Chapter VI

~When Hope Was High and Life Worth Living~

"Christine… I want you to marry me."

In this moment, Grantaire was more afraid then he had ever been in his entire life. His heart froze in his chest like the ice that covered the frozen earth. He suddenly felt so helpless and so vulnerable. He had thrown himself, bound, captive, powerless, and defenses like a prisoner in chains, at the feet of the queen who had the power to save his life or to destroy it, to illuminate his heart or to break it. Grantaire did not know what to do. What could he do? All he could do was look fearfully upon the woman whom he loved and wait for her to answer him.

Christine only stared at him, her eyes wide, her face white, her lips parted, her mouth slightly ajar, and her mind unreadable. Grantaire could see that she was surprised, shocked, aghast… She had not expected this. But he could see no more. He could not know if she was glad or angry, happy or disappointed, pleased or disgraced. She started at him for another long moment, before she blinked and tried to ask, although her voice emitted only as a barely audible whisper, "What did you say?"

Grantaire opened his lips again, but he did not think that his voice would work. He did not know if he could ask a second time, at least not looking into her beautiful eyes. Closing his mouth, he swallowed down the knot in his throat, forced down the fear racing in his heart, dropped his eyes to stare at the snow below his feet, and made himself to repeat, "I want you to marry me."

For a long terrifying moment, he stared at the snow waiting, and he received no answer. Only silence. When he could bare it no more, he glanced up to look at her, dread and fear in his heart, expecting the worst, expecting her to say no, expecting her to become angry at him, expecting her to leave him, expecting her to tell him that she did not love him. He was so afraid that he expected this, even when he already knew the truth that she loved him more than anything else.

He hardly had time to raise his eyes, however, when he felt her body collide with his. He stumbled a step backward, caught off guard, surprised and startled. For a moment he did not understand what had happen. Then, he realized that she had wrapped her arms around his neck and that she was embracing him as tightly as she could, that she was smiling, and laughing, and crying at the same time, that she had said yes.

Before he was aware of it, Grantaire had wrapped his arms around her, as well. He was hugging her closely and tightly to him, holding her as securely as he could, smiling and laughing with the uttermost joy, as his heart swelled and burst with happiness and with love. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" he kept hearing Christine whispering again and again. "Grantaire, I love you."

"I love you," he was then telling her over and over. "Christine, I love you. I will always love you. I want to be with you forever." In this time, when Grantaire said this to this girl, his words came straight from his heart, and he meant every one of them.

"I know, I know," he heard her whispering through tears of joy. "I love you, Grantaire. I will always love you."

Still clinging tightly to each other, she drew her head away from his chest so that she could look up into his eyes. Grantaire looked down upon her face, and for a long moment, they gazed joyfully, lovingly, tenderly, into the others eyes, smiling and bubbling with joy. Grantaire smiled at her and said gently, "I love you, Christine."

Christine did not reply with words. Instead, still smiling, she gently laid her hand against Grantaire's cheek, took his face in her grasp, brought his face toward her own, stood on her toes, and leaned forward to place a soft kiss upon his lips.

Grantaire felt her lips touch his, his eyes closed, and for the moment that it lasted, he only stood there, still and stiff, letting her bestow this sacred kiss upon him. This was the first time that he had ever kissed or been kissed by a woman. This was the first time that Christine had ever kissed or been kissed by a man. Aside from the tender parentally kisses that their mothers and fathers used to place upon their foreheads when they were children, this was the first time that either of them had kissed anybody. Then, their lips broke apart, they opened their eyes, and they looked into the eyes of one another.

Christine only looked up at him, the smile fell away from her face, a strange, unexplainable, pure beauty upon her, like the beauty of this cold winter morning. A moment later, a warm smile spread across her lips and Grantaire's lips at the same time. They smiled and laughed with joy. It was then Grantaire who wrapped his arms around her, held her tightly in his arms, pulled her closely against him, lifted her off of her feet, spun her around in his arms, both of them smiling and laughing, and when he put her on her feet again he pulled her in to kiss her.

A new feeling passed into Grantaire's body, warmth spread throughout his entire being, and his heart began to stir, and then to flutter, then to soar, then to fly, and then to sing. In this moment as Grantaire held this woman in his arms, this woman who he loved, this woman who would soon be his wife, he could not have explained or even understood the joy and the love that he was feeling.

"But your father," Grantaire said when they finally broke away from the kiss, yet were still clinging tightly to one another.

"What of my father?" she asked, smiling brightly up at Grantaire.

"Do think he will let you marry me?"

Her smile grew wider and she laughed softly. "Of course, he will! Why would he not?"

"He just… he does not know me very well."

"He knows that you love me, and he knows that you area good man. What else does he need to know?"

As Grantaire held her and looked down into her beautiful face, he perceived that he was looking into the face of an angel. He was, indeed. This young woman was his angel. He could not help but smile. "How could he know either of those things?"

"They are not too difficult to see in you, Grantaire," she said with a soft smile upon her lips and the strongest sincerity in her voice. Before Grantaire could respond, she tightened her arms around him, pulled him closer to her, and hugged him for a long time. On this beautiful morning of Christmas Eve, these two children stood outside in the snow-covered garden of the church, loving each other, embracing each other, and sometimes blessing the other with a kiss of purity.

"But what of your parents?" Christine finally asked, and this was the question that brought their embrace to an end.

"What about them?" Grantaire asked, unable to frown in such joy.

"Will they let you marry me? Since my father and I are… so poor?"

"Of course, they will! They have to! If the won't, then we will run away together and be married somewhere else."

She looked up at him and laughed softly. "Run away? Where would we go?"

"Anywhere!" he exclaimed, laughing and smiling at the same time. "We'll run off to some town where nobody knows us, and we'll tell them that we have no parents and that we want to get married."

"We could not lie, Grantaire," she said, gently stroking his cheek with her hand.

He let out a soft sigh of happiness, as when he was with the woman he could scarcely feel anything except for happiness, and slowly shook his head. "No," he agreed quietly. "But we will not have to. My parents will let us be married."

As soon as he said this, Christine's face lit up as if a candle had suddenly been lit in her soul. "You really think so?"

"Yes."

Then, overflowing with happiness, with joy, and with love, Christine and Grantaire tightened their arms around each other and pulled each other into another long, tight, warm embrace. Love was bursting inside of Grantaire in a way that he could hardly understand. It made him want to smile, to laugh, to shout, and to sing, all at once. This was the happiest he had ever been in all of his life. He loved her. He had loved her since the moment that he had seen her. Now, he would always love her no matter what happened. He would love her forever.

On the night of that Christmas Eve, Grantaire returned to his father's house, brought both of his parents into a room, and told them that he wanted to get married. His mother was astounded, shocked, terrified, and utterly caught off guard, as she did not even know that he had been seeing a woman, yet, she was also filled with joy and happiness for her son. Almost at once, she approved, but the father, the one who would have to give his blessing for the marriage to be possible, was more reluctant.

He sat upon the cushioned seat of his couch, as his wife stood beside him and his son stood before him. His face hard like stone, not unkind but not kind either, and no smile upon his lips, he drew in a deep breath, narrowed his eyes, and looked deeply at Grantaire, as if his gaze could penetrate through him and read the inner most thoughts in his son's mind and heart. "What is her name?" he questioned the boy, at last.

"Christine."

"Who is her father?"

"A widower called Monsieur Tomothée."

"He has a stable living, I trust?"

"He is a working man."

"A working man?" At once, the look upon his father's face dropped and became much more doubtful. Grantaire's heart froze as if cold frost had suddenly encased it, and he was afraid. "The girl is not of the upper class, then?"

Grantaire answered boldly but no disrespectfully, "She is not rich, if that is what you mean, father."

The old man frowned. "She is poor?"

Grantaire hesitated before answering, "Her father works hard, and they get along."

"You have met her father?"

"Yes. On a few occasions."

"How long have you been seeing this girl?"

"Since October."

"And you are only now telling your father and your mother that you are in love, at all?"

Grantaire could clearly hear the disapproval in his father's voice, and he knew that the man was expecting to hear and explanation. But Grantaire had no explanation that would make his father any less angered, so he answered simply, "Yes."

The frown on his father's face darkened. He was silent for a long moment before he spoke in a low tone, "You want to marry this peasant girl, who is poor and coinless, whom I have never met, whose father is some wretched working fellow, probably a thief, as well, and this girl who my own son does not tell his father about until he wants me to give him my blessing? What in your simple mind makes you think that I will approve of your marriage to this peasant girl? A marriage like this will do nothing for this family or for you."

"Yes, it will!" Grantaire immediate protested, desperate and afraid. "Father, please!" he was now begging. "I love her! Is that not enough reason for you to let me marry her? Don't you want me to be happy?"

In truth, the old man did, very much, want his son to be happy, but not like this. He believed that happiness could not be found in the filthy slums of poverty. The man slowly shook his head, closed his eyes, and raised a hand to Grantaire, as to tell him to be silent. "Yes, I wish you to be happy," he told him, "but you will not find happiness in dirt, stale bread, and a life that is a struggle to live. And what of children? You cannot expect to raise an honorable young man or fine young lady in a life like that! Any children that you produced would end a rascal or a beggar! That kind of life is filthy and unclean. I do not want my son to live like that."

Grantaire's face darkened and he looked suddenly and angrily away from his father. "I have more than enough money to support us both; you know that," he snapped darkly and spitefully. "You don't want me to marry her, because you are selfish and arrogant, and you put yourself above everyone else, and you think that if a person is not rich than she is scum."

As soon as their son said this, the woman let out a sudden gasp of horror and of disbelief, her hands flying to her lips to cover her mouth, and the man was suddenly filled with outrage and fury, abruptly standing up from his set and stepping toward the boy so that he towered over his son and glared down at him like a wrathful king that had the power to beat his slave. He attempted not to let this emotion show on his face, but the man had been hurt greatly by his son's words, as he knew that they were true. "That is quite enough out of you!" he thundered at Grantaire, who did not recoil in the slightest but stood unafraid before his father. "I do not want you to marry her, because I want my son to have a good life! You will be so much happier if your wife is proper, and decent, and suitable—"

"She is proper, and decent, and suitable!" Grantaire cried out. "You think that someone has to be rich to be—"

"—and if she has enough money to contribute, so that you both can have a comfortable life, not scrounging for every sou that you can get you hands on!" his father finished raising his voice in anger. "You have said quite enough, boy, and I have told you what I think of it. Now, get out from my sight."

Fear, and panic, and despaired suddenly seized Grantaire's heart again, and at once, he abandoned any angry thoughts that he had for his father, and he began pleading again, instead. "Please, father," he kept saying. "I love her, I want to be with her, we will get by fine, I have enough money to support us, and I will get a job, and… Please, father, I love her. I have never loved anyone the way that I love her; you cannot take her from me!"

The man sat back down upon the couch as his son continued to say these things. Then, he sat there, staring at the floor, and listening silently for a long time. At last, he held up at hand, and Grantaire fell silent. He let out a heavy sigh and raised his eyes to meet Grantaire's. "Son, listen to me," he said at length, his voice soft and sincere to what he said. "I want, very much, for you to be happy. But I think that it would be better for you and for all of us if you found a girl with more money and higher status in society."

"Father, please," Grantaire said again. His voice was soft now, not at all disrespectful but pleading and sad. His face reflected the sorrow in his heart, and his eyes were as if he was about to break and cry. "I do not want anther woman, I love her. Please, father… You do not understand…" He lowered his head and stared at the floor beneath his feet. "If I do not marry this woman then I will never marry anyone. I will never love anyone else."

Grantaire's father was rich, proud, arrogant, greedy, and selfish, he did not get along with his son, their opinions differed on close to everything, and sometimes the mother would hear her husband mercilessly insulting their good-for-nothing wretch of a child. But in truth, the old man did love his son. He was too proud to say so, but he loved Grantaire. He wanted him to be happy. He could see that, like Grantaire said, his son would not be happy unless he could be with this woman. So at last, the old man agreed.

On Christmas day, the parents met for the first time. Monsieur Tomothée came to Monsieur Grantaire's home, they greeted each other, went into a room, and discussed the matters of their children's marriage; the son and Christine remained quietly on the other side of the room, sitting beside each other on a couch, listening to the affair, trying to remain formal and respectful, but unable to kept the smiles off of their faces when they glanced at each other and then try to suppress soft laughs of joy; and Madame Grantaire remained in the doorway of the room, looking in at the beautiful young girl who sat beside her son, at the kind-seeming man talking to her husband, and at her son, who she had never seen so happy or, and with his happiness, so handsome.

It was decided. The two young ones were to be married. In only a few weeks time, Christine would be Grantaire's wife. One could not explain the joy that they both were feeling. They were so happy. Entranced, intoxicated, and soaring in their love, they had never been so filled with joy. In the days that followed, they spent almost every minute together, walking through Saint-Mandé, talking in a garden, sitting under the stars, watching the sun rise. Everything that they did they did together.

At once, they began to plan and fantasize about the future. Grantaire decided that he would not go to school and that, instead, he would use the money that he had saved to buy a house, then he would find work, and that would be enough to support them both. They could have, of course, lived in the house of Grantaire's father, but he did not want to. Christine said that she, too, could work, but Grantaire immediately objected. The parents had also given them each money, Grantaire's parents more than Christine's father, but he gave everything that he could to his daughter. This would be enough for them to start a new life together. They talked of many things, but no matter what they said or where they went, they were only glad to be with each other. When people saw them together, they could not help but smile at the young couple, as they could see only at a glance how deep their love went.

In only a few weeks time, Grantaire and Christine would have been married. They would have been so happy. But sometimes, for reasons that the mortal man cannot quite understand, Darkness or Providence does not allow these good things in the lives of men to happen. Like a stone barrier that rose up in the way, preventing this marriage to come to pass, on January 10, only three days before the day that the wedding was to untie these young lovers, something happened that would change everything.