Dearest Cedric,

I've wanted to write to you many times over the past seven years, but I thought it best that I left you alone, and allowed you to adjust to your new life. This may seem strange, my sudden need to talk to you, but it seemed right. I hope you aren't too upset with me, and perhaps, my greater fear is that you have forgotten me. However, I'm going to continue on assuming that you can remember me, perhaps because I need to believe that.

When I heard the news that your mother had died I was sitting at a café in a small town in the south of Italy. I won't say exactly where, out of fear that this letter may fall into, shall we say, the wrong hands.

I was sitting on the veranda of our new house, the evening ocean breeze rustling in my hair as I reread the letter I had been writing to Cedric. When I reached this point, I suddenly crumpled it up, my eyes filling with tears. Why was I bothering? The child had no doubt changed, and would not even remember who I was. And even if he did, he wouldn't want to hear from me…not now. It had been too long..

I buried my face in my hands and let the crumpled paper fall to my feet. I felt a soft hand on my shoulder, and I turned to see Madame Giry standing beside me. I relaxed a little.

"Are you still trying to write to Cedric?" She asked quietly, as I wiped away my tears viciously.

"I don't know…has it really been seven years? How old am I?"

"I don't know for sure, Erik."

"How old are you?"

"Forty-six."

"How old is Nadir?"

"Fifty-three."

"Then how old must Cedric be?"

She hesitated. "Around thirteen, I'd imagine."

I sighed and sat back.

"She's dead….I still can't take it in, I can't…make it permanent. I never thought that she would be dead while I was still alive. I didn't even consider the idea. I can't even comprehend how to…comprehend it."

I laughed sadly, and looked up at her incredulously.

She sighed.

"You've been drinking, haven't you?"

I didn't respond. I stared off at the ocean, attempting to turn things over in my alcohol blurred mind.

"I don't know how I feel…for a while, while we were out here these past years, I thought I'd stopped loving her. But I think…I think a part of me will always love her. And its not just a small part either, its my whole past, my whole…real self. And if she's gone, I…I must be gone too. Does that make sense?"

She sat down next to me and wrapped her arms around me, catching me off my guard the way affection always does. I felt myself collapse in grief.

"Erik, you aren't gone. You're here. And we're here. We've been through a lot together, and you'll always have us. You'll always be real to us."

Nadir came out onto the veranda and sat in the chair next to mine. He smiled at me gently, and said, "I'd join you two, but the chair would most likely break…"

I smiled through my tears.

"I sometimes forget how much you two mean to me. Its always been you two…since the beginning. I don't know what I'd do if it weren't for you."

Nadir joined us on the chair anyway. The sun had set, and the stars had come out, and I watched him gaze at them.

"Erik…I've been covering for you…but you know what you have to do. What you should have done from the start."

I swallowed hard, and like a child, I cuddled up close to Madame Giry, who seemed confused.

"What are you talking about, Nadir?"

He didn't answer her right away, so I spoke up.

"We need to go back to France. I need to tell Cedric something very important."