La Famille
It was a big day today in the Pontmercy household, Marius and Cosettes little twins Isabel and Courfeyrac had recently turned two and they were about to begin sleeping in their own rooms instead of sharing with their parents.
It had been decided that the sleeping arrangements were going to be changed for the children now. When they had their first baby, Marie, she had slept in a little cot in her parents bedroom, shortly after she had turned one her brother Jean was born and he took her place in the cot in the corner, then when the twins were born Marie and Jean had begun to share a room. But now that the twins were old enough to sleep without their parents being nearby it had been decided that there was now going to be a room for the girls and another for the boys. The rooms were finished being decorated and beds had been built for the children and today was the day when the big move was going to be made.
Even though Cosette knew this was coming and she had agreed it was time for the babies to get their own rooms she couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness when the little cots the twins had occupied were removed from her bedroom early that afternoon.
Cosette sat down on the edge of her bed and looked sadly at the empty space where her babies had slept, the room suddenly felt so much emptier without them there. For the past five years there had been a baby in the room with them and now she didn't know if she could sleep the same without them there. Cosette clutched her hands over her heart for a moment and actually started crying softly because she missed them already. She knew she was being silly, they weren't even going far away, their rooms were just across the hall from their bedroom but to her it felt like they were being moved to a different country.
Cosette had been a wonderful mother ever since the day her first baby was born, she had taken to it so naturally. She loved being a mother, she loved feeding them, playing with them, watching them grow and learn, seeing them crawl for the first time, their first words and their first steps, it was heaven to Cosette. Of course it wasn't always easy, babies were hard work and sometimes when they would cry all the time or were too fussy or she was just tired and sore from constantly breastfeeding she would just feel overwhelmed from it all, but Marius was with her and he was a wonderful father, also they had a nanny in the house who was a huge help to the family so it wasn't always so hard for Cosette. She knew that the good times she had with her babies far outweighed the bad times she had so she thought of them all as little blessings.
Sometimes she marvelled just to look at them all, they were such beautiful children. All of them were a mixture of herself and Marius, they had made them together, they were an expression of the love they had for each other. They would look at her and she would see her own eyes or Marius's looking back at her and she knew she would love these children for the rest of her life. She knew each of them had been conceived out of the love she and Marius shared and not out of violence or duty like some children were. She knew she was an incredibly lucky woman to have Marius and she felt so blessed every day she spent with him.
Cosette stayed sitting on her bed for a short time just thinking about the past five years and her children when Marius walked into the room, wondering where Cosette had gotten to.
"Cosette?" He asked as he opened the door and saw her sitting on the bed "Oh there you are".
Cosette hurriedly wiped tears from her eyes hoping Marius wouldn't notice that she had been crying, but he did notice and he went over to her silently and sat next to her, she rested her head on his shoulder for a moment and shed a few more tears.
"What's the matter?" he asked her softly
"I'll miss the babies Marius" she said sadly "I'm sorry, You must think I'm so silly crying like this" she said wiping her face "It's ridiculous I know, they'll be right next door, but I'll still miss them".
"I don't think you're being silly Cosette" he said stroking the back of her hand softly. Honestly his heart broke for her a little. He didn't realise how hard this would be for her, of course he was feeling a little sad too about not having the babies nearby anymore but he was rather looking forward to the freedom of having the room just to himself and Cosette again that he hadn't really thought about it as a loss.
"I know they were noisy and fussy and kept us awake sometimes" Cosette continued "but I'll miss having them close by. Sometimes I would lie awake at night and just listen to them breathing, it was wonderful. Even when it was too dark to even see them I would still hear their little breaths and sighs and I would know they were there and they were safe even if I couldn't see them".
Marius smiled, knowing exactly how she felt. "Do you remember when the twins were born Cosette?" he asked, "They were so tiny weren't they? We had no idea we would have twins so we only had the one cot prepared. They looked so beautiful sleeping in it together".
"They did didn't they" Cosette said, smiling at Marius.
"I'll miss them too my darling, but I'm sure we'll have more children someday Cosette, i don't feel done yet" Marius said, "And besides, you're looking at this all wrong".
"What do you mean?" Cosette asked
"Cosette, for the first time in five years we don't have a baby in the bedroom with us" Marius informed her. "Don't think of this as a loss, this is a good thing. We can be alone again, just me and you". He said happily, stroking her arm gently with his fingertips.
Cosette smiled at him, knowing exactly what he was thinking. She hadn't thought about it like that, but now he mentioned it the thought of having the room all to themselves again did sound rather appealing to her.
"We can do anything we want Cosette" Marius continued, he brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it softly. "We won't disturb anyone, we can be as loud as we want to be" he added with a mischievous look in his eyes.
"That's true" she said, smiling beautifully at him. "It's been a long time since we were truly alone hasn't it?"
It was true actually, even though the two of them kept their babies in the same room they had still continued enjoying each other as man and wife, but it was different to how it used to be before they had children. They would never make love if their babies were still awake and even when they were asleep they made sure the curtains on their bed were drawn and they made sure not to make too much noise. It was hard to really get too passionate with each other that way, but they both still enjoyed making love even when they couldn't truly express themselves the way they wanted. It wasn't as if their children had driven a wedge between them, it was more important to them to have their babies with them because they both knew that being a family and keeping their babies close was more important than simply satisfying their carnal desires, so that's how they kept it.
But now after five years of child rearing, their youngest babies were being moved out of the room. Cosette wasn't expecting another baby for once and she wasn't too sore from breastfeeding to have Marius touch her and neither of them were too tired from looking after screaming babies all day either.
"Oh yes this was most definitely a good thing!" Cosette thought.
Cosette touched Marius's face gently and leaned in to kiss him; they kissed softly for a while but got more passionate and intense as they went on. Marius put his hands on Cosettes waist and gently pushed her back until they were both lying down on the bed.
Marius kissed Cosettes neck with a fervour and gently ran a hand over her breast, Cosette sighed softly and she knew she really wanted him to continue touching her, but it was the middle of the day and she also knew it wasn't the best time to start something they both wanted to take their time to enjoy.
"Wait….." Cosette said breathlessly, knowing that if she didn't say something now she wouldn't be able to stop herself. "We should wait Marius, until tonight".
Marius stopped kissing her, and cursed himself for getting worked up. But she was right of course; they should wait until tonight to properly enjoy each other, after the children were asleep. Right now they could be interrupted by one of them, or someone else in the household for that matter.
Marius groaned playfully and rolled onto his side "How will I ever make it until then?" he asked her teasingly whilst stroking her face with his hand.
"Oh I'm sure you'll cope" Cosette said flirtatiously
Marius kissed Cosette softly again and as if on cue they heard one of their little twins crying from somewhere in the house, they both smiled and were quite thankful that they hadn't gone too far and been right in the middle of something more intimate at that moment.
"I'll go" Cosette said.
She rose, but before she could sit up properly Marius pulled her back teasingly for one last kiss.
"Until tonight then" he said softly, and winked at her.
Cosette smiled at him and then got up, smoothed down her dress and left the room, leaving Marius still lying on the bed. He watched her leave and then rolled over onto his back and sighed happily, he was looking forward to the forthcoming evening immensely.