Madame Giry drew out her nightdress and thickest robe. The room was warm, but she knew the halls would be less so when she traveled down to Meg's later. She'd changed out of her garments without assistance, no doubt Madeline was busy tending to Raoul's father and Nadir. She slid her feet into her slippers, and her arms into her robe, tying the belt tightly around her waist.
She was sitting at the vanity in the room brushing her hair, humming softly to herself. She thought she heard something behind her, she turned but she saw nothing…at least not at first. She shook her head, it was likely her imagination. She turned back toward the mirror carefully brushing through it, 98, 99, 100. The final stroke giving relief to her arms. She went about braiding the long strands, and then she heard it again.
She stood and walked in the direction of the sound. It seemed to be coming in from the small hall that connected her room to Nadir's. Hesitantly, she reached her hand toward the doorknob. She heard it again, the door in front of her rattled just slightly. She swallowed feeling a cold rush along her ankles. She put her hand on the door knob and slowly opened the door. Looking the three feet to the other door, she could see it was ajar just slightly. The breeze from the room on the other side causing the door to move back and forth.
Madame Giry smiled, reaching out for the other handle. She'd intended to pull the door shut, but her curiosity got the best of her. Quietly she pushed on the door, peeking in. She saw no one. The room was decidedly colder than hers though a fire was lit in the hearth. Madame Giry glanced over at the window on the opposite side of the room, it too was slightly ajar. Madame Giry thought that perhaps in the maid's haste, she'd forgotten to re-latch the window after lighting the fire. Madame Giry sighed, she'd not want Nadir to retire to a chilled room. She walked in ever so quietly and across the room reaching for the window latch, she pulled it closed and put the lever in its pocket.
"Madame Giry?" She spun on her heels, her heart in her throat. "Nadir!" she exclaimed. "I am terribly sorry, there was a rattling noise, and a breeze from under the doors in our hall…I didn't want your room to be cold when you retired, so I'd come in to close it for you."
Nadir was closing the door behind him. He smiled at her, "that's terribly thoughtful of you." Inside he could think of no finer thing than to have found just what he was looking for in the comfort and quietness of his room. She nodded at him, she'd have smiled if she hadn't been so taken by surprise, or embarrassed to be found in a man's room unaccompanied.
Nadir walked toward her motioning for her to sit in one of the chairs by the fire. "My good sir, I'm quite afraid that I shan't I'm in my robe and…"
Nadir looked at Madame Giry. "My good woman, in all the times we've shared hours sitting in front of a fire waiting for our dearest friend to wake, we never cared about what was or wasn't proper. We are friends, with much to catch up on, do stay."
Madame Giry felt awkward, but decided Nadir was right. There was much to talk about, and this was as private a place as they could have found anywhere. She settled in the chair across from Nadir. "I'd rather thought you'd be enjoying a brandy with DeChagny." Madame Giry said looking at him.
"Indeed I was, until the man fell asleep! We were mid conversation when he started to droop his head. It took but a moment's silence and he was snoring. I tossed a blanket over him, took the glass from his hand and decided to retire myself. It has been a dreadfully long day." Nadir said sighing.
"Then perhaps I should.." she began. "NO, no…this is a fitting end to the day, I cannot say I'd enjoy anything more than to sit and have a warm conversation with you by the fire."
Madame Giry felt a blush come over her face, and was at once relieved that the room was dark, and the glow from the fire would mask any crimson that might be filling her cheeks. "Nor can I," she replied.
XXXXX
Raoul and Meg were perched on the window seat looking out at the falling snow. "There's something whimsical about it isn't there?" Raoul said leaning down to put a kiss on Meg's forehead.
"Hmmm yes, there is." Meg said. She had become so relaxed she'd nearly forgotten about the note, the pages, the pills. But she hadn't entirely, she'd simply chosen the moment over the need. Now, as the night grew long she realized her mother must have fallen asleep, and likely the rest of the house was asleep too. Raoul showed no signs of wanting to leave. All she really needed was a few minutes, just a few to take care of those things, then she'd be content to stay up with him all night just as they had before if he were so inclined. "Raoul? Would you mind terribly if we had a bit of tea?"
Raoul sat up from his semi-reclined position, "by all means, I shall retrieve it…"
Meg smiled, "I am feeling quite alright now, if you'd like I could certainly take care of this.." secretly she hoped he would say yes, and she could take care of at least the pills anyway.
"Nonsense, I'll take care of it. No doubt Madeline has a pot of water on even now. She is always prepared." Raoul stood making his way toward the door. He was feeling a bit sleepy now, having relaxed a bit.
"Raoul," Meg said as she glanced out the window, "I do hope the doctor did not get caught in this snow, I should worry for him if he'd tried to come here on my account.
"Oh, Meg, the doctor informed my staff that he'd not be able to come tonight, he's been detained in Paris. He sends his regrets, with the assurances that he shall be here on the morrow. Well, considering the snow, perhaps the day after." Raoul smiled at her. He hoped she'd not ask for more detail Thankfully she did not. "I'll be but a few minutes my dear, rest…"
Meg padded quietly to the door and listened as Raoul made his way down the stairs. She'd have but a few minutes, but she would be quick and light on her feet. Once the pills were in her room, she would breathe a bit easier. The other things could be taken care of in her room.
Meg looked from side to side before she entered the hall. She'd take the front stairs, it was closest to the parlor and as she'd heard Raoul use the servants stairs at the back of the house so the front was safest. Meg quickly found herself on the first floor, walking through the dark hallway across the entryway into the parlor. She looked for some little glimmer of light from the dying embers in the fireplace. She made her way to the chair and retrieved the bottles, and put them firmly in her hand under the folds of her dress.
She turned and as quickly as she'd entered the room she was closing the door finding herself in the hall. She could hear Raoul in the kitchen pouring the hot water into the tea pot and then the familiar hiss as he dropped the tea ball in. Down the hall further yet, Meg could hear his father, he was snoring. She smirked. If DeChagny knew he did such a thing, he'd be horrified…for snoring was not considered refined!
Meg made her way up the stairs and back into her room. She went to the small table that was next to her bed, pulling open the drawer and putting the bottles inside. She didn't know if she'd have need for them again but she felt better just having them there in case she did.
Now, she turned her attentions to the note in the book. She went to her wardrobe and retrieved the book. She carefully slipped the envelope out, returning the book to its spot. She flipped the envelope over and over. Should she open it now, or should she put it somewhere unopened? The latter won out…she couldn't be discovered by Raoul reading a hand-written note from Erik. That she tucked under her pillow, she'd read it before she went to bed.
Now, the last thing. She reached in next to her corset and she could not feel it. Perhaps it had shifted a bit. She ran her hand all the way around her corset, and inside her corset. Then the horror set in…perhaps she'd lost it on the floor below when she'd just gone down…or perhaps earlier when she was outside…no…not outside? Underneath all of that snow. She sighed, at least there it would not be exposed in any way. But if lay on the floor downstairs, for anyone to see…she had to check.
She was once again back in the hall, closing her door just slightly. She was at the top of the stairs when she heard the tinking of china cups on the back staircase. Meg scrambled toward her room, diving into it nearly leaping onto the settee. She didn't know if it was her exertions or her trepidation of being caught that caused her heart to race. Either way, she'd need to calm herself before Raoul made his way back into the room.
XXX
Pyotr and Sebastian had settled upon the Danbury Inn. It was nothing auspicious, but it was comfortable, and decidedly more private. They'd been seated for dinner, as their rooms were readied upstairs.
"What now, do tell me, what is it that you have in mind." Pyotr leaned over to Sebastian. "The house being occupied now will throw off all suspicion that there might have been anything going on there." He smiled. The other man huffed, "yes, and how does this diversion improve our situation? We've still no where to store our goods now."
The one man smiled devilishly, "it would seem a bit tricky wouldn't it. But, not far from the house is yet another abandoned farm. You know the one, it has the two smaller buildings behind the house. Of course it is not as convenient, but it would suffice." Pyotr nodded, still it made no sense to him.
"Don't you see, it is perfect. We can store our goods at the old farm house, conducting business with our associates as though we were still located at that house." Sebastian shook his head, it was not terribly complicated.
"Think of it this way Pyotr, if indeed someone had thought they'd figured us out, as we'd suspected last year, they won't be able to find any proof, nor find any goods! They could search the house, the grounds, and yet find nothing. This could be just enough to allow us one last season in Chausser before we have to move on."
"Ahh," now it was coming to him, they would use that man's house as a decoy for their business. "You are a clever man, no really a clever man. I'd thought we were all but completely finished in Chauesser, but I can see your plan just might work."
"Thank you, now, can we see to dinner, I'm famished!"
XXXX
Nicole smiled, her mother and her grandmother were both sound asleep in front of the fire. It had been a pleasant evening. Her grandmother seemed so lucid, so clear tonight, it was like having the grandmother she remembered as a child back again if only for one night.
Nicole collected the glasses, turning the lamps down low. She'd covered them both with an additional blanket, and put another log in the fireplace. That would keep them warm until morning.
She'd go down to the tavern just to see if there was anything that they needed help with before she retired for the night herself. She bundled up well. She looked back at the two women who comprised the lot of her family now. She wondered if she was destined now to take care of them for the rest of their lives, perhaps never marrying herself. She loved them, and would do it if that is what was meant to happen, but she was sad.
She'd watched how much that young couple who'd been scared by her grandmother loved each other, and it made her heart ache for someone of her own to love.
She closed the door, going down the stairs to the street. The wind was fierce, the snow nearly blinding. It was but a few doors down, though it seemed to take forever to walk the short distance.
Once at the tavern Nicole nearly fell in the door as the man opened and closed the door for her. She could see now how the stories her grandmother had told her that very night could be true. That year, people had frozen to death in the streets, having been blinded and disoriented in the swirling snows. She shuddered, perhaps her grandmother wasn't as crazy as she'd thought.
"Oh thank heavens you are here Nicole, we've so much to do. We've the remainder of these guests to serve, and then we've need to make preparations for feeding an extra dozen or so for breakfast, and bedding and rooms for ten more." Nicole nodded, that's why she'd come. She'd spent her life serving people, and had a sense for when she was needed.
XXXX
Christine held her breath, Erik paused and began to sing. It had returned to the music that he'd sung to her the first night they met. The words were in French, the music hitting each note with such precision, such eloquence. Erik's voice was incredibly masculine, incredibly strong, incredibly intense, and entirely full of the love that she felt emanating from him. It was at once, both soothing and stimulating to hear him sing...she'd never grow tired of his captivating voice. Though she'd only been able to understand a few of the words, she had understood the meaning, it was like fluid poetry that by-passed the mind, speaking directly to the heart.
Erik paused, looking at Christine. His heart was beating heavily, his brow full of sweat. He'd revealed the deepest longings of his heart to Christine, he felt as vulnerable as he'd ever in his life, but she was a safe harbor. He'd sung it in the language he'd written it in, for him that was the purest version. But now, he'd sing it in a language she could understand. He began again.
In the beginning there was darkness, an endless night,
A boy on a distant shore filled with shame and fright,
He lived alone, full of despair,
Never in his most vivid visions did he imagine she'd be there,
He grew in cruel reality, however grim,
It was the truth of what had become of him,
A bitter soul full of rage, full of hate,
He was at his end, but he'd no control of fate,
Then on a winter's night a child did arrive,
And for the first time in many years he felt alive,
At first he only watched, he needed to learn,
He heard her weep, her soul did yearn,
For what she could not have, the father she'd lost,
At once he understood, he'd paid no less a cost,
He listened in silence to her quiet prayers,
Realizing in haste, that life truly does birth pairs,
At long last summoning the courage he needed,
He responded out of love, to the prayers she'd pleaded,
An angel of music he'd come to be,
I can do it he said, she shan't ever know it's me,
He'd be her guard, he'd be her guide,
With the love of a father he'd be at her side,
As she grew, so did her choice,
He'd be her teacher, she'd be his voice,
She'd given herself, nary a question asked,
She'd never know him, that he was masked,
A specter and angel he would always be,
For no one could love him, not even she,
Then one night he did sense a change,
His heart summoned feelings altogether strange,
He'd grown to love her…He'd grown to love her,
He looked forward to sunsets, the rising moon,
His love did grow for her, her voice made him swoon,
Her heart, her voice, he'd come to know,
She was HIS angel, he shan't ever let her go,
Without her in it, the world was bleak,
He'd grown to love her, it made him weak,
No master of her, he could come to be,
A man at last if she'd but love me,
My heart strings undone, I'd tie so fast,
If she'd but love me, a true love at last,
It was destined to be, nay it was fated,
This cruel world he'd always hated,
She met him in his loneliness, his torment, his tears,
When no one would listen, she heard as the outcast hears,
But now a siren, a beauty, a savior,
He'd but wished he could somehow repay her,
With love and compassion, tender affection,
For to the world she was his reflection,
One day he hoped that she'd have heard,
That his love was true, his precious song bird,
He thought back to when it had first begun,
It for him was when first she'd sung,
No happier an ending could there ever be,
If my true love would utter, oh how I love thee.
Sweet siren of love, thou dost fill my soul, a lifetime with you shall make me whole, I've loved you at distances so great and so vast, and now in my arms I shall love everlast. My dearest wife, my heart, my heart, it longs for you…it longs for only you.
Erik's voice trailed off, the music began to slow. He'd not taken his eyes off of her the entire time he sang. Christine was speechless. How could any one man, one human love with such passion, with such depth…never having known love himself, only having been witness to the cruelties of the world? Where his heart should be hard it was soft, where it should be calloused it was tender, where it should have been void it held passion, where it should have been bitter it was vulnerable and longing.
She sat staring at him, her chest heaving up and down as the silent tears that she'd been shedding rolled down her face as tiny rivers of hope and joy.
Erik rose, the tails of his long black jacket flowing over the bench and down behind him as he walked toward her, eye's fixed, his form steady…confident. He too had been shedding tears. Leaning down he took Christine's trembling form into his arms. She wrapped her arms about his neck, burying her face in his chest as he lifted her into his arms, kissing her neck tenderly, and then her collarbone, and her shoulder, her chin. Christine shuddered as Erik put his hands on her, removing all stood in the way of their love.
He knelt before her as he studied her form in the soft glow of the firelight. She was beautiful to him. He leaned forward placing a tender kiss on her stomach, turning his cheek to her flesh, he wrapped his arms around her waist, with adoration and affection.
Christine ran her hand through his hair, reaching down with both, to lift his face towards hers. Slowly he rose, running his hands up her sides until he stood at full height above her. He leaned down, taking her face into his hands, he lifted it until her lips met his. He slid his arms down and lifted her from the ground, carrying her over to the divan on the opposite side of the study, just where the light of the fire broke into the darkness.
There he laid her down, gently coming to rest with her. Then he looked her deeply in the eye as he lowered his lips to hers taking them up passionately as the love grew between them. There in the tenderness of their first night together in their own house, they celebrated their love, their growing family, and all that the future held for them, which was far more than they could have ever dreamed of.
Though the blustery skies obscured the view, Erik had no doubt that a million stars had taken flight, along with their passions…on a long wintry night.
Author's Notes:
Captain Oblivious: I hope you weren't too disappointed in the prose of the love song…It is rather difficult to imagine what he'd say to her, but somehow I think he needed to tell her that he'd loved her in spite of himself. That's sort of what I was going for! Yes, I'd rather agree that Christine is a rather fortunate woman indeed! Now, as for smacking that "hot" guy…go no further unless Susie approves…even if he has a good voice, he might not be worthy of Susie! Sure hope you brought your Pauly Shore gun to school with you!
Phantomsrogue: My, my, aren't you the little multi-tasker! Watching a show, trying to read a story, and do homework all at the same time? Hopefully you didn't type anything you read or heard into your assignment or I dare say your teacher will have some fairly interesting reading! O.K. the bottles…they are the ones that Meg stuffed in the couch in the parlor when she'd come in from outside where she'd found her furniture and retrieved them. You might recall that she barely got inside when Raoul appeared, so she'd stuffed them down into the cushions of the divan for safekeeping.
PhantomFan13: Glad to hear you liked the Tchaikovsky insertion. He is my favorite Russian composer! I absolutely love 'Romanze', I think it should be a title song for a movie, it is so powerful, truly moving. Swan Lake is entirely lovely too.
By the end of this chapter, you'll know what it was that Erik wanted to show Christine! As for the story the old woman tells, its not so much really about that story, since they think she's crazy anyway! Its more about connecting with her daughter and granddaughter.
Yes, there is a hint of pity in my soul for Crawlings. It is hard to know how we would react if the only life we'd ever known was one of violence and vengeance. I can understand you want him to go away…but freeze? Yikes!
Yes, the exorcised reference is a bit eerie in light of that movie isn't it. But no relationship to the movie was intended.
Sorry about inducing a cake craving. I've made the confession to others, but I am an absolute food nut…all things dessert of course! Sadly, I can only describe the things that I've tried, hence you will never find stories about shark or caviar in this story! LOL
Yes, I like Kelly's song, 'Because of You', in fact I'm listening to it right now…darned…I had to go out and buy the CD! LOL I also like the last song on the CD, 'Beautiful Disaster', I think this song would describe Christine's feelings for Erik in the modern world if that is where they were right now. If you haven't listened to it, you might want to…I think you might agree.
Ontario! I spent part of a summer traveling around the southern part of Ontario. Niagra Falls of course, a small town Niagra on The Lake which I loved! I bought a tea pot that I use all the time in one of the little shops there! In fact it was there that we road a small horse drawn carriage around town as the sun set…it was so wonderful! We stayed several days in Thunder Bay, (we had the best dinner at East Side Mario's), a long while in Toronto (which I also loved). Have you been there? I loved Casa Loma…it was like touring a house I could see Erik build for Christine! There were so many breathtaking sights to see on the roads we took. We went to several national parks, and did a great deal of shopping…and of course eating! I had my first ever buffalo burger there, and "nip" fries, it was so much fun to experience it! I was also interested in so many different foods that you had there that aren't available in the U.S. I truly longed for the "dressed" chips and the Naniamo (?spelling?) bars, there was also a candy bar, I think it was called "coffee crisp", anyway, I loved Ontario. Sadly I've only been back there twice. I hope to get there again someday soon. The times I was there were all summer, but I can only imagine that fall is absolutely heavenly there!
Christinelovesphantom: Tell your dad he has good taste…cheddar with apple pie is wonderful, though it does sound strange! I love chocolate very much, but it just so happened that apple pie with its wonderful cinnamon and sweetness won out this time!
Hope you enjoy the next chapter!
Crayann: Thank you for the wonderful compliment. Yes, I dare say there is much going on during the most recent chapters. It's sort of a parallel to how everyone thinks that a storm brings life to a halt, when in fact, sometimes the most interesting part of living takes place when it seems it couldn't. How's that for confusing? I think disaster brings out the true heart of people in a way that nothing else does. I guess its the old adage when the going gets rough, that's when you see what you're really made of!
I don't envision the end of the story too very soon. I've a number of chapters in the works right now, and they don't put me anywhere close to the end of my hopes and dreams for this group of people. I simply hope that our little Phamily will stay with the story until the end. It is my hope that when it does arrive, that everyone will be happy and satisfied!
ChristineluvsErik: Thank you for the compliment regarding loving the story. When I started I just hoped to make a few people smile, but it seems that there was so much a need for a different ending to the story, that our Phamily has grown! I couldn't do it without the faithful readers like yourself. It makes me happy that it makes you happy!
Yes, Meg's note from Erik. Its not entirely unpredictable, but very necessary for the future!
Tex110: Oh, please…no going cross-eyed! I don't want to be responsible for any serious medical conditions…LOL. I consider it quite an honor that anyone would have the commitment to read the story all the way through once, but more than once? I hope it isn't because it is too confusing…? Thank you for the review!