From Heaven's Mind

Chapter Twenty-Two

"You've done it again, Erik." Richard Crispin said, handing Erik a glass of wine. "Another blazing success. Can you do nothing wrong?"

"We shall see, Richard." Erik smirked, accepting the wine and looking around at the excited people who had just seen the opera for the first time.

"It's going to be a good year." Richard smiled.

Erik moved around, shaking hands and accepting compliments. Tony grinned at him.

"Congratulations, Mr Destler."

"And to you, Tony." Erik smiled. Tony looked around the room.

"We did good, Mr D. Great turn out, best performance yet. I don't think things can get much better."

"We'll see at rehearsal tomorrow." Erik smirked.

His mobile phone began to ring and he flicked it open.

"Yes?"

"Erik, how did it go?" Christine's voice came through excitedly.

"It went well. I'm very pleased." Erik said. Christine laughed.

"That means it was perfect but you won't admit it, right?"

"Very possibly."

She laughed again. Music to his ears…

"I'm so glad it went well."

"Christine, it is nearly midnight here."

"Yes?"

"That means it is closing on at 5 AM in England. Why aren't you asleep?"

There was a moment of guilty silence.

"Well… I wanted to see how it went and-"

"Go to bed, Christine." He said firmly.

"OK. I just wanted to see how it went."

"Sleep."

"OK! Goodnight. Or good morning, whichever you prefer."

"Sleep tight." He smiled slightly. He ended the call and tucked the phone back inside his pocket as another crowd of people came to congratulate him.

"I assume it went well?" Max asked as Christine half-skipped into the theatre the next morning. She beamed at him.

"It did! I can't wait to see the reviews."

"We'll go online at lunch and see what they said." Max promised. Christine sat down next to Stuart, who was reading a book.

"Where's James?"

"In the office, using the phone." Stuart replied, closing his book. "Do you realise this is our last month of performances? Four a week, that means sixteen more performances."

A wave of sadness washed over Christine.

"Oh, don't. That's rather sad." She said. Rebecca joined them.

"What is?"

"Just sixteen more performances." Stuart said.

"I thought you'd be delighted, Christine. Just sixteen more performances and then you'll be in New York." Rebecca said. Christine smiled.

"That is a bonus."

James emerged from the office and looked around.

"Warm up and we'll just dive straight in. Stuart, can you work with Max on Hand of Fate? It was a little dry last night." Stuart walked off, muttering mutinously. James rolled his eyes. "Fine… Christine, warm up. Rebecca, I want to talk to you about act three."

They all separated, Christine crossing to the piano where Stuart and Max were stood.

"Warm up?" Max asked, playing the piano.

"Please." They both began the exercises. Whilst Stuart and Mac discussed Stuart's solo, Christine sat at the piano and started on Lament for an Angel.

And then something went wrong.

"Why don't you make it a little quieter here? See if that sounds better." Max said, tapping a line.

"I guess, but then-"

They glanced over as the piano jarred. Christine was doubled over in her seat. Max rushed over to her.

"Christine? What's wrong?"

"I… I don't know. My stomach…ah!" She cried out in agony as another stab of pain went through here and tears sprang to her eyes. She looked at him fearfully. "Max, the baby! Something's wrong!"

"What's the matter over there?" James called. Max shouted to him.

"Call an ambulance!"

James ran to them.

"What?"

"Something's wrong, call an ambulance!" Max shouted. James pulled out his mobile phone and dialled 999. Christine cried again and clutched Max's hand.

"My baby… my baby!"

"It'll be OK!" Max promised. Christine nodded and then screamed as more pain shot into her. Rebecca held her tightly.

"Christine, calm down. Breathe…"

"Somebody call Nadir!" Max said, throwing his mobile phone to Stuart. He searched through the address book and called the number.

Christine bit her lip as James snapped his phone shut.

"The ambulance is on the way."

"Christine, listen to me. Everything is going to be fine, d'you hear?" Max said. Christine couldn't reply. She lurched forward and vomited. Max leapt back out of the way, unable to help the expression of disgust at the sight. But he moved forward again as Christine's eyes closed and her head lolled, Rebecca clutching at her desperately.

Nadir bust into the hospital, only to run straight into Stuart who jumped out of the way.

"Nadir Khan?"

"Yes?" Nadir said, looking at him.

"Christine's just through here." He said, leading him through.

"What happened?" Nadir demanded. "Is she alright?"

"I'm not sure, I was waiting for you."

He opened the door to a room and Nadir saw Christine sat in bed, looking distinctly pale, with what looked like half of the cast of Des Yeux D'Ange gathered around. But she smiled weakly at him as he came in. The doctor eyed him.

"Who is this?"

"Nadir Khan, a friend." Christine said.

"I work for Christine's husband and live with them." Nadir said, shaking Doctor Pine's hand.

"Well, you'll be glad to know it's nothing fatal." The doctor smiled.

"I fell a bit silly." Christine admitted.

"What is it?"

"A minor stomach infection. I believe that Christine panicked because she was worried about the baby, and then made the pain seem a lot worse than it was."

Christine snorted.

"It hurt!"

"There won't be any lasting damage to you or the baby. I'll give you some antibiotics and I suggest sticking to liquids for the next twenty-four hours."

"And I suggest not mentioning this to my husband." Christine said. Nadir lifted an eyebrow.

"Christine, it's my job to look after you."

"No, it's your job to sort out Erik's business. And part of sorting out his business is keeping him in New York, which he won't do if he thinks that I'm at death's door when I'm not."

Nadir had to admit she had a point. Doctor Pine smiled at her.

"I'll get you your prescription and you can pick it up on the way home."

"Thanks doctor." Christine got off the bed, pulling her shoes on. Now they knew that she would be OK, everyone started to leave, talking in a relieved manner. Christine looked to Max.

"I left my car at the theatre."

"Give me the keys and I'll drive it back to Rochdale. I assume Nadir's taking you?"

"Yes, I am." Nadir said firmly.

Nadir sent Christine straight to bed when they got in before going down to the kitchen and talking to Mick, the chef.

"Mrs Destler is suffering from a stomach infection." He said. Mick looked rather terrified.

"What? From something I made?"

"No, it's not something she ate. But she'll need plenty of fluids for the next day or so."

"Oh… yes, of course." Mick said, looking incredibly relieved. "I'll prepare some tea."

"Thank you."

Mick breathed a sigh of relief before setting about preparing the drink for Mrs Destler. The lady of the house was a lovely girl, very kind and fair.

Mr Destler scared the living daylights out of most of the servants. And that was when he was in America.

Christine called Erik that night. Nadir said that if she didn't tell him, then he would and Christine decided that she was better at reassuring Erik than Nadir was. They chatted about nothing in particular for a while before Christine tentatively brought the matter up.

"Erik… uh, I was at the hospital today."

"What? Why? Is everything alright?" He sounded panicked.

"I started getting stabbing pains in my stomach. But it's OK, just a stomach infection. I was just panicking because I thought there was something wrong with the baby." Christine explained quickly. "But it's all fine. We're both OK."

Erik didn't speak for a moment. Christine waited anxiously.

"Thank god…" He breathed.

"I know." She changed the subject. "How's everything going at your end?"

"No hospital visits." He said and she laughed. "It's all very calm here. Nothing has really happened, it's running very smoothly."

"I can't wait to come out and be with you." She smiled.

"It's not long now." Erik reminded her gently.

"No, it's not." She replied. "Not long at all."

"Can't you go one day without the dramatics?" Meg asked. Christine eyed her wheelchair.

"You're one to talk."

"You know what I mean." Meg laughed. Christine was performing that night, the Wednesday, and they had the afternoon off to relax before the show so she was spending it with Meg and Tom. Tom was finishing up an article.

Meg scratched at the cast on her left leg.

"God, that itches!"

"Does scratching the cast help?"

"No, but I have got to do something." Meg muttered. She spotted a pencil on the table and poked it down inside the cast, scratching at the skin. Christine laughed.

"Meg!"

"You have no idea of the pain I'm in!" Meg complained. "It itches like crazy."

"That means it's healing, right?"

"Yes. The casts will be coming off in two weeks and then I can get started properly on the intense physiotherapy. In a couple of months I hope to be up and about. Mr Jordan is a miracle worker." Meg said, transferring the pencil to the other cast.

Tom came in and smiled. His cast had been removed a couple of days previously.

"Probably not a good idea, Meg."

"I don't care; it's too much to bear." Meg pouted. He kissed her forehead.

"I'm running the article over to the office. Need anything whilst I'm out?"

"No, I'm fine." She smiled. Tom waved goodbye and left. Christine smiled.

"You're practically married already."

Meg laughed.

"Not yet. We're not rushing into this, like you and Erik."

"We didn't rush! We were engaged for two years before we got married."

"It seemed like less, though."

"I know." She checked her watch and stretched. "I'd better get ready. I'll see you tomorrow."

Erik paced the living room. He knew he should have gone to the airport to meet her. Anything could have happened! She was already an hour late.

The door opened and Christine smiled at him. He rushed over to her.

"What happened?" He demanded. "I was worried."

"What do you mean, what happened?" She asked.

"You're an hour late!"

"It's rush hour on a Monday. Don't panic." Christine smiled, rather touched. Erik realised how ridiculous the situation was and looked a little embarrassed. Christine slipped her arms around his neck.

"Do I get my hello kiss now?"

He happily obliged.

Curled up on the sofa together, Christine said,

"Never again. We're not doing anything like that again." She said firmly. "It was too hard."

"I can think of one good thing that came out of it." Erik said. Christine looked down at her stomach and he smiled. "Alright, two good things. At the risk of sounding like a soap opera character, at least now we know that we can get through anything."

"That's a very good point." Christine smiled.

She was silent and then looked up at him.

"So when can I come and see your opera?"

"I've booked a box for tomorrow night." He said. Christine smiled and then said,

"Nadir said that he'll come out in a couple of days. I think he wants us to have some alone time."

"I'll be sure to thank him." Erik murmured, kissing her forehead. Christine wriggled slightly to settle more comfortably in his arms.

"He said he's got some stuff to sort out first."

June had known that this was coming. That didn't make her any happier about the fact. Nadir watched her silently across the table of the restaurant.

"I wish you'd say something." He said softly. June sighed.

"I don't know to say, Nadir. I mean, I knew this would happen. You've got to go. We both knew that this was coming."

Nadir fiddled with his fork and then said quietly,

"You know… you could always come wi-"

"Don't say it." June interrupted. Nadir blinked.

"I'm sorry?"

"You know that I can't come with you. So don't ask." She said. "I'm a home-grown girl. I don't want to leave here and I won't. That's just the way I am."

Nadir smiled slightly and June smiled back.

"It was good. What we had. Maybe when you come back from New York we could have it again. But I'm not going to hold my breath for months. And neither should you, Nadir."

"You're a very remarkable woman, June." Nadir commented. June winked and picked up her drink.

"So I've been told."

There are some things in life that one would not change for anything. No amount of money or treasure could make you alter it. You wouldn't sacrifice it for anything. The thing that Erik would not have given up was watching Christine read a book.

A silly thing, he supposed, but delightfully entertaining all the same. Every time he looked up from the piano she seemed to have moved to another amusing position. She had started off quite sensibly, sat on the sofa with her legs crossed. Then she was sat in with her legs folded in front of her. The next time she was leaning on one elbow. Then lying with the book held above her face.

Now, for some inexplicable reason, all he could see were her feet over the top of the sofa. He stood up to look. She was lying upside down, dark hair spilling onto the floor.

"Christine?"

"Hmm?"

"That looks uncomfortable."

"It's not." She smiled and pulled herself up, putting the book on the coffee table. "Would you like tea?"

The telephone rang before he could answer and she picked it up.

"Hello, Destler residence."

"Hello Christine. I'll be with you in an hour."

"Hi Nadir! How was the flight?"

"Extremely dull." Nadir said cheerfully. "See you soon."

"OK, bye."

Christine put the phone down and smiled at Erik.

"He's on his way."

"Then I'll start dinner."

"No, you keep playing. I'll make dinner." Christine said firmly, pulling out a saucepan. "Chilli and rice."

"That sounds good."

"It'll taste even better." She smiled.

Nadir arrived just over an hour later, bringing Trister with him. Christine squealed, hugging her dog happily. Erik rolled his eyes briefly and turned to his employee.

"I'll take your bags to your room."

"Thanks, Erik." Nadir said. He collapsed into a chair and sniffed. "That smells wonderful, Christine."

"I just need to serve it up and then we can eat." Christine promised, standing up as Trister went dashing around the penthouse.

"Excellent. I'll just change into something that doesn't smell like a crowded plane." Nadir smiled.

Erik stroked Christine's hair as she slept that night. She mumbled softly in her sleep, snuggling closer to him. He smiled slightly and then closed his eyes.

Love our baby. I know you're still afraid, Erik. Afraid that it will look different. But please… you know what suffering is. You went through so much, especially with your parents. Don't let our baby suffer, OK?

"I'll try." He whispered. "I promise I'll try…"

A/N: I've decided that this story is going to stop at 25 chapters. Which probably means that the next three chapters will be excessively long, but no one complains when I do that, so never mind!

I'm not sure about this chapter. It jumped about a bit, but I had to do that because I wanted to get Christine into New York. So forgive me the random time jumps!

Lotsa luv 'n' huggles

Katie