact their price, and the price will be…that you will never be...mine.”
Catherine raised herself up straight with a jerk, chuckling and shaking her head. “Vincent, why, why would your darn worrisome mind make it an either/or proposition? Show a little trust, can’t you? Have a little faith in a benevolent fate?” She looked down at him where he still leaned against the loveseat, and her face softened. She raised her hand and her forefinger traced his upper lip lightly, lovingly. Her voice lowered to a half whisper. “Oh, my dearest one, please, have a little faith…”
He looked up at her silently for a moment. Then he said. “All right. I’ll go.”
********
Catherine went shopping.
“Well, Devin, he can’t wear tunnel clothes!” She was indignant when Devin laughed at her. “The whole idea is to make him as ordinary as possible if someone should see him from a distance. He’s got to wear jeans and T-shirts and regular boots, and a leather jacket, and they’ve got to be the best, the kind that a man traveling in a private jet would wear. What size do you think? I guessed 46 long for jackets, 17 ½-35 for shirts. What would you guess for jeans?”
Devin was highly amused. “You can’t wait to get him out of those heavy clothes, can you?”
She grinned, blushing a little. “Well…yes, that’s true. But you have to admit there’s a practical reason as well. Besides making him look more…usual, he’ll need lighter clothes. It’s going to be hot; it’s spring in southern Africa. I’ve been keeping track of temperatures in Zimbabwe; it’s going to be hot during the day, cooler at night. He’ll be glad to have some hot weather clothes, he’s never had to deal with much heat.”
“All right, all right, I’m convinced!” He was still laughing.
Catherine hesitated for a minute. “Devin, I have a question that’s a little embarrassing. Um…does he wear underwear?”
That put him into a stomach-clutching spasm. When he could talk again, he shook his head. “No, he doesn’t. He said he couldn’t see the sense of it when he was about fourteen, and he never wore it again. He’d wear it if he thought you expected him to though, and then Mary would have to deal with acquiring it. Just don’t mention it to him. It’ll be a lot easier for everyone.” He was still chuckling, but his curiosity and more importantly his real concern for both of them made him ask the question in his mind.
“Catherine, is Vincent still holding back from committing…everything to your relationship? If you think it’s none of my business, just shut me up, OK?
She smiled. “It is none of your business, but it’s all right, I’m glad you asked. I need to talk to you about it. The answer to your question is yes, he’s still holding back, but it’s getting harder for him all the time, and I think that his reasons are starting to look pretty thin to him.” She looked down at her hands. “To tell you the truth, I’m hoping that this trip will bring him to understand that…we belong together.”
“I’m certainly convinced that you do. I’m planning to stay out of your way just as much as I can, Cathy. The more time he has alone with you the more likely he is to give in, right? I can’t believe this state of affairs has gone on as long as it has. I don’t know how you can keep from killing him, he’s so stubborn!”
She smiled reminiscently. “Well,
he certainly does try my patience on occasion, but I love him, Devin.”
Then she turned back to the subject at hand. “I wasn’t sure quite
how to ask you to leave us alone. You’ve been such a rock through
this whole thing; it couldn’t have happened without you. After all
your help I didn’t want you to think we didn’t want you around, but I’m
so glad you understand. I think the more we can be alone together
on this trip, the better. Thanks for offering.”
********
When Vincent found that Catherine had bought him a complete travel wardrobe, he was disturbed. “My own clothes are quite adequate, no one will see me!”
“The trouble with your clothes is that they’re more than adequate. It will be hot in Southern Africa, it’s spring there, Vincent. You’ll have to have lighter clothes.”
“Oh. Of course. We’re going to the Southern Hemisphere! Catherine, this whole thing is beyond my grasp; I keep realizing new things, new wonders. We’re going to the Southern Hemisphere. That’s an amazing thing in itself, apart from everything else.”
He picked up a shirt. “This is new.” He shook his head. “I’ve never had anything new in my life, except a for few things that Mary has made for me. But this came from a store, new.” He looked at the shirt with wonderment in his face. “New.”
“Oh, Vincent, you look just like a little kid with a birthday present!”
He looked up, smiling a little. “That’s the way I feel about it all, everything. It’s all so…surprising; it’s all more than I expected.” He put the shirt down, and took her hand. When he spoke his voice was soft, but down in that deep register that always moved her. “Thank you, Catherine. Thank you for the shirts, and for…bringing this new experience to my life.”
She looked down at their clasped hands. “Don’t thank me, Vincent. It’s my great pleasure.” A little embarrassed, she picked up a box, and fumbled with the tape tied around it. “Look at these, I think you’ll like them.”
The box held a pair of pull-on boots, mid calf high, of the finest soft brown leather. They were very expensive boots, hand made, the finest that Catherine had been able to find. Vincent opened the box and then stopped, just looking. His hand came out and touched one, stroking the supple leather for a moment, then drew back. “I don’t think you should do this, Catherine. This is too much.”
“No, it’s not too much. Nothing is too much.” She looked up at him with the softest of glances, her love in her eyes. She paused for a moment, just looking at him, and then returned to the practical. “And you’ll need boots. There’s another pair here somewhere…” She looked rather vaguely about at the welter of packages and shopping bags strewn over her bed. “They’re for wearing in the bush, for rough use. These…well, these are just for…just because I loved them, and I thought you would too.” She smiled a little bit shyly.
“You were right. They’re exactly what my ideal footwear would be. Exactly.” He picked one up and stroked his hand along the leather. “I shouldn’t let you do this, but I want them very much,” he looked from the boots to her, “and I can’t give them up.” And he smiled broadly at her, a real smile, one that showed his canines.
********
Vincent didn’t tell Father until they were nearly ready to leave. Catherine and Devin both offered to be present to back him, but Vincent said no. “Devin, he’s annoyed at you now about the meeting you held, it’s not a good time for you to present anything new. Catherine…well, I’m afraid he’ll blame you for this whole thing, and it’s better if you’re not there. He’ll be able to speak freely, and it will be better in the long run if you don’t hear what he says. I have long experience with this particular problem, and I think it will be easier for both of us if he hears it from me alone.”
Catherine smiled ruefully. “You’re right. He’ll blame me, and he should, it was my idea. To tell you the truth, I’m glad not to be there. It will be better for our future relationship if neither of us hears what the other thinks on this subject.”
Devin grinned. “You got that right. You scared to tell him, Vincent?”
“No, I long ago got over being afraid of him. He makes a great noise, but he’s a reasonable man in the end. We’ll come to an understanding.”
Father did indeed make a great noise. “I absolutely forbid you to do this insane thing! You will tell Catherine at once that you cannot go. I will have some words to say to that young lady also!”
“I am going to do this, Father. I did not come to you for permission; I am merely in courtesy informing you of my intention to be absent for some few days. And I trust that you will treat Catherine with the civility that is due her as my chosen woman.”
“Your what? Show a little sense, Vincent!”
“She is the most important thing in my life, Father, and that is not going to change. I will not change, and neither will Catherine. This is a permanent and very serious relationship, a lifetime commitment.”
Sensing major resistance, Father answered this time with less anger in his voice. “Vincent, I do not know what has come over you in the last few weeks, but I am not happy about it. There needs to be some serious rethinking done, my son. You have let this…relationship with Catherine distort your thinking and your life, as witness this ridiculous proposal to go to Africa.”
“I will not discuss this with you any longer. I have told you that this is a permanent commitment. If you cannot accept that, it will become a major problem between us. Don’t bring it to a choice, Father. I will choose Catherine.” Vincent looked steadily at the older man, his expression calm.
Father’s face paled. “I never thought I’d hear you say such a thing.”
“I don’t mean to hurt you, but you must accept the way things are. And we are going to Africa, the day after tomorrow. I will be gone about two weeks, perhaps a little more. Catherine will let Peter know how we are as often as is possible, and I hope you will be able to keep worry to a minimum. Try to think instead that I am going to see Giza. You of all people should know how much that means to me.” He smiled a little. “You certainly expressed enough weariness with the subject when I was in the middle of it.”
Father smiled also. “I remember.” He could see that further argument was of no avail, and so began to mend fences. “Vincent, you know that I love you, and that my only thought is of what is best for you.”
“I know. But it’s for me to decide what is best for me. We have never had a major disagreement before, but now that it has finally happened, I will make my own decisions. Of course I will seek your counsel, but I’m afraid not necessarily your approval.”
“Yes. Yes, you are a grown man, and I certainly have respect for your judgment in every other area. But Vincent…Africa?”
“Yes, Africa. I’m anticipating this trip with such excitement, Father. Catherine and Devin have spent weeks planning it, and checking every possible flaw in the plan. I believe that it will be as safe as it is possible for it to be, although of course there is some risk. But oh, Father, I want to go so very much!”
Suddenly Father saw in Vincent’s face the boy he remembered so well, and his heart melted. “Of course you do. And I hope and pray that it will be everything that you expect and much, much more, my son.”
He held out his arms, and Vincent embraced him with love.
********
Catherine and Vincent emerged from the tunnel exit into the agreed upon meeting spot, a deserted alley which opened onto an equally deserted street. A black limo turned into the alley at the same moment, looking faintly sinister with its opaque windows as it passed under the one street light on the block. Devin’s head appeared out of the driver’s window, and he waved as the big car moved silently down the alley.
Vincent’s hand tightened on Catherine’s until she yelped. He turned to her immediately, full of apologies, but Catherine laughed. “I’d be surprised if you weren’t just a mite tense. Have you ever ridden in a car before?” He shook his head, mute. “Well, this is a nice one. Devin is doing us proud.” Devin got out, and they moved to meet him.
“OK? Still willing to chance it?” Devin grinned at Vincent and put a hand on his shoulder. “If you back out now, I’m gonna be mad as hell, I warn you.”
“I wouldn’t dare. Catherine would…do something terrible.” Vincent looked at her with laughter in his eyes and she nodded.
“I would. I’d wring your neck. Come on, let’s get under cover.” She grinned at Vincent, took his hand again and turned to the limo.
Devin had donned a chauffeur’s hat while Catherine’s back was turned. Now he opened the back door of the limo with a flourish and then straightened to attention, his eyes straight ahead.
“Oh, please! Spare us!” She laughed and shook her head as she got into the car. Vincent followed her quickly, falling into the seat with a rush of expelled breath, and subsiding rather limply.
“Scared?” Catherine smiled at him.
“Frightened half to death.” He reached for her and pulled her against him, smiling back at her. “Hold me; I need help.”
She snuggled closer and slid both arms around him. “Any time. Glad to be of service.”
********
Devin pulled the limo into the warehouse
and stopped. The big door rolled down behind them almost silently,
and Devin got out of the car. He walked over to the small lighted
room at one side that held the only human presence in the huge, nearly
empty space around them.
Vincent looked around rather apprehensively. “This is the place where I get into the box?”
“Yup. It sounds like you’re a bit uneasy about it; is that true?”
“Not the box. It’s…will there be strangers?”
“Vincent, have a little faith! Would we do that to you?” Catherine grinned at him. “Well, as a matter of fact we might, if it was the only way to get this done, but we were lucky, we don’t have to.”
Devin was walking back across the floor with another man beside him, and Vincent peered out through the limo’s smoky windows. “It’s Edwin!” He opened the car door with no hesitation, and Catherine got out the other side.
“Hello, Vincent.” The small black man beside Devin was one of the earliest of the Helpers, a man whom Vincent had known all his life. Vincent embraced him with pleasure, and Edwin grinned up at him. “I hear you’re going to take a little vacation. ‘Bout time, if you ask me! And here’s Catherine; I understand this was all your idea. Good for you, girl!”
Catherine smiled and sketched a curtsy. “Thank you, thank you, sir. I’m proud of it!”
“And you should be! Well, Vincent, I got your traveling arrangements all made. I got to be at the airport in about twenty minutes, and you’re going with me. Not traveling with much style for this first part of the trip, though. Come on over here, and I’ll show you the accommodations.”
He took Vincent’s arm and led him back to the little lighted room. “This is my nephew’s job, running this warehouse, but he gave me the key just for tonight. Well, here it is.” He opened an expensive-looking leather bound trunk with a flourish. “Think you’ll be able to fold yourself in here?”
Vincent nodded. “I can get in there. How long will it be?”
“About 20 to 30 minutes. Think you can stand it that long?”
“Yes, of course.”
Catherine took his arm. “Devin and I will be in the limo, and Edwin is going to follow in the van. He’ll have all of our luggage with him, and you’ll be just a part of it. As soon as we’re aboard I’ll let you out. It’s part of Edwin’s job to pick up luggage for VIP passengers, so no one will think anything of it.”
They put the trunk in the back of the van, and Vincent folded himself into it. Edwin shut and locked it, everyone entered their respective vehicles, and they were off for Teeterboro.
The transfer to the plane went smoothly, with a little grumbling from the handlers. “You sure you want this thing in the cabin? What you got in here anyway, lady? It weighs about four hundred pounds!”
Catherine gave a very convincing performance as the spoiled rich girl. “It absolutely must go in the cabin! Are you telling me it won’t fit? It must be made to fit, then. There are some very expensive clothes in that trunk, along with some rare books that must stay at room temperature. If it won’t go into the cabin you can put it back in the truck, because I don’t go without it!”
“OK, OK, lady! I just thought you might want it in the baggage compartment! Jeez! OK!” The man turned to exchange a disgusted look with his partner, and they lifted it up the stairs and into the plane.
When Devin was aboard and the door was closed, Catherine opened the trunk immediately. Vincent unfolded himself, and stretched a little, and smiled down at her. “You were right about the very expensive clothes anyway,” he said, looking down at his soft brushed denim shirt and blue jeans, and the leather jacket that matched his new boots. “Although the books don’t appear to be in evidence.”
“You heard me?” She giggled a little. “Wasn’t I hateful?”
“Yes. A very convincing performance.”
As they stood there talking, Devin started the plane.
“Oh!” Vincent took Catherine’s hand, and put it on his heart. “Feel that.”
“It feels like your heart is going fast enough to fly the plane by itself.”
“I believe it could. Oh, Catherine,
we’re really going to do this thing, aren’t we?”