Epilogue
Paris, France 1918
I woke up this morning to the wonderful feeling of Christmas as my wife, Marie got out of bed to get our son, Erik III who was anxiously awaiting the day. I quickly put on my robe and slippers and stumbled happily down the stairs to the parlor where the Christmas tree was decorated and full of presents underneath that Marie and I so carefully placed under there last night. We watched as our five year old opened all his gifts with anxiety and then fell asleep after all the excitement. We sat by the tree quietly opening each other's presents and drinking some morning wine while our son slept peacefully on the floor with one of his toy cars tucked underneath his arm.
"You know, we must get ready to leave soon for Adrienne and John's. I sure am relieved that she decided to do Christmas this year; last year was just too stressful with your family and all of her children. That's one good thing about me not having any family." Marie said to me. Marie was an only child whose mother died when she was just a child and her father dying right after we got married. My older half sister Adrienne was married to an American writer with four children, Vincent, Richard, Henri and the baby, Colette. I also have another sister, Adelaide who is not yet married, though she is very serious about one man, Claude and still lives with my mother and father. My father is very fond of all of our children, especially Adrienne's little baby. She's the first girl in the family and very special, besides my own son who passes on our generation. My father recently retired, leaving his architecture business to me. I went to college in England and graduated with an architecture degree. My father couldn't have been prouder when the day came.
"Erik, are you listening?" Marie called from the top of the steps, "It's time to get dressed so we can leave." I guess I let my thoughts run away from me and I quickly ran up the stairs to my bedroom. Marie was already dressed and putting on her jewelry. I pulled out a suit and began to dress,
"I am going to get our son dressed." Marie said leaving the room. Finally a half hour later, we were all ready to leave and my family got into our car while I turned the crank to get it started. I was very proud of this car, barely anyone had cars but when my father was listed last year as one of the richest men in Paris by the Epoche he bought all of his children the newest automobiles along with himself of course. I jumped into the driver seat and put on my gloves while Marie and Erik sat shivering, thank goodness it wasn't too long of a drive to Adrienne's house. We all lived within twenty minutes of each other, probably because we're such a close family.
We finally pulled into Adrienne's driveway seeing everyone's car there which meant we were late, as always and would probably get hounded because of it. I helped Erik out of the car while Marie grabbed a large bag full of gifts and we headed across the snowy yard to the large, warm house that loomed in front of us. When we made it to the front door I opened the door and we all walked inside to see everyone in our family.
"Well you finally made it!" My father said getting out of his chair and walking over to Marie, grabbing the bag from her.
"Thanks Papa." She responded while he set it on the floor and helped her out of her coat. Adrienne came over and hugged us all and took the bag over to the large Christmas tree. Papa walked back into the parlor and sat down on a large sofa next to Mother. I went into the room with Marie and greeted everyone, Christine and her husband, Jacques sat in the corner and I greeted them also. I finally sat down and was presented with a glass of wine while Erik ran off with his cousins and Adrienne brought little Colette in who just woke from her nap.
"Awww…she's so adorable." Marie said at the baby.
"And she knows it too." John added.
"Let me see my granddaughter." Erik said reaching out for Colette. Adrienne handed the baby over to him and he began making faces at her.
"Erik, when are you going to have another one?" My mother asked looking at me.
"I was waiting for Adelaide." I answered sarcastically. Adelaide looked up from talking to Claude,
"I'm not even married yet, give me some time." She said defensively.
"That's all we've been giving you." Papa added and everyone started laughing.
"Papa, come on, I'm only eighteen." She answered defensively again while Claude began turning so red his ears were burning. Adrienne made her way out to the kitchen and Christine got up to help. Finally all of the women were out in the kitchen helping prepare the Christmas feast. Now that us men were alone, Papa didn't waste any time asking Claude about marrying Adelaide especially in front of John and I.
"Claude, when are you going to marry my daughter? You both are of age, you have a decent occupation. What's holding you back son?" Claude turned red again and got up to sit next to Papa on the sofa while we all listened intently. Even though women were filled with gossip, us men secretly wanted to hear some of it.
"Well sir, I was actually going to ask you today if I had your permission to marry Adelaide." Claude answered quietly fumbling with his hands.
"You do have my permission. Welcome to my family." Claude's embarrassment quickly disappeared and relief took over.
"Oh thank you, thank you." Papa then turned to me,
"Now Erik, when are you going to have another child?" I gave out a loud sigh,
"Papa, let me and Marie do things our own way in our own time. We're going to have more, I promise, but just calm down about it."
"Well, I just wanted more grandchildren before I die." Papa answered sadly.
"Listen to you! You talk as if you were ninety years old and on your death bed. Really, don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll have twice as many before you die." Jacques sat on the other side of the room and sensed the tension between us, due to my annoyance with my father and quickly spoke up,
"So Erik how's your retirement? Relaxing hopefully?"
"I have a lot of time on my hands, exploring new things. But I love having the time to be with my wife. The time I never had before, it is wonderful." I looked over at John who was sitting quietly and whispered,
"As long as Papa is talking, he's happy." John chuckled to himself at my comment. It was true, for the past ten years my father went from moderately social to this person who had to talk all the time. He always had to be in the topic of conversation and always had the last word to every argument. It was a major change because as us kids were growing up; he was never big on discipline where my mother was. I guess it had to do with his terrible childhood and early adult life that made him that way. But then all of a sudden he had major confidence and everything he said had to be heard. It probably had to do with years of isolation.
Adrienne walked back into the room and announced that dinner was served and then yelled up to the children to come downstairs to eat. As soon as we reached the hallway, all the boys came running down the stairs at once. It sounded like a herd of elephants. We approached the dining room and Papa stopped me,
"I forgot to ask you how the business is going."
"Its fine, we already tore down the old library and we're just waiting for the ground to thaw before we break ground."
"Good thinking son, not trying to rush things through this awful weather."
"Well, Marie and I have some money saved to get us through the winter so it's fine that I'm not exactly working right now."
"Erik!" Mother yelled and we both turned at the sound of our name and my son went running toward her as she sat him down in a seat. My father and I both looked at each other and began laughing because whenever someone said that name we both always looked. It was like a little joke between us.
Mother walked over to Papa and said,
"It's time for both of you to sit down and stop bothering him about your old business, let him run it now. You're retired."
"I know that dear." Papa replied sweetly. Mother was the only one he was allowed to lose an argument with. We both made our way over to the large table and sat down. Everyone dug into the delicious food and the children all made a mess of themselves eating it.
After all the presents were opened and the last glass of wine had been drunk, it was time to leave behind another perfect memory for us. We headed out into the cold weather and cranked up our cars. I kissed my sisters and my mother goodbye and approached my father who was bent over cranking his radiator.
"Papa, Merry Christmas." I said holding out my hand in a certain way that was our "secret handshake" as one might say. Something we had done since I was a little kid. He stopped cranking and stood up, putting his hat over top of his dark, grey hair. He shook his hand with mine smiling while we did it and pulled me into a hug. Despite my tall stature, he was still taller than me.
"I love you son." He said to me and then let go.
"I love you too Papa." I said back at him and he bent back over to crank some more and then his car started. I walked past my mother's window and tapped on it mouthing the words that I loved her and she mouthed them back at me. I got into my already started car and began heading out of the driveway back to our house. Erik slept on Marie's lap as we smiled at how tired he was after the day that passed and headed back home, our home in Paris, where we would raise more children and Erik would eventually raise more to carry on my father's proud name forever.
I know it's the end of the story and it was never E/C but everyone was happy in the end! Hope you enjoyed the story, be sure to check out my other two that are in process.