Here is a chapter that many of you have been waiting for. It is time to get to know Maela a little better. I had hoped to get a lot of reviews for the last chapter but sadly no. I do hope that people are still reading this. Perhaps it is too long for some but I have such a huge cast that it is difficult to tie up all loose ends and story plots since this is so complex. Besides, I do like writing this story so there will be a bit more. We are getting close to the end but not quite yet. First, we have people to meet and places to go.

Chapter 55

When they were clear of the others, Erik looked at Christine and told her "Ugh that was awkward. It is so hard to feel so happy, while pretending to be sad. I cannot honestly say that I mourn either one of them, yet I can understand that they do. At times, being human can be so difficult. At least when I was alone I did not have to worry about others' feelings."

Christine looked at him and smiled "Does that mean that you would like to return to your lonely place in your lair? 'Being human', as you call it, means both comforting people and being comforted. You did not do a bad job back there, especially for a man. Our song seemed to really uplift both Lalie, and Henri's spirits." She added. "It was very insightful of you to offer them such comfort."

"What do you mean by saying 'For a man'?" Erik asked, sounding slightly offended.

"Well men believe that tears can be a sign of weakness. You are providers, not nurturers." Christine told him.

"I did a pretty good job at nurturing Gustave last night didn't I?" Erik averred, looking a little hurt.

Christine looked at him and teased, "I said that you did a good job. Since when should that be construed as an insult?"

Erik returned her light tone "I do not find being simply 'good' to be an adequate compliment. I expect perfection in everything that I strive to do, or in your case what my students do."

Christine looked at him mirthfully "Well, now that we are clear of the gloomy Chateau, would you like to practice kissing me? You were very good the last time, but I still believe that there is room for improvement."

"What? The last time was so good that I thought that I heard the angels sing." Erik joked.

"Hmmm, I don't know. Perhaps I have just forgotten. It has been so long." She said, puckering her lips as an invitation.

"You have forgotten? Why you little minx. I'll show you" Erik breathed.

He gave her a voracious leer. Erik then reached for her, and gave her a passionate kiss. Christine could feel her body burn with desire. She could feel her very breath merging into his, and she felt so alive and tingly. She had never felt this way with Raoul, not even in the beginning. How did she miss Erik's extreme sensuality as a girl? Perhaps she had simply been too innocent at the time to understand.

Erik felt his loins stir, with desire, as he pressed his body into hers. He could feel the kiss' effect on her and knew that she too had enjoyed it. When they were finished kissing he turned to her, smiling triumphantly, and asked, hoarsely, "How was that? Still only good?"

She smiled back "Are you sure that you are only a beginner at it? You seem to have gotten the hang of it rather quickly, Maestro."

Erik beamed broadly, and proudly, at the compliment. "As you well know, I am a quick learner. I still intend upon improving my technique, with more practice. They say that ugly frogs do make better kissers than handsome Princes. The more warts the merrier."

Christine laughed, "Who is they?"

Erik looked at her with mock ferocity "You dare to question the fearsome Phantom of the Opera? What happened to my timid maid, who was afraid of her own shadow?"

He then looked at her more seriously, and in wonderment. "When I see you now, you exhibit no fear of me. Not even the smallest fraction, yet earlier today, you saw how easily that I could kill. Doesn't that disconcert you at least a little bit? At least back then, you never saw me kill anyone. Yet today I did so, almost thoughtlessly, and yet with such efficiency. "

Christine took his hand and fondled it gently and returned his fierce inquiring gaze "You did so only to protect us all. I was proud of you that you had the ability to do that. If it had been anyone else in that room, anyone at all, even Raoul. I would have panicked knowing that Tris might have harmed us. But with you, I knew that you would find a way to free us. My only true fear was for you and your safety. As I have said, you take risks with your own life that I rather wish that you wouldn't take. If first, Philippe, and then Lalie had not stepped in to save you, we would not be having this conversation, you would be dead." She reprimanded him.

"Perhaps that it is true, but Tristan would have been dead as well, and you would have been safe. I will always take a chance with my life to save yours. You will never be able to dissuade me from doing so, no matter how prettily you look as you exhort me to be safe. I would be dead anyways, if anything ever happened to you, so it would have made no difference in the outcome." He insisted.

"How can you discuss your death so blandly? Don't you know that it hurts me even when you jest about such a matter? Now that we are back together, at last, I am drawn to you even more than I was before. I cannot even imagine how horrible it would be if something were to happen to you. You are everything to me angel." She told him.

"And I am your faithful servant, Vicomtesse." He replied silkily. "I exist mainly to please you, and answer your every whim."

"Then kiss me again," she breathed. "I want to feel your lips on mine once again."

"With pleasure, my mistress." Erik replied in a velvety tone, bowing slightly. His beautiful voice made her shiver with delight. Erik then reached for her and kissed her once again. She could taste his distorted lips on her own, and she answered him in kind. Again she could feel her desire for him rise to a feverish level. It had been those two kisses, long ago, that had finally made her acknowledge her love for her Phantom by awakening a part of her soul that she didn't know existed. That long starved emotion once again rose up inside her, filling her with a strange sensation of both joy and peace.

When they were finished she looked at him and asked "Do you have any idea how good your lips feel on my own Erik? I am mad with desire for you."

He chuckled "As I am for you my little minx. I am afraid that both time and distance have only heightened what we feel for one another. And here I was worried the entire time that I journeyed here that you would take one look at the hideous beast who adores you, and turn me away."

"Hideous? No, my love, you are anything but hideous. You are magnificent. When we sang together back there, I felt as if my entire being was staring into your naked soul, and I found nothing but the most exquisite sort of beauty there. We are both back home again Erik, finally. I feel as if the dark years that separated us have fallen away, and left us back where we started but this time neither one of us will make any mistakes or have any misunderstanding of what we mean to one another." She told him wondrously.

Erik whispered reverently, as if he were echoing the past "Look at your face in the mirror I am there inside."

"Later on in the dark, will you come to me, and sing me that beautiful song that you composed for me that night once again? I didn't fully grasp how incredibly romantic that you truly were back then. I was too innocent, too cowardly, to understand the full measure what you offered me. Will you offer it to me again? Please? Only this time we will have a happy ending?"

Erik looked at her smoldering eyes and vowed, "We will, cherie, but not tonight. Tomorrow night will be better for what I have in store for us. I do not want our perfect night to be marred by the deaths that we were forced to bear today. In the new day, all of the sorrows of the past can be wiped away, and we can rededicate ourselves, both to one another, and to the music of the night. In the meantime I can see, what must be Mabrelle's cottage, up ahead."

Christine smiled at him "Then tomorrow night you will come to me?"

"We have a date my dear, just like before, but without any sadness or feelings of betrayal between us. I will offer you my heart and my soul, everything, once again. I promise you." He whispered seductively.

"And I shall accept it this time, and offer you the same." Christine replied with equal passion.

They arrived at the cottage and knocked on the door. Morgana answered.

"Demat dit, Le Mael!" She exclaimed, bowing to him reverently.

Erik smiled but told her, in French "Please, there is no need for such formalities Madmoiselle. Your grandmother and I share a close bond between us."

She replied "But you are our Master."

Erik could see that she was trembling in fear of him and tried to ease her mind "Not here, at the moment I am merely an old friend, not the Comte. Perhaps at the Chateau we must follow such formalities but not here." Erik replied smoothly. He could see her still quivering, despite his reassuring words, and thought to put her at ease "Do not be afraid of me, child. I would never harm you."

She looked at him with a timid smile "I am not. It is only that this is such an honor to have you visit us here. I am not used to such attention."

Erik bowed "The honor is mine. I would have come sooner, but much has happened since I arrived here, as you well know."

"Yes, Master, I am sorry for your loss. The Comtesse shall be missed." She told him politely.

He smiled at her "It is no loss for me. But yes, for my brother and sister, the loss will be felt more acutely. Is your grandmother available?"

She looked at him shyly and answered, "Yes of course. She knew that you would come today. She is resting in her bedroom, but I will go and get her."

Erik replied, "I can come back later if she is resting."

He then heard a noise and then a voice "No, I am awake. I knew that you were coming, child. I have been waiting for you to come and see me." She admonished.

Morgana helped her into a chair. To Erik's eyes, Mabrelle looked very old and wizened, but still recognizable after all of these years. Although he had remembered her as a young and strong woman, she had become frail.

"Come let me look at you." She commanded. Unlike Morgana she did not treat him as a servant did a master. She had watched over him as a child, and she resumed her old role but still in a kindly manner. He complied with her wishes, and stepped forward.

"Let me feel your face." She told him firmly.

He dropped down to her level, by kneeling beside her, and then placed his hands on top of hers hers.

"You are so tall." She observed smiling. "I can tell by the sound that you make when you bend. The last time that we were together you were tall for a child, but still shorter than me."

He chuckled "Yes. I have grown a bit."

She smiled "Your voice is still beautiful. The most beautiful voice that I have ever heard." She turned her face in the direction of Christine "Hers is almost as nice. She is a sweet girl."

She turned back to Erik and felt his face, but he was wearing his Prosthetic. She sounded puzzled "This is not your face, this is cold and lifeless. It is not like you." She felt his hair and knew it to be a wig "Your hair is false as well." She declared.

Erik told her gently "Yes I wear a new sort of mask, and a wig, to hide my deformity." He glanced at Morgana. "Otherwise, I am far too hideous for anyone to gaze upon my face without rancor."

"I want to feel your face, please take them off. It is how I see. You will not deny me." She demanded.

He glanced over towards Morgana and insisted, "Only if your granddaughter leaves the room. I do not want her to see my face as it is. She would fear me."

Christine looked at Morgana "Come let us give them some privacy for a few minutes."

Erik turned to Christine "You have seen me, you are welcome to stay." He told her.

"No, I will let you and she talk, alone. I will be fine outside with Morgana for a few minutes. You have a lot to talk about."

Erik acknowledged her words "Yes you are right. But don't wander off too far, mon ange. I hope that you will accompany me back to the Chateau as well. We have more of the same 'business' to discuss on the way back.'"

"Of course, Erik. I will be back soon." Christine told him, with a knowing smile. She and Morgana left the cottage, leaving Mabrelle and Erik alone.

After the two women had left the cottage, Mabrelle turned back to Erik and smiled and observed, "I am so happy for you Erik, that you found such a sweet and beautiful young woman to love you. I was so worried that, if you had survived out there, that you would not ever find someone who could see beyond your face into your soul as I did."

Erik replied evenly, "Your fears were not unfounded. I was not so lucky in love, until now. I have spent most of my life as I did when I was a child, alone and unloved."

Mabrelle hissed "But that is not true Erik. You were never unloved. I loved you, as much as if you were my own. In some ways more, you needed my love. She would have loved you, as well, if she had not betrayed her own soul by becoming a completely different person than she used to be. She was once my dearest friend."

Erik looked at her with a puzzled frown on his face "Whom are you talking about? Who was she?"

Mabrelle ignored the question and ordered him, as if he were still a small child in her care. "Remove your mask and wig Erik. You still have not let me see you."

With anyone else he might have felt enraged or humiliated by her command, but Erik knew that she wanted to 'see him' and prove to herself he was who he claimed to be. It was her only way of doing so, and he did not mind. He did as she commanded. After he removed them, he gently reached for her hands and placed them in his. She smiled as she felt his face and head.

"You have endured a lot of pain." She told him, as if pronouncing judgment upon him. "I am sorry for that. You have a gentle and artistic soul. You have been forced to bear more pain than you ever should have. You were always a good boy. I told her that."

Erik looked at her in surprise "How do you know that?"

"When you are blind you must sharpen your other senses, touching and hearing especially. Surely you must remember that it was I who taught you how to see in the dark. How to feel other's thoughts and emotions, just by listening to them. You and I taught that skill to one another. For me, I had been forced to learn how to survive in the dark. For you, darkness became your friend. In the darkness you were able to hide your face from the cruel eyes of the world, and to find the freedom to unleash the music and beauty that had been trapped in your soul. As we explored together, your inventive mind was given full freedom to fly and see beyond the confines of the walls of ignorance that had sealed it in. If you could not see the limits of the physical walls of the basement suite, they could not imprison you, nor could she."

He looked at her questioningly "You keep referring to someone else as she. Who is she?"

Mabrelle gave him a peculiar look "Why your mother of course?"

"My mother! He exclaimed, "What does that witch have to do with any of it. She despised me."

Mabrelle turned towards his voice and told him "Well, yes she did, but she was not always like that, she changed. She became someone different than who she once was."

"Explain this to me, so that I might understand her better. Why did she despise me so? I was told that she has helped some deformed children, if so then do you know why?"

Mabrelle replied, " The situation was very complicated. Your mother was not always a bad woman. When we were young girls she was even my friend. But I think that your birth brought back guilty memories that she preferred to forget, and they brought out the worst in her."

"You speak in riddles Mabrelle, what are you trying to tell me?" He asked perplexed. "What do you know of my mother?"

"It is really no mystery at all, if you know what happened. I know everything about Maela. We have known one another all our lives, and she like you wore a mask of sorts. Yours was on the outside and hers was within but her mask did not hide the hideousness that she let in." She told him thoughtfully.

"What did it hide Mabrelle?" Erik asked. "How did she become what you say she was?"

Mabrelle sighed and then began to speak taking Erik back with her into the past "You see I had a twin sister named Morgana, like my granddaughter. Like you, Morgana had a facial deformity. One summer, she and your mother became very close, although her mother, your grandmother, did not approve of the friendship. They were very old fashioned and believed in all sorts of superstitions such as Nains, and fairies. They taught them to Maela, but she would have none of it. Most of the villagers were just like Maela's parents and shunned our family because of Morgana, but Maela would not." Mabrelle hesitated, as if deciding on what to tell Erik.

Erik looked at her, and ordered "Continue."

"Maela would pretend that she was only playing with other children, not us, and that she had nothing to do with Morgana. The truth was that they were closer to each other than then Maela was to me. They would run around, pulling pranks on both adults and other children, and then run away giggling. No one would ever see Morgana, Maela had made sure of that. When she was caught she would always take the blame and tell her parents or others that she acted alone. Morgana was good at disappearing, she could move around like a ghost. At other times, all three of us would sneak off to our secret place, among the dolmans on your estate, and the three of us would tell one another dark stories about fairies, and other such creatures. We would imagine what sort of creatures might have erected the dolmans; they were so mysterious. Morgana would make up ghost stories and share them with us. She was so imaginative. Her stories were so good that Maela and I were both convinced that when Morgana grew up that she would become a famous author." Mabrelle paused and her face took on a distant look.

Erik looked at her in concern "What is it?"

"It is hard for me to say. It was terrible." She told him.

"Please tell me." He urged softly.

"Well, as I said, my sister always stayed out of sight. The other kids in the village, were cruel and superstitious like their parents and would mock her and call her a names. They did not physically attack her, but their words were quite cruel. For the most part, she bore their behavior gracefully and with good humor. She cared little about the other children's opinions with the exception of Maela, and of course myself. Maela had always defied the other kids and stood up for Morgana, whenever she could, as long as she could keep her association with us from reaching her parent's ears. She was a tall girl compared to most of us, and she was every bit as strong and agile as some of the boys. She would threaten to hurt even some of the biggest boys, if they dared say a single mean word against Morgana."

Erik looked at her in disbelief. This was not his mother. It couldn't be.

"One day, the two of them pulled one of their pranks on one of the cruelest and most intolerant women in town. They planted a spider in her shoe and watched her scream. Her son saw them do it and they both were caught red handed. It was the middle of the day, in the heart of the village, so many people were out and about, including Maela's mother. When the woman saw my sister, she grew very angry, and told your grandmother that Morgana had clearly enchanted Maela with some sort of evil spell. Maela of course denied it and told the woman that she was an old witch but the woman was angry. She gathered a large crowd in the middle of town and accused Morgana of being a witch, and they began to stone her. Your grandmother pulled Maela away, but she tried to come to Morgana's aid anyways. Your grandmother grabbed Maela again, and told her that now she knew why she had been getting into so much trouble, and if she knew what was good for her she would distance herself from Morgana as well. She made Maela pick up a stone and throw it. She had tears in her eyes but she did it. It hit my sister in the arm, and your grandmother smiled. "Good girl Maela, that is what we do to demons. Your mother was, for the moment, pleased with Maela, she was not used to pleasing her parents. She wanted to please her even more, so she picked up a larger stone and hurled it right at my sister as hard as she could, this time drawing blood. She immediately was shocked at her own actions and covered her eyes in shame, as she could see Morgana cry. My sister felt very betrayed. You see she knew that the first stone was thrown because Maela had to do so, but the second one was purely malicious. She felt shocked and betrayed by your mother."

Mabrelle stopped speaking, she was overwhelmed by her emotions, but then continued, "My sister was not a bad girl; she was simply uninhibited and free spirited. None of their pranks ever caused anyone any real harm. They were simply meant to make people laugh. I accompanied them sometimes, but it was usually Morgana who thought them up and Maela who carried out the pranks. They were kindred spirits at the time, because they both enjoyed a good laugh."

Erik arched an eyebrow in disbelief "My mother used to laugh? This is an interesting story; but still what does it have to do with me? Other than the fact that your sister was like me, and that my mother betrayed her? I am not truly surprised that my mother would do that given all that she did to me," he asked impatiently.

"I am getting to it." Mabrelle replied. "Be patient child."

Then she continued. At the same time that it was happening, I ran home to get my parents to come to Morgana's aid. She was able to escape but not before the mob had broken several bones and she had a gnash on her face from where Maela had hit her with the stone. She might have died before I could get there with my parents, but for the intervention of young Charles de Rennes, your father. As the Vicomte he was already well respected by the townspeople. He ordered them to leave my sister alone, and then carried her back towards our house. Maela saw him rescue her friend and from that day forward Charles was her hero. Maela tried to come by to explain to Morgana that she had been forced to betray her, but Morgana would not listen. She had forgiven the first stone but not the second. She had seen something inside of your mother that she did not trust or approve of. She refused to forgive Maela, and turned her away. After that, Morgana was never the same. She withdrew from all of us into herself. She would not speak to anyone even me. A week later she went missing. We looked everywhere for her. After a time we found her dead; she had drowned herself in the river. Before she did so, she had left your sister a note, which she had placed on the dolman. Your mother found it, and it contained a curse "Maela, you too shall suffer, Judas."

"Your mother was beside herself with grief, she felt that she had caused all of it to happen by betraying Morgana. She felt that she should have defied her mother and stood up for her, as she had always done before. After that she was sent away to a strict convent school. Your grandfather was considered a gentleman and he wanted your mother to be brought up as a lady. It was felt that perhaps her exposure to my family had brought out her baser, less ladylike side, and so they sent her away to the school. The school was very strict and old fashioned. They would beat you if you disobeyed their rules and precepts. They believed, that to mortify your flesh for disobeying the rules would both frighten away evil spirits and purify your soul. Your mother did not ascribe to their ways, and she would beg her parents to let her stay home, but they would not relent. By the time that she finally returned home at the age of seventeen, most of the good humor and defiance had been beaten out of her. She was beautiful but she was an empty shell of who she had been. She and I remained friends but not as we once had been before my sister's unfortunate passing. She had basically forgotten that she had ever been close with Morgana, and went on with her life, she married your father and shortly thereafter became pregnant with you."

Erik looked at her bitterly "So then she decided to become as intolerable and despicable as her own parents, by taking it out on me, and on you as well?"

She shook her head no. "Not exactly. On the eve of your birth she found out that your father had been going to a bordello, and was particularly fond of one maid there, almost to the extent of obsession. It had been a hard pregnancy and she had been bedridden to begin with. Your father had neglected her a great deal due to his obsession. When she found out, she went into premature labor, and it took almost two days for her to deliver you. She asked me to stay with her throughout the process since we had once been such good friends. I happily complied. When you came out, she saw your deformity, and I heard her gasp in horror and repeat my sister's name. Your father remembered my sister's fate as well, and suggested that we smother you as a mercy to all. He did not want to see his child suffer the pain that Morgana had. He told Maela that they would have other children, and that we could just say that you were still born."

"I could see why my father would have felt that way, given what had happened to your sister", Erik admitted.

"As he was talking to your mother, I looked into your eyes and then, as if you knew what was going on, and disapproved, you looked back at me. I could see the raw intelligence staring back at me, and then you smiled. Your lips were deformed but still your smile was magnetic. You seemed to be begging me to intervene on your behalf. I turned to your mother and I told her what I had seen, and begged her to look into your eyes, before she did anything so drastic. I reminded her of her friendship with Morgana, and what a good person that Morgana had been, and she did as I said, and then looked into your eyes as well. She must have seen the same thing that I did, because told Charles to spare you. That it was God's will that she would bear him such a child and that they could not then turn away his gift to them, no matter what your appearance was."

Erik remarked sarcastically "Well she changed her tune after that. To her I was a gift from the Devil, not God."

Mabrelle ignored his outburst, and continued, "Right after that, she fell asleep. The poor girl was exhausted. She slept nonstop for three days, sometimes calling out my sister's name and apologizing to her in her sleep. When she woke up, the Maela that I knew, my good friend was completely gone, and was replaced by a stranger who I did not know. She had changed her mind and now wanted you dead. She claimed that she had come to realize that she was under an evil influence when you were born. But Charles told her that it was too late, that you had been baptized and therefore to kill you would be both a crime and a sin. He made her nurse you, and yet she wanted no part of you."

Erik remarked bitterly "A position that she fully embraced right up to the end."

Mabrelle continued, "One day I came to see her, and this new Maela looked at me with hatred in her eyes. She displayed no sign of being my old friend. She accused me of being a witch like my sister, and casting a spell on her with my eyes, which looked exactly like my sisters. I denied her accusations as foolishness. I begged her to search her own heart for the truth, but instead she accused me of using her guilt, to turn her away from God. I denied it, and told her that I had done no such thing. It was then that she went into a rage, left the room and returned and then she threw acid into my face, blinding me. After that, I could hear the guilt in her voice and she sought my forgiveness, over and over again. But I would not give it to her. She asked me what she could do to atone. I finally relented and told her to establish a charity for people like you and Morgana. For years she refused to do so, but after you disappeared, your father blamed her for everything and forced her to set one up."

"The doctor told me that she also sometimes helped with the children. Why?" Erik mused.

"I always wondered that myself. I would love to tell you that she did so for both you and for Morgana's sake, but the truth was most likely that she did not want anyone to believe that she was anything less than a good Christian woman. It was her charity and she could not be seen as to be anything less than kind and charitable. She had a reputation to uphold. I am sorry to hear that she is gone, but in reality she died a long time ago when she turned her back on who she used to be." Mabrelle told him. "If it makes you feel any better, I know for a fact that a part of her did care about you. She just could not ever bring herself to admit it."

Erik shot her an odd look "What do you mean?"

"Once, long after you were gone, she came to me and asked me whether I ever missed Morgana. I told her that of course I did. She then looked away from me tearfully and told me that those days with Morgana and I had been the best days of her childhood. She then asked me whether I believed that you still lived. I told her that I did, your spirit was too strong to crush. She told me 'I agree, I wanted to make sure that he had the fire in his spirit to withstand all the hardships that life could throw at him.' When I asked her what she meant, she shrugged and told me 'After all that I did, I could hardly afford to question my own actions. It is much easier for me to question his. For if I did not, then it would be me who had been the monster for all of these years, and I could not afford to carry that burden yet again, but he could, he carries the best of me inside of him. I saw it that day when you asked that I save him. I could not bear to see it and know what I had become. Your sister was right, I am cursed.'"

Erik looked at her in surprise "What do you think that she meant by that?"

Mabrelle looked at him and shrugged. "I don't know for sure, but I grow very tired, and I know that your lady-friend will be back in a minute. Would you do an old lady a favor and bring your son by some time to meet me? I have heard that he is quite a handsome boy."

Erik smiled "He is. Of course I will."

She looked pleased "Good, I am sure that he will remind me of you. Is he as smart as a whip like you are?"

Erik laughed "Smarter than me I believe." He bragged. "He carries the best of both Christine and I inside of him, and better yet he is not hideous, like me. The world will never shun him as they do me."

Mabrelle "You are not hideous child. When you are blind, as I am, you find that beauty does not reside on someone's face but rather in his or her spirit. I taught you how to see in the dark, so you must know that what I said is the truth."

"Of course." Erik replied softly, "I just have to remind myself of that at times.

Just then the door opened and Christine and Morgana returned.

Christine looked at Erik "Did you have a nice visit?"

He smiled "Of course. I learned a lot about the past. It was illuminating."

She replied, "I am so glad Erik. I had hoped that you would."

Mabrelle smiled at Christine "You must promise me that you will take good care of my boy. He deserves nothing less than that."

Christine replied, "I plan on doing so."

Erik asked Mabrelle "Is there anything that you need that would make your life easier. I can grant to you any wish that you desire. Whatever it is, it is yours for the asking. I am a wealthy man."

"Only that you be happy child." She told him.

Erik smiled good-naturedly and looked towards Christine "I think that I can manage that. But anything for you?"

She continued "I heard that you will be looking for servants to accompany you back to America. I know that Morgana would love to go there wouldn't you my dear?" she asked her granddaughter.

"I would, but I do not want to leave you." Her granddaughter replied.

"I would rather see you happy child, and what better place than with my Erik here and his lovely fiancé. Could she come back to America with you? She is a hard worker and very loyal." The old woman pleaded.

Christine replied "Why of course. She has been a great ladies' maid while I have been here. Erik and I would be honored to bring her home with us."

Morgana looked at Christine gratefully. "Thank you so much for the opportunity. I have always wanted to see the world."

Mabrelle smiled "Morgana is just like her namesake, my sister. She is a lively child full of love and good spirit. She would shrivel up and die here."

"We will treat her kindly, and she does not need to stay with us forever if she does seek adventure. There are many more men than women in the west and most of them would be quite happy to meet her and offer her a good life." Erik told her.

Morgana squealed with joy "Thank you, both of you. You will not regret it."

Erik replied gently, "You do not need to thank me child, it is I who owe your Grandmere a great deal. I would not be standing here, if it weren't for her."