Page 205 of Feathers in the Wind
I hoped nobody else in the room had overheard us. It would seem a strange thing to say to someone she had apparently only just met.
I responded in a soft voice, holding her gaze so she could be under no illusions I was indeed who she thought I was, ‘And I you, Dame Alice.’
She nodded and rose to her feet. ‘What matters for the moment is that you are both here and safe. Tonight we will dine well. Mary, pray take Mistress Shepherd to the best guest bedchamber and see she has all she needs. Nathaniel, you and I must talk.’
I wanted, more than anything, to have a few words with Dame Alice, but Mary stood by the door waiting for me and I followed her from the great hall. She led me up the wide oak stairs to the west wing, the wing that no longer existed.
* * *
Mary showedme to a room that, had it still been in existence in the twentieth century, would be described in a guide book as the green bedroom. The bed had been hung with green woolen curtains and an embroidered cloth covered in carefully worked patches and darns, indicating that it might already have been of some antiquity, covered the sheets.
‘Where did you say you were from?’ Mary inquired.
‘Chesham,’ I replied without thinking, and immediately wished I had said Northampton as Mary frowned.
‘There are no people by the name of Shepherd in Chesham, and I can tell by your voice and manner you have some gentility in your upbringing.’ She looked at me with the same sideways glance her brother used. I found the resemblance a little unnerving.
‘My people are from London,’ I answered with absolute truth. ‘I am but new to Chesham.’
‘You could have sent word that Nathaniel was with you,’ Mary said in a reproachful tone. ‘We have been frantic with worry.’
I had to think fast. ‘Being new to the village, I did not know who he was until he recovered sufficient of his senses to inform me.’
That seemed to satisfy her.
‘Shall I send someone to fetch your own possessions--that is, if you are staying?’ From her raised eyebrow it would seem she suspected my relationship with Nathaniel might be more than just that of nurse and patient.
‘No. I’m not staying long. I just came to make sure Nathaniel got back safely.’
Mary sank on to the edge of the bed and looked down at her folded hands. ‘Thank you for what you have done for him. We feared the enemy had seized him. I have lost one brother and it would kill me to lose another.’
The breath stopped in my throat. Foreknowledge was a dreadful burden, I realized.
I sat next to her and took her hand. ‘This is a terrible war, Mary. I fear there will be many more deaths before it is over.’
A large tear slipped down her cheek and she dashed it away impatiently. ‘Has Nathaniel told you about my...my beloved?’ I shook my head.
‘Robert took up arms for Parliament with our brother, Richard. They had been boon companions since childhood. Now Richard is dead and Robert...’ She sniffed, ‘I fear I will never see him again.’
I had no knowledge of this relationship and felt grateful for the ignorance, but if Robert survived the war, there stood a good chance that he, being on the winning side, would come for his sweetheart. The family would need such allies in the years to come.
‘You and Nathaniel?’ she ventured. ‘I saw the way he looked at you and I don’t understand how such a thing has come to pass in so short a time.’
‘Mistress Preston,’ I said, remembering my seventeenth-century manners. ‘In war, there is no time for the niceties of courtship.’
A smile quirked her lips. ‘Well, I am pleased for him, if he has found love at last. Dear Anne, God rest her, was not his equal. They would have made each other very unhappy.’ Mary rose and straightened her skirts. ‘You must be tired after your long walk from Chesham. I will leave you to get settled. You may stow your sack in the chest.’ She indicated my brown leather handbag, which I carried still slung over my shoulder.
With an elegant twitch of her skirts, she left the room.
I sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at my sneakers. I wondered what I looked like and if I appeared strange to these people. I could see no mirror in the room, so I unhooked my handbag and scrabbled in it for my small mirror.
The reflection in the tiny glass gave me no reassurance. I might as well have been dropped into the Amazon jungle. As I replaced the mirror, I reflected that if Nat had survived the twentieth century, I would survive the seventeenth. I just hoped I would not be stuck here forever, after he... after he... I screwed my eyes shut, took a deep, steadying breath and tried not to think about Nat’s fate.
A firm rap on the door startled me out of my reverie. I jumped to my feet and my handbag went flying, strewing its contents across the wooden floor. Without waiting for a response, Nat entered the room. He patted me playfully on my well padded rear end, as I scrabbled under the bed trying to find the stray lipsticks, mints and the inevitable loose change that rattled around in the bottom of my bag.
‘That is a tempting sight,’ he said
I stood and turned to face him. He moved toward me with a smile I had come to recognize. My pulse began to quicken and a warm glow spread through my stomach as he pulled me toward him. ‘I can’t wait to unlace that bodice,’ he whispered. ‘And of course, there are other advantages to skirts...’
