A/N: Alright, so by NOW, you've likely forgotten what the entire point of this story is. LOL! I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated! Please don't hate me, and please do enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Sixty-Three

Monique Giry stood outside on the porch, surrounded by wildflowers, rapping on the door more loudly this time. Turning to Meg, she huffed. "She asked us to be here at two thirty, I'm sure of it. The carriage is here--" She was startled as the door was flung open by a sleepy, disheveled Christine. With a blush, she greeted her guests.

"Oh, hello, I'm...I'm so sorry...we had fallen asleep, and...well, please come in." She smiled, embarrassed that she had kept them waiting outside. Meg embraced her as she walked inside, her blond hair tickling Christine's nose.

"Are you well, Christine?"

"Yes, of course. Why do you ask?"

"It's just that you've never taken to napping during the day before. You're not ill, are you?" The young blond wrinkled her nose in concern, studying Christine's face. She doesn't look ill...she looks rather healthy, in fact.

Madame Giry turned to remove her hat and shawl, laying them on the small table in the entryway. "Napping during the day?" she questioned. Glancing up at Christine, she paused to silently gaze at her, straightening as she did so. At once, she knew...she had seen it in a few of the ballet rats before they even knew...Christine was with child. "Ma cherie," she said softly, approaching her with arms outstretched. "You are needing the extra rest with good reason, I suspect."

Christine's eyes widened as she searched her foster mother's eyes, trying to discern her meaning. She was still a bit groggy from sleeping, and the shock of the comment had rendered her momentarily speechless.

Sensing her surprise, Madame Giry wrapped an arm about Christine's shoulders and leaned close to her ear, whispering. "Does Erik know?"

Christine pulled back to look at her. Slowly, her lips curved into a slight smile. "Yes. We found out this morning."

"Found out what?" Meg broke in, stepping toward them.

Christine turned to her and smiled, taking Meg's petite hands in her own. "Meg," she said slowly, "I am...we are...to have a baby."

Meg gasped. "A baby? Oh, Christine!" She dropped Christine's hands, flinging her long arms instead around her neck. "Oh, I'm so happy for you both!" She hugged her friend so tightly that Christine grunted, causing Meg to withdraw with a giggle.

"Monique?" came Erik's smooth, familiar voice from the end of the short hallway. "How lovely to see you." He quickly surmised the situation and added with an amused expression, "I see the secret is out."

"Oh, mon cher, congratulations," Madame Giry said, smiling and taking in Erik's relaxed form, as he walked nearer to her. His shirt was open at the collar and the usual tension in his neck was no longer apparent. She reached out for his hand, and he grasped hers.

"Thank you," he said, giving her a meek smile, nearly overcome with emotion. The two stood looking at each other, practically reading each other's thoughts. The difficulties...the impossibilities of the things that they had shared in the past...the memories flooded their minds. Erik's childhood had been monstrous, and hers had been rather atypical in itself, since she had found him at such a young age. She had been, in many ways, like a mother and a sister to him. Knowing now that he was to have his own child, with the little girl that she had raised as her own...it was overwhelming and would have been utterly ridiculous to imagine, were it not happening right before her eyes.

Suddenly, Erik lowered his voice and his tone changed, as if he were uttering something profound. He squeezed her hand. "Thank you, Monique." He searched her eyes to see if she understood, noticing the unmistakable glint of tears in them.

She nodded her head and squeezed his hand in return. No words seemed necessary between them. The moment for them was a sacred one...one that neither had ever expected to experience.

Christine's tentative voice broke the silence. "Would you...like some tea?"

Madame Giry inhaled deeply and turned her head toward her, smiling. "Tea would be lovely, ma cherie. Thank you."

Erik offered Monique his arm, and the four of them made their way to the kitchen, Meg linking her arm with Christine's as she chattered excitedly.

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We would like to extend a hand of welcome to you, should you decide to come and minister here. May the Lord's will be done. We await your response, and wish you peace above all things.

Father Michel stared at the opened letter in his trembling hands. Oh, Lord, give me wisdom...I have little experience with this sort of thing. Should I go? Would you have me remain here? What of Erik and Christine? Help me, Father...my heart is uncertain. He carefully tucked the letter away in the large Bible upon his desk and sat in an armchair by the unlit fireplace. Sensations of joy, excitement, and hesitation all seemed to grow within his belly. These children need someone there who will care for them...someone to teach them about the love of Christ. Am I that someone? I have sought your will for many months now, Father. What would you have me do? He raised his eyes heavenward as if hoping his gaze would pierce the ceiling and enter the very Throne Room. Let me know Your will.

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Meg gasped when she picked up the Epoque the next morning and scanned the society pages. Her mother, knowing how her daughter had a flair for the dramatic, barely raised an eyebrow. "Problem, ma cherie?" she asked flatly.

"I don't know...well, no, I mean...I suppose not." She squinted and frowned as she pivoted in her chair to face her mother. "It's the Viscomte."

Madame Giry set down her cup of tea and quickly came to her side, bending over at the waist to scan the page herself. After a moment, she straightened and smoothed out her skirts. "Engaged. Well. Good for him." She returned to her place and took a sip of her tea.

Meg was astonished at her mother's nonchalance. "Good for him?" She blinked. "What...what is Christine to think of this? He is engaged already, and she has been married but six months!"

Monique smirked at her daughter. "My darling girl, do you even realize what you just said?" She laughed low in her throat. "Christine married Erik rather quickly, and you are upset that Monsieur le Viscomte has waited all of six months to find someone to be his wife? Honestly, Meg..." The older woman shook her head and pushed some loose, graying strands of hair behind her ear. "I'm glad for him."

"Well, since you put it that way," Meg chuckled, "I suppose there is nothing wrong with it, is there? I just..."

"You're wondering how Christine might take the news?"

"Yes, Maman, I am. I know that she loves Erik, but...I wonder if she ever really considered how she might feel to have her childhood sweetheart married off to someone else."

"Hmmm. Well, I should hope that she'd be happy for him, too. After all, he is a good man...he deserves his own happiness, does he not?"

Meg nodded, feeling conflicted. Part of her actually felt a bit upsetwith Raoul for moving on so quickly, and yet she knew it was completely unreasonable for her to feel that way. I should let it go. I'm sure that Christine would...wouldn't she?

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Erik rolled his eyes when Christine picked up the newspaper to read it after they had prayed and read a few scriptures together. "Must you read that every morning, mon ange? It's nothing more than meaningless drivel and gossip." He twisted his mouth in disgust, and she pretended not to hear him.

After several minutes, Erik stood and left the kitchen table to look over some plans in his study, when all at once Christine folded the paper and lay it down in front of her abruptly. She drew her hands away from it, staring at the paper with disbelief in her eyes. He furrowed his brow in concern and paused at the doorway. "Christine?"

She looked up at him, glassy-eyed. "Yes?"

He did not answer her immediately, but stood for another moment, poring over every nuance of her face. Her expression was nearly unreadable, save for a hint of pain in her eyes. None but he would ever have noticed it... "What's wrong?"

She folded her hands in her lap and tilted her chin down to study them. "Nothing is wrong...no." She shook her head. "Nothing is wrong," she repeated, as if to convince herself. Erik frowned. Obviously, her acting abilities have become less than believable of late.

He sighed in frustration and briskly approached her. Taking her gently by the shoulders, he shook her lightly. "Mon ange, something is wrong. Now, I demand that you tell me what has gotten into you this morning!" He raised his voice enough for it to send a shudder through her body. She slowly raised her eyes to his.

"It's in the paper today," she said at last, choosing her words as carefully as she could. "He is to be married."

"He? Who is to be married?"

When her only response was to quickly avert her eyes from his once again, Erik knew. "Oh. I see. And this disturbs you?" he said, with more than a little sharpness.

She trembled visibly. "I-I suppose that it doesn't disturb me as much as it...surprises me."

"It surprises you? Why?"

She shrugged, and Erik had flashbacks of her childhood, when he had taught her from behind the mirror. When she didn't want to answer him, she stalled—using that simple motion. He put a finger under her chin and lifted it until her eyes were locked with his.

Christine cringed at the fierceness in his eyes. "I...I don't know."

He repeated his question more firmly, attempting to keep his voice at a normal level. "Why does it surprise you, Christine? Answer me. Do not shut me out."

She closed her eyes. How do I say this without sounding like a complete fool? "I...I suppose I just...expected that he wouldn't...that his feelings for me wouldn't...oh, never mind, it's just nonsense!" she huffed, clearly upset with herself.

Erik relaxed a bit at her rise in emotion, realizing that at last there was a chance for some honest conversation. He sat down in the chair beside her and took both of her hands in his. "Mon amour, your feelings are not nonsense. Please...tell me."

She opened her eyes to look upon his sincere face. "It's just foolishness," she sighed wearily. "And you'll be angry with me."

"No. No, I will not be angry with you for sharing your feelings with me, Christine," he spoke softly, caressing away the uneasiness of her mind with his velvet tone.

She took a moment to compose herself before opening her flawed heart before her husband. "I suppose part of me wished that I could forever hold a piece of his heart. I don't even know why...I love you, Erik, and I want only you. But...it's as if I am jealous that someone has taken my place in his heart...so soon."

Erik stiffened at the thought of his wife feeling jealousy toward this future Viscomtess. "Is it not enough, Christine, that you are the only woman that I have ever...or could ever love?" The twinge of pain in his voice was matched by the sadness in his eyes. "Am I not enough for you?"

At this, the tears that had been building during the course of their conversation began to flow freely. She regretted her honesty with Erik because she had caused him pain...again. Always pain. "Erik...forgive me, mon amour. I'm so sorry...I didn't mean it that way. Of course you are enough for me. You are far more than I deserve, far more than I ever dreamed a husband could be. You are the man that I would follow to the ends of the earth if you asked me to. Please..." She placed a tender hand on his marred cheek and bent forward to kiss him full on the lips.

Erik fought against the hurt that threatened to make him recoil from her touch, and instead wrapped both of his arms around her small frame, nearly crushing her to him. I believed that these insecurities were buried months ago, he thought woefully, as he kissed her with fervency. He needed her...he needed to know that she was still his in every way. Immediately.

"Erik," she gasped, pulling away to catch her breath. "Erik..."

He silenced her with another kiss and swiftly lifted her from the chair into his arms, carrying her down the long hallway. The plans in the study will have to wait.

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A/N: Thanks so much to everyone for reviewing and reading! I'm still here! It's just taking me longer than I anticipated and I've been distracted by other things! Please review! -hugs-