The Angel's Shadow || The Phantom of the Opera || Book Two

21. Surprises

Chapter Twenty One || Surprises

Maurice

"It's you."

It took two, maybe three, minutes for those words to sink in. I sat there staring at Violette like nothing had been said and I was still waiting for her to answer my question. The time ticked by, slowly, slowly...awkwardly. Then, one letter at a time, the words sunk in, their meaning coming second, another process that took time. Once the final letter soaked in and settled into my uneducated brain, I felt the world gradually come to a complete stop, the final rotation jarring me and jolting me from the bed I sat on, "W-what?!"

Violette looked at me with wide eyes, my sudden movement taking her by surprise. She then covered her face and shook it as if it would clear away what she had just said, "Oh gosh, I'm sorry. You're upset. I shouldn't have said anything. I'm an idiot." It took yet another length of time for these words to sink in. It seemed that all I was capable of doing was staring at her in disbelief, wondering if the person on the bed was really a mirage instead of the actual person, the real Violette. For a moment I thought it had to be, for only a mirage of Violette could love me, could accept me, could want me. But the figure on the bed with her head in her hands wasn't a mirage. She was solid, firm, breathing and living; not a ghost, not a mirage, but a real person...the real Violette. And it was this real Violette - not the mirage or the ghost - that had uttered the words, "It's you."

Regaining feeling in my feet I forced them to move and quickly knelt in front of Violette, pulling her hands from her face and exposing her to me, "No! No, no, no. I'm not upset I'm just...I'm just...shocked." I let out a breathy laugh and smiled up at her, "I wasn't expecting that. At all."

She shook her head and pulled her hands from mine, looking at everything but me, "I'm sorry. I know the timing is off. Forget I said anything." She knit her brows together and pursed her lips like she was about to cry again, only this time out of embarrassment instead of sadness.

"No!" I cupped her cheeks and forced her to look me in the eyes. I repeated the word, quieter, firmer, willing her to quiet her foolish thoughts, "No." I looked into her round eyes, their color so blue and their size so big it was like looking into two separate seas. Two separate seas I could easily get lost in and not care because they were Violette's eyes, Violette's seas. I could remain adrift for the rest of my life and still feel content in the waters of her blue eyes. I wouldn't need food, I wouldn't need water, all I would need is Violette.

I smiled again, hoping this moment we were sharing wasn't another dream, a vivid dream concocted to drive me further into madness, the madness of life without Violette as my own. Running my thumbs over her cherry red cheeks I said, "Do you know how long I have waited to hear you say that?"

Hope returned to her eyes, making them brighten like the sun was rising deep within the blackness of her pupils, creating sparkles on the blue waters that called themselves her irises. Her voice - usually strong and sure - came out small and airy, "Really?"

My smile grew impossibly wider, surely stretching from one ear to the other by now. I scooted closer to her on the floor, my shoes creating a scrapping sound as they moved across the worn wood, "Yes, really!" Her closed knees came to just below my chest. I hoped she couldn't feel how hard my heart was beating.

Her shoulders dropping in relief, she grabbed my hands from her face and placed a kiss on each scarred knuckle. Violette kissed every inch of my hands like she was kissing away each callous and imperfection my overworked hands possessed. Her slender face was bright with joy and relief, the sun now shining bright through her eyes and casting a warm glow on her cheeks. She pressed my hands to those soft, sweet cheeks and smiled down at me, "Maurice. Sweet, Maurice."