A/N: Just a quick wedding story. Hope you all enjoy.
Jean Valjean sat in the drawing room reading when Toussaint the maid came into the room. He had barely read two pages in the past week since the news of the wedding of Cosette and Marius. Cosette at that moment was in her room getting ready.
"Monsieur, Cosette wishes for you to see you," she said plainly.
"What is wrong? What happened?' Valjean said setting his book down on the table and bolting up. He winced in slight pain as his knees were not as young as they used to be.
"She is quite alright, I assure you," she said leaving the room.
Valjean exited the room and was about to climb the stairs to Cosette's room. She was often at Marius's home that she rarely used her room. She had been back in her home for a week prior to the wedding as the custom was. Valjean was nervous and sadden by the wedding. His child would be gone. She was never mine to keep he told himself.
After he reached the top of the stairs he turned right and went down the hall. He knocked at her familiar door. He knocked and when he heard Cosette tell him he could enter he paused. He knew the moment he saw her in her wedding gown, the wedding was real. He had been in a state of denial he thought. He always thought this was just a dream but no.
He entered and saw her in her gown. It had a buttoned bodice and billowing sleeves. The skirt of the dress had tiny bits of embroidery, Cosette's had sewn. Her hair was in a complicated bun and her veil covered her face. The veil was Marius's mother's and was told he would be honored if she wore it. The gloves sat on the table and he saw her head hang like she did when she was small.
"My Cosette, what is wrong?" he asked.
"Oh, papa! I was so foolosih. How can I ever do this?" she said looking up. She was not crying but looked ready to.
"You are not foolish. It is a part of life," he said awkwardly. He really wasn't the right person for this. He had never truly fancied a woman. He had no experience in weddings. It was times like this he felt like a terrible father. He had not given her a mother which she needed. But he did his best.
"I cannot walk down the aisle without you! I feel I am betraying you in some way," she said.
'You are not. I am proud of you," he said. He wasn't going to walk her down the aisle because he said he had a fake injury with his writing hand. But really he was trying to avoid Javert, who might trace him and disgrace Cosette.
"I do not feel ready! How will I manage? I don't know how to be a wife…" she said before being cut off.
"Shhh, my dear it will all come naturally. If you love and support him, then he will do the same. You will be a good wife if you are just you. He fell in love with you. He is a kind man and I have trust he will be a good husband," he said.
Cosette just looked at her father. He was the same man who had saved her all those years ago. The same man who gave her her doll, Katherine, which sat on the shelf.
"Cosette do you remember how I told you that you could trust me?" he asked.
'Yes," she said.
"Trust me when I say, you will be fine. You both will be married and live happily as you both should. I have faith in God that he will lead you," he said kindly. This seemed to reassure her and her eyes brightened.
Valjean grabbed the gloves that sat on the table and came back over.
"Give me your hand," he said.
"Papa, you don't have to. You hand needs rest," she said.
"Oh, I think my hand will be fine," he said laughing.
She gave him her pale hand and he slipped the silk glove onto her right hand. He did the same to the other hand and kissed them both. He knew he would never be able to that again.
"Now come the church awaits," he said.
"Papa?" she asked.
"Yes?"
"Can we play one more game of 'Princess'?" she asked.
Princess was a game Valjean had made up. Basically he would pretend to be her servant and would act comically. He would make dramatic bows or say your majesty. Valjean would pretend to be a jester and try to juggle. He never could get more than two balls in the air before the balls came crashing down.He had made the game up to make Cosette feel better when she remembered her days of abuse. It always had cheered her up. She knew this was a game but it was fun to pretend. She didn't often ask for the game and hadn't asked since she was 9. Valjean had almost forgotten the game but was willing to oblige. Anything to keep his child a bit longer.
"Why of course Princess Cosette," he said bowing deeply.
Cosette laughed. The clock towers rang out 10 o'clock. This loud bongs sounded like the drums that meant a prisoner was to be hanged. He felt the same feeling a prisoner about to be executed felt. He was going to lose his world. Cosette was his world.
"You carriage of gold awaits," he said taking her hand.
They exited and went down the stairs. Though it was warm outside he insisted she wear a shawl.
"Which shawl would you like my princess? The blue silk one from China or the gray one from imported from Italy?" he asked in a fake accent he made up.
"Oh I think the blue one," she said laughing.
He put on his coat. Once her shawl was on she was placed in the carriage. He came around the other side and sat down across from her. She looked radiant and the short carriage ride ended too soon. The next time he saw her, if he saw her she would no longer be his child.
"You castle my princess," he said.
She smiled, "Thank you for the game. Thank you for allowing this."
"Anything my darling," he said.
He didn't exit the carriage and instead watched as Marius's grandfather welcomed her in.
The carriage ride home was one of the saddest he ever had. His child was gone. He would return home to silence. No one to welcome him home. He knew he could visit her but he felt wrong to do so. Finally his age caught up to him. He felt truly old at this moment.