A/N: I hope everyone has had a little time to grieve, take some deep breaths, and of course to forgive your repentant author. (romancebooklworm4ever – That is the second time you have threatened to decapitate me, so I had better behave from now on. Oh, and you can have your choice of the twins to make up for what I have put you through. ) With my hand on a stack of Bibles, I do hereby solemnly promise not to kill anyone off ever aga...ok, for a long time at least.
Thank you to my faithful reviewers. To phantomann: I appreciate your understanding. I did give them twenty years of bliss, right? And yes, I lied about the foreshadowing thing. And to GerrysJackie, I will make it my personal goal to make you smile again.
Because I have been so naughty today, I am posting my next three chapters about 7 hours earlier than usual as a peace offering.
Ch. 39 – Life After You
Those who attended the funeral of Comtesse Christine de Chagny would often say that it was one of the most beautiful and difficult they had ever attended. White lilies and red roses adorned the simple mahogany casket, as a violin from somewhere unseen played a hauntingly soulful lament. As the priest finished his words, the crowd began to filter away, leaving the grieving family in solitude to say their goodbyes.
Father Dominic looked at the de Chagny family that he had come to know so well over the past twenty years. They stood solemnly before him dressed all in black, their usual joy and song replaced with sorrow and silence. It was strange. The four towering, intelligent de Chagny men now seemed lost and helpless without the tiny, soft-spoken Comtesse to guide them. The boys were heart broken, their grief evident. Erik-Philippe stood tall next to his father, ever solemn and quiet, yet his brown eyes spoke volumes of the anguish inside. Alexander and Frederick stood beside him. Alexander's proud dark head was bowed, his shoulders shaking slightly. Frederick's usual playful, mischievous smile was replaced with openly shed tears.
The priest turned his kind eyes to the Comte. Of all men he had met in his life, he had never known a greater paradox than Erik de Chagny. The man radiated power and strength, and yet he had never seen a man more gentle or loving with his family, nor as shattered by his wife's loss. Erik and Christine had shared a love to which he had never yet come across an equal. Over the years, he had seen firsthand how they adored each other with their eyes, how they seemed to light up in each other's presence. Christine had been a strong woman, but she had leaned heavily on her husband. Looking at him now, Dominic realized without a doubt that Erik had leaned on her just as heavily. It was as if they were two halves of the same whole, one spirit in two bodies. And now without his beloved wife, the man before him seemed incomplete.
The Comte looked regal today as usual, but his shoulder hunched ever so slightly, and he looked suddenly weary and old. Father Dominic realized with a shock that the Comte must be nearly sixty years in age, though he would never have guessed it from his appearance before. The priest searched the pale, expressionless face of his dear friend. The intelligence of the blue-gray eyes was still there, but the fire that had always been present in them was noticeably absent. Now those once intense, animated eyes seemed empty as they stared straight ahead at his wife's casket. The Comte seemed detached from all around him, as if lost in a world where his Christine still walked among the living. And in his arms, the most heart-rending image of all – a tiny baby girl dressed all in black, the picture of her mother with fine auburn curls, pink cheeks, and the dazzling blue-gray eyes of her father.
Father Dominic stepped forward and put his hand on the Comte's shoulder, his face flooded with sympathy. "God is with you and your family, dear friend." Erik's anguished eyes turned slowly toward the priest, and he lowered his head. "I know, Father." The priest smiled gently. Yes, this family will be all right in time. Never the same, but all right, he thought.
Father Dominic reached down to trace the image of the cross on the baby's forehead. "You have a truly beautiful daughter, Erik. May she continue to be blessed by God's hand, as she already has by being born into this extraordinary family." Erik looked up at his words and followed the priest's gaze toward his beloved boys. They were men now, good men and strong. All of them were kind and loving like their mother, good hearted boys who had been there to help him with the baby after Christine's death and who had changed their own plans so that they might return to help raise their little sister.
Yes, he realized suddenly, they were an extraordinary family - the love and respect that abounded among them was not common, but special. And he and Christine, through their love had created that family. Erik straightened his shoulders. No, as much pain as he felt at her loss, he would protect this family that they had made, and he would be there to watch over it until Fate saw fit to reunite him with his Angel. Looking down at the sleeping bundle in his arms, he thanked God as he had so many times before for Christine and for his children.
Holding his precious daughter even more closely to him, he extended his other hand to the priest. His eyes were sincere as he shook Father Dominic's hand, "Thank you Father, for everything. My family and I will see you this Sunday at mass." The priest nodded solemnly and then departed in order to give the family privacy in their grief.
Erik walked over to the three boys. Silently, he embraced each one in turn. Turning to face them all, he spoke quietly, "Your mother was a remarkable woman. She was loved greatly in this family, and we will never be the same without her, nor will we ever forget her. But now we have a responsibility to her. Her greatest joy in life was this family, and our task is to protect it and each other so that we might always be as close as we are this day." His voice faltered, but after a moment, he continued. "I love each and every one of you, and though I can never replace your mother, I will always be here for as long as you need me. That much, I promise you."
They stood closely together in that moment, and as a cloud removed itself from the face of the sun, it was as if they could feel the spirit of their mother smiling upon them, knowing her last request would be honored. As if she too could sense it, little Bella, for that was what they had taken to calling her, opened her striking eyes as the sunlight touched her angelic face. Yes, this family would endure and prosper.
Life after that day, although forever altered, resumed once more. Though both a nanny and a wet nurse had been employed to care for little Annabel Christine de Chagny, she was seldom outside the arms of her father and brothers. Alexander and Frederick moved back to Nice to be closer to their father and sister. Though Erik had insisted it was unnecessary, he secretly relished the opportunity to see them so often. While the twins took up residence once again in the family home, Erik-Philippe, being a good deal older had chosen instead to remain in his own flat nearby, though he visited daily. All three boys adored little Bella, and often Erik found he had to chase them away in order to have his little daughter all to himself. The boys would laughingly protest that he was being shamefully selfish, but they understood the special bond that he shared with this precious daughter that their mother had given him with her life.