And at the last a smile lit her face, giving life to the beauty she had once had. ‘Actually, I do. He’s difficult to dislike, and he knows how to get into the good graces of an elderly woman. But I’d still be wary of him.’ She lifted the latch of the door. ‘Before you pin all your hopes on him, ask yourself this. Are you so certain that he…?’
Footsteps approached. Young Henry, I thought, at last bearing the wine that we no longer needed.
But it was Edmund who appeared in the doorway.
‘Madam Joanna.’
He bowed as she turned, and saluted her hand. They exchanged smiles, greetings, both excruciatingly polite, before Joanna made her excuses. ‘Think about what I said.’ And she was gone.
Edmund grimaced, having read all that had not been said. ‘So she knows.’
‘Yes. I told her, but she already suspected.’
‘Has she been warning you about me?’ For a moment he frowned after her departing figure.
‘Yes.’ I could not lie when my very soul cried out for reassurance in the face of such a deluge of warnings. ‘She warned me about the difficulties of our marriage. About Gloucester and Warwick and…’ I felt tears of weakness, of disappointment, prickle behind my lids.
‘You must not weep, my golden Queen.’ Immediately he was across the chamber to my side, lifting me with strong hands so that I stood within the circle of his arms.
‘She implied that you do not love me,’ I remarked flatly.
Madam Joanna’s final unfinished question remained in my mind.
‘How would she know?’
‘She does not.’
‘Did she tell you that I seduced you so that your rank would enhance my own status?’
‘Yes.’
‘Do you believe her?’
I looked into his eyes, so full of understanding, of light and love for me.
‘Have I not sworn that my devotion to you outranks all earthly power? How can power weigh in the balance with the overwhelming love that I feel for you?’
And there was all the reassurance I desired. Madam Joanna did not understand. His love for me was true. Nothing could undermine my certainty. As if he read it in my face, Edmund pressed his lips tenderly to my brow, and when he spoke, his words held the reverence of a vow.
‘I know you have faith in me. As I have in you. We will win this battle. I will bring happiness and fulfilment into your life, such as you have never known.’ The strength of his arms, the vibrant assurance in his face, the shower of kisses across my cheeks chased away my fears. ‘I’ll speak with my uncle.’ Edmund’s smile lit all the dark corners of my heart; delight bloomed as the reverence vanished and his lively humour returned. ‘Bishop Henry will enjoy putting a spoke in Gloucester’s wheel, if nothing else. Have I convinced you?’
‘Yes.’ I sighed. ‘Forgive me my lack of faith.’
‘It is not easy for you,’ he murmured against my lips. ‘But always remember. I worship at your feet, my dearest love.’
And there was Young Henry, carrying a flagon of wine with fierce concentration. While Edmund accepted his enthusiastic greeting and poured the wine, Madam Joanna’s warnings dissipated as matters of no moment. Happiness settled on my shoulders and my mind quietened.
My conversation with Warwick was far shorter and more to the point than that with Madam Joanna. He did not mince his words. He did not even make an excuse for seeking me out, merely drawing me away from my damsels in the interest of privacy.
‘I don’t like to see Edmund Beaufort prowling around Windsor like a cat on heat.’
‘Edmund does not prowl,’ I replied, stiffening at the implication.
‘A matter of opinion. He has a predatory air, Katherine. And a possessive one, so I’m told.’
He bent his stern gaze on me. He was Warwick today, not Richard. I drew myself up to my full height so that our eyes were on a level. ‘He is here at my invitation.’
‘I know.’ The lines on Warwick’s face, instead of being amiable and smiling, resembled the carvings achieved by a stonemason’s chisel.
‘We cannot forbid him to visit his cousin. My son enjoys his company.’
‘I know that too,’ Warwick snapped. ‘And I don’t like that either.’
‘Edmund Beaufort is welcome in my household, and will continue to be so,’ I stated.
‘And I cannot stop you. But take some advice.’ Warwick was as brusque as I had ever heard him. ‘Don’t become embroiled in a predicament that will bring you more pain than pleasure.’
I raised my chin. I would not listen.
‘I am going to Westminster,’ Edmund announced the next day.
‘Don’t go,’ I pleaded.
‘You know I must.’ Although he smiled, I read raw impatience in his eyes, in the set of his jaw. ‘The sooner I see Bishop Henry, the sooner we can be wed.’
