Hey there! This is the last official chapter of the story! Gosh it is so sad! But I do hope you enjoy it! Thanks Terpsichore you are great!
Chapter 68: Happily Ever After
Ten Years Later
Standing with his hands folded sternly behind his back and his feet braced apart, Erik surveyed the classroom before him. As a man who was now in his mid-forties, Erik looked at least five years younger than he truly was. Except for the slight sprinkling of gray in his dark hair his face remained unmarked by the worry lines others seemed to collect. Rather, the handsome crinkles about his eyes and mouth hinted at many years of good humor and laughter, giving him the air of a man wonderfully content with his life.
The late afternoon sunlight washed in through the open curtains, falling upon the small group of students seated on the floor. A soft murmuring could be heard issuing from one side of the room, indicating that Erik was not keeping all of the class in line. Though one side of the room sat in perfect attention, the other side practically vibrated with pent up boredom. Pursing his lips into a stern line, Erik glowered at the two pupils in the back who were obviously not paying attention. Picking up a pencil from the top of the baby grand piano, he tapped it against the music stand with a loud bang.
"Everyone, I must insist on silence. Music is the backbone for all modern societies and must be taken very seriously. I cannot possibly teach you anything if everyone is… not… paying… attention!" he admonished, punctuating the last words sharply.
The murmuring in the back of the room stopped abruptly but then morphed into peals of giggling. The laughter spread until half of the students were not in the least interested in carrying on the lesson. Throwing his pencil in the air in defeat, Erik stalked over to the piano and slumped down onto the bench. "I am a failure! I cannot work under these conditions. It is outrageous!"
A pretty young girl in her early teens rose from her chair, and with a grin strolled up to Erik. "Da, you really shouldn't get so worked up about it. You know that they get a little wild late in the day like this."
"Aria, that is no excuse. I am trying to impart the very gift of God to them. I cannot believe I was talked into this! I should be finishing up the last act of my opera! I am going to kill Conner when I see him next! I am not a bloody tutor!!"
Shaking her dark head, her gray eyes bright with laughter, Aria tried her best to muffle her smile. Over the years she had grown used to her father's moody nature and, like her mother, had long ago grown used to it. "Now, now… remember how hard it was for you to teach me how to speak properly? Surely if you can teach a four-year-old that, you can teach anything."
Softening quickly at her words, Erik flashed his adopted daughter a gentle smile. "I suppose you are right," he murmured softly, his eyes going dark with fond memories. "Of course, you were a special child, unlike this rowdy group of hooligans."
Hearing this through their laughter and horseplay, the five redheaded and blonde children upon the floor stilled, their freckled faces pulling into almost identical expressions of outrage. The oldest of the five, a nine-year-old girl with flashing green eyes and golden hair, jumped to her feet and shook a fist at Erik and Aria. "No fair, Uncle Erik! Just because you think the history of the opera is interesting doesn't mean we do! I want to practice the cello! This is boring!" she stated dramatically, her younger brothers and sisters all nodding their heads in agreement.
The two redheaded twin boys on the floor also jumped to their feet, their tawny eyes filled with mischievous intentions. "No! I want to practice the piano!! The piano!!" they both shouted in unison. Staring up at their older siblings, the two youngest freckle-faced terrors remained seated. At the tender ages of four and two they didn't have the focused gumption that their brothers and sister did, and instead of fighting their teacher they began wrestling with each other.
Grimacing at all the noise now being directed at him, Erik looked to Aria with a tortured expression. "You see what I mean? Why don't you teach them something, Aria? They listen to you," he pleaded.
"They only listen because they know that I can whip them all without even trying. You are too soft on them, Da." Turning toward the chaos, Aria raised her hands, forming claws with her fingers, and put on a terrifying scowl. "Everyone be quiet or I will make you listen to more about how tenors used to be eunuchs!" she threatened. Gasping aloud, the Sinclair children backed down from their older cousin's threat.
Sitting quietly on the other side of the room, a trio of dark-haired children turned darkly malevolent expressions toward the redheads. "Yes, please do be quiet. Some of us are trying to learn something here. Just because you cannot behave doesn't mean we must endure waiting upon you," a ten-year-old boy with flashing blue eyes snapped moodily.
"Don't be taking that tone with us! You aren't the boss! Just because you already play three instruments doesn't mean you can mouth off whenever you want! Da says we have to put up with that sort of thing from Uncle Erik but he didn't say anything about taking it from you too, Danny!" the oldest Sinclair stated, her blonde curls bouncing with the force of her words.
"Stop calling me Danny!! It is Daniel! Daniel!! You know that Katie!!" the boy shouted, his dark brows pulling down into a fierce scowl, looking very much like a certain broody Frenchman.
"Yeah, Katie!" Another of the dark-headed children piped up. Getting to her feet, a blue-eyed girl of about seven came to stand next to Daniel. "And he doesn't know how to play three instruments, he knows how to play five! Just like Brigitte and me. And we already know everything Da is teaching you. And we all thought it was very interesting."
Wrinkling her nose at her cousins, Katie flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. "Well you are all boring, Annabelle! You could study all day, but normal people like to do something fun!"
"Yeah!!" The redheaded twins shouted in unison.
Drawing up lines of battle, the oldest Sinclair children faced off against their cousins. Quickly sensing the situation was getting out of control, Erik got hastily to his feet. "Lord a-mighty!!" he shouted, using one of Brielle's favorite exclamations. "Everyone settle down!!"
Watching all of the action from her perch on a nearby couch, a tiny delicate-looking three-year-old stuck her thumb into her mouth. Shimmying off the couch and onto the floor, the little girl scampered over to where Erik was trying to reclaim some sense of order. Pulling upon his coattails, the child stared up at her father imploringly, her large gray eyes giving her a knowing air that far exceeded her years.
"Da?" Brigitte mumbled about her thumb.
Looking down at his youngest, the frown on Erik's face instantly melted. "Yes, love?" he responded, automatically softening his tone.
"Tell Collin and Ethan that if they let Katie start a fight that Daniel will give them both a black eye," she murmured softly, always the quietest of the three and first to try and make peace.
Glad for that little gem of information, Erik looked to Katie and the twins. "Ha! You heard her. Do you two want a black eye? Meg would murder you all!"
Stilling at Brigitte's soft prediction, the oldest Sinclair children reluctantly sat back down. They knew better than to ignore any warning their cousins might say, for usually the things Daniel, Annabelle, and Brigitte said came true. Relieved that things were finally returning to some semblance of normalcy, Erik bent and swung Brigitte up onto his hip with a practiced ease.
"All right… we can forget about history for now and move onto another subject," he allowed, not wanting to spark another rowdy debate.
Turning to go and sit upon the piano bench once more, Erik shifted his youngest child to his lap. Opening his mouth to begin another lesson, he was interrupted by a soft round of applause coming from the doorway. Turning his attention toward the sound, Erik jolted when he saw Brielle standing upon the room's threshold, the mere sight of her still enough to take his breath away.
"I am so proud of you. You were able to stave off a fight for an entire half an hour," she teased, a small tendril of her beautiful white hair falling across her forehead.
Grimacing sheepishly, Erik shot all the children in the room a quelling glare. "Fight? What fight?"
Laughing at his weak attempt to cover up his loss of control, Brielle stepped further into the room, her hands resting protectively over the round bulge of her pregnant belly. "Oh, come on! I think everyone in the house heard all the screeching."
Caught in his lie, Erik got to his feet, setting Brigitte on the floor before striding over to greet his wife. Kissing Brielle chastely on the forehead he laid a hand over the life growing in her belly. The child within kicked as if on cue, causing a goofy grin to spread across his face. His insides always turned to a melting pot of sentimental goo when it came to being a father. If he could have convinced Brielle he could see himself having ten children. Of course, she hadn't seemed as enthusiastic about such a wish.
"Bri, please… please… please… ask your brother to get someone else to play schoolmaster. I am outnumbered here and I think there are signs of a rebellion brewing."
Raising her hands up to his face, Brielle pouted her pretty lips in the exact same way she did whenever she was soothing one of their children. "Aw, my poor husband. I should have come to your rescue sooner."
"Ewww!!" Several young voices piped up from the floor; the children collectively disgusted by the grownups' open signs of affection.
Purposely leaning forward and planting a kiss upon Brielle's lips, Erik smiled at the horrified reaction that rippled amongst the children. "That is all right. You save me every day just by agreeing to be my wife."
Blushing prettily at his words, Brielle ducked her head. "Ah, the things you say, Monsieur. You could charm the petals off of a rose."
Unable to control the torrents of absolute bliss rushing through his blood, Erik studied his wife's face, loving the way her eyes turned dark as wet slate when she was embarrassed. Momentarily wondering what he had done to deserve such a life, he could do nothing but beam down at Brielle. All his life he had cursed God and his sick sense of humor, but now he saw that there had been a plan for him all along. He was meant to meet Brielle, meant to love her and be the father of her children. What else could he do but bless the broken road that had led him to his ultimate happiness?
"Well I am just doing my job…" he murmured to her finally.
Pulling away slightly, she raised one snowy eyebrow at him. "Oh, and what is that exactly?"
Allowing a slight knowing smirk to tug at the corners of his mouth, Erik paused dramatically. "Living happily ever after, of course."