Christmas Past and Presents
It was a time of festivities and celebrations, not just in the town of Bon Chance, but, surprisingly, in the home of the Phantom of the Opera. Perhaps not so surprisingly, as it was also the home of the lovely Christine and their adopted son Raphael, who were celebrators of the first order.
Erik, pretending annoyance, barricaded himself in the music room. In reality, he was smiling to himself, as he admired the many gifts he had purchased for his beloveds. A couple he had made himself. He had carved a beautiful flute for Rafe, something that would amuse the boy, in between his learning the piano and lessons on the rebuilt Opera House pipe organ he had reconstructed which now took up a wall of this very music room.
For Christine, he had designed a heart shaped locket made of gold which he then commissioned a local jeweler to bring to reality. Then, he had meticulously painted a tiny portrait of Raphael to fit in one side, and, after much debate, had painted an equally tiny self-portrait. One with a secret. The tiny mask could be lifted revealing a realistic likeness of his face, both the very handsome side… and the deformity. Thanks to his love for Christine and her surprising return of that affection, he had learned to stand tall and unmasked both at home and in town and as far away as Paris and even Rome and Florence where he was known widely as a genius and a composer and musician without compare, possibly the greatest of any contemporaries working at that time. Without Christine… he might still be hidden, bitterly, away from society in the 5th cellar of the Paris Opera House.
It was Christmas Eve and that meant, very soon, their home would be filled with friends. Nadir, of course, now keeping company with their equally great friend, the very elegant Madame Antoinette Giry. Meg would be joining the festivities, along with her beau, Baron Egon Dardennes, a dashing young man from Belgium, who had been studying at the Sorbonne and fell in love with the Opera House and then with one of its principal dancers.
Christine and Madeline, the young woman who helped keep the kitchen running and also the house in order, were putting the finishing touches on the Christmas Eve dinner. The guest rooms were all prepared, although, without comment, Erik had requested Madeline to put the Baron on the opposite side of the house from Meg (though the Baron was a complete gentleman and very respectful of Meg in every way).
Soon, there was the clamor of hoof beats and carriage wheels and Rafe, who had been dreamily admiring the fresh spruce tree Erik had cut down and delivered to their sitting room, sprang up and ran to look out the window.
Back to the tree, now abandoned by Rafe. It was now almost completely covered in ornaments both store bought and hand made by all three. Erik had made an Angel of Music holding a violin and with beautiful hand painted features and glorious wings (did it look a bit like a certain former Phantom? Perhaps.) that he set at the very top of the tree. When he had presented it to Christine, the image of her former tutor and now husband, she wept and threw her arms around him, perplexing both Erik and Rafe, who stood near the tree at the time. It was just that the image brought up so many emotions and even a kind of self-loathing for how she had treated this man, this genius, who adored her and lived for her and she foolishly had eyes only for the conventional handsomeness of Raoul.
After the disaster of the chandelier and her abandonment of Erik after she granted him a kiss (Oh! That kiss!) and fled with the man she thought was the answer to her dreams only to find that she could not forget her Angel and how he had said he could not live without her. After several distraught days at Raoul's Chateau, where he had given her her own suite of rooms and wisely allowed her to sort out her feelings, never taking advantage of the fact that she was now in his home, and though he loved her and he knew she cared for him, he knew he could never force her to reciprocate the feelings he had for her. And then when she had begged him to allow her to return to see what fate had befallen Erik after her departure, Raoul summoned a carriage and kissed her on the cheek, because, despite her reassurance that she would return to him, in his heart, he knew she would not.
But now, Christine could not have been happier or lovelier than she was at this moment. She joined Rafe at the window then turned to find Erik standing at the door. Seeing her turn to him he held out his hand, and she took it, as together they went to greet their dear friends who would soon be sharing food, drink and laughter as they saw in the holiday that now meant so much to Erik. A holiday that for years he was only an observer to, someone whose heart ached for someone, some day, to share the joy of Christmas with. Holidays such as Christmas were not meant to be shared with someone like him, though. A murderer. A hired assassin. A Phantom who haunted an Opera House. How very wrong he had been. Christmas was for everyone. Even him. And with that thought in mind, and Christine's hand in his, they opened the door to the fresh, cold winter air for their friends to enter.