Love will still remain

Chapter 30

Erik's POV

I watched my daughter squirming in her seat. She's been nervously fidgeting ever since we set out for Paris. I closed one of my hands over her two small ones to stop them from twitching. She picked up that damn habit from me.

Her eyes shot to mine and I offered her a smile. She gave a weak smile back.

"Everything is going to be fine Gwen. Aren't you excited about opening up the new opera house?"

She let out a dramatic sigh.

"Of course I'm e-excited. Well about the opera house that is. I'm not to excited about the m-memories I have in Paris." She said quietly.

"Well that's why we're going to make some new, better memories." I replied. She smiled and I kissed her forehead.

"Have you heard from mom?" She wondered.

"Yes, I got a letter from her last night. She's very impressed with your improvement of speech. She says she misses you and loves you a lot." My heart aches knowing Christine isn't here with me, but she will return soon enough. In the mean time, I've been busying myself helping Gwen with her speech and teaching her how to sing. Her voice was already a work of art.

*

Once we docked, Nadir got us a carriage as I gathered our luggage. As we were driving to our destination Gwen began to fidget again.

"Sweetheart there is no need to be nervous." I reminded her.

"I'm not nervous." She stated in higher voice than normal.

"Oh really? Well every since we boarded the boat you have been speaking between Italian, English, and French. You are confusing poor Nadir. Pick a language and stick to it my dear."  I said, a smile pulling at my lips. Gwens cheeks turned pink.

"Sorry" she mumbled.

"I would just like to clarify that I am not confused, thank you very much." Nadir decided to chime in, causing Gwen and I to snicker.

At long last we arrived at my beloved opera house. My heart swelled at the sight of it, despite it being old and beat up. It would be restored to its proper glory soon enough.

I led our little group through the catacombs and into my lair. It was a bit dusty, but still tidy enough from the last time Gwen and I were here. She would be staying in her mothers old room, while nadir would stayed above ground. He would be doing all the interactions between contractors simply because I do not like people.

Gwen went off to her room while Nadir went off to get some food for us. It was already getting late into the evening.  I began to clean up around the lair. As I was filing away some sheet music I heard a small crash then a groan from gwens room.

Moving quickly, I got to her room and knocked in the door.

"Are you okay in there?"

"Uh yea.." A muffled reply came. "I kinda fell trying to get my corset off... Can you help me?"

I opened the door to find my daughter sprawled out on the floor with her arms at awkward angles, trying to untie her corset. I helped her up and began to unlace the damn contraption.

"I don't know why you insist on wearing this thing." I muttered. Gwen shrugged.

"I'm a lady. Ladies wear corsets."

Suddenly my chest tightened. Gwen wasn't a little girl. I never knew her when she was little. I never got to see her grow up. She was a young woman now and soon she would be gone again. Off into another mans arms in a matter of years that would surly one feel like days. I quickly finished untying the corset then pulled my daughter into a tight hug.

"Whoa dad, I love you but I can't breath here." She wheezed. I loosened my grip so I could look down at her face.

"Sorry, it's just I don't like the fact that you're growing up. I just want time to freeze. I've already lost thirteen years that I could have been with you, and I don't want to waste another moment. I just want this to last forever."

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I'm sorry it's a lame update but here it is. Also I'm sorry about the rough writing. I have a lot of papers I have to write and my editing for my stories don't have priority to my editing of homework.

I've gotten a major case of writers block for this story so I apologize for the inconsistent updating.