Raoul went out into the hall, his clothes and boots in hand. He knew his father's room was temporarily unoccupied, though he was certain his father would be heading there once he came to his senses.
Raoul looked back down to the other end of the hall, to Meg's room. No, she'd be preparing herself, and it would only further fuel his father's dispassion for her if he went there in such a state. He couldn't go to the lower floor, what would his staff think seeing him dressed as he was? Raoul was neither as naïve as his father believed, nor would he allow himself to become as suspicious and jaded as his father. He'd trust his staff fully until they gave him reason not, that was simply that.
Raoul stood in the middle of the hall, looking this way and that, finally deciding on ducking his head into Nadir's room. "Nadir?" There was no response. "Nadir…do you slumber?" Still no answer. Raoul went fully into the room, closing the door behind him.
The room was a bit chillier than his own, he'd have to see about having the fire tended when he went down stairs. For now he'd only want to borrow Nadir's water closet to change and he would be on his way. He stepped carefully and quietly over to the small room, closing the door.
Nadir turned his head. He wondered why Raoul would find himself in his room, clothes in hand, slipping about as an uninvited guest might. No doubt there was something or someone in his own room which he hoped to avoid, or surely he'd not be there.
Nadir rubbed his eyes. He hoped Raoul would not come to the bed's side to discover Nadir's face red and blotched from the weeping that had overtaken him. He loved her, and though his intentions were true and he knew what he MUST do, it pained him still.
He'd tried to fall asleep, but alas sleep eluded him. It seemed that the storm had disrupted so many things, and now he was discombobulated so much so, that his own circadian rhythm was amiss. He'd lay there but one more hour he'd decided. If sleep still did not come, he'd rise and find something more productive to do. There was little sense in tormenting the body with what it was unwilling to succumb to. He closed his eyes, rolling over facing away from the door he knew Raoul would soon come through.
There was a rap on the outer door to his bed chamber, two short knocks. His heart thumped loudly, that would be Meg! He had to stop her before she came in speaking of things that they'd not wished for Raoul to hear. But before Nadir could remove himself from the tangle of his bed, Meg walked in closing the door behind her quickly.
"Nadir, we've much to speak of, what did you find when you…" Her voice dropped and she looked on with a tilted head, confusion consuming her face.
Nadir stood in front of her in his bedclothes without a robe, a distraught look on his face, holding a finger to his lips.
"Nadir what is it? Is someone here with you?" Meg's face lit, her lips quivering into an uneven smile "it's not my mother is it? You know how complicated this would be, me with Raoul, you with my mother, and …"
Nadir made his way quickly to her side placing his hand over her mouth before she could utter the next words. Meg shook her head. Nadir leaned over whispering into her ear, "Raoul's in my water closet Meg!"
Meg's eyes grew wide, "oh how foolish of me," she said as quietly as she could.
They both stood there speechless, they'd have to devise a plausible ruse to cover Meg's misstep so as not to raise Raoul's suspicion. They looked down and all around, then Nadir went to his desk, handing Meg an envelope. She looked down at it in her hand.
Nadir leaned in whispering in her ear, "say it's a post for Elizabeth, thanking her for the gifts, ask me to return it when next I go."
Meg cleared her throat. "Silly Nadir, you've not fully woken yet have you? I've come to bring you a post. Could you be so kind as to drop it by for Elizabeth when you make your way back to them?"
Nadir said, in the sleepiest voice he could muster, "I shall be happy to do so for you child. Now you best let me rest, I've had a bit too much brandy, and not enough sleep, not a good mix for a man of my years I'm afraid."
Meg laughed a bit, leaning in to kiss Nadir's cheeks for good measure. "Bon nuit to you then Nadir, bon nuit." Meg turned and left the room.
Nadir returned to his bed, covering himself. He hoped that Raoul would tarry a few moments before attempting to sneak from the water closet. Then he could pretend that he'd not ever known he was there.
Raoul waited until all was silent and he'd a fair degree of certainty that he could pass through undetected. Just as he was opening the door, to peek his head out, he heard yet another rap on the door. This one was much harder, and just one single stroke of the knuckles against the wood. Raoul quickly closed his door when he heard the other door open yet again.
Nadir tried to peek out through the sliver of his eye. It was not Meg, though his heart sank yet again. It was DeChagny.
He walked to the edge of the bed, grabbing onto Nadir's foot. "Nadir, my friend, are you yet awake?"
He'd no idea what would bring DeChagny to his room at this hour…he should have been long asleep.
DeChagny shook his foot again. "Nadir, I've need to talk to you, just for a brief moment, I've a favor to ask of you sir." There was a long pause, "it is in regard to my son."
Nadir's heart raced. What would he tell Nadir about his son, and what would Raoul do if he heard as much? He'd no want to betray either man. If he told DeChagny that Raoul was in the water closet, it would alert Raoul to the fact that he'd known he was there when Meg had visited. If he said nothing, and DeChagny uttered something about Raoul that he'd later regret, Raoul would have heard it without meaning to do so.
He'd but a few seconds to make his decision before it would be made by default. Through no choice of his own Nadir had been put in a middle he did not wish to be in. DeChagny sat down on the edge of his bed, tapping at his back. Nadir simply groaned, hoping this would discourage DeChagny and he would simply leave, alas, it did no such thing.
"Oh…I suppose its just as well. I've need to unload this from my mind, and whether you'd been awake or not is of little consequence." He sighed.
Nadir lay motionless, perhaps that would be all he would say, but he was unhappily proven wrong again.
Raoul had his ear pressed tightly to the door. He'd not want to miss so much as a word of it.
"Raoul is a good son you see. Though I've not told him of it, I am rather proud of him on most occasions. He's done fine justice to bringing honor to the memory of his mother…she'd have been so terribly proud. He's kept on with the work she'd started with her most favorite charities. Indeed, it is why in part that we'd come to be patron's of the Opera Populaire…it had been a passion that we all shared. I'd have been content to take a more silent role, but it was Raoul that had want to step in where his mother would have been, taking on a more visible place."
DeChagny huffed. "Did you know he's started a water color society? Sheer dribble in my opinion, though his mother loved it so."
DeChagny lowered his head, rubbing his thumbs against one another. "He's been a good son, though I do wish he'd married a bit younger, so I could have had years to spend with my grandchildren." His voice changed to a bit melancholy. "Now at best assuming he and Meg have children within the next year, I shall be far too old when they'd be needing my guidance most." There was a long pause.
From inside the tiny water closet, Raoul raised his hand laying it on wood grain of the door that separated him from his father. He hadn't dismissed the idea at all. The fact that his father mentioned he and Meg having children without the characteristic disdain in his voice, was a relief to Raoul. Perhaps in the last few moments he'd come to realize he'd little control over Raoul's choice. Whatever the case, Raoul was relieved.
"Nadir, I know you've no children of your own, but I've come to respect your opinion in other matters, and it is to this end that I ask my favor. Are you awake friend?"
Nadir lay absolutely still. Silence was his only ally now.
"I've need to help Raoul come to an understanding. He must be made to see how his current actions will diminish his staff's opinion of not only himself, but of Meg. If he cares about this young woman as he's professed, then surely he could find the prudence in that." DeChagny sighed heavily.
"I'm quite afraid we've come to a crossroads, Raoul and I, and I doubt very much that he'll pay much heed to my advising just now. I do know that he's come to respect you….that is why I've come to ask for your help. I've so few that I sincerely trust, and though I've known you but a short while, you've proven yourself to be most loyal. If you'd carry the body of a friend back to a final resting place under such circumstances, I've a feeling that you can be trusted with something as seemingly trivial as this."
Raoul sat down quietly on the bench inside of the room. He'd never really thought about his father not having or even needing a confidante. Quite in fact, he'd seemed to be above need for anyone or anything these last years, an island of sorts in humanity. Raoul would constantly need to remind himself that his father had feelings….even if he appeared to all the rest of the world to be devoid of all but guarded circumspection.
"Nadir, can you hear me?" His father tapped him on the leg before rising. "It's just as well, no doubt you'd have found my meddlesome ways as distasteful as Raoul. I only want the best for him….just as my father had for me." With that DeChagny rose and left, closing the door quietly.
Nadir lay, his eyes wide open. He was thankful the dissertation had not been more derogatory, or inflammatory, for who knew what might have erupted in the quiet of that room. This conversation Nadir could disavow all knowledge of. A father had spoken, a son had listened, and neither had to be any the wiser. In an odd way, Nadir's presence had allowed him to be the middle-man, an emotional conduit of sorts, though not an uttered word was required of him.
Raoul sat in the quiet of the dark water closet, contemplating carefully his father's words. He was right…he'd have to think of Meg's reputation…of what was thought of her. In his hopeful anticipation of things to come, he'd not even considered that. He'd need to be a bit more discrete, a bit more respectful. Though nothing of impropriety had ever taken place between them, he'd want there to be no doubt of her virtue when the time came for them to be betrothed.
Raoul tarried for what seemed to Nadir to be an eternity. Somewhere during the wait, sleep overtook Nadir. Inside those four walls, all had received what they'd needed, even if it hadn't come in the most conventional of ways.
XXXXXX
Christine sat with a cup of coffee in her hand fiddling with the spoon in the saucer. It had been half steamed milk, half coffee, a pinch of ground chili pepper, and a pinch of cocoa. Not really coffee any longer, but that's how she preferred it as of late. She inhaled, the glorious scent of baking apples and spice wafted about the kitchen. The strudel she'd made for his homecoming was among them. She'd hoped he would be pleased with it, and with her.
She stood, pacing back and forth from parlor to kitchen to library back to the kitchen. She'd been able to focus on little else. She'd wandered past the clock running her hand over the domed cover, "why doesn't he come father, why doesn't he come."
She closed her eyes. Opening the cover, her hand came to rest over the brass plate with the inscription. Somehow this simple gesture seemed to make her feel connected to her father. She could talk to him in a different way now...as a married woman. "I love him father, I cannot imagine what would keep him...I love him..."
She leaned her head against the wood. The clock struck the first of nine chimes to come. Christine didn't flinch. She wanted to feel the music. Each and every reverberation as it coursed through the inner workings of the clock making their way out in melodious chords. It was nine o'clock and he had yet to return.
Christine walked to the window looking out at the mountains of snow that covered what should be the front lawn fully in spring bloom. The fence was not visible indicating where anything including the walk to the house began or ended, but there was now a carved path down what she'd assumed was the walk from the front door. She sighed, letting the curtain fall from her hand. She looked down at her cup, it was almost empty, perhaps she'd have another.
She wandered back down the hall, her eyes traveling just a bit further than the kitchen. Though she'd tried to put it out of her mind, she still wondered about that drawer. It truth she knew she shan't wonder about it at all. It had been Erik's house, and perhaps it had always been locked. Long before he'd even known that she'd be in the house. Perhaps he'd locked it then, and never gone to it again. She'd try to put it out of her mind. She'd had no doubt that it may come into a conversation, and she could politely ask of it. If he'd want to tell her, he would. If he shan't, she would have to learn to accept it. Though she knew full well that her mind would not leave it alone.
He had many secrets from her...things about his past...that Nadir had warned her that he'd never be able to speak of. If she loved him, she had to accept that fact. She peeked in the door looking at the desk, closing her eyes tightly and drawing the door closed. She'd not do it.
She turned walking back to the kitchen where Nicole was busy kneading dough for that night's supper. She smiled at Christine. "Your pasty will be ready in a short while. Then it will cool a bit and we'll make the frosting laced with vanilla and it shall be ready and waiting when he arrives." Christine returned Nicole's smile. "That is good, very good."
She walked to the coffee press retrieving another cup, filling it half way and adding the two pinches and was just lifting the pan of milk when she heard it. Misty and the other woman stopped, wiping their hands. "What is that sound...is that...is that dogs barking?"
XXXXX
Erik leaned in closer, the house was in full view; he could see the roof, the smoke rising from the chimney. He'd not worried that Christine shan't be cared for in his absence. In truth, that had been his one comfort while he was gone. Nadir had selected the staff especially, and Erik had every confidence that they'd be most attentive to her whilst he was away.
He closed his eyes. The sun on the surface of the snow caused him such pain. The dog in front of him started to whimper. He knew that they were coming to the end of their journey, he could sense it. Oh how he wanted to be on the path with them. Erik scratched at his ear one last time. They'd soon be parting ways.
The sled driver began to slow the dogs, pulling on the reins. Erik's pulse quickened. He was stiff, he was tired, he was haunted by the events of the last hours, and though his soul tugged at him to recluse to the darkest recesses of the house that he could find as he always had whenever he'd been through something difficult, it was at war with his mind and heart that wanted to simply be in Christine's presence and never leave it. The sled began to slow.
Erik's first instinct was to leap from it and make his way as swiftly as he could to the house, but he knew he must wait. Wait until the sled stopped, thank the driver, offer him his normal fee, invite him in for a hot meal, that is what he knew he should do.
Then he heard it... "Erik?" His heart fluttered, he turned looking toward the house. He couldn't see her, but it was her voice...her pure ... sweet... wonderful voice...calling his name. He looked back at the sled driver.
He smiled, "go to her Monsieur, there is no doubt she's missed you." The man smiled at Erik. "Thank you...thank you for all." The man nodded.
Erik's eyes welled with tears as he pushed his way, slipping and sliding on the surface of the snow until he came to the passage that had been carved.
Christine stood in the doorway, "Erik?... Erik? Her heart was racing so quickly there was barely a pause in between each beat. Then she saw him, standing at the top of the drift, above the passage. She gasped, "Erik!" Her voice quivered as a sob rose to her chest, her hand making her way to her mouth to stifle a scream.
Erik looked down, closing his eyes as the tears rolled beyond his lower lid. There had been hours, not that long ago, that he hadn't been entirely certain that he'd again hear her voice, or see her face. God had seen fit to bring him home again, and he would show his gratitude for this gift, by loving the woman He'd seen fit to give him.
Christine watched with reverent awe as he dropped the six feet to the bottom of the passage, his cloak flying up like the mighty wings of an angel behind him. His feet no sooner touched the ground then he'd begun to move to her as though drawn by the strongest gravity, for truly it was...it was the gravity of love...and nothing was stronger...nothing.
Christine had neither cloak nor boots but she quickly took flight running on the hardened snow. They ran towards each other their breath labored as they neared but not from the exertion, but from the deepest, desperate, longings of their hearts at being reunited.
A great lump grew in Erik's throat as he opened the sides of his cloak spreading his arms as wide as he could as Christine nearly stumbled the last few feet and leapt into his waiting arms. Tears streaming down both of their faces. They began to sob, and laugh, and embrace all at once. Erik held her so close he worried that he'd crush her if he shan't be careful.
Christine's arms slid from beneath his, her hands traveling to his face she leaned into him, pulling his neck towards hers. He paused, resisting just a bit as he looked down into her pleading eyes.
"My God woman, I love you...with all my heart I love you." Erik said in a gasping breath, leaning down taking her lips into his. Christine arms found themselves around Erik's neck with a wanton grip. She'd wanted never to let go of him again.
The kiss was that of passion, of happiness, of apology, of thankfulness, of all that could pass between two united souls without words. Erik wrapped his arms around her shoulders protectively, tenderly placing the full of his open palm along her back. He gently pulled her into his chest, closing his cloak around her. In that singular, exquisitely tender moment, the world around them ceased to exist. In it there was only a husband, a wife, and their children, happily, soulfully reunited.
Christine had begun to whimper, the sheer relief of being in Erik's arms caused a fresh round of tears to come, much like the ones that had seized her the afternoon before, indescribable, and unstoppable.
Erik took his lips from hers. "Christine, ma chérie, am I hurting you?" His earlier fears of crushing her, reclaiming his mind.
She sniffled, trying to stifle the tears that freely rolled down her cheeks. "No...no...I'm exceedingly joyful to have you home Erik...I worried..."
Erik took Christine's face in his hands, lifting her chin to gaze fully into her eyes. She was lost in the depths of his intense blue and green pools. He began kissing her first on the forehead, then the left cheek then to right. Looking her in the eyes once more he said, "you shan't have worried my sweet, I'd promised you."
Christine's tears became torrential. The utter relief produced such emotions, and she'd not found a way to control them. Erik kissed her once more tenderly on the lips before he groaned, lowering his arms to her waist and one beneath her knees, scooping her up into his arms carrying her toward the house.
"Erik I..." Erik leaned his head down as he pushed the door open with his boot, "I know Christine...I love you too."
Author's Notes:
Dear Faithfuls: Let us say it together, one-two-three…. Ahhhhhhhh….. Much needed relief. I know we could bear it no longer for them to be parted. It is amazing how well I slept after I'd penned this chapter! LOL. There had to be some relief in sight.
It is with my humble apology, that I must tell you that once again I will be away from all things electronic next week from Wednesday through Sunday. It is difficult to imagine being away that long yet again, but since I rather enjoy my house and the remaining comforts of my life, duty calls so I must go. I hope that I do not suffer from abandonment after such an absence! I will, as always, think of you often, and scribble away on pad and paper whenever a moment's peace presents itself. I will try my best to make Tuesday's chapter rather pleasant, but alas, I can make no promises! Thank you for allowing me these brief detours on our journey.
PhantomsRogue: Yes, quite a lot of baking indeed. I usually spend two eighteen-hour days baking away. I do enjoy it so! I set my stereo on high and play everything and anything that my heart desires. Mostly Christmas music…but this year will require detours into POTO. Oh, Oh, can you imagine if Erik would write holiday music, and our beloved Gerard would record it! Stop my beating heart! I'm sorry, I've just lost myself in a dream again! LOL!
Yes, Erik does have a bit of a cough…hmmmm….though I'm fairly certain its not deadly, but it may require some serious doting on Christine's part! Hmmm.
I will have to look up the costume, though it may not be until the weekend. I love the color you chose… I have long dark hair, and yet pink somehow does me no justice at all. My skin is far too fair to wear it I guess!
I shall look forward to hearing from you. The chapter titles sound rather intriguing! My spine tingles when I think of the possibilities of it all!
Bon Nuit Rogue de le Phantom!
Phantomfan13: The truth has an odd way of eluding this family doesn't it? When you think about the fact that it has been hidden for thirty-odd years, we shan't wonder that it would take a bit more to surface should we?
Ah yes, the foal. I cannot tell you just yet, but it is good that you remember it!
Yes study is important…nomenclature… science, my first love…. If life had turned out differently I'd have been a bio-chemist…but destiny had other plans for me!
Yes, a lot of paper indeed. I have it on good authority that an environmentalist would be on my tail for deforesting half of a small nation! LOL!
Tex110: Good thing its not close to either of us then! LOL! And yes, though I am a great believer in all things natural, the sugar high was quite….um…well…a trip I guess!
I have to tell you I could actually see you buzzing around your house like a bee does waiting for the queen to return to her nest! Hopefully this chapter brings the buzzing down to a low drone….sorry….a little bit of entomological humor!
Poetzproblem: Welcome home! I have worried about you my dear! Thank you for noticing the parallels between Christine and Meg…they have a rather intangible connection don't you think?
Yes, good for Raoul. Even a patient, even-tempered man such as Raoul has to find his backbone at some point. It will come in handy for him in the coming months. He'll have so much he needs to be strong for.
I do feel a bit sorry for DeChagny. However, two strong-willed sons would do the floundering name of DeChagny a bit of good….they would bring honor to grandfather DeChagny….oh sorry….he's coming in the future….hmmmmm, let that proverbial cat out of the bag didn't I! LOL!
Do stay in touch!