A few hours later.
He meant to take her dancing. So many times, he meant to take her dancing, just the two of them. To feel her in his arms, pressed to him, her head against his chest… He dreams of it, always. And he would hold her, ever so gently, and wish to spin the dance out forever…
The closest he came were the Opera balls. The ball at New Year's Eve that first year he knew her. He contemplated asking her to accompany him, especially after she gave him that staff paper, but it would not have been appropriate. A teacher, asking his student to accompany him? Never mind that they were friends. No, it would not do! He spent the evening in a whirl of composing, trying to banish the picture of her beauty from his mind.
The next year, the next year they were together, albeit not very long. And she had accepted his invitation, and he was looking forward to it, could barely sleep for the thought of getting to hold her, and when he was up for three days composing and unsettled, Farhad dosed him with laudanum and put him to bed for the sake of his health. He awoke to a pounding headache, and a note from Christine that said she was suffering with "womanly problems" and was not up to attending with him. He took another dose of laudanum and fell into a drug-induced haze so deep Farhad very nearly sent for a doctor.
The next ball that comes, the next ball he'll spend the night in her arms, never leave them until it is time to go home, and take her in his arms in their bed. But it will not compare to tonight, to this, her nestled against him, her cheek pressed to his chest and eyes closed. Only hours ago she vowed herself his wife (his wife!) and even now his eyes get misty thinking of it. Surely it is a dream, that they are wed. It is too good to be true, but there is a gold band glinting on her finger, and a matching one on his own, and she is his wife, for all the world to see, and he is her husband, truly hers, now at last, and he closes his eyes, and breathes in the scent of her hair, and knows that they could spend their lives dancing, and it would never beat this.