PHANTOM IN TIME (46 page)
Authors: Eugenia Riley
“I
know,” Bella muttered. “I remember how unhappy, how competitive, the two of you
were.”
At
Bella's words, her father glanced at her mother, and the two exchanged
poignant smiles before he proceeded. “Then six years ago in the present,
fate did intervene. On that stormy night when you lost us, our car was swept
into the Pacific.”
“Yes
. . . how could I ever forget?” asked Bella, shuddering.
Her
blue eyes bright with remembered anguish, Carmita took up the tale. “Mario and
I clung to each other, certain we would drown. Then the next thing we
remembered, a fishing boat rescued us from the ocean . . . but in the year
1890.”
“How
astounding!” cried Bella. “Then you traveled through time just as I did?”
“Yes,”
stated Carmita. “And it was quite some adjustment.”
“No
kidding,” quipped Bella wryly.
“After
the initial shock wore off,” continued Bella's father, “Carmita and I found we
adapted to this century quite well. Indeed, we no sooner arrived in old San Francisco
than we were offered lead positions at the Gaslight Theater, the same opera
house where we had performed in the present.”
“How
uncanny!” exclaimed Bella, thinking of the parallels to her own time-travel
experience and the St. Charles.
“Since
that time, our careers, our marriage, have truly thrived.” He spoke proudly.
“I'm
so glad to hear that,” murmured Bella.
“Here,
the public truly respects and appreciates the opera. Your mother and I have
established a fanatical following.”
“But
why did you change your names?”
“We
didn't want to confuse the history books too much,” Carmita confessed.
“Of
course, our biggest regret was leaving you behind,” added Mario, “although we
knew you were in good hands with my mother.”
Suddenly
Bella realized something else. “You arranged to have roses sent to me every
year on my birthday!”
“We
certainly did,” admitted Mario. “Though the banker who helped us with the
arrangements thought we were insane to set up an eternal trust for that
purpose.”
Bella
laughed in delight. “And all this time I thought it was Gran sending the
flowers!”
Mario
grinned, then sighed. “How is my mother?”
“Her
health is rapidly deteriorating, but she's at peace.” Bella's eyes lit with
realization. “In fact, I think she knew the three of us were going to meet up
again. When I left her this last time, she said she thought I might see you
before she did.”
Mario
wiped away a tear. “Mama was always so wise. I'm sure she knows we're all
together again.”
Carmita
touched her daughter's hand. “Now tell us how you came to be here, darling.”
Bella
eagerly explained about how she had traveled through time, fallen in love with
Jacques, and saved his life.
“This
is amazing,” said Mario afterward. “Obviously we were all meant to find each
other again. It's destiny, no?”
“Yes,
destiny,” agreed Bella feelingly, thinking of what Gran and Jacques had said.
“But how
did
you find me?”
“We
read an article about the New Orleans opera in the
New York Chronicle,”
explained Carmita. “It included a picture of the St. Charles opera troupe, and
you were in it, dear.”
“That's
when we realized you must have traveled through time, too,” put in Mario.
“At
once Mario and I made arrangements to come to New Orleans,” finished Carmita.
“Remarkable,”
said Bella. “And here I’d always thought the opera had destroyed your lives.”
“Oh
the contrary, dear,” stated Mario, “Carmita and I have never been happier,
especially now that we've been reunited with our child. It is our fondest hope
that we can all sing together now. In any event, we deeply regret neglecting
you before, and we'll not repeat that mistake here.”
“Living
in the past has been good to me, too,” Bella admitted. “Indeed, I think I've
found
my
destiny—”
“The
opera?” asked Mario hopefully.
Bella
smiled. “Well, yes, but not just the opera—”
All
at once Bella's words were curtailed as Jacques strode into the room. “Bella,
what is going on here?” he demanded, eyeing the newcomers in mystification.
“Etienne told me you are visiting with none other than the world-famous
Blooms.”
Bella
turned to Jacques, smiled, and took his hand. “Jacques, I would like you to
meet my parents.”
Jacques
stared wide-eyed at the couple. “B-but . . . these people are Maurice and
Andrea Bloom!”
Bella
laughed. “No, Jacques. Well, they do go by those names here.” She smiled
lovingly at the couple. “But you are actually looking at none other than my
mother and father, Carmita and Mario De La Rosa.”
“Forgive
me, m'sieur, madame, but I thought you were both dead.” Jacques glanced askance
at Bella. “Although since I've met your daughter, nothing surprises me
anymore.”
At
Jacques's melodramatic remarks, Bella and her parents burst out laughing. “My
love,” Bella told Jacques, “we've a long, fascinating tale to share with you.
Afterward, perhaps my parents can give us some pointers on how best to travel
through time and serenade Gran tonight. They have experience in these matters,
you see . . .”
***
Ninety
minutes later, Bella waited tensely in the wings as Jacques completed his solo
of “The Sweetest Story Ever Told.” Her lover's beautiful voice fired her blood,
but nervousness still dogged her. Next would be her duet with Jacques—and with
her own parents sitting in the audience!
Bella
could scarcely believe all that had happened to her over the past hour and a
half. She not only had Jacques and his love, but now she had her mother and
father returned to her. Her emotions were still in chaos, but her joy was
overwhelming. The opera had not destroyed her parents after all, and this gave
her even more hope for herself and Jacques!
As
the music ended and applause resounded, Bella watched the lights go down, the
kaleidoscope begin to revolve. Her heart pounded as she started onstage. She
spotted Jacques across from her, saw him grin and hold out his arms.
Exultantly, she rushed into his embrace. Light whirled around them as she clung
to him, her rock amid a reeling world.
“Darling,
Bella,” he murmured. “Will you sing for me now? Will we both sing for your
grandmother?”
“I'll
try, Jacques,” she promised.
“Kiss
me, darling, and take me away with you in time,” he urged. “Then we'll sing our
hearts out.”
Bella
kissed Jacques with all her heart, and indeed felt the two of them spinning
away! Distantly she heard the opening strains of “Love's Old Sweet Song”—whence
the music came she could not be sure; she only knew she heard it, the most
ethereal, celestial music ever!
The
kiss ended, and the lovers drew slightly apart. Bella sensed in her heart that
the two of them had made their way back. Turning, she looked out to see Gran
sitting in the front row of the audience. Tears of joy blinded her. Yes, they
were
both
truly back.
“Jacques,
we made it!” she cried. “We truly made it!”
“Sing,
Bella,” he whispered, slipping his arm around her waist.
Bella
concentrated fiercely, carefully listening to the refrain, waiting for their
cue. Then, as Gran watched and listened rapturously, Bella lifted her voice
with Jacques, her soprano ringing out free, clear, and powerful, blending
exquisitely with his lyric tenor. In that moment her entire world became filled
with love—love for Jacques, for Gran, for her dear parents. Together she and
Jacques enthralled every heart in the theater with their duet of “Love's Old
Sweet Song.”
Just
a song at twilight,
When
the lights are low,
And
the flick’ring shadows
Softly
come and go.
Tho’
the heart be weary,
Sad
the day and long,
Still
to us at twilight
Comes
love's old song,
Comes
love's old sweet song . . .
Standing
there in Jacques's masterful arms, singing for him and for Gran, Bella realized
Gran was right—her destiny did lie with Jacques, and with the opera. At last
she knew what Jacques had meant when he had told her he would make her soul
sing—
Her
soul had been dead, strangled with fear, but Jacques had reawakened passion in
her—passion for life, for love, for song. She knew then that she loved the
opera almost as much as she loved him, that with Jacques she could truly
overcome her fear forever, and together they could find that perfect harmony,
both on and off the stage.
As
the song died, Gran and Bella exchanged looks of love and longing. Tenderly,
Bella mouthed the word “Good-bye,” and observed Gran's answering nod.
Then,
as Isabella De La Rosa wiped away a joyous tear, the lights flickered and died,
and Bella felt herself and Jacques being swept away again. She eagerly whirled
away in time with the man she loved . . .
A
moment later, the couple landed back on the historical stage, just as the
lights were raised. Jacques grinned and kissed Bella, to the delight of the
wildly cheering audience. As the music swelled, they turned and sang a new
refrain of “Love's Old Sweet Song” for each other, and for Bella's enthralled
parents . . .
Epilogue
From the August 8, 1996, edition of
the
New Orleans Herald:
Ghostly Serenade at the St. Charles Opera House
by Sidney Singer
Well, folks, it has
happened again! Spooky goings-on at the St. Charles Opera House. Last night
during a performance of the Gay 90’s review
Kaleidoscope
, the lusty ghost
of Jacques LeFevre reappeared—this time with a ravishing soprano in his
arms—and the magnificent couple thrilled the audience with their stirring,
unannounced duet of “Love's Old Sweet Song.” And this reporter saw it all with
his own two eyes.
By the time I could
dash into the wings in the hope of interviewing the phantom couple, they had
faded from sight. Afterward, I questioned several stunned members of the troupe
and the audience. The opera's artistic director, Lesley Litchfield, assured me
the young lady Jacques LeFevre held was none other than one of his own chorus
girls, Bella De La Rosa, who recently disappeared from the opera house during a
performance. To quote Litchfield, “The naughty girl told me she was having a
love affair with the ghost of Jacques LeFevre.”
Professor Howard
Peabody, author of
Phantom of the French Quarter,
was also present.
Peabody, too, feels it was Bella De La Rosa who sang with Jacques LeFevre last
night. Surprisingly, Peabody now amends his stance on the fate of Jacques
LeFevre, who was purportedly killed at the St. Charles on an August night a
century ago. Peabody now contends the “murder” of Jacques LeFevre may have been
only a wildly exaggerated rumor, and that instead of being killed, perhaps
LeFevre disappeared from the New Orleans stage that fateful night, and
afterward traveled the world for many more years, singing with the woman of his
destiny.
Was that woman Bella
De La Rosa? If so, how did a twentieth-century chorus girl end up in the arms
of an amorous nineteenth-century ghost? Did the phantom Jacques somehow lure
Bella back in time with him, and did she manage to alter his fate?
Belatedly, I learned
that Bella's grandmother, Isabella De La Rosa, was also present at the St.
Charles last night, and I rushed to the De La Rosa home to gain confirmation
that it was indeed Bella who sang with Jacques. Unfortunately, when I arrived
at the De La Rosa home, I learned the sad news that Isabella had passed away
peacefully in her sleep. Now we may never know for certain who the phantom held
in his arms.
Do Jacques LeFevre
and Bella De La Rosa still sing somewhere on some eternal stage? Or was Jacques
cruelly murdered in the New Orleans French Quarter a hundred years ago? One
thing
is
for certain: to the patrons of the St. Charles Opera House,
Jacques LeFevre and Bella De La Rosa sing on . . .
If you enjoyed this book, please read
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