“Are you sure? You sister Mary said…”
“I am sure. What does Mary know?”
Thomasin remained with Anne until the dinner hour. Her women came and went: Lady Elizabeth and Mary; the dark-haired Nan Gainsford, who Thomasin learned was now Mistress Zouche, having married the courtier George Zouche; Bess Holland, who frowned whenever she saw her; and the pale-haired Jane Seymour, offering to read or sing or play, or bringing fresh pillows and wine.
“She is very solicitous, this Jane,” observed Lady Elizabeth, “so eager to be of assistance.”
At the dinner hour, Thomasin watched as they straightened Anne’s clothing, brushed out her long, dark hair and pinned a new headdress in place. Jane Boleyn found her discarded shoes and eased them onto her sister-in-law’s tired feet. It felt natural, so much like the way she and Ellen had once cared for Queen Catherine, performing these small, intimate acts for her. And then it struck Thomasin that perhaps she might find a time to speak for Catherine. She could ask for mercy for theformer queen, clemency in her long, dark days. Perhaps if she grew closer to Anne and gained her trust, she might be in a position to do some good. If nothing else, she might explain to Anne that word might discreetly be passed between Catherine and her daughter, or at least that Anne might turn a blind eye to the needs of a mother and daughter, especially if Anne was to become a mother herself.
Anne went down to the hall on the arm of her father. Thomasin walked behind them, among her ladies, feeling that she stuck out among them and wondering whether she would ever truly become one of them. Henry was waiting on the dais and came down the hall to greet her as she appeared in the far doorway. Once Anne was safely seated at the top table, Thomasin turned gratefully to Lady Elizabeth, who was saving her a place.
“Hopefully she will eat and sleep well tonight. It is likely that she will enter confinement tomorrow or the day after.”
“So soon?”
“The child might arrive any day now. Dr Butts has advised it.”
Thomasin looked over to where the doctor was dining, and wondered whether he remembered her from six years back, when he had treated her mother for pains in her breast, and offered a younger Thomasin an amulet and advice.
“This is the worst time,” said Mary Boleyn, sitting opposite them. “The long days of waiting beforehand. I wish this part were over and the child had been born.”
Anne’s face looked pinched and drawn, and her interactions with Henry were taut; no doubt, thought Thomasin, the queen wished the same.
As they were leaving the hall, earlier than usual, for Anne had grown restless, Thomasin spotted the figure of Eustace Chapuys by the outer door. The Imperial Ambassador stood on the edgeof the group, watching as the various lords and ladies dispersed to their apartments.
“Good evening, my lord,” Thomasin greeted.
“Ah, good evening…”
“Lady Waterson,” she supplied, not expecting him to remember.
“Of course, we met at Whitehall. Forgive me, it has been an exhausting few days with the move. I recall you were a friend to our dear Queen Catherine.”
“I still am. I had a letter from her shortly before I left Suffolk, only a few days ago.”
“She is well, I hope?”
“As well as might be expected.”
He nodded. “I like not this uneasy atmosphere. It is more than just the child’s arrival. Things do not feel stable. The king and queen are at odds and the whole court feels it.”
“At odds?”
“Has her great bed been delivered?”
Thomasin recalled what Baynton had told her. “The gold one, that used to belong to the Duc d’Alençon? Yes, it has.”
“Had she requested it now, the king would not have granted it. She could do no wrong in his eyes before and now it seems she can do no right, on account of his other lady.”
“Other lady?”
“Some flirtation he has had with the daughter of a northern lord. The queen gave him choice words for that, I tell you, and he did not like it.”
Thomasin could find no satisfaction in Anne’s distress. “But she carries his child. She should not be provoked in that way.”
“Do you wish to tell the king so?”
“No, of course not.”
