Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to these characters or any settings/places. This is merely a fanmade writing experiment and is in no way profit making.
The Phantom and Moppet
Chapter Twenty Six
Finding herself with a rare moment alone, Minette sat at her dresser in her room at the Opera house, placed her head on her arms and gave in to the tears that had threatened since her encounter with Nadir.
Once the tears started, she found she could not stop them and she was overcome with huge heartbroken sobs.
'What is wrong Minette?' she heard a whispered voice ask, and at its soothing tone, she lifted her head to see Erik kneeling beside her.
As she saw the compassion in her dear brothers gaze, her weeping renewed and she threw her arms around the startled Phantom, and buried her head into his shoulder.
Erik floundered, bewildered as how to react stood awkwardly and Minette refusing to release her grip stood with him.
Minette clung tightly to him and as her tears socked though his cloak and shirt, Erik carefully returned her embrace, and began to hum softly to her. He hoped that music would calm her as it did Christine when confronted with his moppet's tears.
He was not sure how long they stood so, but eventually Minette's convulsive sobs eased, and she suddenly held him even tighter, before she slowly raised her head to meet his gaze.
'Oh Erik, please say that you have forgiven me. I cannot stand this distance that has grown between us. You cannot know how sorry I am. I never had any intention of hurting you. My only thought was to protect both you and Meg.' Minette apologised in rush, scared this may her only chance to repair their friendship.
As Erik looked into her remorseful eyes, and saw her sincerity, he felt the last of his hurt and anger drain away. 'Hush, Minette. It is forgotten.' Erik dismissed, concealing how deeply moved he was by her words.
'Truly, Erik?' she asked as more tears spilled down her cheeks.
'Truly.' Erik smiled at Minette, horrified when she burst into tears and she buried her head into his shoulder once more.
'Although we can continue to be at odds, if reconciling is going to upset you so much.' Erik gently mocked.
'I am sorry, Erik. I don't mean to such a blubbering ninny.' Minette said as she lifted her head and ruefully smiled at him.
'Well it is certainly not like you,' Erik said deftly stepping out of her embrace, and away from the uncomfortable closeness. 'What has you upset, Minette? I am sure it more than our past differences.' he asked concerned.
Minette dragged in a deep breath, wiped her eyes, and composed herself. 'No it was not our estrangement that had upset me. Although I am very relived and happy now we are friends again.' she smiled at him.
She sat back down on the stool at her dresser, facing Erik and motioned for him to sit on her bed. 'I…' she trailed off, as she fought to hold back more tears, and as Erik sat, she dragged in some much needed air to help regain her composure.
'Nadir and I have quarrelled' she told him, forcing herself to ignore the hurt she felt.
'Arrh the Daroga.' Erik nodded understanding. 'It seems he has a gift for upsetting people as he also had Christine in tears the night before last.' Erik told her, 'I take it this has to do with his archaic views on women.' Erik asked, more relaxed now he had his own space once more.
'Yes he…how did you know … we.. ' Minette trailed off in grief and confusion. She then drew in a deep breath and resolutely met and held Erik's gaze.
'I am…' she paused this time to blush as she confessed, 'I am in love with Nadir.' she confessed blushing prettily.
'I know.' Erik ginned at her.
'You know… how?' she asked. She and Nadir had gone to great lengths to hide their attachment.
'My dear Minette, you are the finest, strongest and smartest women I have ever met.' Erik told her and Minette beamed at his praise, 'but when Nadir is around, you have a tendency to simper and giggle.' Erik said frowning his disapproval.
'It has been obvious for sometime that Nadir is the cause of such silliness,' he softly rebuked her, 'and that he holds a special place in your heart.' he smiled teasingly at her.
Minette smiled, oh how she had missed him. It was so easy to confide in Erik. 'I did not realise I was such an open book.' she said sheepishly.
'Only to me perhaps.' Erik grinned at her, not about to add to her upset with the knowledge that Christine had also guessed their secret.
'My friendship with Nadir has never been physically intimate, and yet although never admitted aloud, we have been emotionally involved for years.' she explained.
'We have always skirted around our true feelings, and kept our longings hidden.' Crimson flooded her cheeks at Erik's knowing grin.
'We never confessed our feelings to each other in so many words, but by tacit agreement we acceded to wait before we progressed with our relationship until till Meg was older.' she confided.
A soft smile lighting her features as she thought of the many delightful evenings she and Nadir had spent talking long into the night. Both basking in the pleasure and comfort of the other but neither surrendering to the passion they saw in the others gaze.
She drew in another breath, 'The years have flown and now Meg is a teenager.' Minette shook her head at this. Meg was growing up so fast, (she had turned thirteen, the previous March), and was determined to push as many of her mother's buttons as she could. 'And testing her boundaries, and being a single parent can be so very lonely.' she confessed with a heartfelt sigh.
'Nadir has been very supportive. He has called around every night for months now, waiting till Meg was in bed, before he came to sit, talk and just listen to me. We have become closer and closer these last few months and it has become increasingly difficult for us both to continue to deny how we really feel about each other.' she admitted, blushing profusely.
'And when Nadir came for dinner last night, we finally…' she trailed off, blushing, and then gasped in pain as she remembered all that had transpired between herself and Nadir.
'He asked me to marry him, Erik.' she confided in a rush, to a shocked Phantom, fighting back her tears at thought of all to brief time they had been blissfully engaged.
Minette and Nadir had been sitting by the fireside drinking tea and talking of everyday things. Sat next to each other their legs touched on the small sofa and even through two layers of clothes, Minette's skin had sizzled at the contact. She had avoided Nadir's gaze as they spoke knowing her longing would be plain to see.
When she put down her tea cup her hand accidentally brushed Nadir's, and their fingers had instinctively entwined. Minette looked into Nadir's eyes and suddenly they were kissing, overcome by their pent up desire for each other.
When they had eventually broke apart gasping for air, Nadir had suddenly gotten down on one knee and asked her to marry him. Admitting he could no longer deny his feelings, and that he wanted nothing more but for them to together always.
Minette had accepted in a enraptured whisper and then they were kissing again. Each tightly clasping the other, neither wanting to let the other go.
They sat that way for hours, finally speaking aloud the love they held for each other. They had kissed, cuddled, held hands, and repeatedly declared their devotion to each other, free at last of the constricted bonds of their long denied passions.
In that moment Minette was happiest she had been ever been. The gentle, dependable, solid love she had shared with her late husband, was so very different from the tangled emotions and raw desire she felt for Nadir.
In those few stolen moments, Minette had dreamed of the life she and Nadir could share at last, of finally being happy with this man who made feel so alive.
But her euphoria was short lived as in the early hours of the morning, after several hours of canoodling, they had gone on to talk of other things, and Nadir had told her of his encounter with Erik and Christine. Minette frowned as she remembered Nadir's strong disapproval.
'I take it you accepted?' Erik asked, focusing her thoughts once more.
'Yes,' Minette said, blushing again. 'I accepted and for a brief while we were engaged.' Her red cheeks paling as she continued, 'But it was a short engagement.' she said as another silent tear escaped.
'We talked long into the night, and eventually our conversation came to you and Christine, and Nadir told me about what you had talked about. He was quite vocal with his disapproval.' she with a frown.
'I'm not sure that a females hygiene,' and again Minette blushed, 'should be quite so openly discussed between men and women, but given the circumstances I could not see why he was so bothered that you and Christine had such a relationship.' Minette's anger stirred as she spoke.
'When I told Nadir so, he was very empathic about what a woman should know and where a women's place should be.' she stormed.
'At first when he told me, I thought perhaps he was joking and when I accused him of such it became quite clear he was deadly serious.' Minette said, the disbelief clear in her voice.
'I was taken aback, and then annoyed at his attitude. So then I asked where did he see my place once we were married?' Minette began to seethe.
'He had the audacity to laugh, and said that he did not presume to keep me in the dark so, and that he did not expect me to wait on him hand and foot, but that my place of course would be at his side.' Erik wisely kept quiet, whilst Minette gave voice to her pain.
'When I asked Nadir, what of my work? He said as he was more than able to support me that I would of course want to give up my job at the Opera House. In fact he said the sooner I retired the better.' she told Erik indignantly.
'That was when I laughed, and asked him he did not seriously think I was going to give up teaching, just because we were married?' Minette shivered in reaction to her remembered outrage.
'He did manage to at least word it as a question, 'You do not wish to retire?', he asked me, but he quite clear what he thinks should happen - he expects me to give up my job.' she seethed.
'He asked me to marry him, and in very near the same damn breath asked me to give up my career.' she snarled focusing on how betrayed she felt at Nadir's treatment.
'He does not expect me to wait on him hand and foot, how very gracious.' she spat, 'It will be a cold day in hell before I'll be any man's servant!' she ranted as the hurt and disillusionment coalesced in righteous anger.
'My place is at his side?' she fumed, 'What am I a dog?' she asked bitterly.
'Does he not realise this is more than a job, this is my art.' she snarled, and then broke down in anguished tears.
'Oh Erik, I asked him to understand that this is so much more than a job.' she sobbed, 'But Nadir said that when we were married we would be as one and I would have no time, or need for my career.' Minette hiccupped.
'Erik for a moment I actually considered it, spending our days side by side.' she said shaking her head in hurt disbelief. 'I want nothing more than to be Nadir's wife, but I know in my heart within a month, if even that long, that with only house keeping to do, I would be unhappy, restless, and bored stupid.' she said as the tears streamed down her face.
'I have worked my whole life Erik, first as a ballerina and then as a teacher. The Opera House, my ballet rats, dancing - this is my life, its part of who I am. I cannot just give up all that.' she cried.
'And what of Meg?' she wailed. 'I've raised her to be strong, and independent. One day she shall lead the ballet. What sort of role model would I be if I just gave up our dreams, and retired to do nothing.'
'I begged Nadir to see reason. Told him that if he loved me, really loved me, that he would love all of me, including the part that longs to dance, and needs the expression of teaching to be truly happy.' she agonized.
'But he is a boorish philistine, who knows nothing of the passion and longings of the artistic soul. He said that if I loved him, my love for him should be enough and that I should want to spend all my time with him.' she snapped, her temper once again erupting.
'I told him that I have to work, my career is an intrinsic part of me and that I would not give it up.' she gasped, hurting.
'Nadir said he could not live with a wife that worked. It portrayed him as a weak provider, and an insipid husband. I told him that was ridicules, that we were both equals, and that I loved him for who he was not what he provided.' she gulped.
'He gave me a sad smile and thanked me. He told he loved me to but that was irrelevant. His beliefs meant that he had to be the provider, that his wife should be protected from the trials of manual labour, and the horrors of the outside world, and as such he wife could not work.' she whispered in pain.
'As I looked into his eyes, I could see his resolve - I knew he meant every word, and I was furious. I could not believe he would sacrifice our love for a primitive need to be the bread winner.' she gasped, and dropped her head into her hands once more racked with sobs.
Minette dragged in several deep breaths before she admitted. 'I threw him out of the house,' she said raising her head her pain and suffering clear in her eyes. 'I told him I did not want to marry a buffoon, and that I would not tolerate such backwards thinking. Especially around my daughter.' she sniffed, trying to control her myriad emotions.
'Would you like me to kill him?' Erik calmly asked her, and her gaze snapped to Erik's in shock, then she burst out in shaken laughter.
'Oh Erik, I should not laugh as I'm afraid you are deadly serious, but as much as I would like to shake some sense into that thick skull of his I do not wish Nadir any harm. I love him.' she confessed with a despairing smile, but then grinned wryly, 'Besides if I wanted him dead I'd want the satisfaction of doing myself.' she said passionately. Erik's whimsy amusing her, and a comfort to her wounded heart.
Erik had indeed been serious when he asked if she wanted Nadir dead. The Daroga although one of his only three friends had long been a thorn in Erik's side, and in the last few days he'd had the audacity to hurt the two most important people in Erik's life, and Erik's instinct was to protect and kill.
Logic told him neither Minette or Christine, (or himself if he was truly honest), wanted Nadir dead but Erik's immediate impulse whenever he or his was threatened was violence.
Erik would be having words with the Daroga about his cavalier treatment of his sister, and his caveman views. Nadir knew Erik well enough to know there would be consequences for his actions.
Erik was pleased though, that the suggestion had stopped Minette's tears and made her laugh, he hated to see her suffer so, and decided a change of subject was called for.
'How is Meg testing her boundaries?' Erik asked, hoping to avoid further waterworks.
Minette drew in a deep breath and pushed aside her heartache. Erik was right - she must focus on Meg now.
'In the usual teenage ways.' Minette said with a loving smile. 'She either ignores me, answers my questions with questions, or just generally goes out of her way to annoy me, causing us to argue all the time.' she said with a grimace.
'I'm surprised you stand for such nonsense.' Erik said shocked.
Minette gave a rueful laugh. 'You think I am to soft on her Erik? You forget I have seen this all before with the ballet rats over the years. They become teenagers, on the cusp of womanhood and feel they have to refuse to obey, see how far they can push. It is just a phase they go through. Eventually they settle down, its just frustrating at the time.' she complained.
'Meg is a smart girl just tell her to be stop being so foolish.' Erik suggested.
'Oh Erik, you cannot order teenagers about. It leads to nothing but more trouble. You have to be patient but firm.' she said smiling and shaking her head.
'Besides Meg is only doing as we all did at that age - rebelling. It is nothing more than little niggling things. For instance I told her to wash the dishes last night, and they are still in the sink this morning. It is just disheartening.' she said wearied.
'I must admit I'm finding it hard to maintain an even temper when she baits me so, but then I am sure you know what I mean as you must be having similar problems.' Minette sympathised.
'Similar problems?' Erik queried, not seeing how it applied to him.
'With Christine?' Minette prompted.
'I most certainly am not. Christine is an intelligent child, and doesn't give into foolish notions of pushing boundaries.' Erik snapped, galled at the implication Christine was anything other than obedient.
Minette winced at his tone and realised she had ruffled his feathers.
'I'm sorry Erik. I did not mean to offend you. I just assumed Christine had begun to test the waters to.' she apologised.
'Christine is yet still a child Minette. She has no need to, as you say, to test the waters, she is content as she is.' Erik insisted.
He refused to listen the idea that Christine was growing up, or as Nadir had insisted become a woman, for Erik feared what would happen when she did.
The only happiness Erik had ever known had been with Christine. The child had accepted him from the start, never once turning from him in fear or horror. She had only ever treated him with care and respect.
He was frightened that when she grew up, and interacted more with others, that in adulthood she would realise the repulsive monster that he was, and shun him as everyone else did.
When Erik was a teenager all he'd ever known was abuse, abandonment, and loneliness as he haunted the shadows of the Opera House.
Minette had been the first person to ever show him a kindness by helping him escape the torture of the gypsies, and although scared to look upon his unmasked self, she had overcome her fear and had become his only companion, his sister and playmate.
Then she had grown up, become a women, fallen in love and choose to marry. She had found someone else, and left Erik alone again.
Erik could not even entertain the thought of life without Christine at his side, and reassured himself that his little tyke was still a child.
'She will not be a child forever.' Minette warned cautiously, focusing his attention.
'No but she is still a child now.' Erik asserted vehemently.
'Of course she is Erik.' Minette quickly agreed. Not wanting to undo the progress she had made with Erik today. She could not stand to lose both Nadir and Erik in two days, she thought fighting back a sob.
Minette realised that if in nothing else, Nadir had at least been worryingly right about the situation between Erik and Christine.
It certainly seemed Erik was wearing blinkers where Christine was concerned, and if indeed Christine had grown deeper feelings for Erik, Minette was sure they would be fireworks before to long.
Minette knew she could not prevent the explosion, but silently vowed she would be there for both Christine and Erik, when they needed her.
Erik glanced at his watch and was surprised at the time. 'I'm sorry. I have to go Minette. Christine, will be home soon.' said Erik as he stood up and moved to the wall.
Minette caught his hand as he passed, 'Thank you, Erik.' she said sincerely.
Erik was uncomfortable at the honest, gratitude he saw in he gaze and unsure what to say he squeezed her hand in reply, before gently releasing it. He turned and pressed the hidden catch on the wall to reveal the secret passageway.
Erik paused before he disappeared into the wall, and Minette heard him softly say, 'Nadir adores you Minette, but the man a stubborn mule who is set in his ways. He will come round eventually. He just has to reconcile his feelings with his beliefs.'
Erik was gone before she could reply and she could not quell the small glimmer of hope awoken at his words, or her wry grin at the irony of Erik calling someone else stubborn.