A Heart Misguided (Phantom of the Opera)

Chapter 19 - One Heartbeat

Christine's POV:

I settled back against the softness of the bed and sighed. Erik hadn't let me out of bed for the past month. I was huge. Even his mother, who was going to serve as my midwife, had said it was best for me to go on bed rest. None of them knew why I was so big. There was no doctor in the small town so Marian, Erik's mother, had taken me Rouen, a larger town near Bochserville. The doctor there couldn't explain it either. He said there might be twins but he only heard one heart beat. I was worried and Erik was petrified. That man didn't rest. All I had to do was groan and he was right there, panicking. I wondered how he was going to handle it when I screamed in child birth. He wasn't going to handle it well at all. I sighed and opened a book I had been reading. Suddenly I felt an uncomfortable pain in my abdomen. These pains had happened before so I didn't give it much thought. But as I continued to read, they grew worse. I held in a wince when a particularly bad one ripped through me. Now, I knew what was happening. I was in labor. Now, was time to get Erik to go get Marian. I screamed out,

“ERIK!” It was laced with pain and before I could blink Erik was at my side. I had forgotten how fast he could move when he had a reason. He grabbed my hand and said,

“Christine! Christine! What is wrong? Tell me what is wrong!” I flinched as another pain ripped through me.

“Get Marian. NOW! Go get her.” His eyes went wide as he realized what was happening. He gave me one last look before sprinting away. I screamed but I knew he wouldn't stop. He was kill himself to get Marian. A moment later I heard the pounding of hooves. Thank goodness that Caesar was a fast horse. I screamed and as a tear slipped down my cheek I prayed that he would come back soon.

Erik's POV:

I raced to my mother's house. Never before I had been forced to push Caesar to his limit. But now I was. I hadn't even bothered with a saddle. It had cut me deep to leave Christine alone and in labor but I had to. There was no one else to go for my mother. I jumped off Caesar before he had even come to a complete stop. I burst through the door and into the drawing room. My mother looked up and so did my sister. They both knew before I said a word what was happening. Mother grabbed her bag and Andria's hand. I let them to Caesar and realized there was no way he could carry three. We hadn't ever thought about it. But Andria knew what to do. She raced to the stable behind their house and led out a coal black stallion. He was their pride and joy. She scrambled on him and we took off. He was the one horse that was the match to Caesar.

We slid to a stop and I threw the reins to Andria. She could take care of the horses. By now Christine's screams were filling the house. I could hear them from outside. I raced in and suddenly my mother threw me against the wall. That was the problem with your mother weighing more than you do. She growled at me.

“Don't you dare come in. Andria will be helping me once she had dealt with the horses. You stay in here or go out into the stables. But stay out.” I glared at my mother but she held her own. My mother and I might be on good terms but I still knew when to back down. This was one of those times. She hurried about her work as I sat down on the couch. I clinched my hands and tried not to flinch every time that Christine screamed. I didn't notice anything other than Christine's screams. For sixteen hours and thirty-two minutes she screamed. Yes, I kept count. Suddenly I heard a piercing wail. This wasn't a wail of horror. This wasn't a wail of pain. This was a wail of grief. And it was my mother's. And what was worse was I hadn't heard one cry. I bolted from my seat and ran to our room. I flung open the door and saw Christine holding a child. It was my child. There was the faintest hint of a deformity but not much. Its hair is the same brown as its mother but it had my golden eyes. It is slightly thin but nothing to worry about. The nose is perfect. Just like mine might have been expect for the deformity. Then I looked at my mother and walked over to her. In her arms was my second child. But something was wrong about this one...