38
Nearly ten years had vanished. Most of them had left sunny memories of the everyday, only a few had tasted trouble.
Marie had two more children, within a year of each other. Helen had a second child, a girl five years after Roberto.
Katrina did learn the cello, and carried out her plan of surprising the family one Christmas with an impromptu recital.
Madame D'Arcy went to her final reward one spring. The six grandchildren she doted on, counting Katrina, had made her growing years lighter. She had been content in the knowledge that her girls were married to men that would look after them, though as she had observed to Katrina once;
"I do wish we could all sit together for a portrait. Really, Jacques is so dull, and I could almost wish Erik were duller!"
Whatever her opinion of them, her sons-in-law looked after her in her winter years and saw to it that her funeral was as dignified, elegant, and as deserving of her as she would have demanded.
Erik refused his family's repeated offer to return to the estate. The Opera was too deeply imbedded to walk away from. While time can heal many wounds, there are some things best left where they sit. Too much time had passed for him to rejoin the name of Lefevre.
Stephan kept in touch with Andre through letters, though the young man was only able to return for a visit once, when his first employer died, and he was traveling to his next. He was pleased to see his old friend's new twins, and wish the young Madame Lefevre happiness.
Helen's studio was eventually converted as a bedroom for Roberto, and her supplies were moved into the music room. There were many heated conversations between her and Erik about what wall belonged to whom, while Katrina would rock baby Anne, showing Robbie how to read. The birth of a third child, also a boy, seemed to quell some of the turbulence. With two small boys around, the idea seemed more sensible.
Marie gradually drifted away from performance altogether, finding her children and mother a more secure existence. He never said a word, but it was probable that Jacques was delighted to have her to himself so much.
These ten years were unremarkable, with only the storms of life every family feels.