MADDIE

Christmas morning came with Charles waking me at daybreak.
"Good morning Maddie…" He whispered, and I opened my eyes to stare into his glowing green eyes.
"Charles…it's the crack of dawn…go back to bed." I muttered, trying to turn the other way, but he caught me and lifted me to my feet.
"Get up sleeping beauty and bundle up…there's something I want to show you." He left me then and grumbling, I dressed and pulled a cloak and some gloves on.
"This better be good…" I said to myself as I ran outside to meet Charles, who was waiting for me on his horse.
"You want me to get on that thing?" I asked, a bit overwhelmed. I had never touched a horse, much less rode one. He got down to help me up so that I was sitting in front of him with his arms around me.

"Where are we going?" I asked, holding the hood of my cloak to my head to shield the cold wind. Snow was falling heavily as the first signs of daylight showed. We stopped in front of the Opera and Charles tied the horse before helping me down. Grinning, he took out a silk scarf and came toward me.
"What are you doing?" I asked him, backing away and he grabbed my waist, saying,
"You can see until the right moment." I let him lead me through the opera blindly, we must have gone up four flights of stairs until I felt the cold on my face again. We're on the roof. I realized, and let him lead me to stand against the side. I felt him holding me with me in front of him and yawned, still exhausted and a bit grumpy.
"Can I see yet? It's cold…" I knew I was whining…but at this time of the morning, I simply didn't care.
"Just a few more minutes." He said, and I felt him kiss my cheek.

I sighed heavily, almost falling asleep against him until I felt him taking the scarf off of my eyes.
"Ready?" He asked and I nodded.
"Yes…I've been ready." I said, and he said,
"Look then." When he removed my blindfold I almost had to gasp. The sparkling snow was falling lightly as the brilliant pink and orange from the sunrise filled the sky, making the falling snow look like magic bits of fairy dust that you could only read about in romance novels and fairytales.
"Oh my God…Charles…this is the most amazing thing I have ever seen." I said, and he nodded.
"I have always loved the sunrise and this morning I thought, what if we saw it from the roof? I wanted to share it with you as kind of a rising of whatever we share together." I blushed, never having dreamed that a man would speak to me so poetically.

As I stood back and looked at him, he looked very close to how he had in my dream. His cloak blowing in the wind, the serene look in his eyes.
"I was wrong about you Charles de Chagny…" I said, smiling into the wind as the sun rose slowly, illuminating his face.
"What do you mean?" He asked, and I reached out to take his extended hand. "You are nothing but an angel…" I stepped into the warmth provided partly from his cloak and from his body, my hood blowing off and my curls wild in the wind.
"Merry Christmas…" He said drawing his cloak around both of us and leaving our faces a mere inch apart.
"Charles when I am with you I feel so…so…" I didn't finish because he kissed me for the second time, this time a deeper more passionate kiss.
"Let's go back…" He whispered and pulled me back toward the door inside. I took one last look at the falling snow before we went back into the empty opera house.

When we returned back to his home, Raoul was waiting for us in the sitting room sipping tea and speaking with Therese and Martin, her husband. When he noticed us, he smiled, coming to hug each of us and I may have imagined it, but he hugged me a bit longer than I had expected.
"Merry Christmas Raoul…" I said and he grinned.
"And to you too dear girl…" Charles gave him a tight embrace as well as we sat to open gifts. Charles had bought his father a box of cigars and a bottle of brandy and had received some art pencils and oil paints. Raoul loved the pens I had bought him, saying he was just in need of some new pens. Of course, I blushed. I became extremely nervous when Charles opened his gift from me. His blank score. As he unwrapped it, he breathed in awe as the gold thread that I had sewn his name with shined brightly in the morning sunlight.

"Maddie…" He said, and I could see he had become choked up. "This is perfect…" He said.
"You didn't have to…"
"I wanted to." I interrupted and he beamed, pulling me into his arms tightly.
"You are something else you know." He said, kissing my cheek. Raoul smiled lovingly at Charles.
"Your mother would have loved this." He said, running a hand through his hair and Charles nodded.
"She would have…music was her world." Charles said shakily, smiling for a moment before breathing and turning back to me.
"So you did care for me before..." He whispered and I nodded, biting my lip. I was still nervous about giving him a chance, but I was determined to do it right. No lies. Before I could say a word, he kissed me right in front of his father and housekeeper! My eyes went wide, but I didn't pull back since it was a short kiss.

"Then there is something between the two of you..." Raoul said, a smile in his eyes. Naturally, I turned all shades of red as Charles nodded.
"Can we just keep this between us though Dad? We're kind of trying to take it slow." He explained and Raoul gave him a nod.
"I understand. Of course we can keep it to ourselves. Well, are you going to give the girl her gift or what?" He asked and I shook my head.
"But he's already given..." I started, but Charles had already reached for the last package under the tree. I looked at him in confusion but he just smiled and handed it to me. It was small, but I could tell it was a frame of some sort. I unwrapped it quickly and gasped at what stared back at me. Mama.

"Charles...?" I managed to squeak and he grinned. It was a perfect charcoal portrait of her right down to the sparkle in her eye and the way the locket hung around her neck. Her light hair hung down gloriously, and her smile was beaming just the way I remembered her before she died. God she was beautiful...and seeing her brought all of the pain of losing her back.
"What is it Charles?" Raoul asked, trying to see and he gently took the portrait from me and held it up for his father to see.
"Chloe..." He mouthed, but Charles didn't seem to notice. The expression on Raoul's face hurt my heart. It was as if he had seen a ghost. He looked away, nodding as if it were nothing special, but I had seen. If I had doubted his recognizing her before, my mind had been changed. He knew my mother somehow and one way or another, I was going to find out how, just not today.

"So I suppose tonight I will return to the opera." I said as I walked hand in hand through the Chagny mansion. He stopped abruptly and I almost fell.
"Leave? But...don't you like it here?" He asked and I nodded, but frowned.
"Yes I love it here Charles, but I am not comfortable with taking advantage of your family's hospitality like this...I have no right." The truth was, I hated the thought of leaving, but the longer I stayed, the harder it would be to leave.
"Taking advantage of us? Look around yourself Maddie, no one is pushing you out. Dad is overjoyed to hear a lady's voice in the house again, wearing Mother's clothes...they're only drawing dust! I've never seen him smile so much. And you know full well how I feel about you..." He said, drawing me in for a kiss.

"I'll never be used to this..." I said, standing within his arms and he grinned.
"Then I suppose I shall just have to start trying to convince you..." He buried his face into my hair. "Stay...please. At least until after the ball. Then I'll consider letting you leave." He said, with that devilish look in his green eyes.
"You'll consider letting me leave? Are you keeping me against my will?" I asked, pulling back teasingly and he laughed richly.
"Absolutely. If I have to lock you in a room I will. I'll torture you until you agree." I gave a short light laugh and rolled my eyes.
"I'll spare you the pain...I'll stay, but only until next week. The opera is going to think I've been kidnapped! I haven't told anyone where I am you know..." He shrugged.
"Let them wonder..." He said, eyes sparkling. What else could I do but laugh?