Our Love is Evergreen

Chapter 21: The Destlers' New Home

A few days later, Erik had received some good news and immediately went to tell Christine. "Angel, my name has been cleared. We can return to London."

"Really?" Christine asked. She didn't seem happy.

"Yes. Start packing. We can leave tomorrow," Erik replied.

"Erik, I don't know. Do we have to return to London? Is it really so bad here in Paris?"

"I guess we don't have to. Wait, what are you saying? Are you saying that you want to move back to Paris?"

"We could live here in the catacombs. We'd save a fortune. There is already an extra room here that we don't use. That could be the new baby's room. If we returned to London, the children would have to share a room. Besides, Gustave has finally made friends. It would be wrong to take him away from them, would it not? We could get parts in operas here or you could be the night watchmen for the Opera Populaire. We could make it work. Yes, London is the place where we got married and had Gustave, and it will always hold a special place in my heart, but I think it would be better for us as a family if we stayed here. What do you say?"

"You have clearly thought about this," Erik paused. "Okay. I will return to Paris alone. I will sell our house, gather what belongings we don't already have with us, and I will return here to Paris."

"Or I could go with you and Gustave could stay here. Meg could look after him," Christine suggested.

"No. Christine, I don't want to risk anything happening to you or the baby. You should stay here."

"'Anywhere you go, let me go too' remember? That's what we said to each other fourteen years ago when we got married. Tell me you haven't forgotten."

"I haven't forgotten, but we also promised to love each other. If you loved me, you would let me go alone. I don't want anything to happen to you," Erik repeated. "I need to know that you'll be safe. Besides, I won't be gone for very long. Only two days or so. It wouldn't be worth it for you to come with me."

Christine gave in. "Alright, fine. Will I at least get to do a really dramatic goodbye?"

Erik laughed. "Anything you wish, my love."

Meanwhile, Gustave was alone with Lucas doing "guy stuff", which means that they were discussing the current opera, in which Celeste had a part.

"She has a wonderful voice, don't you think?" Lucas asked.

"Yes, she does. She's very pretty too," Gustave replied. "Did I just say that out loud?" He thought.

Lucas laughed. "Do you have feelings for my sister?"

"No," Gustave replied quickly and then added, "Why?"

"Because I think she likes you, but I supposed I don't have anything to worry about if you don't like her in that way."

Gustave shrugged. He knew that at times Lucas could be very protective of Celeste, but Gustave wasn't worried.
Gustave went backstage to see his friend. He kissed her on the cheek when he knew Lucas wasn't looking.

"Celeste, you sang like an angel tonight." Gustave said.

"Thank you. Are we still meeting on the rooftop at midnight?" Celeste asked.

"Yes, if all goes as planned," he replied.

When Gustave returned to the catacombs, his mother told him of the decision to sell their London home and to move to Paris. He couldn't have been happier. Now, he wouldn't have to leave his friends.
Gustave immediately began to daydream about how he was going to tell Celeste and how she would react. In his fantasy, he imagined that he would tell her and that she would be so happy that she would jump into his arms and kiss him.

"Gustave? Are you listening?" Christine inquired.

"What?" He asked, snapping out of his daze.

"I said that your father is returning to London to collect the rest of our things and sell our house."

Gustave didn't reply. Instead, he started daydreaming again. He was very excited for his midnight rendezvous with Celeste.