Bess threw open the door to the queen’s private chamber. “My lady, my lady, look who has come to see you!”
Queen Joan looked up from her sewing. It dropped from her hands, and she jumped up to embrace Cicely. “Oh, Ce-ce! I have missed you so much!” She stepped back. “Are you all right? Was it dreadful in the borders? Did you really wedhim? Oh, come and sit by my side and tell me everything.” She looked to Bess. “Don’t let anyone disturb us, and I promise to enlighten you afterwards.”
Bess chuckled and exited the chamber.
“In answer to your questions, I am fine. The borders are beautiful. And I love my husband very much, Jo. He is the best of men!”
“But he abducted you!” the queen said.
“Aye, he did,” Cicely said with a smile. “He trussed me up like a sheep to market, and rode hell-bent from Perth to Glengorm. I was very angry, I can tell you, Jo. But then Ian told me why he had done it, and my anger lessened. He swore he had fallen in love with me atfirst sight, even as the king did with you. He said that when he saw me that day on the road to Perth he knew I must be his wife, and he would have no other. But then when he came to court he could scarce get near me for the Gordons.”
“I remember,” the queen replied. “I felt so sorry for him, for it was obvious then that he had fallen in love with you. I thought his cause doomed.”
“Ian isn’t a man to give up easily,” Cicely said with a small smile. “He was determined to have me to wife, and so he made a plan to kidnap me.”
“We were so worried at first when we did not know what had happened. The Gordons were furious, especially Andrew. I thought he would be a good husband for you, but when he came to Scone to learn the details of your abduction I overheard him say to Huntley that even if Glengorm had had his way with you, he would wed you so as not to lose your fine fat dower. From that moment on I disliked him. I didn’t want Jamie to give my cousin Beth to him, but she had seen him and had stars in her eyes. She was not only willing; she was eager to be Fairlea’s bride. But tell me, why are you here?”
“The king’s decree that the lairds come with their patents to prove ownership of our lands,” Cicely said. “Ian wanted to do it quickly, for spring is a busy time for Glengorm. We came with Ben Duff. Maggie had her child, a lad, Torquil. He was born in our house when they stopped on their way home. He’s healthy, and Ben Duff is more in love than ever before with his Highland wife.”
“I wish I had been as fortunate as Maggie,” the queen said. “Margaret is a dear little baby, but I would rather have had a lad first. I’ve another in my belly already.”
“I am not yet with child,” Cicely said, “but ’tis not from lack of trying.” She giggled mischievously.
The queen laughed. “It would seem we are both wed to passionate men,” she said. “I am glad you came, Ce-ce. Will you remain long?”
“As soon as the king approves Ian’s patent of ownership and turnsover my dower portion from my father, we must return to Glengorm,” Cicely told her.
The young queen nodded. “I understand,” she said, “but it may not be as quickly as you would want it. Jamie has a group of justices from the courts going over each patent with a fine-toothed comb. There are those that have not stood up to scrutiny.”
“The patent for Glengorm was given to Ian’s ancestors by King Robert the Bruce,” Cicely told her friend. “I have seen the parchment. It is very old. Ian says that the Douglas who inhabited Glengorm in those days was one of the Bruce’s few supporters. Bruce had met with the Red Comyn at Dumfries in the Greyfriars church there. He hoped to gain his support, reconcile their differences. But they argued, and the Bruce killed the Red Comyn. Before the English king could get to the pope, the Bruce made for Scone, and was crowned that Palm Sunday in 1306.
“The Stone of Destiny was missing, as was the crown, Ian says, so he sat on a hastily constructed throne and was crowned with a plain gold circlet. It took three years before Bruce could actually hold a parliament at St. Andrews, where the clergy and the nobility finally swore him fealty. And Ian’s ancestor, Walter Douglas, loyally remained by that king’s side. In 1310 the Bruce rewarded that Douglas and his descendants with the lands at Glengorm in perpetuity,” Cicely concluded.
“What a wonderful tale!” the queen said, clapping her hands in delight.
“It is, isn’t it?” Cicely responded. “But the family had existed on those lands before then,” she explained.
There was a light scratching on the door. The queen looked annoyed, but she said, “Come in,” and the door opened to reveal old Bess.
“I apologize, my dearie,” she said to the queen, “but a man-at-arms has come to fetch Lady Cicely. The king is calling for her man, and would see her too.”
Cicely arose from the stool where she had been sitting. Bending, she kissed her friend upon her rosy cheek. “I will come and see you before I go,” she said, and, hurrying from the room, found her escort waiting for her outside the door to the queen’s chambers. She followed him quickly as he led her back to the chamber where her husband and Ben Duff were waiting.
“They’ve taken Andrew’s patent to examine,” Ian told her.
“I had pledged my fealty to the king when we were last here at court,” Ben Duff said. “I promised to return with my patent so it might be approved. The king granted me time, although he said that even if my title was not quite perfect he would approve it in return for a small service Maggie had done for him. Maggie said it was because she had been kind to the queen when the others who hurried to gain places in her household had not.”
“Aye,” Cicely said, not knowing why she was confirming Maggie MacLeod’s story for her husband, but she somehow felt she should. “There were those who were rude to the queen, myself, and the lass who was to wed the Gordon of Loch Brae. Jo would not be intimidated, and Maggie stood by our side. Once that had happened the others grew meek.” She smiled at the laird of Ben Duff. “Maggie is a good woman, and has become my good friend, my lord.”
The king’s page entered the room, saying, “The laird of Glengorm and his lady are to come with me.”
“I’ll wait,” Ben Duff said.
Cicely and Ian followed the boy, surprised to be led to the king’s privy chamber. The small paneled room with its little hearth and lead-paned window was cozy, and Cicely felt less intimidated now; the king would be kind to them. But when she saw his face as she entered the room her heart plummeted in her chest. She curtsied low as Ian bowed.
“You have brought your patent, my lord?” the king said. He gave them no greeting at all, which indicated to Cicely, who knew him well, his displeasure.
“I have, my liege,” Ian Douglas responded, unaware.
