Through Each Tomorrow, page 13
But when Mrs. Flanders came out with Baby Laura on her hip, Evelyn’s entire countenance lifted. She took the baby in her arms and nuzzled her affectionately as she introduced me to Mrs. Flanders.
“And this,” Evelyn said with pride as she held the baby close, “is Laura.”
I reached out and touched the baby’s hand, thankful that despite all of Evelyn’s heartache, this child brought her happiness. I disliked thinking of her with another man, but I hated even more knowing he’d hurt her. At least she had Laura. God worked in mysterious ways, bringing joy from the pain. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Laura.”
The baby grinned, her blue eyes shining.
“Come inside,” Mrs. Flanders said as she watched me with curiosity. “It looks like we have a lot to talk about.”
Evelyn followed her inside as Laura looked at me over her shoulder.
We did have a lot to talk about. I just wasn’t sure if Evelyn would tell me what I wanted to know.
11
CECILY
JULY 20, 1563
WINDSOR CASTLE
A pall had fallen over the castle as we waited daily for the queen to recover. We had done our best to keep our spirits up, but without the presence of the queen, it was hard to enjoy the activities that made court life pleasant. In the evening, we still danced and participated in entertainment, but it wasn’t the same.
Andrew and Kat kept most people out of the queen’s bedchamber, though a few women entered to clean and take her food. It was Kat who saw to almost all her needs. I tried to get Kat to tell me what was ailing the queen, for Charles’s sake, but she refused.
Finally, the privy council demanded answers, and the queen allowed Andrew to share his diagnosis. His best guess was that it was a complication from the smallpox that she had suffered the previous October. It was causing headaches, abdominal pain, and swelling throughout her body. Andrew had performed bloodletting, a practice still in use in the 1880s, and was giving her herbal diuretics while recommending complete bedrest and as little strain as possible so she could rest.
As I sat in my tower room, looking out at the North Terrace, my mind slipped to Andrew, as it so often did. I had done my best to avoid him for the past two weeks, spending most of my time painting. Two of my caterpillars had cocooned, and I was expecting them to emerge any day. There were now dozens of paintings, mostly of caterpillars, but also of the castle and grounds, scattered around my room.
“Cecily?” Charles paused at the top of the stairs.
I turned, surprised to find him there. He’d never come to the tower before.
“So this is where you hide away,” he said with a smile. “May I come in?”
“Of course.” I stood, wishing I had done a better job of keeping the place tidy.
He slowly walked around the room, admiring my work. “I didn’t know you still painted.”
“I just started again.” I began to pick up my brushes and organize the table. “I am hoping to compile all of them into a book one day.”
Charles stopped at the window, where I had several jars with caterpillars lined up on the sill. He lifted one that held a cocoon dangling from the wooden lid.
“Please be careful.” I set down my brushes and gently removed the jar from his hand. “They’re very delicate.”
He released the jar into my care, and I put it next to the others.
“Why are you here, Charles?”
“Lord Wolverton arrived this morning.”
A heaviness weighed upon my chest as I stared at my collection. I had known he would arrive any day, but I’d tried not to think about it.
“He is hoping to meet you before supper.”
I slowly turned from the window, my arms crossed. “Has he come all this way expecting to marry me?”
“He came expressly at my invitation.”
“To possibly marry me.”
“Yes.”
“And if I do not like Lord Wolverton and choose not to marry him, will he be angry that he came?”
Charles sighed. “I hope you’ll keep your mind and heart open to him.”
“I suppose I don’t have much choice.”
“You always have a choice, Cec, but I want this to be settled. I think you will be pleased with him.”
I didn’t think anyone would please me besides Andrew. But if I was married, Charles would have one less thing to worry about, so I would do as he asked and keep my mind and heart open.
“Meet me in my apartment in an hour,” Charles instructed. “Lord Wolverton will be there.” He stepped forward and placed a kiss on my forehead before saying, “I know this is not how you wanted things to play out, but life isn’t always about what happens to us. It’s about how we respond to what happens that makes all the difference.”
“That’s easy for you to say.” The bitter words slipped out before I could stop them.
He was quiet for a moment, then he said, “My life is not turning out how I imagined, either. But I’m trying to do my best, for you, for the queen, for Evelyn—” He paused.
“Who is Evelyn?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
I put my hand on his arm. “Who is Evelyn?”
Sunshine poured through the window and bathed his face, causing his blue eyes to sparkle. At the moment, though, they were filled with uncertainty. As if he’d misspoken.
“Evelyn is Drew’s sister in 1883.”
My eyebrows came up. “Andrew has a sister?”
“I didn’t know about her until I got to his house.”
“You’re at Andrew’s house?” I squeezed his arm. “Charles.”
He frowned. “Have I not told you?”
“You tell me as little as possible about your other path. I learned long ago not to even ask.” But now that I knew, I needed all the details. “I was aware that you and Andrew lived during the same time, but I didn’t know you were friends there.”
He walked to my table, absently playing with the brushes, and I wondered if he’d finally tell me about his other path. “We didn’t meet there until a couple weeks ago. He asked me to go to his summer cottage in Newport.”
I followed him and stood on the other side of the table. “Does he live there alone?”
“His mother and sister are there.”
“Aren’t you a farmer in 1883? I wouldn’t think it was socially acceptable to host you.”
“’Tis not acceptable.” He lifted his gaze to mine. “He told his mother, and everyone else, that I’m the Earl of Norfolk.”
“Charles.”
“It’s a harmless fabrication. I am the Earl of Norfolk.”
“Charles,” I said again, disappointed in him.
He explained why he had done it and what he hoped Andrew’s father could do for him in return.
It was all starting to make sense. “You went to Newport to pose as the Earl of Norfolk, and Andrew agreed to take care of the queen and petition his father to invest in your family’s horse farm.”
“Yes.”
I studied him. “And what are you trying to do for Evelyn?”
He left the table and went to my paintings. Some were framed and leaning against the wall, others were drying on a rope I’d strung across the room, and some were stacked in a pile.
“It matters not,” he finally said.
I put my hands on my hips. “Why have you always been hesitant to tell me about your other path? Are you hiding something from me?”
“Of course not.” He lifted his shoulders. “My grandfather always told me to be careful about sharing too much information with other time-crossers, especially if it isn’t necessary for them to know. It can mess up history in ways we might not understand.”
“If we knowingly change history—but what could I change if I knew about your other path?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t want to take any chances. What if I told you about a person I knew, or an event, and you had foreknowledge from your 1913 path? If you gave me information I shouldn’t know, it might affect me or my choices.”
“You’re overthinking.” I crossed the room and put my hand on his arm so he’d turn and face me. “I have a feeling that you don’t want me to know about Evelyn—or whatever else you’ve kept from me—because you don’t want me to scold you.”
“That’s not it at all.”
“Then tell me about Evelyn.” A new realization made my heart skip a beat. “Are you in love with her?”
“No.” He shook his head adamantly—too adamantly. “I’ve only known her for a month.”
“Is she in love with you?”
“No.”
“Do you want her to be in love with—?”
“Cecily.” His voice held a warning. “The only reason I came up here was to tell you Lord Wolverton has arrived, and I want you to join us in an hour.”
He walked toward the stairs.
“You’re all I have left, Charles.” I bit the inside of my mouth to control my emotions. “Please don’t keep me shut out of your life.”
Compassion filled his face, and he returned to me, drawing me into his arms, hugging me tight. “I’m sorry, Cec. I only want what’s best for you. Please trust me.”
“I do.”
“Good. I’ll see you in my apartment.”
As I watched him leave, I took a deep breath.
I would keep an open mind about Lord Wolverton.
But it wouldn’t be easy.
Charles’s apartment was part of the state apartments, one floor up from my dormitory, where I slept with the five other maids of honour and our chaperone. All the chambers in this part of the castle looked out to the North Terrace and the Thames River.
I had quickly washed the paint off my hands and changed into a more suitable gown to meet the Earl of Wolverton.
The corridors were silent, as they had been for weeks. I passed a few servants, but no one else was out and about. Part of me hoped to see Andrew, since his apartments were close to Charles’s, but he was probably with the queen on the main floor.
Surprisingly, my pulse wasn’t thrumming and there were no butterflies as I stopped outside Charles’s door. I was not nervous about meeting Lord Wolverton. On the contrary, I felt numb, unenthusiastic and almost detached. This man could very well become my husband, but I had no romantic or unrealistic expectations about our relationship. It was simply a business deal, meant to protect me and provide an heir for him. Nothing more. Nothing less.
I knocked on Charles’s door and waited for a moment before it opened.
Charles stood on the other side, wearing a dark blue coat and matching blue hose. He assessed me with one quick glance and nodded his approval.
I might not be keen to meet Lord Wolverton, but I would put my best foot forward. I was Lady Cecily Pembrooke, after all.
Just inside Charles’s apartment, a man stood from where he had been sitting on the couch. I wasn’t sure what I had expected from a man named Lord Wolverton, but it wasn’t the person standing before me. He was older than me, perhaps in his mid-thirties, and though he wasn’t classically handsome, he had a very pleasant face with kind brown eyes.
“Lord Wolverton,” Charles said, “may I present my stepsister, Lady Cecily Pembrooke?”
Lord Wolverton bowed over my hand. “’Tis a pleasure to finally meet you, my lady. I have only heard good things about you since my arrival at Windsor Castle.”
I curtsied. “I’m pleased to meet you, as well, Lord Wolverton, though I fear I have heard very little about you.”
“I thought,” Charles said quickly, “that you might take a stroll along the North Terrace. Lord Wolverton has never been to Windsor, and who better to show him around? I will chaperone, of course.”
“Would that please you, Lady Cecily?” Lord Wolverton asked, his expression eager.
“Of course.”
“Wonderful.” Charles went to the door and held it open for us.
I stepped out first, and then Lord Wolverton followed, with Charles at a distance behind us.
As we walked along the corridor, my mind went blank, and I wasn’t sure what I should ask Lord Wolverton. But then I realized that I wasn’t the one who had initiated this meeting, so I remained silent and waited for him to speak.
“I was under the impression that you and Lord Norfolk were blood related,” he said after a while. “But he called you his stepsister.”
Charles was far enough behind that he couldn’t hear our conversation, but he could keep an eye on us.
“My mother was expecting me when my father was killed in a hunting accident,” I explained. “Charles’s father had been a widower for a couple of years, but he had known my mother when they were younger. When he proposed marriage, she was eager to accept. I was born a month later.”
“And who was your father?”
Was he wondering if I had noble blood?
“The Marquess of Sterling, my lord.”
“I’m very sorry for your loss.”
“I have no memory of him. The 1st Earl of Norfolk was the only father I knew, and he was a good man. Charles is much like him.”
We walked down a flight of winding stairs, and I led him through another corridor to reach the North Terrace. He wasn’t much taller than me, but he appeared strong and his face was tanned, which told me he spent time out of doors.
“And where is your home?” I asked him.
“Alnwick Castle in Northumberland.”
Northumberland was one of the northernmost counties in England, on the Scottish border, whereas my home, Arundel Castle, was on the southern border in West Essex County. They could not be farther apart.
“Do you go to London often?” I asked.
“Rarely, if I can help it. I prefer to stay at Alnwick as much as possible. Court life does not suit me.”
We stepped into the sunshine on the North Terrace, and my first inclination was to go to the flowers and start to look for caterpillars, but that would have to wait. I had promised Charles I would keep my heart and mind open to Lord Wolverton. Still, it wasn’t easy to imagine living on the northern border, so far from all the things I loved.
Charles stopped at a stone bench as we continued to walk. It was expected that we would stay within eyesight of him, but I had no desire to be alone with Wolverton, so he had nothing to fear.
“I believe you know why I’ve come,” Lord Wolverton said, “so I won’t pretend otherwise.”
I admired his frankness.
“I am not keen on being at court, as I’ve just said,” he continued. “I am not fond of flirtations and games and manipulations. I am straightforward in all my dealings, and I like it when people are straightforward with me. I need a wife. My first two wives succumbed to death in childbirth, taking my children with them to the grave. I long for a male heir to continue my family legacy, and I want to be young enough to teach him properly. I am now thirty-five, and I want my inheritance issues secured by the time I am forty, if possible.”
I paused near one of the rose beds, my eyebrows raised high.
He regarded me. “You are prettier than I would prefer. I have no need for a pretty wife. All I require is that she be healthy and capable.” He looked me over. “Though you do seem strong and competent enough. I don’t want a wife who whines or complains or finds life in Northumberland to be tedious and boring. I do not want one who longs for a courtly life. Is that you, Lady Cecily?”
I blinked several times. “Which part, my lord?”
“Do you long for a courtly life?”
“I do not prefer it,” I said honestly. “I am happiest at Arundel Castle.”
“That is good to hear.” He continued to walk, and I followed him.
Two people stood in a shadowed alcove near an entrance into the castle, out of sight of Charles. It was a man and a woman, but they were speaking so close to one another, I wasn’t sure who it was at first.
As we continued walking, I realized it was Andrew and Kat. Neither of them noticed me at first, and by the looks on their serious faces, something was not right.
“I do not want to stay in Windsor longer than necessary,” Lord Wolverton said. “I would prefer to leave within the month. Would that be acceptable to you?”
Frowning, I paused. “What do you mean?”
“I would like the wedding to be held as soon as the banns are read.”
The Church required that a couple who wished to marry should let their intentions be known on three consecutive Sundays. If there were any reasons they should not be bound in holy and legal matrimony, people had time to make their claim.
“I do not want to be here when winter sets in,” he continued, “or we might be required to stay.”
“But I have not agreed to a marriage,” I said, all but forgetting about Andrew and Kat. “I need time to get to know you and to make up my mind.”
“I’ve already told you all you need to know.” He frowned. “I do not want a wife who does not know her own mind.”
“I know my mind,” I assured him, “but I do not know yours. We are discussing a life-altering choice, one I will not enter without proper consideration and prayer.”
He sighed. “I do not wish this to take longer than necessary. I’ve already been gone from Alnwick for a fortnight. You must understand my position.”
“Aye. But you must understand mine. And there is the matter of the queen’s permission. Right now, she is bedridden and is not to be disturbed. We cannot marry without her consent, and because none of us know you that well, I’m uncertain if she will grant permission.”
Lord Wolverton pursed his lips. He seemed affable enough, though he also appeared to be headstrong. “I suppose you’re right, but if I wait for you to decide, how can I be certain I am not wasting my time?”
“I’m afraid you cannot.”
“What will it take to convince you?”
“Time.”
“Which I do not have.”
“I am sorry, but I will need time to decide.”
“Will I need to woo you? I told you I do not care for flirtations and games and manipulation. But, if I must, I will put my best efforts forward.”
“You do not need to woo me,” I said, “but you do need to convince me.”
