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Ascent to Power	By : Hot4Gerry Category: M through R > The Phantom of the Opera > Het Views: 5437 -:- 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.

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Chapter Twenty-one
Bon Voyage

A few days after Meg and Christine had their talk Meg went to the doctor. Christine felt guilty having neglected Meg when she needed her most. To compensate she went with Meg to the doctor. Afterwards she treated her to lunch at the finest restaurant. Finishing lunch a wave of nostalgia swamped over her for the closeness they had shared at one time. Christine took Meg to a boutique that catered to new mothers. Soon the excitement had both women adding to the pile of purchases.

Raoul would be shocked at the amount of money they spent. It was worth it though to see Meg so happy. Christine felt like she had before her life had become a shamble of confusion. Meg was exactly what Christine had needed. She had always been able to keep her grounded. Meg for all her crazy antics was in truth a wise young woman. She had saved Christine from making mistakes on more than one occasion. Meg had always been the first to bolster her confidence when she tried out for larger rolls. Long before her teacher had made his demands for her to have major rolls Meg had encouraged her to audition many times.

Meg had never even scoffed or made fun of her when they were younger and Christine told her about the Angel of Music who came to her at night singing and talking to her. Not once had Meg laughed at her. A better friend than Meg could not be found. As a sister she was more than anyone could hope to have. Certainly more than Christine deserved.
Meg had never told a soul about the times she had come upon Christine trying to commit some foolishness. So many times Meg had been her savior. How could she had gotten so tangled up in her own life that she had left Meg alone to battle against those horrible people?

Christine wanted to promise to be better in the future but she knew herself all too well. At times it was a struggle just to maintain her own sanity. Meg knew and understood as no one else would have, except perhaps Erik. He fought his own dark demons. Only a person who lived with those dark shadows every day could even begin to know what it was like to have whispers in your mind urging you to release yourself from pain.

Meg was that rare person who could see the bad in someone while at the same time searching for the good. She forgave the bad as she encouraged the good. Christine thought it was this ability to see all of who a person was that made Meg understand what deep barely controlled sickness that took over Christine on occasion.

Meg was given a clean bill of health by the elderly doctor. Since she did not suffer from morning sickness it was deemed safe for her to travel. Her baby would be born in America. He advised her to find a doctor as soon as she arrived at her destination. She would need a midwife as well. The doctor would be able to recommend someone to her. Her baby would be due sometime toward the end of July. Meg would be about six months into her confinement when they arrived in America.

The house was closed with little difficulty as they had made most of the preparations last year. Passage was booked for all three. Meg was given a cabin of her own. She stayed in first class with Raoul and Christine. This was a luxury that was unexpected but greatly appreciated. Meg was overwhelmed by the luxury. She thanked God Raoul had made her add to her wardrobe. The day with Christine shopping had added further choices to her now completely packed closet. The lovely gowns she had now would allow her to fit in with all the other fine ladies and grand gentlemen. Meg had purchased nightwear and undergarments as well. She had to pinch herself to be sure she wasn't dreaming. She felt like a princess in a fairy tale. A slightly rounded one.

The tub had hot and cold running water. No one had to carry heated water from a stove or fire place. There was even a flushing toilet. Meg was fascinated with this. She flushed it several times. Raoul finally teased her to get her to stop. He told her she was flushing her share of allotted water away. Her worried brown eyes looked at him pleadingly. He did not have the heart to continue with the joke.

Raoul spent a great deal of time teaching Christine and Meg English. They could speak enough to ask for food, water, or amenities. Any question concerning opera they could give a comprehensive reply. Many of the performers at The Paris Opera House spoke English as well as Italian, German and a little Russian. It was a necessity to know how to communicate with the foreign performers. By the time the ship reached the harbor in Norfolk they were well versed in the English language. Meg and Raoul had gotten closer during the voyage. He got pleasure showing her the many levels of the ship and how things worked. He showed her the constellations in the night sky. Christine even shed her melancholy long enough to join them occasionally. If Raoul did have the knowledge of Christine's betrayal eating away at him he could have used this time to romance his wife and try to win back her wavering allegiance. His hurt and anger kept him from having anything other than feelings of common courtesy for his wife.

The voyage was uneventful. Meg blossomed with each passing day. Raoul could not help but notice that she had a serene beauty. Being with child suited her. His pleasure in Meg's condition and good health was tempered by the bitter pill that he would not be fathering any children any time soon, if ever.

He and Christine had an unspoken truce of sorts for the first few days. At times they were even cordial to each other. It annoyed Christine that Raoul paid so much attention to Meg. She couldn't honestly say why. Christine had even gone so far as to try to seduce Raoul one night when he had a little too much to drink. Raoul's kisses built the fire in her just as he did when he had first courted her at the opera house. He had been drinking heavily during dinner. He passed out and could not perform his husbandly duties.
Christine had to go to sleep frustrated. Raoul had never not been able to make love to her when she wanted him. Even with the excuse of too much drink she felt rejected. It was ridiculous of course. She wanted Erik. Raoul had only been attractive to her because she was upset with the relationship between Meg and Raoul. She did not even really want him. She definitely was not hurt that he had not made love to her. In the dark Christine could fool herself. It is a shame the sun came up and chased away the dark.

Before they docked and left the ship Raoul decided to speak openly with Christine. This armed truce would make things difficult for everyone. Especially Meg. She was placed firmly in the middle. It was unfair and unhealthy for her peace of mind. He had concluded after much soul searching in some small measure this whole mess was his fault. He had rushed Christine into marriage. He had not given her time to sort out her feelings. He arrogantly assumed she loved him making the choice quite simple. He loved her she must love him.

There had been signs of her hesitancy if he had cared to pay attention to what she had said during her moments of her greatest despair. In those first few weeks after the opera house disaster he had listen with a closed mind to her pleas to find out what had happened to everyone after that night. She had wanted him to ask Antoinette about her Angel. Raoul could not bring himself to inquire about the man who had held him with a rope tied around his neck. The same man who tried to kill him in the cemetery.

Looking back now with a clearer head he could understand her concern for a man who had been for the most part like a father to her then a mysterious voice from the shadows who taught her to sing. After he had shown himself to be a man Christine had told him she had still gone to him for her lessons. Even knowing his intentions were to win her heart.

So many mistakes had been made in haste. Love acting out blindly is a dangerous emotion. Powerful but dangerous. In one night it had brought them to deaths door almost pulling them through that portal to the black abyss. If not for Erik's great unselfish act of love Raoul would have lost Christine. He could say with certainty he would have tracked them down until either he or Erik was dead. Perhaps they had all lost in the end. None of them had gotten what they wanted.

For everyone's sake Raoul had to let her go so she could find resolution in her feelings for Erik. He loved Christine with all the burning passion in his soul. He was not willing to stand submissively in the background waiting while she explored her relationship with another man. He had to many months of that behind him already. For all their sakes he had to let her go.

Even if she found in the end she did not want Erik, Raoul knew he could never have the same kind of feeling for Christine. He loved her deeply but all his trust in her was gone. He would always guard his heart from her. Two people in a marriage could not be happy without complete love and trust.

Knocking on Christine's bedroom he waited for her to give her permission for him to enter. Turning from the mirror where she had been fixing her hair she swiveled on the vanity stool to face him. The smile on her face quickly gave way to concern when she saw the seriousness of his countenance.

Raoul entered the room then immediately he began to pace the length of her room. Now that he was here he had no idea how to start this conversation. Stopping his pacing so he could stand in front of her he began his painful speech. Only a few words into his narrative he resumed his pacing.

"Christine I think we need to come to some sort of agreement. We both know our marriage is over. I still love you deeply. I can never forget what has gone on before but I can forgive. I have thought long and hard how best to handle things in such a way that we both feel comfortable. We need to know what to expect from one another."

"I have come to the conclusion it would be best for us to dissolve our marriage. I do not want a scandal so I feel a gradual separation would be best. I have known for some time you are chasing your ghost. Your phantom. I think I always knew in my heart you felt more than you would admit. I should not have forced you to marry me. I could have spared us both a lot of pain. I must shoulder much of the blame for the problems in our relationship. I would not allow myself to face the fact that you could care for another man. I should not have forced you into marriage. For that I humbly apologize."

"Raoul I..." She faltered not knowing what to say. Her heart felt as if it were being squeezed by tight fists. Should she not be feeling relief? Gratitude? Why did she feel as suddenly a solid floor were turning to quicksand? Why did she feel so bereft? So alone? God had she once again made a terrible mistake? Looking at Raoul's handsome, honest face she could honestly say she did love him. It was not the torrid heat of the forbidden love she felt for Erik. Did she only feel passion for Erik. Once her curiosity was satisfied would she then regret having lost Raoul?

In a moment of nostalgia for what they had once shared he took both her hands in his. He had loved her with his whole being. There was nothing she could have asked he would not have done for her. Kneeling down in front of her he said softly, "I have tried to be the best husband I could be. It was not enough. Perhaps I will be a better friend. I hope I can say this without choking but I am even willing to help you find him, Erik. Madame had sent me an address we might check. He may have moved on but how hard can it be to find a masked man?"

Raoul felt her stiffening even as her breath quickened in excitement. Just the thought of that man excited her. Raoul sighed in resignation. It was truly over. There was no going back now.

"After all that I have done I do not know what to say to your generosity. I do not think if it were me I would be saying the same or offering my help. I always knew you were too good for me." As tears began to fall down her face she bowed her head. Her chest began to tighten. Breathing became difficult. She did not know if they were tears of joy because she might actually find Erik or tears of sorrow for finally losing a man she might still love deeply. Why must she always make decisions that left her feeling as if her life was on a downward spiral?

Placing his hand under her chin he raised her head so she was forced to look into his eyes. The pain and love looking back at her nearly killed her. She had done this to him. To all of them. Her selfish indecision had brought two men to the brink of killing each other. She had singlehandedly destroyed her marriage while instilling mistrust in a man who had always been so open and trusting with everyone. She had taken that from him with her betrayals.

"Christine you were always good enough for me or any man. No one can help who they love or do not love. If you had loved me I would have ended our days a happy, content man. Give me some time. We can put this behind us. I give you my word as a gentleman I will try my best to ease your way. Time is a great healer so everyone says. It may take a while but I too may find another love."

Abruptly standing he said, "Now this is certainly a discussion I never would have imagined myself having with anyone, least of all my wife. Mop your face then come out on deck. Meg and I will be waiting. We can watch the shoreline come into view together. Hurry or you'll miss it."

After Raoul left Christine could not stop the heavy flow of tears. As she had many times before she had dark thoughts of ending it all. All her life she had fought against deep depression. Most of the time she could cover it up with her performances. When she was performing for that brief time she could keep at bay the darkness that called to her. Erik had come into her life at a time just when that darkness had begun to overwhelm her. Even as a child of six or seven death had seemed a kinder state than living daily with pain and disappointment.

Meg and her mother had been two bright spots that held her bound to this earth. If not for them she was sure she would have joined her father and mother long ago. Then Raoul had come. Her knight. Her prince.

She smiled tenderly remembering how enthusiastic he had been. How sure he always was how he felt. He never hesitated once to say he loved her. Never faltered in his defense of her with his family. Even when he must have begun to suspect she was not true to him he had still held faith with her. It had only been in later years he had lost his trust in her. Then his mistrust had only come when the evidence could not be denied.

Christine had nearly taken the easy release to her pain when she had learned of his infidelity. Ironic considering she had betrayed his trust many times. So many demons had hounded her at that time. Her own tenuous grasp on reality coupled with his affair had driven her to either take her life or find someone to fill the empty places in her heart and soul. She could not have her Angel but she could have some semblance of him in the men she found to fill the black void that always threatened to consume her. She had taken many lovers trying to ease her emptiness.

Christine wondered if she had spoken with Raoul if he would have understood or would he have wanted to put her away as her father had wanted to do with her mother? Her mother had taken the decision out of her father's hands by slitting her wrists. That bit of information had come from a little girl she had played with on occasion. They had an argument that ended in the little girl telling her quite graphically what her mother had done. Parents should watch where they discuss such horrible things. Children may seem not to listen but they do. Then as is inevitable they repeat what they hear. Christine at a young age would listen to private adult conversations. Especially after hearing the nasty things her friend had said about her mother.

Perhaps that place she tried to fill was not empty from lack of love or anything else. Perhaps it was just an impenetrable darkness that only more darkness could enter. It was some flaw in her. She remembered her father had discussed her with a doctor once when she had been caught holding a knife. She just been sitting in her room staring at it. To this day she was unsure why she had taken the knife or what she had planned to do with it.

She had listened at her father's study door as he and the doctor had discussed her inherited frailty. She had been much too young to understand most of what they had said. In later years she had known what her father had worried about whenever she had one of her tantrums or became melancholic, going for days without speaking. As hard as Christine had fought that dark world that beckoned her sometimes it seemed so close she could feel its coldness.

Listening to adults conversations around her was how she learned her mother did not die from some unknown disease as well as a spiteful playmate. Her mother had taken her own life during one of her periods of deep depression. Christine could vaguely remember her beautiful but terribly sad mother. Nothing seemed to make her happy. Not her husband who she loved deeply nor her child who was the center of her existence.

When the darkness encroached Helene, her mother, took no notice of her surroundings. She paid no attention to a grief filled husband nor a bewildered little girl. Back then Christine could not understand her mother's coldness during those times when she took to her bed in a darkened bedroom. As an adult she knew that darkness well. It surrounded her constantly beckoning to her to join her mother and father. So many times she had come close to giving in. Someone had always pulled her back into the light.

Perhaps she had so much darkness of her own she did not want to add Erik's when he had begged her to stay with him. With Raoul's life hanging in the balance she had offered to stay with Erik. She had even placed the ring he had ripped from her neck during the masquerade ball so he would know she had agreed. She would have stayed with him. She would even have loved him. Sometimes she feared if she had stayed she would only have succeeded in leading them into the forever darkness of death.

She hoped she was strong enough now to give Erik what he needed. Perhaps he had a life now where he needed no one else. Raoul had let her go. Only when she was with others could she hope to keep that black hole from taking away all the light. What would she do if Erik no longer wanted her? How could she survive alone?

Nonsense she chided herself. Of course he would want her. Shaking off all negative thoughts she turned back to her mirror. Forcing a smile she did not really feel she began to hum as she applied her makeup. Spritzing on some perfume she dressed. Just as she finished a maid came to pack the last of her things.

Holding her head high she went to find Raoul and Meg. A new and wonderful phase of her life had begun. She would soon have her Angel to take care of her and give her guidance again. Soon Erik. I will be with you soon.

They arrived in Norfolk, Virginia the last of April 1873. A watery sunshine greeted them as they stepped off the ship onto American soil.

The day of their arrival in Virginia was exciting as well as stressful. Raoul noticed Meg's energy was beginning to wane. Raoul quickly hired a coach. Having handed helped the women into the coach. After asking the driver to take them to the train station he stepped into the coach. After assuring himself both women were comfortable he tapped on the roof of the coach to signal the driver they were ready to leave. With a lurch forward they headed toward the train station. Thirty minutes later they boarded the train that would take them from Norfolk to Richmond. Not having eaten since early morning they indulged in a lavish meal in the dining car. Meg could not decide what to order. Indulging her he ordered several different entrees as well as several mouth watering desserts. Meg declined the wine. She settled for an iced lemonade.

Meg looked out the dining car windows at the passing scenery. If she would not have had to climb over several other passengers she would have gone from side to side looking at the vast fields and occasional stately homes. Everywhere there was something new being built or something old being rebuilt. Raoul said it was The Reconstruction effort because of the recent war. This rebuilding was much like France had been a few years ago. Their own country had been devastated and much had been destroyed. People's lives mainly had been torn apart. Many were put in prison or the catacombs beneath the opera house. They languished there until they died in most cases.

Christine's excitement could not be contained in her usual calm manner. The melancholy she had felt on the ship had gone leaving a euphoric happiness in its absence. This was a familiar pattern for Christine. A few days of melancholy followed by a few days of complete happiness.

Her cheeks were flushed. Her eyes sparkled. The tenor of her voice held barely restrained eagerness. An eagerness for the man her heart had longed for these past three years. He was here. She could feel him. The closer the train got to the heart of the city the deeper her surety became that he was near. Possibly as early as tonight she would see him. As Raoul had said how hard could it be to find a masked man? Especially one with Erik's unique talents and voice? Her first task would be to contact the detective she had hired to keep track of him. When she learned of his whereabouts she would go to see him. Her Angel of Music. Her Erik.

Now with Raoul's help it would be much easier. She should be overjoyed with happiness. She did not have to betray Raoul any longer. He was releasing her from their commitment. Sadness washed over her. A sense of loss for having failed Raoul as well as the feeling she was losing something she should hang onto tightly with both hands nearly had her going to Raoul begging for his forgiveness. Shaking off the threat of the depressing things her mind could think of she pushed her misgivings into a dark place in the far corner of her mind. Instead she filled her head with thoughts about her first meeting with Erik. Her first in over three years.

At the other end of the journey the train arrived at the Norfolk Railway Station. Outside the train station Raoul found another coach to deliver them to their hotel. He instructed the man to take them to The Embassy Hotel. It was a short ten minute ride to the hotel. Even Christine was in awe of the luxury. In the center of the hotel an atrium reached eight floors high. There were so many plants it looked like a well cared for garden that should grace someone’s home. Benches were placed in little nooks along a bricked walkway. Decorative statues and fountains were hidden throughout the greenery. It was a wondrous sight.

When Meg protested sharing their accommodations Raoul convinced her it would be safer for her to stay with them. He could offer his protection if she stayed with them. Their suite was elegant. All the latest modern conveniences were installed. The furnishings were breathtaking beautiful. Both Meg and Christine were like little girls running from room to room. At each new discovery they squealed like little girls. It amused Raoul quite a bit. He was pleased he could give so much pleasure at so little cost. His banker he was sure would not agree with him. The hotel was one of the best in the world and the fee for partaking of it’s luxury was not small.

Christine would learn that her task would not be quite so easy. She looked in places of culture and the arts for him. It never occurred to her to look for him in any other place. He was a musician. A composer. Should he not be in a theater? Perhaps he had found a position in a school that taught musicians and singers?

She had decided it might be best if she met Erik for the first time when she was alone. Considering how much animosity the two men had for each other it would be best to keep them apart if she could. With Raoul and Meg constantly being present wanting to see everything it was not possible to get away on her own. If she got up early using the excuse she wanted to see the city before the heat rose Meg offered to join her. Christine could not be rude. It would be over a month before she met her Angel. The circumstances may not be what she would wish but see him she would.

The fates brought these three to this place as part of the intertwining lives of those who left France with those who lived in this vast country. Soon the fates would have these lives on a course where all their paths would cross. Four more vital players were needed to be brought into the play. They were headed back to the beginning where a young girls life began. How their lives all end is up to each player. The fates just set the scene. It is up to the players to perform and set their life course. Two sides of the triangle were in place. The third was needed to complete the equation.

I do not proclaim to be a history aficionado. I have researched my facts as best I could. I have no prejudice against any race. This is only a work of fiction. I tried to give viewpoints from both angles. My little tale is not meant to offend anyone. I hope none is taken. If anyone does, I apologize ahead of time.

A/N: So ends the second part of the story. The next will be Katherine's story on into the time when everyone collides.
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Ascent to Power