A/N yeah I have over 200 hits on this story…. And on Endless Longing! Yippee! So here's a chapter to celebrate…. Please don't shoot me! Or Punjab me! Especially Hollie and MJ Mod…. Oh and thank you for all of the encouraging reviews… except Apple… that was kind of yeah… I think I might turn off the anonymous reviews…. Most of my flames are anonymous…
Chapter Thirteen: A Reunion and A Plan
Erik jumped up, startled by the soft touch on his shoulder. In an instant, the infamous Punjab Lasso immobilized the intruder as he turned. The moment he looked into the wide brown eyes though, he dropped the lasso… She had to be a vision… this was impossible. His eyes traveled over her face, noting the bruise centered around a gash in her cheek, and the lack of her ring on the ring finger of her left hand, though she was wearing her wedding dress.
"Charlotte, child, why are you here," he asked her softly.
"I… I could not do it Erik. I could not marry Barron De Savois. I do not love him Erik. I love you." She said as she slipped the lasso over her head. "You know this is the second time I've ended up at the wrong end of this rope Erik."
Erik sighed and rubbed a hand across his eyes.
"How long have you been standing there child?"
"Long enough Erik, long enough."
Erik pulled his bottom lip between his teeth trying to plan his next move. Yes he loved Charlotte, but he wasn't sure what would happen if Christine were to return to him. He wasn't sure he could make the right choice and choose Charlotte over his first and most glorious Angel. He only knew that no matter what, if La Beauté et la Bête was going to be performed then Charlotte had to play Lorraine. That cow Mademoiselle Sybil Jacques could play the role of Lorraine's maidservant, Iolanthe. That role had very few lines for her to butcher.
Erik was pulled out of his thought by Charlotte's sobs.
"Oh Erik! I do not know what I'm going to do! I cannot return to my Father's house unless I am willing to marry the Barron. And I can't Erik, I can't do that."
"Yes you can it's quite simple really. You say a few vows and snap it's done."
"No Erik it's not…" she said icily. "Do you see this gash? He hit me in front of the guests and in a church no less, when I informed him that I could not and would not marry him."
Erik was suddenly struck with a plan, but as much as it would kill him, it was the only way. La Beauté et la Bête was his last work and it had to be performed. Then there was that matter of le Vicomtess De Chagny and his love for her.
"Charlotte, what if it would get you the lead in a final Opera, the grandest Opera this Opera house ever seen?" As Erik asked her this he put his hands on her shoulders and looked into the warm brown eyes that he had now discovered had the power to melt his icy heart.
"I thought that was Don Juan, Christine's final opera," she said bluntly, her eyes flashing.
Erik shook his head.
"No mon ange. Though this one has the same composer."
"One of your operas Erik? With me in the lead?"
"Well yes, and me starring opposite you. Would you be willing to marry the Barron mon ange, if it meant we could star in one opera together?"
Erik watched as Charlotte's eyes filled with pain and tears.
"But Erik, what about us," she asked as the tears spilled and slid down her pale cheeks. "Erik I want to marry you, not the Barron. Erik he frightens me! If he hit me in a church in front of the most respected people in France, what would he do in the privacy of our own home? Erik I couldn't… I cannot do… I could not fulfill my… 'Wifely duties'… to him, and I know Erik, that he would… he would force me…. Oh Erik I'm so frightened," Charlotte cried, throwing herself into Erik's arms. "Erik please, oh please don't make me do it! Erik I'm so scared."
Erik was too stunned to move at first, but after a moment he put his arms around Charlotte, making soothing noises and smoothing her hair.
"Hush now mon ange. It will be alright I promise."
Charlotte looked up at him and the pain and anger in her red rimmed eyes took his breath away.
"You don't know him Erik! He is…cruel and heartless. He treats women as nothing more than his property! All he wants is my father's money! Erik please answer me! What… about… us?"
"I'm afraid Cheri," he whispered brokenly, unable to look into her beautiful tear filled eyes, "that there can never be an 'us'."
"Why not, Erik, for god's sake why not?"
"Because child, although I love you, I am still in love Christine. I know ma petite, that you can never understand that, but I am not sure that, as unlikely as it is, if Christine were to return to me of her own free will… Charlotte, mon ange tombéI am not sure I could choose you and it would be unfair for me to force you to live like this," he gestured to his underground house, "when you deserve so very much more. The Barron can give you that, mon ange déchu, all I ask is that you perform one opera with me."
Charlotte sighed, tears falling freely down her face.
"Alright Erikmon amour, mon chéri, ma vie," she whispered, my love, my darling, my life, the words brought tears to Erik's eyes. It hurt so much to do this to her, but it was the right thing to do, was it not? "I will do as you say. But only because I love you more than my own life and if this is what it requires to make you happy, than so be it." Erik watched as Charlotte lowered her gaze to the floor.
"It will be alright mon chéri, you will see. I promise, it will all work out for the best ange tombé." He waited for Charlotte to reply, but she never moved, he only knew she was still alive by the fact that she was standing up and by watching her shoulders shaking with her silent sobs. "Alright mon ange tombé, I will write a letter to your father and you may deliver it to him when you return to your home. I am adding a few other stipulations. One is that you get to choose your own wedding dress," he added as he looked at the contraption she was wearing. Still she never moved, never lifted her gaze from the floor.
As Erik sat and wrote his letter he stole occasional glances at his ange tombé, his fallen angel. Still her stance remained the same, one of dejection and hopelessness, she reminded Erik of a wild mare who'd had her spirit broken. If only she knew how much it hurt him to see her that way. He did love her, but he still believed he loved Christine more than Charlotte and as long as that was so, he could not rightfully claim Charlotte's love, no matter how much it hurt him or her.
Erik signed the letter with a flourish, placed in the envelope and sealed it with his wax 'mask of red death' seal. He stood pausing a moment to look at Charlotte, still in her abject position. It was only when he placed a hand on her shoulder that she looked up at him with dry eyes.
"Here ange tombé, the letter for your father. You should go know, it is getting late."
"Yes Erik, I will go now and you shall not see me here again, but before I go Erik, know this." As she spoke, Charlotte's voice began tremble slightly, tears filled her eyes and began to fall once more. " You may not realize just how much I love you, but when you find that I am dead, know that it was out of love for you. When I marry Barron De Savois and I am no longer here, know that it was only for you."
Erik could only watch the familiar scene in stunned silence. Charlotte ran sobbing, from his home once more, only this time he knew would be the last, after the final performance of his opera he would never see her again and that was how it had to be. But her words stuck in his head, repeating repeatedly and he could not shut them out, and when they were joined by Christine's haunting phrase, he knew what a terrible mistake he had just made.
It's in your soul that the true distortion lies.
B/N: This is Alexis Erika Rose's beta, I just want to say that I apologize for her short chapters. LOL, she has short and sweet chapters. Thank you, have a lovely day/night.
A/N: Ok, ok, I'll work on the length! I told you I've just read to many James Patterson books! And to any of you who haven't read James Patterson go buy/read When the Wind Blows right now! Well right after you review lol. Oh yes and thank you Beta!