Page 59 of Forgiving Paris
“And you came to see me in the hospital.” Landon didn’t look away, didn’t blink. “Where you first spoke the words you’d never said till then.”
“I told you I loved you.” She paused, seeing it all again. She leaned up and kissed him. “I meant it, Landon.”
“I know.” He kissed her and then he put his armaround her shoulders. A tourist boat moved from beneath the bridge and sailed on down the river. “You see, Ash? All the boats?”
“If I hadn’t told you I loved you at the hospital… we never would’ve started dating.”
“Right.” He kept his eyes on the river. “And I wouldn’t have ached for you when I moved to New York after 9/11. I thought about you every day, all day at Ground Zero. You didn’t think the two of us could make it, Ash. Remember?” He turned to her again. “But I knew. I knew you still loved me. That you always would.”
“Which was why…” The pieces were still coming together. Landon’s best friend from college, Jalen, had been one of the firefighters killed when the Twin Towers collapsed. Because of Jalen, Landon was a firefighter by then. He worked at Ground Zero until they found Jalen’s body. Ashley sighed. “The love you felt for me and Cole… that was why you came back to me after they found Jalen’s body in the rubble.”
“I saw you painting in the front yard of our house… your parents’ house, back then.” His voice was soft, the memories clearly vivid for him, too. “I walked up behind you. Remember?”
“Of course.” She looked deep into his eyes. “I was painting the Baxter house, thinking of you.”
“As soon as you were in my arms, I knew.” He searched her face. “I was sure I was never going to leave you. Not you… not Cole. Not ever again.” The love in his eyes was so great it was like a physical force. “Even when youthought you were sick… when you wanted me to leave and find someone else.”
“You didn’t…”
“Which was why… eighteen years ago… we stood before our family and friends and said, ‘I do.’?”
“Mmm.” Ashley’s head was spinning. “All because of what happened in Paris.”
Landon stood and helped her to her feet. He took her in his arms and kissed her, this time long enough that she almost forgot where they were. When he drew back his eyes were bright. “All the little boats, Ashley.”
“When God calmed my storm.”
“Yes.”
For a long while they stood there, holding on to each other and watching the boats on the Seine. Soon they would have to get back to the hotel room and get ready for tonight. For the big event. But for now it was enough to be here in the middle of nowhere Paris, standing on an old forgotten footbridge and remembering. Every time God had been faithful in the twists and turns of their story. That… and something Ashley would never forget.
More little boats than she could count.
21
They had the same driver that night for the ride to Light of the Seine, and everything felt like a dream. Not just that they were heading to her show, but the realization that she would hold on to forever.
Landon… Cole… their marriage…their family. All of it was because of the brokenness of Paris.
From the seat beside her, Landon let his eyes move up and down the length of her. “You’re gorgeous, Ashley Baxter Blake.” He grinned. “There’s a fifth-grade boy somewhere inside me who still can’t believe his dream of marrying you came true.”
She eased her fingers between his. “And there’s a fifth-grade girl inside me who still remembers you taking my hand at the zoo that day, when we were lost.”
“Because you just had to draw that giraffe.” He shook his head. “Had to get the neck just right.”
“Good memory.” She laughed. “We thought the zookeeper was after us, remember?”
“I just kept hoping he’d never find us.”
“Me, too.” She smoothed her navy blue sequined dress. It came up around her neck and cut away to expose herbare arms. The hem came to just below her knees and the color matched the spiky heels she’d bought for the occasion. “I hope I’m not overdressed.”
“Not at all.” Landon wore a black suit and white shirt and tie. “You’re perfect, Ashley. Absolutely perfect.”
They pulled up at the gallery and Ashley uttered a quiet gasp. “Landon… look.”
There on the sidewalk, starting at the nearest intersection, was a long stretch of red carpet. Velvet stanchions separated the walkway from the rest of the sidewalk. Landon only grinned. “I told Emilie it was okay.”
“A red carpet… for me?”
