I DO NOT OWN LES MISERABLES OR ANY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS.
...
Éponine smiled, skipping past Marius, planting a kiss on his cheek.
"I'm off to the shop, see you later?"
"Yea," he smiled.
She danced out the door. This wasn't unusual for Éponine these days.
Now that she had Marius, and her mother, and friends, she couldn't stop from being happy, and she showed that in every word, in every action.
"Joly?" Marius turned to his friend, sitting opposite him at the table.
"Hmm?" Joly murmured, lost in his newspaper.
"I'm going to ask 'Ponine to marry me," Marius grinned.
Joly's head snapped straight up, and he laughed slightly. "Seriously?"
Marius nodded. "Definitely."
"Well, have you asked Thérése?"
"Yes, of course...She seems very excited. Although, she said she had to take care of something first. I'm not sure what..."
"Probably just some surprise. Anyway, when do you plan to do this? I'm so happy for you two, honestly," Joly grinned.
"Thanks, Joly. I'm not sure...Do you have any ideas? I mean, I'd ask Enjolras, but he has not the slightest idea of romance. I'd ask the girls, but they' tell-"
"Of course, I'll help. I might just have a few ideas up my sleeve," Joly winked, reached for a piece of paper to start scribbling down plans.
...
Madame Thernardier slowly walked through the streets of Paris, looking for one certain pawn shop.
When she finally reached Boutique Gage de Durand, she slipped through the front door, taking a silent look around.
She was finally noticed by a young handsome man, who looked only a few years older than Éponine. He had a structured face, and curly hair.
"Bonjour Madame, how may I help you?" he smiled warmly.
"Bonjour. I'm Thérése Thernardier, I came here a long time ago to pawn an engagement ring that belonged to my mother. It was a fine and beautiful ring, so very expensive. It was golden, with a red ruby set in. Do you still have it?"
"I know the ring you're talking about, it was delightful. But I'm sorry, it's out on loan," he apologised.
"Well, I need it today. Who has it, so that I may talk to them?"
"Let me check," he smiled, walking over to a desk with a large, aged book on it. He opened it, dust flying out. He flicked through, until he found the right page, and traced it lightly with his finger.
"I believe it now belongs to a Madame Cosette Fauchelevent."
...
Thérése raced through the streets of Paris, despite her injured state, driven on by determination and adrenaline.
Having lived on the streets of Paris all her life, she knew where absolutely everyone lived, including Cosette.
She banged on the door, waiting for Cosette to open it. She figured, if she was at least patient, she'd have more chance of retrieving the ring.
Cosette opened it, and gasped, her eyes widening.
"What are you doing here?" to this day, Cosette was still scared of the woman.
"I'm here to get that pretty ring back," she replied, lowering her eyes to the ring on Cosette's finger.
"W-Well, you can't have it," Cosette defended weakly.
Thérése pushed past her into the home, and stood in the hallway, and closed the door behind her.
"I'm not leaving until I do," she demanded calmly.
"I told you, you can't have it."
"In case you hadn't notice, you stupid child, but it's mine, and you only have it on loan. As soon as I want it back, I get it back."
"But..it's mine!"
"Answer me this, why do you even have an engagement ring?"
"I'm not telling you."
"I'm sure you remember how cruel I can be, so you better tell me now lest you want me angry," she snarled.
Cosette was immensely terrified of her, "I-I was hoping, if I left it down somewhere in the house, pretending that my father had left it, Marius would hurry up and ask me to marry him.
Thérése laughed shrilly. "You sad, sad little bitch...As a matter of fact, Marius doesn't need hinting to propose. He's planning to ask for my daughter's hand in marriage, all his own thinking. So you're never going to have a use for that!"
"He is?" she looked devastated.
"How are you surprised?" laughed Thérése. "Your looks may catch the eye, but personality wins the heart, and as far as I'm concerned, you have none of that. Hand over the ring."
Cosette, in a state of shock, slipped it off and handed it over, staring into space.
Thérése smirked and powered out the door, happy to have the ring back.
...
"Marius?" called out Thérése, bursting through the door, exciting to tell him about the ring.
"In the dining room," he shouted back.
She rushed through, to find Joly and Marius adding to a long list on the table.
"We're, uh, planning the proposal," Marius smiled. "I want it to be special."
She nodded. "I can help with that," she took out the ring from her pocket, and clasped it in her hand.
"My parents had a long, happy marriage. They loved each other to the last mile of the way, and they were an inspiration to anyone in love. I wanted to give something special to this; after all, I definitely owe 'Ponine. I didn't want to put you out of money, because you've already done so much for my daughter. I would have given you my ring, only my marriage was awful, stressful, and lacking love. I wanted a better example for my daughter. I remembered that I'd pawned my mother's ring a long time ago, and when I went to get it, it wasn't there. Turns out that Cosette had it, so I payed her a visit. Well, she's still scared of me to this day, so it was simple. I just turned on the old, harsh, cruel Madame Thernardier, and she was easy to convince," she smiled, placing the ring on the table in front of them.
Joly and Marius stared at it, wide-eyed.
"Thérése, that is beautiful," Marius wondered.
"Beautiful ring for a beautiful girl," she smiled.
"You got that right," Marius chuckled.
"Well, Marius, we're definitely going to need a special proposal to match this ring," laughed Joly.
...
Thanks for reading, supporting and reviewing this fic!
Sorry it took so long, but I've had three exams a day all week. They're over now, and the teachers should be going easy on us, so I'll try to update more!
You are all amazing, and I love you for following+reviewing!
Léis an grá i mo chroí,
O Niamh Ní Luachra x