Hey everyone! I guess this chapter will be the beginning of the end, LOL! Oh, and like any passionate author I live off reviews, and I'm very sad to see their numbers decreasing! I suck at baking cookies, but I will happily try should anyone be kind enough to leave me their thoughts! Enjoy! -x- Lotte.
"There you are! Next time you decide to seclude yourself, please be so kind as to inform at least one person of your whereabouts. You could have slipped and broken your neck and no one would have known where to look for you!" Luca looked up at Aurora making her way down the slippery rocks along the waterfront, hitching her skirts up high.
"You found me didn't you?"
"Yes, after maman had given up and papa suggested I might find you here! Really Luca, if you ever want to find yourself a wife of sorts you should learn to mingle in society more instead of sitting here throwing rocks about!"
"Has Céline arrived yet?" Quickly avoiding her remarks about marriage, he followed her into the house.
"Not yet, but they sent word from Vicenza yesterday late, so they should be arriving any moment now. Please get dressed up and play pretty for a bit, I beg you. Maman is very nervous about all of this, and papa has fallen into his usual quiet streak."
"Why would mother be nervous? I thought Célines return would be a joyous occasion."
Aurora let out a deep you-know-nothing-of-women sigh. "Because Roger is travelling with her from France, silly! There can be only one reason for him to undertake such a long journey with her, and that is to ask papa for Céline's hand. And you know how papa can be with strangers, especially if they're after his daughters!"
And so, with a minor tantrum or two, the entire Alighieri family stood out in the courtyard as André Valmont's carriage arrived that late afternoon. Erik was happy his brother-in-law had been traveling with the young lovers for as usual, he did not trust the boy's intentions one bit. Looking over at Christine and seeing her happy, hopeful glance, he quickly drew a welcoming smile to his face and decided to try once again to give to boy a fair chance.
"Papa!" A year older and a year prettier, Céline threw herself into his arms. He hadn't realised till now how much he had missed her.
"It's good to have you home, my sweet."
She gave him a glowing smile: "It's good to be back home, papa!"
She turned around with a blush on her face, drawing her suitor nearer: "Papa, maman, may I introduce Monsieur Roger DuChamps?"
The boy bowed at Christine and offered his hand to Erik: "Pleasure to make your acquaintance Madame, Monsieur." A noble born and bred, Erik could almost smell it on him. But Céline clearly adressed him as "Monsieur" and the average nobleman's son would not persue a career at the Opera...
"The pleasure is all ours, I assure you. Please, let's not linger here outdoors. I have refreshments awaiting us inside!" Christine ushered everyone inside, Erik following at a short distance.
"So, how is everyone? Is Aurora ready for her debut? Has my brother yet managed to find a girl who will not fall asleep during his lectures on architecture?"
A polite laughter ran across the room, Luca simply smirked and said nothing. Erik was struck by the harshness in Céline's remark. Much as she and Aurora used to tease their brother, they would never look down on his talents. Céline's change in demeanor reminded him all too vividly of the Ballet Rats squirming around in the Opera's dormitories, and he hoped his instinct would prove wrong. Right now it was telling him her stay in Paris had not exactly aided his girl into becoming a wiser person.
"Luca is helping father on his newest project! They're adding a wing to the Law Academy!" Matteo could always be relied on to stand up for his brother. They might not have many interests in common, they were brothers after all and surrounded by three sisters!
André immediately jumped at the occasion to question both of them on the matter, and asked to see the plans. Erik, intercepting a quiet invitation to a private meeting, happily obliged.
"It's good to see you again."
"The same to you...I must confess I was not at all inconvenienced in my role as chaperone...but seeing as we are here now, I take it you understood as much."
"The boy?"
"Kind, and wooing and love-smuthering to all he encounters. And, I confess, not a bad tenor in the least."
"But?"
"There is something I cannot fully put my finger on. Something he is very keen on hiding..."
"His family?"
"That is what I mean. I know he lives alone with his mother, the father apparently unknown."
"A nobleman's bastard." His instincts had been right after all.
"He may very well be. He prefers not to speak of it however and seems very...grateful and devoted to his mother. A quality worth praising, you will agree. But for a young man of such simple background he seems to be spending an awful lot of money, especially on Céline. I know little from the world of Opera Erik, but from what Meg has told me the artists do not make much money unless they should be so fortunate as to obtain a solist position, a thing Roger has not yet managed to achieve. The money he spends may therefor be considered...savings perhaps, but why waste one's last resources on a woman, unless he means to impress her...needs to impress her?"
"You suspect him to be a scavenger?"
"I believe it could be so. To tell you the truth you are the first and only to whom I have related any of my suspicions...Meg adores him, as will Christine no doubt. The lad can throw in a charm if needs to. But Céline is a dear girl, nay young woman, and I suppose her father -he stressed the word- can do more with these claims as I can."
Erik pondered their conversation, sending a warm smile in André's direction. "Thank you for sharing this with me. I'm happy to see my child so well looked after."
André gave him a friendly nod: "My pleasure. We have always been good friends, you and I. I would expect nothing less from one so close to me."
It made Erik realise once more how his family extended further than his household, and how he should remember that more often for future occasions.