Winter is such a beautiful season, with its tendency to cover every stone paved street, every roof top, every window pane with a thick, crisp white blanket of snow. Montfermeil was no exception to this. Moulded balls of snow flew through the air and children laughed and shrieked as they launched and dodged them. Some children were fortunate enough to be pulled up and down the icy paths on a wooden sleigh that their fathers had made for them. Outside the toy shop, Monsieur Dahlia took advantage of his curly white beard and fat round stomach and perched himself on a bench beside a bag filled to the brim with homemade dolls and toy cars that his wife devoted all year long to making, just to ensure that the less fortunate children would have at least one present for Christmas.
It was such a beautiful sight but, sadly for some, it was just that - a sight, and never an experience.
Cosette peered through a frosted, slightly chipped window of the Sergeant de Waterloo, wishing she could have just one day like that of the smiling children she watched. Their days consisted of playing, laughing and having fun while hers consisted of cleaning, cooking and being frightened. She wished she could have the opportunity to contact her mother, to tell her how the innkeeper and his wife she had trusted to look after her really treated her. Life had sometimes teased her in the way that she would be left alone in a room with a quill and a sheet of paper but then she'd be hit by the realisation that she had no idea how to write. How she missed her mother. Sometimes she'd catch a glimpse of herself in the dusty mirror in the master bedroom and closely examine all her features when she realised how much she was beginning to look like the beautiful woman. They had the same brown hair, though her mothers had always been soft and curly and Cosette's was weak, greasy and limp. They had the same big, brown eyes, both tired and surrounded by dark circles. They both had the same petite figure covered by pale, freckled skin.
Cosette idly swayed the broom she was using to sweep the floors slightly as she daydreamed about what it would be like to play in the snow when a loud, angry voice snatched her from her dreams and back to reality.
"OY!" Came the screechy voice. Cosette turned to see Madame Thenardier gather a handful of her skirts and make a failed attempt of gracefully walking down the stairs. She stumbled down the last two steps before fixing her hair and pretending it didn't happen. Madame Thenardier liked to think of herself as a young, beautiful, graceful young lady when the truth of the matter was she was an unpleasant, podgy, unhygienic woman who's attempts to look young only made her look cheap and desperate. "You call that sweeping the floors? Get to work, you useless brat!"
Cosette hurriedly continued sweeping the floors, avoiding looking at her 'carer' whose eyes she could feel staring into the back of her head. "Sorry, Madame," she mumbled.
"Too right you are. You've been a thorn in our side since your worthless mother bought you 'ere. The least you can do is get on with the chores we ask you to do," Her voice turned dangerously quiet and slow, "You wouldn't want the Master to bring back the belt..." she took a fistful of Cosette's hair and yanked her head back, "Now would ya?"
Cosette stayed perfectly still, using all her strength to stop the tears that threatened to fall. She knew how mad they got when she cried. 'Toughen up, you pathetic whiner!' They'd push her to the ground and laugh in her face. She swallowed the lump in her throat to allow herself to speak. "No, Madame," she forced out in a shaky voice.
She'd moved her face so close to Cosette that she could feel her hot breath on her ear and smell it's putrid stench. She shook with fear.
Neither of them had noticed that the Thenardier's eldest child, Éponine, had emerged from her bedroom and was standing at the top of the stairs. She was wearing an expensive dress that her father had stolen from a customer's young daughter's travelling bag a week previously. It was supposed to have been a present for Christmas but Éponine had screamed and stomped her feet and her parents gave in immediately. Her brown hair was tied back in a blue ribbon and she showed sky blue shoes with flowers on them when she lifted her dress slightly with one hand just as her mother had done before. She skipped down the stairs, skipping every other step before leaping over the last four.
"Mama!" She called as she ran over to where her mother still held Cosette's hair tightly in her clenched, dirty hands, "I need you!" She grabbed her mother's wrist and pulled her away from Cosette. "I already asked father but 'e said 'e was too tired so I should ask you. Please could you go to the toy store and buy me that china doll with the red dress today?"
Her mother softened at the sight of the daughter whom she mollycoddled. "Darling, we talked about this. Mama and Papa just don't have enough money for it at the moment," her pitch was high and she spoke as if she were afraid her daughter might lash out at any moment, "Don't be sad, angel, we'll get it for you on your birthday," She squeezed her shoulders and pulled her towards her, planting kisses all over her face, "Mummy promises," she said between smooches.
Éponine moved her face away and shook herself from her mother's grasp. "'Mummy promised'," she mimicked her mother's baby voice, "to get it me for Christmas!" She stomped her feet and swung her fists around before she inhaled deeply and let out an eardrum shattering scream.
Madame Thenardier was quick to shush her. "Okay, okay, princess," she forced a smile, "Mummy will see what she can do for her beautiful baby girl." Éponine squeaked, her mood completely changing as soon as she got her own way and kissed her mother's cheek.
Madame Thenardier rushed out of the door and Éponine turned to Cosette and smiled, sweetly. "Well, that gives us about 'alf an hour. Me and 'Zelly are going to play outside. Do you want to build a snowman?" She took Cosette's hand and began to pull her towards the back door of the inn.
Cosette hesitated, "But I need to finish my chores. Your mother is very angry with me for taking so long."
Éponine waved her hand as if to swat the issue away. "We'll 'elp you! Come on! Please!" She jumped up and down and smiled, pleadingly.
Giving in, Cosette left out the back door of the inn, hand in hand with Éponine. They laughed and squealed as they ran together through the forest outside the inn until they found Azelma, Éponine's identical younger sister, waiting for them in a flat area of land.
She waved her hands above her head when she saw them approaching. Cosette made the most of her time out in the snow. She gathered a pile in her hands and threw it into the air letting it fall down onto her head. It was cold and she only had on one of Éponine's old dresses and a pair of old boots that the Thenardier's found abandoned in the street three winters ago. They were full of holes and the snow leaked on to her feet but she was too happy to care. They set to work building their snowman. Éponine and Cosette pushed a snowball around until it gathered up enough snow to act as the base of their snowman and Azelma searched for twigs that would work well for arms and stones for the buttons, eyes and smile.
"One day," Éponine sighed, "I'm getting out of 'ere. I'm going to buy an 'orse and pack my bags and go somewhere."
Cosette watched her as she stared up and the snow filled evening sky. "Where?"
Éponine shrugged. "Anywhere. As long as it's not 'ere."
Her friend smiled at her. "Me too," she nodded, "I want to be rich. I want pretty dresses like you and 'Zelly. I want to have proper parents who love me and care about me and don't make me work all day and buy me dolls. I want to fall in love with a beautiful boy and have three children and live happily ever after in a big house on a hill with plants growing up the front of it. And a farm and a willow tree with a swing hanging from it next to a pond that would have lots of ducks on it. Ooh! And-"
Éponine stared at her as an idea popped into her head. "Come with me!" She pitched, "We'll get two 'orses and travel twice as far! Away from 'ere so my mama and father won't 'urt you anymore!"
A smile crept on to Cosette's face and they shook hands. "Deal!" They both laughed.
"Époni-i-ine!" Both girls looked over at Azelma just in time to see a snowball come hurtling through the air towards them. It hit Éponine right in the face.
She gasped. "That's it!" She laughed, bending down to mould her own snowball and throw it at Azelma. A cold hit on the back of the head informed her that Cosette had joined in too.
Playing and laughing distracted all three girls from the time and before they knew it, the dark grey sky had turned pitch black and a few stars twinkled while the others were covered by invisible dark clouds.
"Oh no," Cosette's heart beat sped up as she dropped the snowball she had made.
Éponine and Azelma attempted to catch their breath that they had lost from running around and laughing. "What?" Éponine breathed.
Cosette began walking away. "It's dark," the sisters exchanged confused looks. "Madame will be home."
"Come on! One more snowball?" Éponine suggested.
"No, Éppy, I can't." Cosette began to walk away when she felt something cold hit the back of her head. She turned to find Éponine sticking her tongue out at her. "Stop it, now, Éponine." She turned to walk away again only to be hit by another snowball. "Éponine! Stop!" Her patience grew shorter when the same thing happened again. She quickly bent down and gathered up her own snowball. "I said stop!" She threw it as hard as she could and Éponine and Azelma quickly ducked out of the way.
They turned slowly when they saw Cosette's mischievous smile drop to an expression of fear.
"What is it?" Azelma asked, jumping at the sound of heavy footsteps trudging through the snow.
"You!" Madame Thenardier roared, approaching Cosette with her open hands at the ready to drag her back to the inn by her hair. "You sneaky, deceiving little toad!"
Cosette let out a cry of pain as a handful of her hair was captured and she was almost pulled off her feet. She hurried along behind Madame Thenardier tears pouring down her cheeks. "Please, stop! Let go! Please!" She wailed.
"Oh, please!" She laughed wickedly, "This is nothing compared to what the Master will do when he 'ears what you've been up to. Looks like we will be bringing the belt back after all." She stopped and stared Cosette in the eyes, a sick, evil, twisted smirk on her lips as she sarcastically hissed "Such a shame," before proceeding the painful walk back to the inn.
.
When they entered the inn, Madame Thenardier shoved Cosette to the floor. She felt a sharp pain in her lower back coming from Madame Thenardier's foot.
"Trying to wrap my poor innocent daughters into your twisted web of scheming and lies, are ya?" Kick. "In." Kick. "Your." Kick. "Dreams." Kick, kick, kick.
"What on earth is going on down here?" Boomed a voice from above. Cosette turned her head to see Monsieur Thenardier stumbling along the landing, leaning on the banister for support that he needed because of his drunken clumsiness. His face tensed when he saw the scene."Oh! What's she done now?"
Madame Thenardier pulled Cosette to her feet by the back of her dress collar. "She snuck out, my love. Caught 'er playing in the snow with the girls."
Monsieur Thenardier looked over to Éponine and Azelma who had been stood silently in the door way. They both bowed their heads. "Oh, girls," he shook his head in disappointment, "What have I told you about playing with the likes of 'er?"
"We're too special to play with scum like that." They both recited in unison.
"Exactly," he stumbled back along the landing into the master bedroom and reappeared seconds later with a familiar black belt in his hands. He wrapped it around his right and began swinging it so that it smacked his left hand as he made his way down the stairs. "As for you," he began, his voice low and angry, "I honestly thought you'd learnt your lesson," he tugged the belt tightly. "You stupid little brat. We lessen your chores out of the goodness of our 'earts and - what do you do? - throw it right back in our faces! And not only that, you also drag our daughters down with you."
He shook his head and raised the belt high above his head. She could see a fury fuelled fire in his eyes as he bared his teeth and roared. Cosette bowed her head, scrunched her eyes shut and tensed her whole body as she heard the belt 'whoosh' as it whipped through the air.
CRACK. She squeaked when she heard the sickening sound but froze when she realised she felt no pain. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up. Éponine stood before her, her hand cupping her cheek as tears streamed down them. Her body shook as she sobbed silently and she collapsed in a heap on the floor. She inhaled sharply and her sobs became audible. They were loud, painful, terrified sobs that bounced off the walls of the inn, rattling the room.
Other than the quivering, sobbing young girl, everybody else stayed still and silent, completely paralyzed with shock.
A knock at the door broke the trance and Madame Thenardier gasped loudly. She darted to Éponine's side, pulled her up onto her lap and rocked her, shushing her soothingly.
"It's okay, my darling. I'm 'ere," she sniffled, shooting an evil look her husband's way.
He backed away, towards the door where someone was waiting on the other side. He composed himself before yanking it open. "Welcome, Monsieur. My sincerest apologies but now is not a good time." He attempted to close the door but the stranger put his foot in the way.
"On the contrary, sir," he barged past him, "I believe now to be a perfect time. I have come for Cosette. Her mother requested that I take her child into my care." He didn't seem surprised when he looked over at the scene and proceeded to explain why. "Forgive me, for I have spied on you. I watched in at the window and after seeing what I just have, I refuse to consider any objections you have to my taking Cosette far away from here." He turned to Monsieur Thenardier and stared him dead in the eyes, "From you." He turned away from him.
"I don't know who you think you are or what you think we are like, Monsieur, but... what you saw..." he pulled a handkerchief from his sleeve and dabbed his eyes with it, "We are not like that. We care for Cosette. Love 'er, as if she was one of our own. You see, sir, we care for her so much that when my wife came 'ome to find 'er and my other daughters gone, we panicked. They didn't tell us where they were goin' or 'ow long they'd be gone. We were scared. When they finally came back, we 'ad to teach them not to scare us like that again. Surely, you understand?"
The stranger scoffed, patronisingly. "I would understand had I not had the misfortune of experiencing your wife dragging Cosette through the woods by her hair. Now," he walked over to Cosette and knelt on the floor in front of her so his eyes were at the same level as hers. "Cosette," he ran his fingers through her hair and smiled, sadly, "Cosette, my dear, I have some upsetting news," he took her hands in his and sighed, deeply, "Your mother, dear child, has passed on. She is with God." His heart broke in two when Cosette collapsed into his arms and wailed in despair.
"No!" She screamed through her tears. "No! No! Please, no!"
The stranger stroked her back soothingly, "It's going to be alright. She gave a specific request for me to care for you. So if you want to get your stuff together, we can leave immediately."
Cosette pulled away from him and stared at him in disbelief through her tears. "Really?" She whispered.
The stranger nodded and Cosette half ran, half skipped towards her cupboard sized 'bedroom' under the stairs.
Monsieur Thenardier angrily approached the stranger. "You listen to me, Monsieur...?"
"Valjean," He introduced himself, "Jean Valjean."
"Valjean," Thenardier continued, "You think we're just goin'o give Cosette to some stranger who waltzed in and said he knows her mother? 'Ow do we know you're not lying to our faces?"
Valjean reached into his pocket and retrieved a folded piece of paper. He handed it to the suspicious innkeeper who read it carefully.
Monsieur Thenardier,
Thank you for informing me about Cosette's illness. I hope you received the 10 francs I sent and I pray she is well soon. I cannot thank you enough for looking after my darling Cosette all this time and for spending all you have on medication, food and clothing for her. However, I am sorry to tell you that I too am very ill and close to dying. This man, Jean Valjean, has helped me in my time of need. He is very rich and since Cosette is in a condition for which she needs expensive medical care, I wish for you to hand her to him. I know he will care for her very well and get her all the medication she requires to be healthy again. You and your dear wife are going to Heaven for caring for my baby and you have my eternal gratitude. I hope you and your family understand that this is what is best for darling Cosette.
Goodbye and thankyou,
Fantine.
Monsieur Thenardier looked at Valjean who was refusing to break eye contact with him. It made him feel intimidated, which rarely happened.
"Well, my wife and I have cared for the angel for the past four years and, as Fantine has written, it has not been cheap. Another mouth to feed, another body to clothe, another vulnerable child to supply with medicines," He used his handkerchief to dab his fake tears, again, "Fantine had always promised to eventually pay us back but, obviously, that is no longer possible. We are poor, Monsieur. Life is a daily struggle. We have two young daughters and an even younger son. What I am trying to say, good sir, is..." He placed a hand on his shoulder, "Cosette isn't going to come cheap."
Valjean scoffed and brushed the dirt-stained hand off his shoulder. "You seem to be forgetting that I saw what just happened in this very room. The last thing I am going to believe is that you actually love that poor child."
Cosette emerged from the room under the stairs holding a tattered old rag doll and a ripped brown jacket. She looked up at Valjean sheepishly. He smiled sympatheticly at her and crouched, beckoning her towards him. She walked over to him slowly, nerves and confusion swarming inside. When she reached him, he put his arms around her and went to lift her up when Mademoiselle Thenardier grabbed her and pulled the child towards her.
"Please, Monsieur, don't take Cosette away from us," she pleaded, planting kisses on the child's tangled brown mane. "Our children are the only ounce of happiness we have left. Don't take that away."
Valjean eyed the woman suspiciously but the look in her eyes made him believe that, unlike her husband, she cared for the child as much as she was saying. He sighed as he reached into his pocket.
"1500," he offered, "Now, may I say, we are agreed?"
Monsieur Thenardier snatched the money and smiled his brown toothed grin. He caught Valjean's eye and forced his mouth to curve downwards instead.
"You promise you'll take care of our little angel?" he squeezed Cosette's shoulder.
Valjean nodded and held his hand out for Cosette to take. "Better than you have, I assure you," he pulled Cosette out of the stubborn grasp of Madame Thenardier. She hurried after to them as they escaped out of the door and fanned her eyes and blew kisses as he lifted Cosette into the carriage that was waiting for them.
She felt her husband's hand rest on her shoulder. "Good thinking, my love, pretending it would 'urt you to take 'er away," he whispered in her ear, "'e was never going to believe I'd miss the little brat but, you? With motherly instincts and all that? Of course 'e'd believe it would be emotional for you. You're a genius, that's what you are." he planted a kiss on her cheek and walked back into the inn.
She followed her husband back into the inn, cackling evilly as they viewed the money with more love in their eyes than had ever been there before, even when they had been looking at their own daughters.
Éponine sat at the window, watching as she blinked away a tear that sat on her eyelashes and the carriage driver urged the horse.
.
Not a minute had passed when Valjean ordered the driver of their carriage to stop and pushed the door open. Cosette heard the crisp snow crunch under his feet as he jumped out of the carriage. She went to follow him but he shook his head.
"You wait here, my dear," he smiled. Cosette noticed that his previously tense and angry expression had softened into a sensitive, friendly, caring one. She nodded to his orders and relaxed back into her seat. She heard him mutter something to the driver before his crunching footsteps grew fainter as he walked off down the street. She sat patiently in the carriage, tapping her knees and clicking her tongue.
She jumped slightly when she heard a "psst!" come from the other side of the door. She froze and made the decision to ignore the sound.
"Psst!" It hissed again, "Cosette? It's Éponine!"
"Éppy?" she squeaked. She slowly pushed the door open, checking that the driver wasn't watching or Valjean wasn't coming back and shushed her friend as she climbed into the carriage and sat down beside her. "What are you doing?" Cosette whispered.
Éponine wrapped her arms around her and sighed deeply as she held her tightly for a while.
"I came to say goodbye," she smiled through tears. The sight made Cosette's eyes fill with tears, too. "But now I'm 'ere and I don't want to say it."
Through sniffles, Cosette whispered, "Then let's just say "see you soon"," she pulled Éponine in for another hug.
"I better go," Éponine wiped her tears on the sleeve of her dress, "See you soon," she turned quickly and hopped out of the carriage.
Cosette watched her as she walked away. "Éponine!" she shouted as she remembered she forgot to ask her a very important question. When Éponine turned around she continued, "Promise me you'll write me?"
Éponine giggled. "You'll 'ave to learn 'ow to write me back, then!" She teased, "But I promise." She winked and turned to walk away again.
"Éppy!" she turned back again, "Don't forget."
She put her hand over her heart, a silent symbol they had done for as long as either could remember in order to promise something without Monsieur or Madame Thenardier knowing. Cosette mimicked the action and watched her friend walk back up the street and disappear around the corner through blurred, tearful eyes.
She quickly shut the carriage door and composed herself, wiping her tears on the back of her hands and clearing her throat. She recognised Valjean muttering something to the driver just before the handle went down and the door was tugged open.
She caught her breath as she saw in his hand a porcelain doll with a pink bonnet and white laced dress with pink trimmings. He trembled with joy as he handed it to her.
"It's for you," he smiled, "Much better than that old mess of ripped fabric." Cosette clutched tight to her old doll which lay on the seat beside her. Even if she had this wonderful new doll, she would never give up her old one. Éponine had given it to her a few months earlier when she got a new doll and "Didn't need that one anymore". It hadn't been the most generous present one could give their friend but it's the thought that counts and the thought Éponine had was that "I always get new toys and you get nothing, so you can have this one. It might technically be an old toy but it's new for you." Cosette cherished the toy and, as of today, it was the only physical thing she had to remind herself of the only friend she'd ever had.
Valjean smiled at the way her face lit up as she caressed the dolls hair. It filled his heart with happiness and love. He had always been a lonely man, being a fugitive from the law meant he always had to distance himself from close bonds with other people, but in the sweet, innocent child who sat in front of him, he saw an opportunity to right all his wrongs and make a positive impact on the world and he didn't intend on wasting that rare opportunity, his second chance to do good. He decided right there that he would raise this child with all the love, care and happiness he had been deprived of throughout his entire life. Maybe this would help God to forgive him.