Our Love is Evergreen

Chapter 62: Your Hand At the Level Of Your Eyes

   Catherine went back to the catacombs in a daze. She was ecstatic. She wanted more than anything to wear her engagement ring, but she knew she couldn't, for if she did, her father would see. Catherine knew full well that if her father found out, he would quickly put an end to the engagement and would likely kill Pierre. She didn't want that to happen.
   As soon as Catherine got home, she put the ring in the top drawer of her dresser. She decided to go and see her three-year-old niece, Athena.

   "Athena!" Catherine called. "Athena! Where are you?"

   "I'm here!" The small girl called back, crawling out from underneath her bed.

   "What were you doing?" Catherine asked.

   "Reading," Athena replied.

   "You read under your bed?" Catherine questioned. "Wait. You can read?"

   "I...um...no..." Athena stuttered.

   "Athena, you can read. That's amazing!"

   "Don't tell anybody."

   "Okay," Catherine laughed. She left Athena to read her book. Catherine was alone with her thoughts. She realized that her brother was thirty years old. He seemed so old compared to her. How was it possible that her brother was so much older than her? Catherine's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in," she called.

   "Did you have fun with your friends?" Erik asked as he entered Catherine's room.

   "It was wonderful. I couldn't have imagined it going any better," Catherine beamed. "What are you looking at me like that for?"

   "I was just thinking about how you used to be this little girl and now you're a beautiful young woman," Erik remarked.

   Catherine sighed. "I'll always be your little girl."

   "Yes, but soon you'll want to get married and have children of your own," Erik argued.

   Catherine embraced her father. "You have no idea," she thought.

   Suddenly, Aphrodite ran into Catherine's room and opened the top drawer to her sister's dresser.

   "What are you doing?" Catherine asked in fear that her sister would find the ring.

   "I need to borrow a corset," Aphrodite explained. "Hey, what's this?" The girl asked, lifting a black velvet box.

   Catherine jumped up immediately and tried to grab the box from her sister's hand.

   Erik decided that this was a good time to leave the room.

   "What's in that box?" Aphrodite interrogated.

   "That's none of your business," Catherine replied, still struggling to free the box from her sister's grasp.

   Aphrodite tightened her grip on the little box. "It must be something important. Otherwise, you wouldn't want it back so badly."

   "Give it back you little pest!" Catherine demanded.

   "Not until you tell me what it is!" Aphrodite exclaimed.

   "Fine. But you have to promise you won't tell anyone," Catherine said, regaining her composure.

   "I won't tell. I promise. Now, tell me what's in the box."

   "Pierre proposed to me."

   Aphrodite gave a cry of delight. "Did you accept?"

   "Shh! Mother and Father will hear!" Catherine exclaimed in a whispered tone. "Yes, I accepted."

   Aphrodite embraced her sister. "I can't believe you're getting married."

   "Neither can I. But listen, you can't tell a soul. If Father finds out, he'll kill Pierre and then come after me. I'll really have to keep my hand at the level of my eyes when we finally tell him."

   "A word of advice: don't wait too long to tell him. Mother told me of when you first started dating him and you kept it a secret."

   "That didn't go over very well."

   "Which is exactly why you need to tell him as soon as possible."

   The girls continued to talk in hushed voices about the secret engagement and of Catherine's fears. They talked late into the night. So late, that Aphrodite ending up just spending the night in Catherine's room.