BELLEFAIRE

I was leaving my new apartment the first time I saw my destiny.  He was tall with green eyes and was carrying a small black notebook. He smiled at me, but his smile seemed a bit lost.

“Excuse me”, he said with an accent, “can you tell me the time?”

 I reached for my watch - my watch?! Where is it?

“I’m so sorry, I don’t have my watch with me.” 

I excused myself and went back inside to get it. It was 11:11, and strangely my lamp flickered a few times. I was on my way to an art gallery. Now it's true that I’m a fan of art but that wasn’t the reason why I was going. You see, at age 3 my parents passed away and I was taken to an orphanage. I was soon adopted by a loving family but I still felt like something was missing. I had never asked what had happened but I was ready now.  I came to this town to find out for myself who I was. However I was starting to second guess myself. Had I made a mistake in coming? How can I find myself when I am away from everything that I am familiar with? It had always been hard for me to trust others and now I was starting to doubt myself too. So today I was looking for comfort, for a friend. 

“Nicole, you came!” Alex, my artist friend greeted me “I’ve been expecting you.”

He handed me a glass of champagne. I took a sip letting the bubbles tickle my nose. I smiled, remembering the first time we had met.  It was the most random way I’ve ever met anyone. A friend had posted one of his paintings online and gave a fabulous review. I followed him on social media and that’s how our friendship started. We kept our friendship mostly through emails because his career would take him all over the world. Today was different, we both were in a new place with clear agendas.

“It’s always good to see you” I finally said, “I am so excited to see what you’ve been working on!”

The day was going smoothly and out of the corner of my eye I saw the guy with the green eyes that had asked me for the time. He was by himself and before I could make my way to him, Alex grabbed me and took me to one of his paintings.

“What do you think of this red one?” he asked pointing to a white and black painting with two red lines across it, “Do you like it?”

I’ve never really understood why artists paint with lines that don’t make out an object or a person; just meaningless lines across the canvas. However this painting was different. It made me see what my world had been like; black and white, right and wrong.  But in a moment of courage I had added the red lines; lines that were bringing me back to life.

“Gorgeous. It speaks to you.”

“I knew you’d like it. It’s a special one.”

Finally, the exhibition was over and the gallery closed. Alex and I decided to have our own little after party and play poker for old times sake. When we first met, I did not know a thing about poker and its different styles .But he was patient enough and taught me how to play a mean poker game. He also taught me about love through poker. 

“Through my journeys I have found that love is found in the soul of humans.” He had said this one night laying out all the hearts in a row. “You see, it’s not numbers that connect these cards nor color, it’s the heart. And what is love but listening to your soul and trusting that it will guide you to where you need to go in life."

Back at the hotel lounge I was winning.

“Do you think that maybe you can extend your stay a few more days?”  he asked me.

“Darling, if I could I would.  But I got a call this morning and there’s an emergency in one of my stores in LA that I need to tend to.”

My face couldn’t hide its disappointment.

“But can you do me a favor? I was supposed to take the red painting to a collector. Can you do it for me? You are the only one I can count on here.”

I nodded and gave him a half smile.

“Nicole, you are not alone. You will be guided. Trust."

- - -

The sun came early the next morning. Alex was gone but before leaving he gave me a small bag to take with the painting and wrote the address of where I was to meet this collector who I only knew by Ian.

I started to plan and looked up the address and recognized it.  What was Alex thinking? Did he know? My self doubt was starting to creep in again but I shook it away, ‘okay, let’s do this’ I told myself.

- - -

I handed my train ticket to the conductor and headed towards my assigned seat, 11B. Very much to my surprise and delight I saw him, Green Eyes. He was sitting a couple of rows behind me. My attention quickly turned to the lights of the aisle because they flickered, “I hope this is not a sign of how the trip is going to be” I thought to myself.

“Good night ladies and gentleman” a voice from the speaker woke me up two hours later. "We are sorry to inform you that due to a mechanical issue, we will be making a stop tonight and resume our trip the following day. We arranged for all passengers to stay at the town’s hotel.”

There were few grumbles here and there. I saw Green Eyes walking by to get his bag. We locked eyes and he smiled.

“A familiar stranger,” he extended his hand, “I’m Ben.”

“Nice to meet you.  I am Nicole” I took his hand, noting his thick accent.

“Nicole, enchanté. I noticed that you are carrying a big piece of luggage and since I only have this newspaper in my hands, it’d be rude of me not to offer to help you.”

“Newspaper? Who reads that nowadays?” I remarked.

“You are a funny one and you’d be surprised how interesting the newspapers are around here. For example, did you know that 19 stolen coins from the Greco Roman era were tracked here? They’ve been working on this case for months now and are offering a $20,000 reward for any information. So if you spot a shiny thing, you know what to do.” He winked.

“In that case, I’ll accept your help, that way I can pick up the shiny coins.” I winked back.

“Wonderful.” He said looking at all the people that were getting off the train, “I have taken this trip many times before to know that we will have to wait a long time for the only hotel in this town to give us our rooms. So I propose we go to the bar, have a drink and let the other people waste their time. The bartender is a good friend of mine.”

“You are obviously not from here - because of your accent, but you know your way around. What’s your story?”

“It’s a simple one. I'll share it with you over drinks.”

- - -

Besides the bartender, Ben was also friends with the bellboy who took our stuff and though I was hesitant to hand over the painting and my small black bag, he assured me that he was going to take good care of it.

“My work brought me here a few months ago. I don’t want to bore you with the details of my job but I am actually on my way to a place where I volunteer. It’s an orphanage called Bellefaire, not too far from here. I am taking advantage of this holiday to build new quarters for their art classes. If you have time, you should come and see it. There’s something special about this place and the kids. Full of hope and love.”

I froze as soon as I heard the word ‘Bellefaire’. That was where I was taken after my parents died and where Alex wanted me to deliver the red painting. This was becoming too much for me to process.

“Ben,” I interrupted him, “sorry to cut this short but all of a sudden I feel very tired. I am going  to my room. Goodnight.”

I went to pick up my bags, the painting and to check myself in. How is it possible that of all the people I could meet,  it had to be him? Also, did Alex know that was where I was adopted from? And if this is what I had been wanting for so long, to get answers, why was I so afraid?

- - -

I was running my bath,  wanting to relax and forget everything for a moment when the phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Is this Miss Fonte?” A stranger on the other line asked.  “You have something that belongs to us, a small bag, and we would like to get it back. Meet us at the bar in five minutes.” the stranger rudely hung up.

I went to get my bag. It wasn’t the one that Alex gave me, the bellboy must have given me the incorrect one. I grabbed it and before I could put it away curiosity got the best of me. I opened it. The coins! The Roman Greco coins were in this bag! I turned off the faucet and rushed to go to the bar, hoping that Ben was still there. 

“Thank God you are still here!” I hugged Ben. He was writing on his small black notebook and was startled to see me. 

“You look scared. Is everything alright?”

“I found them” I said in a low voice, “the shiny things. They are in this bag. The bellboy gave me the wrong bag and now some people are going to meet me here to get them back. I’m scared.”

Ben immediately grabbed my hand.

“Nicole, do you trust me?” He asked looking straight into my eye, “That boring job I mentioned, I am working on this case. The bartender, his name is Johnny and he is my partner. We’ve been tracking  these men for a few months now. If you hand us over the coins, we will make sure you get your reward and that nothing happens to you.”

Self doubt crept in again. Was he telling the truth?  Could I trust him? I’ve only known him for a few hours. I backed away for a second, hesitant, when a text came in. It was Alex, “ I hope everything is alright. Remember, trust.” he wrote. Then I saw the smugglers, two tall and mean looking men approaching me.

“I trust you.”

“Johnny, show time!” 

- - -

This time I was up before the sun, I barely slept after last night’s event. I was feeling like a new person. The smugglers were caught, some precious coins were returned to their rightful owner and all that I had to do was trust. I think I could get used to this universe.

I still had to keep my word and deliver the red painting. I said a quick prayer of gratitude and headed to meet Ben to go to the orphanage with him.

“What are you going to do with your reward money? You are $20,000 richer now.” Ben teased me.

“I think I’d like to donate it to the orphanage.”