He grunted and then left. Within a minute, there came another knock at the door and I could hear my lady allow her groom of the chamber in to provide coal for the evening’s fire. Before allowing me to help her into her bed gown she asked me to finish my sorting task.
“I shall soon be finished,” I said. “You have so many gowns!”
She laughed. “Yes, and His Majesty kindly left me money enough to indulge that passion without tapping my purse, so that is likely to continue. Do not rush, I have important correspondence to attend to.”
She returned to her desk in the other room, where she’d told me earlier she was penning letters in her own hand to build support for her marriage. Shortly, a knock came again.
Kate opened it and Thomas burst in. I knew it was him just by the sound of it as Kate never thrust shut a door.
“So your husband is told to leave so you may change in private, and yet I tarry but a little down the hallway and what do mine eyes see? A common man, though well built and pleasing for a woman to behold, comes when I was denied!”
“Thomas!” Kate protested. “I had not yet changed when the groom of the chamber came to replace my coal. Are you truly displaced by a servant going about his duties?”
I could hear Thomas exhale and then finally speak. “Sweetheart. ’Tis just that I do not care to see you in any man’s company alone, without me. I have had to wait so long, you see, and endure you in the arms and the beds of others that I grow anxious that such may happen again.”
“Do you accuse me of keeping private company with another man? And we so newly wed?”
“Nay, nay,” he said soothingly. “I repent of my outburst. Forgive my misplaced anger. I have just had a letter from the Lady Mary.”
I could hear Kate’s tone relax. “In response to your own, asking her to approve of our marriage?”
“Yes,” he said. “And here is her response: ‘I have received your letter, wherein, methinks, I perceive strange news, the sooner obtaining whereof, you seem to think that my letters might do you some pleasure.’ But she begged to differ. Apparently she found it abhorrent and lacking respect that you have so quickly married after the death of her father.”
“And yet her father pressed me just as quickly to marry him after the death of Lord Latimer!” Kate responded with a little frustration.
“Exactly,” Thomas said. “Last week I bribed John Fowler to allow me some time with the king.”
“Should you be bribing, Thomas?” Kate’s voice turned worried.
“How else shall I see my own nephew? ’Tis an injustice that I cannot see him when I like!” Thomas near shouted. Then he lowered his voice. “I bought him some gifts and sang some sea ditties. And then I was able to turn the conversation to help him see, of his own, that ’twould be better for you to not remain a widow, as Saint Paul hath spoken, and that it would be better that you be cared for by someone he trusts. I began by telling him that I needed a wife.”
“And his response was …?”
“At first, he suggested Anne of Cleves.”
Kate groaned.
“And then he suggested his sister Mary, so I may turn her opinions from Catholicism to reform.”
“Not likely she’d have you and not likely she’d change,” Kate said.
Not likely he’d know enough of either to convince the Lady Mary, I thought uncharitably. Kate held daily church services and lively debates at her dower houses, too, but I’d not seen Sir Thomas present for any of them.
I could not see them but I could hear Lord Thomas kiss her. It was far too late for me to leave the room now without causing extreme discomfort to all involved. I should have left immediately but I knew Kate would not want Thomas to know I had overheard his pique of temper. I could only pray that they left things at a kiss.
Thomas continued. “But since His Majesty had suggested Anne of Cleves, the king’s sister, I put it to him that an even better turn would be done by having a good queen not long remain a widow, as was meet, and provide a godly wife for me as well.”
“And the king …?”
“Delightedly agreed. In fact, he said he would share his good opinion of this with the lord protector upon his earliest opportunity.”
Kate said nothing for so long that Thomas pressed her. “Well, Kate?”
“I do not like twisting Edward’s mind and actions so, to manage him thusly when he has no indication of our motives. He is, after all, as a son to me, Thomas.”
“And a nephew to me,” Thomas said, a slight edge to his voice. “If there were another way, I’d avail myself of it.”
“But there is not,” Kate said quietly.
“There is not,” Thomas agreed.
She told him she was going to complete her correspondence and he said he would be back within an hour. As soon as he took his leave I made some loud noises in gathering up her gowns and Kate came to join me in the dressing chamber.
“I had forgotten you were here, Juliana,” she said.
“’Tis of no concern. I had so much to busy my hands that I lost track of time.” I made my way to the door. “Shall I come early and help you dress afore tomorrow’s hunt?”
She nodded and then held my elbow. “Lord Thomas does not mean anything by his spells of choleric. ’Tis just that his brother has set himself up against us at every turn.”
I nodded in return. “I understand, my lady.”
Mayhap as close as she was to him she could not see that in a few years’ time Sir Thomas had gone from sailing in mostly placid water to mostly turgid and let every wind and wave whip him into frenzy now that he sensed victory at hand.
A fair portion of the queen’s household and guests, including the Lady Elizabeth, rode out to hunt with us the next day. The Lady Elizabeth was already an excellent huntress, but not quite as fine as Kate, and the queen dowager wanted to ensure that Elizabeth’s education progressed in all manner whilst in her household.
“Someday soon,” Kate told her, “your brother the king and the council may arrange a fine marriage for you with a prince in another land, and I want you to be well prepared, though I shall miss you when you take your leave and you must promise to write to me weekly.”
Elizabeth shone at this display of affection. Indeed, Kate had arranged for the Lady Elizabeth the finest of tutors, the best dance instructors, and the most competent musicians. Whilst she also arranged education for Lady Jane Grey, she, being farther away at Seymour Place, was not quite as easy to manage. And, I knew, Elizabeth held a particularly dear place in Kate’s heart.
Our midmorning repast was held on the hunting grounds, as was Kate’s preference. She sat alone whilst Lord Thomas wrapped his arms around the small frame of the Lady Elizabeth some yards hence to better teach her the right manner in which to hold a bow. My lady looked sorrowful, and who could blame her?
I drew near. “Are you well, Your Grace?” I glanced up at the embrace Thomas held Elizabeth in. She saw my gaze.
“Oh, that, ’tis nothing.” She motioned for me to sit. “But Thomas has this morning shared with me disturbing news that he received in a letter from the king. He first thanked Thomas for marrying me, but then he shared that both Edward Seymour and his wife were much offended with the marriage. Thomas’s brother Edward, as self-appointed lord protector, has that right, I suppose, though if His Majesty seems happy that should be the end of it. There was no requirement for me to get the council’s approval before marriage. But it is no business at all of that hell Lady Seymour to be offended.”
I was taken aback by my lady’s language and my face must have shown it.
“My sister tells me Lady Seymour is wearing the queen’s jewels now,” Kate said. “The ones that were stolen from me, and of course, there be no queen in this realm save I. She does not yet have the gall to wear my personal jewelry, which I hope shall shortly be back in my possession.”