Colour of Desire {Enjonine}

Chapter 25

* Enjolras POV*

I trudged home slowly in the dark. Checking the factories had taken longer than I thought, especially with my father talking to me about my life in Paris. I didn't get to leave until eight pm and I had to walk home with a damaged leg.

I stopped outside the house and looked up. I could see the silhouette of someone, probably Eponine, closing the curtains. I limped up the garden path and twisted the brass doorknob.

"Hello." I said softly into the abandoned porch. I turned to hang up my coat and felt a small hand rest on my shoulder.

"Why were you late?" Eponine asked.

"I'm sorry, my love. I didn't think that I would gone for that long, but my father wanted to speak to me." I explained. She lead me down the hall to the drawing room.

"It's okay. I was getting a bit worried though." She said. I sat in a large armchair by the fire as she poured us both tea.

"I didn't mean to worry you. I wanted to get home, but I couldn't, and when I eventually did, I had to walk."

"What? Why didn't your father drop you back?"

"I don't know. He's probably still angry at me for the revolution." I sighed.

"What did he want to talk about?" She asked.

"At first it was just the factory and goodness knows what else. But then he wanted to talk about you." I said slowly. She sat up a bit in her chair looking quizzical.

"What about me?"

"Well, it wasn't just about you, it was about both of us." I said. "Basically, he and my mother wanted us to come and stay with them for a few days."

"That's not so bad." Eponine said. "Is it?"

"They want us to go there to get married." I blurted. She started coughing suddenly from the tea.

"What?" She said.

"In May. They want us to get married at their chateau in May, maybe June."

"Enjolras, that's in three months. That's not enough time." She said.

"That's what I was thinking. Not to mention that you're only eighteen."

"I'm don't care about my age. Mama was only nineteen when she got married."

"Really?"

"Yes. She was pregnant with me at the time and had to get married as soon as possible."

"Oh." There was a few minutes of silence between us. Eponine walked over to piano and rested her hands on the keys. I got up slowly and wrapped my arms around her shoulders.

"What are we going to do, Enjolras?" She whispered. She stood up and wrapped her arms carefully around my waist, so as not to upset the bandages that were placed there every two days.

"I suppose we'll just have to get married, won't we?" I sighed.

"Really? Just like that? In three months?"

"Eponine Thenardier, I have dreamed about marrying you from the moment I placed this ring on your finger. If my parents want us to get married in three months, then we shall be married in three months." I said. She laughed and then kissed me softly.

"I love you Enjolras." She said. I grinned.

"I love you too, Eponine." I said. "By the way, where's Gavroche?"

"I put him to bed an hour ago." She replied. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it."

She left the room and I sat back down at the piano. I could hear some muttering coming from the hallway and then the slam of a door and hurried footsteps through the hallway. Moments later Eponine was standing in the doorway.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Musichetta went into labour three hours ago and just gave birth to a girl." She said.

"How do you know?"

"I was there when she first went into labour. I had to come home though. I told Joly to send someone when the baby was born." She explained.

"What did they call her?"

"Alina, after Jolys mother."

"I can't believe it. Joly's a father." I said.

"I know. I'm so happy for them." She sighed.

"We should invite them to the wedding." I said. She laughed again.

"I think we should go to bed and worry about the wedding later on."

"Alright. I'll send a letter to my parents in the morning." I said, getting up and walking to the door. Eponine put up the fireguard and followed me up.

"I got you some more ointment for your leg, by the way." She said.

"Thank you. It really helps." I said.

"I know. That's why I buy it for you."

I could tell that she was almost asleep so I quickened my pace up the stairs.

When we got to our room, she took my cane and propped it up against the wall. When she left the room again to get a clean nightdress, I sat on the bed and removed my shirt. There were bandages placed around my abdomen, covering various scars in case they got infected. I sighed and reached under the bed for the extra bandages and started to unravel them.

"What are you doing?" Eponine said, suddenly appearing in the doorway.

"Replacing my bandages." I said.

"Well, here. Let's put the ointment on too." She suggested holding up a large jar.

"I put some on this morning. Let's save it for tomorrow."

"At least let me help you put on the bandages. You can't do it by yourself."

She sat down next to me on the bed and began to carefully tear the old bandages off my back. I winced slightly in pain and shut my eyes until I felt her cold hand on my back.

"Is something wrong, Eponine?" I asked. "You're hands are cold."

"I'm sorry. Could you pass me those bandages please?" She spends the next twenty minutes wrapping the gauze around my abdomen.

"So what did you and Gavroche do today?" I asked.

"We went into town to buy bread and the ointment for you. And I went to Jolys house, as you know. Nothing really exciting." She shrugged. "What about you? How was your day?"

"Well, I didn't manage to get my job back, so I suppose I'll just have to work with the factories for the next while. It's not too bad, but it's not perfect either. The factories are quite spacious and I can barely walk to the front door as it is."

"Everything will get better soon. It's never going to be easy for any of us." She said. She stood up and walked to the other side of the bed.

"There's something I didn't tell you about us getting married." I said, climbing under the covers.

"What?"

"They want us to get married on the fifth of June. And we can't say no because they've already sent out half of the invitations." I said. Eponine was quiet for a minute, but I could sense her anger rising.

"Why would they do that to us? As if we need another reminder of what happened. Our best friends died on that day and your parents want us to celebrate?!" She whisper- shouted.

"I know, I know. I wanted to go to the café Musain and pay my respects. I was going to have a list of their names hung there. But now I don't know what to do." I sighed. Eponine closed her eyes and got into bed.

"I'm just going to go to sleep and try and figure everything out in the morning." She said, sounding tired and stressed. I wrapped my arms around her and she buried her head into my chest.

"Good night, Enjolras."

"Good night, my love."