Chapter 79 Unhappy returns
"It is settled then." Nadir said, shaking hands with Raoul. "The coach will take you back to Paris with Meg. I'll retrieve Madame Giry this morning. No doubt she will not want to delay, so we will likely be in Paris by nightfall."
Raoul nodded. "I shan't want to trouble the staff there, and deprive them of their carriage for that many days, I could easily send one of my…" "Nonsense" Nadir interrupted, "that would only delay Madame Giry getting to the side of her daughter."
Raoul knew that Nadir was right. He didn't know how he would face Madame Giry, in light of all that had happened. He knew only that they now shared a common bond in their concern Meg, in a way they hadn't before. He'd never allowed himself to think of her as more than a friend. He looked at Meg with new eyes now, and all of her needs would be tended to…he'd see to that.
The coachmen had removed two horses from the carriage, one for Nadir, the other for the physician. One coachman would ride Raoul's horse back to Paris. They'd no idea how Ronaldo had traveled there, but finding no horse, they assumed he had been on foot.
"Nadir, and what of the authorities, are they to come to collect this man?" "Nadir looked at Raoul, "Sir, with all due respect, I should like to put him under the carriage, and have you carry him off to Paris. Since his services were procured at the Starboard, perhaps they will know how to notify the next of kin. Surely you would prefer the police in Paris deal with this, than those of this small village?"
Raoul caught the underlying sentiment of Nadir's message and nodded. A scandal in a small village far from Paris would give fodder for gossip should word reach it. The last thing that De Chagny family needed now was scandal, not when so many people were depending on their good name to resurrect the Opera House from the ashes. "Perhaps it is best indeed. I have but one request, that we not tell Meg of this, I fear it would only case her further injury." Nadir nodded "indeed." He motioned toward the coachmen, who took a large canvas into the house to retrieve the body.
The physician was just bringing Meg from the house as Raoul and Nadir concluded their business. Raoul went to her, the pink hues of morning light now bathing her in a soft dewy glow. In this fragile state Meg needed him….and it felt good to be needed again. He helped her into the carriage, making certain that she was comfortable before he returned to Nadir.
"Sir, I wish we had made our acquaintances under different circumstances. I do thank you most sincerely for all you've done for my Meg." Raoul paused, possessiveness had already begun to settle into his vocabulary regarding Meg. "I do ask you but one final favor." Nadir leaned in as Raoul began to whisper. "No doubt you know of my engagement to Meg's closest friend, Christine, who has been missing since the Opera House tragedy." Raoul looked at the ground. "It has been quite a revelation really that Meg and I find ourselves in our present circumstances." He paused, the next words were the most difficult. "I've become rather fond of Meg, and wish to care for her until she is well enough to make her own decisions regarding her future. Madame Giry is a dear woman, and will be most understanding."
"Raoul, what favor is that you ask of me?" Nadir inquired.
Raoul felt a crimson blush on his cheeks. The words seemed so foreign on his lips, they felt like betrayal of the deepest kind. "I shall want to ask Madame Giry for permission for her daughter to….for me to be a proper suitor to her." Raoul swallowed hard, clearing his throat. "I'd prefer, that I be the first to mention this to her…that she not know of my intentions before I can speak with her directly."
Nadir felt both compassion and respect for this man. He could simply have taken Meg under his wing quietly, but he wanted to do what was proper. He was nothing like what he had imagined having talked to Erik. He'd expected a cunning, snobbish bore, but instead had found a man whose heart was wounded, and trying desperately to mend.
"I understand," was all Nadir could say. No doubt Erik would have informed Madame Giry long before Nadir had reached the manor, thus making the point of his promise moot.
Raoul shook Nadir's hand once again, and disappeared inside the carriage, choosing to sit in the seat across from Meg so that she could recline. The coachmen cracked the whip and the carriage lurched forward, on toward Paris.
Nadir and the physician stood beside the animals. "It is a long ride back, and I am afraid there are no rations inside the house. We will have to make the trip swiftly." The doctor mounted his horse and the pair were off toward Courtland Manor.
The winter house sat empty. Blood drying on the floor, canvas and glass strewn about as if a hurricane force gale had passed through. The servants from Courtland Manor would certainly be busy as they traveled there to tidy up after the carnage. The house Erik had never slept in had come to witness such tragedy. It had altered the family that had never lived there, as surely as the events that prevented the baron from ever occupying the Candlelight Inn. Strangely there was a balance set in nature, Christine had Erik, and now Raoul had intentions for Meg, yet nothing seemed normal, for truly it was not.
In the deep woods behind the house was a lone carriage. Inside a young man, all of seventeen wept bitterly. He'd lost his father just two months before, and now his last brother lay dead, affixed like cargo to the bottom of the carriage heading back to Paris. His desperation grew as the reality set in that all his family was now gone. But for the need to seek vengeance on those that deprived him of his family, he would have taken his own life. De Chagny, Courtland, Giry, it didn't matter to him… "blood for blood" he muttered under his breath, wiping the tears from his eyes. Tonight he would rest. Tomorrow he'd find them. One-by-one he'd make them pay.