Friarsgate Inheritance: Until You Part 25

"The tallest one is your heiress?" he asked.

"Philippa, aye. She will be nine in April," Rosamund responded.

He nodded once more, then fell silent, the gnarled hand reaching out to stroke one of the hall dogs, a greyhound, which had come to his side.

Rosamund moved away from her uncle. She had thought that Maybel exaggerated Henry Bolton's state, but the older woman had not. Her uncle was pitiful, though she still sensed he could be dangerous if permitted. They would see he did not have any opportunity to cause difficulty.

Tom now hugged his cousin. "My dear, dear girl!" he exclaimed. "It is so good to see you once again and to return to Friarsgate. My business in the south is concluded. My Cambridge estate is sold to a newly knighted gentleman who paid quite a premium to gain it. Otterly is now mine. I did stop at court to pay my respects to his majesty. The queen strives for another child now that Scotland's queen is delivered of a fine laddie. King Henry is not pleased by his sister's successful accomplishment. He speaks of her as if she had betrayed him personally, and worse, as treasonous to England."

"When Queen Katherine gives him a son, he will consider differently," Rosamund said. "Remember, Hal never enjoyed being beaten at nursery games."

Tom chuckled. "Too true, cousin. But he would have Spain to marry when many advised against it. They have been wed several years now, and no living heir or heiress to show for it. A stillborn daughter, and wee Henry of Cornwall, born and died in the same year. There has been no sign of a child in two years. And there is his brother-in-law, Scotland, with six healthy b.a.s.t.a.r.ds and a legitimate fair son for his heir. Nay, our King Henry is not a happy fellow."

"How fortunate, then, that we do not have to have anything to do with his court," Rosamund said.

Tom nodded. "Now, dear girl, what of your handsome Scots earl?" he asked.

"Patrick has returned to Glenkirk, but we are to meet in Edinburgh on the first day of April, Tom. We have decided that we will wed. We will spend part of the spring, the summer, and the autumn here at Friarsgate, and the winters at Glenkirk. That way neither of us deserts our responsibilities," Rosamund explained. "Patrick was most pleased with the way his son, Adam, managed Glenkirk in his absence. I can hardly wait until the spring, cousin. And I shall bring Philippa with me."

"With us, dear girl. I do not intend you wed again without me in attendance," he told her with a smile. "And what news from Claven's Carn? Has Lady Jean done what was expected of her?" And Tom grinned wickedly at his cousin.

"She birthed a healthy son in early October," Rosamund answered him. "A peddler returning to England brought word some weeks ago."

"But Logan Hepburn has not communicated with you," Tom noted.

"I would not expect Logan to do so," Rosamund replied. "We did not part on the best of terms, Tom. The night Patrick and I were forced to seek shelter at Claven's Carn, he fought with me and then drank himself into a stupor. We did not see him the following morning before we left, for which I was most grateful."

"Uncle Tom! Uncle Tom!" Rosamund's three daughters were surrounding him. "What have you brought us?" Their small faces were eager with antic.i.p.ation.

Tom swept Banon up into his arms and kissed her rosy cheek. She giggled happily, glad to know she was still a favorite. "Now, my little la.s.ses," he said. "I have one gift for each of the Twelve Days of Christmas for each of you."

"But uncle," Philippa responded, "Christ's Ma.s.s is not for another four days."

"I know," he replied, eyes twinkling, "and so my little poppets, you will have to possess your wee souls of great patience until then."

" 'Tis not fair," Banon, who was six, protested.

"Shame on you all," Rosamund scolded her daughters. "I cannot believe you are so greedy. Run along, now, and have your suppers. Philippa, you will remain."

Tom put Banon down, but not before giving her another kiss. Then he watched fondly as the two younger girls made their way from the hall. "They have grown even in the few months I was away," he said.

Rosamund nodded. "I know," she said. "In the months I was away, the same thing happened. I don't ever want to leave my la.s.ses again."

He took her hand, and they sat together on a settle by the fire. Opposite them, Henry Bolton dozed, the greyhound now lying across his feet. "Your uncle has found a friend," Tom observed. "G.o.d help the man, for he has no others."

Rosamund sighed. "I must forgive him his treatment of me as a child," she said. "He is to be pitied. I have not feared him since I was six and Hugh took my care upon himself. Poor Uncle Henry. Arranging my marriage to Hugh Cabot was his downfall."

"More your salvation," Tom chuckled, and Rosamund smiled.

"Aye," she agreed.

"So you are to be the Countess of Glenkirk, dear girl. He loves you deeply, but you know that, for you love him every bit as much," Tom said.

"It seems so strange," Rosamund replied, "to have found such love as I have found with Patrick. How I wish he were here now, Tom! G.o.d's blood, I miss him more with each pa.s.sing day. I do not know if I can wait until April to see him again, to marry him, and be his wife. His t.i.tle I care naught for, but I know I have never loved anyone as much as I love him."

Tom shook his head. "I will admit that I have never seen such pa.s.sion as I saw between you two. I am glad you changed your mind, cousin, and decided to wed him. You would never again be happy otherwise."

"He will not live forever," Rosamund noted. "I will one day have to be without him, but I care not! I can think only of the months we have had together and the years we will have together. We met just a year ago on the eve of Christ's Ma.s.s, Tom."

"Even as poor Logan Hepburn was contemplating a marriage to you," her cousin said.

"Why must everyone speak of Logan Hepburn?" Rosamund asked him. "I do not love him. I did not give him my promise to wed him. I wanted no other husband in my life a year ago. Logan sought only a broodmare, and the swift results of his eager couplings with Mistress Jean prove my point."

"Indeed they do," her cousin agreed calmly. "I suppose we all speak of him because we expected that you would wed him eventually. We thought you desired a bit of courting, Rosamund, nothing more. That when he had softened your heart, you would agree to marry him. Did you feel nothing at all for the man?"

"At first he fascinated me," she admitted, "but then his constant nattering about an heir began to seriously irritate me. He never wanted me for myself, Tom."

"I think, mayhap, he did," her cousin said softly. "But he is a rough borderer and knew not how to express himself properly to you."

" 'Tis water beneath the bridge now," Rosamund said. "He has his son, and I have my love. We should both be content and happy, Tom. I know I am."

Henry Bolton listened to their conversation, eyes closed, his breathing shallow. So that d.a.m.ned Hepburn from over the border had been so bold as to seek Rosamund's hand at long last. Perhaps he had made a fatal error years back when the then lord of Claven's Carn had asked for the wench for his eldest son. They would have taken her away from Friarsgate, and he would have been left with it. He might even have offered the old lord a gold dowry in exchange for the estate. He could have borrowed on the land to raise it. But as his niece said, 'twas water beneath the bridge. And she, bold creature, had somehow attracted the attentions of a Scots earl. She would be a countess, and her small daughter would be left at Friarsgate when her mother went north. If only he could find a way to contact his son Henry. If he could kidnap this new heiress and wed her to his son, all should not be lost. If he did not woo his son away from the wicked life he was now leading, the lad would eventually end up at the end of the hangman's rope. He must think on this, Henry Bolton considered as he sat in his niece's hall eavesdropping.

Rosamund kept a good Christmas. Yule logs burned in the hall's fireplaces. The chamber was decorated with pine, boxwood, ivy, and holly. Fine beeswax candles burned about the room for the entire twelve days, and there were feasts each afternoon. Mummers from her estate came into the hall to entertain them. There were roasted apples and gingerbread men to eat, mulled cider and wine to drink. There was a side of beef that had been packed in rock salt and roasted. The Friarsgate folk were invited into the hall each day, and on the feast of St. Stephen Rosamund gave every one of her people gifts of fabric, small coins, sugar creatures, and in certain cases, fishing and hunting rights, to help them survive the winter months. No one was overlooked in the celebrations, especially Annie and Dermid. Their son had been born on the fourth day of December, and Rosamund's gift to them was the promised cottage.

Tom was as good as his word. He gave Rosamund's small daughters gifts on each of the Twelve Days of Christmas. And so none of the trio be jealous of the others, each day's gifts were almost identical. There were new leather boots one morning and new blue velvet gowns another. There were fine leather gloves sewn with seed pearls. Gold chains one day, jeweled ear bobs another. Pearl necklaces were tendered on the sixth day, a packet of silk ribbons on the seventh. There were small woolen cloaks trimmed with rabbits' fur on the eighth day, carved wooden b.a.l.l.s and painted hoops on the ninth. The tenth day brought little red leather saddles, the eleventh day red leather and bra.s.s bridles. And on the Twelfth Day of Christmas each of Rosamund's daughters was gifted with an animal for riding. Bessie and Banon had white ponies. Banon's beastie had a single black hoof and Bessie's had a black star on its forehead. Philippa was given a pure white mare just fourteen and a half hands high.

"You are so very, very generous to them," Rosamund said, truly touched by his great kindness.

"Nonsense," he protested. "What is my wealth for if not to purchase small fripperies to give pleasure to my girls?"

"You can hardly call your gifts fripperies," Rosamund laughed.

"When you wed with your earl," Tom told her, "it is not likely we shall have another Christmas together again, particularly if you winter in Scotland."

"You will come to Glenkirk at Christmas," she said quickly.

"What?" he exclaimed, looking quite horrified, "I think not, dear girl. You may enjoy a winter in your lover's Highland eyrie, but I should not." He shuddered. "The very thought of it is most distressing."

"That is just an excuse to avoid coming," she teased him. "I will wager you will ride over the border most eagerly to Stirling and King James' Christmas revels, Tom."

"The Scots king keeps a most merry holiday," he admitted with a grin. Then his look sobered. "G.o.d's blood, cousin! I have forgotten to tell you. When I stopped to see King Henry in the autumn I met a fellow named Richard Howard. He asked if I knew you. I told him, of course, that you were my most beloved cousin."

Rosamund paled. "He was the English amba.s.sador to San Lorenzo," she replied. "I saw him at court after Owein died, but we were never introduced. He thought he knew me when we met at the duke's palace in San Lorenzo.

While I most a.s.suredly knew who he was, I was able to tell him honestly that we had never before met. Did he ask you any questions, Tom? Please think back, I beg you!"

"He asked if you had been to court, and I admitted you had indeed and that in fact you were a friend of the queen's, having been with her in your girlhoods and later after your husband died. But he was too inquisitive, and so I answered no more of his questions. Why are you concerned?"

"I did not want him to mention it to the king. Hal would consider it a fault that I visited San Lorenzo in the company of a Scots earl, I fear. I hoped he would not learn of it, especially now that I am to marry Patrick Leslie. I need no interference from our l.u.s.ty king," Rosamund answered him. "Nothing happened in San Lorenzo that would have been of real interest to any king, let alone Henry Tudor. I think, however, Lord Howard felt the need to report something, lest he be considered useless to his master."

"The king said nothing to me," Tom responded. "If the purpose of Lord Leslie's mission was not public, then I believe you have no cause to fear."

"I hope not," Rosamund replied. "You know how jealous Hal can be."

Tom changed the subject, smiling at his cousin and saying, "I have a proposal to make to you, dear girl. While I have inherited great wealth, there is still my grandfather's enterprise, which supplies me with more funds each year. You have said since your return that you would like to market your fine woolen cloth in France. I believe we should go even farther than France."

"I have not the wool for a larger market, Tom," she answered him.

"That is true. But we can increase your flocks over the next few years while building a demand for the wool, and particularly the Friarsgate Blue cloth," he told her. "I cannot sit idle once Otterly is rebuilt, dear girl. I need an amus.e.m.e.nt. I think we should own a ship in which to transport the cloth abroad. What do you think? We could have a new vessel built in the shipyards in Leith while we prepare. It will take at least two years for us to make ready on all fronts, my dear Rosamund."

"Build our own ship?" She was thoughtful. "I have not the means for it, Tom."

"Of course you don't, but I do," he said calmly. "We shall be partners in this venture, cousin. I shall supply the vessel and any funding necessary. You shall supply the wool and the labor."

"It would appear that you are putting up more than I am," Rosamund answered him. "And we will need more sheep. You must be the senior partner in such an undertaking, Tom."

"We shall be equal partners," he told her. "Think on it, Rosamund. While the initial outlay is mine, afterwards most of the responsibility will fall on your shoulders. Besides, you and your daughters are my heirs. Why should you have to wait until I am dead and gone to benefit from my largesse? Especially when we can build something together."

"It is such a generous offer," Rosamund said.

"It is my Twelfth Night gift to you, dear girl," he told her with a broad smile. "Until you came along, cousin, I was but marking time. My life was dull and seemingly endless. After my sister died I had no one, but then you entered my life. I began to enjoy myself again. I found new meaning. I have a family once more. We shall build this little enterprise of ours together, Rosamund. Now say thank you, Tom, and agree with me."

Rosamund burst out laughing. "Thank you, Tom," she responded. "I do agree with you. Friarsgate wool is finer than much of what I saw in France. I do believe there is a market for it. We shall make a market for it!"

"And by keeping the supply low at first, we may keep the price high," he chuckled. "G.o.d's blood! There speaks the merchant in me. The king and his court would be most horrified to hear Lord Cambridge speaking thusly." He was wearing a most satisfied grin. "But then, I never really was of n.o.ble blood," he chuckled again.

"I am amazed at you coming to settle back in c.u.mbria," Rosamund said. "Once I remember you telling me that it was beautiful, but you wondered how I bore the lack of civilized company. Yet now you are willing to do so."

"That was before my family reappeared," he defended himself. "And I did keep the houses in London and Greenwich. We will go sometimes, and the girls must one day visit the court. We cannot have them growing up thinking Friarsgate is the world, even if it is the best part of it."

"When are you beginning your reconstruction of Otterly?" she asked him.

"The house is being torn down now," he said, "and the site will be cleared, but we cannot begin building until the spring. I shall start after your wedding to the earl."

"What are we to do with Uncle Henry in the meantime?" she said.

"I had a small but comfortable house constructed for him this autumn past. He has been living there with Mistress Dodger, the housekeeper I hired to look after him. Twelfth Night is almost over, cousin. Tomorrow we shall send Uncle Henry back to his own little nest. It is time. He is beginning to look too comfortable here at Friarsgate, and I find he asks too many questions. I suspect for all his tale of woe he is yet in contact with his son Henry the younger. He has said to me that he wishes he might save this lad from a bad life and a worse end."

Rosamund nodded. "I don't want him getting the idea that he might marry his son to one of my girls," she said. "I would put Friarsgate to the torch before I allowed that."

"We will see his dreams have no basis in reality," Tom replied.

"And yet I cannot help but feel sorry for him," she answered. "Still, I am not quite able yet to forgive him my youth. I do not really recall my parents, but from the time they died and Henry Bolton came into my life, I was miserable. Only when Hugh came was I safe. I want to be generous of nature to him, Tom, but I just cannot be."

"Then do not," he advised her. "Edmund and Richard have been almost saintly in their forgiveness, but they did not suffer the brunt of Henry Bolton. You did. Perhaps one day you will be able to forgive him, but now is not the time."

Rosamund took her cousin's hand in her own and kissed it tenderly. "You are so wise, Tom. If you are grateful for me, I am doubly grateful for you."

The following day Henry was transported in a comfortable covered cart back to his own home. Before he left he looked about the hall a final time. Seeing Philippa, he remarked, "Your eldest is nine, niece?"

"In April," Rosamund said. "Why?"

"My Henry is fifteen now. A good age for marriage."

"My cousin has become a thief. Hardly a match for an heiress," Rosamund said tartly. She led him from the hall, and a servant helped him into the cart.

" 'Tis only that he has no home any longer, and his mam's behavior broke his heart, niece. With a bit of good fortune he could become an upstanding man once again," Henry reasoned.

"I wish him good luck, then," Rosamund replied. Then she added, "But put from your mind any thought of a marriage between your son and my child. My girls will marry with men of higher station. Their wealth will bring them that."

"You would put Friarsgate into the hands of strangers?" he demanded, his color suddenly high. "This has always been Bolton land."

"As long as there were Bolton sons, it was Bolton land," Rosamund reasoned with him. "But there are no more Bolton sons, uncle."

"There is my son," he told her in a hard voice.

"And he will never wed with my daughter," Rosamund told him firmly. She patted her uncle's hand. "I am glad you came for the Twelve Days of Christmas, uncle. I believe your visit has done you good. You seem stronger than when you arrived. Farewell now, and G.o.d go with you." She turned, and hurried back into the house. She could feel her anger rising. d.a.m.n Henry Bolton and his sp.a.w.n! Would the man never give up his quest for Friarsgate? No, she thought. Not as long as he lived.

The winter set in about them. The hills were white with the snows. The lake froze for a short time. Rosamund, Tom, and the girls, bundled in their warmest capes and furs, amused themselves sliding upon the icy surface of the water. They celebrated Candlemas on the second of February, and at midmonth the ewes began lambing. The shepherds watched over their flocks carefully. There had been a rumor of a wolf in the district, and the new lambs were an easy target.

"Put them in the barns at night," Rosamund ordered. "I will lose not a one."

"We will purchase some of those Shropshires you've wanted, come spring," Tom said.

She nodded with her agreement. "Aye, I should like a flock of them, Tom."

The shortest month was quickly over, and the hills began to show signs of life again, greening slowly as the month progressed. She had heard nothing more from Patrick but then he had warned her it would be nigh impossible to get another message through to her.

It would take two days to reach Edinburgh from Friarsgate. Annie, of course, would not be able to come with her mistress. Her younger sister, Lucy, had been being trained all winter to temporarily take her place and in future act as Annie's helper. Annie was disappointed, but every time she looked at her infant son she realized she was more content to have her wee Harry than to go with her mistress.

They had all been sewing thoughout the winter so that Philippa might have two new gowns to take with her when she accompanied her mother. The young girl had her mother's coloring. One of Philippa's gowns was a medium blue velvet, and the other was a rich brown. Philippa was so excited she could hardly remain still at the fittings. She was also to have new chemises and caps. The Friarsgate cobbler made the young girl a pair of square-toed shoes with round enamel buckles decorated with colorful paste jewels.

"I have never had shoes like this!" she exclaimed excitedly when she was presented with them.

"They are for Edinburgh," Rosamund said. "You'll be wearing your boots until we get there. These shoes must last you a good long while, unless, of course, your feet grow too quickly. Try not to let your feet grow, Philippa," her mother cautioned.

Spring now took hold at Friarsgate with the ice gone from the lake and the white sheep dotting the green hillsides. Midmorning of the twenty-eighth, Rosamund and her little party departed for Edinburgh. She had resigned herself to spending the night at Claven's Carn. There was simply no way they could bypa.s.s it and reach decent shelter. She sent a messenger ahead with her request for shelter, and in late afternoon they reached their destination.

"Do try and behave, dear girl," Tom teased her wickedly.

Rosamund shot her cousin a fierce look. "I will, if he will," she replied, and Tom cackled with laughter.

They pa.s.sed through into Claven's Carn's courtyard to be met by a Hepburn clansman who helped them from their horses and escorted them into the Great Hall.

Jeannie came forward, smiling, to greet them. "Rosamund Bolton, it is good to see you once again. Lord Cambridge. And who is this lovely la.s.sie? Your daughter, from the look of her." She took Rosamund's two hands in hers and kissed her on both cheeks. Then she gave her hand to Tom who kissed it gallantly.

"My dear lady," he said, "you positively bloom, I am pleased to see."