Hi everybody, thank you for being so patient with me! I know it has been a long wait! Thank you also all for reading, for putting on alert, for adding to favorites, and most of all, for reviewing! A hearty welcome back to Toriana, who is catching up on this story and an equally heartfelt welcome to my new reader Scarlett the Squiddy, as well as to all my other loyal readers/reviewers! I could not do it without you!

Anyway, without further ado, here is the next chapter. I thought this would be the wedding, but so much else had to be handled first, so I must ask you to wait a bit longer, but I have a feeling that the wedding will happen in the next chapter. Just remember, that I do not own anything or anybody!

Chapter 38 - Meeting

The next few weeks were very busy for Erik and Nadir. They both were looking for new homes. Since Erik now had his savings he was able to purchase a lovely little house with a small garden, which he had furnished according to his own tastes, while making sure that the home was also equipped with all the amenities of modern life. He wanted Christine to be comfortable there. Giovanni contributed a wonderful new piano as a wedding gift for the couple. "Music is what brought the two of you together," he told Erik. "So I want to make sure that you will always have music in your lives."

Nadir was looking for a home as well. At first he was only considering an apartment, large enough for him and Darius, but Erik laughingly told him to get a small house as well. "You will need more space than that, daroga," he told his old friend. "First, you mentioned that you might want to start a small business, trading with oriental spices and teas or something like that, to keep you occupied. If you have a house, you can have a small shop on the ground floor and the living space on the first floor. Second, in case there might be a Madame Khan in the near future, you will need space for her and for Meg."

Nadir got all embarrassed at this idea, mumbling something about there not being any reason to assume that Antoinette would have him, but in the end he followed Erik's advice and bought a small house as well, not too far away from Erik's new home.

Mme. De Verkope was sad to hear that Erik would move out of the apartment at the end of the month, but when she heard that he was going to marry his "cousin", she understood that in that case they would need a larger home, especially if they wanted to start a family, and she was very happy for both of them.

Xxxxx

The four weeks passed faster than they had expected, and one day Erik, Giovanni, Nadir and Darius set out to join Christine in the small village where the wedding would take place. It had been agreed that the men would arrive together two days before the wedding, so that they would be at hand to pick up the Girys at the nearest train station the next day, and once everybody had arrived, the wedding would take place the following morning.

Erik had had a new wedding dress made for Christine, slightly reminiscent of the one he had once forced her to wear in his lair, but different enough that it would not bring up bad memories of that day. He would bring that gown to the village as a surprise wedding gift for Christine.

Christine was overjoyed to see Erik again. She had missed him terribly those past four weeks, but she knew it was better that they had spent that time apart. Their longings and desire for each other had been too strong and they might have succumbed to temptation after all, had they stayed together for all that time.

The villagers were surprised that the couple had such exotic friends, but neither the mayor nor the village priest had any objections to Giovanni who would act as Erik's best man.

The next day, it was time to go to the train station and pick up the Girys. This was a two-hour drive by carriage, and originally it had been planned that Erik would go and meet the ladies. However, at the last moment, he bowed out, claiming that he did not want to leave Christine again for hours, after they had been separated for so many weeks already.

"Daroga, you are perfectly capable of driving a carriage," he reminded Nadir. "And I can think of nobody more qualified to act as a protector of the ladies. You really should go and meet them. Who knows, Antoinette might even be happy to see you..." He hoped that Antoinette would betray herself, if she unexpectedly found herself in front of Nadir instead of Erik. The way she had reacted – or not reacted – to his teasings about Nadir in her letters to him, had made him suspicious that she did indeed return the daroga's feelings and he was hoping that his two dearest friends would eventually end up together and be just as happy as he and Christine were.

Nadir grumbled a bit. In a way he wanted to see Antoinette again as soon as possible, and the idea of spending the long drive back with her and her daughter did appeal to him, but on the other hand, that same prospect frightened him. What, if she was as formal and distant as always? What if she showed displeasure at seeing him instead of Erik? In that case, their trip together would be hell for him.

"Yo have to talk to her," Erik reminded him once again. "If you don't tell her about your feelings, you'll never know if she returns them or not. So, go see her, and speak with her. And remember, I am not going, I have missed Christine so much, I cannot leave her again for a few hours. But we need Antoinette and Meg for our wedding, for Antoinette will have to give Christine away and Meg will be the bridesmaid. Therefore, if you don't bring them here, Christine and I won't be able to get married tomorrow, and you surely wouldn't want that to happen?"

In the end Nadir gave in and went on his way to pick up Mme. Giry and her daughter. While on the way to the small train station he spent the whole time thinking up one gloomy scenario after the other. What if his beloved Antoinette was too disappointed that it was not Erik to meet her? What if she showed him clearly that he was not who she would have wanted for a driver on this trip? What if she was as formal and distant as she normally was with him, or worse, did not even talk to him at all? It was easy for Erik to say he should just talk to Antoinette. How on earth should he do that? He could not simply tell her that he loved her, or could he? How did one go about asking an independent woman who did not really need a husband, that one wanted nothing more than to tie her to oneself?

Nadir was still deep in thought when he finally reached the small station mere moments before the train that would bring the ladies arrived. To his surprised, Antoinette and Meg were not alone. They were in the company of an old, wrinkled lady. Nadir nervously approached the group. "Good day, Madame Giry, Mademoiselle Meg," he greeted the two.

At the sound of his voice, Mme. Giry, who had been busy with the luggage, turned around. She could not help a slight blush creeping into her cheeks as she suddenly found herself in front of Nadir instead of Erik, who she had expected.

"Oh, Monsieur Khan," she stammered, "what a surprise!"

Nadir grinned. That welcome was going much better than he had anticipated. In fact, her slight blush almost gave him reason to hope. Unless, of course, she was just flustered because of handling the heavy bags.

"May I offer my assistance with your bags, ladies?" he gallantly asked, unable to suppress the warm cozy feeling that came with this sudden surge of hope.

"Oh, please, that would be wonderful," Mme. Giry replied, her voice betraying more warmth than she intended to. God, she was not prepared for that encounter! She had expected to see Erik, and here was this terrible man, that always made her lose her composure! If she had known he would be the one to meet them, she could have planned better what to say or do in his presence. Now, she just had to act on the spur of the moment and hope that she would not betray herself too badly.

In order to compose herself, she turned to the third lady in her party. "May I present to you Monsieur Nadir Khan," she told her companion. "He is one of Erik's most loyal friends." Then she turned to Nadir. "This, Monsieur, is Mademoiselle Marie Perrault, Erik's godmother. She is the one that helped me originally to get Erik documents. He asked me to contact her and invite her to come to his wedding as well."

Marie smiled at Nadir. "It is good to meet you, Monsieur," she said. "Dear Antoinette here, has already told me a lot about you." At these words, both Nadir and Antoinette blushed slightly and looked away uneasily. Marie, unaware of their embarrassment, or at the very least pretending that she had not noticed anything, continued, "you must tell me about how you met Erik, I want to know everything possible about him. I have not seen him since he was a small boy, and I am so looking forward to seeing him again. He was such a little darling! So smart, and always so eager to please, so grateful for the tiniest sign of affection! I could not help but love him despite his unfortunate face, and to this day I cannot understand how Madeleine could shun him so completely. Her own flesh and blood!" She sadly shook her head at those memories.

Nadir smiled at her. "It honors you, Mademoiselle, that you loved Erik despite his handicap. He has mentioned you to me on occasion, and he always speaks very fondly of you. It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person, and I am sure Erik will be delighted you could make it to his wedding."

Marie beamed. "Erik is getting married!" she said dreamily. "Who would have thought that the boy would find love despite everything! His bride must be an angel!"

"You will meet her soon enough," Mme. Giry assured her. "And Erik as well. I take it they are both waiting for us?" she addressed Nadir.

Nadir nodded. "Yes, they are waiting," he confirmed. "Which means, we should get going, so that we can be with them as soon as possible!" And he swiftly loaded the ladies' bags into the carriage and helped them in. During the whole drive back, they only spoke about Erik and Christine and their upcoming nuptials, but both, Nadir and Antoinette, were filled with envy. How fortunate Erik and Christine were to have found love, to have their feelings returned, and to be soon united in matrimony. If only they could be that fortunate as well!

Xxxx

Erik and Christine were indeed waiting for the carriage at the entrance to the village. When Erik recognized his godmother, he beamed. "Marie!" he exclaimed, helping her out of the carriage. "I am so glad you came! I had asked Antoinette to contact you and tell you that Christine and I would get married, and that I would love to have you here with us on this special day, but she had not told me if you would be able to join her and Meg!"

Marie looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "Oh Erik," she mumbled, deeply moved. "What a fine, strong young man you have become!" Her fingers reached up to touch his face, tracing the barely visible outline of his mask. "And how handsome you are. You are the spitting image of your father! If only Madeleine could see you, I bet even she would be proud of you now!"

A dark cloud passed over Erik's features, but Christine took his hand into hers and whispered to him. "Don't, Erik," she said. "Not today. Don't let those terrible memories of your childhood cloud such a happy day." She looked at him with so much love that he relaxed and smiled at her.

"You are right, my dear," he told Christine. "The past is the past. It shall not cloud our present or the future."

Marie's eyes once again filled with tears as she saw the deep love between the couple. "God bless you, Mademoiselle," she said to Christine. "For the way you love the boy. For being able to look past his... past the way he looks underneath that perfect mask. For the boy has a heart of gold and all he needed in order to flourish was love."

Christine smiled at her. "You must call me Christine," she told Marie. "For you are my Erik's godmother and have known him since he was a little boy. Since Erik and I are to become like one tomorrow, I hope you will accept me into your heart together with him." Marie hugged her and once again thanked God that her deformed godson had found a woman who loved him as much as this young girl obviously did.

While this conversation between Erik, Marie and Christine was going on, Nadir and Antoinette stood awkwardly to the side, uncertain what to do. Meg observed them both and grinned. She found it very amusing, how her mother and this nice Monsieur Khan were obviously developing deep feelings for each other, while neither of them dared to take the first step for fear of being rejected. She sighed. Was love always so complicated? First it had taken Christine ages to realize that it was Erik she truly loved, and now her mother and Nadir were unable to express their feelings for each other.

"They will never get together," she thought exasperatedly. "They are simply too shy to talk about it. Somebody should give them a hint." And she decided to consult Erik about the situation. Surely, he must have made his observations as well. Maybe he could let it slip to Nadir that her mother would not be unwilling to accept his courtship? For it was clear that she could not expect her mother to take the first step. As strong and independent as her mother was, in that area she was old-fashioned and had very conservative ideas about relationships. In her opinion it definitely had to be the man to make the first move. While Meg had no doubts that Nadir did care deeply for her mother, she also was quite certain that for some reason he was afraid of talking to her. It would not be easy to make him admit his feelings to her mother.

Xxxx

After dinner, Meg caught Erik alone. "Erik, I have to talk to you about something important," she began. "But it is a rather delicate matter..."

Erik eyed her suspiciously. "Is there a young man in your life, little Giry?" he asked her. Even though he and Meg had only officially met once he had taken refuge in her mother's home after the fire at the Opéra, he had always considered her family. She was Antoinette's daughter after all, and she was like a sister to Christine.

Meg shook her head. "This is not about me," she assured Erik. "It is about maman..." She hesitated, then added softly, "and your friend, Monsieur Khan..."

Erik looked up sharply. "So you have noticed it too?" he asked.

Meg blushed. Even though she saw the necessity to help her mother and Nadir, it was still a bit embarrassing to talk that openly about their feelings for each other. "I have made certain observations," she admitted shyly. "I do think that they... care for each other deeply. Would you agree?"

Erik laughed. "Nadir is burning with love," he chuckled. "He is so obvious, I am surprised your mother has not figured him out yet. And her,... well, I did tease her a little bit about Nadir in my last two letters, and the way she reacted made me believe that maybe she is feeling the same way about him. If I understand you correctly, you think that I may be right about this?"

Meg nodded. "Maman is quite taken with Monsieur Khan," she confessed. "But for some reason she tries to hide it, as if it were … kind of inappropriate. He is the same. I mean, I have caught him looking at her, as if she were the most precious thing on this earth, but he would never say a word about it to her." She shook her head. "I do not understand their problem. Why do they not talk about their feelings? They are both unattached, what are they waiting for? They are not getting any younger!"

Erik grinned. "Does that mean that you would have no objections if your mother and Monsieur Khan became a couple, maybe even married?" he asked.

Meg nodded. "Not in the least!" she assured him. "On the contrary, I would be happy for maman. I know she was only around twenty, when my father died, and she has never even considered entering a new relationship, because of me. She wanted to be there for me, to make a living for the two of us. That left no time for love or romance. In a way, I feel bad for her. Life has not been too kind to her, she lost my father so early on, she has been without a husband's love for so long. So if there is a chance for her to experience love again, I am all for it."

At that moment, Nadir came looking for the two. "Here you are!" he exclaimed. "We were all sitting together and talking about tomorrow, when we realized that the two of you were missing! So what have you been talking about? Is it a surprise for Christine? Or details about the bride's bouquet that you two want to discuss?"

Erik grinned broadly. "None of that," he told Nadir. "In fact, we have been talking about you."

Nadir paled. About him? What could Antoinette's daughter and Erik possibly have been discussing about him? For the first time he thought about Meg's opinion on his love for her mother. Yes, she was a sweet little creature, and he would love having her for his stepdaughter. But what about her? Assuming that the sudden hope that had filled his heart was justified, that Antoinette did return his feelings, how would Meg feel about her mother marrying a second time? Would she accept him as her stepfather? Or would she be opposed to her mother marrying him? Might she even be an obstacle to their happiness, in case Antoinette did indeed love him as he hoped she did?

Erik reassuringly patted Nadir's shoulder. "If I understood that young lady here correctly," he told his friend, "she was trying to enlist my help to convince you to propose to her mother!"