Oh, darling it's wonderful!" Cosette was in raptures over their new found home.
"Are you sure my angel?," Marius chuckled, "It's a little broken down,"
In reality, the house at the edge of the wood was so dilapidated, some of the villagers had taken to calling it the "dead house,". It hadn't been lived in in so long that no one could quite remember who the last owner had been. A few weeks ago, when Marius had traveled to this remote kingdom, looking for a sanctuary, he had simply appealed to the residents of the nearest town, asking if he could buy the house. They swindled a "reasonable" price from him, and he rushed home to tell Cosette the news. He hadn't thought of the state of the little chateau until this moment. Only now, seeing his beautiful wife standing on the creaking, cobwebbed threshold, was he having second thoughts.
"Oh nonsense, it's perfect,". She reached up and kissed his cheek, and Marius smiled in satisfaction. If she was happy, so was he. Besides, she was right. It was indeed perfect for their intentions. Marius had not quite shaken the ghosts of the barricade, and Cosette was still struggling to let her father go. Everywhere they went in Paris, sadness seemed to follow. Here, amid moldy walls and broken windows, they were free, and the freedom made it beautiful.
Over the next few weeks, the two worked tirelessly, replacing floorboards, rafters, and windows, and scrubbing every surface raw. It was a difficult task for them both as neither had any experience in the way of construction, and to make matters worse, Cosette was three months pregnant with their first child, but they made the most of it, laughing often, and always side by side.
The townspeople who passed the house on their way to the woods soon noticed the change that had occurred so quickly in the "dead house". The garden was still overgrown, but now emanated an aura more boisterous than haunting. The house gleamed like new, and at night the windows shone a golden light for all in the village to see. A new nickname had to be created, and, as wild blue lavender seemed in abundance all around the houses outer gates, and mixed in with the grass, the townsfolk took to calling it the "lavender house,"