“In her chamber, sulking,” came the tart answer. “I do not know what has happened to our sweet child, Rosamund. She is disdainful of everything, and fights constantly with Bessie. And that Lucy ain’t much better, with her airs. They brought virtually nothing with them, and Philippa has had the seamstress run ragged altering several of her old gowns which barely fit her because she has grown breasts. She has been wearing the same clothing in which she traveled. When I asked her why she brought no luggage with her she said ’twas because she would not be here long, and did not wish to take any longer getting to so distant a place than was necessary. The Philippa I helped you raise is long gone, I fear, and I am not certain I like this girl who bears her likeness and name.”
“It is the court,” Rosamund said quietly, putting an arm about her old nursemaid.
“We went to court, and did not come back all hoitytoity,” Maybel said.
“Remember the Bolton family motto, Maybel?” Rosamund said quietly. “It isTracez votre chemin.Make your own path. That is, I think, what my daughter is doing.
“But she is young yet, and she has been hurt. Not so much in the losing of Giles FitzHugh, but in the embarrassment he has caused her at court.”
“The gentleman who escorted her home brought a letter for you from the queen. I imagine there is much in it that Mistress Philippa has yet to share with us,” the older woman said. “She has been anxious for you to come home on one hand, but on the other not in so much of a hurry to see you.” She handed Rosamund the packet.
Rosamund laughed. At twenty-nine she was still beautiful, although she was even now ripening with a seventh child that would be born in February as her ewe sheep were dropping their lambs. “Well, I suppose it is better to get it over with, Maybel. Send one of the girls up to bring my daughter down into the hall.”
“Mama!” Elizabeth Meredith ran into the large chamber. “I saw your horse being led to the stables. You didn’t come alone, I hope. Papa will be furious.”
“Nay, my darling Bessie, I was escorted by several of our clansmen.” She cocked her head, and looked closely at her youngest daughter. “Well,” she said, “I see no outward signs of violence.”
Bessie burst out laughing. “I am too quick for Mistress Fussy-Prissy, mama. I don’t remember Philippa being so mean. I really don’t think I like her anymore.”
“Be patient, my darling Bessie,” Rosamund counseled her child. “Philippa is unhappy right now, and so we must be kind. The match that was to be made for her was a particularly good one, and it will be difficult to replace Giles FitzHugh. Philippa has lived at court long enough to know that. Beneath all her anger and superiority she is frightened. Fifteen is the age many girls wed. To find herself unexpectedly bereft of a proposed husband at this time is a catastrophe in her mind, but Friarsgate is an excellent dowry, and she will have gold and silver as well. She is more than well dowered enough to attract the right man. We must just be patient.”
“Philippa says she hates Friarsgate, mama. She says if her lands weren’t so far north Giles would not have deserted her,” Bessie replied.
“Telling tales already, brat?” Philippa entered the hall. She was dressed in a plain green gown. “Mama, I am happy to see you. But gracious! Are you breeding yet again?”
“Bessie, pet, go to the kitchens and tell cook I am home. Philippa, come and sit by the fire with me. And aye, I am breeding again. The bairn will be born in February. It will probably be another lad, for Logan, it seems, can sire only lads on me.” She sat down, the packet Maybel had handed her still unopened. She saw Philippa eye it warily.
“Will you tell me what is in the queen’s letter, or shall I open it now, and read it before we speak?” she asked her daughter.
“Do what you will, mama. I’m sure the queen has overreacted to my situation. She seems to believe that I am pining for Giles FitzHugh, and I am not! I hate him for discarding me in so hasty a fashion. Now I am to be the old maid of the court. I am not happy, mama, but I am not weeping over that pious fool.”
Rosamund broke the seal on the queen’s letter, and opening it out began to read. Once or twice her left eyebrow lifted itself. Once there was almost the hint of a smile about her lips. She actually read the queen’s missive twice to make certain she understood Katherine’s position. Finally she set the letter aside on the bench where she sat and said in a quiet voice, “Were you anyone else’s daughter, Philippa, I expect that you would have been dismissed from the queen’s service, and sent home in total disgrace with no invitation to return.”
“But I have been asked back! At Christmas, and I am to resume my old place in the ranks of the queen’s maids,” Philippa said quickly.
“Because the queen values our small friendship, Philippa.”
“The king stood up for me too. He was so kind,” Philippa told her mother. “They say Inez de Salinas once caught you in a compromising position with the king, and that you got her dismissed from court when she gossiped about it, but the queen forgave you.”
“That is a lie,” Rosamund said. She would not share her secret history with her daughter. It was not Philippa’s business. She continued calmly. “I knew the king as a boy when I lived in his grandmother’s care. You know all of that. You are foolish to listen to gossip, Philippa, especially such old gossip, but we are not speaking of my days at court. We are speaking of your shameless behavior. What possessed you? Drinking to excess? Dicing, and removing your clothing when you lost as payment for the debt? How am I to find you a respectable husband when you exhibit such behavior? King Henry was kind to you? Aye, he would be. He well remembers your father, and Owein Meredith’s faithful service to the house of Tudor. Would that his eldest daughter could prove as honorable.
“And the queen says while she hopes you may return at Christmas, that decision is to be mine, and mine alone, Philippa. I am very angry at you, and I do not know if I shall ever allow you back at court!”
Philippa jumped up from the chair where she had been seated. “I will die if I am forced to remain in this backwater, mama! Is that what you want? Do you want me to die? I must return to court! I must!” Her eyes were wild with open distress.
Rosamund remained seated. “Sit down, Philippa. I can see why the queen was concerned. You have lost all sense of proportion, and your behavior is out of control. I am not pleased with you, my daughter. What Giles FitzHugh did was childish, selfish, and thoughtless. He might have written his father of his decision before he returned home to announce it to one and all.”
“I lo-loved him!” Philippa began to weep.
“You barely knew him,” her mother replied bluntly. “You saw him first when you were ten and I took you to court to present you to the king and queen. A match was proposed that I did not decline, but neither did I accept. I said we must wait until you were older. By the time you returned to court Giles was on the continent studying. You have built up this romantic fantasy in your mind about Giles, Philippa. I suspect it is a good thing that Giles is not to be your husband, for I honestly doubt that he could live up to that dream lover.”
“Mama!” Philippa sniveled, “I never thought of him like that!”
“Didn’t you? Then he was absolutely not the man for you. A woman should lust after the man she is to wed. I might have been shy, but I could scarcely wait for your father to bed me. And believe me when I tell you that I lusted greatly after Patrick Leslie, and Logan Hepburn. Do you not remember the passion between Glenkirk and me?”
“I thought it wonderful, but odd,” Philippa admitted. “Most people do not love like that, mama. A good marriage is intended to improve your family’s connections and wealth, and for the purpose of procreating children. That is what the queen teaches the maids.”
“Does she?” Rosamund said. “Well, I suppose it must be enough for a princess of Aragon who weds a king of England. But it would not have been enough for me, nor should it be for you, Philippa.” She reached out and brushed the tears from her daughter’s cheek. “Giles has hurt you, my darling girl. Accept it, and then when your heart is once again content we will find you a young man you can love as I have loved the men in my life. You are no queen, Philippa. You are simply the heiress to Friarsgate.”
