The King arrived and William started to hand Iohan to his nurse but Joanna took him instead. Holding their son in her arms and portraying an idyllic family moment was not an opportunity to miss when it came to the King.
Henry embraced William before turning to kiss Joanna and his nephew. ‘He’s a handsome chap,’ he said warmly. ‘I can see our mother in him.’
‘He has her eyes,’ William said. ‘Not the same colour, I grant you, but they look out at the world in the same way.’
‘They do, don’t they?’ Henry chucked Iohan under the chin. ‘I want you to be among the first to know that the monks of Winchester have accepted Aymer as their bishop when he comes of age and completes his training. I am going there tomorrow to consolidate their decision.’
‘That is wonderful news, sire,’ William said.
‘Indeed, it is.’ Henry gave him a candid look. ‘I will always support you. My kin are my greatest treasure on earth and your love and loyalty are the coins I value most.’
‘And we shall always serve you with that love and loyalty, sire, not only for your gifts, but for yourself.’
Henry’s eyes moistened with pleasure. ‘I just wanted to tell you,’ he said. ‘I will see you later at dinner.’
‘Well, Aymer as a bishop,’ William said when Henry had gone. ‘I knew he would have a position eventually, but the mitre of Winchester is a powerful one with some fine estates.’ Including part of Southwark across the river from London, where the Bishop was the landlord of the cookshops, bathhouses and brothels that serviced the city. It was a lucrative source of income, and knowing Aymer, he would make full use of it.
‘But he will be acting bishop for a little while yet,’ Joanna said with reservation. ‘He is not yet old enough for consecration even if he takes up some of the duties.’
‘True, but he will grow into the position and learn by experience. It is excellent news for him, and for us.’
In Westminster’s great hall, Joanna stood at Cecily’s side behind two huge cauldrons. Feeding the poor was an obligation of their position in society and their humble duty to Christ. They were down to the last of the beef pottage they had been serving and one basket of loaves. The hundreds of paupers for whom the King had provided the Christmas feast sat at rough wooden trestles wolfing their food, drinking their ale, and staring wide-eyed at a different world of painted walls, colour and warmth. I remember how afraid I was the first time I helped you to do this,’ Joanna said as she ladled pottage into the bowl of a stooped old man. He lifted his eyes briefly to hers, nodded his gratitude and shuffled off. ‘I thought that they might do me harm, that they might pull at my hands or my clothes, but you steadied me and made it calm and ordinary. You said that if we give goodness, then we shall receive it in return.’
‘Ah, that memory of yours,’ Cecily said with a smile. ‘Nothing ever escapes it once taken in. Did I truly say that?’
‘You did, and as you say, I have always remembered.’
Cecily added stew to the dish of a young woman, her body heavily swollen with child. Her clothes were rags and lice crawled in her hair. A little girl of about three years old clung to her skirts, hollow-cheeked, nose streaming. Joanna stooped to hand the child a crust of bread and gave the mother two silver pennies. The woman looked at the coins in astonishment, then closed her reddened knuckles over them, her eyes full of dignity and despair. Her expression tugged at Joanna’s heartstrings. But then they all did. She could not give her more because it would be robbed from her or ill-spent. The woman bobbed her head and moved on, and there stood the next one in the line to receive the last scraping of stew.
In her own womb, Joanna felt a stir and a kick and put her hand there. The child had been moving for a week now.
Cecily asked quietly if she was well, and Joanna nodded. ‘Very well. I have barely been sick. Were it not for my growing belly I would hardly know I carried another child. I am thinking this one must be a well-behaved little girl,’ she added with a smile.
Cecily patted her arm. ‘It is always good to have balance. You took a little time at the outset, but that is no bad thing. You have a beautiful son and now a brother or sister to join him in the spring.’ She gestured for a servant to take the last of the bread to the gate for any latecomers, together with the table scraps. Everyone dining at the high tables had an alms bowl in which to put aside offerings for the poor who had not gained a place to dine.
As Joanna and Cecily were removing their aprons, Cecily swayed and almost fell, but a quick-thinking servant came to her rescue and supported her. ‘I am all right,’ Cecily said, brushing off everyone’s concern, but Joanna thought she looked terribly pale. She had her taken to the Queen’s chamber, where she helped her to a cushioned bench and propped her feet on a stool.
‘Tush, my dear.’ Cecily waved her hand, trying to make light of the incident. ‘You should not be fussing over me in your condition. You should have your own feet up.’
‘Being with child does not render me incapable,’ Joanna answered firmly. ‘You are the one who needs care.’ She removed Cecily’s shoes and began rubbing her feet, noticing how swollen her ankles were.
‘You are a good girl.’
Cecily’s eyelids drooped, and within moments she was fast asleep.
The Queen arrived, having been informed of the incident, and frowned. ‘She has not been well recently,’ she said, ‘but she does as she wills, as she has always done, and she would not thank us for coddling her. All we can do is watch her and be there at need.’
Returning to her own chamber, Joanna found William entertaining his older brother Guy, newly returned from crusade.
She stared at him in shock and surprise. His robust build had been whittled away to a gaunt wiriness. His skin resembled brown leather, and a beard of sun-streaked gold fringed his jawline.
‘Look who’s here!’ William said.
‘Sister! You are blooming like a rose!’ Guy greeted Joanna with a sound kiss on the cheek and looked her up and down.
‘Indeed, I am!’ She fetched Iohan from his nurse. ‘Have you met your nephew?’
Guy tickled the infant under his chin. ‘Indeed, I have. Let us hope he has William’s prowess married to your good sense.’
