Georgette chatted happily at dinner. After all, she was still a child, blissfully unaware that the adults in the room were incredibly stressed.
I had no idea what Erik would tell the girls. Truly, I had no idea how much more there was. I knew a lot about my husband, but he was still an enigma, and there were things he never talked about.
Persuading Georgette to go to bed a few minutes earlier with the promise of ice cream the next evening was an easy feat compared to the evening's conversations.
We retired to the den. Erik sat across from his daughters, and I sat next to my husband. He poured himself a glass of scotch and ran his hand through his hair. It was at this moment that I noticed how much he had aged. His face had lost some of the sharpness in his features and his hair was beginning to be peppered with gray. With the look of stress on his face, his age was more apparent than usual.
"Erik," I said quietly, "Can I go first?"
He looked surprised, but nodded.
"Girls, I have a secret that only your father has ever known. Almost twenty years ago, I time traveled into this time period. I was thirty something years old, and I fell into a sewer in France. You may not believe me now, but one day when I'm gone, you'll see. They invent these things called cars, there's a World War..."
"Mama..." Gisele gasped.
"I gave up my old life because I fell in love. Then I had three beautiful children. My life has been a good one."
Erik glanced at me, "Before your mother, I was different... I had been hidden from the world because of my face."
"Papa..." Genevieve said sadly.
"Because I was hidden away. I haunted the Paris Opera House as the Phantom of the Opera..." Erik continued recounting the tale. Everything I had known except one tiny, heartbreaking detail, "One of the last straws before they staged that disaster on my behalf was a masquerade ball. Christine had told them I wore a mask, so they held the ball to make a mockery of me. I received a special note from the managers that I should consider attending since it was the only time a monster like me could be seen out."
"My God..." I said.
After many bouts of tears, Erik had recounted his whole life finishing at the beginning with how his mother wouldn't touch him as a child.
When the girls were finally as emotionally drained as we were, they gave Erik all the hugs and kisses they could before they went to bed. Genevieve hesitated, "Papa?"
"Yes, my dear?"
"So me and the baby..."
"Will be just fine."
"I love you, Papa." She kissed him on the cheek, "One for now," she gave him another kiss on the cheek, "And one for later."
Erik took her chin into his palm, "You have no idea how much that meant to me."
She went to her bedroom along with Gisele leaving me and Erik alone.
I cuddled closer to him," I suppose this begins a new chapter for us."
" I suppose it does," he replied quietly.