A/N: I know it has been a long time since I have updated, but I have been pondering whether I should finish this story or not since I have gotten some nasty, nasty reviews about it. But the majority of you have begged me to update, so here it is.
Chapter 17
"It was a terrible accident Monsieur D'Avignon, I am so sorry for the loss of your child. Keep a close watch on her tonight, for she might not make it." Doctor DeLauer stood at the front door talking to Erik. Erik sadly looked at the floor.
"Thank you." Erik said quietly.
"I must be going now. I will check back tomorrow afternoon to see the Madame's progress, if she begins to worsen or cough up blood tonight, send for me, other than that, I will see you tomorrow." Doctor DeLauer opened the front door and walked out. Erik watched him get into his carriage and shut the front door standing with his back against it. If Christine wouldn't have been here, none of this would have happened. Erik knew that Christine brought out the worst in him; she did when he was at the opera house. Of course, he was a much younger man then and he finally thought his immaturity was over, but once again, he slipped and let her ruin him again. Taking in a deep breath, he began to walk upstairs to check on his wife.
Opening the bedroom door ever so quietly, Erik looked around the dark room, there was one candle lit on the nightstand by the bed. He quietly walked over to the bed and gently sat on it next to Gabrielle. He touched her forehead and she moved slightly at his touch turning her face upward to look at him.
"I'm so sorry, none of this would have ever happened if it wasn't my fault." He said quietly. She continued to look at him and put her head back down taking her gaze off of him.
"I-I thought I knew you. But I don't. I never thought that I could love someone so much and I never want to give you up. That's why I jumped today. I don't think I could go a single day without you and I know that I have already lost you to her. I never had you and I curse you for saving my life, for I want no part of it." Gabrielle quietly spoke above a whisper.
"But I do love you, I want to rid her of my life, I've tried so many times, it's never worked."
"Then maybe you two were always meant to be together." Gabrielle said. Erik sat quietly for a moment for he pondered that same answer a million times in his head.
"Ever since I was a little girl, I was always very beautiful. My parents' friends would always comment on how much of a beauty I was. When I began to grow up, I would always get disrespectful jeers from men and they always wanted me. When I met you, you weren't like that at all. You respected me and that is why I fell in love with you. I never wanted some attractive idiot that wanted to show me off because I was beautiful, I wanted someone real and honest. But the thing that is different with you is that so many men would love to have me lay on my back and you go behind my back. I fell in love with you and thought that you were the only one for me and I never thought that you would do the things that you do. You enchanted me and now you've betrayed me. I want nothing more to get rid of this meaningful life."
"Gabrielle, let me tell you something. When Christine left me, I wanted nothing more than the same thing you do, but I didn't give up, I went on with my life and found peace for a small portion of my life. You have that chance, I will be the man you want me to be, I promise." Gabrielle shook her head and smiled slightly at him.
"I am not giving you that chance. It's over Erik, we both know that. Even though she left, you have her again and I am not going to stand in your way. I love you too much." She began coughing and coughed up some more blood than she already coughed up that afternoon. With tears in her eyes she held onto her broken arm with her good arm and relaxed back into the bed. Erik ran to the bathroom to get some towels to clean up her blood. When he cleaned her up, he tried to get her into new pajamas but she refused.
"I am going to die Erik. I am going to die of physical and emotional pain and I am going to die soon. I can see them Erik, the angels are calling for me and I am soon going to be happy. Everything I ever questioned and wanted is waiting for me." She had this faraway look in her eyes and Erik pleaded with her not to die for he knew that this was his fault. She closed her eyes and popped them back open looking straight at him and said quietly,
"Listen to me; I want you to do me a favor." Erik wiped away his tears and choked out,
"Anything you desire."
"After I am dead and buried, I want you to be with Christine. You deserve her and she deserves you, after all you two were meant to be together." Erik began to let go of his tears and allow them to flow freely.
"Gabrielle, I am so sorry, it is my fault you are dying. I took away your life."
"Yes, but I am giving you the happiness you always dreamed of. I will gladly do you that favor, and I will always be your angel." She closed her eyes and began to fall asleep.
"Gabrielle, I do love you and I always will love you." Erik said sadly as she took in small shallow breaths. Keeping her eyes closed, she smiled and whispered,
"I will always watch over you and I will always love you." Erik watched as she slipped out of consciousness and her breathing slowed tremendously. He began to cry softly apologizing to her lifeless form. When she took in her last breath, he pulled her body to his and hugged it crying out in grief.
"I'm so sorry Gabrielle, I love you so much, and I really do. I am sorry I did those awful things to you, but I do love you. You gave me life after I thought I didn't have anything else and now you have taken your own for my happiness. You are the most wonderful person whoever walked this Earth." Michele had heard his cries from upstairs in her bedroom and ran downstairs to Erik's bedroom. She looked inside to see her master crying hysterically on the bed holding Gabrielle to him.
"You didn't have to die for my sake, I'm sorry!" He screamed out. Michele started to cry herself and remembered overhearing what the doctor to said to Erik.
"Master?" She said quietly entering the room. Erik looked up at Michele and she said,
"I am going to get the doctor." He continued to stare at her and nodded. She picked up her skirts and ran back upstairs to Lucie's room. Banging on the door and waking the other maid up, Lucie opened the door angrily.
"What?"
"The Madame is dead and I need to fetch the doctor. Please, come with me." Lucie's eyes grew wide at Michele's news and she said,
"Let me dress, why don't you wake up Thomas and Luc and have them prepare a carriage for us to take to get the doctor." Michele ran away from her room and down the hall to Thomas' room. The slightly older man opened the door and Michele told him the news about Gabrielle. Thomas quickly woke up Luc and they went to the stable and hitched the horses up to the carriage. They drove the carriage to the front of the house and waited for a minute before Michele and Lucie appeared at the front door. The two women stepped off the front porch and jumped into the topless carriage and sat across from Luc.
"I can't believe she's dead." He said suddenly.
"I knew that their marriage would never last because of Erik's infidelity, but I never thought it would boil down to this." Lucie said.
"I really liked her. I hate the master, he's such a pig." Michele said. The three of them rode in silence the rest of the way to the doctor's flat. Thomas pulled the carriage to the front entrance of the flat and Michele and Lucie jumped out and ran to the front door. They opened the door to the building and ran up the stairs to the doctor's flat. Lucie banged on the door and Michele rang the bell at the same time. The doctor opened the door in his pajamas half awake and stared at the two young women.
"Doctor, Madame D'Avignon is dead." Lucie blurted out. Dr. DeLauer looked at her for a moment and opened the door all the way to allow them to come in.
"Let me change and we'll go." He said leaving them in the sitting room as he ran off into his bedroom.
5 minutes later, Michele, Lucie and the doctor jumped into the carriage and they headed off to Erik's house.
Erik sat in his bedroom and continued to cry over Gabrielle's dead body while Michele, Lucie, Luc, Thomas and Doctor DeLauer crashed through the front door of the house. The household staff sat in the sitting room while Dr. DeLauer ran up the stairs and into the bedroom. Erik held onto Gabrielle and looked behind him to see the doctor standing in the doorway.
"My wife, she.." Erik started but Dr. DeLauer cut him off,
"I know."
Christine who was present when the incident of Gabrielle happened was still staying at Erik's house with Adrienne. She woke up to people talking and a man screaming. She lit the candle next to her bed and silently opened the door to her room. She heard Erik crying and another man talking. She knew something bad had happened to Gabrielle. She walked down the hall and turned the corner to where Erik's bedroom was and saw him standing outside of it with his head in his hands and crying. She ran up to him and just looked at him.
"She's dead." He stifled out between sobs. Christine pulled him into an embrace while he cried into her shoulder while they watched Dr. DeLauer and Thomas carry Gabrielle's body out of the bedroom, down the stairs and into the carriage.
Two hours later, the doctor left and the household staff went to bed while Erik and Christine sat in the sitting room drinking alcohol and talking over a blazing fire in the fireplace.
"I've really fucked up this time." Erik said quietly.
"No, this wasn't your fault." Christine said.
"Yes it is, all my life I have never done anything right and now this." Erik said beginning to cry again.
Adrienne who had been awake during the commotion stayed in her bed until she no longer heard voices. She then got out of her bed and walked down the hall toward her father's bedroom. The door was open and no one was in the room. She then saw a light coming from downstairs and followed it. In the sitting room, she saw her mother and father passing a bottle between them and her father was crying. She walked into the room and asked,
"What's wrong Papa?" Erik looked up at her with watery eyes and remembered he did not have his mask on. His right hand quickly flew to his face to cover it and Christine said,
"Adrienne, come here." Adrienne walked over to where her mother sat and Christine said,
"Adrienne, Gabrielle has died tonight." Adrienne looked at Christine and Erik in shock and stood silently.
"I really did like her." She said suddenly with tears in her eyes as well. Christine hugged her and said,
"I know you did." Adrienne pulled away from Christine and climbed into Erik's lap.
"Oh Papa." She said and Erik put his left arm around her and hugged her. Erik continued to cry while Christine sat beside him and Adrienne fell asleep on his chest.
They continued to talk into the early hours in the morning when they finally tucked the sleeping Adrienne into bed and Christine helped Erik into her bed. She sat by him until he fell asleep. The early morning light was coming into the house and Christine walked to Erik's bedroom and stripped it of all of the sheets. She took the pillows and noticed the one that Gabrielle was last laying on still had her smell on it. Christine threw that one aside and pulled all of the pillowcases off the other ones. She was going to wash all of the sheets so Erik could sleep in his own bed tonight.
A week later, Erik stood looking at himself in the full length mirror adjusting his cravat on his black tuxedo. He looked over at the vanity and remembered how Gabrielle would sit there fixing her beautiful hair. He walked over, sat down on the tiny little chair and opened the drawers admiring all of the tubes of lipstick and hair pins. He began to cry again and looked up screaming,
"I'm so sorry!" He pounding his hands on the table and laid his head on it crying. Christine heard a bang from her room and ran down the hall to Erik's room to see him laying on the vanity table and crying. She put her hand on his shoulder and he sat up hugging her.
"I don't think I can do this! I can't bury my wife today. She was going to have my child and now she's dead." He cried. Christine stroked his head with her hand while he continued to cry.
"Erik, you have to do this. I know it's not easy, but you have to get through this." She said quietly.