Page 41 of Forgiving Paris
Jessie’s boyfriend grinned. “Sure. I don’t think there’s a connection.” He paused. “Twenty-three years ago, my mom worked at a boulangerie with an American artist. Someone who meant a great deal to her.”
Ashley felt the slightest uneasiness. She had, indeed, worked at a bakery before returning to Bloomington. But she didn’t want to think about twenty-three years ago. Not today. A forced laugh slid between her lips. “There are many young American artists here in Paris.”
“Definitely.” Gabe nodded. “That’s what I told Jessie. But she thought we should ask you anyway. Because of the other detail.”
“Yeah.” Jessie leaned in close to Gabriel. “Tell her.”
Ashley tried to dismiss the strange feeling building in her heart. She remembered to smile. “Tell me what?”
“Her name.” Gabriel slipped his arm around Jessie’s shoulders. “My mom’s friend. Her name was Ashley.”
At that moment, Ashley looked up. A woman was coming their way, one with Gabe’s brown eyes and chestnut hair. Twenty-three years might have passed, but Ashley would have known the woman’s face anywhere. Adrug addict who had been pregnant and desperate and hopeless. She still remembered the girl’s name from that awful time in her life.
Her name was Alice Michel.
THEIR EYES METand Alice stopped. She put her hand to her mouth and tears filled her eyes. How was it possible? After all this time how could she have actually found the Ashley she’d looked for all her life?
The American woman was on her feet, moving toward her. Tears flooded her eyes, too. “Alice?” They met up and stared at each other. As if they could somehow see through the years to the young women they had been back then.
“Ashley.” It wasn’t a question. Alice was sure, now. This was the woman she had always wanted to find. “What… what was your last name, Ashley? I couldn’t remember, not for the life of me.”
“Baxter.” Ashley wiped a tear from her cheek. “I was Ashley Baxter. Now Ashley Blake.”
“And I’m Alice Arquette.” Alice held her arms out and Ashley did the same. The hug lasted a long while. Not like two long-lost friends. Alice and Ashley hadn’t had time for friendship. What they had shared was deeper than that.
Because Alice’s life had depended on her connection to the girl this woman had been.
Alice stepped back and looked into Ashley’s eyes. As if everything else around them had disappeared. Then Alicetold Ashley the words she’d always wanted to say. “I have looked for you, Ashley… and prayed for you. For twenty-three years.” She laughed, but the sound was more of a cry. “I asked God that I might sit across from you at a café like this and tell you what happened back then.”
Ashley looked confused. She didn’t break eye contact. “I knew… your story. What you were going through.” She paused. “I still remember.”
“But there are parts you don’t know.” Alice released Ashley’s hands and dried her eyes. “You saved my life, Ashley. I’d like to tell you about that.”
“Of course…” Ashley led her back to the table and they took their spots. Ashley sat next to a man who she introduced as her husband, Landon.
And Alice sat next to Gabriel. She greeted Jessie and then she took a deep breath and began to tell the story. The very one she had prayed she might tell Ashley one day. And now she could only pray for something else. That her story would matter to Ashley, that maybe the woman across from her needed to hear the story.
As much as Alice needed to tell it.
15
Ashley was gripped by Alice’s story from the moment she started to tell it. Until now she hadn’t remembered the girl from the boulangerie. But here those memories were alive again for her, too. At her side, Landon also was quickly caught up in the story. Same with Gabe and Jessie.
From the beginning, Ashley had the feeling she was on holy ground. Like there was something in the pieces of Alice’s story that God wanted her to hear.
“I was a heroin addict.” Alice didn’t sound ashamed of the fact. That was her old life, clearly. “Do you remember that?”
“I remember you’d battled drug addiction. We both needed the job.” Ashley had been sent away from Ms. Martin’s house and had found a hostel in the neighboring district. The place had just one shower and most guests stayed only a night or two. Backpackers seeing Paris on a budget.
Every night Ashley would slip into her bunk and pray no one would hurt her. She had no privacy, nothing to call her own except the two suitcases under her bed. But it was a place to stay. And working at the bakery hadbeen a way to keep food in her mouth. A way to help her baby.
She had to look out for her little one.
Alice was saying how bad things had gotten for her before she took the job at the boulangerie. “I used to steal from my mother. So I could buy heroin.” Her expression was more serious now. Clearly they both had regrets. “Then one night I overdosed. Do you remember me telling you that?”
The details were becoming clearer. “Yes. Your… your friend died that night.”
“He did.” She took hold of Gabriel’s hand. “My son’s birth father. He was a very kind man. He asked the police officer to give me the Narcan. So I could live.”
