Page 69 of Forgiving Paris
No telling whether Cole would want to meet Estelle. But what had happened was hardly fate, as the woman had written. Ashley would share that with Mia at some point, she was sure.
The connection here was arranged by God Himself.
Ashley turned to face the city. The outlines of the buildings were foggy and dreamy and as she looked out over the landscape the view was no longer of Paris. Not for Ashley. It was of her own life. Shiny and sparkling, old and new. A verse came to mind from Romans, chapter 8. Something she had read that morning before her shower.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
His purpose.Yes, that’s what this was all about. The entire trip and every miraculous moment she and Landon had shared together. Moments like this one.
“Mom!” It was Cole’s voice and Ashley turned at the same time as Landon to see their son and Ashley’s father hurrying toward them.
Cole was carrying her red umbrella. “This has your name in it… I thought it was yours, so I picked it up.”
She took it from her son. “It is mine. You know me…”
“Always forgetting things.” Cole laughed as he looked around. “It’s gorgeous up here. Even in the pouring rain.”
Her father started to tell a story about someone they met at breakfast and Landon chimed in with his Eiffel Tower facts. Ashley wasn’t really listening. She stared out over the city and smiled.
This week God had given her purpose here in Paris. Marguerite and Jean-Claude were wrong. Her paintings were cherished and loved, and they’d sold out at her first French gallery show. She had a new friendship with Alice Arquette and now she was about to connect with Mia and Estelle.
A long time ago, God had forgiven Ashley. She had felt His grace first on the way back to Indiana, on that long ago flight. He didn’t hold against her all she’d done wrong here… the terrible choices she had made. So this week she had come to forgive Paris, to move on from the past and let this city be something new. New faces and places. Fresh memories with Landon.
She laughed as the wind spritzed rain across her face. Now it was time to move on with her life. Because here, in this moment, she had finally done something she had felt God wanting her to do more than two decades ago. Something she would take back home with her tomorrow. It was another very great gift, and the truth of it would stay with her always.
Ashley Baxter Blake had forgiven herself.
