Chapter one
The baby
"Monsieur and Madame De Chagny your baby is here. May I have the absolute pleasure, of introducing you to your daughter!" Jamie said a bounce in her voice. The midwife then walked over to Raoul and Christine and handed her the little bundle of blankets in her arms. Raoul looked down at the little babe in her mother's arms, but his smile quickly faded when he noticed something very peculiar about the child. She had hazel eyes! Neither he nor Christine, had hazel eyes, there had to some mistake. How could his baby have different eyes than both her parents?
He knew, just knew that something wasn't quite right. He had expected the child to resemble him at least in shape of face, but this little girl not only had a different color eyes than he and Christine, but also a hideous scar covering three-fourths of her face. A sinking feeling that quickly turned to anger came over the Comte as he realized he had seen that scar before.
No it couldn't be, could it? Had Christine really father his child? How dare she do this to him and the worst of it was, though he couldn't and didn't want to believe it, he knew she loved her former teacher, more than she would ever love him. He was angry, really, really angry how could his Christine, his Little Lottie, his love betray him so? No he reasoned it was the damned midwife, but then again she was only a child still seventeen.
He turned away from his wife and the childish maiden and decided to deal with this matter himself. He would talk to her and see to it that she bought him the correct child at once. If she did not she would no longer be employed with the Chagny household.
"Excuse me Jamie?" Raoul asked his voice betraying his confusion as well as his eyes.
"Yes master?" Jamie replied a worried look in her eyes. She hoped there was nothing wrong with the child after all it was his only child.
"There must be some mistake, this cannot possibly be my child." Raoul said trying to remain calm. He was furious with his damned midwife! She dared bring him the wrong baby!
"I am afraid not sir, this is the only child your wife is scheduled to bare. Why do you ask."? Jamie replied and flinched as Raoul backhanded her hard.
"I am not asking you! You pitiful excuse for a servant! It is your bloody incompetence that has given me the wrong child! Now I tell you bring me the correct one this instant, or you'll be out of a job! Do you hear me? Either you give me my son who resembles me, or you're fired!" Raoul screamed in the face of the young midwife.
Christine gasped she had never seen Raoul like this. Why had he hit Jamie? This poor innocent girl who only did her best to please them both? Was he displeased with the child that she bore? Oh, whom was she kidding? Of course he was! After all he was the Comte De Chagny, a high member of society.
It was of course unacceptable for him to have an heir of the female gender. There was of course one fact that she had not told him and that was the thing she dreaded most of all. The baby was indeed not his child the baby was the daughter and only child of her former maestro Erik Nicholas Destler. She had loved him at the time their daughter was conceived, and truth-be-told she still did.
"B-b-but master, that is the only child your wife was to bare! I swear it!" Jamie cried out and Raoul smacked her again.
"Raoul Jean-Michel De Chagny! Stop this madness! Jamie is right. This is my child! And she is my only child! You are also right; she is not your daughter. She is the child of Erik Destler, though you will know him as the phantom." Christine told him her eyes showing her truth.
Raoul's gaze hardened further (if that was possible) he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Christine just confirmed his suspicion! Before he knew what he was doing he was hissing at her in a hushed but angry tone," Get out!" she gasped and her gaze hardened and she nodded she stood up despite her exhaustion and bleeding, and walked feebly out of the Chagny manor and onto the darkened streets of Paris.
She called a carriage and told the driver to take her to the opera house. Her child wailed, and she pulled her little girl to her chest and attempted to 'shush' her tears away. Oh how she prayed that Erik would be there. Heck! She'd be happy if he even spoke to her, after what she had done to him.
She arrived at the opera house now nursing a snoozing daughter in her arms. She came in to find Mme Giry yelling at the ballet girls, and banging her cane as she always did. Christine whistled softly and the elder woman turned around. Spotting her Mme Giry gave her a smile, and strode over to her.
"Christine, dear child how are you?" Mme Giry asked after pulling her into a small hug.
"I am well enough." Christine replied with a forced smile as the little girl cried out again.
"Well now who is this?" Mme Giry asked smiling down at the little bebe.
"Technically she is your granddaughter, though I have not yet given her a name." Christine said kissing her daughter on the head.
"I am sure the Comte is very pleased. 'Ello what is this? My dear did you know that the end of your dress is soaked in blood?" Mme. Giry asked.
Christine blushed, she'd completely forgot about her dress with all the commotion that had gone on during the past few days. What with her being in labor and all, she stifled a yawn trying to stay awake long enough to at least to inquire about Erik. She replied softly her voice betrayed her exhaustion, "Raoul is not pleased, he threw me out of his home! He doesn't want me at all, oh mother Giry what am I to do?" Christine asked a single tear falling from her emerald eyes.
"First you must rest, you are clearly exhausted." Mme Giry advised her,
"But I have to find Erik… have to find my baby's father. Have to right the wrongs of the past…." Christine murmured as as she at last began to give into her exhaustion and let the softness of sleep began to overtake her.
"I will write him a letter my dear." Mme Giry told her and with extraordinary strength for a woman of her age, lifted the young ingénue into her arms and began to carry her and the young child whom she held firmly in her arms to Christine's old dressing room, laid them both on the bed and silently tip-toed away. The last thing she remembered Christine saying was a soft 'thank you' before her voice was silent and she fell into an uneasy sleep.