Adult-FanFiction.org : Books

A New Beginning	By : Lum Category: M through R > The Phantom of the Opera > Het Views: 5783 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Phantom of the Opera, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 21
- 22
- 23
Disclaimer: Please see the prologue

A New Beginning

Chapter 21

Understanding

Not Censored

Madison placed a hand on her too tightly cinched waist, groaned, and twisted her torso to try to relieve the pressure from the piece of boning that was currently digging into her back.

Ever since her debacle Ummi had been a little distant, tightening her corsets tighter, with more force than necessary, and not stopping to talk.

She was currently hiding from Erik and her father by sitting scrunched up in a corner of the hay loft between the barn wall and a bale of dry straw, petting one of the calico cats that kept the tool barn free of rodents. They were moving her things into her new household, and Madison could not bear to watch the exchange.

She smiled as the cat purred and arched into his back into her hand, his tail wrapping around her wrist.

“You are just a silly little thing, aren’t you?” she cooed to the animal, who meowed his response and rubbed his cheek against her knee.

She continued to pet him as her mind drifted off to other things.

Try as she might she just could not get the past week out of her mind, no matter how many hours stretched by, turning into days, she just could not understand how she had gotten herself into this situation.

How could she have been so naïve, have drunk so much that now she could not remember what had happened between him and she?

The floorboards creaked below her and Madison crawled from her hiding spot to carefully peek over the ledge and see the first floor of the barn. It housed tools and equipments, and of course the hay and straw, but at this time after harvest it was barely used. Instead the farmhands worked on restocking the supplies before the winter storms would begin.

There was no reason for anyone else to come here, so Madison let curiosity get the better of her and craned her head around a small block of straw.

Her hair tumbled free of the loose knot that she had tied it in, obstructing her view, and she moved to push it behind her ears.

It was Erik, of course, and Madison cursed her luck that the one person she could not talk to on today of all days was standing below her, surveying the barn, looking for her.

The cat, upset at the sudden loss of attention, began to sharpen his claws on her skirt, drawing a soft yelp from Madison when little claws caught the skin on her thigh.

She screwed her eyes shut, praying that he had not heard her and counted to ten as her heart pounded in her chest and she leaned back over the block of hay so that she could see the ground floor below her.

The floor was empty of any human presence, with no sign that he had ever been there at all, and she sighed in relief.

Sitting back against the hay she pulled her hair back, running fingers through the tangling locks, and screamed when a hand clamped on her shoulder. The cat jumped onto the nearest block of hay in surprise.

It was Erik, looking thoroughly amused at having caught her sulking, his amusement increasing as he saw the look on her face.

A lesser man would have withered at the sour look, but Erik was merely bemused.

“You move like a ghost, you know. How did you get up here?” she asked, “without me hearing you, I mean.”

He settled beside her, one hand resting lightly on her knee, which Madison did not push away. He took it as a sign that whatever she was upset about, it was not with him.

“I am accustomed to moving silently. I was looking for you, everyone was. Your father wishes for you to know that your things have all been moved into your home, and that you should take your supper there tonight,” he replied
He watched Madison as her mouth pursed and she glared at the bale of hay in front of her.

“We have not really had the chance to talk, about what happened four days ago, about the engagement…” he said, trailing off in sudden nervousness.

“I am not mad at you, if that is what you are wondering about, or with my father,” she said without looking at him. Her chin tightened with sudden stubbornness as she continued to stare at the straw in front of her. The cat was no longer sitting atop it, having moved on in search of mice.

Erik’s hand gripped her knee, his thumb rubbing soothing circles into the fabric of her brown and cream dress.
“I had worried,” he admitted, “that you were upset with me. I have put you in the same situation as that the
foolish farm boy did.”

Madison shook her head, trying to shake away the beginnings of tears. “No,” she protested, “I did, by running off to the gypsy camp without any thoughts of the repercussions. So no, I am not mad at you or father for doing the right thing, just at myself for acting like a ninny and tying you to me for the rest of our lives.”

Erik’s eyes widened, surely not, surely she was not upset for his own wellbeing. He could count on the fingers of one hand how many people had truly cared for him, and still have fingers left over.

He shifted, brushing his knees against hers and raising his left hand to caress the side of her face, which was suddenly downcast.

“After all this time, you still believe my intentions to be insincere,” he said in sad wonderment, “silly girl, who wouldn’t want to spend eternity with you?”

He raised her chin so that their eyes met, hers misting with melancholy tears as he laid a gentle kiss on the corner of her mouth.

She closed her eyes, her breath shuddering out in pent up frustration and confusion. A single tear trickled down her cheek as he moved his mouth to place a kiss on one eyelid, then the other.

Madison turned into him so that her legs curled up into him, atop his own, and filled a niche that she hadn’t known was there. She raised one hand to press warm fingers against the cool leather of the mask.

A shudder ripped through him as she caressed it wonderingly, her eyes still closed. He half expected her to rip
it from his face, as Christine had done, but she only touched it questioningly.

He curled his fingers around hers and gently pulled them away from his mask so that her hand rested in her lap, with his atop hers.

Her eyes were still closed, though the tear had dried and her chin was a little less stubborn, and then she opened them. And in hazel orbs he saw himself, reflected, and did not cringe, because the beginnings of love accompanied his image.

He couldn’t believe it, but looking at her he knew that she returned his affection despite his many flaws. What had he done to possibly deserve her?

“Tonight, after dinner we will talk and clear the air between us, and I will tell you about my past, about the mask, and I will answer any questions that you have.”

She nodded, slightly confused but willing to accept that in a few hours time he would explain everything.

He placed a chaste kiss against her soft mouth and left, with only one last, longing look over her shoulder as he disappeared behind a mound of straw.

She heard him climb down the ladder, the squeak of the rungs, and smiled because she knew that he could have left silently if he wished, and that he had done so for her.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Madison’s things were in place, every shirt and undergarment neatly folded into cedar drawers, every dress hung with careful precision. Her toiletry items put into order on her new vanity table, the little padded chair tucked into it.

She surveyed the room. It had been decorated in warm cream and forest green, the plush carpet patterned with delicate cabbage roses. The curtains were dark green damask and pulled aside to let the setting sun bathe the chamber in golden tones, highlighting the mahogany furniture beautifully.

It was comfortable, unlike her old room which had been decorated in white and pink and gold. She smiled as she rubbed a hand against the wood of the bedpost, fingers trailing across the grain.

She had seen little of the two story house, only pausing in the hallway that led to her room, the master chamber, to glance at the paneled walls and brass gas lamps, before entering her new bed chamber.

Crossing the room to her vanity she picked up the cream and yellow pitcher and poured lukewarm water into the
wash basin, splashing the water on her face and cleaning her hands. A little green wash cloth had already been laid out beside the basin, and after drying her face and hands she moved to the window to watch the setting sun.

A knock at the door broke her reverie as Ummi entered. Madison smiled, “I am so glad that you came with me, Ummi, I was a little afraid that you were still too upset with me to agree.”

Ummi placed her hands on her hips, “lord, child, like I would ever let you out of my sight again.” She tsked and shook her head, “cook wants to know if you’ll be taking your supper in the dining room or want a tray sent up.”
Madison thought a moment then grimaced, “I do not think that I could stand an empty table.”

Ummi nodded understandingly, “I’ll have Missy send a tray up in a moment. Mr. Durmand wanted word sent that he will arrive in an hour and wait in the library.”

Madison nodded that she had heard and turned her attention back to the view outside the window.
The housekeeper turned to leave, one hand resting on the brass door knob, “Miss Madison,” she began hesitantly, “I think you’ll be happy with him, like I was with my husband, God bless his soul. For all the temper and mystery, I think he truly cares for you, if you don’t mind me saying.”

Madison smiled softly and replied, “I think so too.”

Ummi returned the smile before exiting the room.

Madison sighed as the sink below the horizon.

A maid knocked and entered the room, placing the food tray on the side table in the corner, curtseyed, and left. Madison moved to the table, pulling out one of the delicately carved chairs and sitting she pulled the silver
cover from the plate and smelled the aroma wafting from the platter.

Herb roasted chicken with seasoned red potatoes, steamed asparagus, and a fluffy roll smelled delicious.

She ate quickly, delighting in the wonderful food that the new cook had prepared and sank back into the chair, one hand resting on her full stomach as she sighed contentedly. Perhaps living on her own would not be so detestable with such good food.

Glancing at the small mantle clock told her that she had twenty minutes before Erik arrived. Madison leisurely sipped her nearly empty glass of cold lemonade, the last of the season, and basked in the comforting colors of the room.

By the time that she looked again at the small clock sixteen minutes had passed. She rose from the small table and covered her empty plate, placing her glass on the tray, and began the short trip to her new library, one of the first rooms that she had explored that day.

The maids were busily lighting the rest of the gas lamps as Madison walked down the hallway and staircase and slowly made her way to the library.

When she opened the door, expecting it to be empty, she was startled to see him already there and leaning against one of the bookcase lined walls.

“Do you like it?” he asked as one of his hands sought hers to bring her in for a quick kiss.
She sighed at the withdrawal of his lips and contented herself with looking up at him, “I do. Or at least, I like
what I have seen so far.”

He arched his right brow in surprise, “do you mean to tell me that my curious Madison has not yet explored every nook and cranny of her house?”

Madison let go of his hand and looped her arm around his back so that she pressed against him, “do you mean it?”
He grabbed her upper arms loosely, “do I meant what? That you are more curious than a cat? Yes, of course.”
She shook her head and smiled, “no, you called me yours. Do you truly mean it?”

His smile turned perplexed, the grin fading into seriousness, “we are engaged to be married, Madison, yet you still are worried that I will vanish into thin air.”

She looked away, eyes hooded, “I have always been surrounded by people who remain at a distance. My mother died when I was born, my father was lost, he did not know how to deal with the screaming infant who was suddenly dependent entirely upon him. As soon as I outgrew governesses I was sent off to boarding school where no one understood me. My closest companion is the servant who raised me, and Ummi is too well-mannered to break the social constraints except every now and then. Even my friend James, the farm boy that you hate so much, I kept at a distance because we want such different things in life.”

Her eyes met his and she continued, “to be completely honest I have always felt a little alone, which is most likely why I became so unruly and headstrong, I was too used to relying upon myself that I could not accept the advice of others. They could not understand me, so why should I have listened?”

Erik met her gaze without interrupting, allowing her to continue.

“And then you came along and changed everything. You talked to me, and more importantly, listened to what I had
to say without writing me off as a silly child with fantastical whims. I think that you have ruined me, Erik, for any other man, and I am so afraid that one day you will leave and I will be alone again, only it will be worse because I will know what I am missing.”

He splayed his hands against her arms, fingers rubbing the flesh, and craned his head down to capture her mouth in a firm, possessive kiss before breaking away.

“Never,” he replied, “never will I, could I, leave you for as long as you want me to stay. But you still do not understand, how could you…” he trailed off.

She pulled her arm from holding his back and laid her hands against his chest, feeling the strong muscles beneath. “Then make me understand.”

He nodded and pulled away from her, moving them to the two leather chairs that sat in an alcove of the library with only a small round table between them.

She gripped the arm of the chair, nails digging slightly into the light brown leather, as he told his story.
“I was born with an affliction to my face, the right half of course, which I cover with the mask. My mother could not stand me, and when she was going to send me away I decided to leave on my own terms, and ran away instead,” he began.

Madison uttered only a few words as he related the struggles of his life to her, of the unloving mothers, the torturous living with the gypsies who used and abused him, his escape and travels as a magician to Eastern Europe and Asia. He told her an incomplete version of his time with the Khanum, leaving out his role as executioner, told her of the Daroga and his poor son whom he helped kill, and his narrow escape from Persia.

He explained his move to France, the country of his birth, and his renovations of the opera house basement. She gasped and nodded at the correct parts of the story, her hands resting firmly on the chair arms.

Erik hesitantly told her of Christine, how he had been drawn to her, taught her to sing, and then had been rejected for the viscount. He excluded his worst moments, not telling her about the fire from the chandelier, or nearly killing Raoul and the Daroga in his torture chamber; did not tell her about murdering the innocent Piangi, or the less innocent Josef Bouquet.

And when he was done he sank back into the chair, a weight lifting from his chest, as she sat calmly in her own chair and contemplated what he had just revealed to her.

After a moment had passed along with the threat of tears over his plight Madison rubbed her eyes and glanced at the grandfather clock that sat in an adjacent alcove. Two hours had passed.

When she returned her gaze to him she noticed that he was waiting for a response. “I can not begin to imagine
what you must have felt, Erik, running from people all those years, or having them run from you. I hope that humanity is not so stupidly ignorant for much longer, to run in fear from a simple affliction.”

Erik hung his head. He had hoped to avoid this, at least tonight, for telling the story had left him feeling raw, but as much as she tried she still did not truly understand. She still did not comprehend why his life had been so terrible, he would have to show her.

“Madison, if you can stand it I would like to show you my face before I press the matter of our engagement any further.”

Her eyes met his unwaveringly as she nodded her agreement. He rose from his chair and pulled her with him so that they were standing together.

He grasped her hands and raised them to his face, his eyes closing, as he led her fingers to the thin wire that held the white molded leather to his face.

She laid her right palm against the unscarred side of his face as she swallowed the lump in her throat, and with her left hand, peeled the mask from his face.

He heard her intake of breath and felt the cool rush of air against his face, and then a soft brush of trembling fingers.

He clamped his eyes shut even more as she tentatively explored him, feeling the ridges of flesh around his eye and the leathery skin of his cheek.

It was all he could do to stop from sobbing in relief as she did not scream or cry or push him away.

Instead, she studied what others had abhorred. His eyes flew open in surprise as she pulled his head down and laid one soft kiss against the left, untouched side of his face, and then the other, scarred one.

He met her gaze as hope filled his chest until he thought that his heart would burst.

“You are still my Erik,” she told him, and silenced his sob of relief with a tender kiss against his complacent mouth.

The mask slipped from her hand and fell with a soft thump to the ground, and was forgotten as he wrapped his arms around her waist and deepened the kiss.

Author’s Note: Sorry for the delay, school caught up with me between finals and papers and projects. So, I made it a little longer than usual. I’ll try to get the next chapter up by Sunday night, but now that this hurdle has been passed it may be sooner. No promises, though. Just wanted to say thanks for all of the reviews, especially the ones that offer great constructive criticism. I hope this chapter helped the character development for Madison since it was pointed out that she was getting a little flat. I don’t know how many more chapters it’s going to be, maybe three or four more longish ones and then an epilogue. Thanks to everyone who is reading, especially to those who are reviewing!
- 21
- 22
- 23
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

A New Beginning