From Heaven's Mind
Chapter Eight
October arrived and brought with it cold weather. Christine woke up one morning to find Trister lying in the bed beside her, snuggling up for warmth. She hugged him and then checked the clock. 7:30, she really should get up. She lay for a few minutes, unenthusiastic at the thought of getting out of her comfortably warm bed. Eventually she sighed and sat up, pushing the covers back. Trister looked at her indignantly.
"I'm sorry, but some of us have jobs to get to." Christine told him firmly. He lowered his head, curling up on the warm duvet.
Nadir was already sat at the table, buttering bread to dip into a boiled egg the newspaper spread in front of him.
"Good morning." He said. Christine returned the greeting and reached for the cornflakes. Nadir looked up.
"Are you sure you don't want something hot to eat? It's going to be cold today."
"No, I'm not that hungry." Christine said, pouring milk over her cereal. "Anything in the paper?"
"Not much." He closed it and checked his watch. "I'll be coming to New York with you this weekend, by the way."
"Really? How come?"
"I'm meeting some business associates. They refuse to negotiate over the phone so I'll have to fly out." He explained.
"OK, I'll meet you back here on Friday and we can leave together." Christine nodded. Nadir stood up.
"I'll see you at dinner."
"Have a nice day."
Christine swallowed the last of her cereal and went to get her things. As she drove to the theatre her mind wandered to the coming weekend. Erik had already told her that they'd been invited to a black-tie ball being thrown by one of the opera's patrons.
"I'd rather not go but the owners have informed me that if I didn't the patron would take it as an insult." He explained.
"Erik, its fine. We'll go and have a good time." He snorted at that and she laughed. "OK, we'll have a bearable time."
She pulled into her parking place and locked the car, heading towards the entrance. The dead leaves had started to fall and lay thickly on the ground. Christine shivered, pulling her coat a little more tightly around her as she pushed open the door and headed down the corridor to the theatre. She found Stuart and Max talking quietly, both looking rather agitated.
"What's wrong?" She said, pulling her scarf off.
"It's Kim." Max said. Christine frowned. Kim was in charge of wardrobe and makeup.
"What's happened?"
"She got rushed to hospital in the middle of the night. Her husband said that she collapsed, they're running some tests." Max said solemnly. Christine put a hand to her mouth in horror.
"Do they know if she's going to be OK?"
"We'll find out later today. But even if she is, we're going to have to find someone to fill in for her; she's not going to be fit. And this late in rehearsals…" Stuart said as James came in and joined them.
"I just spoke to Kim's husband. They're still waiting for results but she's steady at the moment."
"Have you found anyone to replace her?" Max asked. James shook his head.
"Not yet."
Christine and Max exchanged a glance. He grinned.
"I'm assuming we're on the same wavelength here."
"I think so. I'll just make a call." Christine said, pulling her mobile phone out. James looked at Max.
"What's going on?"
"We might have just the person you need." Max promised.
A few minutes later Christine snapped her phone shut.
"She'll be here in an hour. We're lucky; she's just finished doing a show at the theatre so she'll have time."
"Who? Who is she? What are you talking about?" James said exasperatedly, on the point of ripping his own hair out. Christine smiled.
"June Winters. She did all the costumes by herself for a show that Max and I were in. She's excellent."
"Does she have much experience?" James demanded.
"She's doing an apprenticeship at a fashion office and as Christine said, she's just finished a show. She's older than Christine and me by a few years, I think she took a gap year to do some extra fashion work. The woman knows what she's doing." Max patted James on the shoulder. "You're not going to find someone better."
When Rebecca arrived, Christine, Max and Stuart were listening in amusement as June and James went through costume designs, arguing about various accessories and generally enjoying them.
"Is that June?" Rebecca asked.
"She's taking over for Kim. Kim got taken to hospital, but it looks like she'll be OK. Look at 'em. Like a house on fire." Max said. Rebecca sat down beside them, watching as June said,
"No. That won't work, look at the colour scheme, that's going to throw off all the work that Kim did with the dance costumes."
Rebecca laughed and looked at them.
"What are you guys doing this weekend? I'm hoping to get some people together to go out or something."
"That'd be great." Stuart grinned and Max nodded.
"What about you, Christine?"
"I'm in New York this weekend. Oh, that reminds me, I've got to find a posh dress." Christine groaned. "One of the patrons is throwing this big party and Erik and I have to go."
"That sounds fun."
"Well, it would be if Erik wasn't completely unsociable." Christine smiled. "But he's agreed to go and than I expect we'll sneak out early and go back to the penthouse."
"And we all know what you'll get up to then." Max winked. Christine pushed him in disgust.
"Max!"
"You're married, it's OK." Max said calmly. She hit him.
"That's none of your business, you pervert!"
"Hey, I'm not asking for details." He shuddered. "Dear god, please don't give me details!"
"So, you three have known each other for a while then?" Stuart said. They nodded and Max grinned.
"Although, we weren't always the best buddies we are now, isn't that right ladies?"
"What do you mean?" Stuart asked.
"He means that Rebecca and I were sworn enemies." Christine laughed. Rebecca smiled.
"Only during The Phantom of the Opera. And only because she got the part I auditioned for!"
"And we made up eventually." Christine added. Stuart grinned.
"So, who did you all play?"
"I was Christine, Rebecca was Carlotta and Max was the Phantom."
"And I was a damn good Phantom!" Max boasted. He saw Christine and Rebecca roll their eyes. "Well I was! Everyone said so. And you, Christine, weren't particularly complaining."
"He was so perverted, it was ridiculous. Especially during The Music of the Night."
"And The Point of No Return." Rebecca added.
Max looked mortally offended.
"How could you? I was a perfect gentleman!"
"Then how do you explain your actions involving the lingerie?" Christine demanded. Stuart choked on a mouthful of water.
"What?"
"Someone who had seen the show sent me some… some red lingerie." Christine, going slightly pink. "And I was going to throw it away. But as soon as Max found it, he went running around the theatre looking for Erik to show him!"
"You didn't!" Stuart grinned.
"No. Christine caught up with me and pinned me to the ground before I had a chance." Max said.
They were all laughing happily when James looked over.
"Shouldn't you be warming up?"
"Yes, sir." Stuart said, saluting him. James turned back to argue with June, Max joining them.
The rehearsal went well and at lunchtime Christine wasn't surprised to see Nadir meeting June. The designer grinned at her.
"I owe you one, Christine. This is going to be a good job."
"Hey, you're the best I know." Christine said. June looked at her sceptically. "OK, you're the only one I know. Not the point. Are you two going out for lunch?" Nadir nodded and she smiled.
"In which case, I'll see you later."
She joined Max, Stuart and Rebecca at the café and bought herself a sandwich. As they discussed the changes to the crew and the work they had done that morning, Rebecca said,
"I can't believe we've got less than two months before the opening night."
"I know, it's frightening." Christine agreed.
"When does your husband's opera start?" Stuart asked, wiping his mouth on a napkin.
"January 1st. We finish January 31st so as soon as we've wrapped up I'm going out there." Christine said. "I can't wait. Not that I don't love working here, but it's just so much hassle flying out every other week."
They returned to the Opera House to find James looking pleased.
"Good work this morning, people. Let's do a run through of the first act and then we can do the second act tomorrow." As they took their places, Christine glanced at James. Fine. If he wasn't going to tell her what was going on, and Erik wouldn't, she'd find out for herself.
Borrowing Nadir's laptop, Christine clicked onto the internet and went to a search engine. She typed in a few words, hoping for results.
Erik Destler
James Pewter
London
Opera
A long shot, but better than nothing. She tapped the enter key and waited impatiently. Trister wandered into the room and flopped down by her side. She stroked his side absently as several pages popped up. Very few of them looked hopeful. She scrolled down until one caught her eye and she clicked on the link.
It was a history of a London Opera House. All that it gave was,
Producer: Erik Destler
Assistant Producer: James Pewter
Year: 2001
Name of production: Un'età di amore
Christine frowned. Was that it? She went back to the search engine and typed in the name of the opera along with the other information. This time another webpage came up with information about the plot of the opera but nothing about James or Erik, other than that they had produced it together.
She closed the laptop and sat back, thinking. Erik had lied. He'd said that he didn't know James but obviously he did. So what had happened? Why had he felt the need to lie? And why didn't James want to talk about it either?
Nadir came in.
"Finished?" He said, nodding at the computer. She handed it to him.
"Yeah…"
"You don't sound very certain." He smiled. Christine eyed him. He had been with Erik for years, long before 2001. She chewed her lip briefly and then said,
"Nadir, were you with Erik when he was directing Un'età di amore."
Nadir paused and looked at her sharply. She held his gaze and Nadir sighed.
"If you have questions about James Pewter, ask Erik."
"OK, has every male in England sworn an oath to annoy me at every possible opportunity?" Christine burst out. "I've asked him, OK? He said he wasn't going to tell me. I asked James, he said to ask Erik. And now you! Men!"
She jumped up and stormed from the room. Nadir smiled in spite of himself.
"Charming girl." He said to Trister, who simply rolled onto his back, hoping to have his belly scratched.
By Friday, Christine's temper had calmed. She decided not to mention James this weekend, but wait until Erik was in England. At least that would give her time to come up with a game plan.
"You're plotting against your own husband." She said to herself as she drove to the house to collect Nadir and her suitcase. "That's not good. But on the other hand, he did lie to you." She paused. "And you're talking to yourself again. Something has to be done."
They hurried to the airport and once they were settled on the plane, Nadir promptly fell asleep. He had a remarkable talent for being able to go to sleep just about anywhere and be able to wake up, perfectly alert moments later. Christine opened her book and tried to immerse herself in the adventures of the characters. She gave up after half an hour and sighed, taking out her score to read over the notes she had made that week.
When they landed, Nadir called a taxi and they began the journey to the penthouse. Erik was still at work when they arrived and Nadir had dashed to use the shower before Christine had a chance. She scowled at the door and collapsed onto the sofa, turning on the television. There was little on, so she switched off and flicked on the radio instead, making tea as she did so.
Fifteen minutes later, Nadir was still in the shower. Christine banged on the door.
"Nadir, if you use up all the hot water, I swear to God that I'll-"
"Do what exactly?" Said Erik, from the doorway. Christine whirled around and smiled weakly.
"Uh… I don't know." He smiled and took his coat off.
"Good flight?"
"Boring. Nadir slept the whole way here. Do you want tea?" He nodded and she began to pour it. As she was adding milk, Nadir opened the bathroom door and smiled serenely.
"Hello Erik."
"Nadir."
They both stopped as Christine dashed towards the bathroom, skidded to a stop, ran back to Erik to press her lips against his before running back to the bathroom as though afraid someone would get there before her. The door slammed shut and Erik and Nadir exchanged a bemused look.
They spent the evening talking and watching television. It was extremely relaxing, which they all needed. At 10:30, Nadir decided to turn in. Christine stretched out on the sofa, her head in Erik's lap as he played with her hair, running the silken locks through his fingers.
"So Nadir and June are getting along well?" Erik said.
"It appears so. He's taken to meeting me after work, just so he can see her. I keep telling him that he may as well just give her a lift, it'll save time." Christine smiled. Erik smirked and Christine sighed, nestling into him.
"This is nice." She said absently. He nodded in agreement.
"We don't get enough moments like this anymore."
"There's never time." She murmured, closing her eyes.
Erik didn't reply. He didn't want to ruin the moment.
Nadir went off to a business lunch on Saturday and Erik had quite a lot of work to finish. He felt rather guilty about this but Christine assured him that it was fine.
"I'll meet Zack and Katrina. I haven't seen them in ages." She told him, referring to the two friends she had made during her time on the music course in New York.
Zack Timmons and Katrina Orlia were sat in the café when Christine arrived. Katrina instantly leapt up to hug her.
"Christy! Oh my god, what is wrong with you? You never wrote and you only emailed twice! I would be so mad if I wasn't so happy to see you!" She babbled. Christine laughed.
"I missed you too, Trina. And I'm sorry, everything's been so crazy." She turned to Zack who hugged her tightly.
"Missed you, Chris. We've got loads of gossip to catch you up on. I'll get you coffee."
The gossip took them the best part of two hours to go through and had Christine in stitches the whole time. The two could have made up a comedy duet, they were simply hilarious. Eventually she wiped her eyes and Katrina asked,
"So, tell us what married life is like!"
"When I find out I'll let you know. I only get to see Erik at weekends, with him being here and me in England. But as from January 31st I'm coming back to New York until Erik's opera is finished." Christine explained. Zack grinned.
"Trina and I are gonna have to fly out and see your opera, Chris."
"That'd be great! You could stay with Max, Meg and Tom. I mean, you might be a bit squished, but it'd still be fun." Christine said, instantly warming to the idea. She checked her watch and groaned. "Oh, I've got to go. Erik and I are going to this ball thing tonight and I've got to get ready."
"What time does it start?" Katrina asked.
"8 o' clock."
"You need four hours?" Zack said, bemused. Christine sighed.
"Oh, Zack, you poor innocent boy. You know nothing about women."
Erik ran finger uncomfortably around in the inside of his collar. He was used to dressing formally but it never made him feel particularly relaxed. He considered the white mask in his hands and then reached for the black one with a gold outline around the eye. It would make more of an impression, he decided.
"Christine, are you planning on staying in there all night?" He called to the bathroom. She laughed.
"I'll just be a minute!"
Erik lifted his eyes to the heavens as he placed the mask over the right side of his face. It fitted comfortably and he combed his hair back before tweaking his tie to make sure it was straight. He went into the living room. Nadir was relaxing on the sofa and smiled at his friend.
"Dressed to the nines, I see."
"I should make you come as well." Erik scowled.
"But you look so dashing. I'm sure Christine will be very impressed." Nadir winked. Erik sighed, rubbing his temples.
"Maybe, if she ever leaves the bathroom."
"Keep your hair on, I'm coming!" Christine said, coming out of the bathroom with a pair of shoes dangling from one hand. She held out her arms so Erik could see her properly. "Well? Will I do?"
She was clad in an extremely flattering dark red dress that came down to her ankles in a flared skirt. The top section was strapless and it had a curious sheen to it, seeming to change from red to black in the light. Her hair was swept up into a mass of curls with tiny red flowers dotted into it.
"I'm going to take your staring and silence as a positive thing." She said dryly. Erik cleared his throat and nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Nadir had no such problem.
"You look gorgeous, Christine."
"Thanks Nadir." She smiled sweetly, sitting on a kitchen stool to put her shoes on. Erik checked his watch. He'd ordered a car to pick them up that evening and it would be there soon.
"OK, so run me through this one more time so I don't make any mistakes. The host's name is Richard Crispin, his wife is Annette. They have two young children called Danny and Luke and they enjoy going to the opera. They're patrons of the Opera House and they're fans of your works." Christine recited the information Erik had given her. He smiled and nodded.
"That's about right."
She looked relieved.
"Good. Because if I mess up and they stop funding-"
"They'll adore you. Everyone does." Erik said, kissing her gently. She smiled helplessly and said,
"You're such a charmer."
"I do my best, my dear." He said, offering her his arm. "Shall we?"
"We shall. Bye Nadir."
"Have fun." Nadir called from the sofa. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
"That's an extremely short list." Erik said, smirking as he held open the door for Christine.
Richard Crispin was a plump man in his fifties. He looked absolutely delighted to have Erik Destler at his party.
"Mr Destler, so delighted you could come!" He said, wringing Erik's hand enthusiastically.
"May I introduce my wife, Christine?" Erik said. Richard smiled and kissed her hand.
"A pleasure, Mrs Destler. You look beautiful."
"Thank you, Mr Crispin."
He ushered them inside the magnificent ballroom. Christine was suitably impressed at the lavish decorations. Erik's hand enclosed around hers and she squeezed it reassuringly as the crowds bustled, people talking and greeting each other. They were spotted quickly by several people from the Opera House, who rushed over to greet their prime director. Christine listened in amusement and pleasure as they fussed over Erik, congratulating him on his work. It always seemed right that they did that. After all, it was only the credit that he deserved.
About half an hour later an orchestra struck up. Couples moved to dance to the energetic music and Erik handed Christine a drink.
"I'm sorry. I've been ignoring you." He said. Christine smiled.
"No, it's fine. You've got your adoring fans to please." He looked faintly embarrassed and she laughed leaning against him. "I'm serious, Erik. I don't mind."
They watched the swirling dancers and Christine found herself thinking about the first time that Erik had taken her out. To the opening of their local opera house, the one where she now performed. How they had had that perfect night, confessed how they felt for each other, exposed their deepest secrets. How long ago that had been.
"Would you care to dance?" Erik murmured in her ear. Another song was just starting, a calmer one than the previous.
"I'd love to." She replied. He took her hand and led her among the dancers. His hand went to her waist, pulling her close to him as his other hand took hers. She smiled, meeting his eyes as they began to dance and Erik found himself wondering once again at the miracle that she loved him. It seemed quite incredible. After all, she was an angel.
And why would an angel dance with a demon?
"What's wrong?" She whispered. He blinked.
"What?"
"You're frowning. Is something wrong?" She asked again, looking concerned. He shook his head.
"It's nothing. I just… you're beautiful."
Christine blushed and lowered her eyes. Erik smiled as they danced. It was only true, but it made her embarrassed all the same. The dance ended far too soon for his liking but Christine didn't release his hand.
"Another?" She suggested.
"Of course."
They danced for quite some time before agreeing to get a drink. Christine excused herself to go to the toilet and Annette Crispin quickly claimed him for a dance which he gave her obligingly. He returned to the table to drink his wine when a light hand rested on his arm.
"Mr Destler?"
He turned and saw Kelly Delaney beside him, smiling widely.
A/N: Now, I get the impression that some of you people don't like Kelly. I don't know why! … Well, I can guess why. I intend to give her a bit more personality in future chapters! Thank you for all the lovely reviews, they cheer me up rightly! Next week updates may be a bit sparse as I'm doing work experience and I'm going to be rushed off my feet. And then I'm back at school. Whoop-de-do.
Lotsa luv 'n' huggles
Katie