Meg, Sara, and Madame Giry, sat laughing at the dinner table, over a story Sara had just told about some previous guests, two older women who were sisters, one couldn't hear, the other couldn't see well. Sara's stories always brought them to laughter. In the seriousness of the reality of the past few days, laughter was a welcome distraction. Sara got up to fetch the kettle from the oven, pouring coffee into each of their cups to accompany their pie.
"Sara, this was entirely lovely. Thank you for dinner, and for the warm bath…it was wonderful on a night like tonight" said Madame Giry. "You are both most welcome" Sara said nodding toward them both. She put the kettle back on the stove returning to the table to share their dessert.
"Sara," Meg began, "how is that you came to being an innkeeper?" "Ah, that is truly a story." Sara said with a sweet melancholy in her voice. She settled herself in her chair, putting down her fork and taking a long sip from the strong coffee.
"When I was a young girl, my family moved many times. My sister and I enjoyed the adventure as children, but as we grew into our teen years, old enough to be married, it became more tedious than pleasant." Sara paused, looking at Meg. "Do you remember when I told you that all things seem to work out?" Meg nodded, Madame Giry looking at her daughter as though she had missed some important conversation.
"Well," Sara continued. "My father decided to pack our family, and all our worldly possession, and join a traveling band of gypsies." Sara looked expectantly at Meg and Madame Giry, for the usual response to such news. When neither looked distraught, she continued.
"My father thought this would be a safe way to travel through the country, trying to find a suitable place to make a permanent home. When we arrived here in Paris, he thought he had found it. A beautiful city, with plenty of work to be had, and much opportunity for my sisters and I to make good matches." Sara started to smile. "My sister and I were relieved to have a chance to start a new life, to make real friends. After several weeks, the group of gypsies moved on, my family staying behind." Sara's eyes seemed to wander off.
"My mother came down with Scarlet fever that first winter, and by spring her health was so poor that she could not manage to care for my sister and I. We were so worried for her…." Sara stopped, taking another sip from her cup. "Ruth and I had settled in our minds that Paris would be our home…but now with mother ill, we feared that father would send us off to live with our aunt. We had both found sweethearts, and were hoping to receive letters of engagement later that spring." Sara's eyes turned down. "My father had settled in his mind that he would be taking us all to our aunt's house as soon as the weather warmed enough to travel. My mother never made it to the first blooms of the season, she died in March that year." Sara looked sadly at the ground.
"Soon my father was preparing to sell our home, and take us all away from Paris. My sister's suitor was not yet prepared to take a wife, having to send her away, promising to call for her when he had his affairs in order.
My Johan could not bear to see me leave. We could not afford a long courtship, with a proper engagement, time would not permit it. So, with our father's blessings, we met at a church with our families and we were married just two weeks before my father packed up my and moved them to the south of France. Sadly, my sister's suitor never made the arrangements to bring her back to France. He ended up marrying another."
"So, I married and raised three wonderful children, with my husband. My only family being my mother buried in the graveyard not far from here. I visited her often, talking to her as though she was still alive and could offer some advice." Sara smiled at Meg and Madame Giry, a bit embarrassed that she'd gone into such detail.
"Years later, after my children were grown, and my husband had died, I turned my husband's leather shop into an inn, and I've been here ever since." Sara looked up smiling at them. "So now you know…perhaps more than you wanted to."
Madame Giry and Meg both smiled at Sara. "It is getting late, perhaps we should retire." Madame Giry said to Meg. "Oh, you are right." Meg said rising, helping Sara clear the table. The three began cleaning up the kitchen, in spite of Sara's protests. It was beginning to feel a bit like family, a comfortable, temporary family. Madame Giry putting covers on all that remained from the dinner, noticing that there was only one slice of pie left in the tin. "Strange," she thought to herself.
"Thank you again for dinner, and for the conversation." Meg and Madame Giry said as they went up the stairs. "Good night", Sara called after them. Meg and Madame Giry went up to their room, both glancing down the normally dark hall, noticing the small trickle of light that shone from beneath the door at the end of the hall.
"What on earth?" Madame Giry said, with question in her voice. "Oh, Sara said that she had been cleaning in there today, and had forgotten to turn down the lamps." Meg said to her mother. "Well," said Madame Giry, "we can help her with that. You go off to bed, I'll turn down the lamps." Madame Giry patted her daughter's hand. Meg smiled, giving her mother a peck on the cheek, wandering off to their room.
Madame Giry walked quietly to the end of the hall. She put her hand on the doorknob, and she thought she heard something. She shook her head, smiling to herself thinking how oddly she behaved. She was no longer in the Opera House where one had to look for constant visitors.
She opened the door ever so slightly, to see a tray with soup bowls and coffee cups, and two pieces of partially eaten pie. She closed the door again, confused by what she saw. "Who could be there?"
Without warning, the door opened, someone grabbed her by he arm, pulling her in, closing the door behind her, one hand over her mouth to stifle the scream she was trying to sound.
"Shhh…" came the low….familiar voice. "You'll wake her." Madame Giry felt faint. She tried to jerk away, but his grip was too tight. She wiggled away just enough to view the man at the end of the arm that held her. She gasped. Only twice before had she ever seen him without his mask, but she recognized him in an instant, even in the faint light.
Her eyes wide, she looked from him, to the bed and back again. She reached up her arms and grasped Erik about the shoulders, pulling him to her. He returning her embrace, removed his hand from her mouth.
"Erik…how did you…where have you…does anyone else….were you hurt….is she …the two of you here…" she could not complete a coherent sentence, all questions demanding to be answered at once.
"Christine is fine, I am not hurt, all is well. But I have much to tell you my dear friend…much to tell you. Let us go out while she is sleeping, she is very tired." Madame Giry nodded, leading Erik out of the room, and down the hall towards her own.
"Wait here for just a moment" she whispered to Erik, who was now reaching in his pocket for his mask. Madame Giry went into the room and over to the nightstand where Meg sat brushing her hair. She stood very close to Meg, whispering something in her ear, one hand over Meg's mouth.
Meg tried to speak, Madame Giry stopping her. "You can go to her, I need to speak to him. If she is not awake, just sit quietly on the bed, she will wake when she senses you are there." Meg nodded, getting up and smoothing down her nightclothes. She slipped on her robe.
Her mother opened the door. Nodding to Erik, who stepped into the room. Meg's eyes grew wide. She had never been this close to the Phantom, and though she knew he meant her no harm, she couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath and reel back a bit seeing him this closely. Meg looked down for a second, and then a bit hesitantly walked over and put her arm around his waist, and her head on his chest. "We were so worried for you…I am glad to see you are alright." With that, Meg slipped past him, and padded softly down the hallway toward the room where her best friend slept. Though the hall was dark, the brilliance of the moment shown brightly for Meg, her friend was alive, her mother's friend was alive….!
Erik stood there, not really knowing how to react to what had just happened. Madame Giry walked past him and sat on the edge of the bed. Erik closed the door walking over to the chair sitting across from where she sat. Settling down into it he looked up at her. It was difficult to begin, and since they were reduced to whispers, the story took long to tell. He began with saying "I am sorry, I am truly sorry…" the rest just spilled out. The flight, the hiding, …..the wedding. When at last Erik had told her all that he would, he sat back in the chair, searching the face of his friend.
Madame Giry stood up and walked over to the window, looking out, unable to speak. "I know that this is all quite abrupt, quite unexpected….it all happened so quickly," Erik said, shame in his voice. He at once felt guilty for what he had done, not only the Opera House, but to the small family that Madame Giry, Meg, and Christine were a part of. "My friend, please tell me…" Erik coaxed Madame Giry.
She turned to him, tears streaming down her face. She walked over throwing her arms around him, hugging him as a long lost brother. "I always knew….always knew she would be yours…never doubted." She said between the sobs that had taken over. "Yes, I am sad, the Opera House, the dancers….but I am most thankful that you, that Christine are alright."
Erik felt a sense of relief welling inside of him, as calming as a gentle cool breeze. She did not reject what he had told her, did not say it was preposterous, did not think it impossible that Christine loved him. She rose and went over to sit on the bed, patting a spot next to hers. "Come, sit where it is comfortable, tell me of your plans, how I might be able to help." Madame Giry wiping the tears from her eyes. Erik smiled, rose and joined her.
XXXXX
Christine was dreaming. Her dreams were no longer fearful, they were oddly pleasant, and nearly all had Erik in them. She was dreaming of their daughter. Beautiful dark hair flowing in the wind as she ran hand-in-hand with her father along the beach by the sea at sunset, out to draw pictures in the sand. Christine was smiling as she woke, reaching out to the pillow next to hers feeling for her husband. Rubbing her eyes, she raised herself to her elbows. "Erik?" She whispered.
Her eye caught the shadow sitting in the chair. It abruptly changed, turning around she saw that it was Meg. Christine put her hand over her mouth, keeping the scream from escaping between her lips. The two catching each other's eyes at the same time.
Meg quickly flitted across the floor, trying not to make a noise, the two hugging wildly, pulling apart to look at each other's faces, smiling and hugging again.
"Christine" Meg said in an excited whisper "what is this change in you?" Christine smiled at Meg and pulled her left hand from beneath her nightgown, revealing for Meg the diamond that sparkled in the soft glow of the fire. Meg looked back and forth from the ring to Christine's wide smile. She nearly leapt into her arms, hugging her as only a sister would.
"Do tell me," Meg said in a pleading voice. The two now sitting across from each other on the bed, as they had done so many other times before in their lives, sharing secrets and making sweet memories. "Let me tell you….I can hardly believe it myself…he is wonderful…." Meg smiled back at her. "Do go on." Meg said. Christine smiled and began to tell the story of their flight, the cave and most importantly of the wedding.
In two rooms, not ten doors apart, old friends were reunited, prayers answered, new memories forged. As the snow began to fall softly on the sleeping world outside, the lights of the lives within those walls shone brightly. Even Sara rested in the rooms below, comforted by the knowledge that friends were sleeping in her house, and if but for a few days, she was not alone.
Author's Notes:
Captain Oblivious: Oh how you make me laugh. I have a very vivid imagination, so the humorous overtones of your explanations come alive in my mind. Ah, yes, Erik would find you a most interesting subject….. Hope you enjoy the coming chapters….things will become….let us just say rather interesting!