I nodded. “You may.”
Late that night, I helped Kate undress and she asked me if I had met anyone who had captured my interest.
“Sir Richard Hibbart was polite and kindly disposed toward me,” I said. “He is a widower with some fine children and I found him to be pleasant company.”
“That does not sound very … ardent, Juliana,” she said.
“Were you ardent with your first husbands, madam?” I asked.
She laughed. “No. But I had no choices. You, unlike many others, do.”
“’Tis possible to build a household with a man and his children already born,” I said. “To be a stepmother is noble and worthy, as I have well learnt from you, and I look forward to perhaps doing that with Sir Richard.”
She set her brush down and drew me near, taking my hands in her own. “Bearing your own babe is also noble and worthy, as I hope you shall also shortly learn from me.” She put her hand upon her abdomen and patted it lightly.
“Kate! You are with child?”
She smiled and then giggled like a girl. “Can you believe it? ’Tis true. And I believe it to be a mark of favor of our Lord upon my marriage with Thomas, as I have never been with child before.”
“My lady, I am overcome with gladness for you,” I said. “You must rest easy now. No difficult works or harrying situations to discomfort you.” I took the brush from her hands and finished the task. “Quietly, calmly, sweetly, till the babe comes.”
She nodded her agreement and when I was finished bade me good night. “I shall see you upon the morrow, dear heart.”
I curtseyed. “Thank you, Kate. It was a splendid evening. I am overjoyed of your news.”
Once in my room, I found Elisabeth already abed; her husband, Sir William, could not attend, though progress was being made with the lord protector toward their reconciliation. I took the red gown off and put it away, but as I did, my hands and eyes and heart lingered upon the rose one.
“Juliana.” I felt a hand shake my shoulder. I opened my eyes and found Elisabeth Brooke leaning over me. For a moment I thought I had disturbed her sleep with another prophecy, but no.
“Get dressed,” she said. “There is something I want you to see.”
I gowned myself quickly and twisted my hair back without a net and followed her down the long gallery, around the turn, and toward the Lady Elizabeth’s chambers. Within, I heard high-pitched giggling. Elisabeth pushed the chamber door open slightly and I could see some of the maidens loitering about the back of the room, dismay and discomfort writ on their faces. In the center was the Lady Elizabeth’s bed, its drapes pulled back and she cowering, half nervously laughing, half protesting, fully vexed, against the head of it. Lord Thomas drew near to her and, it seemed, he was tickling her leg though she still was in her bed gown.
“He has no leggings on!” I whispered. His long shirt came to mid-thigh but you could see his bare legs and feet. I could not see, nor did I want to see, if his codpiece remained laced.
She nodded. At that moment, Kat Ashley came down the hallway; where she’d been I knew not but she pushed by us and went to rebuke Thomas.
“I have said this to you afore,” she said. “My lady will be badly spoken of if you persist!”
“Nay, madam, I will tell my lord protector how it slanders me if others speak evil of this. I will not leave off, for I mean no ill.” At that, he reached over and patted the Lady Elizabeth’s thigh.
“It is an unseemly sight to come so barelegged to a maiden’s chamber. Desist!”
At that, Lord Thomas pulled away, the Lady Elizabeth leapt out of her bed and raced toward the end of the room, to safety, where her maids cowered, and Elisabeth and I made our way to our chambers.
I sat down, heavy in heart and spirit. “How come you to know of this?” I asked.
“Two of my maids, who came with me to Hanworth, share several chambers with the Lady Elizabeth’s maids. They told me that this has transpired several mornings, that even with Mistress Ashley remonstrating with Lord Thomas, he persists.”
“Someone shall have to inform the queen.”
Elisabeth shook her head grimly. “She already knows. She has partaken in the activity once with Lord Thomas.”
“Surely not!” I stood, ready to defend her. “I think you misspeak.”
“I do not wish to speak ill of the queen any more than you do. When my maidens first told me of this mischief, I could not believe them. I went the first day and saw it for myself, and the queen was tickling her, too, though she did not look happy and put a quick end to it.”
“Mayhap she was seeking to temper his behavior with her presence.”
She nodded. “I agree. But it has emboldened him rather than stayed his actions. I was”—she paused—“I was hoping you could speak with the queen about it yourself. She trusts you in all matters.”
“I am sorry I accused you of speaking out of turn.” I paused for a moment. “I shall speak with her. But I must tell you in confidence … I have just learned that she is newly with child.”
“Oh!” Elisabeth clapped her hand over her mouth. “’Tis marvelous news.”
“Indeed. But I do not want to upset her, nor the babe. So I shall wisely choose when to broach the matter. I suspect Mistress Ashley has shamed Thomas enough to put an end to matters for some time.”
She smiled, agreeing with me. Alas, we were both grievously wrong.
May arrived, gowned in a garland of hawthorn, said to be whence our Lord’s crown of thorns came. Elisabeth Brooke returned to William Parr, and of a quiet afternoon, I felt a keen and curious desire to wander the gardens. I took nothing with me and went alone. As I made my way through the maze of hedges, as yet untrimmed for the season, I heard loud voices coming from without the hedges and one quiet one from within. I felt dreamlike again.
Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
I quietly picked my way down the gravel path, taking care not to noisily crush it with my slippers. Once close, I hid behind the statue of Aphrodite and listened. I could not make out what the voices were saying, but the Lady Elizabeth’s voice sounded by turns pleased and then pleading; her laughter scaled from enjoyment to fear. And there it stuck. I looked on in horror as Kate held her fast, as if in a playful tease, but Kate’s face looked tense and distressed, near tears, and I had a care for her well-being and for that of her babe. Lord Thomas grinned wickedly and had drawn his dagger and was slashing the Lady Elizabeth’s gown into pieces. The Lady Elizabeth held herself upright, never losing her royal posture, but her face looked afraid and vulnerable as I had never before seen it. She protested loudly and was ignored. Pieces of her gown plummeted to the ground, one by one. I felt sickened and fearful of what might come next.
Seymour finally sheathed his dagger and made a move as if he were going to take the lady in his arms whilst Kate held her. Both the Lady Elizabeth and the queen looked to be filled with woe, forced to drink a cup of bile that neither of them had earned. I felt that he meant to harm her, and that Kate was trapped as a woman drowning, pulling Elizabeth under with her.
Thomas, who had no care that he had asked the king to participate in his treason, was not likely to worry himself for the Lady Elizabeth’s or Kate’s concern, either. I felt pressed to move, and in spite of the rancor I knew they would cast upon me, I did.
I stepped out from behind the statue, balled my hands into fists, and shouted, “Stop! This is shameful!”
I was out of turn, but my rebuke, as a witness to their doings, shocked them into silence. Thomas stalked back to the manor house. Kate did not meet my gaze but followed him from a distance, while the Lady Elizabeth, who had given me a quiet look of thanksgiving, trailed them both.
There was little time to think upon the matter, though I remained shaken all day, wondering with dismay what kind of household I now lived in. Lady Fitzgerald Browne arrived to stay with us beginning that very evening; she had recently become a widow and came to Kate’s household to stay for a time afore moving into her dower estates. Though she were in mourning, Lady Fitzgerald Browne kept our good spirits up with tales of her home in Ireland, which she had left as a child. “My brother, now, he had to disappear back into Ireland to be hidden by our clansmen. He was in hiding for a number of years when King Henry had other plans for him.” She did not look at the Lady Elizabeth when she said that. King Henry had, in fact, planned to separate her brother not only from his lands but from his head. Though she did not seem to hold the sins of the father against the daughter, it was not a pleasant memory I was sure.