Chapter 12 –

Elizabeth arrived home to find the housekeepers and the cooks working frantically to get things ready for the evening.

She went to Marie. "Hello, Miss." Marie said, sweetly.

"How is everything going?" Elizabeth asked.

"Good. We decided to clean it up and make the house more extravagant because your brother just sent a messenger over saying he'd love it if you would host them for dinner."

"That would be lovely. In fact, could you also add another plate? My student from the school whose parents are away for the holidays is going to be here too. Are you still going to have everything ready by six-thirty?"

"Probably not, but you could entertain the guests in the parlor for a while before dinner."

"All right, thanks, and I am giving you and the entire staff the day to yourselves tomorrow because of how hard you've been working today."

"That's not necessary, you already gave us gifts."

"No, but I want to do it anyway. Erik and I can manage by ourselves tomorrow."

"What about your brother and his family? They will be staying the night I'm sure."

"They can manage themselves too; you are not going to work tomorrow." She smiled at let Marie get back to work.

Elizabeth made her way to Erik's room, she didn't want to speak to him, but she decided that it was only polite to explain the new dinner circumstances. She knocked on the door.

"Yes?"

"Erik, it's Elizabeth, may I come in?"

He came to the door and opened it. The room looked a bit untidy; he had gotten angry about what had happened earlier, and knocked some papers around after returning to his room.

"I wanted to apologize." he said quietly.

"Thank you, I know that was hard for you to say. But let's just pretend that this morning didn't happen, because I'd like it that way."

Erik just nodded, he was still furious with both himself and her. She never should have looked, but he never should have laid his hands on her. She had been terrified and he hated to see that expression on her face. He had seen the terror before on the faces of nearly everyone who saw him, including Christine, but it was different with Elizabeth. She was probably the strongest women he had ever known, and he hated to see her almost brought to tears because of him.

"So. There must have been a reason for you coming up here?" Erik questioned after the silence got too long while they were both lost in thought.

"Yes, I wanted to tell you that when I went back to the school Caroline was still there and her parents, I guess, aren't going to be here for the holidays. So I invited her to come to dinner with us."

"That's fine."

"Oh, and my brother sent a messenger over and him his wife and his children are also going to be joining us from London."

"Children? I thought you said they only had a daughter named Amelia." Erik wondered aloud.

"Oh, no, they have another son, his name is Daniel. He is five years older than Amelia, who was a year old than Christopher. Daniel was ten when it happened, and he was attending a year-round boarding school. He only came home for a little while, and he insisted on going back immediately after the funeral. I think it was hard for him to be there. He had been in boarding school since he was six, so he hardly knew his little brother. He only comes home for two weeks at Christmas and three weeks in the summer. He became much more protective of Amelia after it happened, but he wasn't really affected badly by Christopher's death. I think that thought made it even worse for him. He wanted to be heartbroken like everyone else, but he just couldn't."

"How old is he now?" he asked carefully, he thought that would be the easiest way to ask rather than ask how many years ago Christopher had died.

"Fifteen." she replied. Erik wondered why she had never said anything about the other brother. "I know what you're thinking, Erik." He looked at her curiously. "I do love Daniel, but he was always interested in other things rather than music and the arts. I spent a lot of time with Daniel before he went to school, but after he left, I didn't really get to see him as much, and he became interested in other things. That's probably why I loved Christopher so much, because he was like me when I was a child."

"I didn't believe you would hate one of your nephews, I just was wondering why you never spoke of him."

"I only just spoke of Christopher and Amelia last night, so a day later doesn't really matter much, now does it?"

Erik shook his head and sighed lightly. "No, not really, I'm looking forward to meeting them." He lied slightly in that statement. He didn't care to meet them at all, they were just another family he would have to answer questions and get acquainted with.

"Dinner will be a bit late though because of the extra people. They have had to make more food. We'll probably eat around seven."

"That's fine." he replied.

She headed back downstairs and Erik sat in his room not knowing what to do. He had a few hours until dinner was to be ready, almost seven in fact, so he decided he'd wander the house and help out a bit.

Around a quarter after six, Caroline arrived. She was dressed in a beautiful navy dress with white lace on the edges and silver embroidery across the torso. Her hair was curled and pulled back and she was wearing a thin layer of makeup. She looked a bit older than she was.

"You look beautiful, Caroline." Elizabeth said and gave the girl a sweet hug.

"Thank you, I like your dress too, it is very festive." She said with a smile.

"Yes, I do love this dress very much." Elizabeth replied looking down at her Christmas gown.

"Hello, Mr. Erik." Caroline said as Erik made his way into the room from a side door. "Well, I'd say you look nice too, but you always look like that." she said with a smile.

Elizabeth giggled a bit, she was right; she had yet to see Erik wear anything that didn't look identical to his last outfit.

"Anyway, we are having some other guests tonight and they aren't here yet so we can go into the parlor." Elizabeth said as she led the two into the other room.

Caroline looked at the piano and couldn't resist the temptation to sit and play it. "I didn't know you played." Elizabeth said.

"My mother wanted me to learn, I've been playing for almost nine years." Elizabeth smiled very impressed by her talents. She continued playing some carols while Elizabeth sang along with her. Erik sat silently because he didn't know many of the carols.

Soon there was a loud knock at the door and Elizabeth went out to greet her brother and his family. Caroline stopped playing and looked to Erik. "Do you know her other guests?"

"No, I didn't even know she had a brother until yesterday." he replied. "Well we better go and greet them, it would only be polite."

The two went out to the foyer and found Elizabeth hugging numerous people.

Erik looked around at her family and decided that Elizabeth and her brother looked very much alike, and that Amelia was a picture of her aunt.

"I'd like for you to meet my family." Elizabeth said with a huge smile on her face. "This is my brother David Bennet, his wife Jane, their son Daniel and daughter Amelia. Everyone, this is Erik, he is the vocal teacher at my academy, and this is Caroline, a student of mine."

Everyone said hello, and Erik shook Mr. Bennet's hand. Amelia wouldn't go near the strange man with the mask; she stayed close to her brother and whispered something in his ear. This wasn't unnoticed by Erik or Elizabeth.

"Our meal isn't ready yet, so we are going to go into the parlor for a little while." Elizabeth said. It was six thirty so they would probably be sitting for about half an hour.

When everyone got into the room, it became silent. "Caroline, would you like to play for us?" Elizabeth asked.

"Not really, but I'll sing if Mr. Erik plays." she said hopefully.

"Sure." He replied and got up to sit at the piano. "What would you like to sing?"

"The carols from the concert; I didn't get to sing them yesterday." Erik nodded and began with Silent Night.

After she sang through three of them, Marie came and announced that the meal was ready. The group headed for the dining room.

In the room, there stood a beautiful Christmas tree covered in glass ornaments imported from Germany. The walls were decorated with holly and other Christmas decorations. Elizabeth was pleased by how much the staff had outdone themselves. Amelia was in awe of it. She thought it was beautiful. Caroline was amazed, too. She usually spent her Christmas home with the housekeepers while her parents were somewhere foreign; this was entirely new. Daniel looked around once, but quickly took his seat. The boy was being strangely quiet and Elizabeth noticed, even though no one else did.

"So, Daniel, how is school this year?" Elizabeth asked as she sat down leaving the head of the table for her brother.

"Good, my teachers say I'm doing well and that I excel in English and writing more than anything."

"I'm glad to hear, and Amelia, how is your school?" Amelia was attending a private girl's school outside of London.

"Good, I like my classes very much." she said quickly.

The dinner went on like that. Every time Elizabeth tried to get the children to talk for more than a few seconds, the conversation would end. It was as difficult as trying to get Erik to talk when he didn't want to.

Mr. Bennet caught on to his sister's attempts and he tried his own. "So, Caroline, how long have you been studying at Elizabeth's academy?"

"Well, I was seven when it opened five years ago and I was there from the start. I love it there."

"And you're in the vocal class?"

"Yes, my mother wanted me to take instrument classes, but I preferred the vocal and I've done fairly well. It's been the best since Mr. Erik came. Before that we had to have one of the instrumental instructors come in for a vocal teacher, and he wasn't the greatest singer ever. Then, one day, Miss Bennet told us that Erik would be our new teacher. It's my last year, this year, because I'll be graduating, and it is sad to know that I'm leaving. However, I might keep up with it and move to the city, but I'm not sure what I want to do yet. I think most likely though I'll probably finish my studies for school and then pursue whatever I'd like to do. I'm only twelve, after all."

"Dear me, your only twelve, you look much older than that." Jane Bennet exclaimed.

"Yes, I dressed up older today; usually I look closer to my age."

"Well, you do look lovely." Amelia said smiling.

"Thank you! So do you. The dark green looks really nice on you."

"Thank you." Amelia had hated the dress her mom had picked for her, but if the older girl liked it, she wasn't going to complain.

"So do you like your school?" Caroline asked. "I've never been to an all girls school, it would seem so strange after going to my school now. But I think that is where I would end up after the Academy."

"It's very nice, I like it there, I like being home more than anything, but school is fun."

"Yeah, I prefer the music part of our classes, rather than the actual studies but I do all right in my academics."

"Caroline is being modest, she does very well in her studies and she excels in her music classes." The girl smiled at her teacher.

"Elizabeth, can I show Caroline your gardens? They are so pretty in winter that she has to see them." Amelia asked.

"I'm all right with it as long as you bundle up warm, especially you, Caroline. Only if your parents agree though."

"Please, Papa?" Amelia asked sweetly. She had her father wrapped around her fingers. She was his little angel.

"Only if your brother comes along. You got lost last time."

"That was a year ago, I'm smarter now. I won't get lost. Besides, Caroline is twelve."

"And your brother is fifteen. Daniel?" Amelia pleaded with him and gave him her cutest face.

"All right. Come on, girls." He replied and stood up nodding to the adults.

It was warmer than the night before, and it was only snowing lightly. The almost-full moon was very bright, and it illuminated the snow. "It's so pretty!" Caroline exclaimed.

"Yeah, our aunt does have beautiful gardens. They are even nicer in the summer, but Amelia likes them in the winter more. I like them in the summer because there is so much more to do."

"And there is probably a ton of flowers." Caroline added.

"There is. It's so pretty. I like it in the winter, though, because it looks like something out of a storybook." Amelia said.

"Let's walk around; I want to go over there." Caroline said pointing to some bigger trees.

"It's really cold out though, maybe we should go inside." Amelia offered.

"It is getting cold." Caroline agreed.

"Well, you have to see the other side of the gardens first!" Daniel said quickly.

"Daniel!" His sister protested.

"You don't have to come!" he replied.

"Fine, I'll see you two inside," and the ten year old went inside again.

The two walked alone for a little while and stopped by the tree Caroline had been looking at. "If you're cold, we could go in. I don't want anyone to get angry, or you to get sick."

"No, they are just worried because yesterday I got stuck in the cold. I'm fine though. Mr. Erik saved me." She told him the whole story and he stood silently next to her.

"You're okay though, right?" She nodded. "Tell me about Mr. Erik, he seems kind of…"

"It's just the mask that makes you wonder about him at first. For the first couple of days I hated him, but he's great at what he does. After you really get to know him, the mask doesn't seem to matter anymore."

"Does he ever not wear it?"

"No, I think he must have had an accident or something when he was young, and his face is probably deformed. No one ever asks, because it really doesn't matter." He just nodded.

They walked for a little while longer and it had gotten darker because the moon was covered by a thick layer of clouds.

"It's getting colder; I think we should turn back to the house." Daniel finally said, after a long silence. Caroline nodded and they turned around and headed in the direction of the house.

As his father had predicted, the two were now kind of lost. They could see the house, but they didn't know how to get to it. Soon, they were approached by a dark figure. "Where have you been?" asked the voice of Erik. Caroline sighed.

"We got lost; we didn't know how to get back, sir. I'm sorry. I just wanted to show her my favorite parts of the gardens." Daniel replied.

"Come with me." Erik said shaking his head. "You guys have given both your mother and Elizabeth a scare. Now let's get you inside—especially you, Caroline." He followed silently behind them.

"Do you know how long you were out there?" Jane demanded of her son.

"We got lost."

"Well, Miss Henson's carriage has been here and gone, and she is going to have to stay here with us for the night. You should have brought her back quicker." Mr. Bennet added.

"It's really okay if I stay here, in fact it will probably be more fun." Caroline said with a smile, "and it's not his fault at all. I wanted to see the whole garden."

"Well, all right then, but I think you should both thank Erik for coming out and looking for you."

"Thank you," they chimed.

"Well, I know we were going to exchange gifts, but we can do that in the morning. I am exhausted and I think I shall retire for the night. Amelia, Daniel."

"I'm not tired, mother." Daniel protested. She gave him the typical mother look and he nodded and said goodnight. His sister did the same.

"I think I'll go to bed also." Caroline said, "if someone will show me where."

Elizabeth helped her up to her room and offered her some nightclothes to wear, even though they would be a few sizes too big.

When she came downstairs, only Erik was left. Her brother had gone up with his family after he finished his drink. "Did you have a good Christmas, Erik?" Elizabeth asked as she sat down on the couch across from him.

"Probably the best I've had."

"Really? Even after everything, this is the best?"

"Yes. This is the first Christmas I remember that I didn't spend alone."

"Oh, I'm sorry." she replied, feeling sad for him, remembering all the great holidays she had had when she was younger.

"Don't be, this one was splendid."