Page 74 of The Raven and the Rose
“Oh, my love, I’m not due until July. Surely there’s no possibility you’ll be gone six months?”
“Hush now. Haven’t I promised to be here?” He crushed her in his arms to quell his fear and tucked her head beneath his chin. As they lay touching, all three heartbeats intermingled.
Roger had been gone a month when Roseanna received an urgent message from her mother that read:
Roseanna, I have held off sending you distressing news, but I dare not wait longer. Neville has fallen ill, and his condition worsens each day. He is asking for you, and I hope a visit from you will improve him.
All my dearest love, Joanna.
Roseanna handed the letter to Kate and Alice and told them to ready everything immediately for a prolonged visit to Castlemaine. She chose two men-at-arms for their escort and told them to come straight back to Ravenspur.
Roseanna made the journey of twenty miles that same day. When Joanna took her up to her father’s bedchamber, she was shocked to see his deteriorated condition.
Kate took over his nursing, and Joanna took her daughter into her workshop, where they could talk in private. “My God, Mother, how long has he been like
“For some time now. I’ve nearly gone mad trying to discover what ails him. I’ve had a terrible dispute with his physician because all the fool did was bleed him, and he’s feeble enough.”
“His color is alarming, and so is the sweating and shaking,” said Roseanna in a frightened voice.
“I’ve tried everything. He can keep nothing in his stomach. We nurse him day and night—he is never left alone. I stay with him all day and Jeffrey stays with him at night.”
Roseanna was surprised. “Is Jeffrey here?”
Joanna nodded. “He stepped right into your father’s shoes. He’s taken full responsibility for your father’s men, and he sits up half the night. I don’t know how I’d manage without him.”
Roseanna was disturbed. She suspected that Jeffrey had been involved in the treason against the King. His service had been with George, and he was therefore a Warwick man; but Neville and his men-at-arms had always fought in the King’s service. She said nothing about her suspicions to Joanna, for her mother was clearly distressed enough. “I will sit with Father tonight. It will give Jeffrey a respite.”
When her brother came up to his father’s sickroom after the evening meal, he greeted Roseanna sweetly. But when she arose from the bedside chair and revealed her condition, he said in an accusing voice, “You are breeding!”
She observed his face carefully and said quietly, “Yes, Jeffrey. You will soon be an uncle.”
He bit his lip and said, “You cannot sit up all night in your condition. I will stay with Father.”
“No,” she said with quiet firmness. “I shall stay with him tonight.”
“We’ve managed without you so far,” he pointed out.
As she watched him, she realized that he hated her. She cast about in her memories of the past for a reason; it was clearly deeper than mere sibling rivalry. “Father has been asking for me, so I’ll stay with him tonight,” she repeated firmly.
“Suit yourself, princess,” he said with venom, and left the room quickly as if he could no longer stand the sight of her.
So that’s it! He knows I’m the King’s child, and he hates me for it,she thought sadly.
In the middle of the night Neville roused and whispered, “Roseanna, sweet Roseanna.” In the morning, though he was no better, he was at least no worse. Joanna took over from her, and Roseanna went to the stables to stretch her legs.
On entering, she was greeted by the familiar whicker of Zeus. “Oh, my beauty, how I have missed you!” crooned Roseanna, and the black stallion almost danced in his excitement.So,she thought,Sir Bryan kept his word and brought Zeus to Castlemaine. I wonder if he is still here.The thought was disquieting.
Sir Bryan was indeed at Castlemaine. He was watching her from a concealed vantage point, but he avoided her. In the afternoon Kate again took over the sickroom, and Joanna and her daughter went for a walk to get some fresh air. Roseanna hesitated, then plunged in. “Mother, is Sir Bryan here?”
Joanna looked guilty. “Roseanna, he has been a great comfort to me while your father has been ill. I can see now what your attraction to him was all about.”
Roseanna was alarmed. “Mother! He’s not your lover?”
“No, no—at least, not quite, not yet. Oh, Roseanna, I’ve had no one to turn to.”
Roseanna took her mother’s hand. “Don’t put your trust in him. Ravenspur is convinced that he was involved in the plot to imprison the King. My husband had him locked in a cell, and I freed him because I feared Ravenspur was jealous of him. I feared for his life. But I, too, am now convinced that he is guilty of treason.”
“If I thought he had planned to harm Ned, I wouldn’t have him here! Roseanna, he is your brother’s dearest friend!”
