Chapter 63
Alexandre was awake before sunrise. It seemed he had inherited my erratic sleep schedule, and I expected as soon as I was fully conscious, Alex would voluntarily take his nap with no protest.
Despite not knowing it was Christmas Day, Alex was on his best behavior. He woke calling my name, ate his breakfast with no protest, and played quietly in the parlor until he heard Meg.
Now that my son was mobile, there was no stopping him. The moment he heard Meg step out of her room humming to herself, he climbed to his feet and took off running before I could catch him.
"May, May, May!" he called.
"My little love." She kissed him several times. "Let's see if your father minds me stealing you for a moment."
I sat forward in my chair and pretended to take great interest in paper as Meg walked through the doorway. In my haste to seem preoccupied, I failed to realize the paper was upside down.
"Monsieur." Meg tapped on the door frame and Alex did the same, grinning wildly when he saw me look up.
I made no attempt to turn the paper right-side up. "Madame."
Meg stared at a distant point over my shoulder. "I had gifts for Alex. If you would not mind, I would like to see him open them."
I nodded. "Of course."
"I could bring his gifts in here if you would like," she meekly said.
"Cadeaux?" Alex asked. His dark eyes grew wide and he grabbed Meg's face to make her look at him. He pointed at himself and smiled. "Moi?"
"Yes, gifts for you."
Alex gave an over-exaggerated gasp and covered his mouth. I suppose given his parentage I should have expected his dramatic flare, but still his response made me chuckle.
Meg's eyes flashed to me, then back to Alex. "You will have to stay here for one moment while I grab the boxes," she told him.
Alex did not like the idea of staying behind one bit. As soon as Meg placed him on the floor, he took off out of the parlor and down the hall yelling cadeaux repeatedly.
"Who has gifts?" Madeline asked. "You do? Wait, Alex, you cannot open this in the hall. No, you must hand it back. Oh, you are something else."
Her words were followed by a high-pitched scream as she hurried into the parlor with Alex running at her heels with his hands reaching out to the box in his grand-mere's arms.
Once Madeline saw me at my desk, she straightened and cleared her throat. "That is enough, Alexandre," she said.
"What is in the box?" I asked.
"Do not open it without me!" Meg yelled.
Meg appeared in the doorway just as Alex plucked the box from Madeline's arms. The box was nearly as big as my son, and the moment his hands clasped the edges, he fell backward and found himself sitting with the box on his lap.
He grinned as he pulled off the lid, stood, removed his gift, and proceeded to sit inside of the box and place the lid back on top.
"Alex!" Madeline gasped. "What are you doing?" She groaned as she bent and picked up the zoetrope from the floor and set it onto my desk.
Alex failed to notice the generous gift moved to a safer location as he tumbled out of the box and placed the lid on top.
"He's going to stand on top of it," I remarked.
Before I finished speaking, he attempted to do just that before Meg swept him up and sat him in the nearest chair. "Why don't you open this and then we can see how the zoetrope works?"
He nodded, nearly catching her in the shoulder with his head as his whole body tipped forward.
Meg placed two smaller boxes on his lap and kissed his forehead. He motioned for her to lean forward so that he could return the gesture before he pulled off the lid of the first and smiled at the contents. There was a soldier in each box, shiny and new and perfect to bang against one another.
He was truly spoiled beyond all reason by the two people who adored him. I was glad he was preoccupied with the soldiers and had a new toy atop my desk that would certainly dazzle him for hours on end. Being that I did not leave my home to browse shops, I had nothing for my own son. While I could have ordered something garish from a catalog, I hadn't thought of it until it was far too late. Delivery took weeks and I had not considered ordering a gift for his October birthday back in August.
Of course, he was only fourteen months old and far too enamored with his new gifts and Meg kneeling before him to do more than glance in my direction. His face lit up as he placed the toys back into the box, replaced the lids, and opened them again. With his head tilted back, he laughed as though it were the single most amusing moment in his life.
Madeline moved to stand beside me. She placed her hand on my shoulder briefly before apparently changing her mind and taking a small step away. I made an effort to keep my gaze averted from her, to keep myself from meeting her eye.
I wondered if she thought less of me for not showering my son with gifts on his birthday and Christmas. It didn't matter if she thought less of me; I thought less of myself.
"Erik," Madeline said.
I turned just as she held out a long box about the size and shape of a picture frame to me. Once I took it from her, I turned to hand it to Alex.
"No, that's not for him," Madeline corrected. I looked up and found Madeline smiling at me. "It's for you."
"Wh...why?" I asked.
She shook her head. "Because it's Christmas."
I set the box on the desk and rubbed my palms against my thighs. "I have nothing," I said quietly, hoping Meg and Alex would not hear me.
"Not true," Madeline replied, her tone matching mine.
Beside the first box, she placed two more.
"What is this?" I asked.
"Alex? Would you help give everyone the gifts you bought them?" Madeline asked. "Then we will draw the curtains and show you how the pictures light up the room with this."
She gave the zoetrope a spin and Alex slid out of the chair. He peered over the desk, tiny hands grasping the edge. He was too short for me to see more than the top of his head and his dark eyes, but I could tell by the way the corners of his eyes creased that he was grinning.
He came around to the side of the desk, pulled himself up into my lap, and grabbed the nearest box to him. "May," he said, waving her forward only to throw the box toward her.
Next he shoved a box toward Madeline, and lastly he pointed at the remaining gift and looked back at me.
"You are such a good helper," Meg praised as she switched her box with mine and kissed Alex on the top his head. "What did you get me?"
Alex shrugged and held his hands up before impatiently urging everyone to open their gifts.
Madeline had a new pair of gloves perfect for the cold weather, Meg a locket containing a lock of Alex's hair, which immediately caused her to burst into tears, and my box, which Alex opened, revealed a leather bound book on Atlantis.
"Open it," Madeline suggested.
Between the cover and the first page was a piece of paper with several slashes and what could only be described as stabs of a pen nib to the page.
"Alex composed a song for you," Meg said before I could ask. "He worked very hard on it."
"I can tell," I answered. I ran my fingers over his attempts at notes. Given his age, he made impressive attempts at imitating how I wrote, which I assumed was due to more than a little help by Meg.
Alex reached into the box and grabbed a handful of chocolates wrapped in cellophane and proceeded to unwrap one and shove it into his mouth. The rest he attempted to hide beneath the desk.
"You are a wonderful composer and a terrible thief," I said to him. Once I held out my hands, he dropped the rest of the chocolates into my palm and smiled deviously. "Thank you for the music. I will play it for you tonight."
Madeline excused herself for a box of matches to light up the zoetrope while Meg settled into the chair previously occupied by Alex.
"The check," Meg said suddenly.
I looked up at her but didn't speak.
"Would you mind if I wrote it for fifty francs?"
"I would," I answered. Alex removed himself from my lap and returned to Meg. He grabbed hold of her skirt in one hand and the arm of the chair with the other and practically climbed up her.
"Oh," Meg said as she turned her attention from me to Alex.
"Five hundred is the very minimum I would give to a new bride and groom," I answered.
She blinked at me. "That is far too much."
"Give whatever you do not wish to keep to charity," I suggested as I moved the zoetrope back and forth and examined the repeated images inside. On the top was a ballerina spinning as the toy moved while on the bottom a lion jumped through a hoop. "After your rent is paid, cupboards filled, furniture provided for your new home…"
She looked tiny with Alex on her lap, tiny and helpless as the small girl I was accustomed to seeing in her mother's apartments at the Opera House. I doubted I ever smiled at her more than once or twice. Most of the time I simply avoided looking in her direction as I hated seeing her draw back, a doll hugged to her chest as she sat on her bed. For years I completely left her alone only to have her react the same way each time our paths crossed. Fear. Always fear.
And now she lived in my house and took care of my son, all the while avoiding me as much as possible.
"Do you have the check with you?" I asked.
Meg immediately pulled it from her skirt pocket and leaned forward to hand it to me. I pulled out my jar of ink and pen from the desk drawer, wrote an amount I knew Meg would find absolutely absurd, and blew on the fresh ink until it seemed suitably dry. Once I was satisfied, I placed the check into an envelope and handed it back.
"Should...should I open it now?"
"No," I answered flatly.
Meg examined the envelope for a moment. "If we should one day return to Paris," she said slowly.
Alex held up a chocolate and I realized he must have somehow hidden one from me. My eyes narrowed as I studied him, both impressed and a little annoyed with his apparent stealth.
Meg absently unwrapped the chocolate and took a small bite before feeding my son the rest. "I mean to say, if Charles and I ever decided to return to Paris, perhaps to visit or stay a while..."
"Your mother would be thrilled," I said. "And so would Alex if you fed him chocolates before eight in the morning."
She looked at me then, her blue eyes wide as she looked from me to Alex and saw him grinning. "I wasn't thinking," she mumbled. "But as I was saying, if we lived close, perhaps I could be of some service," she ventured.
"Service?"
Meg shrugged, clearly flustered by her unfinished thought. "It was merely a thought."
Alex asked Meg for more candy as he licked his chocolate covered lips. His face looked as though he had been dipped into a bowl of chocolate.
"No more," she told him. "And no kisses until we clean you off."
Alex gave his best frown before he slid off her lap and ran to find Madeline, most likely to clean his face.
"Alex will require a tutor," I said as I continued to toy with the zoetrope. It was merely a distraction, but an interesting and well-crafted one at that. These types of toys were somewhat expensive from what I had seen in catalogs and I wondered how much it had cost.
"I am not much of a tutor," Meg answered apologetically.
"Perhaps your husband would be interested."
The slightest of smiles played at the corners of her mouth, growing into a grin she could not contain. "I will speak to Charles, but I am certain he would like that very much."
"If he is not occupied with lecturing at universities and would spare a moment for Alex," I added.
Meg's face darkened. "I'm afraid he cannot teach at the universities," she answered. "Not without climbing the stairs to reach one of the classrooms. Unless he heals..."
Her voice trailed away and tears filled her eyes. She looked away and took a deep breath.
"I pray for a miracle I know will never happen," she whispered. "Tutoring would be a blessing."
Her voice sounded hollow, as though she had forced herself to say the words in hopes of convincing herself that it was true.
"I will only accept the finest tutoring for my son," I said sternly. "I trust you understand completely."
"Of course, Monsieur." Meg sat up straighter and laced her fingers together in her lap. Her attempt at formality was betrayed by the smile on her face. Normally it was Alex who brought her joy, but for the first time since I had known Meg, she smiled genuinely at me.
"Of course, Madame."
She blushed and stood to draw the curtains. A moment later Madeline returned with Alex holding her hand. "Why on earth are the matches on the very top shelf?" she huffed. "I looked in every single kitchen drawer."
"The other box is in the foyer," Meg said. She gave an exasperated sigh, which Alex imitated down to the shake of his head and hands on his hips. He returned to the parlor much cleaner than he had left. "You put them there."
Madeline waved off her daughter's words. "I will not argue on Christmas Day," she said. "Hold onto Alex so he does not burn himself."
Madeline lit the candle in the center of the zoetrope, shut the parlor door to darken the room, and Meg showed Alex how to spin his new toy. The ballerina danced, the lion jumped through the hoop, and Alex sat mesmerized by the lights and shadows filling the room. He squealed while Meg sang some nursery rhyme and Madeline stood with her hand on my shoulder. I reached up without thinking and grasped her hand.
"You did all of this, didn't you?" I asked as I looked up at her. Despite all of the years living in Paris, she had held fast to her English roots. Alex was quite fortunate to receive much more than the traditional shoe full of sweets and small toys. He was truly treated like royalty.
Madeline settled her gaze on my son and her daughter. "Of course not. It was Father Christmas," she corrected with a sly smile.
With her free hand she slid a small plate in front of me and I looked down, eyes wide in the dark. The breath in my lungs stilled as I immediately recognized the pastry Madeline had once brought me for my birthday and Christmas each year. The honey cake was not much, but it was the first gift I had ever received from anyone.
I started to say something, but Madeline met my eye and smiled. "That is from me."