Meg had joined her mother in her room, passing Christine in the hallway as she did, neither woman uttering a word, or sharing a glance.
Madame Giry glanced up at her daughter as she came in. "Is Erik alright?" she whispered. "Yes mum, quite." Meg looked a bit flushed, coming to rest on the edge of the bed as her mother packed the last few toiletries into her small traveling case.
"Meg, is something wrong?" her mother came to rest beside her. Meg looked up at her, feeling a bit nauseated. "It's just that, well, I don't know, it's silly really…" Meg trailed off.
Her mother, noticing the small envelope in Meg's hand, asked "what's this?" Meg handed it to her without a word, nodding that it was o.k. to open it.
Madame Giry pulled out the single sheet of paper, it read "My dearest Meg, should you have need, you may summon Charles DeGaul, on Hawthorne Street. I've alerted him to pay high attention to any correspondence from you. Arrangements have been made for your safe passage as often as you like. Please let me know if you or your mother are in need of anything during your stay with your aunt and uncle. Raoul"
Madame Giry let her hands fall to her lap, note laid open. "Mother?" Meg said, "I'm feeling a bit ashamed now. Raoul believes Christine to be gone, perhaps out of his life…I know the truth, but could not tell him, and yet…somehow….I feel….I feel….Mother, is it wrong for me to find him handsome? Now that Christine is married…she'll not come back to him…is it wrong for me to think of him…."
Madame Giry put the note back into the envelope, tucking it inside her traveling case. She patted Meg's hand and stood looking about the room tracing everything with her eyes so as not to leave anything behind. "Come, we must go."
Madame Giry walked by a confused Meg. Her mother hadn't answered her question. She didn't know if she could face Christine after the conversation, after the glances, she knew Christine had watched between them. "I've done nothing wrong, nothing." Meg muttered under her breath. "She doesn't want him anymore, and I'll likely never see him again…" Meg blushed once more thinking of the kiss Raoul had placed on her cheek. It was all innocent enough, something the husband of her sister might have done….after all Christine was like a sister to her, and Raoul was like….. She stood, following her mother from the room.
Erik sat holding Christine in their room. It was quiet, dark. Thoughts running rampant in both their minds. Jealousy, rage, fear, questions. Erik heard the noise in the hall as Meg and her mother walked down the stairs.
"Come, we must go." He looked down at Christine. Her eyes were damp, wide, pleading… "Christine, soon this city will be a distant memory, we have a journey to our next night's rest, the longer we tarry, the later it will be."
Christine put her head to rest against Erik's chest, letting out a sob. Erik embraced her, running his hand up and down her back. "Shhhh…." Erik cooed in her ear. "It is hard…it has been so very hard….I know…time will heal this too my dear." He raised her chin so he could look into her eyes. He tenderly kissed her lips. She sunk into his embrace, returning his kiss, melting into his presence. His touch had the power to stop the present, to erase the past, to fill the future. "I love you Erik, I really, really, love you."
Erik pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her, nestling his face beneath her curls, against the warm flesh of her neck. Christine slid her hands around his neck embracing him. Pulling away long enough to kiss both of his cheeks, and once more kissing his lips. She looked down and put her hands into Erik's. He smiled at her, closing his hands around her small ones, warming them with his breath as he raised them to his mouth to kiss them. "I shall never leave you, remember that, shall never leave you." She smiled at him, eyes locked on his.
They rose, Erik giving her one last warm embrace, whispering something in French in her ear, giving it a quick warm kiss. She would learn to understand his phrases in time….she had the rest of their lives to do it. Holding hands now, they walked to the door, looking back at the room, smiling at each other, and departed.