“Of course she won’t be allowed to wed Henry Tudor, if Uncle Dickon has anything to say about it. The heiress to York marrying the heir to Lancaster? It would consti-tute a threat to Uncle Dickon’s authority. Of course, the Woodville woman would like that.”
“But the king has only one heir,” Andrew noted, “and if truth be told, little Neddie is very frail, as is the queen.”
Adair sighed. “I know. If they should die—God forbid it—then Uncle Dickon must wed again for his—and England’s—sake. He loves the queen so deeply that I do not know if he could do it.”
A small epidemic broke out in Stanton village. Several children and at least three adults ran high fevers, and their cheeks grew quite swollen for a time, but there were no deaths. Adair had never seen such an illness before, but Andrew assured her it would be all right. “I had the swelling sickness when I was a child,” he said,
“and as you can see I am quite healthy today.”
But Elsbeth grew pale when she learned what the earl had said to his wife. She took Adair aside, saying,“It is said that men who have had the swelling sicknessat any time in their lives are unable to sire children afterward. I believe this may be why you are not conceiving a child, my lady.” Her eyes filled with tears.
“Do not say it!” Adair cried, and then she began to weep. “We must have a child for Stanton. The difficulty is with me, Nursie. I did not love Andrew when we wed, but I love him now. Children are created from love.”
Elsbeth took the young woman in her arms and comforted her as best she could. She did not say that Adair’s maternal grandmother had produced eleven children, and her mother’s two sisters an equal number of offspring. Jane Radcliffe would have had a houseful of bairns had her husband been able to give them to her.
And considering the amount of time Adair and Andrew spent in their bed, Adair should already be great with child. But she was not. And in the months to follow her belly remained flat.
In late April came the terrible news that King Richard’s little son, Prince Edward, had died. A hue and cry arose over the king’s two nephews, who had not been seen in many months now. Few knew the boys were at Middleham. Gossip said the king had murdered them the previous summer, but Adair knew the deeply religious and moral Richard adored all his brother’s children. The messenger who brought Stanton the latest news also brought Adair another letter from her half sister, Elizabeth.
I am betrothed,Elizabeth wrote.
The negotiations between Mama and Mags wereconcluded in late autumn. On Christmas Day myHenry went in procession to the cathedral inRennes and proclaimed before both God and manthat he would have me as his wife. Many do not believe our marriage will take place, but I know itwill. Marrying me strengthens the Tudor claim toEngland’s throne. Word has only just come that ourcousin, Neddie, died at Middleham. Queen Anne isprostrate with her grief, and the whole court is inmourning. There is a rumor that the king will appoint his sister Elizabeth’s son, John de la Pole, theEarl of Lincoln, as his successor, now that Neddieis gone. The queen is too frail to bear another child.
My brothers are overlooked, I fear.
A new growing season had come to Stanton, and life burgeoned everywhere except in Adair’s womb. She began to wonder if what Elsbeth had told her was truth.
Had Andrew’s seed been rendered lifeless by a childhood illness? Everyone in the village had recovered nicely, but Adair noticed that the wife of one man who had been quite ill, and who produced a child regularly each year, was not now with child. Nor did she bloom with life in the months that followed.
England remained at peace that summer. Adair relied on Elizabeth for all the news, and her half sister did not disappoint her. Mostly her letters were filled with the minutiae of her daily life, but now and again she would write of some event, news of which might or might not reach Northumbria. In late summer Elizabeth wrote angrily:
My Henry has been sheltering in Brittany. Theking arranged with the duke to turn the Tudor overto him this summer. It is said he means to charge himwith treason! Fortunately my Henry was warned intime, and escaped into France, where King CharlesVIII has graciously offered him shelter.
Adair laughed when she read this to Andrew. “Of course the French will give Henry Tudor shelter,” she said. “They do whatever they can to irritate England.”
November came and they had been wed two years.
Neither she nor Andrew could address the subject of their childlessness. The winter came and went, and in early April, when the roads from the south were onceagain open, Adair received the first letter she had had in several months from Elizabeth.
The queen is dead,Bess wrote.
She died at Westminster Palace on the sixteenthof March. The king is devastated and heartbroken.
In less than a year’s time he has lost both his wifeand his only child. The queen never really recovered from Neddie’s death. She was always delicate,but she seemed to fade away before our eyes witheach day that passed. God assoil her good soul.
And now someone is spreading a filthy rumor thatthe king would wed me himself. He is so horrifiedthat he came to see Mama to swear to her that it wasnot so. The two of them have made a peace of sorts.
But the horrible result of this disgusting rumor isthat our uncle will not see any of my sisters or meagain lest the gossip ignite once more. Proud Cis,our grandmother, is furious that such a thingshould be said of her favorite son.
Adair shook her head. Why would people say such a dreadful thing of the king?
On the fifteenth day of August, as the harvest was being brought in, another letter, a brief one, arrived from Bess.
My Henry has landed at Milford Haven. TheLancastrians are rallying to him, and I do not knowwhat will happen next. Pray for England.
“Is the letter dated?” Andrew asked his wife.
“Aye, the tenth,” Adair answered. And then she said,
