Lost Love Found (73 page)

The third of Lady de Marisco’s sons, Lord Robert Southwood held the greatest and oldest tide of any of them. He was a charming man with a youthful countenance despite the fact that he was entering his fortieth year. He had fathered eight children, the eldest three with his first wife, who had died giving birth to her third daughter in less than three years. The two elder girls, Elsbeth and Catherine, had married recently and were happily settled. The third daughter, Anne, sixteen, would be married in the summer.

The earl’s five younger children were the offspring of his second marriage, a great love match. The lovely Countess of Lynmouth had been a poor orphan under the queen’s protection when Robin Southwood spied her. Having met her, nothing would do but that he marry her, which he did, with the queen’s blessing. Neither had ever regretted the hasty match, and many envied them their happiness. Their children were Geoffrey, age 13; John, age 11; Charles, age 8; Thomas, age 6; and Laura, age 3.

“We can travel in my coach,” the earl said. “ ’Tis larger and better-sprung than yours. The children can have yours.”

“Thank you, no, brother,” Lord Burke replied. “I’ve just had my coach refurbished, inside and out, and I do not intend having your sicky-fingered offspring destroying my new red velvet seats. The children may have your coach. You and Angel can ride with us.”

Robin Southwood laughed. “I shall have to have my coach refurbished after those savages of mine complete the trip to London without supervision.”

“Papa!” Pretty Anne Southwood wore a look of outrage. “You do not expect me to ride alone in the coach with my four brothers, do you?”

“Perhaps you would prefer riding atop the coach?” teased her father.

“ ’Twould be far preferable, my lord, I do assure you!” Anne replied pertly.

The Countess of Lynmouth intervened on her stepdaughter’s behalf. “I have arranged to borrow a small coach from your grandmother, Anne. If you do not object to sharing your carriage with your little sister and her nursemaid, then perhaps you would be happier riding with them. Be warned, my girl, that the coach is small.”

“No, Mama, I should be far happier with Laura and Judith than surrounded by my rough, shouting brothers,” Anne told her gratefully.

On the fourth of January the newlyweds, in the company of the Earl and Countess of Lynmouth and their family, departed for London. They were accompanied by eight baggage carts, many servants, extra horses, and the warm wishes of their family.

Watching them go, Lord Bliss remarked to his wife, “Well, my love, we have just the boys and Maggie to worry about now.”

“I do not think we shall have to worry long about Maggie,” Aidan said with a smile. “The boys, however, are a different matter. Jemmie, of course, is too young. Payton will ask Mistress de Bohun to be his wife, I have not a doubt, as soon as she is free of the queen’s service.

“We must do something for them, Conn. Mistress de Bohun has no fortune to offer Payton, and he is a younger son with no rights of inheritance or property of his own. A wife was to have brought him that, but Payton’s heart did not take practical considerations into account.”

“Waterside is for sale,” Conn told his wife. “The last of the family has just died. There’s the manor house and just over a hundred acres. That should do nicely for Payton and his wife. But what of Colin? He seems to be content to play the field when his duty as my heir is to find a wife and settle down,” Lord Bliss fretted.

“He is you all over again.” Aidan laughed. “Do you not remember your days at court? ‘The Handsomest Man at Court,’ they called you, and all of the women made fools of themselves over you. The queen adored you, and you even bedded her cousin, Lettice Knollys, if memory serves me. Colin is only twenty-one. Let him sow his share of wild oats, my love, as you did.”

“Yet Payton will just be twenty, and he has already found a wife,” Lord Bliss complained.

“Payton is fortunate. We must not rush Colin. Remember what we wrought by fussing at Valentina to make a match because she was the eldest girl. Colin will find his love, but he will find her only in his own time.

“Soon there will be a new king and a new court. An unattached young gentleman will undoubtedly find high adventure there.”

“Do you think Bess will die soon?” Lord Bliss asked his wife.

“I have not seen the queen in years, Conn, but the gossip is not promising, and you must remember that she is in her seventieth year. She has never enjoyed robust health, and her health has been taxed over and over again throughout her life. I don’t think there’s ever been a time when she was really free to rest. Almost everyone she loves is gone, so she must be very lonely. I do not see how she can last much longer,” Aidan said sadly, for like her husband, she loved the queen, and they both owed her a great debt for having arranged their happy marriage.

Indeed, the queen was not well. She had a terrible cold and her joints were stiffer than they had ever been. For many years she had avoided mirrors, but now she often peered into her glass wondering at the old face looking back at her. She no longer recognized herself. In her mind, she was young. What had happened to her appearance? She had not enjoyed Christmas, which, besides May Day, was her favorite holiday. The winter had begun early and was particularly nasty.

Her ladies-in-waiting watched over her with increasing vigilance. The rest of the court waited for the first sure sign of her impending death, eager for the new era to begin. The vultures did not fool her, and her tolerance level, never very great, even in her youth, disappeared entirely.

On her good days the queen wished the Lord would give her ten more years, if for no other reason than simply to foil the vultures who waited so ghoulishly for her death. She had heard the rumor that James of Scotland had already packed his bags in anticipation of her demise. How she wished she might keep him penned up in his northern realm for another few years! Her spirits were raised briefly when her astrologer, Dr. Dee, returned from his travels to Poland. But Dr. Dee looked at Elizabeth, looked at her courtiers, looked out of the palace windows at the pouring rain, and told the queen bluntly to
‘beware’
of Whitehall with its gloamings and its damps. Elizabeth, more restless than ever, gave orders for the court to remove to Richmond Palace across the river in Surrey.

Richmond was built on the ruins of the old palace of Sheen. It had been most beloved by King Edward III, who had enlarged it and added rooms of great magnificence. Richard II and his wife, Anne of Bohemia, had used it as their summer residence, but when the lovely Anne died of plague there, her grieving husband ordered Sheen destroyed. Henry V had repaired, restored, and enlarged it. His son, Henry VI, and Margaret of Anjou had held court at Sheen, as did Edward IV and his queen, Elizabeth Woodville, who loved to hold tourneys on the palace green.

Elizabeth’s grandfather, Henry VII, loved Sheen above all his other residences, and his sons, Henry VIII and Arthur, were raised there. In 1499 the palace was destroyed by fire at Christmas, but by 1510 it had been built again and christened Richmond in honor of the king’s earldom of Richmond.

Although Elizabeth had stayed at Richmond often in her youth, she had not used it very much during her reign, for her sister, Mary, and Mary’s husband, Philip of Spain, had spent their honeymoon there.

The most modern of all the queen’s residences, Richmond was better insulated than the others and had the advantage of not being directly on the river, but set within a great park filled with ancient oaks and herds of deer. Elizabeth referred to Richmond as her “warm winter box.”

The date of the court’s departure was set for January twenty-first. Lord and Lady Burke and their party arrived in London on the twelfth, having spent eight days traversing the winter roads from Worcester.

“Will you go on directly to Lynmouth?” Padraic asked his brother.

“No. Angel and I intend to go to Whitehall with you, to see the queen. The children, however, will go home tomorrow.”

“You feel it, too,” Valentina said to Robin.

Their eyes met, and he said, “Aye, Val, I do. I served her as her personal page my entire youth, and although it is twenty-five years since I was in her service, there are times when I awaken in the night, certain that I hear her calling me. There are times when I feel what she feels, though we are miles apart and our lives have taken different directions. Today I feel her sadness and her impatience. I think that if I do not take the time to see her now, I shall not see her again in this life.”

Valentina nodded. “I served her only briefly, but I came to love her when most about her, save her dear old faithfuls, were complaining and carping about her. She is Gloriana, as my papa named her, but she is also an old lady. She needs the loving attention and care of people about her. It cannot be easy to always be on guard, Robin.”

The Earl of Lynmouth smiled warmly at his new sister-in-law. “I wonder,” he said, “if my brother knows the treasure he has in you, Val.”

“Of course I know!” snapped Padraic.

“Hah!” Robin Southwood chuckled. “What you know right now, little brother, is that she is beautiful, has a delicious body, and kisses sweeter than wine. But the many years you have together will reveal to you Valentina’s many other virtues. And even if you live to a very ripe old age, Padraic, you will never know all there is to know of her, for no man ever knows all there is to know of any woman.”

“Why, Robin, my love, how very astute of you,” said his wife, Angel.

“ ’Tis not my thought, Angel, but rather our mother’s husband Adam who is very wise,” responded the earl.

“And who has lived with Mother for over thirty years now, a singular accomplishment in itself.” Padraic laughed. “All of her other five husbands combined did not live with her so long.”

“I wonder if your mother would find such a remark amusing,” pondered Valentina.

“I never knew Mother to look back but once in her life,” said Padraic, “but although I know she regretted it, I also know that even knowing the outcome, she would follow the same path again. Aye, I think Mother would find my remark amusing, Val, for she above all people appreciates the humor in life.”

The following day they made preparations to go to Whitehall, taking pains with their appearance so as to do honor to the queen. The men were garbed in black velvet, styled in the latest fashion. Their pantaloons came to the knee, and a buttoned slit replaced the old-fashioned codpiece. Below the knee the men each wore several pairs of silk stockings to protect their legs from the cold. The outer pair was embroidered with metallic clocks and other designs.

Robin’s doublet was of silver and blue brocade, and his long jerkin was trimmed in fur. Padraic’s doublet was of a gold-and-black design and the sleeves on his jerkin were slashed to show gold fabric beneath. Their stockings were cross-gartered, and each wore heelless thick-soled shoes of dark leather.

The somber tone of the gentlemen’s garb allowed the ladies to shine like beautiful birds of paradise. The young countess wore a velvet gown of the same vibrant shade as her turquoise eyes. The overgown had a bodice trimmed with pearls and pink diamonds. Her underskirt was embroidered with silver thread and pink diamonds. Angel’s jewelry was magnificent, and she wore rings set with gemstones on every finger. If any at court remembered Angel as a poor orphan and a royal ward, none said so.

The radiant Lady Burke wore a gown of crimson velvet, for Padraic loved seeing her in red better than any other color. Red made her skin seem like white rose petals. The red bodice and underskirt were trimmed with jet beads and black silk embroidery. Valentina wore rubies and diamonds about her neck and matching earbobs, a wedding present from her doting husband.

Although the weather was bitterly cold, they traveled the Thames to Whitehall Palace, for the damp winds of the past few days had abated. Wrapped snugly in their heavy velvet-and-fur capes, tucked beneath fur rugs, with heated bricks at their feet, they found the journey from Greenwood bearable.

Valentina had sent word to Lady Scrope that they were coming, and as they climbed the water stairs from the river, they were greeted by Mistress Honoria de Bohun, who had come to escort them to the queen.

“How are you, Honoria?” Valentina asked.

“I am well, Lady Barrows, thank you,” the girl replied, curtsying, but there was a pinched and worried look about her.

“It is Lady Burke now, Honoria,” Valentina said, with a smile at her husband.

“Then may I wish you happy, Lord and Lady Burke,” the girl said, then she blurted out, “Is Payton with you?”

“No,” said Valentina, studying her anxious face, “but why do you ask, Honoria?”

Honoria de Bohun looked desperate. Lowering her voice, she said, “Please help me, Lady Burke! The queen is dying! I don’t care that her physicians say she will live another few years,
she is dying
! My parents have written me that since I have been unable to make a match here at court, they are planning to arrange a marriage for me with a wealthy old merchant. The man is without heirs and he desires to wed me. Lady Burke, I love Payton, and he has said he loves me! What shall I do?” Tears spilled from her soft blue eyes.

“God’s foot!” swore Lord Burke.

Both his wife and his sister-in-law sent him quelling looks, to his brother’s amusement.

“I know Payton means to ask you to wed him, Honoria,” Valentina said quietly. “He did not feel he should approach your family until after your service to the queen was concluded.”

“But that will be too late, my lady!” wailed Honoria. “My father speaks of formally announcing my betrothal to Master Tanner after Easter! I shall die if I am forced to wed that awful old man!”

“Then Payton must deal with your family before then,” said Valentina decisively. “I shall write to my father tonight, Honoria, and tell him of this. He will certainly communicate with your father almost at once.”

“Oh, thank you, Lady Burke!” Honoria cried. Remembering herself, she quickly escorted them into the queen’s apartments.

Lady Scrope hurried forward to welcome them. “My dear Lady Barrows! Welcome! Welcome! Your coming is a blessing, my dear, for she has been very low of late. The news of your return has cheered her greatly, believe me.”