Chapter Twenty-four

How Beautiful the Day Is!

Erik awoke to the sound of his bedroom door opening and Suzette's bare feet padding on the floor as she came to his side.

"Where are your shoes, young lady?" he demanded and she started and cried out with delight.

"Your awake!" she exclaimed and threw her arms around his neck in jubilation. He embraced her and they cried a little.

"Yes, I'm here, my little angel. You saved me and brought me home from the darkness. And Oh! How beautiful the day is!"

"You were asleep for so long, I was afraid that you had left me!" she scolded in a pouting voice. He took her by the shoulder and said sincerely, "I'm sorry for frightening you, my dear little girl. I was having such a lovely dream that I didn't want to wake up. What is the hour?"

"It's just before seven."

"Splendid! I have a whole day. Let's have some breakfast. You get it started and I'll get dressed."

"Are you sure that you're up to it?"

"Hurry up now," he said to her warmly and she left to start the tea.

A few minutes later, he came downstairs and insisted that they eat in the garden and out in the sunshine. Suzette was amazed. Erik hardly ever went outside unless he needed to, and never during the daylight. He wasn't even wearing his mask!

They sat in blissful silence for at least an hour. Erik enjoyed the sun and the wind on his skin and the sounds and aromas of the garden. He lay back in his seat and shut his eyes. Just when Suzette was beginning to wonder if he'd fallen asleep again he said to her with conviction, "I shall spend the day working on my opera."

"But Erik," she protested, "You will overdo yourself. You just got up from two days of feverish unconsciousness. Give yourself a few more days before you start to work or you'll kill yourself."

"There, there," he assured her lovingly, "I promise that I will be finished by supper time. Then I will come down and we will spend the rest of the evening together."

Suzette's eyes lit up and she shouted, "Oh! I'd nearly forgotten. My cousin, the Viscountess, is coming to visit us this evening, after suppertime. She called yesterday to see how we were getting along and I told her that you were still asleep. She promised that she would come back and visit tonight because she will be leaving Paris again tomorrow morning. She'll be so pleased to see you up, Erik." Erik clasped his hands together and laughed, a sound like a choir of angels.

"How perfect! She is coming to say good-bye! And you shall leave with her tonight." Suzette shook her head and said, "Not while you're so ill."

"Hush, now," he whispered, "I must start immediately if I am to finish by suppertime." With this, he rose, entered the house, and disappeared into the daisy room.

Around noon, Suzette cracked the door hesitantly and peeked in. She hadn't heard a note of song from the organ or the pianoforte all morning, so she had prepared him some tea as an excuse to enter the room and see what he was up to. Her eyes shot around the room until they located Erik, crouched in the corner and writing earnestly in his manuscript. She smiled with relief as she realized that he didn't need the organ; the music was already in his head. She began to back away from the door but Erik heard her and looked up suddenly.

"Come in, Suzette," he called to her and she entered sheepishly.

"I brought you some tea."

"Thank you."

"Are you doing well?"

"Quite well. I'll be finished just in time."

"And you aren't too tired?"

"Don't worry about me, my dear little girl. Run along now and thank you for the tea. Why don't you start packing your things and I'll see you at suppertime."

"I'm not leaving, Erik." He shook his head adoringly and said, "Very well Mademoiselle. Have it your way."

"I will," she informed him and left him to his work.

She walked absent-mindedly through the rooms of the house. She didn't understand why Erik thought that she should leave but she knew that she had no intention of doing so right then. She straightened the things in the house and re-straightened them. She found a book she had been wanting to read and sat by the clock in the storybook room. She couldn't pay attention and soon put it down. She went and found Othello and set him on her lap while she petted him. He was content for a few moments, but then heard something rustle and darted off toward the jungle room. She sat in the kitchen for the longest time, knocking her legs against the chair legs, but then decided that they would just have to have an early supper tonight, and fetched a pan and a jar of soup that Madame Colette had brought over when Suzette had told her that Erik wasn't feeling well.

Suzette heard Erik moving upstairs as she was pouring the soup for their supper. She listened with a concerned ear as he staggered from the daisy room to his bedroom. She came in behind him with the soup and saw him collapse into his bed. Once he was situated, she handed him a bowl as she teased him in a scolding voice, "Now you've done it. You've worn yourself out, dear sir, and you'll sleep right through the Viscountess' visit!" He stroked her hand warmly and said, "Yes, I'm exhausted but I finally finished it. My opera is done now and I can rest, but not just yet. It's not time."

"Well have some soup and take a nap before she comes and you'll feel better."

"I won't sleep just yet, Suzette. First, I must see Christine and I have something still to say to you."

"It can wait dear, you're exhausted." She pushed him back into his pillow and tried to get him to lie down.

"I am very tired, but a few more hours will make sleep seem all the more sweeter. Right now, I want to be with you." She relented and sat down on the bed beside him while they finished their soup. When they were through, she set the bowls aside and sat back down beside him.

"You want to know, don't you?" he asked suddenly. She stared at him and nodded. "You aren't too mad at me, are you? That I didn't tell you before? It wasn't that I didn't trust you, Suzette. It was only that I wanted to forget it. I was so happy with you in my life. With your love, I had become a human being. I somehow convinced myself that I could forget my past; the shadow that I used to be would disappear from the light that you shed on my life. But it didn't, and you saw it erupt from my soul with your own eyes." He paused here and she took his hand. She wanted him to tell her.

"It is a painful story, Suzette," he warned her.

"I will bear it with you." He held her tightly to him and began.