Page 4 of Love, Remember Me

"And you, Mistress Nyssa? Will you be as content as your brothers?" He chuckled and went on without even waiting for an answer. "She will have all the young men eager, I'll vow. You will have your work cut out for you, my lady FitzHugh, watching over this English rose."

"I am quite capable of looking after myself, Your Grace," Nyssa said. "After all, I am the eldest of my mother's children."

"Nyssa!" Blaze was scandalized by her daughter's impudence, but the king laughed good-naturedly.

"Do not scold her, madame. She reminds me of my own daughter, Elizabeth. Nyssa is of the same ilk. An English rose, but a wild rose, I am thinking. It is a relief to know she is a strong girl. She will need that strength at court, as well you know, Blaze Wyndham. Now, am I to be fed? I have agreed to your requests." He chuckled. "There is no need to starve your king into submission."

Blaze signaled her servants, and immediately they began to hurry forth in a line bearing the kitchen's best efforts to please their sovereign. As the Countess of Langford had promised, there was beef; a great joint of it, which had been packed in rock salt and roasted until its juices began to seep through its saline armor. There was a large country ham, sweet and pink; trout, broiled with lemons and served upon a bed of fresh raw spinach from the garden; and of course, the partridge pies, six of them, their crusts oozing gravy, wine-scented steam coming from the decorative vents cut into their crusts. There were several ducks, well-roasted, sitting in a sea of plum sauce upon a silver salver; and a platter heaped high with tender baby lamb chops. Bowls of peas, roasted onions, and dishes of carrots in a marsala and cream sauce were offered. There was freshly baked bread, newly churned butter, and a fine small wheel of sharp cheddar cheese.

The king had always been a fine trencherman, but his increased appetite astounded Blaze. He helped himself liberally to the beef and ham, ate one whole trout, a duck, a partridge pie, and six lamb chops. He seemed to enjoy the roasted onions particularly, smacking his lips with pleasure. He devoured a loaf of bread, a great deal of butter, and at least a third of the cheese by himself. His cup was never allowed to grow empty, and he drank with as much gusto as he ate. When one of several apple tarts was presented for his inspection and approval, the king nodded happily.

"I'll have it with clotted cream," he ordered the servant holding the large tart, and when it was readied to his satisfaction, he ate it with obvious pleasure. " 'Tis a fine repast you have served me, madame," he complimented his hostess. "I shall not be hungry until dinnertime surely." Loosening his belt, he belched softly.

"If I had eaten that much," Lord Morgan murmured to two of his sons-in-law, "I should not be hungry until Michaelmas next."

As the king was about to take his leave to return to the hunt, the Countess of Langford went into sudden labor, to her great surprise.

"The child is not due for another few weeks," she gasped, horrified to have spoiled the king's departure.

"Surely, Blaze," her mother, Lady Morgan, replied dryly, "you have had enough babies to know that they come when they are ready; not a moment before, not a moment later." She turned to the king. "Go back to the hunt, Your Grace, and take my lord Wyndham with you. This is woman's work. I've never known a man to be worth anything when his wife is laboring to bring forth their child."

"Because the man does his labor first, madame," the king said with a grin.

The men tramped forth as ordered, and helped by her mother, her mother-in-law, and her sisters, Blaze gained her bedchamber. There, after a relatively brief labor of some two hours, she birthed twin daughters.

"I cannot believe it!" she said, astounded. "I thought Tony only good for lads, and here he has given me two little lasses."

"They are identical in face and form," her mother said with a chuckle. "I was wondering if any of my girls should one day bear twins, as I have four sets of my own. You are the first one to do so, Blaze."

"I shall ride out and tell Papa," Nyssa said. "He will be thrilled, I know." She peered down at the new babies. "They are sweet!"

"Now," said Lady Morgan, "you will have these two dear little girls to raise, and will not miss Nyssa so much when she goes to court."

"No, Mama," Blaze replied, "Nyssa shall always be dear to my heart wherever she may be. She is all I have left of Edmund Wyndham. I must see her happily married else I have not done my duty by him, and he was the best of men, as you must surely remember."

"He was that," Lady Morgan agreed, and Lady Dorothy Wyndham, who had been Edmund Wyndham's half sister, nodded. "Without him your sisters would not have been able to marry so well, nor would your father been able to repair our fallen fortunes. I bless the day when he first came to Ashby. I pray for his good soul each night."

The new mother was made comfortable, and her babies swaddled. Heartha, Blaze's tiring woman, bustled in with a nourishing posset for her mistress. When Blaze had drunk it down, she was left alone to rest.

The women gathered back in the Great Hall ofRiversEdge, chatting companionably while they waited for Lord Wyndham and the other gentlemen to return home, as all of the men but Lord Morgan had joined the king's hunting party.

"I wonder what she will call them?" Blythe, Lady Kingsley, said.

"Ah, yes, Mama, I wonder if she will have your flair for feminine names?" Bliss, Countess of Marwood, chuckled.

"Nyssa is unique," their mother noted.

"But Edmund named her," Lady Dorothy told them. "Blaze chose Nyssa's Christian name in honor of Edmund's first wife, Catherine de Haven, but it was Edmund who said his daughter should be called Nyssa, which is Greek for 'a beginning.' Edmund bragged she was to be the first of many children. He could not know it would be my Anthony who would father the Wyndham line, and not he. I miss him even now, though he is dead these fifteen years past."

"Blaze has given her sons very sensible names," Blythe said.

"But these are girls, you silly creature!" sharp-tongued Bliss said to her identical twin. "Blaze will choose wonderful names for them, I am absolutely certain! How can she not, given the example set by our dear mama? Ohh, I cannot wait to learn what she has chosen!"

"Our daughters have sensible names," Blythe countered.

Bliss threw her twin a disgusted look.

Lord Wyndham returned, and to their immense surprise, the king was with him.

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