Did you miss me? I am currently in Florida but had a little time to write since it is cold here. I could still use some feedback. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 52
Madame Giry insisted on finding Erik and walking down with him to the glade. The last time that they had seen one another was the night before Don Juan Triumphant. She knew that Raoul was attempting to trap him, but not the details. She tried to dissuade him from trying anything, but Erik did not listen. He had shut her out, along with Nadir, months before. He had a manic gleam in his eye that night, she was not sure that she was going to make it out of his lair alive. Erik had dressed himself fastidiously, and looked as handsome as she had ever seen him. She noted that his eyes looked calm, and almost peaceful, for the first time in their long relationship.
Erik turned to the woman who, he considered to be, his real mother. The woman in the house meant nothing to him compared to the woman who had saved, protected, and took care of him for many years. There was a time where he felt that she was the only one who would cry for him, if he died.
He also recalled their last meeting, and smirked "Wouldn't you rather talk to Christine about this? I am sure that, given recent events, you believe that I am forcing her to marry me."
"Why all of the secrecy then? You could marry in the open you are no longer a fugitive." she pressed.
Erik laughed "Perhaps it is the same reason that they chose not to press charges, because I had a compelling reason for many of my actions." He looked at her with some anger in his voice "You lost faith in me; I told you that I had my reasons for my actions."
She glared at him "What about forcing them to stage your opera, kidnapping Christine and setting a fire did you have good reasons for those actions?"
He squirmed uncomfortably and admitted sheepishly "No, I didn't. I was mad with anger and jealousy."
She shot him a fiery gaze "What about Piangi? I heard that it was accidental but you have to admit that if it wasn't for you he would be alive today."
Erik hung his head down in self- disgust "Yes Antoinette, and don't you think that I will regret those actions every day of my life, but what would you have me do? Remain alone and miserable to atone for my crimes? If so, why are you here, to stop this?"
She put her hand on his arm, and looked at him directly in the eyes "No, of course not Erik, I love you like you were my own child. I have known you since you were a child, and I just want your happiness."
He looked at her and told her softly "Then let me be happy for once, this is the first time ever, that I have tasted it."
She smiled at him "I am very happy for you, but I was so sure that Christine favored Raoul, and was afraid of you, did you do something to her to make her marry you?"
He laughed "Not at all, unless you think that setting her free to be happy with her Vicomte was some sort of trick."
"You did that?" she asked surprised.
"Not at first." He admitted "But just when I thought that I had made her hate me forever, she gave me two kisses, I let them go, but she came back to me."
"I told you before, that you cannot force these things Erik, love happens, only if it is meant to be." Antoinette thought about her own ill- fated romance with her dead husband.
"I guess that I should have listened to you sooner, I might have saved all of us some heartache."
She slapped his arm "Maybe you should have."
"I am sorry that I was so stubborn. I treated you poorly when you only had my best interest at heart." He hugged her.
She smiled at him "Better too late than never, Erik. You do deserve so much love; you have lived without it for so long."
"Thank you." He told her.
"I think that might be the first time that you both apologized, and said thank you, to me, in all the years that we have known one another. Christine is a great influence on you.
He smirked at her "Maybe I never had anything to apologize, and thank you for, prior to today."
They arrived in the glade and Antoinette looked around in awe. There were large vases filled with red roses, and candles everywhere, just like in Erik's lair. There was an altar with a canopy of red roses, and a flower strewn walkway. Behind all of it was a babbling brook which made a peaceful sound, adding to the serenity of the setting. The weather was unseasonably warm.
"This is beautiful Erik, how did you manage this in such a short time in such a remote place?" Antoinette asked in awe.
Erik laughed "There is no problem that a lot of money and even more will cannot solve. But to be honest I did plan this farther ahead of time then Christine knows. I knew where I wanted to do it when I proposed to her. This has always been a magical place for me."
"I did not know that you were so well off Erik, I assumed that you lived on the fifteen thousand Francs' that you earned, as your "salary".
He smiled and told her "I gave you the five thousand per month. The other fifteen thousand was never for me. I returned from my travels a wealthy man, and have increased my wealth from wise investments over the years. The fifteen thousand was reinvested into the Opera for the benefit of its employees and even for the two fools, although I never told them. You can say that I was another silent Patron."
Antoinette's mouth dropped open as she realized "That was you? All this time and you never told me."
He laughed "I didn't see the need."
"You let me think that you were selfish?" she accused.
"Why not, it is the truth." He admitted. "I have never sought attention of any sort, not even for being a benefactor. I preferred to remain a Phantom in all of my transactions."
"But it would have been different for you there if people knew." She insisted.
He grew bitter and sarcastic "Better for me how? People would have still looked at me in the same way only perhaps more discretely." He continued "At least I knew that people despised me to my face and not behind "the freak's back."
She looked at him sadly "You have a poor view of humanity."
He retorted "Perhaps it is because they have always had a poor view of me. I despise pity and deception. This way I let everyone openly express their scorn for me."
"You didn't give them a chance." She argued
"Why bother? I spent the first twenty five years of my life giving them chances, humanity never failed to shun and despise me, even you did not ask me why I killed Buquet, you assumed that I did so in cold blood, like the rest."
"I am sorry but you told me only that "you had your reasons".
"This should have been enough, if you believed in me, as much as you claimed to, but I forgive you."
She insisted "I did believe in you but you were acting crazy, making all sorts of demands and bodies and chandeliers falling from the rafters, what would you have me think?"
"I don't know." Erik admitted "I still cannot tell you my reasons; I do not want you to know them, for your own protection. I have always protected you, I still am, someday I will tell you everything and you will thank me for most of it but it is still not safe, not yet."
Antoinette replied "I will take your word for it, does Christine know the danger?"
He nodded "She does now, she did not until recently, but I was forced to confide in her."
"Yet, you won't tell me." She said.
"No, but I promise that I will." he told her firmly.
They stared at one another for a moment and found the affection in each other's eyes.
Erik excused himself and checked on the final preparations for the wedding.
The hour grew late and it was time for the wedding to begin. Erik glanced nervously, as guests arrived. First to arrive was his brother, Dominique and their two children; Then, Severine, and his mother, finally the Comtesse, together with Georges. Nadir appeared, out of the blue, to be his best man. The priest had arrived earlier. He had met with the couple the night before and was satisfied that the marriage would be sanctified by God, despite Erik's skepticism towards God, and the fact that Christine had been raised as a Lutheran, but had more recently attended Catholic communion. A very large donation to the Church certainly aided the priest's acquiescence as well as a promise by Erik, to consider returning to the Church.
Finally, looking like the angel that he knew her to be, appeared the bride, her long train carried by Meg. Erik laughed to himself, when he realized that Meg had to struggle, to keep the train from dragging in the dirt. That was one practicality that he hadn't considered. Erik was mesmerized by the unearthly radiance of his bride. He could not wait for the ceremony to be over so that she would be his forever. He still could not believe that he was not dreaming and that he would awaken from this dream back in the lair still alone and unloved.
She came to stand beside him, he had Nadir on one side, as his best man and Christine had Meg next to her. Erik could see Meg staring intensely at him, her face reflected the usual fear that most of the ballet rats held towards him. He smiled at her and she blanched in embarrassment. He wondered, for a moment, if he could ever be accepted by the rest of the world even if he had the surgery. He looked away from Meg, and towards Christine who lifted her veil and looked at him with adoration; he looked into her eyes, and smiled at her.
He leaned over to her and whispered "There is still time to run from me."
She turned to him and laughed "Hardly, I would trip on my dress. It is too beautiful to ruin."
He took her hand and squeezed it gently whispering "You are beautiful, mon ange, too beautiful to waste on a loathsome gargoyle like me."
She smiled back "Nonsense Erik, you look extremely handsome today."
They both faced the priest who began the wedding mass. Christine could not believe all of the trouble that Erik had gone through to make the wedding perfect. It was all so beautiful. She knew that Meg still was nervous around Erik; to her he had always been the scary Phantom of the Opera. She could not wait for her friend to get to know Erik. Strangely she did not feel nervous; she had no doubt that she was doing the right thing. She couldn't wait to begin her life as Erik's wife. She was glad that the Comte, and the Comtesse, had been able to come, but she wished that Raoul could have come with them.
The ceremony was beautiful and once the priest pronounced them joined in matrimony, Erik gave her a searing kiss. They all went back to the house where the dining room had been transformed during their absence. They had brought beautiful tables, chairs and other decorations from Paris, and the chef prepared a great meal. The wedding guests, and participants, were few in number, but all were happy to see the couple married.
She and Erik were forced to face one another across the vast table even if both of them longed to be left alone to finish the wedding night.
