Disclaimer: Les Mis is still not mine. I'm not quite in the mood for a witty disclaimer at the moment, so why not let this particular Baby Grand speak for itself? Here, since I forgot to say last time round, we have number 3 in the LiveJournal 10prompts community:
3 – Simple Things
It really was the small things in life that made Cosette's days. This morning, a rare morning, Marius had awakened before her and they had a lingering good-morning. She tumbled out of bed and reached for her housecoat. Marius tripped off to have a bath, his hair sticking out in all directions as he scratched his head. With her hair still in its nighttime braid, Cosette left the bedroom with her housecoat pulled tight round her and followed the hallway to the little girls' room. Leaning her ear on the door, she could hear no mischief and could thus assume she was right on time.
"Bonjour, darlings!" she announced brightly as she opened the door. Four heads disappeared under nests of blankets. "Come now, it's morning – time to start another day!"
Cosette crossed the room and opened the curtains, letting the soft morning sunlight spill across the hardwood floor and rug covering it. The four wriggling lumps in the neat little beds complained under their covers. A small hand retrieved a dropped rabbit before disappearing. A little blue eye peeked out from under the blanket-heap closest to Cosette. When she caught the gaze, the cover returned and complaints turned to giggles. The giggles were infectious and soon the four little bed-bumps had to sit up to see what sort of adventures the new morning brought.
"Mama Cosette, is it time for breakfast?" asked Lucille, tugging at her pillow to hide the book beneath it. "Are we having eggs?"
Helping tiny Aveline, only three, down out of bed and replacing the doll on the pillow, Cosette smiled over at Lucille.
"Not yet, love," she answered, turning to help Aveline's sister, seven-year-old Doriane, down from her bed as well. "I need to see neatly-made beds and clean, brushed hair before we all go down for breakfast!"
Eight-year-old Marguerite yawned and Cosette removed her knuckle from her mouth, aiding her in leaving her bed as well. Lucille, Marguerite, and Doriane trooped over to the collective vanity table. They took turns at the basin before taking up their respective hair brushes and elbowing for space. Cosette had Aveline by the hand, helping her to wash her face in the basin and listening to the little girl squeal about the cold water. She issued a warning when she heard the sound of a slap and caught Doriane's hand before she could pinch back. Aveline needed help brushing her hair, so Cosette settled on the side of one bed, scooped the little one up, and started taming the rats' nests resulting from sleep.
"Girls, let's see more brushing, less pinching!" Cosette admonished the three at the mirror. "The sooner everyone is clean and ready, the sooner we go down to warm eggs!"
This seemed to light the fire under all three behinds and they rushed through the rest of their brushing, tying in ribbons and shoving on the way to the closet for dresses.
"I'm right glad to see she's doing so well for herself," Eponine up in heaven said to Fantine, the two women watching Cosette from the cloud. "That's your girl, isn't it?"
Fantine smiled down at Cosette and the little girls, nodding her head 'yes' before smiling back at Eponine. It really hadn't been her fault, the things that had happened when they were children. Neither one of them had any control over that terrible situation at all – really, none of them had. She reached out and took the younger woman by the hand. The agreement remained unspoken – whatever, if any, ill will there might have ever been had gone away. True, Eponine had been in love with Marius, but she truly bore Cosette no malice – he was never hers to lose in the first place. And especially now, in Heaven on high, it truly was her, Eponine's, triumph to see these two people doing good things in the world. Marius had survived the barricade so he could be with Cosette. In their love, the spirits of everyone who loved them lived on.
And on Earth, Cosette had her hands full. Four little girls bounded around her on their collective way down to dinner. She and Marius had been running things this way for a while – both of them readied their respective crews and they met for the new day over breakfast. The boys and Marius waited in varying degrees of decorum and patience for Cosette and the girls. Promises of fresh eggs had everyone on the edges of their seats. Excited giggles preceded the new arrivals and Cosette had to remind everyone to walk, not run, to the table. Cosette settled beside Marius after helping Aveline into her chair, the one with the extra cushion in it.
Eponine and Fantine once again smiled as they watched Marius lead his family in a blessing over breakfast. Two of the boys elbowed each other in their haste to be the first into the eggs. The girls settled rather quickly and began to help each other take a baguette apart. It wasn't the neatest cutting job, but they were proud of themselves for managing it anyway, passing pieces round the table. Marius leaned over to help one of the boys with a pitcher of milk. Christophe, nine, protested that he could handle it, but Marguerite helpfully reminded him of last week's accident. Scowling, he allowed Marius to do the pouring for him – stoneware could be a bit unwieldy.
The two women in Heaven watched over the ones they held dear as the chaos that was breakfast for twelve unfolded. Ranier and Christophe had a penchant for squashing their cheese into funny shapes, to Marius's amusement and Cosette's chagrin. Aveline tugged at Doriane's sleeve and, failing to make herself heard with a whisper, announced quite loudly her need to potty. Doriane asked to be excused, Colette agreed, and the two girls toddled from the dining room. Lucille seemed to be into it with ten-year-old Fabien, exchanging occasional kicks under the table. Ah, yes… Breakfast as usual.