All I Ask of You

Chapter 45

Before we knew it, we were amusement park owners. Erik had kicked around names for the park. One night as we laid together in bed, he exclaimed, "Phantasma!"

I smiled at him. "Erik, now that everything I know has played out. Can I tell you some things?"

He wrapped his arms around me, "Don't tell me you've known what I would name the park all this time and let me suffer."

"Maybe," I chuckled.

"You impossible woman," he pretended to scowl.

I began to tell him the plot of Love Never Dies. "It all happened in some way. The only difference is we got our happy ending. I almost wonder if I've changed the story with my presence here."

"Let the story change then. I doubt it would though. I suspect that people wouldn't read our love story."

"Why? I think it's a good one," I yawned.

"Yes, my dear. Too good. People prefer tales on the grotesque... dramatic and over the top. People would rather read that Christine screamed when she saw my horrid face; that I murdered Buquet rather than self-defense; that I burned the place I loved to the ground..."

"Erik," I said quietly looking up at his unique features, "I've read all the books inspired by you. One of them had a detail that's troubled me greatly. Would you mind if I asked you about it?"

"Of course not. What is it?"

"Your mother... on your fifth birthday..."

His eyes immediately filled with tears, "You couldn't know that... I've never told anyone that before... Not a soul on Earth."

I wrapped my arms around him and he held me tightly. I was referring to the sickening moment in Susan Kay's novel where a young Erik asks for simple birthday gifts... Two kisses from his mother: one for now and one for later. My heart ached when I read how she refused him of such a simple act of love.

He was crying in my arms and I began to cry too. It burdened me the pain that he lived through and I prayed that my love had been enough to relieve at least some of the pains of his past.

His eyes looked into mine. They were filled with tears and childlike sadness, "Caroline, would you give that gift to me now?"

I placed a gentle kiss on his bumpy cheek, "One for now," I whispered as I moved my lips to meet his. With a deep feeling of love and passion, our lips crashed together, "And one for later..."

AN: Dearest readers,
Our end is nearing, please let me know if you'd like five more chapters of this book! I debated ending it here, but I have a little more of this story I think I'd like to write! Please comment and let me know! Enjoy!