A Heart Full of Love: An Eposette Love Story

Thenardier-Cosette

TW: physical abuse and injuries

April 1832

Cosette could feel spring coming back into the world. Everyday, warmth filled the air and the sun shone bright and high in the sky. The days had gotten longer, which wasn't always the greatest in Cosette's opinion because it meant she would have less time with Eponine in the night.

The flowers in Cosette's garden were now in full bloom and she often spent her days tending to them and trying to find room for more. Cosette loved flowers. She thought it was remarkable how something so small and pathetic, like a seed, could blossom into something tall and beautiful and ethereal.

Cosette also adored the returning birds. Ever since she was a child, the blonde girl had been fascinated by the winged creatures. Watching them soar through the blue sky, into places far away and unknown, amazed her.

So, Valjean gave Cosette a variety of seeds and berries and other things to feed the birds. Because of this, she woke every spring and summer morning to the sound of birds chirping outside her window.

In her dreams (before they were mostly of Eponine), Cosette was a bird. She could feel the wind in her feathered wings and could smell the air through her beak. The sky was freedom.

But Cosette always awoke from these dreams even more frustrated, for she could never see the wonders she imagined birds could. How can a person dream of something they've never seen?
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Cosette could never forget what Thenardier had done, and kept doing, to Eponine. Her heart shattered every time her girlfriend came into the garden with fresh bruises or cuts along her body.

Ever since that night back in January, Eponine had become more comfortable with Cosette, and usually allowed herself to be comforted, with some coaxing at first. This only made Cosette's anger build as she held a crying 'Ponine, and her thoughts about Thenardier began to be even more vicious.

At first, Cosette tried to follow her father's words, "to forgive, but never to forget." But this rhetoric seemed flawed, since Cosette also knew that Thenardier had not faced any repercussions for what he was doing. She knew he would never stop unless something was done.

Unfortunately, Cosette didn't know what to do. She couldn't tell the police about Thenardier since she knew that even if he was arrested, that would just mean that Eponine, her mother, her sister, and surely her brother too, would just be worse off.

Cosette couldn't invite Eponine and her family to live with them either. Her father, though he was caring and empathetic towards those less fortunate than he was, would never let anyone else visit, much less live with him.

"You can't do anything," Eponine repeatedly told Cosette. "You don't need to do anything. You're doing enough already by comforting me, really."

But this wasn't enough for Cosette. She needed to take action.
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June 1832

Then, the night came that was the official last straw for Cosette. Her anger had been strengthening with each thought of Thenardier, with each glance at an old scar on Eponine, with each time Eponine flinched if Cosette raised her hand to gently caress her face. But after that night, there was no going back.

It was unfortunately summer, and Cosette had gone out into her garden to wait for Eponine. The night was warm, and the moonlight shone beautifully on the flowers as they stretched towards the heavens. But, it was one of those nights where Eponine arrived late.
When Eponine eventually stumbled to the iron gate, it was clear that Thenardier had harmed her once again.