Adult Situation: I found this scandal while researching another story and it seemed to fit into this story.

Chapter Six

Zella ordered box lunches from the hotel while Jarrod sent a message to Jack and Zella, Tuolumne River landing park for lunch and afternoon. Will be there all afternoon

They ate their lunch by the tables in the park. Jarrod put together a kite he purchased at the general store and they walked out to the ridge to fly it.

Rosemary was giddy watching her Pap run in his shirt sleeves pulling the string. He patiently taught her to hold the string and direct the kite with his hand firmly on hers. Tessa laughed as she watched them cavort in the field. Tears of happiness would slip down occasionally as she watched Jarrod and Rosemary.

A lady coughed nearby and caught Tessa's attention. She immediately took the canteen of fresh water over to the woman. She gratefully accepted the glass and drank.

She composed herself, "Thank you. I am Rosalie Bierstadt. My husband and I are traveling the West. He is a painter."

"Pleased to meet your acquaintance. I am Tessa Barkley, most recently of Stockton. My husband and daughter are on the ridge with the kite."

She pointed them out and the lady nodded.

"I was watching them. My husband and I have not been blessed with children." she smiled sweetly.

They visited for a few minutes and her husband, Albert Bierstadt joined them with his large leather portmanteau. He eyed Tessa as he would prey and his wife winked.

He bowed to the ladies and sat down on the quilt after the introduction. He leaned over and kissed his wife on the cheek.

"I am sorry my darling. I let the time get away from me."

"Mrs. Barkley shared her water. This cough wouldn't abate."

The couple shared a look of concern with each other and he handed her his flask. She drank deeply from it.

"Thank you, Mrs. Barkley. My wife has been feeling under the weather this trip. We are to travel to the Bahamas in the fall."

"The Bahamas. How wonderful."

"My husband is an artist. I am quite proud of him." and she patted him on the leg quite provocatively. Tessa turned her head at such an intimacy.

He opened his portfolio to show the ladies his work, "This is called California Spring." as he unrolled the large canvas. He leaned very close to Tessa.

"That is so beautiful." as he showed his art to her.

Jarrod and Rosemary came up behind the three and the child echoed, "Purty."

Albert stood up and introduced himself as did Jarrod. Rosemary's attention was caught by some quartz and she sat down to dig in the dirt.

"It is good to meet you, sir. I have viewed your paintings of Yosemite Valley. They are extraordinary. I have them several times in galleries—You traveled with Ludlow, Yes?" in a very reserved voice.

Tessa was surprised at the lack of warmth in her husband's voice.

"Yes. I did. Thank you, sir. The West has so many subjects —-it would take several lifetimes. But forgive my improprieties, none as beautiful as our wives."

Jarrod looked over at the pouches in the valise and his eye caught the dried flower tops of Indian hemp. His suspicions were confirmed and his memory served him well as usual. He recoiled as he thought about the scandal-ridden couple in front of them. Tessa was innocently conversing and accepting a dinner invitation.

"Jarrod, the Bierstadt's have asked us to sup. They would love to show me their techniques of painting. They asked if we are open to new ideas—-of course, we are."

Tessa picked up the sketches and looked through them with great interest. Albert stared at Tessa's face with unbridled attraction. Jarrod immediately moved protectively to his young wife. Albert put his hand on hers as she touched each print.

"I have always wanted to learn to paint. I used to sketch wildlife all the time."

"Oh my dear, it would be an honor to teach someone as exquisite as you."

Rosalie leaned over and fluttered her lashes at Jarrod. She licked her lips and outlined her own bodice with her index finger. She slightly brushed her breast against him. Jarrod could read her intentions in her violet eyes behind Tessa's back.

"Tessa, I believe it's time to go."

"Of course. It was so good to meet you, both." Tessa looked confused. "Something is untoward but I am not sure what. Jarrod's face."

Jarrod frowned at Albert. He shrugged his shoulders as his wife looked on with boredom.

"Good Day," and Jarrod took Tessa's arm as Rosemary ran ahead. He walked faster than Tessa thought he should but she struggled to catch up in her new leather boots even with his arm in hers. She knew him well enough to ask questions later and trust his reasons.

( Fitz Hugh Ludlow was an American author known for his book, The Hasheesh Eater (1857) detailing his experiences with the drug. He traveled the American West with his young wife, Rosalie. In 1863 Albert Bierstadt was at the peak of a career that would make him America's top landscape artist. Ludlow considered Bierstadt's landscapes representative of the best American artists of the era and used his position as an art critic at the New York Evening Post to praise them. Bierstadt wanted to return West, where in 1859 he had found scenes for some of his recently successful paintings. He asked Ludlow to accompany him. Ludlow's writings about the trip, published in the Post, San Francisco's The Golden Era, the Atlantic Monthly and then later compiled into book form, according to one biographer of Bierstadt, "proved to be among the most effective vehicles in firmly establishing Bierstadt as the preeminent artist-interpreter of the western landscape in the 1860s. Ludlow and Bierstadt were friends and contemporaries of Twain and Bret Harte. Rosalie and Albert began a scandalous affair that resulted in her divorce from Ludlow and expulsion from New York Society as libertines. Ludlow wrote frequently about polygamy's virtues in New York circles; he visited Utah upon his visits to Mormons in the spent the rest of her life traveling in the West and the warmer climates of the Bahamas for her tuberculosis until her death in 1893. They would have been in the San Joaquin area about this time.)

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Jarrod and Tessa ran into Jack and Zella at the entrance to the park.

"We were just coming to meet up. How was the park, sweetie?" Zella asked.

"Fun. Pap got my kite fly. See." and she showed off the paper kite. Jarrod was still discomfited and Tessa confused at his demeanor; she had never seen him so agitated. She couldn't wait to be alone to ask what upset him so about the couple at the ridge.

Jack looked at them both. "Something wrong with Jarrod?" Tessa shook her head not to ask.

Zella didn't notice as she took her sister's arm walking ahead.

"Let's go back to the cafe. We haven't had lunch."

"Sounds good."

Jarrod still hadn't said much and Tessa glanced over her shoulder at him. He was carrying Rosemary but his face was tense and guarded.

"What in the world?" Tessa wondered as they headed back into Modesto.

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