Erik waited impatiently beside the boat. Christine had said she was coming, but it had already been fifteen minutes. He hated to have to go after her, but if she didn�t hurry, he just might.
It may have been a mistake, he decided, letting her go back into the limelight. People would begin to imagine things, would speculate on why the diva had been gone for so long. The lies about an extended trip abroad that Andr� and Firmin had concocted had not fooled many, and people tended to believe the worst. Probably some of them even suspected what had truly happened. Erik would just have to see to it that they never had proof.
He heard fast footsteps approaching, and turned. Christine was hurrying toward him, an apologetic look on her face.
"I�m sorry," she said quickly. "I haven�t seen Meg for so long, and we got to talking, and well..."
Erik shook his head. "Never mind. Let�s just go."
"Erik, I really am sorry."
"It�s late, Christine. The baby should be in bed."
She sighed. "You�re right. Please don�t get upset... I just...I missed being onstage, I think. I didn�t even realize it until tonight... But being on the stage, singing again, it...it threw my mind. I won�t do it again."
Erik helped her step into the boat. "I�m still not sure I like the idea of your being onstage again. It makes me nervous, Christine. Someone will figure it out, and..."
"Who could figure it out?" she protested. "Only a handful of people know about us. The managers wouldn�t dare tell, they�re so happy I�m back. Madame Giry has always stuck by you, and Meg won�t tell a soul. We�re in no danger."
"You forgot about him."
"Who?"
"De Chagny."
"Raoul? He wouldn�t--" Her voice caught in her throat. She�d completely forgotten about...
Erik didn�t notice her stammer. "You�ve told me that thousands of times. I don�t trust him, and I don�t know how you do."
Christine tried to come up with a response that didn�t betray her conflicting thoughts. "I...I�ve known him since I was a child, Erik."
"That�s no reason to trust him now... Christine, you�re trembling. Are you cold?"
"What? Oh, oh yes, I�m cold. Freezing." Christine shivered for good measure, though she could feel her cheeks flaming and she wasn�t cold in the least.
"Here, take my cloak." He swept it around her shoulders and she sank into its folds. "We can�t have you catching a cold."
"No," Christine mumbled.
"We�ll be home soon. Don�t talk. The air will get to your throat."
It wasn�t that cold under the opera house. A slight chill, yes, but not freezing. Christine didn�t dare point that out. Erik probably already knew she was lying. And besides, she was grateful for an excuse to keep silent.
What could she do? Erik didn�t trust the Vicomte, but Christine had promised she would meet him. Erik would never let her. Raoul would come searching for her. Oh, what was she to do?
*****
"Are you absolutely certain of this information?"
"Monsieur de Chagny, I have never before given you incorrect information. Why should I start now?"
"It is of utmost importance that I know this to be true."
"It is true, Monsieur."
"Thank you." Raoul said, tucking the paper inside his jacket.
Now it was up to Christine...
*****
"Erik," said Christine the next afternoon, "I have to go to the rehearsal today. It starts in thirty minutes, and--"
"Why do you need to go?" Erik asked, looking up from where he pondered a piece of music at the organ. "If you�re having trouble with the music, I can help you."
"No, no, it�s not the music," Christine said quickly. "It�s the...acting. I was out of step last night, and Reyer wants to coordinate my acting with the music on the stage."
"You know that show inside out." Erik shook his head. "They only want you there for the newspapers. �Famous Diva Returns After Two-Year Absence.� They didn�t get any interviews last night. They don�t need you for rehearsal, Christine."
"Oh, but they do," Christine protested, her guilt at her lie nearly undoing her. "I need to go over it with Jacques."
"What�s wrong with me? I know the opera as well as Jacques. You can rehearse fine down here."
"Nothing! It�s just different, acting onstage with him."
Erik surveyed her face, which she was sure betrayed her. "I still don�t see a difference."
"Oh Erik, it just is. Please, I�ll be late if I don�t go."
"What about Meg?"
Meg. How had Christine had forgotten about the baby? "Well, she�s asleep now. You can bring her up before the performance when she�s hungry."
"Christine, she�ll never last that long--that�s nearly three hours."
"Well, when she gets fussy, then. I�ll be in my dressing room most of the time anyway." She hoped.
Erik sighed. "All right. I�ll get the boat."
"No, I can take myself--"
"I won�t be able to get across the lake if you take the boat to the other side, Christine."
"Oh. Of course. I wasn�t thinking."
"Are you all right? You�re acting awfully strange."
"I�m fine!" she lied.
Erik studied her for a moment, but finally gave in. "I hate to wake Meg."
"She�ll be all right while you row me across. It�s not as though anyone can get to her."
He nodded. "I�ll go out and get the boat." He went out the door, and Christine breathed a sigh of relief.
Her relief was short-lived, however, as she recalled what she was about to do. If her husband knew... She shook that thought off. She couldn�t tell him, and she had no choice. She had to see Raoul. Erik would be even more upset if the Vicomte showed up at their door demanding to know why she hadn�t kept her promise. She shuddered at that thought.
She checked on little Meg and gave her tiny cheek a kiss. "Please don�t get upset quickly, darling," she whispered. "I won�t be in my dressing room for at least an hour."
She quickly got her cloak, hoping Erik would just assume it was because she had supposedly been cold the night before. It was undoubtedly much colder at the graveyard than inside the opera house, and Christine couldn�t risk her voice. She picked up a piece of music from tonight�s opera off the top of the organ. It would make her story a little more believable, at least.
She went out to the boat and Erik rowed her across the lake.
"Be careful on the way up," Erik said. "You want me to come with you?"
"No, I�ll be all right."
"All right." He helped her out and she hurried toward the stairs. "Christine," Erik called.
She slowly turned. "Yes?"
"You�ll be in your dressing room if you�re not rehearsing?"
It was too dark for him to see her close her eyes guiltily. "Yes."
"I�ll be up with Meg later."
"All right." She hurried up the stairs before he could say anything else. He would guess, wouldn�t he? He would know she was tricking him... Maybe this had been a mistake.
No, she had to go through with it. Raoul had kept his promise, and she must keep hers. She avoided her dressing room completely and instead took a behind-the-wall route to the front exit. Erik had shown her dozens of out-of-sight passageways and trap doors during the past two years, and she was grateful.
Dusk was settling as she slipped from the opera house, and it was chilly. She pulled her cloak tighter around her, hoping against hope that no one recognized her. She hadn�t been to the graveyard since that night two years before...
The events of that night were forever in her mind. No amount of trying could remove them from her memory. That night had clenched the hatred between Erik and Raoul, and neither of them had let go of their hate. That had been the first time Raoul had seen Erik, and he had stood up to him like no other had ever dared... Until she pulled him away. Probably she�d saved his life. She wondered if Erik resented her for that.
She shrugged the thought off. Of course he didn�t. He loved her. But if he knew what she was doing now...
She had to stop the thoughts. They would never give her a bit of peace, which she had thought she�d found after marrying Erik.
The graveyard loomed ominously ahead of her. She took a deep breath and neared the gate.
*****
"Sshhh, Meg..." Erik soothed, cradling the wailing child against his shoulder. "It�s all right. We�re almost to Mama now."
Meg kept right on screaming. Erik knew someone would hear from the hall, which was just along the opposite wall. Why didn�t Christine hear and come out? Her dressing room was straight ahead.
He shook his head as he pressed the spring that opened Christine�s mirror to him. He hoped she hadn�t gone to practice yet. She had been gone only fifteen minutes before Meg awoke and demanded to be fed. He had tried to console her, but he wasn�t much help to a hungry baby.
"Christine?" he said cautiously as he entered, letting Meg suck on his finger to soothe her cries.
There was a gasp from her closet. He went to the door and nearly collided with Meg Giry.
He automatically turned his face away from her shocked eyes. "Miss Giry, what are you doing in here?"
"I was just making sure Christine�s dress was here for tonight," she said in a rush. "I�m sorry, I didn�t know you were going to be--"
"Christine is capable of getting her own dress, isn�t she?"
"Well, yes, but I just wanted to make sure. And I...I wanted to see the baby again. May I hold her?"
"What?"
Meg ducked her head, a red flush on her cheeks. "May I hold baby Meg?"
Erik hated the thought, but he reluctantly handed over his once-again-screaming daughter, amazed that she seemed to calm down as she was placed in a woman�s hands. "Miss Giry, could you please find Christine in rehearsal and tell her the baby�s hungry?"
Meg looked at him strangely. "Christine�s not in rehearsal. I haven�t seen her all day. I was waiting for her here."
Erik turned to face her, forgetting his disfigurement. "She�s not here?"
Meg�s eyes widened at the sight of his face, and she quickly backed further into the closet. "No, monsieur," she whispered, obviously scared to death, "I haven�t seen her."
"How long have you been here at the opera house?"
"Most of the day," she managed, her eyes glued in horror to his face.
"You haven�t seen her at all?"
Meg shook her head and finally turned her eyes.
Erik grasped her small shoulders between her hands. "You must be mistaken. She said she was coming straight to rehearsal. There�s nowhere else for her to be!"
Meg gasped and cowered at his touch. "Let me go, please!"
He instantly released her and backed out of the closet. "I�m sorry," he said. "I just can�t believe that Christine would--"
A crumbled piece of paper on the floor near Christine�s table caught his attention. He reached for it and unfolded it. He froze as he read it, reread it, made sure again that it said what he thought his eyes were telling him.
"Miss Giry, I have to go. Can you watch the baby?"
And before she could reply, he had disappeared behind the mirror again.
Meg picked up the note he had dropped in his haste to exit. She gasped as she realized it was the note Christine had ordered her to destroy.
