Cosette awoke suddenly late one night and rubbed her swollen stomach, she was eight months pregnant with her sixth child and it was kicking and moving around inside her. She smiled when she felt the baby move; she was so looking forward to having a new-born in the house again, it had been nearly three years since she had her last baby, a boy, so she couldn't wait to meet this new one.
She kept having dreams about this baby; she swore she could see the child in her dreams. For the past month she had been having a dream about a beautiful little blonde haired girl with gorgeous blue eyes. Cosette would be standing alone in a room and she would see a child sitting turned away from her, then the child would see Cosette and walk up to her and take her hand and smile at her, but the dream always ended there and she would wake up. She didn't know what it meant, perhaps it was nothing and it was just her imagination she had thought, but it had convinced her she was carrying a girl. She hadn't told Marius about her dream though; she didn't want him to think she was going mad.
Try as she might she couldn't fall back to sleep, it was very dark in the room but she could feel Marius sleeping next to her, she slipped the blankets off herself and lit one of the oil lamps beside the bed and the room filled with a yellow glow. The baby was still moving around so she decided to walk around the room for a while to try and tire herself out again.
Marius awoke just then and blinked himself awake in the dim light; he noticed Cosette pacing the room and was confused as to why she wasn't in bed.
"Cosette?" He said quietly, "What are you doing? What time is it?" He glanced at the clock beside the bed and saw it was nearly 3am. He sat up in the bed, "Is something wrong?" he asked, now suddenly anxious. He had always been a very concerned husband during all of Cosettes pregnancies and would be interested in everything that would happen, a lot of men he knew would become disinterested when their wives were pregnant, but not him. He loved Cosette more than anything and when she was carrying his child he wanted to be there for her.
"I couldn't sleep" Cosette said quietly, she put a hand on her stomach and looked down "She keeps moving around"
This was the first time Cosette had said "She" when referring to the baby, she hadn't realised she had said it until Marius looked at her with a furrowed brow
"She?" He asked inquisitively
Cosette then realised what she had said and she tried to cover her mistake.
"Um….or he" She said bashfully "I mean, the baby keeps moving".
Marius looked at her with a curious expression on his face; she was being quite adorable at the moment, she looked like she had a secret she was keeping from him.
Cosette, still standing in the middle of the room, smiled at her husband and said "I think it's a girl".
"Why?" He asked
Cosette felt shy again and didn't want to reveal her dream to Marius, "I…..just think it is" she said.
"Come back to bed" Marius said to her gently, he was intrigued now and he wasn't going to let this go. He patted the mattress next to him and Cosette climbed in the bed again and Marius placed a hand on her stomach, she smiled at him, noticing the curious expression he had on his face and knew she had already said too much.
"Why do you think it's a girl?" Marius asked her gently and with a smile on his face
"You won't believe me Marius" Cosette said shyly
"Try me" he said, still smiling at her
"I….I keep dreaming about her" she told him hesitantly.
Marius didn't say anything to that right away, he just looked at her with a surprised expression on his face, he hadn't expected her to say that, but at the same time it was such a beautiful thing to say.
"You've been dreaming about her?" he asked, repeating her sentence as if it would make more sense the second time
"Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but Marius I swear to you I can see her so clearly in my head" Cosette said excitedly. "I keep seeing a little girl in my dreams, she's wearing a white dress and she smiles at me and holds my hand".
Marius smiled at his wife, he believed her. He felt enchanted by the way she talked about the little girl in her dreams and he wanted to know more. He put his hand on Cosettes cheek and stroked her face with the back of his hand.
"What does she look like?" he asked with genuine interest
Cosette closed her eyes for a moment and smiled, she opened them and looked at Marius again
"She's beautiful, she's has blue eyes and hair like mine and she smiles like an angel". She said dreamily
Marius kissed his wife on the forehead gently, "How wonderful it must be inside your head my dear" he said, still smiling at her.
"I think it's a girl too" he said touching her stomach with his hand again "I've thought that for a while. You were much bigger by this time when you were carrying the boys. Do you remember how small you were when we had Marie?"
Cosette nodded sleepily, she was finally feeling tired again and was ready to fall back to sleep.
Marius sat up and then leaned down to kiss her stomach gently, he rested his head against her for a while and watched his wife close her eyes.
"I suppose we'll find out soon enough wont we?" he whispered to her
Cosette smiled with her eyes closed, she couldn't wait to see what the baby would look like. Somehow she thought that this baby would be very special, all her children were special in their own way, but she could feel something different about this baby already, she couldn't explain it, but it was like she could feel its soul.
Marius lay down again next to his wife and kissed her softly on the lips "Go back to sleep" he whispered to her, even though she was already drifting off.
Marius watched her sleep for a while; she was so beautiful right now. She always had a special glow about her when she was pregnant, it was something he couldn't explain, but when she was carrying his child he felt even more in love with her than he usually was.
He too was looking forward to meeting his new baby, he was wondering what it would look like and wished he could see inside Cosettes dreams and see his child. He knew that whatever it was though, boy or girl, it would still be a lovely child and he would love it just as much as his other children.
