Chapter 7 #3
‘These are personal treasures from me to mark this occasion,’ Edward said.
‘Keep them safe but use them wisely as you wish. One day you may want to set the jewels into a ring or a brooch, or you might sell them to buy something you desire. Think well on their use. Now, come and kiss me. You first, Tom, for very soon you shall be my squire.’
Tom stepped forward, his face hot. He kissed Edward’s hard cheekbone and knelt to him, a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Edward gripped his hands in his own and returned the kiss like a lord to a vassal.
Tom stood up and stepped back, and his mother pressed his shoulder.
‘Well done,’ she whispered. ‘I am so proud of you.’
Feeling warmth at her praise, Tom watched his brother do the same, then Maud, who received a kiss and an embrace from Edward, and finally Joannie.
Tom went off to put the little bag in his personal coffer and took another look at the jewels and coins, which unlike the whistle and bells were of considerable value.
The Prince was talking to his mother, and the low buzz of their voices was warm and companionable.
He felt disconcerted that Edward was soon to be his stepfather.
If his mother had to marry someone, he would have chosen Edward above anyone else.
He was already his godfather, heir to the throne, and a puissant knight.
The thought of becoming his squire was exciting too.
But when he saw his mother tilting her head and smiling at the Prince and not withdrawing when he touched her hand, he was unsettled.
Had she really loved his father? How could she be engaging with another man so soon?
He hadn’t yet let go of the image of his mother married to his father, and it created a knot in his chest even while he knew it was best for all.
Two days later, Jeanette prepared to return home from Byfleet, but without Tom who was remaining in Edward’s household to begin his training.
She was concerned at how quiet he had been since the marriage announcement.
The others had accepted it readily, but Tom had been aloof and self-contained, avoiding her when she tried to talk to him.
Waiting in the courtyard for her baggage cart to be loaded, she brushed her fingers through his hair.
‘Do your best,’ she said. ‘Make me proud – and your father too.’
‘Which father?’ he asked, drawing back from her touch.
‘Your true father who is in heaven,’ she answered, concealing the flash of pain created by his words.
‘We will always honour and remember him. I would never, ever want you to think I have forgotten him, or that I am being untrue or disrespectful to all he was, but our earthly life must move on. As a family we could have no one better than the Prince to act in your father’s stead.
I will never love your father less because I take another husband.
Your future stepfather will hold his own place in my heart, but it will never rival or push out the great love I had and still have for your father.
No one will ever replace him. I hope you understand. ’
Tom’s face burned scarlet, and she saw a betraying sheen of tears in his eyes as he nodded and swallowed.
‘Oh, I am going to miss you,’ she said, ‘but it is time and past time you assumed the duties of a man among men. I will visit again soon, and once I am married, we shall see each other often. I love you so much.’
He gave her a brave smile, and she hugged him fiercely.
Her little boy was no longer a little boy and must stand in the world as a man – but she still wanted to shield him.
This wedding was too soon, but the world paid no heed to such small cries, and her union with Edward was indeed an act of protection.
Edward arrived to assist her into her travelling wain. ‘Godspeed, my dearest lady,’ he said. ‘We shall meet again soon.’ He kissed her on the brow and cheek, but not her lips.
‘Take good care of Tom. He is . . . he is still grieving his father, and his skin is raw even if he tries to hide it.’
‘Do not worry, I will treat him as I would any new squire in training,’ Edward said. ‘I will not handle him with kid gloves, for that would be of no benefit, but I shall make sure that he knows how much I honour his father – just as much as I honour his mother.’
Jeanette nodded, unable to speak, and climbed into the cart where she sat down on the cushioned bench running along its interior sides.
‘When can I be a squire?’ Johan demanded as he settled beside her. He had wanted to stay with the Prince and his brother and was put out at having to leave with the women.
‘When you are a year older,’ Jeanette said, and hugged him, her heart full. ‘One thing at a time. For now, you are the oldest son in the household, and I am relying on you.’
He sat tall and expanded his chest, but still gave her a look from the corner of his eye that told Jeanette he wasn’t fooled by her flattery but would let it pass.
At a shout and a signal, the driver cracked his whip lightly over the backs of the greys in line, and the cart surged forward.
The last thing Jeanette saw before the road swallowed them from sight was Edward and Tom waving farewell, with Edward’s other hand on Tom’s shoulder in a gesture of paternal protection, and she had to wipe her eyes.