Crossing my fingers that Chapter 3 comes out as Chapter 3. I have a love/hate relationship with this site. LOL

As for the story, what do you think so far, folks? What will the letter say? Where do the go from here? Why am I asking such questions? Just read for yourselves. 😊

Christine did all she could to keep her hand steady as she read Raoul's thoughts out loud.

"I regret leaving you the way I did but I am not sorry for going. If you are being honest with yourself, you can't disagree. I suppose you will find a way to give me all the blame and I suppose I should take it, as I have allowed myself to do so in the past but no more.

The truth is I know I was not the man you needed or deserved but what makes it worse is that you knew it too. You knew it and yet you did nothing about it. You went with me that long-ago night and you married me. Till this day, I can't figure out why. We haven't had a real marriage in years. Was what little we had shared really supposed to be enough to sustain us through death do us part? All I know is that for as long as I can remember, I have taken the blame for not being HIM."

Her head shot up to look at Erik who had been drinking in every word of Raoul's letter. She averted her eyes and turned away from him, but she didn't stop reading out loud. Some way it seemed easier that express this part of her past. She needed someone to be her voice right now.

"Lottie, I have come to realize that you were not what I deserved either. Call me a slow study but all the pain we have caused one another could have been avoided if we only have had the guts to be honest with each other.

I don't want to leave you, but I must. I need to feel what it is like to be with someone I matter to and be appreciated for what I can give, not for what I cannot. I need to find peace and remember that at one time I was a good man. And you, little Lottie, you need to see if your life can be better without me.

Before you curse my name, ask yourself this; Will you shed a tear for my absence or is it in fact the humiliation that wounds you? Can you truthfully say you will miss me and that you aren't in the least bit relieved that you don't have to pretend anymore?

I won't be gone forever but when I do come back, I expect that you will have finally made your choice. Are we to stay together and agree to try again or will you choose your Angel of Music to care for you and give you everything that I couldn't?

Tell Gustave I am sorry, and I do love him.

Yours in regret.

Raoul"

Christine folded the letter and shoved it back in the envelope.

"Bastard!" She whispered but remembered that Erik was standing there. She looked up at him completely lost at what to say next. He heard everything… What possess me to read the letter with him being here? I never wanted him to know what my life became of in these ten years. I don't want his pity.

Erik's head was still spinning from all that he heard. He had to get away to process everything. He had unknowingly bared witness to Christine's life these past ten years and it was a far cry from what he had wanted for her. He knew she wasn't happy but to hear the Vicomte's narrative, it seemed as if she was lost and lonely just had he had been.

"Christine, you and Gustave should stay here for a while to…. Think. The performance is completely irrelevant. All that matters now is your wellbeing. I will let you rest for a while, no doubt you are exhausted from all that has occurred today." He bowed his head before her and then realized how utterly idiotic that was but didn't say otherwise. Instead he moved towards the door.

"Erik!"

He stopped in his tracks as his face shot up in her direction. He had never once heard his name from her voice. It was glorious.

Christine realized she had never spoken his name before and she smiled when she heard it come from her lips. Yet the smile faded when she continued. "I don't think that I can be alone right now. I know it's awkward and bizarre but…. Will you stay?"

If he had found his voice, he would have answered that nothing would keep him away. If he could utter one sound, he would have told her that he would kneel at her feet, until she wished him to leave. Instead, he knew he was far too overwhelmed to speak, so he simply nodded and took a seat on the couch, never taking his eyes off her.