Page 57 of Forgiving Paris
When they reached the table, Gabe shook Landon’s hand. “Thanks for doing this.”
“My pleasure.” Landon looked back at Ashley. “Seize the moment. That’s what my wife always says.”
Landon sat down at the picnic table, opposite Gabriel, and Jessie stood and walked with Ashley toward the path. Her niece grinned. “You ready for a walk?”
“You bet.” Ashley put her arm around Jessie and gave her a quick hug. “This park is beautiful.”
“Gabe’s brought me here a few times already. It’s our favorite.”
Once, a lifetime ago, Ashley had come here with Jean-Claude. But she was a different person back then and the park was different, too. Everything about the beautiful lakeside area was fresh and new. Ashley set the pace, slow enough so they could focus on talking. “So… tell me about Gabe.”
Nothing could’ve stopped Jessie’s smile. “He’s amazing. Smart and funny. He loves reading the Bible with me and he treats me like royalty.”
“Which you are.” Ashley raised her brow. “Don’t forget it.”
She laughed. “That’s what Gabriel says.” They walked for a while without talking. Jessie broke the silence first. “The problem for us is sort of obvious.”
“You live an ocean away.” Ashley felt a subtle sadness. She thought about her sister Kari. “Your mom would be crushed if you moved to Paris forever.”
“I know.” Jessie lifted her face to the blue overhead. “I like it here. She’d understand if it was really what I wanted.”
“True.” Ashley and Kari agreed that it was time to let their children were mostly grown now. Time to let them take wing. “Your mom would be okay.”
Jessie drew a deep breath as they kept walking. “The thing is, I don’t want to live in France. I’m only here for the summer session and already… I miss home. I do.”
“Hmm.” Ashley could see where this was going. “And Gabriel?”
They passed the first part of the lake. From here the path wound up a hill and along the rim of the lake. The view took their breath for a moment. “Sometimes I just want to sit down and draw everything I can see.” Jessie looked at her. “You know?”
“I do. Exactly.” Ashley stopped for a moment and took in the sight. She pulled out her cell phone and took several pictures, including one of Jessie. “Material for another day.” They started walking again. “You were saying… about Gabe?”
Jessie gazed at the lake. “I think he loves me. But”—she turned to Ashley—“I can’t imagine taking him away from his mother. Alice… you heard her story. Gabriel is everything to her.”
Tears stung Ashley’s eyes. There would be pain in this story however it played out. A goodbye at an airport in a few months, or a mother saying farewell to the only child she’d ever had. Ashley nodded. “I see.”
“Right.” A pair of squirrels ran across the path in front of Jessie, and she stopped short. “I feel like we’re in a painting come to life.”
“Exactly.” Ashley laughed. “Even the critters are colorful.”
After a while, Jessie found her spot in the conversation again. “Sometimes I want to tell Gabriel things are over between us. His mother needs him more than I do. Or at least it seems that way.”
“Awww, yes, Jessie. Growing up is hard. The letting go and holding on.” Ashley thought about Cole in his junior year at Liberty. In a few years he could be married with a full-time job. God and life could take him thousands of miles from Bloomington. She waited to find her voice. “Your mother told me something a long time ago. Maybe it’ll make sense to you… with all that’s in your heart.”
“Okay.” Jessie was so sweet, so pure. Nothing like Ashley at her age.
But that didn’t mean Ashley couldn’t help the girl through the conflicts in her young heart. “She told me time could often solve today’s troubles. If you just let enough of it pass by.”
They slowed their pace. Jessie seemed to let the words work their way into her heart. “Time.” She nodded. “Of course, my mom said that. She’s such a writer.” The heaviness in Jessie’s expression lifted. “So maybe don’t worry about it today. Right?”
“Yes.” Ashley took her time. “God’s waiting for you in your tomorrows, Jessie. Just like He is for all of us.” Ashley breathed in the scent of gardenias that lined this part of the path. “If you and Gabriel fall in love, then God brought him to you. And God will show you a way to make it work. Even for Gabe’s sweet mother, Alice.”
“Yes.” Jessie was quiet for the next twenty steps or so. “You knew my birth father, right, Aunt Ashley?”
This was the last thing Ashley expected her niece to say. She took a quick breath. “Yes… yes, I knew him.”
“Was he… was he a bad guy? Like did you think he was wrong for my mom?”
This was fragile ground. Conversations like this were better between Jessie and her mother. But Ashley could lend a little insight, at least. “Tim Jacobs. No, sweetheart. He wasn’t a bad man. He just… made a bad decision.”
