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Chapter 17

August 1876

We celebrated the twins' birthday quietly. They were growing so fast, walking unsteadily on their stubby little legs. Carrie's hair was beginning to curl softly while Nathaniel's was straight. It dawned on me that everyone had a birthday or day set aside as a birthday except Erik.

"Erik, my love you've never told me when your birthday is." I said as I sat Nathaniel down on the floor and sat next to Erik on the settee.

"I don't know when it is. Sometime in the summer, I think but I do not know for sure. My mother never wanted to remember that day and later neither did I." He said softly.

"Everyone needs a birthday." I said taking his hand. "We even gave Mouse and Sylvie a day they could celebrate. We need to pick one for you too." He looked at me a moment.

"You're not going to give up on this are you?" he said softly and I shook my head emphatically.

"No this is important. To me at least." I said gently. He shook his head and then looked at me.

"If I were to pick a day as mine it would be the day I found you which was May 16th in case you think I may have forgotten. That was the day of my rebirth." He said as brushed my cheek with his hand. He slid his arm across my shoulders and pulled me close to him. I snuggled against him and put my arm across his chest. That day was gone this year but now I knew next year we would have a special celebration just for him. Madeline walked in reading a note; she looked up at us sitting there.

"We have been invited to a picnic at the Devereux's, I think we should go the children need to run and play with other children and you two need something to take your minds off of things.

"Madeline, you know….." Erik began.

"That means you too Erik." She frowned. "I really think you should start putting in an appearance here and there with your family. It might stem some disturbing questions I've been hearing."

"What have you been hearing Madeline?" Erik asked frowning, tension suddenly oozing from his body. He glanced at the children who were playing with the twins in the corner.

"Mouse, Sylvie, would you like to go and pick some strawberries? We will have strawberries and cream for dessert tonight." I asked. They looked up excited; it was one of their favorites.

Leaving the twins to their own devices, they hurried from the room. We watched the children as they left the room, Erik squeezing me in thanks. When we were sure that little ears were out of range Madeline continued.

"It's not so much what is said, it's the sudden hushes when I enter a room and the sidelong guilty glances, and Pierre looked like he'd been in a fight the other day but wouldn't say why. Someone asked me how long I had know my niece's husband. I told them since you arrived in France with her." Madeline said. Tension eased a bit in Erik's body though he still looked worried.

"Why would rumors start? We've been courteous to our neighbors. The only things that have gone wrong around here are within our own family. First with Erik and Sylvie…" I paused remembering the doctor, but I couldn't believe it was him. Then another thought struck me. "Do you think it could be Henri?" I asked. "But why, he's the one who caused the accident?'

"He knows I've had people looking for him." Erik said harshly. I looked at him in surprise. I had no idea that he had people looking for Henri. "He did more than cause an accident in a drunken stupor. He attacked Antoine's daughter earlier that day. He was hiding out in our stable."

"Delia never let on. Why didn't she say anything? Oh the poor girl, is Marie alright?" I tried to remember when the last time I had seen Marie.

"She's alright, Pierre happened by before he could…Anyway they thought you had enough on your mind with Sylvie and me at the time." He said softly. "I only found out when I was recovering and supervising the completion of the stables. I promised Antoine I would help find Henri, for what almost happened to Marie and Sylvie."

"But how would he know about…" Madeline asked.

"He may not but since I wear a mask he might think that if he throws suspicion towards me people will forget about him and his crimes."

"Very well, at the picnic should people ask, we met seven years ago when you became my music instructor. That will place you far away from here when everything happened. You became my betrothed before we came to France with my father, who died enroute. Always have an element of truth when telling a lie and father did die enroute." I said sadly. Erik squeezed me tight and kissed my temple. "We need to convince people that my devoted, loving husband could not possibly be…." I said smiling at Erik. He sighed heavily.

"Well he was that monster until he met you." Erik said, with a groan he stood, raking his hand through his hair. "I won't have my children knowing their father was….." He looked down clinching his fists, his eyes haunted. I went to him and wrapped my arms around him. He looked down at me as he put his arms around me. "I'll never understand how you could dismiss my past so easily, but I am grateful you did."

"I'll go and answer the letter and say that we will be attending." Madeline said and left the room. I looked up at Erik and pulled away from his arms.

"Why didn't you tell me Erik? There has been plenty of time between then and now. Why didn't anyone tell us?" I asked.

"Antoine and Delia didn't want it known. Marie was pretty traumatized, she didn't want anyone to know. We were honoring her wishes.

"Didn't you think that Madeline and I might have a right to know? What about Sylvie? If he attacked Marie he could have…" I asked.

"I didn't think that he would stick around. No one seemed to know where he was. Then you got pregnant and it was not an easy pregnancy and then you lost…Anyway with everything that happened it slipped my mind. I had other things more important to me on my mind." He said looking at me intently. I relented, with all that had happened I knew where his thoughts had been, where our thoughts had been.

"I understand." I said softly looking down.

"Jenny, I would do anything to protect my family. Unfortunately you have already seen that part of me when we first met."

"I wouldn't be here now if you hadn't done what you did and I wouldn't have blamed you if you had taken care of Henri." I said as I recalled Erik's crumbled and bleeding form. Relief flooded his eyes and he held out his arms to me.

"I'm sorry angel, I should have told you. Everything else just got in the way." He said as I went to him and put my arms around his waist. "But as far as the picnic goes, we need to get every detail of our supposed meeting, betrothal, journey to France and subsequent marriage straight so anyone comparing notes won't find any discrepancies."

"What about the children. They would never deliberately say anything that would hurt you but…."

"They know nothing of our past before you found them. They always believed that we were married, and they know better than to talk about our underground home. Perhaps once we have our past invented we could talk about how I was enchanted by a young girl who was my pupil and how that enchantment eventually became a deep abiding love."

"But they have already met the vicomtesse… and they know she was a pupil."

"Don't worry angel we will figure something out. Now let's find Madeline so we can get our stories in order." He said as he led me from the room.