Acceptance

Acceptance(Part 4)

Acceptance(Part IV)

"Monsieur?" A maid approached Philippe as he rested with Elaine and Annalise in his arms.

"Yes?" He asked, turning his head a little, away from the fire.

"There is a visitor here for the Madame."

Elaine furrowed her eyebrows as Philippe called for the person to be brought in.

"Christine," Philippe said a bit on-guard.

"If I may speak to Elaine... alone," Christine begged, looking uneasily at her intended company.

The soprano was in a dark dress, something a newly wed certainly shouldn't be adorning. Her eyes looked puffy, and the over-corset she was wearing looked like the strings at the bottom had been fumbled with on the long ride there. They frayed, and quite frankly that was how Christine herself looked. 

"Come on, I'll take you to an office."

Christine nodded and followed the Madame de Chagny remembering that she had possessed the same title once. It was a good thing Raoul no longer lived in the manor. 

"So what is this business you seek late into the night?"

Christine took out a sheet of parchment, neatly folded and holding Elaine's name on the front.

"Erik... Well, ever since we saw you he hasn't been the same. You're friends I think? This... This proves my thoughts wrong."

Clearing her throat, Christine read from the parchment.

"My darling, Elaine.

"I may never send this. But you being a wife I once had, I think you deserve to know I am happy with Christine. Elated, and completely in love."

Christine stopped to take a breath as crystal tears fell from her eyes. She looked as though the world was rested upon her shoulders, and yet she was reluctant to give it up for relief. 

"What you did for me... Loving me, feeding me, making me as happy as you possibly could... I am eternally in your debt for such amenities.

"Your unrequited love was astonishing to a man who had never had his love returned until now. That brings me to say I'm sorry I could never love you properly.

"Once your husband, and a man eternally grateful for you, Erik."

Christine sighed and handed the letter to Elaine as she wiped away the tears falling from her porcelain cheeks.

"We never married until he saw you again. I didn't think about it too much. I thought just maybe he wanted to be traditional and such things. I loved him. I still do, but when someone loves something you have to set it free. It's up to the thing that is loved if it is going to return or not."

Christine let out a tiny laugh as she tugged at the fringe of her over-corset again.

"You... He returned to you even if he allowed himself to stay with me. Erik is hurting, Elaine. He doesn't love me... Infatuation was what once plagued, but probably no longer.

"Your husband loves you, and it's up to you to decide which one that it is you love."

Christine walked up to Elaine who stared at the parchment in disbelief. Then she hugged her.

"I want him to be happy, and I've heard you make a decadent apple pie."

Elaine laughed through a few tears and then glanced to the doorway to make sure she saw nothing suspicious. Then she placed herself away from Christine and gently grasped her hand.