“Rosamund was quite fond of her,” Edmund said, “and grateful to her for arranging the marriage with Sir Owein.”
“Of course,” Sir Thomas said. He had heard enough. He yawned. “Show me where I am to lay my head, cousin Edmund. It has been a long journey from London, and the journey back, while more pleasant for Rosamund’s company, will be long as well.”
Edmund arose. “Come along, then,” he said, and Sir Thomas followed him from the hall.
Chapter 14
Departing Friarsgate on the last day of November, they traveled south, stopping at St. Cuthbert’s where Sir Thomas was introduced to his distant relation, Prior Richard Bolton. To Rosamund’s surprise the two men were quite compatible. She would not have thought the flamboyant Thomas and the urbane Richard could have been friends, yet they forged an immediate bond that she had to admit was to her own, and the family’s, good.
“Does Henry know you have gone to court?” Richard asked his niece as they supped in his private dining room that evening.
“It is not necessary that I inform him of my comings and my goings,” Rosamund replied. “I thought it better he not be aware that my daughters are without their mother. Winter will soon set in, and he will keep to Otterly, especially as Mavis is wont to roam. I should be back in the spring before he even knows I am gone.”
“Mata will keep me informed,” the prior answered her. “We will see the lasses are kept safe, dear niece.”
“Mata seems to be a font of information for all,” Rosamund said sharply. “He sent to the Hepburn of Claven’s Carn that I was widowed. Just two days ago that brazen Scot came courting me,” she said indignantly, her color now high.
“What is this?” Sir Thomas’ eyes were leaping with curiosity. “You have a brazen Scots suitor? My dear, I am impressed!”
“He would be my suitor, but I will not have him,” Rosamund responded, but she was near laughter. Her cousin Tom, it seemed, had the uncanny ability to make her laugh.
“Oh,” His voice fell, and his look was most disappointed. “I have never met a brazen Scot,” he said. “Is heverybrazen?”
“Extremely,” she told him. “He claims to have been in love with me since I was six and he saw me at a cattle fair at Drumfrie,” Rosamund explained. “Have you ever heard such nonsense?”
“I think it wildly romantic, dear girl,” Sir Thomas answered with a melodramatic sigh. “The man has waited for you through three husbands. What devotion! What fidelity! Why, I believe he is actually in love with you, Rosamund. How rare a thing is love. But you do not understand that with your practical heart, do you?”
“Hugh and Owein both loved me,” she said heatedly, “and I loved them, cousin. I know love.”
“Hugh Cabot loved you like a daughter. Owein Meredith loved you because he was grateful to you. This brazen Scot, as you style him, loves you only for yourself, dear cousin. Visit the queen at court, and then come back to him. Oh, play him like a salmon on a tight line if you will amuse yourself, but then let him catch you. You will never regret it, I suspect,” Lord Cambridge said.
“The Hepburn of Claven’s Carn is a bit wild,” Prior Richard said, “but he is a good man, niece. A respectable woman such as yourself could make the difference for him and his clan branch.”
“My lords!” Both her tone and her look was exasperated. “I am not of a mind to wed again. Friarsgate has three heiresses. It is safe from Uncle Henry and his brood, for I shall seek husbands for my lasses from afar. But if I were to wed again, I should make my own choice of a husband this time. I am weary of being instructed that because I am a woman I must do what I am told. Friarsgate has never been more prosperous than it is with me. Aye, Edmund and Owein aided me, but the decisions I have made have kept my manor flourishing. I am capable of making all decisions involving me and those in my charge.”
“God’s nightshirt!” Thomas swore lightly, and then he said, “Your pardon, prior. Rosamund, I advise you not to be so outspoken before the king and queen. The king does not like women who are forward, and the motto the queen has taken is something saintly and to do with serving and obeying. I can tell you the king was mightily pleased by it. This friendship you have formed can prove valuable to our family. Do not ruin it. No one, I am certain, will force you to wed again, and especially against your will. You will not be at court long enough for the queen to interfere in your life. Frankly, dear girl, you are not important enough. You may successfully hide yourself behind your mourning and your widowhood. Queen Katherine respects and understands such traditions. It is not necessary for you to become voluble regarding your feelings. If the king should wonder how your estate is managed, you will fall back on your uncle Edmund and Owein and Prior Richard. I beg you, dear cousin, to accept my advice to you.”
“I think,” the prior said smoothly, “that my niece merely needed to express her emotions this one time. She has lived since her earliest years beneath a great burden and strain. You have not met my brother Henry. He can be a most difficult man.”
Rosamund burst out laughing, her humor restored. “Aye,” she agreed, “Uncle Henry isdifficult,and more so now that his wife is cuckolding him with every man who winks at her. But at least it has kept him home at Otterly more, and less prone to attempt to interfere at Friarsgate.” Then she turned to Sir Thomas. “I promise to be a model of feminine decorum while I am at court, cousin. And I am grateful for your advice. It is good counsel, I know.”
They set out in the morning, after bidding Richard Bolton farewell, and traveled south again. The nights were spent at monasteries or convents, and occasionally as they drew closer to London, at inns. She had never before overnighted at such establishments. After eight days the spires of London finally came into view, but Sir Thomas did not take her into the city. Instead they turned off the high road onto a smaller path that led to a village on the city’s outskirts. It was here that Sir Thomas Bolton had a house on the river.
“This,” he told Rosamund, “will be your home while you are in London, dear cousin.”
“Am I not to be at court with the queen?” she asked him, a trifle confused.
“Indeed, in a day or two, after you have rested, you will present yourself to the queen. Indeed, you may remain with her, but it is advisable to have a place away from the court where you may come for your privacy. The court is very crowded, especially now. You are not important or wealthy enough to be given your own apartment or a small room. You know from your previous visit that you will sleep wherever you can and will have very little space for your belongings. It is my advice that you leave them, or most of them, here in your own rooms, especially your fine jewels.”
“Is that your house?” Rosamund looked up at the mansion they were now approaching. It was built of weathered brick, some of which was covered in shiny green ivy, had a gray slate roof, and stood four stories high.
“Aye,” he said. “That is Bolton House, and it is at your disposal, dear girl.”
“I have never seen so fine a house,” Rosamund told him honestly. “Even the Venerable Margaret’s house was not as fine.”
He chuckled. “And it is so easy to get into the city from here. I have my own dock and barge. I shall obtain another barge and hire a pair of bargemen so you will have your own personal transport. We will have the bench in the cabin upholstered in sky-blue velvet, and in the spring you shall have a blue and gold awning to sit beneath when you are outside on the deck. It shall be fine enough to take you all the way downriver to Greenwich.”
“Oh, Tom, you spoil me!” Rosamund said, clapping her hands together. “I have never had my own barge, nor even the need for one. I shall feel quite grand.”
