I still don't own anything or anybody, but I still love my loyal readers and reviewers from all over the world! This month, people from 38 countries have already checked out my stories. Isn't that exciting?
Anyway, Christine's situation is getting worse, before it's getting better, and you will have to wait a bit longer, till she meets her Angel again, but we are getting close to the good stuff now, I promise!
Chapter 3 – Loss and Danger
Early July 1872
Summer was unusually warm and sunny in the little town at the sea-side. One beautiful day with perfect, azure, cloudless sky followed the next. It looked as if life were nothing but brightness and sunshine. The wonderful weather was in stark contrast to the mood of the young Vicomtesse de Chagny, though. If possible, she felt even more miserable since the short visit of Théophile-Auguste. Somehow it seemed to her as if the servants were looking down on her even more since that relative had paid his visit. She wondered, if she was maybe imagining this, for what influence could his presence possibly have had on her household staff? Had he in front of them behaved towards her in a way to convince them she did not deserve any better? Had he slandered her behind her back? He certainly had treated her as if he considered her to be a common adventuress, a cleverly calculating whore, who had managed to catch the goldfish. But would he share such an opinion with the servants? After all, she was his cousin's rightful wife and thus a member of his family, whether he liked that fact or not.
Christine felt more isolated and lonely than ever. She realized that her position was maybe even more precarious than she had thought before and the more she thought about it, the less she hoped that Raoul's return might change things for the better. He was due any day now. The current lack of strong wind might affect the boat's speed a bit, she thought, thus delaying them for a day or two, and she was not sure if he would come straight to her, once they landed in Le Havre, or if he would go to Paris first, to see his parents. Either way he should be here any day now, certainly within the next week.
Christine had not seen her husband for over six months, and their relationship had been strained even before that. She was therefore not sure whether she should be happy about his imminent return or not. Would the distance have worked in her favor? Would he have missed her and thus be more willing to offer her understanding and comfort when he came home? Or had his anger at her inability - or unwillingness as he called it - to adapt to the life of a noblewoman increased over all this time? His letters had been rare and usually rather short, he had mostly told her about his daily work and his colleagues, the places they had visited, and had finished with the obligatory phrase that he hoped she was well and the baby too, and that he was looking forward to his future heir.
Christine did not care whether the baby she was carrying would be an heir or a daughter. She knew that she would love the child, no matter what sex it would be. She lovingly rubbed her belly, when she felt her offspring move. The baby was getting strong, it kicked her quite forcefully now. She smiled. She was so looking forward to the little one though she was a bit scared at the thought of giving birth. She knew in theory what would happen, of course, but she was fairly certain that this would involve great pain. It would be worth it, though, if in the end she could finally hold her little darling. She wondered what the child would look like. Would the little one inherit the facial structures of the de Chagnys, or would the baby be more a Daaé? She certainly would have preferred the child to inherit her father's caring, nurturing personality rather than the cold, frosty, conceited attitude of Raoul's family.
Her thoughts returned to Raoul. Would he want to be with her while she would be giving birth? Would he want to comfort her and somehow share the pain? Or would he prefer to wait outside, like most men of his class did? What would his attitude towards the child be? Would he love it, or would he just be proud to have an heir? What if it was a girl? Would he be disappointed? And if so, would he let her feel it? Her and the child?
Her thoughts were interrupted by her maid Margot announcing that a messenger had arrived from the de Chagny estate in Paris. To Christine the nervous young woman seemed deathly pale and she suddenly felt uneasy herself, experiencing a strong foreboding of imminent danger or doom. She shivered despite the summer heat.
Christine asked Margot to send the messenger in. When the blond man entered, she immediately recognized him as George, her father-in-law's first huntsman and best rider. She realized that he had probably reached her faster than any letter by normal post would have. The news he brought must be of utmost importance. She straightened herself, trying to summon all her strength so that she would be able to deal with whatever George had to tell her.
"Madame," George greeted her, "the Comte de Chagny asked me to relay to you this letter immediately upon my arrival." With these word, he pulled a sealed letter out of his pocket and handed it to her. Christine thanked him and inspected the letter. Her father-in-law's seal, the seal of the head of the de Chagny family, was all she could see on the outside. Nothing other than George's words indicated that the letter was meant for her.
Christine broke the seal and started reading. After the first few words, tears started welling in her eyes and her heart felt as if it were being grabbed by an ice-cold hand and squeezed tight. The young woman was in shock, and she was not even sure what hurt her more, the frosty tone of the short note, or the message it contained, for she had read her husband's death. The Comte's letter, though, was written in as dry a tone as if he were telling her about the new furniture in his study. She read the few lines again.
Paris, July 8, 1872
Madame,
Kindly finally return to Paris to assist at the funeral of your husband, who gave his life in the line of duty June 29, 1872, according to a note received from Naval Command this morning. His body is being transferred home and the funeral will take place Thursday next week. It is also imperative that the de Chagny heir be born in Paris.
Adrien Louis Philippe Raoul Pierre Marie Hyppolite, Comte de Chagny
The old man's utter lack of emotions at the death of his son hurt her a lot. What was worse, though, was the cold formality with which he had signed his full name and title, as if she were a complete stranger to him, not his daughter-in-law. This heartless display of contempt was the final straw. Christine had been assaulted by a variety of different feelings at the thought that Raoul was dead and would never come back to her and their child – grief, fear at what might happen now, a feeling that her in-laws would try to raise the child if it were a son, concern about how it might affect her situation if the baby were a girl, guilt for not having been able to make Raoul as happy as she had hoped and for basically having driven him away, towards his death, pain at the thought that she now never would be able to make peace with him, sadness that her baby would never know its father. All these emotions she might have been able to deal with, keeping her composure, but the Comte's coldness was one blow too many for her. The young woman fainted, collapsing like a rag-doll.
Xxxx
Christine was not the only one whose mood did not reflect the bright sunshine and wonderful summer weather at all. Erik was also experiencing a sense of impending doom. Ever since Nadir had told him about the danger Christine was in, because a son of hers would stand between Théophile-Auguste de Chagny and the title, his worry for his beloved had increased considerably. If before he had mostly dreaded to see her unhappy and humiliated by her new family, he was now absolutely certain that something terrible would happen to her sooner or later. He and Nadir were trying their best, taking turns at watching the de Chagny summer house, but they were only two men, and they had to eat and sleep and Nadir had to appear in town at least every now and then, to keep up appearances with the townspeople. Erik therefore lived in constant fear that they might overlook something important, that the one on watch might be in the wrong place at the wrong time, in short, that they would somehow not be able to protect Christine as well as he would want to. They had therefore summoned Nadir's manservant Darius who had so far stayed behind in Paris. Since a former sailor and his nephew did not have servants, Nadir had originally thought it would be better to leave Darius at home, at least for the time being. But under the changed circumstances it seemed as if they could use another pair of hands. Darius had therefore been asked to rejoin his master and was now staying in a little village about an hour from Nadir's hut, supposedly on summer vacation. He kept Nadir's horse and Erik's César at a stable there, regularly riding both horses – to secretly meet either his master or Erik in the forest and discuss the situation with them.
Erik had taken over the night watches around the de Chagny house, for two reasons. First, he felt more comfortable in the dark, and it was safer for him as well, since the chance of him being spotted by anybody was much smaller at night than during the day. Second, he also felt, that if Théophile-Auguste were planning anything, he would not come in full daylight, when the servants might be around and in his way. He would come at night – or send his men at night. Erik therefore thought that Christine was relatively safe during the days, but at great risk as soon as the sun went down. Nothing and nobody would have been able to keep her loyal protector away from the de Chagny property then. Nadir knew that Erik did not just patrol around the estate at night, but that he usually entered the garden and spent the night under Christine's windows, sometimes even on the balcony in front of them, watching over her while she slept, being as near to her as possible, so that he could help her, should the need arise. Since Nadir, too, was convinced that the woman's life might be at risk, he had no objections anymore to Erik's presence in the de Chagny garden.
To the great surprise of all three men, so far nothing had happened, other than the fact that the whole town was now convinced that the Vicomtesse was not carrying a legitimate heir. The child's real father was probably either that Opera monster she had had an affair with before her marriage, or one of the other lovers she had taken on in everybody's opinion, as soon as she had been married to the Vicomte. Erik and Nadir were aware of this public opinion and thought that apparently Théophile-Auguste was not desperate enough yet to resort to a truly criminal, violent action and that he was trying defamation first. In fact, there was a fifty-fifty chance that the child would be a girl. Maybe he would only strike in case the child was a boy and Raoul, for whatever reason, accepted him as his.
Xxxx
Nadir had been standing watch at the de Chagny house in the morning and he had seen the rider wearing the de Chagny livery arrive. He had immediately guessed that something important must have happened which might have an impact on Christine. When he therefore spotted one of the kitchen maids leaving the house with a basket as if she were going to town to the market, he quickly took a shortcut through the woods to make it appear as if he had come from his hut, and made sure to meet her shortly before she reached town.
"Good morning, Jeanne," he greeted the girl friendly. "Going to the market?" He noticed that she was unusually pale and her eyes were red and swollen, as if she had cried. When the normally rather talkative young woman just nodded instead of answering his question, he grew nervous. What was the matter with Jeanne? Was it something personal, or was there a connection between her state of mind and the messenger he had seen arrive at the estate? He had to find out.
"Are you all right, Jeanne? You do not look too good," he tried his luck again. To his surprise, tears started to flow freely now and Jeanne sobbed. "Our dear Vicomte, George says he is dead. George was sent to order the Madame's return to Paris, so that she can be at the funeral."
Nadir stared at her in shock. If Raoul had died without a male heir, Théophile-Auguste would be the new Vicomte. It would therefore be of the utmost importance for this relative to make sure that there was no son. To wait and hope that Christine might give birth to a daughter was a risk, the man in dire need of money would not dare taking. Théophile-Auguste would make sure that the baby would never be born. And if Christine had to go to Paris in her condition - when was she due anyway, he wondered, in five, maybe six weeks? – it would not take much to cause her to go into labor prematurely. The danger Erik's beloved was in, had just grown exponentially. They would have to follow her as closely as possible during her entire journey to Paris and be prepared for anything.
Nadir finally remembered the sobbing girl. "God, that's terrible," he exclaimed. "The poor young lady! Can she even travel to Paris in her condition? And the poor child she is carrying, who will never know its father." Jeanne stopped crying at these words. "Madame fainted when she got the letter. Her conscience, I tell you. After all, it was her who drove him away with her affairs. Who knows who the baby's father is? They say she had a fling with a murderous beast, ugly as hell, before the Vicomte married her." Jeanne seemed to enjoy repeating the gossip she had heard. "As sad as it is that the Vicomte had to die so young, it's probably for the best. That way he will not have to raise the bastard, and he will not have to suffer from her infidelity anymore."
Nadir nodded, as if in agreement. "Yeah," he mumbled, "you have a point there. But if she feels so guilty, will the Vicomtesse travel to Paris? She could use the pregnancy as an excuse, surely?" Jeanne laughed. "If she wants to be disowned and the baby declared a bastard, she can stay here. If she wants to remain a member of the de Chagny family at least for the time being, she has to obey the Comte. Of course, if the baby does not look like the Vicomte at all, not even her presence at the funeral may save her." Nadir was shocked at the way how a simple kitchen maid dared to talk about her mistress, but he did not contradict her. "You are right," he admitted, "might be better for her to go to Paris at once."
They had reached the market by then and Nadir took leave of the girl. He bought a pound of salt at one table to explain his presence at the market, then hurried home to tell Erik. Only when he was halfway home did he realize that he had not asked Jeanne when the funeral would take place, but it was probably safe to assume it would be sometime soon, most likely within the next two weeks. Since the Vicomtesse could not travel too fast in her condition, she would have to leave for Paris soon. It might be a good idea to alert Darius at once and to ask him to move the horses closer to his and Erik's current home, as well as to keep them saddled and ready at all times.
Nadir wondered what Théophile-Auguste would do. Would he hire people to attack the coach, would he sabotage the coach to cause an accident, would he manipulate the terrain somehow to put the carriage at risk? They would have to keep an eye on every little detail, if they were to keep Christine safe. When he arrived at the hut, he found Erik still fast asleep after he had been on watch at the de Chagny manor all night. Since Nadir was not sure when either of them would get a chance to sleep again, he did not wake him, but quickly saddled their pony and decided to inform Darius first. Darius was just as shocked at the news as Nadir, but he promised to immediately get a few items that Nadir thought might be useful, pack the saddlebags and move the horses to a little forest near the de Chagny summer house, where Nadir and Erik would join him with the pony.
Nadir left him to his preparations and hurried home to inform Erik. He was a bit worried, how the latter would react to the news of the Vicomte's death. Only now that he had done all he could to make sure they would be able to protect the young widow during her journey to Paris, did Nadir realize, that Raoul's death not only meant that his wife and unborn child were in great danger, it also meant that Christine was free again. Would this fact influence Erik's behavior towards her? Would it re-awake hope in Erik's heart and, given an opportunity, would he pursue her now? Or would he feel sorry for her, respect her grief and wait patiently, if her heart would ever be ready for a new relationship? Nadir was convinced that Christine would now need understanding and friendship more than a passionate declaration of love. Would Erik see things the same way?
Nadir need not have worried. Erik's love for Christine proved to be stronger and deeper than even Nadir had thought, for once Nadir had told him everything, Erik's reaction was that of compassion for Christine and of worry for her, how she would deal with the loss of the man she loved. His own wishes and desires suddenly seemed irrelevant compared to the pain she must feel. He knew only too well, what it meant to lose a loved one. After all, the pain of having lost Christine had very nearly killed him the previous year, and she had not even died then, there had still been a small chance for him to at least see her again one day. Christine had no such hope, Raoul was gone forever. Erik's heart went out to his beloved, and he prayed with all his heart that she would be strong enough to survive this blow.