A world full of love.
They have never known need, injustice or desperation. They know such words exist and they know what they're supposed to mean. They however have never tasted them in their own flesh… all they have known is a world full of love. Cossette and Marius children.
Jean
He is the oldest of his siblings and his parent's pride and joy.
He knows he is named after his grand-père, and that he was a good man, a man his parents hold in a pedestal and deep in their hearts.
He knows Jean saved Marius Pontmercy's life long before he was born.
He knows his mère has always seen him as a saint and savior.
And so, he has already earned the entire admiration and regard of this child who is his namesake.
What Jean Pontmercy does not know, however, is that Jean Valjean was not in fact his grand-père in blood.
He has yet to learn the story of the man who save his mère life from the doom and misery it would have been had he not taken her under his care. The story of how he did everything in his power to keep his père alive, carrying him in his own arms back to safety.
But not right now, not while is not yet ten, and would not understand the meaning of it all.
Fantine
She is the middle, but being the only girl, she's her père's treasure.
She knows she is named after her grand-maman.
She knows she was a brave woman who did everything in her power for the sake of her daughter. She knows she was a woman ready to give everything for Cossette's wellbeing.
What that everything was, she is certain her maman does not know, and if she does or suspects, she's not telling nor will tell any time in the future.
Fantine Pontmercy, anyway, can't picture her grand-maman as anything but one of those kind faced elegant ladies who smile at her whenever she is at the park with her family.
And how could the maman of her maman, the grand Cossette Pontmercy, be anything but a great lady of good breeding?
Someday she'll learn her grand-maman was a woman of humble origins who loved her child more than anything in the world.
But some stories are not for the ears of a seven year old, and they'll have to wait until she can grasp that life is not always as it seems.
Enjolras
He is the youngest and his maman's little darling.
He knows he was named after a great friend of his papa.
He knows his papa holds him as high as any hero from a legend. That he was brave and feared nothing. That he wanted to help the people.
The people he sees begging on the streets from the safety of the carriage and his mother's arms. The kind she helps whenever she can and when she can't she still manages to do something for them.
They seem sad, and he doesn't like it when people are sad. Enjolras didn't like that either, so he decided he would help the people with his friends.
That is what his father has told him, but he has never told him how that story ended.
Enjolras often wonders where all those fantastic friends of his father are. Why has he never seen them, like other friends of his parents come for dinner sometimes?
His father always says that someday he will finish the story, but when he is older.
That it is related as to why his brother is named Jean.
He doesn't understand why he must wait, since he is not a baby anymore. He is four already, and learning to read, so he wants to know more.
Perhaps his father will tell him when he is not the baby any longer.
He suspects that will be when the baby maman's belly comes out. But he does not know when will that be, nor how will it happen.
He likes it when maman places his ear against her belly and he can listen to things.
But right now he is content to be in papa's arms as he carries him to his little bed while maman waves goodbye over her knitting work and round belly.
Madame Pontmercy
She sees her husband waking away with their younger son in his arms and sights in content, leaning back. She is due in two months from now and she can barely wait.
Will it be a boy or a girl, she does not know, and she cares not as long as it is a healthy baby. Marius says he feels the same way, but Cossette knows in her heart that he longs for another girl, but will not be disappointed by a boy.
All of her children have special names, and this time they will chose from Marius's parents a fitting name. As her children grow, she will tell them the full story of their names. When they can understand but won't be haunted by the ghosts of the past.
Ghosts that have no place in this world full of love they have created for their family.