A/N: At last, a new chapter! I had some stuff that needed taking care of, but now I can give you more of this story.
After a luxurious breakfast and some time lingering and chatting over café au lait, the four ventured out for a walk to the cemetery where Messieurs Daaé and Valérius were buried. On the way there, Christine and Suzette gathered a few wild-flowers growing along the path.
Erik hung back to walk alongside Anne, who commented, "It's good to see Christine so happy again. She was so miserable and lonely after her father passed that I worried over her health. You, my dear boy, have brought the sparkle back into her eyes!"
"It is . . . nothing that she has not done for me, Anne. She really is an extraordinary young woman. As is Suzette, from what I can see." He glanced ahead at the aforementioned young women and couldn't hide the smile that spread across his face.
"Yes, they've been friends ever since Suzette came to work for us; that was just after we moved to Paris and my dear husband had taken ill himself. It was good to see Christine able to talk to someone her own age again."
Erik cleared his throat uncomfortably. He wanted desperately to ask about that summer they had spent in Perros, before Monsieur Daaé had met his end, but he didn't want to seem unnecessarily jealous over something that had happened so many years ago. "What was that summer like, Anne? Was Christine's father happy . . . before . . ?" He let his question hang in the air.
"Oh, yes, quite. He said this place reminded him of home. The air here is so clean and the skies are a remarkable blue, very like Uppsala. If he'd been able to handle the journey back across the sea, we would have happily taken him back north. But, alas, his doctors told us the best thing would be to make him as comfortable as possible and travel as little as was absolutely necessary. The motion, you see, aggravated him."
Erik nodded. He knew all too well how the ocean's choppiness could make one feel.
"And then came the day that Christine's red scarf was blown into the sea. It was terribly blustery that day, and she simply couldn't keep her hold on it! Oh, she was quite distraught over losing it, but a boy, about her age, walked up - marched purposefully, I should say - and declared that she needn't weep, for he would fetch it for her. He was a kind boy, though rather accustomed to getting his own way at all times, as we would soon learn. Oh, but it did us all good to have him and his aunt for company. There weren't all that many people here at the time; at least, not that were willing to take to socialising with newcomers."
"Oh, I see. They all had their own little . . . groups formed already?"
"Heavens, yes, and Raoul and his aunt - my memory fails me as to her name - were new here, as well, and were just as pleased to have someone to talk to about music and literature and the stories Alvis and my Enric would tell." Anne sighed nostalgically. "It was a wonderful summer."
A/N: Short, I know, but I'm trying to get back into the groove of this, so to speak. This Texas summer heat doesn't really help matters any, either. Ah, well, I'm aiming for another chapter by this weekend.