Epilogue
She was lying in bed next to the man who was her world. Her adopted son, Brent, and her first child by Erik, their daughter, Nettie, were sleeping in the next room. It was late, and Christine knew she should be sleeping, but she found herself reminiscing. She was thinking about everything that had led her up to this point, from the gala that had now been seven years ago, to the day in the forest when she had killed Raoul, to the day on the ship to America when she had let go of her guilt and anger for what she had done to her childhood sweetheart. Now, none of that seemed to matter anymore. Not now that she was lying in bed with Erik, not now that she had carried and birthed their daughter. Her life in Paris was far behind her, and seemed nothing more than a distant memory.
When they had first arrived at Ellis Island, they had struggled with finding a place to stay and jobs. Eventually, Christine came across a theater called Broadway that was looking for a lead Soprano. At the time, it wasn't huge, but it was still pretty well-known, and paid their cast decently. She auditioned, got the part, and made some serious money off of it. From there, finding a good housing establishment was easy, especially since the people at Broadway kept calling her back to reprise her roles.
Soon after her first production, she, Erik, and Brent moved into a large house in a good neighborhood. They went around and started introducing themselves, and very soon after that Erik told the parents in the area that he was a voice teacher, and his prices were modest. Their house opened up as a school where neighborhood children were taught by Erik to sing and play piano. That added to their income greatly. Once they had really settled in, one year after moving to Manhattan, Christine announced that she wanted to try to have children. And only a handful of months later, she birthed Nettie, their first daughter.
Brent had started attending school, and was now attending a prestigious school for musically gifted children (Erik had soon discovered Brent's singing capabilities, and immediately started to perfect it). Nettie was quickly picking up on her family's talents and would soon surpass her mother in piano. At the moment, Nettie was attending a day school.
For the six years they had been living in Manhattan, and for six years they had built up their fortune and their lives. Christine was happier than she had ever been, and she and Erik were in a great place in their relationship. They had officially married a month after moving to Manhattan, and marriage had made their relationship even better than it had been before.
Most of her ties to Paris had been cut, and only one person remained in Paris that Christine stayed in touch with: Meg. She and Meg wrote back and forth, constantly sharing news of what was happening in both Manhattan and at the Opera Populaire. According to Meg, the opera house was soaring, with a new lead Soprano having replaced Christine.
Rolling over, Christine looked at Erik's sleeping form. He had gotten to a point where he was so comfortable with her, he slept without his mask. Christine was grateful for that; sleeping in the white mask looked so uncomfortable for him. Now, at night, she could look on his whole face, even the deformed side. Though that was how most who saw his face described him, she had never thought of him as ugly, or deformed. Christine saw only a man who she loved beyond anything, a man she would have, and had, killed for.
Everything had been going so well since they had moved to Manhattan, and everything was only going to get better. No matter what happened, no matter what they did, they would always have each other. And as long as she had Erik, Nettie, and Brent, there was nothing in this world that could tear her down.
As she pressed up against Erik and fell back to sleep, Christine thought: Bring it on, world. I'm ready for you.
Welp, by my word document count, I reached 68,782 words and 152 pages. There have been a lot of firsts for me over the course of this story, but the biggest first has been: This is my first, true completed story. I want to thank those of you that have been around since the beginning and those of you who just found the story recently. I want to thank you for all of the continued support you gave this story as it progressed! Thank you all so much! Without you all reading and supporting, I don't think there would have been a story to continue! ~Shella DragoNoid