Sorry about the wait! I've been feeling really down lately about my writing. I've just got it in my head that it isn't good enough, so I'm posting this before I can think twice. The next couple of chapters are written now, so as soon as they've been looked through they will be posted. Thanks for all of the lovely comments.

Raoul looked particularly drawn out when he returned home, two days ahead of schedule. I waited for him at the foyer of the house, my arms folded and cast him an irritable look when he saw me. I wasn't going to back down because of his tired appearance. He knew he was in the wrong.

"Is there something you wanted to tell me?"

"Nothing I'm sure you have not heard," he sighed, shrugging off his coat.

I sighed and dropped my arms, rushing forward so I was able to lower my voice to keep from the certain prying ears of the household. "Your entire fortune, Raoul. Really,"

He couldn't look at me. I waited. "I didn't mean - It was not supposed to..." he sighed and took my hand, kissing my curled fingers. "Please, Lotte. Don't give up on me yet."

"And suddenly I'm Lotte again?" I said rudely, not bothering to either pull my hand away or respond to his touch. I had the upper hand here, I realised with a start. All I had to do was act like the responsible one out of the two of us, and I was treated as such.

My husband looked up at me and his eyebrows pulled together as he lifted his fingers to brush against the healing graze on my right cheek. "I'm sorry..."

"For what, Raoul?" I asked in a whisper. "For shaming our family's name? For making this even more difficult for the two of us? Or for hurting me?"

I saw tears fill his eyes, and I immediately wished I could take my words back. Swallowing thickly, I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face into his shoulder, breathing steadily to try to get him to calm down.

"I'm sorry, Raoul," he didn't say anything, so I decided to keep playing this role. "We'll be alright, of course. We just need to make some serious changes." I pulled back and looked at him grimly. "I think the first thing we'll need to do is look at our staff. We really don't need all of the extra help. We can get by without a lot of them. And I'm going to have to start singing again." I paused, waiting for him to insist that wouldn't be necessary, but he never moved to speak, just looked at me in a sad, longing way, so I continued. "I think we need to talk about America."

He nodded. My heart raced. Was this really my husband? Had losing all of our money finally made him see reason?

Dinner was set for the both of us in the dining room and I sat close to him, speaking in quiet tones throughout it. He seemed a lot more alive after getting some food into him and being home for a while, and began taking me more seriously. After a few moments of talk, he really seemed to have opened up to the America idea.

"And I wanted to ask you...seeing as Gustave's tenth birthday's coming up, I thought we perhaps might be able to get to Coney Island a short time before my performance? Just to give him a proper birthday...he's never really had one before. Being tutored from home hasn't given him much of a chance to have a normal childhood. I want to surprise him with something special. And with the amount being offered, we'll definitely be able to afford it. Nothing too excessive, of course. It just means I'll have to do a couple of shows here as well, to make up for it, but I think that's worth it."

"Of course," he said before lifting his corn to his mouth. I didn't know whether I should press for more or not; he was agreeing to everything I said tonight, but I didn't want to take advantage of him when he was in such a state. I decided to turn to lighter conversation instead.

"And I know the perfect gift to give him."

}~*~{

I was able to perform once more at the Populaire before we would board the ship that would take us to America. Raoul and I had both decided to keep the whole trip a secret from Gustave, seeing as he hadn't heard of my being invited to sing there to begin with. I wanted to make his tenth birthday as special as possible for him after such a difficult year, and I wouldn't settle for anything to spoil it. The only downfall of the whole situation was that we would be spending his actual birthday on a boat. I hoped he wouldn't mind too much.

I stole into his room the night before we left and put my hands on my hips when I saw him sitting upright in bed, pouring over a pile of manuscript paper instead of being asleep like he'd promised.

"Why doesn't this surprise me?"

"I heard a song, and I had to get it written down." he somehow made it sound like an apology, but the words had me smiling sadly at a distant memory...

"Gustave, pack your bags."

"Why?" he asked, his eyes getting wide with worry. Did he think I was getting rid of him for not going to bed on time?

I laughed and reached up to pull his suitcase from on top of his closet. "Because," I began, trying to control my smile. "We are going away for a while. It's a surprise, so don't ask me any questions. Just pack what you will need. We will be away for a while."

"Are we going far? How long will we be gone?"

"No, no, no!" I insisted, putting my finger to my lips. Most of the trip we'd planned would be spend on the boat, but I wasn't going to tell him that. He was smart...he'd guess before my game wasn't fun anymore. "We will be gone for more than a month. That's all I'm saying...and there'll be no chance to come back for anything forgotten, so make sure you have everything you'll need."

He bounded out of bed in excitement and skipped to his drawers. "There's no chance of taking the piano, is there?"

"No," I laughed. "But I'm sure you won't miss it too much."

"It's not the piano I'll miss, it's music." he said a little glumly. I grinned at him behind his back and straightened my features before he could look at me.

"You will survive, darling." I kneeled beside him and helped him pack his pants more neatly, creating a lot of extra space. "Do you need help? Or will you be alright?"

"I'll be alright. You look tired. Go to bed."

"We leave at noon tomorrow, so don't spend too much time on your music, alright? I want us to be ready bright and early."

He nodded and I kissed his forehead gently before leaving the room and making my way to my own. Raoul was already tucked up in bed, reading a thick book. He looked over the pages at me with a raised eyebrow and I gave him a single nod. "Everything's sorted. He's so excited, and he has no idea."

"You are excited, too."

"Of course I'm excited." I laughed and began changing into my nightgown. There was a certain air around me that I couldn't explain...for so long I'd felt trapped in this huge house. Everything was a routine pattern that quickly became slow and dull, and to think that we were going out, into a world we'd never been...it was scary, but it brought a smile to my face all the same. And it was because of me that we were going! I felt a strange sense of pride at this thought. But there was something else...the part I couldn't explain. I didn't know why, but it felt as if there was something there for me. I shook my head when nothing came to mind and reached up into my space in the wardrobe, pulling down an old case from my belongings I'd brought with me from the opera house.

"Are you going to give it to him before we leave?" Raoul asked, studying me as I hugged it close to my chest.

I nodded and came to sit on the bed beside him, still holding it tightly. "I'm so glad he takes an interest to these things. I hadn't realised how much I'd missed seeing this."

"Let us just hope it agrees with him." Raoul murmured as he reached over to extinguish his lamp.

Two chapters to go until we can all smile again! I'll get them up really quickly.

Chlowie, xo