A/N Erik and Julia are officially on their honeymoon, so fair warning that there is a lot of romance for this chapter

Chapter 85

Julia was dressed for bed by the time I walked inside the darkened, quiet cottage. The breeze wafted through the open windows, cool and welcome on a late July evening.

"It's beautiful here," Julia said. She sat perched on a wooden stool in front of the vanity, legs delicately crossed at the ankle. "I don't believe I've ever seen the ocean before."

"Never?"

Julia shook her head. "If I did, I was quite young and have no memory of it."

"I was born not far from here," I said.

Julia went silent for a moment. "I wondered if we were near Conforeit. Did Phelan tell you this?"

I nodded, removing my shirt and stretching my arms above my head, feeling the knots in my back after a long day of traveling down bumpy roads. "We are going to the house tomorrow."

Julia twisted and looked at me. "The house? Your parents' house or your uncle's?"

"Parents," I said. "Though I suppose I might be able to find my uncle's as well."

We had not stayed in my uncle's home for very long, but my memories of living with my uncle were much fonder than the twelve years I had spent like a prisoner confined within a cellar.

"Does someone live there still?" Julia asked.

"Phelan owns it. He stays there from time to time."

Julia furrowed her brow. "That seems quite peculiar."

I shrugged. "Which I suppose I should expect from him." For God's sake, I wanted to add, he is under the misguided notion that a bird makes for a better companion than a dog.

"Archie left a note in the other cottage. He has an entire day planned for Lissy and Alex," Julia said over her shoulder as she brushed out her hair. "I suppose Bessie and I will have the entire cottage to ourselves."

"And what do the two of you have planned?"

"Absolutely nothing."

I watched her from where I sat on the velvet bench at the end of the bed, mesmerized by the rhythmic motion of each elegant swipe. Seeing Julia brush her hair had always been an intimate pleasure. From our earliest moments together I had watched her through the bedroom window and longed to run my fingers through her thick hair. She would look at me sometimes from her window to mine, a brief glance that made my heart stutter. Julia had known well before I did that I was enamoured with her.

"Oh, and aside from a treasure hunt, Archie promised a special guest will come to entertain them tomorrow evening," Julia said over her shoulder.

"I suppose he means his sister?" I guessed as Julia placed her hairbrush onto the dresser and turned down the lamps.

"Two cottages," she reminded me with a wag of her finger.

I inhaled and rotated my neck, hearing the joints pop. "I suppose."

"And what do you suppose?" Julia's voice dropped lower and I looked up in time to watch her stalk across the room toward me.

"What is the benefit of these two cottages?" I inquired.

Julia did little more than smile in response. One she stood before me, I completely forgot what we were talking about and my mind went utterly blank as she grabbed both of my hands and placed them onto her hips.

"Husband," she murmured. Her hands caressed my bare shoulders, pads of her thumbs in a whisper soft trail along the column of my neck.

"Wife," I murmured back. My fingers pressed into her flesh through the thin fabric of her nightdress. "From my vantage point, goddess seemed a more fitting title."

"Goddess?" Julia cupped my face in her hands and bent to kiss me, her eyes sparkling in the shadows.

"Worthy of worship."

Slowly, deliberately, our lips met as though exploring for the first time. The tip of her tongue touched mine and I pulled her closer, feeling her smile against my lips. I was certain that if I lived to be a hundred years old, I would not have lived long enough to appreciate the fullness of her velvety lips.

"I love you," I whispered. "To the very depths of my soul and the marrow of my bones, I love you."

Julia answered by kissing me harder, a greedy, pulse-quickening kiss fit for a seductive vixen. I swept her onto my lap, felt her teeter back slightly until I positioned my hand along the center of her spine and balanced her. She gave a soft chuckle against my throat, her breath hot and inviting, one arm snaked around my neck with her hand against my chest.

Gently I brushed her hair away from her face and studied her features. From her kiss-swollen lips to her perfect cheekbones and the dazzle in her hazel eyes, she was delectable. I stroked along the shell of her ear, my breathing eradic with desire, my heart hammering with the need to draw her closer while still very much wanting to drink in every curve.

From the corner of my eye I noticed our reflection in the mirror and watched the image of my hand tangled in the thin fabric of her night dress. Julia glanced over her shoulder and smiled, her gaze meeting mine. She stood, raised her gown over her head, and allowed the fabric to pool at her feet. With a gentle tug, she pulled me to my feet and untied the drawstring to my pajama pants.

Her movements were achingly slow, her nails scraping along my hips. I looked past her at the mirror again and the intoxicating view of her bare flesh against mine.

She truly had the curves of a goddess; hips and thighs Aphrodite would have envied and a soft belly and full breasts that would have made Venus jealous. I murmured my observations between kisses along her collar bone, a growl of desire and urgency.

Julia shivered when I kissed her shoulder and pressed her body to mine. Her skin was soft as silk, her perfume filling my nostrils while my hands could not get enough of the swell of her hips, the small of her back, and the fullness of perfect breasts.

I kissed her lips and her neck and stole another glance at the mirror as she took my hand and guided me to where she desired to be touched.

We stroked and caressed, she sighed and I groaned. We mutually trembled and stood tangled in each other's arm, teetering on the very edge of unraveling.

Julia placed one foot on the velvet bench and drew me closer, guiding me intimately. She exhaled hard against my lips and dug her fingers into my shoulder blades, bracing herself as I pushed my hips into hers.

"You are life, Julia," I murmured. We were connected in every sense of the word; no space left between our bodies, no beat of my heart that did not fully belong to her. "More essential than each breath I take. Surely I would perish without you in my arms."

"I've wanted to be alone with you all day," she confessed.

Her head turned ever so slightly and our gazes met in the mirror. I saw the splay of her hands against my back, the crush of her breasts to my chest and the grind of our bodies as one. She rocked back, rising to meet me, back arched and body quivering, her need matching mine. The passion in her hazel eyes burned with such fervor that every fiber in my body wished to be consumed by her desire.

"Take me," she whispered, a wicked smile playing on her lips before she sought my mouth for a kiss that stole my breath and my words.

oOo

Our needs were quite insatiable for our first night spent alone. We remained inseparable as dawn broke and golden sunlight streamed through the window.

Julia kissed my chest and snaked her arm around me as we lay in the center of the bed, unable to keep our bodies apart. The night air with the windows open was cooler than what we were accustomed to in Paris for the time of year, and Julia teased that it was only sensible she kept me as close as possible.

"I am quite certain you are with child," I said, unable to resist kissing my wife. "Possibly multiple children."

Julia chuckled to herself. "On the first night of an exquisite honeymoon, no less." She turned onto her side and draped her leg over mine. With a coy smile, she bit her lower lip. "We should make absolutely certain that I am," she said

I pushed her mussed hair from her eyes. "Should we?"

Within moments, she made it clear that her words were not in jest.

Despite the ever brightening sunlight, Julia curled up into my arms. With the breeze wafting in through the open window, the room had become chilly. I roused her enough to help her into her night dress, then kissed her forehead, and draped the coverlet over her body up to her neck. She sighed, murmuring something about breakfast, and fell into a deep sleep.

Long moments passed. I studied the flutter of her lashes against her cheeks and the quiver of her lips into a smile. I counted the freckles on her nose and memorized the shape of her face before I unpinned myself from beneath her arm, dressed, and left her to sleep a while longer.

"Breakfast, Monsieur," one of the twins announced as he put two plates down at the table. His unexpected presence nearly stopped my heart and I was glad I had sense enough to wear my mask and hair piece out of the bedroom. "The young master and mademoiselle are not awake yet, but I shall make them breakfast when they are hungry. Oh, and your dog is outside. She was whining when I came in to start the quiche."

"Thank you," I said, wondering how long he had been in the cottage to make a full meal and tend to Bessie. "Would there be ink and paper available?"

"Of course, Monsieur, in the private study." He pointed to the room beside the master bedroom. And the post is by the front door," he added before he started toward the back door.

"Post?"

"Two letters arrived yesterday. I do not believe Marius informed you or Madame Kire."

I furrowed my brow and collected the post from a stand by the door and found two very thick envelopes: one to Alex and Lisette from Meg and Charles and the other to me from Madeline.

"May I be of additional service?" Mario asked.

"No, I believe I'm fine."

"Yes, Monsieur."

"For the remainder of our stay, there is no need to arrive prior to nine," I said.

The man nodded readily. "Very well, Monsieur. Shall I return to warm breakfast for Madame Kire in an hour?"

"I believe we will manage."

Bessie happily returned inside when I opened the door. A plate had been set down near the kitchen with her meal, which she trotted toward and devoured without asking for mine. Whatever Mario had put together for her looked far more gourmet than anything Meg had thrown together.

"Aren't you a regal hound?" I asked.

Bessie wagged her tail and plopped down, licking the bowl clean.

I retrieved several blank sheets of paper, a pen and ink from the study and arranged the items along the outer perimeter of my breakfast before taking a seat at the head of the table.

Being the first person awake in the house was a rarity for me. Normally I stayed awake well into the night and slept until mid-morning. Madeline had never been one to stay up late; after performances ended she was typically the first one in bed in her private apartments unless she paid me a visit.

Once Alex arrived, she made a habit of retiring for the night at exactly nine in the evening and woke before five in the morning, sometimes finding me still sitting in the dining room.

I could hear her voice in the back of my mind. A sensible schedule at last? Ah, I knew Julia would bring sense to you.

"Sense indeed, Madame," I said under my breath.

Sensible was not the correct word for what effect my wife had on me. Julia was both comforting and passionate, a woman who could smile at me when I walked into a room and quicken my pulse with a single glance. She was my truest, deepest love and to my utter astonishment, my feelings for her had been reciprocated without hesitation-even after she had seen me without my mask.

Little by little, a melody strung itself together in my head, a sweeping, romantic overture for an opera that wanted to be written. I removed my mask and pushed my plate back, then brought the blank sheets forward, allowing the music to flow through me as a full orchestra played in my head.

I was at the mercy of my creativity, and my thoughts reeled as I submitted to the violins and cellos, the flutes, horns and percussion. Wind instruments and strings brought about an elation that sent my senses reeling in a way that had always defied description. Music was part of me, often easy as breathing and frustratingly difficult as standing on my head.

In a half hour, the music completed itself and I sat back, satisfied with the first draft of a new opera as I took the last sip of what had been piping hot tea. My hands shook ever so slightly, my heart racing as the elation ebbed and my emotions evened out once more.

Music came to me in spurts; a fickle mistress who visited at any hour of the day, sometimes for ten minutes, sometimes for several hours. If Alex interrupted, as he was prone to do, or Madeline thumped her way up the stairs merely to tell me her knees hurt from walking up to my bedroom, the moment was often gone and the music unfinished. Sometimes it was a matter of simply re-reading my work before the notes returned and sometimes it took days, weeks, even, before I found the melody once more.

Julia, I wrote hastily on the top right-hand corner of all four pages. An opera dedicated to the woman sound asleep in the next room.

Once I finished the piece and read through it a second time, I ate the rest of my breakfast and found a tray to bring Julia her food before it was stone cold as mine. Mario had thankfully left the remainder of breakfast with instructions for warming.

Julia stirred when I returned to the bedroom, her eyes slit open briefly as she turned onto her side.

"Breakfast in bed?" she murmured. "Perhaps I am truly a goddess."

I settled in beside my wife once she had the tray positioned over her lap. "Venus and Aphrodite do not compare. I am enthralled by you," I said. I took her hand in mine and kissed her knuckles. "Until my last breath."

Julia playfully looked at me from the corner of her eye. "Well, then, I suppose a goddess should make a list of requirements for her enchanted husband."

"Will I live to regret my admission?"

"Of course not. My first request is that you feed me fruit."

"It would be my pleasure, however, I do believe I require compensation for my services, Madame Kire."

Julia grinned back. "Ah, but of course, Monsieur Kire, and what type of compensation suits you?"

I took a strawberry from a delicate porcelane bowl on the tray and examined the ripe fruit. "I shall kiss you as frequently as I desire."

Julia opened her mouth for the strawberry and I fed it to her, feeling her lips close around the tips of my fingers.

"That was going to be my next requirement." She leaned in and I tasted the sweet, tart flavor of strawberries on her lips. "I am glad we have come to an agreement."

Julia sat back and ran her fingers over the back of my hand. "Alex is very excited to see our gracious host again and I must say, I am thankful that Archie has planned a treasure hunt," she said, attempting to stifle a yawn. "Alex said you were going to ask Archie something on his behalf?"

"I already did," I answered.

Now that we were blissfully alone in bed again, I hesitated to mention Alex's query to Julia. As I had told Archie, I had no desire for secrets between us, but suddenly I didn't want to be quite so forthcoming with Julia.

"Is it a surprise?" Julia asked. She leaned into me and kissed my neck, her hand skimming down my chest to my stomach, the heat of her body melding with mine.

I stared at the mirror, knowing the longer I stayed silent or evaded a true answer, the worse it would most likely be when I spoke.

"Alex wants a cylinder for the phonograph," I blurted out. "If one exists, he wants to hear Christine sing."

Julia stared at me for a long moment, her hazel eyes searching my gaze in silence, her smile in anticipation of a lovely surprise disappearing into a frown.

"This is quite unexpected," she said at last, her voice quite low as she looked away from me.

"I agree."

"When did Alex ask you about the cylinder?"

"Our last night in Tormage," I answered.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I intended to after I spoke with Archie, but then my brother arrived and by the time I returned inside…" I shrugged.

The hurt in Julia's eyes was unbearable. I reached for her hand, but she pulled away and plucked a blueberry from the bowl. "I see."

"Alex asked if Christine had ever sang to him as an infant and I didn't know what to tell him. When he asked if a cylinder existed with his mother's voice, I told him I would find out. My inquiry is for Alex's benefit and his alone. If you would rather he not have it-"

Julia turned her head to look at me and frowned. "I would not keep Alex from knowing Christine's voice."

"But you would prefer if I never heard her again?" I asked, catching the accusatory tone in my voice far too late.

Julia pursed her lips. "No, that isn't it at all," she said quickly.

"Are you certain?"

Julia sighed, closed her eyes, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, Erik, truthfully I would rather you never hear Christine sing again and I'm embarrassed by my jealousy and pettiness toward a deceased woman." She paused and exhaled. "Did you know it's been four months since the fair first opened? Since...since..."

"I honestly didn't. The fair has not crossed my mind."

Neither one of us spoke for a long moment. I stared at the end of bed, unsure of what to say or do. The month of April and the start of the World's Fair seemed a lifetime away. Everything that had transpired from seeing Christine face-to-face, to Julia's brother intending to end our courtship and discovering my cousin and then my brother felt distant. It felt as though I had watched myself from a distance rather than lived through those moments.

"If you do not want me to pursue this, I will not," I said quietly.

Julia still didn't look at me. "What would Alex think?"

"He would understand." It was unlikely that Alex would forget, but in time I was hopeful he would be content with the unknown.

"Do you honestly think Alex will simply stop asking you about the cylinder?" Julia asked.

I rolled my tongue along the inside of my cheek. "I suppose not," I admitted.

"What if he discovers that a cylinder exists on his own? What would you tell him?"

I sighed and scrubbed my face with my hand. "I have no idea what would happen, but I will speak with Alex when and if that moment comes."

The bedroom door flew open without warning and Alex burst into the room with Lisette on his heels. Bessie stood behind them with a soup bone in her mouth and promptly turned around to savor her prize in the other room.

"Monsieur Leach is here," he announced breathlessly.

"How wonderful," Julia replied as Alex walked around to her side of the bed and quickly embraced her. If not for the tray on Julia's lap, I was certain Alex would have simply crawled over her to hug me next.

"Did Papa bring you breakfast?" Lisette asked as she threw her arms around her mother.

"He did," Julia said as she kissed her daughter on the forehead and smoothed her hand over Lisette's head.

"That is very romantic." Lisette gave a blissful sigh, to which Alex rolled his eyes in disgust.

"It was a very nice surprise," Julia replied.

Alex eyed me curiously. "Father, did I hear you say my name before we walked in? Were you going to remind me to knock?"

"Yes," I said. "And clearly it didn't work."

"Have you eaten yet?" Julia asked.

"We will eat treasure!" Alex said.

Lisette issued her younger brother a disapproving look. "We had quiche. It was quite delectable," she said in a way that reminded me of how Charles complimented Meg's cooking. "We wanted to say good morning before the treasure hunt started and thought it would be polite to invite you and Papa."

"That's very sweet of you, darling, but your father is meeting with his brother and I intend to enjoy a bit of fresh air and quiet."

Neither child seemed particularly disappointed by our lack of participation in their treasure hunt. Alex shrugged, sprinted from my side of the bed back to Julia, and quickly kissed her on the cheek.

"I love you and I will miss you, Mother," he said. He grinned at Julia, his soft, dark eyes filled with adoration.

"I adore you, my sweet boy," Julia replied.

"And as much as I love you, I am glad you and Father are not going on a treasure hunt. Neither of you run fast enough," he blurted out before he dashed from the room, shouting over his shoulder that he would see us at supper time.

"Oh, Alex. I will speak to him." Lisette waved and politely shut the door behind her, leaving Julia and I alone once more.

"How old was Alex when he came to you?" Julia asked.

"Christine claimed he was three days old when she left him at the door, but Madeline guessed he was around six weeks. He was given to me on the sixth of December, and his civil registration has his date of birth as the thirty-first of October."

"You're all he's ever known."

"Thankfully he has Madeline and Meg in his life since he first arrived on my doorstep. And you from the time he was three years of age. I would not have been sufficient in his rearing."

Julia took a bite of her food and a sip of her tea. "Alex asked me one time if he could call me Mama," she said, her voice somewhat distant. "He must have been five at the time and I remember he was sitting on a stool in the kitchen snapping the ends off beans while Lissy kneaded dough. They were arguing over who had the more important duty and he looked at me and said very sternly, 'Mama, tell Lissy beans are more important than bread.' There was no hesitation, no correcting himself. He referred to me as his mother and I simply answered him. Once Lissy walked out of the room, Alex tugged on my apron and asked if he could call me Mama or Mother."

I remained still and silent beside Julia, certain Alex, who had always told me everything he did or anything that came to mind, had not spoken a word of his request.

"And of course how could anyone deny such a sweet little boy?" Julia asked. "I told him he could if he wished and he nodded and whispered that he would like that very much. Then he hugged me as tightly as his little arms would allow and I kissed him on the top of the head."

"Did he call you Mother after that?" I asked.

"Not consistently, but he has many times," Julia answered. "And there has not been a single moment when Alex has called me his mother and I have not wanted him to be mine," she said fondly.

"Alex has always wanted to be yours as well," I said.

Julia met my eye. "He is dear to me," she said, voice high with emotion. "I would do anything for him. If he wishes to hear Christine sing, I will listen with him."