Chapter VII.

The baby finally calmed down after some weeks. She had 4 teeth by the time summer ended. As she stopped her mini concerts, Erik felt way better. However Christine realized Erik had way too much weight on his shoulders before, when she lay on the living room couch after she sprained her ankle in Erik's old home that night. She just saw what Erik is doing day by day and she felt a bit of ashamed as she felt she isn't helping him enough. He was taking care of the baby in the morning, took breakfast for Christine, kissed her, ran to work, returned in the evening, played with and nursed Mahtab again, then he either made or brought dinner, he ate, did the washing up, tidied the house, then sat down beside Christine. At the end of the day he just collapsed in the armchair next to the couch and she could instantly hear him drift away. He fell asleep the second he got seated.

Of course, Christine did most of the housework when she could walk normally, but it somehow turned out that Mahtab was nearly always Erik's to take care of, and well, such a small baby needs a lot of caretaking. He was left alone with her so that he will like her more, as Christine thought, and she enjoyed to watch them together. And within time, he got such a routine in taking care of a baby that Christine could not stop being amazed by it. Some months before Erik did not even dare to touch the baby as he was afraid he will hurt or drop her, but in those days he changed her diapers and bathed her just as he was doing it in all his life.

When she finally could walk without pain, Christine took more part in nursing the baby, and she decided she will do things that Erik used to do for himself before, to make his life easier. One morning Erik woke up to her carrying a cup of hot tea to the bed for him, and gently kissing his cold bony cheek to wake him up.

- Am I late? – He sat up nervously, desperately searching for his pocket watch.

- No, my dear. – She smiled and laughed a bit. – I just let you sleep in a bit today. But don't worry, I cleaned your shoes and ironed your shirt for you.

- Thank you, my treasure. – He smiled a bit embarrassedly. – But you should not have troubled yourself over Erik.

He always reacted this way when Christine did something for him, while he constantly did this to Christine. He took breakfast to bed many times for her, he treated her like a princess and watched each of her wishes. He thought it was something that Christine deserved, especially after such a selfless act of marrying him, the monster, but he did not feel himself worthy of such kindness and thoughtfulness – he, as an old bachelor, was used to taking care of himself, and he would say "I did not marry you so I have a maid, Christine… Erik is capable of looking after himself…" - It made him happy and touched in a way, but he rather felt uncomfortable and too much spoiled if this happened.

He left the house relaxed and happy because of this kind gesture and as he got to sleep more on that day. Even that half an hour did help. As he arrived home, instead of the usual "mess" (he would think two plates left on the dining table a mess he had to clean up that instant), he found the house in a perfect condition and Mahtab nice and clean, which did not really happen since the baby's birth, and there was a box of his favorite cigars on the desk in his study (Erik did not smoke on a regular basis, but from time to time he enjoyed a good cigar, especially if he was very tired or anxious, it helped him to relax and forget about the bothering thoughts.) He had to smile. He looked on the calendar to make sure it wasn't their wedding anniversary already. A sudden uncomfortable feeling got nested in his heart that he had forgotten about it, but thank God, it wasn't until the next week.

The 13th August 1881 was their wedding day, and its anniversary fell on a Friday in 1886. Erik always thought every 13th of any month to be his lucky day, especially since their wedding, but this anniversary was double special. Friday the 13th was miserably unlucky for other people, but it was always Erik's favorite day of the year. He liked it because everyone else loathed it – he had a habit of finding everything unpopular to be his favorite thing ever.

Christine had mixed feelings about their wedding anniversaries during their marriage so far.

On their wedding day she didn't know if she was dead or alive, but she most certainly wasn't a happy and excited bride. Back then she only felt that she "owed" Erik this wedding day, she "had to" and eventually will love him. She would have hoped so, at least. After he released her with Raoul and showed her how much he really loved her, she thought, the only way to repay him and show love he deserved was to marry him. After she told this to Raoul, he got so angry and threw a bad tantrum, not even better than Erik back in his jealousy fits. They had a nasty fight in which Raoul stated that Christine "has to marry him after all the mess he went through just to save her from that monster.", and after he found out his brother, Philippe disappeared as well, and later, found dead, he blamed Christine for the happenings. It hurt her like coal squeezed right into her heart… at first Raoul calling Erik a monster… then all the things he called her as well… a murderer, a troublemaker… he told her he had been there with her through thick or thin… and accused Christine of betrayal and told her his brother, Philippe had been right about they should have never met in their lives, to begin with. "If I didn't go to the Opera that night, my poor brother would still be alive."

His bitter words echoed in her ear and heart and she did the only thing she found correct: she left and married Erik. She never told her husband what the Viscount did exactly say. She was afraid for his safety as she was sure Erik would search for him and called him on a duel or just simply kill him.

On that bright sunny day at the Madeleine, she did not even hear the ceremony, or any of Erik's mass. He composed one for them that was played on their wedding, but she did not remember a note of it. Her heart still ached for Raoul and she was afraid of what will follow this unusual wedding. Erik, even though that was all he wanted, did not really seem to be happy at all, either. He stood next to Christine as he was just tossed there, and he did not kiss her, just imitated a theatrical kiss, and then turned his head away from her as fast as possible. As he later admitted, he did not DARE to. He did not believe that was really happening and did not want to scare Christine away.

However strange and unpleasant the actual wedding was for both of them, and the few months that followed, the first anniversary was something they both remembered back with happiness. As time passed, Christine learned to love Erik, and each and every anniversary became better than the one before.

That fifth one that came, and the first with Mahtab in their lives, turned out to be special, but not the way Erik would expect and want it to be.

He planned to sneak out in the morning, before Christine wakes up, to bring her flowers… thousands of flowers. He always gave Christine all the flowers possible he could buy, just as back on the night of their first meeting when he took her down to his house. Christine, now actually had to laugh every time she recalled Erik's skeletal form, dressed in his finest evening clothes, in the middle of those mountains of flowers. This memory just repeated itself on every wedding anniversary they had – she just laughed when she walked out to the living room to find those flowers again and again.

So he wanted to buy flowers after he tidies the baby. But when he picked her up, he instantly had a feeling something wasn't all right this time. The usual coldness of the baby was gone, and she was rather warm. Not even warm. She was HOT.

Fever… She was feverish!

Erik panicked. He suddenly felt his heart sinking with fear, and held the baby with trembling hands. He recalled the night of Mahtab's birth, and his thoughts about the newborn, before he went to sleep that night: "There are so many children's disease … smallpox, diphtheria, sudden infant death syndrome… "Guilt and self-loathing gripped his heart like a strong hand, and it did not want to let it go. His throat closed up, he felt dizzy…

Now will God really take her? It is his fault. Only his fault. Why did he have to think this way? Why could he not love her from the beginning? A monster like him does not even deserve a child… whatever that said child may or may not look like, by the way… he gets it because he could not love her from the moment of her birth. He deserves it very much, as he deserves every bad thing that happens to him… but Mahtab does not deserve to pass away, especially not at such a young age…

But after some minutes, he finally calmed down a bit. No, he should not panic. He has to measure her temperature at first. Not each and every feverish child dies…

He shut his emotions off, he only concentrated to the problem itself, and the solution. He examined Mahtab, even though it wasn't an easy job with a less than one year old baby. You could so easily tell a bigger child to stay still and open her mouth… "Why aren't you some older…?" – He thought. Finally he could see her throat was red. Sure she had some sort of cold. He did not really like the thought, but checked her lack of nose as well. Yes, it was now obvious, she had a cold.

- You chose just the most accurate time to fell ill, my little monster. – He sighed and headed to the bathroom to cool down his little one's tiny body.

When Christine woke up, she smiled in advance for the many acts of love she was going to find during the day. She yawned and lazily turned to her side to check the clock on the mantelpiece. It was half past seven. She did not want to get up too early, not to ruin her husband's surprise for her, but Erik usually finished by this time, so she decided to get up and prepare herself for the day.

She wanted to look just as elegant as Erik must be, so she put her finest clothes on, and combed her hair to a perfect and fashionable hair-do. But as soon as she stepped out of the bedroom in her full glory, she saw nothing special. She entered the drawing room, but it was empty and there were nothing to celebrate the special day – no flowers, no wine, not even a note from Erik.

Did he just forget it and left? How on Earth could he forget this important date? Sure, Erik was a bit of a scatter-brain sometimes, especially if he was composing or working hard on some blueprints, or examining static reports of some building, but it never happened before that their wedding anniversary escaped his mind. A bit of disappointedly she sat down in an armchair and suddenly heard Mahtab's cry.

- The baby! – She jumped up nervously – God, I forgot about her…

"What a selfish little thing am I… I blame Erik for forgetting about our day, when I forget about something much more important…" – this was running through her mind while she was heading towards the nursery to check on the baby when she suddenly stopped from utter surprise.

She saw Erik standing beside the cradle, worriedly, and putting a tiny wet cloth on the baby's small forehead. He did not wear anything special, he was only in rolled – up shirt sleeves, without a mask or a fake nose. He was gently rocking the cradle, softly humming the Peasant's choir from Nabucco.

- Erik… what has happened? – She approached them with growing fear.

- The child has a fever, my dear. Nothing serious though, only a medium case of nasal infection that is slowly going down to her throat.

- So…?

- She has a cold, to be simple. We'd better get used to it, my dear, Erik also had the misfortune to be constantly sick with his "nose" and ears in his childhood. I could have expected the same with my daughter. I just can hope her ear isn't hurting. Too bad she cannot tell it yet.

- Were you sick often as a baby?

- Yes, dear, to be honest, I still am, from time to time. There are years I am fine, but in some years Erik tends to catch a cold even before he gets cured from the previous one he already caught.

- Do you need me here?

- Oh thank you, my sweet Christine, but Erik is taking care of the situation. I am sorry I could not go out and make preparations but once she feels a bit better, Erik shall make up for it and spoil his sweet wife. – He smiled.

- Don't worry about this my dear. – Christine smiled back at him, and left the room with a sudden idea.

She did not let the worry for her child to lay on her soul for the day. She decided if Erik can't go out and surprise her… then she should be the one to surprise HIM!

Erik spent a day full of worry and nursing a whiny little nose-less monster. He had to bathe her in cooler water several times to make her fever go down, he fed her that ended up the baby food all over him, the child and the room, because of the baby's sneezing and stuffed nose constantly was bothering her with eating, he had to carefully clean the baby's nose in every few minutes… How he loathed the process even for himself… But that day, he only prayed that Mahtab will feel better as soon as possible. Not because of the inconveniences her sickness might cause – but because he did not like to see his beloved little one suffer. Even though he knew that the baby will be all right, and it was the first time it got sick, and that he will see her sick many more times in her life, it was still painful to see her that way. Such a helpless little thing, yearning for love and comfort…

When the baby finally fell asleep and her temperature was better than during the day, Erik wiped his forehead with his handkerchief and decided to spend some time with Christine. As he tidied himself, rolled down his sleeves and put on his tailcoat and a bow tie to be a suitable companion for Christine, he smelled something very delicious. He hadn't eaten the whole day, and to be honest, he was a bit of hungry. He walked to the dining room where he found his beautiful wife in perfect clothes and with nicely done hair, with a bottle of great Tokay wine and freshly prepared meal. There was a big bouquet of red rose on the center of the table, and she was smiling at him so kindly.

- Christine… - He swallowed from being too touched and hungry at the same time.

- Come here, my dear Erik, dinner is ready. – She smiled.

- I… thank you, Christine… - He sat down with his hands shaking from great excitement.

They had a great time together, looking back at memories they shared and having a delicious dinner Christine made herself. Five years together and now, they even have a child. Can it be any better? After dinner and some time to talk they went to the music room to sing together for a time. Christine missed the stage, and loved to sing with Erik anyway. They sang love duets and were happier than ever before. But the surprise did not end for Erik yet. Christine stepped behind his back as he sat at the piano, and gently kissed the top of his head. She leaned closer to his ear and said:

- Do you know what you get from me?

- Does Erik get something from his sweet wife… anything else? – He turned to face her, with partly childishly curious, partly guilty expression.

- Yes, you do. – Christine took a box out from under a piles of sheet music on one of the shelves. – Open it, Erik. – She gave it to him like an excited child on Mother's Day, and examined Erik's every movement as he untied the ribbon and lifted the top of the box off. He seemed to be real curious about its contents.

He rarely got a gift in all his life and since he was with Christine, he always got something for his Birthday (quite rare occasion it was though), for Christmas and for their anniversary. It filled him with so much happiness he could not even imagine before. As he saw what was in the box he let out a joyful, high – pitched scream, just like a boy who finally got that set of toy soldiers he was eyeing in the storefront of the toy shop for months. They were the cutest things he ever saw. They were so personal, he could not find the correct words to thank them. They were treble clef shaped cuff-links made of silver. He instantly changed the ones he currently wore to the new ones and could not stop staring at his hands for a while. He only lifted his head to Christine's giggle.

- Oh, darling… how could Erik thank you for this precious gift? This is going to be his favorite pair… how did you find them, my love?

- It was the hand of fate, my dear. Actually I saw them quite a while ago and I just waited for the perfect occasion to give them to you.

- Thank you dear… but…. Erik is sorry… he wanted to go get something for you, but… he couldn't… you see. – He lowered his head in shame but he suddenly felt a hand on his bony shoulder.

- Erik, you already gave me a gift today.

- What?

- You proved that you loved our daughter and took care of her so wholeheartedly all day. It show me how you feel for her and just seeing you two together was the biggest gift for me.

He did not say anything else, just hugged his wife tight, but in his mind he decided she will get something precious for their anniversary as soon as he can leave the house to buy her the perfect gift- just as perfect as his living wife was.