Smoke Screens

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The rally the next day went on without a hitch. All of the men ran before they could be seen by the gendarmes, Aurélia met with Enjolras, and everyone made it back to the café. It was flawless on all accounts.

Aurélia leaned her head back, a smile spread across her lips as she took a deep breath of the warm, late spring air. She had a cause she was fighting for and people she saw as family. Everything made sense.

And for a while, life was as it should be. Les Amis lived as calm a life as revolutionaries could live. During the day, Aurélia would work on her literacy with Enjolras while Amélie and Gavroche spent their days playing outside. When day would fade into night, the children would return to sit at the table in the corner of the room while the adults had their meeting.

Aurélia's new plan for the rallies went perfectly. She was able to be the eyes and ears of the revolution without having to step foot on the ground. It was probably safer for her to keep herself hidden anyway...

Life continued like this for about a week. One perfect week. One week where Aurélia's biggest worries were making sure Amélie was back before dark and if the sentences she wrote made sense. Life was wonderful, and for one of the first times in her life, she felt like she truly belonged. And with Les Amis by her side, she had never felt more safe.

That was until she caught a glimpse of a familiar face at the end of a rally. She had already climbed from the roof and was preparing to return to the café when she spotted him– an older man with graying dirty-blonde hair and a matching beard. Her neck shot in his direction, but he was gone. She desperately scanned the square, her heart beating violently against her chest. The man was nowhere to be found and she couldn't help but wonder if she was just being paranoid. When she was at last able to shake the face from years ago, she was alas met with another.

Her eyes landed on a blonde woman across the street. To anyone else, she was simply another bourgeois young woman. It had been years, over half of the redhead's life, but she had no problem recognizing the woman. When the blonde finally looked in Aurélia's direction, she abandoned the older gentleman she held onto and bolted across the square into her friend's arms.

"Cosette!"

"Lia!" The two clung to one another as if their lives depended on it; as if nothing else mattered. Because how could it? How could anything else matter when they had been reunited after all of these years?

"How are you alive?" Aurélia asked, at last pulling slightly away from her friend to look her in the eye. "They said you had fallen ill and died." Cosette shook her head with tears in her eyes and a smile across her lips.

"No, I didn't die. I was adopted by my Papa." Cosette turned over her shoulder to face the man she referred to who now stood right behind her. "Where are your mother and father? Are they in Paris with you as well?"

"My mother passed away almost ten years ago. My father is," She paused, trying to find the right words as she scanned the cobblestone street beneath her feet. "Gone."

"Oh, Lia, I am so sorry," Cosette cried, grabbing Aurélia's hands in her own. "Have you been all alone all this time?" A wide smile spread across her lips.

"No. Almost a year before my mother passed she brought my younger sister into the world. I am thankful-" The sound of boots against the street interrupted her, making the three turn to look in the gendarme's direction.

"Cosette, we need to leave now," The older man said, gently grabbing his daughter's arm.

"Wait, Lia! Come with us!"

"I cannot. Meet me in Jardin du Luxembourg tomorrow?"

"I'll see you there!" Before the young women could exchange another word, the father had pulled the blonde out of sight. Gendarme rushed around her but not one even looked in her direction on the busy street. She stared at the place where Cosette stood. Was it possible she imagined it? No. Her mind was far too cynical to dream of seeing her childhood friend again. She didn't know how much time had passed, but when she snapped out of her daze, the sun was beginning to set.