Chapter Summary: Christine gifts her daughter with special jewels for a night out. Annalise and Gustave enjoy an evening with Andrew and Katherine. And Andrew has a question for Annalise.
Author's Note: For Mom & Dad & the sapphire necklace. You are loved and missed.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
"Oh, mademoiselle," Rachel exclaimed as she stepped back to admire her handiwork, "you look so lovely."
Annalise turned to look at herself in the mirror behind her. She smiled at her reflection for it was a different person who stared back at her than had been there just the day before; the naive girl was gone, replaced by a wiser, wistful young woman. Her dark hair was pulled up to the top of her head with a few curls coaxed to frame her face and trail down her neck. The dark blue silk of her gown matched her eyes and made a gentle swooshing sound when she walked.
"So this is what I would have looked like as an adult," Annalise whispered. She mentally shook herself, trying to chase away the thought.
There was a knock at the door and Rachel went to open it. Christine stood in the doorway, a large blue velvet box in her hands.
"May I come in?" she asked.
"Maman," Annalise smiled as she walked over to Christine, "you do not even need to ask!"
Christine stared at her daughter, reaching out a hand to touch her cheek. "You look beautiful," she sighed as she took Annalise's hand, leading them to the bed where they sat. "I have a gift for you," Christine said as she opened the box she held.
"Oh!" Annalise exclaimed. "They are exquisite." She looked at her mother. "I do not think I have ever seen them before."
"Turn around, child," Christine said as she lifted a small necklace of sapphires in the shape of teardrops from their velvet bed to place around her daughter's throat. "I do not think I have worn these since just after Jean-Paul was born. They were your father's gift to me on the day we married." Christine handed the drop earrings and bracelet to her daughter as she tucked two matching flower-shaped clips in Annalise's hair. "He said he was taking the tears from my eyes and giving them back as precious jewels so that I could wear them in happiness."
Annalise turned back to her mother. "Maman ..."
"No tears," Christine told her. "No more tears. Enough tears have been shed over the last few days and I would have no more. Tonight, I want you to go and be young and happy." A cloud passed over Christine's expressive eyes. "And safe. Promise me you shall be safe."
Annalise touched the jewels around her throat, their color and sparkle matched by her eyes. "If I go guarded by the love you and Father share, how could I not be?"
Mother and daughter embraced. Christine finally drew back, stood and took her daughter's hand raising Annalise to her feet. "Come, I want to see the expression on your father's face when he sees you." She managed a smile. "And no skipping down the stairs. Slowly, please."
"Slowly," Annalise agreed.
Christine led her daughter out of the bedroom and to the top of the stairs. She motioned for Annalise to stay just out of sight and walked down the stairs to where her husband and family waited.
Gustave was looking at his watch. "Please tell me she is ready?" he pleaded.
Christine turned and looked back up the stairs. "Annalise," she called lightly.
Annalise turned the corner and stood for a moment at the top of the stairs, a vision in midnight blue from her slippers to the sapphires winking in her dark curls. Her dress was cut very low across her chest allowing the sapphires at her throat to gleam brightly against her fine skin but not as brightly as her blue eyes.
"Fairy!" Bertrand called out as he bounced in Therese's arms. His mother shushed him with a smile.
Raoul stood at the bottom of the stairs, his hand extended and drew Annalise into his arms when she reached the last stair. "This is the daughter I know," he whispered to her as he drew back to smile at her. "You are lovely." He reached out to touch the jewels about her neck, sighing. "I had not thought to see these again. Your mother said she did not need them after your brother was born because there would be no more tears." Raoul looked deeply into his daughter's eyes. "But tonight they look more like the stars than tears." He kissed her lightly. "Go and be happy, my dear," he said.
Christine watched them, smiling inwardly, knowing she had made the right choice in removing the boxed jewels from where they had rested, nearly forgotten, in the back of a wardrobe.
"Can she say her good-byes so we can go?" Gustave could not wait to escape the confines of the family home.
"You were ever an impatient, child," his mother told him.
"I do want to go," Annalise said in a small voice, a half-smile on her face.
So good-byes were said, promises were extracted to be vigilant and safe and Raoul saw his son and daughter safely into the coach. He nodded slightly at the groom sitting next to the driver and watched as the man drew his coat back to reveal the gun at his hip. Raoul lightly tapped on the side of the coach and watched as it drove down the long drive and out towards Paris.
"Oh God," he heard his wife say - a cross between a cry and a prayer.
Raoul walked back to the front door and guided Christine back inside, latching the door shut behind them. "Shall I sit up with you till they get home?"
"You know they are going to sit up till we get home," Gustave said as the carriage stopped at the end of their drive before turning onto the broad avenue that led to Paris.
"This I know," Annalise replied and turned to look out the open window, inhaling deeply. "But right now all I want is to forget the last few days and just pretend that everything was like it used to be." She turned to look at her brother. "Can we do that just for tonight? Please?"
Gustave settled back against the seat cushions. "I would like nothing better," he said as he found a comfortable position and turned to look out the other window, watching as Paris drew ever nearer.
It took the best part of an hour to reach the American embassy in the northwest corner of the city. The white brick building was brightly lit and carriages passed through the gates, dropping people off. Annalise looked out her window and sighed wistfully at the sight of the Place de la Concorde with its statues and fountain. She caught a glimpse of the Seine glittering under the full moon just before the carriage passed through the gate. Their driver stopped in front of the embassy and the coach door was opened by a footman in black livery. Gustave stepped out and extended a hand to his sister. He took her arm and guided her through the front door as their coach moved away to make room for the next arrival.
"Oh, you did come!" Abigail Norris, the ambassador's wife exclaimed as Annalise and Gustave passed through the reception line. "Andrew and Kitt will be so pleased."
"Thank you," Annalise smiled at her.
"Happy birthday, sir," Gustave said as he shook William's hand.
"Thank you," the ambassador replied and leaned forward in a slightly conspiratorial manner. "I think if you go down the hallway to the right and take the first door to your left, you will find my young cousins waiting for you and your sister." He smiled as Annalise extended her own greetings and watched, as she was lead down the hallway he had mentioned. "She is quite lovely, isn't she?" he remarked to his wife.
"What door was it?" Annalise asked as she followed her brother.
"The first one on the left," he told her as he stopped, reaching in to turn an elaborately carved doorknob. Gustave led Annalise into what appeared to be a reception room of some type. Two blonde heads looked up as the door was opened.
"Annalise!" Katherine squealed as she rose to her feet, crossing the small room and meeting Annalise halfway across.
"Katherine! How I have missed you!" Annalise exclaimed as the two young women embraced.
Their brothers were a bit more dignified.
"How have you been?" Andrew said as he shook Gustave's hand.
"It is a long story," Gustave told him. "How was your trip?"
"I accomplished everything I set out to do," Andrew replied.
"Where have you been these last days?" Katherine wondered as she and Annalise sat on an overly cushioned love seat.
Gustave and Andrew sat opposite them. Annalise looked to her brother. "Quietly," he told her, "and in English."
Andrew and Katherine sat in amazed silence as their friends related the events of the last several days from the arrival of the sheet music through the true story of what had occured at the opera house. Katherine, knowing the truth of the strange man Annalise had met in the country, reached out for her friend's hand and held it lightly. She felt Annalise move her fingers and knew that no one besides herself was fully aware of what had happened during that visit to the country.
"I am so glad they let you come tonight!" Katherine said as the story was finished.
"So are we," Gustave assured her. "Our home was turning into a veritable grave."
"Don't say that!" Annalise told him. "Please, don't say that."
"I am sorry," her brother apologized. He turned to look at Andrew. "See what happens when you are confined to a single place? You turn into a blathering idiot."
"I have seen you when you were a blathering idiot. This is not one of those times," Andrew assured him. He turned to smile at the two girls. "I think, though, that it is time for pleasurable things. Food and drink and music await us." He walked to the door, opening it and bowing slightly. "Shall we?"
"One minute?" Katherine asked.
"They are going to whisper," Andrew stated.
"They can whisper all they want but we must stand by the door," Gustave told him and looked at his sister. "We will not listen," he assured her.
"You do not think ..." Katherine whispered to Annalise.
"It has to be," Annalise whispered back, closing her eyes. "Who else could it be? It would explain so very much! I wrote to him, just before the rose came, telling him of what had been happening." She opened her eyes. "I even sent him my locket. Oh God; what have I done, Katherine?"
"But the man you told me about does not sound like the type of person who would do such horrible things!"
"That is what I thought, at first, but now I do not know." Annalise felt the tears threatening to start again. "He tried to kill my father! He has my mother so terrified that she wants to keep me a prisoner in my own home." Annalise gripped her friend's hands. "All of this is my fault! If I had not met him in the woods that day ..."
"Don't," Katherine told her. "You cannot know for certain that it is him."
"Are the two of you going to talk the evening away or would you rather enjoy the party?" Gustave wanted to know.
Annalise reached up to wipe away the tears at the corners of her eyes. She managed a weak smile at Katherine.
"We would like to enjoy ourselves, please," Katherine said.
Andrew extended a hand towards the two girls. "Then let us waste no more time."
The food, the music, the crowd all helped to chase away - for however brief a time - the shadows that hung over Gustave and Annalise. There were friends to greet, gossip to be told, laughter to be shared. There was wine to chase away internal shadows and music to lift up the spirits. The hours passed by in a heady, joyful whirl of glittering crystal, bright, smiling faces and the romantic notes of the music that carried all along on its undulating, magical waves.
"I am absolutely breathless," Katherine said as she laid a hand over her heart, smiling as the young man who had just spun her around the large reception area walked away.
"I do not think I am much better," Annalise told her. She turned to look at her brother. "I cannot believe how many times I have danced tonight! I have barely had time to sit!"
Gustave smiled. "I do not think any of us have had time to sit tonight! It has been quite wonderful!"
Andrew approached where they stood. "What is so wonderful?" he wanted to know.
"Feeling alive again," Gustave replied.
"And the music," Katherine sighed.
"And dancing until you feel as if you are flying!" Annalise finished.
Andrew looked at them in amazement. "Are we all at the same party?" He winked at his sister and smiled as she blushed.
The band began to play again, the slow start of a Viennese waltz. Gustave extended his hand to Katherine. "May I have this dance?" Katherine took his hand, smiling softly.
"Shall we?" Andrew asked Annalise.
"I would like that," she replied with a happy little sigh.
Gustave touched his sister's arm as he led Katherine into the crowd that was beginning to move in time to the music. "I leave you in trusted hands," he said softly.
Annalise smiled her thanks to her brother and turned to Andrew. She felt him draw her into his arms and let him lead her into the swirling couples. She watched his eyes as they began to dance, moving with the music, the sound of rustling silk and satin the grace notes surrounding them. There was such strength of emotion in Andrew's eyes that Annalise found she could not hold his gaze. She closed her eyes, lowering her head to rest against his shoulder, losing herself in the moment. She could smell his cologne, spicy and warm, as it filled the air around her. There was the constant throb of his heartbeat pulsing just below her ear and the strong comfort of his arm as it encircled her waist. Annalise sighed and was content to let Andrew lead her where he would. As the music grew distant, Annalise finally opened her eyes, noticing that she had been guided out of the reception room and into the hallway. She looked at Andrew, a question in her eyes.
"I will not let anything happen," he said, "but there is something I need to say to you." Andrew took her by the hand and opened a closed door, leading her into a deserted office. There were two chairs in front an ornate desk and Andrew guided Annalise to them. He kept hold of her hands as they sat.
"What ..." Annalise began.
"Let me say this before I lose my nerve," Andrew told her. He swallowed and shook his head before looking at Annalise and capturing her eyes. "Before I even knew you, I had been listening to your brother tell stories about his wonderful sister. Then I had the opportunity to come to Paris and get to meet you and I discovered that the stories could not even begin to do you justice."
Annalise felt herself blushing and lowered her head. There was the gentle touch of a hand under her chin, lifting her head back up.
"Please, look at me," Andrew asked.
Annalise could not feel her head but somehow found it within herself to nod.
"I love you," Andrew said simply. "I think I have loved you from that very first day when you chattered all the way through luncheon, not caring what your parents thought. You are my first thought in the morning, my last thought at night and my every thought during the day. I find the thought of returning to America and leaving you here unbearable. I do not want to be without you."
Annalise could not remember if she was breathing as Andrew leaned towards her, his hand moving to rest lightly on her cheek.
"I love you," he whispered.
Annalise knew she was not breathing as she closed her eyes, the touch of Andrew's hand on her cheek liquid fire against her skin. Yet that touch was nothing when compared to the touch of his lips against hers. His lips were soft and gentle and their touch stopped her heart and set her soul flying. "Andrew," she breathed as he broke the kiss. "I ... I ..."
Andrew reached in and kissed her again. "I love you," he repeated. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to make you smile. I want to be the one you can trust with your life. I want to marry you."
"Oh God," Annalise said, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them to look at the man seated across from her. "I can't breathe. I cannot even think."
"I should not have hoped," Andrew told her with a sad smile. He began to stand. "I'll take you back to Gustave."
"No," Annalise said, holding on to the hand still in her own, pulling him back to the seat. "That is not it." She gave Andrew a little smile. "Please do not laugh but I have never been kissed before and my head is swimming and my heart is pounding and I do not know what to feel or to think. I need some time." Annalise remembered her mother's words. "I need some time to listen to my head and follow my heart." She looked deeply into Andrew's eyes and placed her other hand on his cheek. "Please, give me that time."
"I am not a patient man but I would willingly wait until the end of time for your answer." Andrew returned her small smile. "No matter what the answer may be. You have given me hope and that is something I can hold onto."
"Oh, Andrew," Annalise sighed, her eyes closing, her dreams of the moon fulfilled as their lips met again.