Thanks to all of my followers and everyone who voted for this book. It would have NEVER gotten to the place it is now without you all, so thank you!
A quick A/N, I realize it is annoying some people that Grace continues to differ thoughts about Erik (the Phantom). Sometimes she'll be head over heels in love with him, and other times she'll be terrified of the very thought of him. Yes, I realize this.
Did I mean for this to happen? Yes. It shows that Grace has mixed-up feelings, and she doesn't know whether to love or hate him. Sometimes she is conflicted, and when she loves him, she's sort of telling herself to forget the bad things and love him anyways...sort of like forcing herself. But then she'll remember who he is and get scared again.
But, without further ado, here is chapter 16!
I woke up and felt twenty pairs of eyes on me, though the only two people in the room were Anne and Ryan. I blinked a few times to better my vision and then gave a weak smile before yawning. For the first time in a long time, I awoke without feeling fear. It was so peaceful I felt like crying.
Damn horomones.
"Hey," Ryan said, chuckling. I narrowed my eyes at his laughter, but instead found myself giggling as well. "It's eleven o'clock. I've never seen you sleep this long. Besides, the little munchkin is hungry." He gestured towards the little pink bundle in my mother's arms. As soon as I saw her dainty nose sticking up from the blankets, I smiled.
It warmed my heart to see Ryan, so gently, take Christine out of Anne's arms and into his own. He looked so paternal it frustrated me. The way he carefully set my daughter in my arms sent a tingling feeling into the pit of my stomach.
Oh no.
This couldn't be love...could it? No. I refused to think about guys right now. Besides, my horomones were going crazy. It could most definitely just be those acting up again. Christine began to mildly squirm in my arms, and that shook me from my thoughts. Soon enough she was crying. I began to shush her, rock her, even sing to her, but nothing worked.
Ryan scooped her out of my arms and as soon as she was settled with him, her cries stopped. I sat up to see her staring with her beautiful eyes at him as he smiled down at her. She must've really loved him.
"Wow. You're amazing," Anne marveled and snapped a picture. I laughed and held up my hand so she wouldn't capture my face.
Ryan, noticing my embarrassment of how I looked, rolled his eyes. "Oh please, Grace. The day that you don't look stunning will be the day I win the lottery, 'kay?" And then he looked back down at Christine who's eyes had long since shut for she was fast asleep. It was amazing how fast babies fell asleep.
Anne took a close-up of Christine's sweet face. And then she whispered something to Ryan and he looked a bit humiliated, shaking his head. "I have to go." He set my baby into my arms and then rushed out quickly without even a wave. I felt a bit betrayed.
"What did you say?" I asked Anne as she bit her lip and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Anger rose in my core until I couldn't fathom it. Whatever she did, she probably made Ryan embarrassed that he still chose to see me. Christine, waking to realize she wasn't in the arms of him, began screaming.
"I told him...I told him to take a picture with you. I made this mistake of saying it'd be a great little shot of your perfect family." Anne looked down. "I didn't think it'd upset him. You know, I thought he'd be flattered that I thought you guys seemed like such a nice little-"
"We're not a family!" I shouted and forgot Christine was crying. "He hates me, Anne! He hates me. I bet he wishes I were dead. And you know what? I wish I was dead. The only thing keeping me alive is this damn baby...and she hates me too! Look at her! She loves the guy who can't stand to be with me!" Tears were pooling in my eyes and cascading down my cheeks.
"Oh honey." Anne sat down next to me and wrapped her arms around me. I was too tired to push her away, so instead I cried into her shoulder trying not to hear Christine's screams. "Your baby doesn't hate you...and neither does Ryan. He's upset, that's all. And you want to know why?" She broke away so I was forced to look into her eyes.
"Why?"
"Because he loves you, Grace. He's upset because he can't be with you despite the fact that he wants to. It's nothing you did, dear. He's just upset by the fact that this baby isn't his and he's not your true love." Anne kissed the top of my head and then made her way to the doorway. "Get some rest, Gracie."
I set Christine in the bassinet and shut my eyes, wishing sleep was instant so I wouldn't have to think before slumber.
* * *
Ryan
As soon as I got to my dorm, millions of thoughts were spreading throughout my head. I was in love with Grace. How could I be? I thought I was over her, but this just proved I was not. I stared into the mirror and saw the same, lost nine-year-old boy without parents and without a friend to talk to. Without Mark. Without Grace.
In the mirror, I noticed a dark figure behind me. Fearing the worst, I spun around to face whatever it was.
"Ah, Monsieur Ryan," the low baritone voice called. Knowing this was the Opera Ghost, I took a moment to see he'd never really called me my true name before. This was a surprise, but I had no time to dwell on that. I stumbled backwards. "So we meet again. This time, on a more...serious note."
"What the hell do you want with me?" I spat.
"I obviously didn't make myself clear when I said Grace was mine. Well-" he chuckled "she has just given birth, I hear. A beautiful baby girl. But more importantly, I see you've taken the role as father. You've taken the inisiative to care for Grace and my daughter." The Opera Ghost lifted his hood and revealed his face which was half-covered with a white, porcelein mask.
"And?"
"And I think I don't like that." The Opera Ghost took a small step towards me and I tried to take one back, but a wall prevented me from doing so. He cocked his head. "You see, I'm in love with Grace. And I think you being here is just confusing her."
"Who the hell let you call the shots, huh? I just so happen to love Grace too. Did you ever think of that?" I wanted to beat the shit out of him, but I knew he'd come back ten thousand times stronger and couldn't risk it.
The Opera Ghost let out a slow, creepy laugh. "Well, nobody. Let me just put this bluntly, Monsiuer. You can either leave town and never come in contact with Grace ever again, or..." the wicked man laughed again but this one sounded a bit more insane. "I'll have to get rid of you myself."
"I'm not afriad of you." I was. "I won't ever leave Grace. No matter what." And then I took off running. I threw the door open and began flying down the hallway as adrenaline kicked in. When I looked behind me, I saw no one. It was never his intention to kill me now.
* * *
Grace
It was way too late to still be awake. But I couldn't sleep, and I tried watching TV but that failed, so I shut it off and listened to the silence. It was deafening, so I pulled out my phone and began playing my favorite music. Even that didn't work, and it usually did, so I gave up and shut my eyes, hoping eventually fatigue would pay off.
The sound of my door being thrown open awoke me as soon as I fell asleep. I stared into the darkness breathing rapidly and searching for the culprit, but it was too dark to see anything. I hoped it was Anne, but she would've said something by now.
"We have to go," Ryan, exasperated, said as he turned on the lights and grabbed my suitcase off the ground. "Don't ask any questions...I'll explain on the way."
Confusion struck as I watched him stuff all of my belonging into the suitcase and throw it on the bed. "Get dressed...fast. We're not safe here anymore." That was enough for me, so I hopped off the bed and made a hand movement that made him turn around so I could change quickly into a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt.
As we were running down the hallway, I looked into the dark nursery and stopped Ryan. "Christine! We can't leave her."
He nodded hastily and tried opening the door that led to the nursery, but it wouldn't budge. He bit his lip in frustration and then said, "The front desk." And we ran downstairs.
There was a receptionist sitting in her chair reading a magazine as we approached her. She furrowed her brow and asked, "What the hell do you two think you're doing down here at this hour?"
Ryan slammed his fist on the counter. "Look, we need to get Christine Bowman out of the nursery immediately. This is her mother - Grace. We need to leave right now and we can't leave without the baby."
"I'm sorry, sir, but this is not our policy. You will have to wait until twelve o'clock in the afternoon tomorrow for the two of them to be checked out." The woman smiled but she was obviously annoyed with him, which almost made me laugh. Almost.
"Good damnit!" Ryan snapped. "It's an emergency, ok? We need to get the two of them out of here immediately. I'm begging you, Rita." His eyes darted down to her name tag to read her name. "We won't tell anybody if you'd just please let us get Christine. We can prove that Grace is the mother. Please."
Rita seemed to ponder this, and then let out a breath. "I suppose if you can prove that this is the mother, I don't see any problem. Well, I do, seeing how it's one in the morning and you two are claiming you need to leave. There will be paperwork you'll need to fill out."
I eyed Ryan. "I'll go with her to get Christine. You stay and fill out the paperwork to save us some time." I kissed his cheek as he squeezed my hand. "And then, you'll explain everything to me. Ok?"
Ryan smiled tiredly and kissed me on the lips, the first kiss from him in a long time. It felt so good and so right, I wondered why we ever split up. But soon enough I was following Rita back up to the nursery. She unlocked the door and we entered, but she didn't turn on the lights. She merely held up her cell phone for light and found Christine sleeping peacefully.
"I really appreciate this, Rita. We're sorry for any inconvienence." I smiled at her and picked up Christine and her blanket, not bothering to ask if I could have it. Rita looked the door again and we made our way back down to the reception desk.
"Almost done," Ryan said as he filled out the last view empty spaces that required filling in. He handed the paper to Rita and smiled, pulling his car keys out. "Thanks again, Rita. Consider this our little secret!"
* * *
"Fuck!" Ryan shouted and slammed his fists against the side of his car. "We don't have a car seat. We'll need to hide her until we can get one." He opened the door for me and I lay her on my lap, sprawling the blanket over Christine so she wouldn't be cold for it was a very chilly night.
He seemed so tired as he drove down to the Opera Populaire. I tensed and protectively put a hand on my child. "No, Ryan. We can't go in there. I can't face him."
"It's ok, Grace. You're staying in the car with Christine. I'll only be a second. Can I have your room key? You have a car seat in your room that Anne got you...remember?"
I nodded and handed him my key, staring into the black starry night and hoping to God that Ryan would be ok. I prayed Erik would leave him alone. "Please be careful, Ryan. Don't do anything stupid." He chuckled and then I watched him disappear into the doors of the Opera House, clutching Christine to my chest.