Gaia was buried next to her father in a cemetery just outside of Rome. All five of her sisters and their husbands were in attendance, as well as several of her father's friends who had known her in childhood. Nearly all in attendance avoided the family like the, none of them ever having seen in Erik quite what Gaia saw. Now an old man, the physician Sergio was the only man brave enough to approach the tall, solid man and the children who stood before him.

"Erik, my boy. It's been a long time," Greeted the man, sadly. "I regret that we are meeting again under such trying circumstances."

"It has been, Signore. Children, this is Sergio Masino, a family friend. Signore Masino, these are my children Adrian and Cadence," Erik introduced quietly. The boy bowed his head politely and little Cadence curtsied sweetly as they mumbled their greetings.

"I offer you all my deepest sympathies. Gaia was a sweet, sweet girl."

"She was the perfect wife and mother," Erik told him quietly. "The world is a darker place without her."

The physician nodded. "My boy, I know it is soon, but I was hoping to convince you to move back to Rome. You might find the support you need from the Brotherhood."

Erik shook his head firmly. "With all due respect, Signore, I wish to remain in the home I built for my wife."

Again the old man nodded. "I had thought you would say that. Should you change your mind though, please call upon me and your brothers."

"Most of them do not seem to care about us either way," Erik remarked, watching several of the men he recognized from the Freemasonry leave without so much as a word of condolence.

"Most of them are terrified stiff of you, my boy. They do not know of your good nature," Sergio admitted, and Erik hung his head quietly. "Truly, Erik. A son of Giovanni's is a son of mine. If you need anything at all, please call on me. Adrian, Cadence, it was a pleasure to meet you even under these conditions."

With that the old man left the small family alone, standing in front of the woman's grave and the stone marker Erik had engraved for the occasion.

Gaia Renard née Turri.

1830-1864.

Loving daughter, wife, and mother.

There what else was one to put on a grave marker? Promises that death is not the end? Erik refused; he could not hold her, could not kiss her, love her, or hear her laugh any longer. They would never again bicker or forgive one another for their arguments. He would never again be able to chase her up the stairs while she played coy, or stay up all night long talking about how beautiful their life was.

Adrian's voice broke him from his reverie. "Everybody loved Mama, didn't they?"

"Yes," Erik answered quietly. "Most everybody she's ever met has loved her deeply. She was a wonderful woman."

"They didn't like that she married you, did they?"

Erik hung his head. "No. I suppose they didn't. But she never seemed to mind, and neither did I."

Adrian nodded quietly. After a long moment of silence, Erik finally turned to leave when Cadence spoke.

"Papa? Did Mama go to heaven?"

The man frowned deeply, unsure of what to say. He longed to comfort the girl with a simple, convicted yes… But Erik simply did not know the answer. He had such negative experiences regarding the church that he had decided long ago not to bother with such hypocrisies. Whether or not there was a God he simply didn't know, nor had he particularly cared until that moment.

Fortunately, Adrain came to his senses before Erik did. "Of course she did, Cadence. She's in heaven right now with Angel. I think they're both looking down at us right now and wondering why we're so sad."

"I miss her, Adrian."

"So do I, Cadence."

"As do I," Erik told them quietly, squeezing each of their shoulders. Cadence moved to hug him around his legs, and Erik crouched to cup her face in his hands. "You look so much like her, you know. Your eyes especially. Yours too, Adrian," Erik smiled up to the boy. "You both inherited your mother's eyes. And her extraordinary patience," the man added quietly. "Which is something I am going to need from you both, perhaps for a long time. I am not fit to be a father. I wasn't fit to be a husband either, but I learned. Perhaps with time I will become a halfway decent father to you both. But I beg your patience with me until then."

Adrian nodded and Cadence kissed her father's masked cheeked. "You are wonderful father, Papa," Cadence told him more eloquently than surely any other girl her age. "I wouldn't trade you for any other father in the world."

"Nor would I," promised Adrian quietly. "I don't need much looking after anyway, and I can help with Cadence while you go to the market."

Erik wiped tears from his eyes awkwardly from around the mask, and he kissed his daughter's pretty little forehead before picking her up and embracing his son with his free arm. "Thank you both. I know I don't say it very often, but I love you both very much. I don't know what I would do without the two of you right now."

"Let's go home, Papa," Adrian insisted, embracing his father back. The man nodded and took a shaking breath. "Would you take Cadence to the carriage? I will meet you there in a moment."

Adrian took his little sister from their father and moved to the carriage while Erik turned back to the headstone. He kneeled and ran his fingers through the freshly turned soil finding it a poor substitute for his wife's luxurious chestnut hair. He held it to his face and breathed in its smell with a quiet sob. What he wouldn't give to feel her again, to smell her sweet hair. He kissed the soil gently, wishing for one more chance to kiss her sweet, soft lips. "Goodbye, My Love," he whispered quietly, returning the soil to the grave and standing to meet his children.

He moved into the kitchen when they returned home to prepare supper, and Adrian took Cadence outside to play with Sophie, trying his best to be happy in the light of the day's events. The family ate quietly around the table before Adrian spoke, trying to lighten the mood. "Do you remember the day I walked in on you and Mama having sex?"

Erik nearly spit out his wine in shock. "Adrian!"

The boy grinned from ear to ear. "You didn't think I remembered, did you? I remember everything since I was a baby," Adrian told his father.

The man couldn't help but laugh. "Ah, yes. I do remember that actually. Your mother hid in the bathroom so that I would be the one to explain to you what it was you had seen. You thought I was attacking her…"

"That was when you gave me Sophie, something like a week before my birthday!"

Erik laughed. "I was hoping to distract you from our embarrassment."

"It worked," smiled Adrian. "And what about the time you and she got so wrapped up in one another that she forgot about dinner and burned everything?"

"I remember that too. I believe that was the only time she ever ruined a meal in her entire life," Erik smiled fondly. "We had to eat dried meat and bread for dinner."

Cadence spoke up. "What about the time Adrian wanted to put on a play, and Mama played the Fairy Godmother?"

Erik smiled. "And you played Cinderella to Adrian's prince. It was a truly remarkable production, as I recall. I don't think I've ever seen your mother wear so much make-up before or since."

"I did her make up." Cadence grinned. "I tried to make her look like an old woman."

"She was still beautiful," Adrian said with a smile. "Even when she was her sickest she was the most beautiful woman in all of Italy."

Erik nodded his agreement. "She was. We are very, very lucky to have known her. Did I ever tell you about what happened the day you were born, Adrian?" The boy shook his head, and Erik continued. "Gaia went into labor quite earlier than we had expected. I went as fast as I could into Modena to find the midwife, but she was not to be found. I took the only midwife I could find back here. Your mother was in labor for hours and hours. I was scared half to death, and the wretched woman wouldn't let me into the room. Finally the room upstairs became quiet, but there was no baby crying. Your mother started shouting, so I ran upstairs to see what was wrong. She had picked you up off the bed, cord still attached and was trying furiously to get you to cry. Before I even saw your face I took you and forced you to gasp that first breath. Gaia took you into her arms and cried with relief while I raged at the midwife. She told me about your face and ran from the room. When I looked back at your mother, she was wiping you clean ever so gently, still weeping from stress and relief. She was so looking forward to your birth. I on the other hand was terrified about how she might react if her first child was born like me. But she didn't care. She loved you well before you were born, and never stopped loving you for a moment. She was more upset for you than anything. She knew what a difficult life I had had, and never wanted that for you for a moment."

Adrian smiled down at his plate. "She was the best mother I could have asked for."

"What about me, Papa?" Cadence asked with a small smile. "What happened when I was born?"

"You made us very nervous," Erik smiled. "Your mother had lost a baby before we had you, and we were nervous she might lose you too. But she didn't. The labor was shorter, but nerve wracking. We could not find a midwife to deliver you, and I was afraid there might be a complication in the birth. But it went off without a hitch. When I picked you up to clean you, I was awestruck by your beauty. You were so small, so perfect. I finally came to my senses and got you cleaned up, and Gaia literally gasped when she first saw you, you were so beautiful. And you still are," Erik promised, causing Cadence to smile sweetly.

Adrian took their plates to the kitchen, and Erik sent Cadence upstairs to get ready for bed. Erik moved into Cadence's bedroom and wished her goodnight before moving into Adrian's to do the same. The boy was seated on his bed, looking down at the floor. When Erik entered he looked up with a thoughtful frown. "Are you going to be all right tonight, Papa? You can sleep in here if you want."

"I'll be fine, mon fils," Erik promised. "Sleep well."

"You too, Papa."

Erik moved into his room, closing the door carefully behind him and regarding the bed for a long moment. He had not slept since the night his wife passed away, and was utterly exhausted… but he was not quite certain he was ready to return to the bed he and Gaia had shared. He sat in the rocking chair Gaia had nursed both of their children in, not realizing he had drifted off to sleep when he heard a voice that was so very familiar.

"Why do you sleep in a chair, Husband? You are exhausted," she the voice, and when Erik looked down at its source he found his wife sitting by his feet, as lovely as she had been in life.

Leaning over and stroking her cheek gently, he frowned as he spoke. "I don't know that I would be able to sleep without your weight in it. Gaia… It's been only two days and already I miss you terribly. I cannot believe a week ago you were in my arms. And now… now my mind is contenting itself with a ghost," he frowned, realizing that this could not possibly be real. Gaia leaned into his touch and cupped her hand in his.

"I miss you too, Erik. More than I can bear. But you have a full life ahead of you. You are still so young! Thirty five is hardly anything, you know. You will live to see our grandchildren, maybe even our great grand children. There are so many wonderful contributions you have yet to make to the world. Things that you could not have done if I had lived," she frowned quietly.

"None of them are worth your life!" Exclaimed Erik, cupping her face with his other hand and kissing her ghost soundly. "I would rather spend another moment with you than rebuild the Sistine Chapel!"

"I know, Husband, I know. But that simply cannot happen. Mourn here for as long as you need… but please do not spend your life alone in the country. Move back to Rome, return to France, see the world like you always wanted to do. I only ask that you take the children with you and show them its wonders as well. They have never known anything beyond the market place. Let them see in freedom what you could only see through a cage. It will be good for them, and for you."

"I don't ever want to leave, Gaia. I want to stay here, with you…"

"Yet you refuse to sleep in our bed?" She told more than asked, smiling sadly. "I understand mourning, Erik, believe me. But you mustn't let it consume. You've already destroyed half of our belongings. You through a clock at Adrian for Christ sake."

Erik hung his head. "I do need to apologize to him for that…"

"Yes, you do. Come to bed with me, Erik, for one last time," she coaxed him, taking his hand from her face and guiding him into bed. Erik followed her obediently and slipped into the sheets with her, pulling her into his arms. Her smell enveloped him the moment his head touched the pillow, the dream seemed as real as ever. Gaia hummed the little lullaby he had sang to her the night she died, the same one she had sung to her children a hundred times.

When Erik opened his eyes again it was late morning, and he was alone in bed. In his arms was Gaia's pillow, drenched in her scent. Erik breathed it deeply, and in spite of his sadness could not help but smile; he had needed to see her again, and he had. Perhaps he was not as alone as he felt after all.