thank you for all the reviews on the last chapter - i really am super grateful to anyone who has taken the time to review this story, so thank you!
this chapter is nowhere near as intense as the previous one, and there's a little bit of fluff at the end for good measure :-]
Marius and Cosette got engaged two weeks later.
They all knew it was coming, mainly due to the fact that Marius made the mistake of sharing his plans with Courfeyrac, who managed to keep the news a secret for about an hour. But even without his exposure everyone knew that after they moved in together it would only be a matter of time before Marius put a ring on it.
Barely six months ago that news would have destroyed Eponine, but when Cosette showed up at her door waving her newly adorned left hand she didn't feel anything. Of course she was happy for Cosette, who was practically bursting with joy, but that feeling of envy that used to almost paralyze her was long gone.
Even sitting at her kitchen table whilst Cosette described every little detail of the moment Marius finally got down on one knee had no affect of her. Eponine couldn't help but find it almost amusing to think that it wasn't that long ago that even the thought of Cosette and Marius getting married would have made her want to throw herself into the Seine.
After gushing over her ring and Marius's typically over the top, overtly romantic proposal, Cosette finally got round to the nitty gritty of wedding planning.
"The thing is," she said, "Marius's grandfather wants us to hold the wedding at his house, and he's getting the house renovated starting in the summer, and well, you've been there, you've seen the size of that place."
Eponine nodded. Up until Marius's 21st birthday no-one really had any idea exactly how rich his family was, until they all found themselves invited to a party that his grandfather held for him at his home just outside the city. When they had arrived at the house Eponine had been pretty convinced that they had taken a wrong turn somewhere along they way and had actually ended up at Versailles; but it turned out they were in fact at right place and it was just that Marius's grandfather lived in the biggest house she had ever seen with her own eyes.
"Anyway, he doesn't want us waiting around indefinitely until the work is done so we're having the wedding in May." Cosette said, winching slightly. "And it's just I know that you're due in May and so I don't want you to think that I'm trying to steal your thunder or anything."
Eponine smiled. Only Cosette would apologize for setting a wedding date that may be inconsiderate to others. "Cosette, it's your wedding. It's your day, it should be when you want it to be, you shouldn't be worrying about me."
"But there's more..."
"Sounds dubious." Eponine said, absent-mindedly rubbing her stomach.
"Well, I was wondering if you would be my maid of honor?" Cosette said. "You're my best friend Eponine and I really couldn't have gotten through the past few years without you." she smiled. "Besides, it really is thanks to you that Marius and I even met in the first place, so it just seems right that you should be up there with us."
Eponine wasn't expecting that. She felt a sudden pang of guilt run through her for all the times she had been nice to Cosette's face whilst quietly hating her for 'stealing' Marius from right under her nose.
"Now Cosette, are you sure you've thought this through?" Eponine replied. "I'll be ready to drop in May, I will literally be walking about with a full grown human just hanging out inside of me. I will be the size of a small island nation."
"Eponine," Cosette laughed, "don't be stupid, you'll be beautiful. You already look beautiful, you've got that pregnant woman glow going on and everything."
"I think that's just the light sheen of sweat that I'm basically covered in all the time now because this baby has ruined my ability to control my own body temperature, but if you want to call it a glow that's fine with me."
"So, will you do it?"
"Of course I'll do it Cosette, I would be honored," Eponine smiled. "Excuse the pun."
"Oh, I'm so glad you said yes!" Cosette exclaimed, throwing her arms round Eponine. "I was a bit worried there that you were going to say no."
"Well, we'll just see how happy you are when my big ass ruins all your photos," Eponine said, laughing.
"You know" Cosette said, releasing Eponine from the hug, "being my maid of honor will probably be good practice."
"For what?" Eponine said, getting up to refill the pair's long empty coffee cups.
"For when you and Enjolras get married."
"We're not getting married," Eponine said, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah not yet, but you two will totally be next," Cosette smirked.
"You are just as bad as R, he's so obsessed I think he is actually planning our wedding in his spare time."
"Well we can't both be wrong."
"I don't really think Enjolras is the marrying kind," Eponine said, sitting back down at the table.
"No-one thought Enjolras was the live-in girlfriend, falling in love, having a baby kind either, so as it stands I would put good money on him being the marrying kind."
"Well, I don't know if I'm the marrying kind."
"You really don't want to get married?"
Eponine shrugged. "I've just never really thought about it."
"Like not even when you were little?"
Eponine shook her head. "No, I mean I never ran around with a pillow case on my head or anything, it just never crossed my mind."
"Are you serious?" Cosette said, looking genuinely shocked.
"I've just never really thought that far ahead." Eponine replied. "Getting married is what nice, normal people do and I've never really felt like a nice, normal person, so I guess I just figured it just wouldn't happen for me."
"And you still think that now?" Cosette asked. "You're honestly telling me that the thought of you and Enjolras getting married has never once crossed your mind?"
Even during Eponine's infatuation with Marius the fantasy never went any further than just being with him, she never thought about marrying him or actually being his wife. Had she thought about actually marrying Enjolras? No. Was she thinking about it now? Yes.
"This is the first healthy relationship I've ever been in," she replied, "and I'm already knocked up so I think if anything we need to cross that bridge first, don't you?"
"But what if he asked?" Cosette said. "What if Enjolras walked in here right now, got down on one knee and asked you to marry him, what would you say?"
"Cosette, this is a redundant conversation," Eponine said, trying to brush the topic off. "Besides, we shouldn't be taking about my hypothetical non-engagement, when you have just gotten engaged for real."
That was all that was needed to set Cosette off again; she quickly dropped the idea of Eponine and Enjolras's fictional wedding and started talking a mile a minute about trying to track down a dress she had seen a magazine months ago.
By the time Cosette left over an hour later Eponine already felt like she needed to go to some kind of wedding rehab. But she couldn't get Cosette's earlier question out of her head, and what alarmed her more was not that she was still thinking about it, but the fact that she knew that if Enjolras walked in right now and asked her to marry him she wouldn't even hesitate before saying yes.
"Apparently the baby is the size of a small gerbil now."
Eponine looked over at Enjolras laying beside her. He looked totally engrossed in the baby book he had been reading for the past forty-five minutes.
"I'm sorry, did you just compare your unborn child to a small rodent?"
"I'm just relaying what it says in the book."
"Well then, I don't think I like that book," Eponine said, reaching over and grabbing the book from his hands before throwing it across the room.
"Hey!" Enjolras said, feigning annoyance, "I was reading that."
"Don't care," Eponine said, rolling onto her side so she could tuck her body into his.
"I was thinking that maybe we should make a start on getting the baby's room organized," Enjolras said.
"Like right now?" Eponine groaned.
"No," Enjolras laughed. "At the weekend."
"Yeah," Eponine replied, "we really should get on that I suppose."
"You don't sound too excited."
"I am excited," Eponine said, "it's just when I started to look at all that stuff online there was just so much of it that I just don't even know where to start."
"Well, there was lots of helpful advice in my book." Enjolras said.
"I don't support any work that compares our child to a gerbil," Eponine said, reaching up to kiss him, "so you'll have to get a new book."