Christine stood before the altar quite unwillingly. Her old-fashioned almost family, the Corps de Ballet and Mme. Giry, upon finding out she had gotten pregnant during the three wonderful weeks she had spent with Erik, had demanded she marry immediately to save the Opera Populaire from scandal. They refused to let her wait and talk to Erik who was gone on business so she had left him a note in his lair and had prayed he would get it in time. But as the mass droned on, getting closer to the moment that would bind her to Raoul de Chagny, panic grew.
Finally the priest asked if anyone had any reason to prevent the marriage from occurring. Just as he prepared to continue the service the door in the back of the church flew open and Erik Exeter strode into the building.
"Stop," he ordered. "Christine can't marry him. I love her!"
"Erik!" Christine stepped away from the altar towards him. "You came."
"Of course I came love. I told you I always would if you needed help. But why are you getting married? Why didn't you tell me you were engaged?"
"Because she is pregnant," Mme. Giry broke in. "She wasn't engaged before but now she is, so go away and let us avert this scandal from our family."
"Pre . . . pregnant?" Erik forced out. "Who . . . who is the father?"
"You are," Christine answered simply.
"Me? And you're going to marry someone else? Give my child to another man?" Erik was apoplectic, but Christine's next few words directed his anger from her and towards her family instead.
"They are making me. They wouldn't even let me tell you to see if you would take responsibility for us. But it is your child, that's why I sent you the note."
"Well I am here, I've been told, and I will take responsibility." He glared at her family before looking back at her. "You will not marry that ham-fisted clod while pregnant with my child. But it is more then that." Erik's expression changed from angry to sensuous. "I love you Christine Daae and I will prove it to you any way you like. I'll marry you right now if you want and spend the rest of our lives proving to you just how much I love you."
"If you love me then why did you dump me back with my family and not answer any of the letters I sent you?"
"What letters? And I tried to see you, that damn butler of yours, well of Mme. Giry's, kept turning me away. He said you were ill." He paused and took a deep breath. "Plus I didn't know then I loved you. I realized it when I got your note and thought I was to late, that I had already lost you. It just sort of hit me and I knew I had to try and stop the wedding if I could. I'll do whatever it takes to prove to you that I love you. Just tell me what proof you need."
"Just kiss me, then marry me. That's all the proof I need."
"Gladly," he stepped forward and reached out to gather her into his arms, ignoring the general outcry from the wedding guests at hearing Christine commit herself to marrying another man while at the altar to marry Raoul.
"Christine," Raoul reached out and grabbed her arm. "You are promised to me and you will not go with this man. I won't allow it. You belong to me now."
"I am a human being, not chattel. I belong to no one but myself or those I chose to give myself to, like Erik here, but most definitely not you." She tried to pull her arm away.
"You belong to me," Raoul snarled as he used his grip on her arm to pull her closer. "Don't you forget it. And you will not talk back to me," he added as he smacked her across the face.
In a flash Erik leapt forward, pulled Christine away from Raoul and with a swift right hook knocked the breath out of him. "Listen to me and listen well," he snarled. "She is not yours, as the lady says she belongs to no one. Additionally, you touch her again and I will geld you. Nothing turns my stomach more then a man who hits a woman or a child. Consider this your warning. Stay the hell away from me and mine. As the lady is carrying my child and will soon be my wife I will protect her and count her as mine. Got that, good."
Raoul looked at the anger and promise flashing in Erik's eyes and gulped. Instead of replying he turned and ran for the door still trying to get his breath back as he ran. From the assembled guests there came not a sound. Even Christine's family agreed that she could marry Erik, at least she would be married and the scandal would be averted.
"Coward" Erik muttered under his breath as he turned around. "Now, love, I believe I owe you a kiss, and a wedding." He pulled her into his arms and bent his dark head to claim her lips in a searing kiss. When they finally pulled apart he turned to the priest, taking her with him since he hadn't yet let go of her. "Will you marry us father? After all you are here to do a wedding."
"If the lady is willing, as I think she is, then certainly son. But might I ask who you are?"
"Erik Stefan Antonius Exeter, Phantom of the Opera."
"Phantom of the Opera?" Christine asked curiously, surprised he was admitting to it in public, as the crowd behind them muttered in astonishment.
"Hush dear." Erik placed a finger on her lips. "I'll answer your questions after you are my Phantomess."
They turned to the priest and this time Christine awaited the vows with a light heart filled with love and in short order she was Christine Exeter, Phantomess of the Opera.