The Paris Connection

by Cerella Sechrist

  “Because I know her. And Cole knows her. And we both believe in her. And because you know us and trust our judgment.... You do trust our judgment, don’t you, Lillian?”

  She considered this and then nodded.

  “Then you can trust her, too.”

  Perhaps he had a point.

  “Is she really as invaluable as Cole claims?”

  Julien brought her hand to his mouth, his lips hovering over her fingers. “Why don’t you give her another chance and find out?”

  * * *

  EMMA WRAPPED HER sweater a bit more tightly around her frame. The weather was turning cooler by the day. She kept a watchful eye on Avery and wondered if she should have insisted her daughter wear more layers for this afternoon outing to the park. She couldn’t bear to suggest they go back to the apartment, not yet anyway. She had just been reviewing her finances last night and decided that she and Avery would have to move within the next month or two. While her apartment in Batignolles was not as expensive as most in the seventeenth arrondissement, it was still more than she could afford without her wages from Aquitaine. So she decided to let Avery enjoy the park for as long as possible. After all, she would likely be saying goodbye to Melanie this week, as well. The au pair agency was already working on finding another family for the young woman. Once she left them, Brice had offered to help out however he could, by watching Avery if Emma had a job interview or if she just needed time to sort through things. She was still a little skeptical of her ex-husband’s desire to get to know his daughter, but she had to admit that so far he seemed committed. Upon his return from Le Mans, they had arranged for him to spend a weekend with Avery, who was, Emma could tell, both wary and excited at the idea.

  Emma didn’t even want to consider how she would feel when that weekend rolled around. She found herself missing Cole more and more, but somehow managed to stave off the worst of the longing by lavishing attention on Avery. She feared these attempts at distraction were slowly wearing her daughter down. Last night, when Emma had suggested they bake cookies, Avery refused, saying she was sick of cookies. Belatedly, Emma realized that this had been her standard suggestion for several nights in a row. They had so many cookies piling up that, instead, she’d decided they should offer them to their neighbors in the building. That idea had been met with more enthusiasm, but she knew she couldn’t rely on Avery to distract her forever.

  She might have talked to Solene about things, but of course, they still hadn’t spoken since the day she’d been fired from Aquitaine.

  She regretted telling Cole they shouldn’t speak to each other for a while. She missed him and wished he were around to cheer her up and make her laugh. She wanted to tell him about Brice and hear his thoughts. She wondered how things were going at the office and what sorts of new positions needed filling with their clients. She pictured Julien and pondered whether he ever thought about her at all since her dismissal. His opinion had meant so much to her over the years, and it felt strange to know she would probably never speak to him again.

  And then, as if this very consideration had summoned him, he appeared, stepping up to the bench where she sat. She could only blink at his arrival, speechless.

  “She is growing up fast,” Julien remarked, looking toward Avery as she ran circles around the playground. Emma watched in surprise as he settled himself on the seat next to her.

  “Your au pair, Melanie—such a lovely girl—told me you were here.”

  She was too flabbergasted to respond. Why had he come?

  “The weather is turning cooler so quickly. I fear we will have snow on the ground well before Christmas.” He shifted his gaze around the park. “You know, I don’t think I have ever seen the Square des Batignolles when it is covered in snow. It must be a delightful sight.”

  By this time, she had regained some of her composure. “Julien...what are you doing here?”

  He shifted his rather hefty weight, and the bench squeaked in protest.

  “I came to apologize.”

  She felt another ripple of shock. “Apologize?”

  He nodded. “I did not give you enough credit, Emma. You are not Solene. I forgot that. You must forgive me.”

  She turned away from him, keeping one eye on Avery as she held out her arms and pretended to flap them like a bird.

  “What are you trying to say? That you realize I’m innocent?” She could only wonder how Julien had come to that conclusion. Had Cole been involved?

  “Solene came to see us.”

  Her head jerked around. It seemed this conversation was going to stun her at every turn. “Solene? She came to Aquitaine?”

  “She did, to proclaim your innocence. And I have to admit, she must feel quite strongly about your friendship to have entered those doors again. She made it plain that there is still no love lost between the two of us.”

  Emma gaped at him. “You and Solene were in the same room together? And you both walked out alive?”

  He laughed at this, and the sound warmed her. “Cole was there as a witness, if you do not believe me.”

  Cole. She felt her nerve endings come alive at the sound of his name. “So then...Cole was there, to hear her say I wasn’t responsible for those leaked files?”

  Julien eyed her speculatively. “You are as in love with him as he is with you, aren’t you?”

  This pointed question caused her to turn away. She didn’t want Julien to see how much she wanted this to be true.

  “I thought as much,” he said.

  “How is he?” she questioned, unable to resist asking about him.

  “Much better, now that Lillian and I have decided to ask you back. I fear he was at loose ends without you, quite distracted. How he managed before he met you, I have no idea.”

  Though all of these words caused a lightening in her spirit, she chose to focus on only the first few. “You’re asking me back to Aquitaine?”

  He looked down. “I am ashamed I let you go at all, Emma. I was perhaps not as understanding as I should have been. You have proven your dedication to this company a thousand times over, especially when I denied you the promotion I had promised and worsened the blow by assigning you as Cole’s liaison.”

  She was quick to reassure him on that score. “That’s okay. I enjoyed assisting with Cole’s transition.”

  A faint smile tugged at Julien’s lips. “Yes, I daresay you did.”

  She fought the blush she felt heating her cheeks and looked for Avery once more. Her daughter was oblivious to the conversation taking place several yards away.

  “And you said that Lillian agreed to my return, as well?”

  He inclined his head. “Not without a bit of persuasion, but then, she does not know you as well as I do.” He turned on the bench, and it groaned at the movement. “Will you forgive me, Emma? For doubting your integrity? And will you return to Aquitaine? I cannot promise an immediate promotion, but hopefully, in the future, something can be arranged.”

  “Not if it means losing Cole,” she stated. “I think he’s going to do wonderful things for our company.”

  “Our company? Then you’ll come back?”

  She thought about hesitating, trying to punish him a little bit longer. But that wasn’t her style.

  “It will be just like I never left.”

  She knew by his smile that it was the answer he’d been hoping for.

  * * *

  EMMA COULD NOT understand Melanie’s insistence. Now that their au pair would be staying with them through the school year, she didn’t see why they had to visit the Champ de Mars tonight, of all nights. But Melanie kept saying she wanted to see the Eiffel Tower lit up against the evening sky, and she couldn’t wait. She insisted it would be a celebration, now that they could stay together for a few months more. Avery backed her up on this, pleading with
Emma to take them.

  Emma pointed out that since they would be together for a while longer, they’d have plenty of opportunities to view the Eiffel Tower at night another time. But Melanie and Avery protested mightily at this, insisting it had to be tonight.

  She hedged for a bit, repeatedly checking the screen of her cell phone. She had spoken to Solene earlier, thanking her for what she’d done. They’d made plans to get together next week to talk through everything that had happened. But Solene’s wasn’t the number she kept hoping would light her screen.

  After her news from Julien, she had expected Cole to call and speak to her himself. Wasn’t he happy about the decision for her to return? Perhaps their last exchange had changed his feelings for her. Maybe she wouldn’t hear from him at all but would have to face him when she returned to the office in a few days’ time. She was embarrassed to admit that rather than going out and viewing the breathtaking magnificence of the Champ de Mars at night that she would prefer to stay in and wait by the phone for him to call.

  Ashamed of these feelings, she finally caved and told Melanie to dress Avery warmly for their evening excursion. With one last glance at her cell phone’s screen, she pocketed it and grabbed her own sweater to guard her against the chilly autumn air.

  * * *

  THE CHAMP DE MARS was not as crowded on a weeknight as it might have been on the weekend, but still, there were several dozen people spread out along the stretch of green fronting the Eiffel Tower. Emma paused to take in the glittering beauty of the iron structure. Lamplights lined the avenue and illuminated the strip of grass that stretched to the tower’s base. The monument glowed with hundreds of light projectors and several thousand strobe lights, casting a golden radiance. Emma’s breath caught in her chest. How had she thought she could leave this place? She loved Paris, the city that had somehow come to be home more than any other. She reached for Avery and drew her daughter against her side.

  “You guys were right. This was a good idea.”

  She didn’t care who called her a romantic. There was something about that beacon of love that made her feel all would be right with the world.

  She reached into her pocket and withdrew her cell phone, checking it one more time. No calls. A bit of her romantic optimism deflated. Perhaps Cole had forgotten all about her already.

  “Come on, Mom.”

  Avery began tugging on her arm, so she reluctantly slipped the phone back into the pocket of her jeans.

  “Slow down there, kiddo,” she begged as Avery’s grip became more insistent. She practically dragged Emma across the lawn in the direction of the Eiffel Tower. Melanie laughed and kept pace beside them. She could hear the joy in that sound and wondered if the younger woman would learn to love Paris as she had when she was an au pair.

  “Avery, what’s gotten into you?”

  But her daughter just kept moving, and when Emma looked to Melanie for help, the girl could only shrug. The excitement of Emma’s return to Aquitaine must have lifted their spirits even more than it had raised hers. Of course, her own happiness was tempered by no word from Cole.

  What would she do if he no longer wanted to see her? How would she mend together a heart that he had claimed, if he now released his hold on her? She couldn’t begin to think in those terms, didn’t even know where to start.

  And then, her attention was arrested by a sight that made her sigh. Someone had set up a table in the middle of the Champ de Mars, directly in the center, with the Eiffel Tower shining down. It was lit with candles, and it appeared as though a dinner had been laid. How lovely. Some woman was extraordinarily lucky to experience such thoughtfulness. She looked around, wondering just who the happy couple was, and that’s when she saw him.

  Cole. He was dressed in his office attire, wearing black pants and a white button-down shirt with his vest over top. His hair was styled as though he’d just come from work, though a blond lock had fallen across his forehead. He stood, a single rose held in his hand. She looked from the candlelit table to him and found his expression serious.

  “Go, Mom.”

  Avery went around and pushed her forward from behind. She glanced at Melanie.

  “Avery and I are going for a walk. We’ll see you back home later on, okay?”

  Emma felt a flutter of nerves take over. “Maybe you guys should stay.”

  “M-o-o-o-m,” Avery protested. “Go talk to Cole.”

  She grabbed Melanie’s hand, and before Emma could protest further, they were skipping away, back across the green. She turned back to Cole, who offered a tentative smile and then took several steps forward. He met her halfway and held out the rose.

  “Would you like to join me for dinner?”

  Her stomach was doing so many somersaults that she didn’t see how it would be possible to eat a thing. Still, she wasn’t about to turn him down. She took the rose in her hand.

  “Yes, I’d like that.”

  He gestured toward the table, and when his hand touched the center of her back to guide her forward, she felt her knees grow weak. He pulled out a chair, and she sank into it, laying the rose beside her. She wished she’d had some sort of warning so she could have dressed a bit more elegantly than her T-shirt, jeans and sweater. From the corner of her eye, she noticed several couples stopping, taking note of the scene Cole had created, before sighing and leaning into each other as they moved on.

  “How did you do all this?” she asked, as he took the seat across from her.

  “A gentleman doesn’t reveal his secrets,” he said and then pulled the covers off their plates to reveal a simple dish of soup and sections of baguette along with several slices of cheese. In the center of the table rested a small plate with half a dozen macarons in varying flavors. She knew they had to be from Ladurée.

  “Cole, this is...” Inexplicably, she felt tears fill her eyes. “No one has ever... I’ve never...”

  “What’s more romantic than dinner in Paris with a view of the Eiffel Tower?”

  She looked at him, her chest expanding with love. “I can’t think of anything more wonderful,” she whispered.

  He placed his arm on the table, reaching toward her with his palm up. She placed her arm there, as well, putting her hand into his.

  “Emma, I’m sorry for any doubts I had, about things at Aquitaine. I know you better than that, and I should have spoken up for you, should have trusted in you more than I did. I’m asking you to forgive me and making a promise that if anything like this happens in the future, I’ll put more faith in you.”

  She swallowed at these words but couldn’t find breath to speak.

  “You are the most loyal person that I know, and I...I am completely in love with you. Can you forgive me and agree to work with me at Aquitaine again? Will you consider restarting a relationship with me?”

  She was overwhelmed by this declaration and found her chest so full that she still couldn’t force out a reply. He must have mistaken her silence for hesitation because he continued.

  “If you still have doubts about dating someone you work with, and especially your boss, I’ll resign my position at the company.”

  “No.” The idea of Cole leaving forced the word out. He jerked back slightly, his fingers losing their grip on hers.

  “No?” he asked, and she realized how her reply had sounded.

  “I meant, no, I don’t want you to resign from Aquitaine, but, yes...I want us to be together.”

  She watched as a smile broke over his features, lighting his hazel eyes with happiness. “Then it’s a yes?”

  “It’s a yes,” she confirmed, feeling her own grin widening with joy.

  He stood, moving his chair around the table and setting it beside hers before taking his seat once more. He reached for her hand again.

  “When I came here, I never thought I could learn
to love this city, but I have come to adore it, all because it brought me to you.”

  She moved her free hand to touch his face, running her fingers along his jaw and down to his chin.

  “When I was younger, I just knew I’d find love here. Maybe it’s why I never left, after my marriage to Brice ended. Maybe, deep down, I knew I had to stick around until you found your way here.”

  “Then thank you,” he said softly, “for waiting.”

  “Thank you for giving me a good reason to.” She leaned in to nudge her nose against his. “And for reminding me I’m a romantic at heart. I had almost forgotten.”

  “I won’t ever let you forget again.”

  And that, she knew, was a promise.

  EPILOGUE

  EMMA WAS IN awe of the church sanctuary, each pew draped in swaths of silk and an abundance of orchids stationed at every end. There were ultrafeminine touches of lace and trailing ivy and more candles than she could begin to count. She turned to Cole, his hand wrapped loosely around her waist as he guided her forward.

  “I always pictured Lillian and Julien’s wedding as a simple affair.”

  Cole shrugged. “It appears that Lillian’s idea of a wedding is much more ostentatious.”

  Emma couldn’t believe it. She’d been privy to many conversations between Lillian and Julien over the past eight months as they planned the event of their nuptials, but she hadn’t paid close enough attention to realize just how extravagant it all would be. After all, Julien had always been a bachelor, and Lillian had been a widow for over twenty-five years. Who knew the two would go all out on the occasion of their marriage?

  The usher stopped and directed them to enter a pew. Cole gestured for her to go first, and then he slid in beside her. His arm immediately went around her back, his palm running over her other arm. She leaned into him.

  “Oh, by the way,” she said, “I wanted to ask you what you’d think if I threw a goodbye party for Melanie. She’s scheduled to return to the States in another month, so I’d have to pull something together rather quickly, but Solene’s already agreed to help.”