Chapter Twenty Robert Louis Stevenson and Monterey 20/21
They spent three more days in Monterey. He did take many liberties with her and to his delight, she took a few of her own. The poets and Solomon were right.
Elizabeth came back from a morning walk while she assumed Jarrod was sleeping in. That was one thing that would take getting used to. He was a night owl while she loved to retire and wake early. She shelled and sketched for over an hour alone, counting her blessings. She had filled an entire sketchbook on this trip. Jarrod noticed and had the concierge search high-and-low for a new one. He brought back a beautiful calf leather one. Jarrod planned to have her name placed on it when they returned.
She came back into the dining room to order Jarrod's coffee and her tea to be sent up. Jarrod had already come downstairs and was eating brunch with a man and woman. He introduced her to Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Osbourne. The author had come to Monterey to see his paramour and her two children. Jarrod recognized his name as they checked into the dining room as he had read his novel Inland Voyage last year in New York.
***In 1878 Fanny cabled Stevenson that she planned to leave her husband. Stevenson announced his intention of following her, but his parents refused to pay for it, so he saved to pay his own way. In 1879, despite protests from family and friends, Stevenson went to Monterey, California, where Fanny was recovering from an emotional breakdown related to indecision about whether to leave her philandering husband. Stevenson wrote many of his most 'muscular' essays in Monterey while awaiting Fanny's decision.
***The lady ultimately chose Stevenson, divorced Osbourne, and in May 1880 she and Stevenson were married in San Francisco. A few days later, the couple left for a honeymoon in the Napa Valley, where Stevenson produced his work Silverado Squatters... His middle-class friends were shocked by his travel with the lower classes; it was not published in full in his lifetime, and his father bought up most copies.
Jarrod quoted his favorite line from the book,
"You may paddle all day long; but it is when you come back at nightfall, and look in the familiar room, that you find Love or Death awaiting you beside the stove; and the most beautiful adventures are not those we go to seek"
Elizabeth closed her eyes as his rich baritone quoted the passage. His memory never ceased to amaze her.
Elizabeth was equally intrigued after finding out that Fanny was a magazine writer who enjoyed gardening and painting. She had studied at Antwerp and at the Academie Julian with her daughter Isobel. Elizabeth told her about her daughter Camellia and growing up in Bermuda. She shyly shared their engagement news.
The couple looked longingly at each other and Robert Louis mentioned, "I am envious and hope to have such happiness one day". Fanny simply patted his hand.
Jarrod signed for the charges and invited the couple to come back for supper today or tomorrow before they left for Stockton. They agreed and walked out of the lobby holding hands. He hoped they could find a way to each other. He knew the feeling well.
Elizabeth and Jarrod left out to meet the contractors and see the bids. He had wanted the house plumbed and a large oversized tub placed by the water closet looking out on the ocean side of the house. "That will be expensive, Jarrod," she cautioned.
"It will be worth it. I am ordering two in San Francisco. One for here and one for our home on the ranch. I want one large enough for two" and he winked at her. She blushed but was definitely intrigued. She had never thought of such but she would not forget that idea.
Jarrod also planned for a nursery, extra bedrooms, and a large dining room. He wanted enough rooms with the additions to home his whole family. She just sat back and enjoyed him so engrossed in his ideas. He added another bedroom on the third floor. "There is no need for that full master suite and separate adjoining rooms. We will only need one room and an en-suite closet and dressing room. My bed is big enough for both of us." He wickedly winked and pulled her close.
Her own parents had separate rooms but whatever Jarrod wanted. She was learning she could deny him nothing when he touched her and she looked into his sapphire eyes. This is the way it is supposed to be. You can trust and submit to a man that loves you …
They shared several more meals with Robert Louis and Fanny. Jarrod always had the tab paid when the young author would offer. He shared some verse one night in his Scottish brogue for a child in a garden. Both Jarrod and Elizabeth loved them.
"You should publish a volume for children one day. Those poems are enchanting", Elizabeth spoke.
On the morning they were to depart, Robert Louis brought a small parcel to them. He had written down several of the verses he had quoted to Elle and the quote that Jarrod loved in his own script and signed.
"It's not much but I am thankful. You two have helped Fanny more than you know. I hope to find what you two have found" He shook Jarrod's hand and kissed Elizabeth's and lumbered out the door.
The Flowers
All the names I know from nurse:
Gardener's garters, Shepherd's purse,
Bachelor's buttons, Lady's smock,
And the Lady Hollyhock.
Fairy places, fairy things,
Fairy woods where the wild bee wings,
Tiny trees for tiny dames—
These must all be fairy names!
Tiny woods below whose boughs
Shady fairies weave a house;
Tiny tree-tops, rose or thyme,
Where the braver fairies climb!
Fair are grown-up people's trees,
But the fairest woods are these;
Where, if I were not so tall,
I should live for good and all.