“Who told you? De Grenville?”
“Yes. He met me in Bideford. Damn, Skye, sorry is … hardly a good enough way to—”
“Say nothing, Robbie. We’re friends. I know what is in your heart.”
“The Queen’s confirmed your son as heir?”
Skye looked hard at her old friend. “Yes, but she’s overridden Geoffrey’s will and made Robert Dudley my son’s guardian.”
The sea captain frowned, beginning to understand that trouble was in the air. “From your tone, Skye, I think I am home just in time. Must I again rescue the poor widow?”
“I think this time I must rescue myself, Robbie.” She stood and began to pace while she explained. “Geoffrey and I left Court after Robin was born, and retired here to Devon. My uncle sent my Irish sons to us, and we were a happy family—my sons, his daughters, and our two boys. Then Geoffrey died, and Johnny. The Queen was quick to recognize Robin as Geoffrey’s legitimate successor, but she sent the Earl of Leicester as his guardian. It is my supreme misfortune that Robert Dudley covets me.”
“Why, the damned lecher,” cried Robbie. “Is not Bess enough woman for him?”
“The Queen has most certainly not yielded her person, Robbie. She wants him, I believe, but dares not compromise herself. Still, she dotes on him and spoils him fearfully. She will hear not a word against him. How can I dare tell her that he has forced me, and will continue to do so as long as he can use my son to control me?”
“The bastard!” said Robert Small fiercely. “You mean that he’s already—?”
“Aye, Robbie.He’s already.” Then she said grimly, “But I may yet outsmart Lord Dudley. Geoffrey and I had spoken of betrothing Robin to de Grenville’s littlest daughter, Alison. If I can gain the Queen’s permission to this match, then I shall ask that de Grenville be made Robin’s governor. I have written to Her Majesty about this, but it will be weeks before she replies.”
“Then go up to London and obtain her permission during a personal audience.”
“What?”
“Go up to London, lass! I will go with you. I must anyway in order to report the success of our mission to the Queen. It is our trading company that made the voyage, and what would be more natural than that we both report to Elizabeth?”
“Successful? We were successful! How successful? Lord bless me, Robbie, it should have been my first thought!”
He laughed. “Nay, love, you’ve had other troubles. But now I’ll make those troubles disappear! Not a ship lost, Skye! Not one! D’you know the odds against that? Five men though, in a bad storm in the Indian Ocean. Other than that, we might have been sailing in a millpond. I’ve never encountered such good weather. The holds of all the ships are crammed to overflowing with spices. I’ve afortune in rare jewels. And, as an extra bonus, m’dear, when we stopped to take on water at a small African port I obtained us a fine cargo of ivory! If you hadn’t been a rich woman before, Skye, you are now! And the Queen’s coffers will not suffer by this, either.”
Her blue eyes sparkled with delight. “Can you be ready to leave tomorrow, Robbie?”
“Aye, lass, I can. Give me a good hot dinner and an unbroken night’s rest, and I’ll be ready.”
Suddenly the door to the room burst open and Willow ran in, followed by a small blond boy. “Uncle Robbie! Uncle Robbie!” She launched herself straight at him.
Robert Small caught her up, his weathered face split in a wide grin. “Willow, lass! Can it truly be you? Why, you’re half grown!” He kissed her soundly on both cheeks, then put her down.
Willow flushed with pleasure, then smoothed her gown. “I am now seven,” she said importantly.
“Are you indeed? How proud your father would have been of you. You have the look of him.” His air of being impressed was just what the child wanted. “Now tell me, lass, who is this wee lad?”
Willow drew the boy out, and said gravely, “May I present my brother, Robin, sir. He is the Earl of Lynmouth.”
Robert Small made an elegant leg to the child. “M’lord, I am honored to make your acquaintance. I knew your late father, may God assoil him, and I respected him greatly.”
The boy looked up shyly, and the little captain was struck dumb. The boy was his father’s image. Seeing Geoffrey Southwood looking at him through this small boy’s eyes was very disconcerting. “May I call you Uncle Robbie too?” came the shy question.
“Indeed you may, laddie!” Robert Small lifted the delighted boy up onto his shoulders. “Willow! You and Robin come with me and I’ll show you the presents I’ve in my saddlebags for you.”
Skye smiled, glad to see her children happy again. It had been so solemn at Lynmouth for so long. She walked from the Great Hall out into the castle gardens that ran along the cliff tops. At the garden’s end she passed through the gates into the Southwood family cemetery, and made her way to Geoffrey’s tomb. She had plucked a single white rose on her way through the gardens, and now she lay it on Geoffrey’s grave.
“Robbie is back, Geoffrey,” she said, “and the voyage was a wonderful success. I’m putting your percentage into Robin’s coffers, my darling, and I shall go up to London myself to speak to the Queen. I must rid myself of Dudley! ’Tis not just his lust that frightens me,but his greed. The man is too ambitious, Geoffrey. Oh, my darling, I need you so very much! Why did you have to leave me?”
Then she sighed deeply. This simply had to stop. She had gotten in the habit of coming to Geoffrey’s grave every day, and speaking to him as if he were actually there. It gave her a strange comfort. Immediately following his death she had believed she felt his presence near her. But that feeling was gone now.
“It’s because you really are gone from me now, isn’t it, my love?” she whispered sadly.
