ARROW - 16. Chapter 16

I woke at 6 in the morning. I finished showering and was getting dressed for our wedding when Colin woke up. “Get up, sleepyhead. We can’t be late this morning.” I watched as he slowly got out of bed, stretched, and headed for his morning kiss.

“Will we have time for breakfast? I need a cup of coffee.”

“Get your shower and dressed. I’ll finish packing.”

At nine in the morning, we were standing at the entrance to City Hall.

Leaving City Hall, “Colin, when does two become one?” He looked at me as if I said something weird “When they are married.” I got a kiss for that in front of City Hall.

We went and had an early lunch at our hotel. We picked up our suitcases and headed to the train station. About 4 hours later, we were pulling into the train station in Paris. Disembarking, I needed to look for a taxi, and I didn’t need to look for long. Walking out of the train station, there was a line of cabs.

Armand hailed a taxi. Since I didn’t speak French, I let him tell the driver where to take us. “We would like to go to 75009 Paris Madeleine.”

The cab driver spoke to us in English. “Is this your first time in Paris?”

“No, I spent a summer here, and I stayed at that home on Madeleine. I am showing my husband how I spent my summers in Europe.”

“Armand, should we tell a stranger we are gay? Suppose he is one of those that hates gays.”

“I’m not ashamed of you, and as to being gay, ce la vie, this is Paris.”

Arriving at Madam Lavigne’s home, taking our luggage, paying the taxi driver, we walked to the door. I knocked on the door, as soon as it was opened, “Mon dieu, Armand.”

I was lost from that moment on. They spoke French, and I heard my name. Armand pulled me next to him. Madam Lavigne, kissed me on my cheek, and she said something to Armand. He smiled, putting his arm around my shoulder, he hugged me.

From that moment on, I was totally dependent on Armand, except when we were alone.

That night we became one. In fact, we became one a few times.

In the morning, after a light breakfast of croissants and coffee, we went sightseeing. “That’s the Seine river that flows through the center of Paris. Before we leave, we will go on a dinner cruise, and you will see the Statue of Liberty.”

“You’re joking. The Statue of Liberty is in New York.”

“Wait and see. There’s the Eiffel Tower, and we can go to the top.”

“You know the blank wall in the club. Could you paint this tower there?”

“If that is what you want.”

Walking back towards our room, “Let’s stop and get a lunch that we could eat in the park. I spent many afternoons sitting there. There is a patisserie around this corner.” I had visited this shop many times when I was spending my summer here.

Walking into the shop, I bought a loaf of bread, 400 grams of a local cheese, and a small bottle of wine. Colin looked at me when I bought the wine. “You are in Paris, and you must have wine with your meal.” I laughed when I said that. Being back in Paris brought back many memories.

We sat in the park and enjoyed our lunch. I broke the bread and cheese into pieces. The wine, we passed the bottle.

“Do you feel like walking a little more? We could go and visit the most famous painting in France.”

“What is the most famous painting in France?”

“The Mona Lisa, let’s go and see the original in the Louvre Museum.”

We walked to the museum. “There are several museums in Paris that display paintings by different artists. If we have time, we can see several before we leave.”

Entering the Louvre, I picked up visitor brochures for us, handing one to Colin, “We’ll go and see the lady first. Then we can tour the galleys and see other artists’ paintings and the museum’s displays.”

Walking to where the Mona Lisa was on display, we saw a guard standing close to the roped-off area in front of the painting. Looking at the painting, “Colin, this painting is a fake.”

“How do you know?”

“Look at the background over her left shoulder and look at the photo in your guide I gave you when we entered.”

He did, “They are different.”

The guard heard us; he must have contacted someone because, in less than 5 minutes, there were two other guards to escort us to an office.

Colin looked scared, “Relax, Colin, we didn’t do anything wrong. I’ll bet the museum director is embarrassed that we discovered that the painting is a fake.”

I did as Armand said, but I was afraid we would be in trouble. Armand just sat there like a cat that just licked his plate clean. He knew more about painting than I did, so I believe him if he said we aren’t in trouble. It’s just that feeling in my stomach isn’t going away.

We sat in that office for about 20 minutes when a woman came out and escorted us to the museum’s Director’s private office. She spoke French, and I left Armand to handle that, and I just followed him.

As the Director spoke, Armand would translate for me. Armand must have told him I didn’t speak French, as he spoke French to Armand and then waited while Armand translated for me.

He told Armand that the hanging painting is a copy to discourage thieves, and the actual painting is in the museum’s vault. He offered to take us to the vault to see the original painting. I wasn’t sure what Armand would say, so I said yes in French, oui.

I shouldn’t have done that. The smile on Armand’s face told me I would be in for French lessons.

We followed the Director to the vault well below the ground floor. There was a small room with two chairs and a desk, and Armand told me to take a seat. The Director had someone bring the painting to the room. It was beautiful, and then I remember the smile that Armand told me he used on the portrait of his teacher. She definitely was hiding a secret.

Leaving the vault area, we said goodbye to the Director.

“Colin, let’s head back to Madam Lavigne’s. We can stop and buy some bread and wine for our supper.”

We walked back slowly, and as we passed anything worthy of being noted, I would point it out to Colin. We passed a street artist making a chalk drawing of a young couple. We stopped and watched for a few minutes. The artist told us if we waited a few minutes, he would do one of us. We politely declined and continued our walk.

We did stop, and I bought not only bread and wine, but I also bought some pastry.