AN: I am so sorry for not updating sooner. My internet has been going on and off for the past month and is still getting fixed. I stole the opportunity to post these three chapters because I honestly have no idea when I'll be able to write again. I am so sorry to everyone. I hate leaving you guys hanging like this.
Chapter 41. If I Could Turn Back Time
Intermission began. Ten minutes to plan what they would do. Christian and Isabel stared at one another as they thought of what they could possibly do to end the play.
"I don't know," Isabel said, completely frightened. "I have never been in this position before. You are he writer, Christian. Perhaps you can come up with something."
"How about the two lovers run off together into the night?"
"We cannot abandon the play now, Christian." Isabel walked back and forth before stopping. "Tell the stagehands to keep the scene as it is. We will have someone announce that this is the following evening and I am waiting outside for Christopher to come as he usually does. When the two lovers eventually meet after I wait for awhile, my husband walks out of the house to find us together. Caught in the act, they are faced to tell the truth and explain they are in love."
"And from there?"
"I don't know," Isabel said softly. "I will allow the actor to take it from there. But that's enough to begin the scene, I think. This will definitely be the last scene. I will see you onstage."
"What?" Christian called as Isabel walked away. "Where are you going, Isabel? Why aren't we telling the stagehands together?"
"I would come, truly I would." Isabel answered. "But I need to change costume."
Gregory entered backstage, with only one thought on his mind. Watching Isabel and Christian together, he knew he had to do something tonight. Let his presence be known in their love affair more.
The new scene left everyone in anticipation, but he knew already from the talking stagehands what was to come. Looking at familiar faces he had watched rehearsed, he grinned when he saw who he was looking for.
Onstage, Isabel looked all that more gorgeous, clad back in the white wedding gown. Sitting on one of the fake walls as she pretended to wait for Christian's arrival, her dark make-up from act two brought on the contrast of the woman from the first act and the woman from the second.
On the left corner of the stage, Christian waited for Isabel's cue. She would look over at him and then bow her head. He stirred when Isabel stood up and began walking among the stage, the dim lights casting off small beams of illumination when catching the glitter of her gown.
"Who can say where the road goes,
Where the day flows, only time?
Who can say if your love grows,
As your heart chose, only time?" (1)
The audience stood on edge at the sound of Isabel's voice taking an almost enchanting note to it. So captivated were they in her performance that now cast off an ethereal appearance, none noticed when Edmund stood from where he sat to walk away, anger written in his eyes.
"Who can say why your heart sighs
As your love flies, only time?
Who can say why your heart cries
When your love lies, only time?" (1)
Christian looked at Isabel in a new light at her new song. Her words spoke to him in a way that reminded him of his own story… of Satine… the sparkling diamond… and the production that had near ruined him. Up until then, he had not remembered Isabel as a true artist… a writer worthy enough of someday telling a tale that would be recalled throughout the ages alongside the one he had told.
"Who can say when the roads meet,
That the love might be, in your heart?
And who can say when the day sleeps,
If the night keeps all your heart?
Night keeps all your heart…" (1)
Her words hit him as if he were transported to the great wall on which they stood, staring out at a world so wide and vast that it seemed only practical for them to explore it together. An urge to join her onstage and take her in her arms came now, but he held back to hear her finish her melody.
"Who can say if your love grows,
As you heart chose, only time?
And who can say where the road goes
Where the day flows, only time?
Who knows? Only time
Who knows? Only time." (1)
Looking over at Christian now, Isabel lowered her head only to have it be lifted up by Christian's hand. A smile came to her face that seemed almost melancholy in nature as she held his hand and led him to the part of the stage he had just came.
"I have missed you," Isabel said, her scene in motion. "Although only a day has passed, it has seemed like an eternity. I have called you here tonight to ask you of what will become of us. Will we proceed on like this? On some eternal love affair? Although I have deceived my husband thus far, I cannot continue forever. He deserves more than what I have to offer him, for my heart is not mine to give no longer."
"What do you feel we should do, my love?" Christian asked, looking out at the audience, who hung onto all of their words, and he could feel his stomach tossing and turning at how one slip could ruin this production. "Certainly you have something in mind."
"Indeed, I do." Isabel tugged for him to walk to the center of the stage again so that they held both hands together, a few inches apart, looking into one another's eyes for all of the audience to see. "We need to tell him, Christopher. He deserves to know. He is young. There is still time for him to find someone who's heart is not someone else's. I am completely yours and there is nothing left for him. It would be cruel of me to not do him this one virtue."
"Of course," Christian nodded in agreement. "The man does deserve that much."
"Mon amour?"
Isabel and Christian turned to gasp at the entering husband and had no problem expressing their complete astonishment when they realized that the actor had been replaced by Gregory.
"I can explain…"
"No need for explanations," Gregory approached us as Christian and I drew apart, still staring at him as if witnessing the impossible. "I know where your heart lies, mon amour."
"I wish I could make you happy," I left Christian and faced him, looking up with tears in my eyes. "The last thing I had meant to do was hurt you. To make you feel like this."
"I never knew I could feel like this," Gregory murmured, putting his hand against my cheek. "If I could turn back time… maybe this wouldn't have happened. I must have done something wrong. What did I do?"
"You didn't do anything," tears fell down as I saw the hurt that stared back at me.
"So lately, been wondering
Who will be there to take my place
When I'm gone you'll need love
To light the shadows on your face
If a great wave shall fall and fall upon us all
Then between the sand and stone
Could you make it on your own." (2)
Gregory grabbed my hand and took a step back, making the distance between us to the point that another step would have our hands break apart.
"If I could, then I would
I'll go wherever you will go
Way up high or down low
I'll go wherever you will go." (2)
Moving in, he twirled me around once and pulled me close so that our bodies touched.
"And maybe, I'll find out
A way to make it back someday
To watch you, to guide you
Through the darkest of your days
If a great wave shall fall and fall upon us all
Then I hope there's someone out there
Who can bring me back to you.
If I could, then I would
I'll go wherever you will go
Way up high or down low
I'll go wherever you will go." (2)
"Don't go back to me," I shook my head, my tears making my voice ragged. "There is someone out there for you. I just cannot be that someone."
"Run away with my heart
Run away with my hope
Run away with my love." (2)
Those words hit me in the stomach and I dropped to my knees, covering my face in shame. Crying, I did not care about the audience watching. All they saw was my character, crying over her husband's devoted love. The fact that he would still come back to his wife if given the opportunity.
But it wasn't about my character anymore…
The surface of the story was gone and it had become a tale of my own love. My own affair. My own deceit to the man that loved me. That same man telling me that he would let me go yet take me back with as much love as ever.
For once, my tears were not for myself.
They were for Gregory…
…because I would never be able to go back to him as he wished me to.
Gregory grabbed my hands and pulled them to my sides to look at me. Bringing me back to my feet, he smiled down at me tenderly, brushing aside some of my hair.
"Run away with me," he said softly.
"My heart is not mine to give," I managed to say between the tears lodged in my throat. "I cannot give you what you ask of me, Gregory."
The audience let out a sound of astonishment, but Gregory paid no heed to their realization. He, too, realized this was more than a play that we were undertaking at this very moment in time. And he had every intention to finish what we had began.
"I know now, just quite how
My life and love might still go on
In your heart, in your mind
I'll stay with you for all of time
If I could, then I would
I'll go wherever you will go
Way up high or down low
I'll go wherever you will go
If I could turn back time
I'll go wherever you will go
If I could turn back time
I'll go wherever you will go
I'll go wherever you will go." (2)
Finished with his song, I closed my eyes to slow my tears. Gregory leaned forward and kissed each eyelid and then drew apart from me, and when I opened my eyes, a new sadness appeared on his face that was not there before.
"Goodbye Isabel," Gregory said and then his eyes went wide. "Watch out!"
Cecille stood on the side of the first row of the theatre, watching the scene with a hollowness in her heart that made her feel barren and empty. Toulouse sat on the stairs on the side of the theatre, ready to jump on and make his presence known if anything were to happen.
When Gregory finished his song and he and Isabel exchanged last words, Cecille saw Edmund emerge from the darkness backstage. He approached Isabel with murder clear on his face, ready to strangle her with his own hands, if that was what it took. Approaching her, Gregory yelled, and Cecille immediately headed to the nearest exit of the theatre to take action.
1. Enya "Only Time"
2. The Calling "Wherever You May Go"