Page 9 of Forgiving Paris
“We’ll… see other boats? In Paris? On the river Seine?”
“No.” Landon’s attention remained entirely on her. “Twenty-three years ago, when He calmed your storm, there were other boats… in Paris and back home. Little boats that maybe you know nothing about.”
“Hmmm. Little boats.” Ashley liked that.
“And I believe…” He touched her face once more. “I believe that when we take this trip to Paris, you just might run across some of those little boats.”
This time Ashley could do nothing to stop the tears that formed in her eyes. She felt her smile fill her face. “I hope so.”
“You have to believe.” He touched the spot above her heart. “Here, Ash. Deep inside you.”
She went to him again and slipped her arms around his neck. “You’re my best friend, Landon Blake.”
“And you’re mine.” He kissed her and when he drew back, he whispered, “I’m one of those boats, Ashley. All you could see was your own situation, the way the storm was about to destroy you. But I was one of those little boats. I would’ve sunk if you hadn’t come home.” He brushed his thumb over her cheek. “But there are others. I believe that.”
It was a thought that stayed with Ashley through dinner and during their question game with the girls, and long after the dishes were done. Even after Landon had fallen asleep beside her. The idea that Jesus had been with her, in her personal boat when the worst storm in all her life had come up.
Ashley wasn’t sure why Jesus had been sleeping during His disciples’ worst storm, but she believed it. He had definitely been asleep when she lived in Paris. Where she had made the worst decisions in her life. But when the disciples cried out to Jesus, He was there. Immediately. Just like He had been for Ashley when she came home from Paris. She turned onto her side and put her arm around Landon. The idea that when God had calmed the storm in her own life, He had also calmed the one in Landon’s, was something Ashley had never considered.
It was enough to give her the confidence to believe that this trip to Paris was maybe a good decision. Despiteher frightening secret. Because now Ashley had a reason to believe she should go back to the place that had almost destroyed her and make peace with it. This trip was about forgiving Paris, once and for all.
And something else. Ashley smiled.
The little boats.
4
The air was just warm enough for John and Elaine to move out onto their small back porch after dinner and watch the Indiana sunset. For a while the two of them sat, side by side, holding hands, taking in the pinks and pale blues and watching the shadows grow longer.
But tonight John wasn’t thinking about how they’d spent the day or the dinner he and Elaine had just eaten. His heart was on Ashley, his middle daughter. Finally, he turned to Elaine. “This trip to Paris has to be hard on Ashley. All the planning. Thinking about that city again.”
“It is.” Elaine carried with her a quiet confidence, a beauty that never tried to compete with the life John had lived before the two married. She had been Elizabeth’s friend back in the days when they were raising their children, and years after Elizabeth lost her battle to cancer, John and Elaine had found each other.
Elaine was a very great gift, indeed.
John didn’t understand his wife’s comment. “You sound sure.”
“I am.” Elaine set her rocker into motion. “Ashley andI talked on the phone a week ago. Even then she was still thinking about canceling the whole trip.”
“I wondered.” John leaned back in his chair. “She mentioned that to me back in the beginning. When the gallery first called.” He lifted his eyes to the sky. “Can you believe how good God is? Giving Ashley the chance to go back to Paris and see her artwork on display?” He shook his head. “You can’t make this stuff up.”
“True.” Elaine hesitated. “There’s redemption in this part of Ashley’s story. But you’re right. It won’t be easy, John. None of it.”
He looked at her again. “I want to join them in Paris. At least for the art show.”
A smile filled Elaine’s eyes. “That would be nice.”
“I’m not sure. I mean it’s also their anniversary trip.” John stood and walked to the porch railing. Then he turned and stared at Elaine. “I’ve been wondering what… Elizabeth would want me to do.” This was something else that made Elaine special. John could talk to her about Elizabeth. Not that he did so very often, but when his first wife came up in conversation, Elaine wasn’t intimidated. She understood that John would always love Elizabeth. He would be with her still if he’d had his way.
But he also loved Elaine. Conversations like this were among the many reasons why.
Elaine joined him at the railing. “Elizabeth loved Ashley’s paintings. She told me about each one, as Ashley was painting it.”
“I didn’t know that.” John put his arm around Elaine’s shoulders and eased her closer to himself. “Tell me… what would she say?”
Like she often did, Elaine took her time. As if she could once again hear those sweet conversations with her friend. “When Ashley painted the old Baxter house for the first time, Elizabeth told me that she could see the roof and siding come to life beneath Ashley’s paintbrush. How Ashley created with more than the colors on her palette. She painted with memories from a dozen years.”
“Mmm.” John smiled. “I can hear Elizabeth saying that. How Ashley painted with more than reds and blues. She painted with times gone by.”
