CHAPTER 9

ISIMPLYwill not let you go, Nyssa!” Catherine Howard told the Countess of March. ”You cannot leave me! You are the only true friend that I have. All the rest of them! Pah! Hangers-on, and greedy for what I can give them, but you are not like that at all. I can trust you!You must stay!”

”Nay, Cat, I must go home,” Nyssa told her friend. ”My parents know absolutely nothing of my marriage to your cousin. It is hardly something I wished to elaborate upon in a letter. In all my whole life I have never been away from RiversEdge until I came to court last autumn. I miss my family, and they must meet and get to know Varian. If we do not go now, then when?”

Although she was ostensibly staying with her grandmother at Lambeth House, Cat Howard had rooms at Greenwich. Both she and her companion would have been fascinated to know that they were the very same rooms once inhabited by Nyssa”s mother, Blaze Wyndham, during her brief tenure as Henry Tudor”s mistress.

Cat pouted prettily at her friend”s words. Her auburn hair caught the sunlight streaming in through the windows that overlooked the river. Nyssa thought how pretty she suddenly was. The dress Cat wore was obviously new, and of a very expensive material such as Cat had rarely seen. It was a deep rose silk with a low neckline that exposed a good deal of her pretty breasts. The gold pomander ball that the king had given her in April hung from her waist. About her neck was a rich gold chain studded with rubies, and every one of her plump little fingers had a beautiful ring upon it; and each of those rings had a fine gemstone set in it.

”If I ask Henry,” Cat said slyly, ”he will make you stay. He will do anything for me, Nyssa! Anything! I have never had a man so wild for me. It is quite astounding, considering his age.”

”You have had other suitors? I did not know that.” Nyssa was surprised. Cat had always presented herself as a complete innocent, although looking back upon some of their conversations, Nyssa realized now that that was not quite the case. And why wouldn”t she have had suitors? She was a pretty young woman. Thomas Culpeper had certainly noticed her, although Cat said she had never bothered with him. If Cat was lacking in dowry, she was rich in powerful relations, which was almost as good in some cases.

Cat giggled. ”You must not tell on me,” she said. ”Duke Thomas does not even know. The first man to pay me court was my music master, Henry Manox. He gave me my first kiss. Then when I was at Lambeth before I came to court, there was Francis Dereham, a gentleman pensioner in Duke Thomas”s service.” She giggled again. ”My step-grandmother, Duchess Agnes, never knew what went on amongst her charges as long as we were mannerly in her sight.”

Nyssa was shocked. ”Tell me no more, Cat,” she said. ”But you had best tell the king of your harmless little romps. If you do not, someone else, jealous of you, surely will.”

”If I tell Henry, and he grows angry with me, Duke Thomas will never forgive me. Nay, it is better I say nothing. No one will tell, for all were equally guilty of collective naughtiness. None will want to accept blame, and so all are safe from scandal,” Cat said to Nyssa. Her little hands nervously smoothed her gown. ”You will stay, won”t you, Nyssa? I should be lost without you,” she wheedled her friend.

Nyssa shook her head. ”I must go home, Cat. Besides,” she explained reasonably, ”you will soon marry the king, and be off on your honeymoon. You will not want me along then. The king will want you all to himself. He is very much in love with you. Everyone can see it. It is quite the talk of the court.”

”It is, isn”t it?” Cat replied with a rather smug smile. ”They say he has never behaved with any of the others as he does with me.”

”You are very fortunate to have a man who loves you, Cat,” Nyssa said. ”Do be good to him. My mother says if a woman is good to her husband, he will always treat her well.”

”Does she? How curious. I do not remember my mother for she died when I was very young, and I was sent off to the Howards at Horsham to be raised with my sisters and half a dozen others. I came to Lambeth when I was fifteen, and was put in Duchess Agnes”s care. Do you think I will have children, Nyssa? I think I am afraid of it.”

”The king wants other children, Cat. ”Tis one of the reasons he takes a young wife. We have only Prince Edward. There should be at least a Duke of York, and perhaps another Duke of Richmond.”

”The king has two daughters,” Cat answered sullenly.

”But a woman cannot rule England,” Nyssa said. ”Nay, you must give his grace at least two fine boys.”

”And what of you? Will you not give my cousin Varian sons? You have been married for almost three months already. Is there no sign of a child? Varian likes children, you know. He would come to Horsham when I was a child to play with the little ones,” Cat told her.

”Did he?” Nyssa was fascinated with this bit of information regarding her husband. He had certainly never said anything to her about children.

The two young women chattered for some minutes more, and then Nyssa arose, saying, ”I really must go, Cat. Varian will be furious with me. I told him I was coming just to bid you farewell. I have been here for almost an hour. We have several days” travel ahead of us.”

Catherine Howard stood up and hugged her friend. ”Promise me you will come back to court when I am queen,” she said, her cerulean-blue eyes boring into Nyssa”s soft violet-blue ones. ”Promise!”

”Some day,” Nyssa said offhandedly. ”I promise.”

”For Christmas at Hampton Court,” Cat persisted.

”Oh, not Christmas,” Nyssa said, shaking her head. ”Christmas is always at RiversEdge. I missed both it and my birthday last year because I was in service to the queen. Not Christmas, Cat. ”

”Twelfth Night, then,” the young queen-to-be commanded.

”I shall speak to Varian,” Nyssa promised.

And I shall speak to Henry, Catherine Howard thought silently.

Nyssa went to take her leave of the king. She curtsied low to the monarch.

”It has been some weeks since I have seen you, my wild rose,” Henry Tudor said. His love for Cat had made him benevolent again toward Nyssa. ”You bloom,” he noted. ”I must assume that your marriage to the Earl of March is not an unhappy one, then. What thinks your lady mother?”

”She does not know, Your Grace,” Nyssa said. ”We prefer to tell her together face-to-face. I think it better that way.”

”Aye, you are very wise, madame.” He smiled at her. ”I have a wedding gift for you, Nyssa de Winter.” The king lifted a fine filigreed gold chain studded with diamonds from about his own neck and placed it over her head. ”You may come back to court when it suits you, madame,” he told her. ”You served well, and are much like your faithful mother.”

”Your Grace!” She was astounded. Her hand went to the magnificent chain, and then she looked directly at him. ”Ohh, thank you, my good lord! I shall treasure this gift all my life.”

The king was pleased by her ingenuousness. ”Go, madame, for you have a long journey ahead of you, I know. Perhaps next year we shall visit you, but this summer we have other matters to attend to, eh Will?” He turned to his fool, who nodded. ”Tell your good parents that I send them my felicitations and praise the service that their daughter did render to the crown.” He held his hand out to Nyssa, and she kissed it.

Then she curtsied a final time. ”God bless Your Grace in all of his endeavors,” she said, and backed from his presence. The king could be kind, but she had learned he was a gross monster who demanded his way in everything. She knew now the pleasures of lovemaking, and the thought of Henry Tudor as a lover sent cold chills down her spine. She most certainly did not envy Cat Howard.

When the door had closed behind her, Will Somers said to the king, ”Once I chided you for letting her mother go, Hal, but nothing would do but you must have a Howard. I wonder if you do not make the same mistake again.” His sharp brown eyes queried the king.

”This time it will be different,” Henry Tudor said firmly. ”My Catherine is a rose without a thorn, Will. I shall never be unhappy ever again. She will give me sons, and brighten my old age.”

Will Somers shook his grizzled gray-brown head. The king was practically fifty years of age. He had walked this earth almost a half century, yet he was still a dreamer and a romantic. Will loved his master, and it pained him to see him hurt. How long would Catherine Howard make poor Hal happy before something or someone spoiled the idyll? Will Somers had seldom seen a happy ending here at court. He moved quietly to the windows and looked into the court below. The travelers were even now departing Greenwich.

Young Owen FitzHugh and his Kingsley cousin had been sent home earlier in the spring. They had seen the court, and there was no reason for them to remain. Nyssa and Varian would travel in the company of the Earl and Countess of Marwood, and young Viscount Wyndham. There was a coach along in the event the ladies chose to nap along the way, but for now both Nyssa and her aunt preferred to ride. A second carriage was provided for the upper servants, but Toby and Lord FitzHugh”s body servants also rode. Only Tillie and Maybelle sat within. There were several baggage carts, and, of course, men-at-arms to guard it all.

The countryside was in full summer dress, but by mid-month there had yet to be any rain. In fact it had not rained since the end of May. The roads were hard, dusty, and dry as they made their way, moving west from Greenwich, and thereby avoiding the city of London. The Earl of March was impressed by the traveling arrangements made by his in-laws. There were fresh horses for them and for their coaches available all along their route. They stayed at the best inns, all of which had been notified ahead of time of their coming.

Marwood Hall and RiversEdge were located relatively near to one another, the boundaries of the two estates lying only five miles apart. Bliss and her husband would not, however, be going directly home. It would be necessary for them to accompany their niece to RiversEdge, where her parents would be told of Nyssa”s marriage. Varian de Winter found himself nervous for the first time in his life. They traveled comfortably for several long days, and then suddenly one afternoon Nyssa began to recognize the landscape about her.

”We are near to home!” she said excitedly. ”Look! There is the dear old Wye. Ohhh, see! The Mary”s gold and the asters are already beginning to bloom.” Her face was bright with delight. She knew she had missed RiversEdge, but not until this moment had she realized how much.

They descended from the London Road to what was called the River Road. It ran parallel along the Wye for several miles directly to RiversEdge. The land rolled gently on either side of the water.

Nyssa spurred her horse ahead of the others. ” ”Tis Michaelschurch ferry crossing, Varian,” she called to her husband. ”Rumford! Rumford! ”Tis Nyssa Wyndham, and I”m home from court!”

The very elderly man seated upon a bench beneath a large oak tree arose slowly and turned to see who it was calling his name. His weathered face split into a wide grin as his eyes made out the rider. Reaching for his staff, he hobbled forward. ”Mistress Nyssa! Yer home, and surely prettier than ever before,” he told her as she came to a halt before him. Nyssa dismounted and hugged the old man.

”How is the ferry business, Rumford?” she asked him.

”Slow, mistress. Only the family and an occasional peddler to take across the old Wye these days,” Rumford said. ”Two of me three sons is now farming for yer da. Only the youngest helps me with the ferry. T”others say he can have their inheritance and good riddance. These modern times is different than when I was a lad, but what can I do.”

”As long as there is a Rumford for the ferry, I can see no changes,” Nyssa told him. ”The Michaelschurch ferry is Rumford business.”

The old man cackled with laughter. ”Aye, and it is, mistress. Didn”t I tell yer mama that all those years back when she come here as a bride for Lord Edmund, yer good father of sainted memory, God assoil him? Michaelschurch ferry and the Rumfords are one and the same.”

Nyssa remounted her mare. ”I will be needing your services shortly, Rumford,” she told him with a smile. ”You”ll hear soon enough.” Then she rejoined the others in her party, who were making their way to the house.

”Who was that?” Varian asked her. When he had visited Winterhaven, he had taken a road on the other side of the river.

”Old Rumford, the ferry keeper,” Nyssa told him. ”There have always been Rumfords to keep the ferry at Michaelschurch, or so they tell everyone. Frankly, no one can remember a time when there were not. My mother arrived at RiversEdge by crossing the Wye on that ferry. My grandparents and Kingsley relations live on the other side of the river. It is how we will go to Winterhaven, is it not, my lord? Oh, look! ”Tis RiversEdge!” she said excitedly.

Varian gazed in the direction in which her slender finger was pointed. A magnificent dark red brick house, covered in shiny green ivy and built in the shape of an H, lay ahead of them. About it were well-tended gardens, colorful with summer blooms. ”I fear, sweeting, that Winterhaven is nothing so fine as your RiversEdge,” he told her. His eyes scanned the gray slates that roofed the house. There were a number of chimneys soaring upward above the roofs, which indicated to him a vast number of rooms with fireplaces.

”We will make Winterhaven every bit as grand,” Nyssa promised him. He smiled at her, adoring her loyalty, for he knew how much she loved her childhood home.

As the horses and vehicles came to a stop before the great front door of RiversEdge, that door was thrown open and a very handsome couple emerged. The woman had Nyssa”s eyes, but her hair was honey-colored. The gentleman was tall, with dark hair and very blue eyes. It was he who reached up and lifted Nyssa from her mount.

”Welcome home, my precious daughter,” Anthony Wyndham said warmly, and he kissed the girl on both of her cheeks.

”Thank you, Papa,” Nyssa said, and then turned to her mother.

The two women kissed, and Blaze knew instantly that something had changed. ”Has the king dispensed with your services, my child? While I am delighted to see you home again, I am surprised. Until your uncle”s outrider arrived yesterday, we had no idea that you would be coming. Is everything all right?” Blaze could see that her sister looked nervous, and who was this unfamiliar but most handsome gentleman?

Nyssa smiled at her parents reassuringly. ”Let us go inside and have some wine, Mama. The road has been appallingly dusty. I shall tell you both of my adventures at court.” She slipped her arm through her mother”s and walked with her into the house.

Anthony Wyndham greeted his eldest son and heir. ”So you”ve come home, lad, eh? Court not to your liking?”

”It is an experience worth having,” Philip said, ”but like both of my parents, I prefer the country. I did, however, meet a young lady I should like to speak with you about, sir. I realize that we are yet too young for marriage, but perhaps we could make those arrangements for the future before the year”s end. She is one of the lady Anne”s maids of honor. Her name is Helga von Grafsteen.”

”A foreigner?” The Earl of Langford looked a bit disturbed. ”She”ll need a good dowry, lad, to make up for a lack of English lands. I had hoped one of the girls about here would suit you, but we can talk.”

”Thank you, sir,” Viscount Wyndham replied, and then he accompanied his father into the house.

Varian de Winter followed, his eyes reflecting his amazement at the warmth and charm of the Great Hall of RiversEdge. The room had a lofty, soaring ceiling with carved beams that were gilded and highlighted in a scroll design. Windows, set high, lined both sides of the hall, allowing in a wealth of bright sunlight. There were four fireplaces, none of which was now burning, as the day was so hot. The high board, at the far end of the room, was fashioned from golden oak. It was well-polished, and gleamed with the warmth that only age and loving care could give it. Behind the high board, and centered, were two thronelike chairs.

Well-trained, attentive servants were immediately in evidence, offering the guests wine and small biscuits. The servants were clean, as was their clothing. They were soft-spoken and mannerly. The Earl of March could but wonder what Nyssa would think of the elderly, creaking retainers she was going to find at Winterhaven.

Blaze Wyndham now turned to look at Varian de Winter. ”And who is this gentleman, Nyssa?” she asked her daughter.

”Mama, may I present to you Varian de Winter, the Earl of March . . . my husband,” Nyssa replied quietly. There! It was done.

”What!?” The single word was positively shouted by the Earl of Langford. ”You cannot marry anyone, Nyssa, without my permission, and if you have, it shall be annulled immediately, girl. I will not have it! Do you understand?”

”Tony,” his wife pleaded, ”cease your outrage, and let me learn the truth of this matter.” She turned to her sister and brother-in-law. ”How were you involved in this matter, Bliss? Why did you not write to me about it?” She turned back to her daughter. ”Indeed, Nyssa, why did you not write to your father and me about this?”

Owen FitzHugh spoke for them both. ”This is Nyssa”s story to tell, Blaze. Afterward, if either Bliss or I can add anything, we shall be happy to do so. We protected Nyssa as best we could.”

”But obviously not well enough,” growled the Earl of Langford. ”My daughter”s come home wed to some damn fortune hunter we don”t even know! A fine state of affairs, and you”ll answer to me for it, Owen.”

Varian de Winter spoke up. ”My lord, I am no fortune hunter, but your neighbor from across the river. Winterhaven is my family”s home. You may have known my late father, Henry de Winter. I left my estates when I was six and was raised by my grandfather.”

”And who the hell is he?” demanded Anthony Wyndham, red-faced with outrage. What the hell had possessed Nyssa to marry this man without their permission, or even their knowledge? She was not a flighty girl.

”My grandfather,” the Earl of March said quietly, ”is Thomas Howard.”

”The Duke of Norfolk?” The Earl of Langford was visibly impressed, but he was still not satisfied.

”I would like to hear my daughter”s explanation for her rash behavior,” Blaze said quietly. Her husband noted the use of the word my.

”If you have all finished shouting, and posturing, and cross-examining each other, I will be happy to tell you how I came to be married to this gentleman,” Nyssa said.

”Philip!” roared his father. ”Where the hell were you in the midst of all of this? Could you not have protected your sister?”

”I knew nothing until it was an accomplished fact, my lord,” Philip told his father bluntly.

”We were married in the Chapel Royal on April twentieth by the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop Gardiner,” Nyssa said quietly. ”The king was there. Indeed it was he who ordered my marriage to Varian.”

”Why?” Blaze asked her daughter.

”I must start at the beginning,” Nyssa told her mother. ”You have heard the rumors that the king did not like his new wife, the Princess of Cleves? They are true, though why he felt this way no one can really understand. The lady Anne is a kind and good woman. Still, nothing would do but that the king escape this marriage. He was granted an annulment on the ninth day of the month on the grounds of nonconsummation.”

”Nonconsummation?” the Earl of Langford snorted. ”That damned satyr will flourish his lance in any convenient sheath.”

”Nay, Papa,” Nyssa said. ”He did not use the lady Anne. I know.”

”But what has this to do with your marriage to this gentleman?” Blaze pressed her eldest daughter. ”I do not understand.”

Nyssa quietly explained to her family what had happened on that fateful night.

”And you lent yourself to this, my lord?” Anthony Wyndham said scathingly to Varian de Winter. ”I think little of you for it.”

”What would you have had me do, sir?” the Earl of March said fiercely. ”My grandfather did not care with whom she was discovered. Better it be someone who loved her than someone who did not.” He glared at his father-in-law.

The veins in Anthony Wyndham”s neck stood out with his anger, but his wife had understood the words that he had not. Better it be someone who loved her. Looking at the Earl of March, Blaze saw that he did love her daughter. He was as angry, and as protective of Nyssa, as Tony. She put a restraining hand upon her husband”s arm.

”He loves her, Tony. Can you not see it? Temper your anger and look at him. He loves her,” she said softly.

”But does she love him? We always promised her that she could marry the man she loved,” Lord Wyndham replied. He looked at the girl. ”Do you love him, Nyssa? Tell me the truth, poppet. If you are unhappy, if this is not to your liking, I will move heaven and earth to free you from this man! I will not allow you to be unhappy for the rest of your life, Nyssa. Neither your mother nor I want that.”

”I do not know if I love Varian,” Nyssa said honestly, ”or if I will ever love him. Is that not a chance people of our station take when we marry? You did not know if Mama would ever love you when you married her. Varian is a good man, and I do not think I can expect anything more than that, Papa.” She kissed her stepfather”s cheek. ”Now come, and give my husband your hand in friendship. Give us your blessing too.”

”But,” he protested, ”I always promised you your choice of a husband, Nyssa. I feel that I have failed you somehow. I should not have allowed you to go to court. I knew it at the time, but I let you all overrule me because the king promised to watch out for you. Bliss, you swore to me that you would chaperone my daughter carefully. You failed, and now my child is trapped in a loveless marriage.”

”Anthony,” his wife said sternly, ”Nyssa is not trapped in a loveless union. She is as loved by her bridegroom as I was loved by you when we were first married. Look at your son-in-law! He is calf-eyed over the girl. If you cannot see it, it is because you do not want another man in Nyssa”s life but you. You never encouraged her to consider any of the young gentlemen hereabouts. Well, the matter is now out of your hands. Nyssa is a married woman, and if you will not, I will now welcome the Earl of March into this family.” Standing upon tiptoes, Blaze kissed her son-in-law. ”Welcome to RiversEdge, Varian de Winter. I met your father but once, at my wedding feast, when I married Nyssa”s father, Edmund Wyndham. You favor him, except about the eyes. You have your grandfather Howard”s eyes.”

He smiled a slow, warm smile at her, raising her hand to his lips and kissing it. ”I appreciate your kindness, madame. Let me assure you that I will care for your daughter with all the devotion I am capable of, I swear it!”

”Aye,” Blaze said, returning his smile, ”I think you will. You have my blessing.”

”Hrrrumph!” Anthony Wyndham cleared his throat noisily, and they turned to him. He held out his hand to Varian de Winter. ”You have my hand, my lord, and my blessing as well,” he said. ”But treat my daughter badly and you will have my enmity. I am not pleased with the fait accompli that you have presented me with, but since it would appear that I can do nothing about it, I will give you the benefit of the doubt.”

”I thank you, my lord. I love Nyssa. I will not fail the trust you have placed in me,” the Earl of March said.

”Then it is settled, and we can go home to Marwood Hall,” Bliss said brightly, relief permeating her entire being. It had not been as bad as she had thought it would be. Anthony had been angry, and he had castigated her, but he was now resigned, thank goodness!

”Where is Giles?” Blaze asked her sister.

”The Princess of Cleves is going to remain in England,” Bliss said. ”She will now be called the king”s sister, and only a new queen and the princesses will take precedence over her. She asked Giles to remain with her household, and he agreed to do so.”

”He”s a born courtier,” Nyssa told her parents. ”He thinks he has a future at court, and considers the lady Anne”s household as a starting place. He will eventually be asked to join another household, Mama, I”m quite certain. He is very well-liked, and most clever for a boy so young.”

Blaze and her husband nodded, satisfied. It was a good future for their second son.

”Will he come home anytime soon?” Blaze asked.

”He said perhaps in the autumn,” Nyssa replied.

”We really must depart before dark,” Bliss said loudly.

”Oh, very well, Bliss,” her sister said. ”Go home!”

The Countess of Marwood practically ran from the Great Hall, her husband following in her wake, chuckling quite audibly.

Anthony Wyndham could not prevent the smile that set the corners of his mouth lifting upward. ”Poor Bliss. She was, I see, quite fearful of what I would say about this matter,” he said.

”And with good cause, I think, Papa,” Nyssa told him, laughing.

”You must be exhausted with your traveling,” Blaze said. ”Show Varian to your chamber, Nyssa. We will eat at the usual hour.”

”Where are my brothers?” Nyssa asked her mother.

”Probably swimming in the river. Surely you have not forgotten? ”Tis summer, and all of you loved to paddle about the old Wye,” Blaze said. ”That is far more important than having an old sister return from court.” She laughed, and Nyssa joined her.

”How old are your sons, madame?” Varian de Winter asked his mother-in-law.

”Richard will be nine in the late autumn. Teddy was just five, and wee Henry is three,” Blaze told him. She looked at her daughter. ”You will not believe how Jane and Annie have grown, Nyssa. Jane is already saying ”Da, Ma,” and she says ”Bo” for her brothers. They adore her. Annie, however, is quieter, allowing her sister to speak for them both, but she is close to walking on her own, and getting into everything.” She looked at her new son-in-law again. ”Do you like children, my lord?”

”Indeed I do, madame. I hope we will have as fine a family as you do. I was raised with my aunt and uncle, but I was some years their senior. I would have enjoyed a larger group of siblings.”

”If you wish to remain here talking,” Nyssa said, ”I shall leave you, my lord, for I desire nothing more than a bath right now. I vow that all of the dust from England”s roads is lodged in my hair and on my skin. The tub I had at our house in Greenwich was nowhere near as big and as comfortable as the one I have here at RiversEdge. I shall insist upon taking it, Mama, when Varian and I depart to Winterhaven.”

”Go then, my dear,” Blaze told her daughter. ”We shall be happy to entertain your husband while you bathe, unless, of course, he would like to bathe too.”

”Perhaps I shall,” Varian de Winter said, and he quickly followed his wife from the Great Hall.

”Must you encourage that licentious behavior, madame?” Anthony Wyndham growled to his wife.

Blaze laughed. ”Ohh, Tony, do not be such an old fuss,” his wife teased him. ”You like to bathe with me sometimes.”

”But Nyssa is just a girl, Blaze!”

”Our daughter is a married woman,” she said. ”You will simply have to accept it. She might even be with child already. They have been married almost three months, after all.”

”Do not even think it,” the Earl of Langford said. ”Nyssa is far too young to be a mother. Besides, we are far too young to be grandparents.”

Blaze laughed again. ”I was seventeen when I had Nyssa. She will be eighteen shortly. She is certainly old enough. You refuse to see it because she is your daughter. Ohh, Tony, she will always love you. You have not lost her because she is married. But her husband must now be first with her, and then their children. Still, there will always be room for us, and the rest of the family.” She kissed her husband.

”What happened, Blaze? She was just a little girl the last time I really looked,” he said. ”Suddenly she is a beautiful woman, a wife, the Countess of March. The time has gone too quickly.”

”Children grow up, Tony,” Blaze said gently to her husband. ”I do not know what my daughter would have done without you to look to as her father. We have much to thank you for, and you know that Edmund, may God assoil his good soul, would bless you also for the love you have given his daughter. Now she is grown. We have two little girls of our own. Give Jane and Annie the love you have given Nyssa.”

He nodded, and then said to her, ”I do not suppose you would like to have a bath, Blaze.” His blue eyes were hopeful and twinkling. ”If Nyssa grows with age to be as beautiful and as wise as her mother is, my angel, Varian de Winter will be a fortunate man.”

Blaze smiled and took his hand in hers. ”Let us go and bathe, my dear lord,” she replied to him.

NYSSAand her husband remained with the Wyndhams of Langford for several weeks. Varian sent word to his servants at Winterhaven that he would be arriving at the end of August with his bride. In the meantime he became acquainted with his bride”s family.

News of the king”s marriage to Catherine Howard reached RiversEdge the end of the first week in August. The marriage had taken place quietly at the king”s hunting lodge at Oatlands on the twenty-eighth day of July. That same morning, quite early, the king”s former chancellor, Thomas Cromwell, was executed on Tower Green. The Howards were now triumphant.

”We must find a particularly nice gift to send Cat,” Nyssa told her husband.

The royal honeymoon progress moved slowly through Surrey and Berkshire to Grafton in Northamptonshire, on to Dunstable, to More, and finally to Windsor. The king, it was said, had become a new man. He behaved very much like the young man he had been in his youth. He arose between five and six in the morning, attended mass at seven, and then rode until tenA.M., when he wanted his dinner served. He played at bowls and archery in the afternoon, and then danced the night away with his lively, laughing bride. His leg seemed to have healed, and his temper was excellent.

The international situation seemed not to require his personal attention for the moment. Cleves was content with the treatment he had meted out to their princess. Indeed Duke William was reported to have said he was glad his sister fared no worse than she had. France and the Empire fussed at each other, but that was nothing new. Henry Tudor had nothing on his mind but pleasure in that hot summer of 1540. Few other than the Dukes of Suffolk and Norfolk could remember his ever having been so merry.

The Earl of March had to twice postpone their departure for Winterhaven, for Nyssa had not been feeling well. He was beginning to wonder if he was ever going to get his wife to leave RiversEdge, and voiced his distress to his sympathetic mother-in-law as the month of August ended and September began.

”Wait until mid-month,” Blaze advised him. ”She will feel well enough to travel then, Varian, and it will be less dangerous.”

”Less dangerous?” He looked puzzled. ”What has danger to do with our traveling to Winterhaven? There is no danger.”

”Has Nyssa said nothing to you, then?” Blaze was surprised.

”About what?” he asked her.

A strange look came over the Countess of Langford”s face. ”Oh, dear,” she said. ”I wonder if she even knows herself.”

”Knows what?” the Earl of March demanded.

”Come with me, Varian,” Blaze said, and she hurried off to seek Tillie. She found her daughter”s tiring woman mending the hem of a petticoat in Nyssa”s dressing room. ”Tillie,” the Countess of Langford said to her, ”when was your mistress”s last link with the moon broken? Think carefully, my girl.”

” ”Twas June, m”lady. Is something wrong?”

”Did you not think it strange that she has had no flow since then, girl? Why did you not come to me about it when you got home?”

Tillie looked totally astounded. Why on earth would she have even bothered to mention such a thing to Lady Nyssa”s mother? Then suddenly Tillie knew, and clapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide with comprehension. ”Ohhhhhhh!” she gasped.

”Oh, indeed!” the Countess of Langford replied. ”Where is your mistress now, Tillie?”

”You”ll find her lying down, m”lady. She was took with one of them queer spells again,” Tillie answered.

Blaze hurried into her daughter”s bedchamber, followed by her son-in-law. Nyssa lay upon the bed. She was pale, and clutching a cloth scented with lavender to her nose. ”How could you live in this house all your life and not know what is the matter with you, my child?” her mother began without any preamble. ”You have seven siblings, Nyssa! Did you not even once suspect?” Blaze demanded of her daughter.

”Suspect what, Mama?” Nyssa replied weakly.

”I cannot believe I have raised such a doltish daughter!” Blaze fumed. ”You are with child, Nyssa! It is as plain as the nose upon your pretty face. From what Tillie tells me, I would say you are to have a baby sometime in mid to late March. Ohh, I am so excited! I am to be a grandmother at long last!”

Nyssa grew even paler at her mother”s words. Her poor stomach was roiling. Reaching for the chamber pot, she retched into it. Her forehead was riddled with tiny beads of perspiration. ”Ohhhh,” she moaned helplessly, setting the pot back upon the floor and putting the cloth back to her nose. ”I do not remember you ever being sick like this, Mama, when you had a baby. I thought it was the fish we had at dinner today. I cannot be with child. It is too soon.”

Blaze burst out laughing. ”Considering the amount of time you and Varian spend in this bed, I am hardly surprised to find you having a baby, Nyssa. It would have been more extraordinary if you had not become enceinte. The women of this family are known for their fertility. Why, your grandmother produced your twin uncles just three months after you were born.”

”We are to have a child!” Varian had been standing stock-still, astounded by their conversation. Now he managed to voice his happiness. ”Ohh, sweeting, how can I thank you?” The Earl of March had tears in his eyes.

”I suppose Mama is correct,” Nyssa allowed.

”Of course I am,” her mother said firmly. ”I am never wrong about these things.”

”I had hoped to have my heir born at Winterhaven,” the earl said slowly, ”but I realize it will be impossible for Nyssa to travel in her delicate condition. We will have to rely upon your hospitality.”

”Nonsense!” Blaze told him. ”In a week or two Nyssa will have passed through this unpleasant part and will feel much better. There is no reason why she cannot travel in safety to Winterhaven. It is time that you went home, my lord. My daughter will have a great deal to do there, considering how long it has been since anyone has really kept their residence at Winterhaven. There will be servants to train, and the entire house will have to be refurbished. It is, I suspect, quite woefully old-fashioned. Nyssa tells me you have given her carte blanche to do whatever she would with the house.”

”I have never had a baby before,” Nyssa said nervously. ”I will be all alone at Winterhaven. Ohh, Mama! Please let me stay!”

”When the time comes, I will come to you, Nyssa,” her mother replied. ”Besides, you are much nearer to Ashby at Winterhaven. No one knows more about birthing babies than your grandmother. You will be fine. Now, I must go and prepare Anthony for your happy news.” She bustled from the bedchamber, her smile wide.

”You did this to me deliberately!” Nyssa accused Varian.

”My only thought, I swear, was for our pleasure,” he told her. ”Certainly my ignorance of your condition should have told you that I knew no more about it than you.” He chuckled. ”How could you not know?” he wondered aloud.

”I suppose I never paid a great deal of attention to Mama when she was breeding,” Nyssa said, somewhat mollified. ”We never really knew until suddenly one day her belly would bloom and she would tell us we would soon have another little brother. Philip and I never really cared, for we had each other to love and keep company. Giles was not born until I was almost eight. Puppies, kittens, my pony; these things were of far more interest to me than Mama having a baby, Varian.”

”Aye,” he said, remembering the duchess Elizabeth, his grandfather”s second wife, when she had had her children. He had paid her scant mind, and if someone had asked him if she was breeding, he would have been hard-pressed to say if it was so or not. None of it mattered now. What mattered was that they were to have a baby.

Nyssa suddenly arose from her bed, a new light of determination in her eyes. ”There are things I must ask Mama,” she said. ”I do not know if we dare to continue sharing our passion. I do not think I should like it if we had to stop altogether, but I do not know.” Then her eyes twinkled. ”One good thing has come of this, my lord. We will not have to go back to court! Whatever your cousin Catherine wants, the king would not allow me to endanger our child.”

He laughed. ”I agree, sweeting. In a few days, when you feel better, we will go home to Winterhaven and settle down like two mice in their winter burrow. No one but family shall come to visit, and we will never go to court again unless you wish it. Cat will soon forget about us amid all the wonders she will have as Queen of England.”

”Ohh, Varian,” Nyssa declared fervently, ”I do like you so very much! I do not think I could have found a better husband myself.” She flung her arms about him and kissed him passionately.

His heart almost broke with his happiness. It was the first time since they had married that she had voiced any strong emotion toward him. She was going to love him. One day she would love him every bit as much as he loved her. But for now it was enough. She liked him very much, and they were to have a baby. ”I should like to call our son Thomas, after my grandfather,” he said.

”Never!” Nyssa said. ”I will never forgive your grandfather for his cruelty. Our son will be called Edmund Anthony de Winter, after my two fathers. I think it only fitting, and my family will agree.”

”If you bring your family into this matter,” he said, laughing, ”then I am outnumbered, madame. We will call our second son Thomas.”

”We will call our second son Henry after your father, and after the king,” Nyssa declared firmly.

”Then our third son shall be Thomas,” he said stubbornly.

”After our dear archbishop, if you wish it, my lord,” she answered him sweetly, and smiled. ”But never shall I name a son of mine after Thomas Howard!”

”I do not believe in beating breeding women,” he said. ”Are you certain you are breeding, madame?”

”My mama says so, and she is the expert, sir. Besides, you cannot beat me,” Nyssa told him.

”Why not?” he retorted.

”Because you will never be able to catch me,” she teased him, and slipping from his arms, she ran from the room.

His laughter followed her.