Page 50 of Forgiving Paris
“No, my love.” Landon hid his laugh, in keeping with the quiet of the museum. “I must say I never wondered. But now… I always will.”
In the same room was theLes Noces de Canaby Paolo Veronese—a realistic painting of the biblical wedding at Cana. The place where Jesus performed his first miracle. Landon studied the piece. “I’ve never really looked at this painting. Like in textbooks back in college.”
“I have.” Ashley pointed to the lower right side of the piece. “Look at that cat, all smiling and happy. And the friendly dogs and little birds.” She folded her arms. “Reminders that all are welcome around Jesus.”
He shifted his attention to her. “You know what I love most about today?”
She smiled at him. “The coffee?”
“No.” He smiled. “Seeing the Louvre through your eyes. That’s what I’ll remember most.”
Next they visitedLa Dentellièreby Johannes Vermeer in the Richelieu wing.
“The Lacemaker.” Ashley didn’t need to read the sign beneath the work. “Renoir thought this was one of the most beautiful pieces in the world.”
Landon could see why. The painting was of a woman in the seventeenth century, dressed in yellow fabric with white lace. She was sitting at a sewing desk using bobbins to stitch a lacy pillow. Landon took a step closer. “The detailing is incredible. Like she’s sitting here working in front of us.”
“Yes.” Ashley stayed at his side. The Louvre was filled with tourists, of course, but here there were only a few people. Ashley let herself get lost in the art piece. “I always thought we would be friends, the woman in this painting and me.”
Only Ashley would say something like that. Landon’s heart swelled. “Friends? You and her?”
“Look at her face. She’s so intent on making sure her creation is just right. But there are no lines on her forehead or near her eyes.” Ashley looked at him. “She’s not worried or fretting. She just loves what she does. And she wants her work to show it.”
Amazing,Landon thought. “If that’s the case, then yes. The two of you would’ve been best friends.”
“Right?” Ashley turned to the painting again. “She could work on her lace in one room. I’d paint in the other.”She grinned. “Then we’d take a walk around Square des Batignolles and talk about the beauty we’d created that day.”
In the Sully wing they joined a crowd of people looking at the popularVenus de Milo, the nude statue of a woman missing her arms. Landon put his hands on his hips and stared at the work. “I never really got it about this one. I mean… technically, it’s broken.”
“The art world would disagree.” Ashley smiled, her eyes never leaving the sculpture. “They called her Aphrodite, the Greek ideal of beauty. Sculpted in 100B.C., found on Greece’s island of Milos and presented to King Louis the Eighteenth in 1821.”
“Ash.”
“Yes.” She turned to him.
“If we ever move to Paris, you could work here.” He touched her cheek. “All that information in your pretty head.”
“We had to study famous art in junior college, the different time periods and classics. I knew even more back then.” She looked at the statue again. “I remember a lot of what I learned… because it mattered to me.”
Of course it did. He looked at the piece once more. “She may have been the ideal.” He put his arm around her. “But old Venus has nothing on you. Just saying.”
“At least I have arms.” She tried not to laugh, tried to stay serious.
“A whole lot more than that.” He kissed the side of her head. “Let’s go to the bedroom.”
Ashley spun around. “Landon!”
“Not that bedroom.” He covered his smile. “The bedroom of Charles the Ninth!”
The Chambre de Parade du Roi was where King Charles IX greeted the court every morning. “Strange place to hold a meeting.” Landon cocked his head and studied the room. “But I’ve never seen anything so ornate in all my life.”
The walls dripped with massive gold embellishments, fine detail, and accoutrements. Red velvet curtains hung from the towering ceilings. “That chandelier must have hundreds of candle lights.” She touched her new necklace. “Light. The theme continues.”
From the bedroom, they wandered through many parts of the royal palace including Napoleon III’s apartment, the Grand Salon, and his dining rooms. Landon wasn’t an art critic by any means, and he didn’t make it to many museums. But even to him, every inch of the royal quarters was breathtaking.
Almost as much so as Ashley’s expression as she took it all in. “I never made it inside the Louvre when I lived here. I couldn’t afford it.” She took his hand as they left the museum later that afternoon. “Touring the Louvre… this was on my bucket list, Landon.”
“And taking you here… that was on mine.” He worked his fingers between hers, thankful for her. For their life together.
