Like Father, Like Son | Phantom of the Opera

xxxiv. Accidental Unveiling (Part I)

JANUARY 1923

ERIK

I was standing in my bedroom, adjusting my new silver hairpiece in the mirror. It was a look that I would definitely have to adjust to over time, but it wasn't completely terrible; I could get used to seeing a full head of grey whenever I looked at myself.

The door opened a moment later, interrupting my moment of preening, and I saw my son and daughter-in-law step into the room, accompanied by Nadir.

"Who are you and what have you done with my Papa?" Gustave demanded, making a hesitant gun out of his hand like when he played as a child. However, his comment seemingly was not all that entertaining to his wife, as it was swiftly followed by the sound of the back of Lara's hand making contact with his arm.

"Be nice," she chided.

"Oh, you know it's me," I pointed out as I turned away from the mirror to look at them.

Gustave rubbed his arm and looked back to his wife to defend himself: "See? He knows I do it all in good fun."

"I would hope you are. This is a big adjustment for me too, you know; I've been used to looking at dark hair all my life and now it's gone," I replied, looking back to the mirror and making sure the wig was straight for the millionth time.

"At least you can go back to it if you want," my friend pointed out as he ran his hand through his own full head of silver hair. "You aren't stuck with the grey like I am."

"I do appreciate that liberty, I will admit. I've come to like the grey, though."

My son took that opportunity to call attention to the obvious: "You two are ridiculous. You know that, right?"

"Yes, we have come to appreciate that fact," Nadir confirmed.

I nodded in agreement, then added, "It is a fun sort of game."

"That it is," Nadir said before making the gesture we had come up with for when my mask was crooked and I needed to fix it; a simple wave of his pointer finger while he held his hand down by his side to keep it inconspicuous.

"Now, if the other married couple could break up this beautiful moment," Lara chimed in with a small giggle, "I could use a hand here with Christine's things."

I could not help but roll my eyes at a reminder of the running joke about Nadir and me I. Instead of getting too far into it, I looked over to my friend and made sure he wasn't going to say anything before I stated, "We aren't a married couple, although you two try to insist upon it," then grabbed the baby bags that were still in my room after caring for my granddaughter for the day and started to shoo everyone out into the hall.

"Well, you act like one," Gustave said as we made our way down the stairs.

"We don't try to. Now, let me see the little one," Nadir requested as he looked over at Lara, who had just rejoined us after getting Christine from her bassinet, which resided in Gustave's former bedroom.

Lara passed her over, and the moment Christine was in his arms, she reached up at his face and exclaimed "Deer!" at the top of his lungs. I could only imagine it was due to the difficult pronunciation of that name for an eight-month-old baby, but it was still one of the greatest things I had ever heard.

"Yes, my angel! That is Deer!" I told her in between everyone's laughter. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head before looking back at my friend, who appeared to still be processing what granddaughter had just said. "Until one of us dies, that nickname is never going away, Deer."