Chapter Sixty Six
Jarrod found Lisette a few minutes later at the marble counter. She was elegantly labeling a list and color of each marble she purchased and the country of origin. He noticed the pouches she had already labeled with the four children's name; Kai, Henry, Sarah and Samantha.
"Well, what have we here?" He grinned, glad to have found her.
The clerk responded, "Marbles from the seven seas."
"I know some very happy children who will receive them."
He put his hand in the small of her back, watching her talent with pride.
She looked up and he could see sadness in her eyes.
"Jarrod? Want to pick out several for the children?" she asked with hurt in her voice.
He was confused but hoped she would tell him later. He had been watching to see if she saw the interaction with Davina and her father. He never saw her once.
He picked out several marbles for each child. Lisette wrote the color, pattern and country down on their sheets with a JTB by them in pencil. She scratched it out and put Pappy in ink.
"So they know we both helped with their very special gift this week." in a strange voice.
Jarrod paid the man before she could and Lisette took the bag over her arm. They went to the cloak room and she put the marbles in her bag. Jarrod went to take both bags and the wooden crate of Prudy's vase. She grabbed her own bag and walked out first.
"I will pay you back when we get to the carriage."
"Lissy, what's wrong?" as he helped up into the closed taxi.
"Nothing, I am fine."
"Well, that means there is a problem."
She took a deep breath and sighed, "I heard Judge Franklin and his daughter talking. I hid behind the screen and ferns with handfuls of marbles so they wouldn't see me. I assume they saw you by what they said."
"Yes my love. I was going to tell you. There isn't anything to be worried about. I made a mistake and there are consequences to my bad judgment. You—my love, are the only woman I want."
"As the man told his daughter, you may not have regrets now or tomorrow but eventually you will regret your choices of a married woman tainted by scandal and followed by calumny." She repeated it word for word.
"Son of a—-. Lisette, I know my own mind. That was the problem with her father when I was seeing Davina. He wanted me to think as he did—-it was the stipulation for seeing Davina. Damn it to hell, Lissy, no one is going to tell me what to think."
"Oh—-," she wasn't quite sure what to say in his fury.
"The man is obsessed with scandal and outward appearances."
He looked out the window for a few minutes. He stared outside but reached for her hand. He held it tightly.
"I am sorry, Lissy. You didn't deserve that."
"I am sorry, Jarrod. I just—uh. I get scared."
"I see that. I am a man of my word. I will never let you go—-last night was my destiny, every single time—I feel you in my bones. Lissy as you are. I want no other. I am content with you in any way we can be."
"You want children, a family, a wife—what if I am never free—-"
The fleeting doubt from the night before crossed his mind again but this was not the time to voice it.
"Henry is enough. You are enough."
"Don't you want more?"
"Hell yes Lissy— but only with you. Don't let that man ruin what we have. He's a pompous fool."
She simply shook her head.
"Lisette, I want to marry you. Not walk in the shadows—-but I would rather love you in the shadows than lose you. I would follow you to France if need be to live. I mean that."
"Your life is in California."
"Only if you and Henry are here."
"Your mother, your brothers—-"
"All would understand; they want me to be my own man."
She cocked her head at him.
"My father raised us to be men—-to go after what we wanted—-my mother knew my father would likely die at the hands of the railroad she told me later. She didn't cling or make him choose her or his life—-. She let him be who he was."
"But he would have lived."
"Yes but as the same man? I think not. He would not have chosen safe or he wouldn't be Tom Barkley—-those are my mother's words."
Lisette quietly pondered his words.
"Lissy, if you decide you do not love me, then we will part. But Lissy—you do not get to decide what is best for me. I do that. I want you and Henry. I don't change my mind."
She swallowed and felt strength from the sheer will in which he spoke.
"I do love you, Jarrod. I do."
"And I love you—-and Lissy, don't try to pay for anything again. I do not want your money. I am the man of our home, yes our home—I pay. And you do not carry your own bag. It is not negotiable." he said with more kindness.
She smiled at him, "Yes sir."
It crossed her mind that she had never had her father or her husband say those words to her or her mother.
He pulled her tight in his arms and kissed the top of her head.
"I am glad you found the marbles. Our children will love them."
"Yes they will, Jarrod." as she lifted his hand and kissed it.
"Let's grab a meal before we go back to Bax and Prudy."
"Sounds good." and she laid her head on his chest.
—-&—
Paul Franklin was furious as he reread the letter from California. He called Lisette's new attorney all manner of vile words.
"Arrogant, opinionated, haughty, and patronizing, for a start." after he let loose a string of profanity.
"He knows nothing of my life with the Taylor's. I earned every ounce of that money. It is the law—-women have no property rights."
"And to tell me it is to my advantage to settle the divorce quickly and privately—-before unseemly details come to light that will harm me and my family irrecoverably."
"Surely Lisette didn't reveal everything to him—it hurts her precious Henry too. Yes, she wouldn't—-we have an agreement. Maybe he is talking about the money, yes that's it. Everything Miller and I did was legal. Made sure of that. Yes—-I am sure it is that. No divorce yet—until I decide."