'Monsieur, you do not know how pleased I am that you have decided to come…'
The young woman stared at the gentleman Jacob had sent to her to attend her commission. Her honey-coloured eyes were focused on him with utmost attention as she fixed a rebellious curl of hair which had escaped her long dark hair.
'It is my job, Mademoiselle Villete'. His eyes certainly had an enigmatic glow. Fortunately, they had not arranged to meet somewhere in public…
'Fiona, please. It seems we'll be engaged for some time with this affair, so I believe it would be aproppiate if you'd call me by my first name', she smiled.
Erik's eyebrow rised. If she thought she could develop some kind of intimacy with him, she would have to try harder than that.
'Of course…', he gave her a slight smile of his own. 'So, what is it you are exactly asking for?'.
A man waited sitting in the small bureau Emma and Marie shared. They had call him and he had an idea of what they might want to tell him.
The door opened behind him. Chivalrously, he stood up. His dark eyes observed them expectantly while he passed a hand over his greying hair, trying to mend the damage caused by the wind on the way there.
'Mesdames?', he said unhurriedly. 'I think there's something you wished to tell me…'.
Emma looked at her partner, then to the gentleman they had before them.
'Yes, there is. I believe we've found her at last…'.
The man's lips curled into a half-smile
Xxx
Night was about to fall. There had been a couple of hours since he had given up working for that day. His wandering mind did not seem to focus on the designs but on her. He entered the room and sat down before the mirror. His mask looked beautiful and perfect with the glint of candlelight dancing on its surface but he knew perfectly well that it was only the shell that disguised what he really was…
Angie's gift… it had arisen again those feelings… God, why was he still missing her? It just was not fair. He could not allow it. He could not afford to suffer anymore, so he could not surrender to those feelings for her again.
He sighed, taking off his mask and casting it aside on a nearby table. He forced himself to look into the mirror. In the past, it had been his mother the first one to show him the kind of creature he really was. She had made him stand unmasked in front of his reflexion more than once in his childhood… and those had been the nicest gesture she had ever had with him.
Far from that, his mother had always been right, he thought as he observed himself in the mirror, tears in his eyes.
'Christine…', he said in a low but audible whisper, while more tears ran through his bare cheeks. Erik lowered his head…
He missed her, he missed her terribly, even though he did not want to admit it but it was only her presence what made it worth living for.
He fell in shock when, lifting up his head, his tear-filled gaze found a familiar presence watching from the bedroom door.