Nature or Nurture: the raising of a monster

Chapter 26

Somewhere during that night, Vincent relives part of his past again, and even as he undergoes the shocking memory, he realises this is what master Man needs to know about. He is in the modern appartment, their haunt in the city, and it is a nice place, large for the city and well-decorated. Catherine clearly has excellent taste in furniture and decor, and as clearly plenty of money to spend on it. She is not enjoying it now, though, for she is not looking well. Her face is grey and drawn, and she seems in great pain and distress. Oh my god, Vincent realises, what if this is the moment of her death? He feels the helplessness of his predecessor, and his intense anguish over her situation. She is not calm, she's raving madly, it sounds as if she has delusions, and if she's had them before. Heathcliff seems used to coping with them, he reasons with her, tries to calm her down. He tries to hold her, but she keeps him at a distance, quite violently. His feelings are heartbreaking, he is so desperate, he is afraid she'll kill herself, sinking into madness ever deeper and deeper. Now she cringes in pain, not mental pain but severe, acute physical pain. His former self is nearly as far gone in his misery, but this new symptom shakes him out of it. This is new to him as well. She folds in pain again, it is clear her stomach is giving her intense pain. Checking her out with Heathcliff's eyes, Vincent gets the biggest shock of all: her belly is extended, showing all the signs of a pregnancy in its final stage. Of course Heathcliff must have known that, but together with his own denial he feels Heathcliff's: Cathy cannot survive a delivery in this state. Living with two doctors, Vincent cannot understand how she has gotten in this hopeless state, emaciated and apparently even dehydrated, but remembering Mina's comments, his former self is probably not entirely sane anymore himself. He knows a terrible scene is going to be played out here, and no-one in his right mind would want to witness this, but he also realises he will have to see it through.

If there is a child of his body on this earth, he needs to know if and where it lives. So he tries to influence Heathcliff to send for a midwive and a doctor, to relieve his wife's pain and help her to deliver the baby. It is a grueling battle for the life of the child, for the mother has no chance at all. There is no sanity left in Heathcliff, the thought of losing the love of his life has caused him to cross the border of reason. Vincent's influence is the only thing keeping his former self from succumbing to raving madness. Having lived through despair and rage, and utter loneliness already, he can still hardly bear the feelings that are assailing his senses through Heathcliff. He hovers on the brink of madness himself, kept sane only by the memory of another reality, where he has a home and lover of his own. He sticks through hours and hours of seeing Cathy suffering pain and madness, until she sinks into unconsciousness through loss of blood and loss of self. Finally, through expert intervention of the midwive, the child is born, alive, crying lustily. Miraculously she seems to be totally healthy, though small. Whilst the doctor takes care of Catherine's still form, the midwive expertly wraps the baby in a blanket. 'You have a daughter, sir,' she says carefully. She doesn't know Heathcliff, having only just met him, so she does what she always does, showing the newborn infant to its father. In her practice, she often sees mothers not survive childbirth, and usually the bereaved fathers cling to the newborns as the only thing they have left of their beloved, but this man looks more than half mad, so she does keep a safe distance.

Heathcliff doesn't want to see the child, but Vincent does, so he forces Heathcliff to take a peek anyway, trying to lock the baby's looks in his memory. She is a pretty girl, with huge dark eyes, a tiny face and a big mop of raven hair. She looks decidedly exotic, like her father. The only thing she has from her mother is the fine bone structure. His former self cannot handle looking at the child any longer, and when the midwive asks if she should find a wet nurse, with a broken voice he tells her: 'Get that child out of my sight. My life has no more use without my love.' And with that he moves to the side of the bed where Catherine is still lying motionless, takes her white hand and sinks to his knees, head bowed in submission.