Chapter Eleven
Eva went to rehearsals. She worked hard everyday and everyday she was left with the knowledge that a choice was coming. Her secret was growing inside of her and opening night was growing closer.
Luciano’s moods began to swing from one extreme to the other and sometimes back and forth within the same day.
Jerome had called a few times but she’d been too busy and preoccupied to call him back. She’d told no one her secret and Bridget seemed so far away to give any real help.
Every night Eva had a hard time getting to sleep—her thoughts roamed freely and gave her little peace.
Ambrose seemed to have given up his flirtations and he pushed all his energies into the new music. She could read his seriousness on his face and this made Eva only more attracted to him.
“Let’s take the first ending,” Luciano called from off stage. As the opening night grew closer the rehearsals had been moved from the large room onto the opera house stage.
The orchestra was rehearsing with them today and the sound was so impressive that Eva was certain no opera had ever sounded so stunning or could ever again.
“Glenda just told me that the entire run of the opera is sold out,” Ambrose walked out to meet Eva on stage.
“That’s…incredible.” Eva instinctively put a hand to her stomach.
“I wanted to talk to you about…everything we were—” Ambrose was quickly cut off by the upsurge of the orchestra.
The music lifted to them and Eva was thankful for it. She wasn’t sure how to handle Ambrose anymore. Her heart was so thinly covered and she felt so incredibly vulnerable that every time she saw him she felt weak.
Ambrose opened his mouth and his opening phrases filled the theater. Eva watched, mesmerized by the man in front of her.
When their scene finished she walked off stage and took a shaky breath. Her phone buzzed.
“Bridget!” Eva smiled as she answered her friend’s call.
“Hello gorgeous,” Bridget said from the other end.
Eva let out a long held breath. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed her friend.
“How is Cincinnati?” Eva moved off the wings of the stage so she could talk freely.
“It’s actually been amazing, the people are really wonderful, I’ve been working hard, and there’s a guy.” Eva could hear the smile in Bridget’s voice.
“Of course there’s a guy,” Eva replied.
“And how is Ambrose?” Bridget asked with obvious intentions.
Eva turned and looked to the closed door that led back to the stage. “He’s just as talented as ever, but…well… there was something I wanted to—”
“—Oh shit,” Bridget interrupted her. “I have to run, I want to hear all about it! Call me when you get a chance. And just in case I don’t get to say it before Friday, break a leg!”
Eva hung up the phone and leaned back on the cold block wall behind her.
When rehearsals were over for the night Eva snuck out of the building as quickly as she could and took a taxi home. She could tell that Ambrose wanted to talk to her but Eva had nothing to say. She was still upset with him and the weight of her secret was pressing on her every moment of every day.
When she got up to her apartment, she locked the door and looked around. Because rehearsals had been running so long Eva hadn’t had a chance to clean up. Things were everywhere.
Now, Eva decided that the mess was too similar to the mess her mind was in. She needed a clean space if she was going to figure out how to have a clear mind.
She turned her mother’s record on, put her sheet music on the piano top, picked up and folded the blanket that had fallen to the floor. She’d had clean laundry that had been sitting in a pile waiting to be folded for two days and now she folded it, taking pleasure in the crisp lines and fresh laundry smell.
As she closed one of her dresser drawers there was a knock on the door.
Possibilities ran through her mind. Jerome, Ambrose, a courier with some new changes from Luciano…Eva tip toed out of her room and put her face up to the peep hole.
Ambrose was pacing in front of her door. She backed away from the vision of him and considered.
She could let him in, but if she did then what? It was the same thing over and over again. Her heart was too strongly his. He had too large of a hold over her. It was painful and a daily reminder that she had no hold over his heart.
She wasn’t ready to make a decision about all eternity. Not tonight.
Eva exhaled quietly. Ambrose knocked again.
“Eva, I can hear the music, I know you’re in there,” his voice came muffled through the door. She bit her lip. “You ran out too quickly, I…I wanted to talk to you.”
She lifted her hand to undo the lock then put it down again. No. No, she couldn’t keep doing this. She refused.
Eva stepped quietly back from the door and back into her room, where she closed herself in and eventually cried herself to sleep.
The next days passed by in a haze and flurry of activity. There was a cast dinner where Eva sat on one side of Luciano and Ambrose on the other. Tessa and the other females of the cast all seemed equally motivated to be around him at every moment and Eva didn’t fight for the privilege.
When Luciano finished his speech, one where he said one optimistic sentiment followed by another equally pessimistic one, Ambrose stood up.
“I would just like to say a few words…” Ambrose cleared his throat and Eva took a sip of the water in front of her.
“As we all know, Luciano is a genius, I have no doubt that after Friday anyone who has seen it will know that they’ve seen the greatest thing to grace the stage of all time. I have no doubt of its success and we certainly could not have done it without all of you…”
There was a general round of applause and self-congratulation.
“But there is another landmark event occurring on Friday night.” Ambrose dipped his head forward and paused for dramatic affect. “Friday will also be the debut of Eva St. Marie.” Heads swiveled to Eva and she quickly put her glass down as she nearly choked on her water. “The moment I heard Eva’s voice I knew she was destined for just such an opera. Lucretia would truly not be the wonder she is if it weren’t for her. I feel truly honored that I was here at the beginning.” Ambrose held up his glass, “To Eva St. Marie.”
“To Eva St. Marie,” everyone responded, also holding up glasses in salute. There were some applause and whistles and Eva felt her face burn hot under the scrutiny of a few of the more attractive women.
Ambrose sat back down and Luciano turned to Eva.
“I’ve never heard Ambrose talk about a voice or a woman like that,” Luciano said with a smile. “But don’t let it go to your head, or make you lazy. You are only as good as the work you put in.” He looked at her with a kind severity and Eva laughed a little.
“I’m not sure I warrant such nice sentiments.” Eva fidgeted in her seat.
“You must also own your true worth, to not know your talent is just as bad,” Luciano added.
“Thank you.” Eva glanced over to Glenda who was sitting across the table, wrapped in a heated debate with two singers.
“Luciano?” A question struck Eva’s mind. “How did you come up with the idea for the new opera? The storyline, the characters?”
Luciano sat back in his seat and looked around at the other people for a long moment before turning back to her.
“It is funny you should ask… it came to me in a dream. I dreamt of Ambrose as the Vampire King—big robust voice…natural enough, of course, but the strange thing is… I dreamt of your mother as Lucretia. At least, I thought it was your mother…until the day Ambrose brought you in to see me. Then I realized that it was you in my dream and not your mother at all.” He squinted his eyes and looked over Eva’s face. “Does that alarm you?”
Eva looked at Luciano then shook her head. “No.”
“It shouldn’t, sometimes…these things…they are…how do you say…destino…fate.”
Eva nodded, “Yes. Fate.”
When she got home from the dinner that night, Eva’s voice was gone.