"Momma?" Giles asked.
"Yes, my dear?" Cosette replied, focusing more on her needlework than her son.
"Where's Father? He's gone missing again."
Cosette froze. What was the date? It had become June a few days ago…oh, stars above! How had she forgotten? "Your father…six years ago, he and his friends planned a rebellion. He…he is the only one who survived."
Giles climbed up into his mother's arms. "But shouldn't that make him happy? He's lucky to be alive!"
Cosette closed her arms around her son and sighed. "Well, my boy, your father is very lucky to be alive. But he feels guilty that he survived and his friends didn't."
"What were some of his friend's names, Momma?"
"Well, there was Nicolas, Sebastien, Jehan, Julien, Giles-"
"That's my name!" Her son cried out.
Cosette gave him a sad smile. "Yes, my boy, yes it is."
"Did any girls die, momma?"
"One."
"What was her name?"
"Her name was Eponine."
"Like the baby?"
Cosette sighed and rubbed her stomach. "Yes, like the baby."
Giles pouted for a moment, thinking deeply. "Do you think that I could go find where Father is and help him not feel guilty?"
Cosette rubbed her son's back. "I don't think that your father is ever going to stop feeling guilty, Giles."
Giles shouted, "But there must be a way to make him feel better!"
Cosette's mind raced. She had given up comforting Marius years ago, knowing that she couldn't help. But, maybe, their son with the name of one of his dear friends would help. "How about you go, Giles? I've tried before, but maybe you could help him."
"But-but what should I do?" Giles cried out. "I want to help him right!"
Cosette sighed. "Just try hugging him. Words don't help him."
With a convicted nod, Giles was up and out the door. Cosette sighed and allowed the flood of tears for her husband's loss come spilling down.