When Cosette clung to her so fiercely, Fantine couldn't restrain herself anymore. She caught her daughter with a gasp, but that intake of breath soon gave way to soft tears.
There were a thousand things she wanted to say about everything - herself, Valjean, Felix Tholomyès - but for now she held the girl as tightly as she dared, one hand in Cosette's beautiful fine hair. "Have you?" she murmured; she didn't question it. She'd dreamed of Cosette and Valjean countless times, with good and bad outcomes. "Le bon Dieu works in mysterious ways!"
She looked over at Valjean, over her daughter's shoulder, hoping he understood how happy she was, and how grateful. Really, as painful as it had been sometimes, he'd saved both their lives. Mother and daughter.