After the Fire

Chapter 19

Nearly a year later, the "family" gathered for the wedding of Richard and Antoinette, soon to be Madame Firmin. Meg had brought her fiancé to the celebration. The Destler Family was also present with Erik, Amelie, Fifi, and Martinique, their newest daughter, who had been sweetly nicknamed Marty. Of course, this name had been given to her in loving memory of the kind priest who had helped their family in so many ways.

On their wedding day, Meg and Amelie fussed over Antoinette, who equally fussed back. She wasn't one for any sort of attention. However, the girls believed that she deserved some attention after her constant care for everyone else in the family.

Dysfunctional family had become a phrase that had at first been thrown around jokingly. However, that dysfunctional family became a place where they all felt that they had a place in the world. If it wasn't for the dysfunctional family, most of them would have no one.

And so, they embraced the family structure. Without any prompting, Fifi had taken to calling Antoinette and Richard, Grand-mèrè and Grand-pèrè, respectively. She had also started to call Meg, Auntie Meg, as well.

Richard had taken to his fatherly role quite nicely too. He had already been a fatherly figure to Meg, but he and Erik had bonded over the loss of Martin, and Richard had taken his promise very seriously to look after Erik.

On the wedding day, they all traveled to Martin's old church to be married by the new priest.

Richard stood at the front of the church with the priest, everyone else was seated in the pews, except for Erik and Antoinette who stood in the back of the church.

Antoinette wore a pretty beige dress with flowers in her hair. Erik stood by her side with her arm looped through his.

"Erik," she whispered, "I love you."

"And I love you," he responded, feeling his voice tremble.

"You make me so proud," she pulled his face toward her own and kissed his bumpy cheek.

"If I haven't said it, thank you for saving my life."

"It was a life worth saving."

The wedding march began to play, and Erik patted her hand, "It's showtime. Let's go get your happy ending. You deserve it."

They walked slowly down the aisle. Meg and Amelie were sobbing messes, but for different reasons. Meg cried because she was so happy that her mother was finally truly happy. Amelie cried because her husband had started to embrace being a husband, father, and a man- not a monster. It was beautiful.

When the priest asked, "Who giveth this woman in holy matrimony?"

Erik answered, "I do." Then, he shook Richard's hand, and the two hugged before Richard took Antoinette's hands into his own.

Erik went and sat down next to Amelie and pulled Fifi onto his lap.

"That was beautiful," Amelie whispered.

Erik squeezed Amelie's hand. 

As he listened to the ceremony, his mind raced through where he had been to be here at this moment. Images of his mother flashed through his mind; images of the freak show; images of Christine's expression the first time she saw his face. 

Then, he looked over and saw Amelie smile at him; he felt Fifi's warm body relaxed against his chest; and he heard Marty's soft coos of contentment from her mother's arms. It was in that moment that he realized he had made it: a wife that happily and willingly sat next to him without his mask, two beautiful girls who called him Papa, and a dysfunctional family that cared deeply for him.

"What are you thinking about?" Amelie whispered.

"How wonderful my life is, and how lucky I am."

Amelie smiled and gave her husband a kiss. "No, I'm the lucky one, you wonderful man."

And this is where Amelie's and Erik's story will end. If you've been around my account for a while you know my stories focus on the arc of redeeming Erik Destler. I considered continuing this story, but I feel that Erik has been redeemed, and I plan to save us all the heartache of watching Erik grow old and die. For now, we can imagine his beautiful life with young children and Amelie. 

HOWEVER, I have an idea for a more heart-wrenching story. (Though I think it will be a good story, and I think it will be an inspiring story as well.)

Thank you for reading and sticking around!