Untitled, Part 2 (Send Me Title Ideas please!) By Julie
"Raoul, you�ve simply got to get me to that bakery!"
"Sshhh!" Raoul scolded, glancing in the direction of Colette�s closed bedroom door. "Colette, there�s nothing I can do! It�s pouring rain, and Philippe would never let me take the carriage out!"
"You�re eighteen! You can get the carriage, and you�ve GOT to, Raoul! I have to get there!"
"You don�t HAVE to, Colette. Just because someone with a horrid face was nice to you doesn�t mean that you have to see him again!"
"Don�t say he has a horrid face! I like his face!" Colette turned toward the window and stared out at the downpour.
"There�s no face there to like!"
"There most certainly is! He�s perfectly normal, with a few scratches!"
"Scratches?!" Raoul took her by the shoulders and turned her so she was looking directly at him. "Colette, his face is hideous. I can�t take you to see him, and I won�t let you go by yourself. You never know what someone like that could do to you!"
"Just because you�re my cousin and you�re older than me doesn�t mean you can tell me what to do!" She wrenched away from his grasp and turned back to the window.
"Yes it does. I�ll tell Philippe."
"I don�t care."
"I�ll tell Pierre."
Colette whirled and stared at Raoul. "You wouldn�t dare."
"If you don�t stop telling me to do the impossible, I will."
"You�re just saying that. You�d never really do it."
Raoul sighed. Colette had a way of reading his mind. "I WILL tell Philippe."
"Just ask Philippe if you can use the carriage!"
"He won�t let me unless he knows why."
"Try! Please, Raoul! You get to do anything you want, anytime you want--you know he spoils you like a baby. Please!"
"If I didn�t know better, I�d say you were in love with a man you�ve only seen for ten minutes of your life."
Colette turned back to the window. "I never said that."
"You think you are, don�t you?!"
"Raoul," she sighed, "I don�t know him. All I know is that he was genuinely nice to me. Not because he had to be, or because he wanted me to like him. He didn�t want my money or your money or anything like that. He liked me. I�ve always told you, I want someone who cares about me. Pierre would sooner jump in a stormy river than stop me from falling to the street. He doesn�t care a whit about me, and I want to be with someone who does!"
"But Colette--"
"If you don�t take me, I�ll go by myself, rain or not."
"But what if he kidnaps you or something?"
She turned and gave him a disgusted look. "Raoul, stop acting like a child. A man that nice kidnap me? You have to be joking."
"I�m not. Colette, it isn�t safe."
"Then come with me!"
"I�ve told you, I can�t!"
Colette looked pleadingly at him. "Raoul, you said you would help me. If you don�t get me to the one person who can save me from marrying Pierre, how exactly DO you intend to help me?"
"How can that half-faced man save you from marrying Pierre?"
"You yourself said that if I found someone better--"
"You�re not thinking of marrying him!"
"Not yet," she murmured, and Raoul could hear her unspoken thought--"But I might."
Raoul shook his head. "Colette de Chagny, that�s the most insane thing I�ve ever heard in my life. You�re only going to be here for two weeks--there�s no time in there to weave in a romance, and especially without Philippe or Pierre finding out!"
"Please, Raoul!" Her eyes bore into his soul, and he found that he could not resist.
"Get your umbrella," he reluctantly gave in.
Colette�s eyes widened in wonder, disbelief, and amazed gratitude. "You�ll take me?!"
"I don�t have much choice, I suppose. Cross your fingers, I�ve got to go beg the carriage into my hands."
Colette nodded and Raoul left. He closed the door behind him, wondering why on earth he was doing this. He couldn�t allow Colette to marry such a hideous thing as this Alexandre. But on the other hand, if marrying the faceless man would save her from the thing she wanted least in the world, what could he do?
He made his way to Philippe�s office slowly. He took a deep breath as he opened the door, not knowing what to wish for--permission or refusal.
Philippe sat at his desk, going over a stack of papers. "What is it, Raoul?"
"Listen, Phil, before you say no, understand that this is all Colette�s idea and I just got sent to ask."
Philippe looked up, amusement written on his face. "What is it?"
"Can we take the carriage out?"
"Why in heaven�s name do you need to take the carriage out? It�s pouring rain and--"
Raoul sighed. "She�s dead-set on going into Paris right now, and she doesn�t want to be told no."
"You can�t take the carriage."
"But--"
"You can take the smaller buggy."
Raoul sighed in relief. "Thank you!"
"Hurry up, before you-know-who wants to go along. He�s in the kitchen torturing one of the maids now."
"Thanks, Phil." Raoul ran from the room and almost knocked Colette over as she came down the stairs.
"What did he say?" she asked hopefully.
"He said yes; let�s go!"
Colette squealed and hurried down the rest of the staircase and to the front porch. "You go get the carriage, and I�ll wait here," she said. "Hurry so Pierre doesn�t know we�re going."
Raoul ran to the barn that housed the carriages and dragged the protesting horse from his warm stall to hitch him to the buggy. Thankfully the surrey had a small roof over it, so as Raoul climbed in, he was saved from getting completely drenched. He quickly drove around the corner of the house to get Colette.
She bolted from the porch and climbed in, panting for breath. "Pierre�s coming to the door, I heard him--hurry!"
With the thought of Pierre demanding to know where they were going, Raoul needed no more urging. He took off down the driveway and was out of sight of the house within minutes. Colette sighed in relief.
"I was so afraid that he was going to come and insist that he had to go too," she said. "Oh, Raoul, what would we have done if he had?!"
"Probably either talked him out of it or not gone at all. We can�t have him discovering that you�re seeing someone else."
"I�m not!" she protested. "I just want to talk to Alexandre! What�s wrong with that?"
"Nothing, I suppose. But knowing that Pierre would be furious if he knew about it has to be saying something about it."
The rest of the short trip to Paris was silent. Colette seemed to be lost in her dreamland, and Raoul, while he seriously considered just turning the coach around, had to keep the objecting horse moving.
Reaching the bakery late, Colette was a nervous wreck. "Does my hair look all right, Raoul?"
"I can�t even see it under the hat."
"But does the hat look all right?"
"You look fine, Colette."
"What if he doesn�t come?"
"Then we can go home and I�ll be able to prove to you why you should never have agreed to this."
She sighed and looked toward the door of the small shop and suddenly squealed. "There he is!" She jumped from the buggy and ran toward the shop. Alexandre opened the door and escorted her in, much to her obvious delight. She turned and waved to Raoul, then completely forgot about him and looked back at Alexandre.
"All right, then," Raoul said to no one but the horse. "I guess that means I�m supposed to stay here!"
~*~*~*~
Colette didn�t come out of the shop for an hour, and by that time Raoul was freezing and drenched. She, however, was ecstatic, and insisted that she had to come back the following day.
Raoul again reluctantly agreed, not realizing that Colette was going to say the same thing for the entire two weeks she was with him. As she came out of the bakery on the last scheduled day of her visit, her face was lit up more than ever before, and he was met with the same question.
"Raoul, will you bring me again tomorrow?" she entreated cheerfully as she swung up beside him.
Raoul, anxious to get away from the bakery, waited until he had driven the carriage a mile past the establishment to respond. "Colette, you�re supposed to leave tomorrow."
Her face paled. "What?" she whispered.
"You were only staying for two weeks, remember?"
"Yes, but...it hasn�t been two weeks already, has it?" Her voice was edged in panic.
Raoul nodded. "You�ve spent the entire time at that bakery."
"I can�t go home tomorrow!" The panic came out in a full-fledged cry.
"You�ll have to," Raoul said simply.
"I won�t!" Now there were tears gathering in her eyes.
"I can imagine that Pierre will be only too glad to go. You�ve done nothing with him the entire time you�ve been here. You�re forgetting that he almost found out--several times, in fact--where we disappear to every day, aren�t you?"
"But he didn�t find out! Raoul, I�m fine! He doesn�t know, Philippe doesn�t know, and therefore it�s safe!"
Raoul was glad they were approaching the country road that led to the Chagny estate--Colette was making quite a scene, clutching at his sleeve and nearly yelling at him. "Colette, he�s going to insist that you leave tomorrow."
The accumulated tears started to fall. "And I�ll insist that I can�t."
"He�ll want to know why."
"I�ll tell him he won�t ask questions if he really loves me."
"And if he asks questions anyway?"
She sniffed and sat up straighter, though she kept her hold on Raoul�s sleeve. "Then I�ll refuse to marry him because he doesn�t love me."
"You�ve already said that, haven�t you? Why can�t you just refuse him now?"
She sniffed harder and allowed more tears to roll down her cheeks. "Well, because...because..."
"Colette," Raoul finally demanded, "what is the point of all this? You�re no closer to marrying what�s-his-name with half a face than you are to marrying Pierre!"
"Alex does not only have half a face!"
"So it�s Alex now?"
"Raoul, stop it!" she wept.
Raoul stopped the buggy in the middle of the road and turned to look her in the eyes. "Then tell me WHY you have to come back. I�m tired of this, Colette! I managed to get you down here this summer--no easy feat, I might add! I wanted to spend those two weeks with you. Instead, I�ve spent them with the buggy! Now why have I done that?"
"Because you want me to be happy," Colette whispered.
"And going to a pastry shop--with a man you hardly know--every afternoon is the way you�re happy."
"I�m certainly a lot happier with Alex than I am with Pierre."
"Answer me five questions."
"Maybe." She appeared to be intimidated, as if she knew where his questions would lead.
"Does this Alex know that you�re engaged?"
"Yes."
"Does he side with you?"
"Yes."
"Did he side with you when you first told him?"
She hesitated and didn�t answer, turning her head toward the setting sun.
He caught her chin with his index finger and pulled her face back. "Colette."
She refused to meet his eyes. "No, he didn�t."
"Why did he change his mind?"
"That�s none of your--"
"It will be when I go home and tell your fianc� that you�re seeing another man."
She lifted her face, revealing desperation in her blue eyes. "Raoul de Chagny, if you dared--"
"Well, then, answer my question!"
"I... Raoul, I--"
"Colette! I am serious! What did you tell him?!"
She looked off toward the horizon again. "I... I told Alex I love him."
"You what?!"
"Raoul, please!"
"One last question. Has he asked you to marry him?"
Colette sat silently.
"Well?" Raoul pressed.
"No," she said slowly, "but he...he said that we could figure something out. He said he�ll find a way for us to marry."
"And you want him to find that way, don�t you?"
"Why wouldn�t I?"
"Because you�re already engaged and--"
"Raoul! You�re the one person in the world who, knowing how I feel about Pierre, agreed to help me! Surely you�re not suggesting that I should marry Pierre!"
"I�d rather you marry someone who actually looks like a man."
Colette glared at him. "Stop saying that. Alex is a perfectly normal man. It�s not his fault that his face is scarred."
"How could you possibly be attracted to something like that?"
"I wasn�t attracted to that. I was attracted by how kind he was to me. Now I�m used to his face. It�s a part of him, and I wouldn�t change it for a thing."
"You�re planning to marry him, aren�t you?"
Colette didn�t answer. Raoul sighed.
"Colette, it�s crazy. How do you intend to tell your parents? Pierre?"
She shrugged. "I don�t know yet."
"They won�t agree. We both know that."
"Then I just won�t tell them."
"How will you accomplish that?"
"We...Alex and I...We�ll elope."
Raoul�s eyes widened. "You wouldn�t!"
"I would," she whispered.
"You have to be kidding," Raoul said. "Surely you aren�t serious."
"I am serious, Raoul. I told you two weeks ago that I�d sooner elope than marry Pierre, and well, I would."
"And now that there�s someone there that you could marry secretly, you will."
She hesitated. "Yes."
"What if I can�t bring you back?"
"Then I�ll come by myself. I am going to see Alex again--and I�m going to marry him."
Raoul sighed. "Colette, this whole idea is absurd. What would your parents say?"
"They�ll probably disown me."
"You�re talking about it like it�s going to happen!"
"I hope it does, if it means I can marry Alex."
"Since it appears we�re right down to it," Raoul said, "do you love Alexandre? Answer me truly--you said you told him you did. Was it a ruse, or did you mean it?"
"Oh, Raoul, I do," she whispered. "I know I do. I know, it�s only been two weeks, I know it�s not normally done that way, but I don�t care. I�m throwing traditions out the window."
Raoul sighed and waited a minute before responding. "But Colette, you barely know him! You only met him two weeks ago and besides, he�s so appalling! How can you stand to live the rest of your life with him?"
Colette looked at him, hurt written on her face. "How can you say that?" she whispered. "I love him for him, and I don�t care what his face looks like. It doesn�t matter if he�s ugly, or appalling, as you put it." She sighed. "You just can�t understand. You�ve never been in love, how would you know?"
Raoul shrugged. This was all too new to him. Two weeks before Colette had told him that she wasn�t ready to be married. Now she was begging him to help her elope.
"I�m sorry, Raoul," she said softly. "I just don�t know what to do. If I go back home, I�ll be stuck with Pierre for life. My only hope is to stay here, and marry Alex. I don�t know how that can happen unless we elope, so I don�t have much choice. Raoul, I love Alex. I know it must sound strange, seeing as how I�ve only known the man for two weeks. Before Alex, I don�t think I really knew what love was... But know that I know for sure, I can�t fathom marrying someone I don�t love."
"You told me that, but what about your family? What will they say?"
"I don�t care what they say," Colette said. "But Raoul, you�ve just got to get me back here, somehow, tomorrow."
Raoul sighed. "I can�t make any promises. You know as well as I do that Pierre�s going to want to leave first thing in the morning. But I�ll try."
Colette sighed in relief. "Oh, thank you, Raoul. You can�t understand how much that means to me."
Raoul shrugged. "I just hope I won�t regret it someday."
"You won�t."
Raoul wasn�t so sure.
~*~*~*~
"Colette, DARLING! It�s time to leave!"
Colette closed her eyes and thought for a moment, motioning with her hand for Raoul not to open her door to Pierre.
"I told you--" Raoul whispered.
"Sshhh!!" she said. She cleared her throat and spoke up. "I�m not ready to leave, Pierre!"
"We must, Colette, we�ll miss the train."
"We�ll take the next one," Colette sang.
"No we won�t," said Pierre. "I have the tickets in my hand, and we�re going to be late."
"But Pierre," she said, inserting a cough, "I feel awfully bad. I�d hate to contaminate an entire train full of people!"
"If you�re sick, we need to get you home."
"I don�t feel like moving."
"I�ll carry you, my darling."
Colette nearly gagged. "I can�t ride on a train. It will make me sick."
"It didn�t make you sick on the way here."
"I was feeling fine then, Pierre."
"If you�re feeling that bad, I�ll have to call the doctor," Pierre said. "Should I?"
"No!" Colette inserted quickly. "I feel that I should just rest today. I don�t think I could stand a bumpy train ride."
"I think I�d better get the doctor."
"No, Pierre," she said again. "I�ll be fine."
"We�d better make sure."
Colette glanced at Raoul, alarm written on her face. He read her thoughts--a doctor would diagnose her as perfectly healthy and she would have to leave.
"Colette, are you in there?"
"Yes, Pierre."
"I�m going to go ask Philippe to get the doctor, all right?"
"No, I--no, Pierre, no, find Raoul instead," Colette said, her eyes lighting up suddenly. "He�ll know where to find the doctor."
"All right, my love," Pierre said.
Colette cracked the door as he left the hallway in search of Raoul. The second he was out of sight, she bolted the door again and turned to Raoul.
"What do you mean, send Raoul to get the doctor?!" he asked. "Any doctor in Paris will tell you that you�re well enough to travel."
"I�m not sending you to get the doctor."
"You�re not? Then who--ohhh no, Colette, that will never work."
"It will," she insisted. "You go and get him, tell him everything that�s going on, and I know he�ll come."
"Colette, it won�t work. Philippe knows the doctors around here! He�ll know what you�re up to, and..."
"I�ll have Pierre send Philippe to get me something from the store. If I�m lucky, Pierre can go with him."
"Colette, this idea is absolutely ridiculous--"
"Do you have any better suggestions?"
Raoul thought quickly. "No."
"Then this is our only choice. Raoul, you told me you�d help me, and this is the way you can!" She turned to him, her face pleading. "Please, Raoul."
"All right," he said. "I�ll go. But you�d better hope that a miracle happens, because if not, this is not going to work."
Colette smiled gratefully and ushered Raoul out the door. "Now don�t play hard to find. Listen to Pierre ramble and then you know what to do."
Raoul nodded. "We�ll be back soon."
"Thank you, Raoul."
Raoul hurried downstairs, where he was sure Pierre had headed. Sure enough, within a minute, the older man was pouncing on him.
"Ra-ohl! There you are!"
Raoul turned, playing like he knew nothing. "Did you call me?"
"Yes! Colette is deathly ill and we need a doctor here, fast!"
"Deathly ill?"
"Yes! She can�t even get out of bed! You�ve got to go get the best doctor in Paris!"
"Oh, but Pierre, I don�t know--"
Pierre glared at him. "You go get a doctor for Colette--now!"
Raoul sighed, rolled his eyes, and went out the door. Certain that Pierre was watching him, he slowly made his way to the stable, saddled his horse, and climbed onto it. He made the animal walk ever-so-slowly down the road until the house was out of sight, and then he took off.
He told himself he was crazy for agreeing to this whole plan in the first place. He told himself that he wouldn�t go through with it. He told himself that Colette would be fine with Pierre. He promised himself that he could just turn around once he got to Paris and say that he couldn�t find a doctor.
Nevertheless he found himself stopping in front of the now-familiar bakery.
He swung down from the horse and tied it to the rail by the road, shaking his head in disbelief at his own actions. He had told himself two weeks ago that he would not allow it to happen. He wouldn�t let Colette be swept into the arms of a monster.
And yet, there he was, going into the bakery to find Alexandre Beaulieu.
He immediately spotted him, for his hideous face was staring through the window anxiously, obviously waiting for Colette. He didn�t seem to recognize Raoul as he entered the small shop, so Raoul took a deep breath and approached him.
"Uh, excuse me..."
"Yes?" Alexandre looked up.
"I�m Raoul de Chagny, Colette�s--"
"Colette�s cousin! That�s right! Is she all right? Could she not come? What�s wrong?"
"Nothing, really," Raoul said, almost unwilling to offer this man any information. "She was supposed to leave today, with her fianc�, but she doesn�t want to--"
"Her fianc�? Her fianc� is here?"
"Yes, at my estate. He�s been here all along; didn�t she tell you?"
Alexandre shook her head. "No. She said she was engaged and hated the man, but she never said he was with her. How did she manage to get here without him knowing?"
"She talked to me."
"Then I�d like to thank you." Alexandre stuck his hand out.
Raoul shook it stiffly, nearly recoiling at the chill of Alexandre�s hands.
"So what�s wrong? Why isn�t she here with you today?"
"She was only supposed to stay for two weeks, and her fianc� is more than ready to go. She�s stalling him, telling him she�s sick."
Alexandre looked terribly confused. "I don�t understand. Why did you come for me?"
"The reason she�s stalling him is because she... She wants to see you."
His eyes lit up. "She does?! She wants to see me?"
Raoul made himself nod. "But we have a problem."
Alexandre�s glee turned to worry. "What is it? Colette�s all right, isn�t she?"
"She�s fine," Raoul said, "but her fianc� wants to leave, and he wants to leave now, so he sent me to get the doctor."
"You�re not going to, I hope!"
"Actually, Colette told me I should get someone who could pretend to be a doctor..." Raoul could not believe his own actions. Colette was so na�ve, so helpless in the world... And here Raoul stood helping her see the man he did not want her to see.
"Who do you know that could pretend to be a doctor?" Alexandre asked.
"You."
His eyebrows twisted. "Me? I�m no doctor! I know nothing about--"
"You don�t have to know anything a doctor knows. Colette wants you to come as her �doctor�, and probably insist that her fianc� can�t be in the room while you �examine� her. Then it�s all up to you two."
Alexandre�s eyes had filled with ideas already. "Ohhh... Did I ever happen to tell you that I�m a doctor?"
