In Bed With A Stranger by Mary Wine

Chapter Twelve

Warwick Castle

“You are disgraceful.”

Philipa spoke slowly, allowing each of her words to fall and impact before the next one crossed her lips.

“Clearly you care for no one save yourself.” The mistress of Warwickshire pulled a letter from her writing desk. She snapped the paper against her palm.

“Your sire did not return for quartering day.” Triumph shone in Philipa’s eyes.

Anne stood steady. She stared straight at Philipa, refusing to lower her eyes. She would not be giving blind respect to the lady of the manor anymore. Philipa frowned when she remained steadily staring her in the face.

“It is a good thing that I had the forethought to marry your sister to a man who will keep her in check. The very fact that you penned this letter proves that you and all your siblings are tainted with the lack of respect that your mother has shown me by giving my husband sons.”

Anne smiled softly. The expression angered the mistress of Warwickshire, turning Philipa’s face red.

“My sister is in Scotland.”

“What?” Her lips twisted into an ugly scowl. “I commanded that she return.”

“If I only cared for myself, I would still be at Sterling, far from your reach.”

“Watch your mouth, girl, I am your mistress.”

Anne didn’t back down “Not any longer, you aren’t. You sent me away, gave me to another noble. My loyalty belongs to Sterling’s master now.”

A flicker of fear crossed Philipa’s face. She looked stunned by the emotion, her lips working without sounds for a few moments, her hands closing into fists.

“You shall obey me, bastard.”

“Or what?” Anne wasn’t as sure as her voice sounded, but she was finished holding her tongue. Being obedient to Philipa had not rewarded her with fairness as the Church preached. Keeping to her place would never mean anything if the woman she offered her loyalty to did not remember her duty to her own servants. That was the lesson she’d learned from Brodick. He was a leader because he considered it a duty, not just tribute given to his name, something he received but did nothing to earn.

“I shall have your mother put out.”

Anne didn’t waver. “It is no longer winter.” Philipa gasped at Anne’s audacity. “Yet maybe it is better that you should. When she reaches the next shire, there will be an end to this farce. I do not think my sire will be pleased when he learns of this deception.”

Philipa stuck her finger out, trying to impose her will with the stern gesture. “You will do as you are told, bastard.”

Anne simply laid a hand on the top of her belly. Philipa looked at it hungrily. For a moment she resembled someone addicted to wine, all weak-willed and unable to stop her own destructive behavior.

“I carry the Earl of Alcaon’s child. If you are just, you shall dissolve my sister’s marriage and send my brothers to serve at court with their sire to, possibly with God’s good will, better their lot.”

A lump tried to form in her throat and Anne suppressed it. She did what was most important for her babe. Sacrifice was the proof of a mother’s love. “You shall not have my child for nothing. My brothers know nothing of this. Send them today.”

“Or what…bastard?” Philipa smirked. “Hmm? You have so much to say, but I am mistress here. The gates only open when I say they shall.”

A moment of uncertainty filled her and Philipa must have sensed it. She smiled, the expression unpleasant.

“I have heard that in Scotland being born bastard means very little. But this is England…bastard.”

A sharp slap hit Anne’s face. Philipa did not stay her strength. Anne’s neck whipped to the side with the force of the blow.

“Here, you will keep to your place. That had better be a male child.”

Philipa paced back across the chamber. She sat in an ornately carved chair, arranging her skirts as if she were royalty. Mary moved to stand behind her mother. They looked every inch the noble, powerful women they believed themselves to be.

But they didn’t compare at all to Brodick.

“You shall occupy my solar until your time comes. I will be gracious and allow your mother to attend you.”

She paused to gloat with a few amusing sounds sent toward her daughter.

“Of course you many persist in this defiance and your child will be born exactly as you were…illegitimate.”

“I am here.” What else was there to say? Philipa did know what she was speaking of. The world was not forgiving and it was not interested in how things happened. Born out of wedlock, her child would be a bastard.

“Exactly. There is some part of you that is not mesmerized by the lust that Scot no doubt stoked inside you.” Now Philipa’s expression turned to one of revulsion, her lips thinning with distaste. “I had little doubt that you’d enjoy his carnal demands. You are very much like your mother.

“Still, it is what was needed.” Philipa reached for a goblet. She took a long sip, fully expecting everyone to wait on her while she pampered herself.

“You will remain in the solar. That is the only way that we shall be able to make everyone believe that Mary has birthed that child.”

“But how long, Mother? I’m tired of being locked up.”

Philipa frowned. “Has the world gone mad? Why is there no respect in either of you? Here I am working so diligently to make everyone happy and both of you argue with me.”

Mary pouted but she didn’t look like a child who knew she was defeated. Instead her face brightened with her desire for retaliation.

“You will have to remain in bed after the child is born, Mary, acting your part as the one recovering from childbirth. It sounds to me as though you might put that time to good use learning to be thankful that you do not have to face the pain of labor. She might die before pushing the child into the world and then we shall have a true mess to sort out.”

Mary’s nose wrinkled. “You mustn’t die, Anne.”

“I shall endeavor not to.”

Mary shrugged while rolling her eyes, clearly unconcerned with anything more than what she wanted. The child inside Anne kicked as if he understood that he was being fought over. Anne refused to weaken. Her son deserved to be born to the full station he had been conceived under.

May Brodick forgive her.

“What has that woman’s spite done to you?”

Ivy Copper entered the small solar, but she only had eyes for Anne. She swept her daughter from head to toe and back to swollen belly.

“Never once might I have suspected that she would do so horrible a deed.” Ivy flew across the room, folding Anne into her embrace.

“I have missed you, Mother.”

And she had. But the steady beating of her mother’s heart was sweet reassurance. Life. That was what she had left Warwickshire to ensure. It was also what she’d brought back with her.

“It was not awful. He is a good man.”

Her mother made a low sound. She stepped back to fix Anne with her mother’s eye.

“Please tell me that you did not fall into love’s trap. Anne, I warned you about it. You are saddled with the burden of having my tender heart. Both you and Bonnie.”

“But it’s not a burden, Mother.”

Ivy sighed, but a smile decorated her lips. She cupped both sides of her daughter’s face, tenderness in her voice. “Well, sweet Anne, you have gone and done it now. Placed your hand into the foolishness of love. I can no more scold you for it than stop loving your father. Forgive me for setting such a poor example for you.”

“Do you still love him, even now?”

“You mean at my age?” Ivy turned, looking around the solar. “It’s the truth that I do.”

Her mother surveyed the chamber. It was round because it was the top of one of Warwickshire’s towers. There were costly glass pane windows here because it was Philipa’s solar. There were three expensive chairs near the windows, their backs and arms ornately carved. A tapestry loom stood threaded and waiting for the lady of the house to work. Anne had never known Philipa to labor at such a task.

She ran a finger over the fine threads. The sunlight danced over them. They almost glowed.

“Silk.”

“Aye,” her mother confirmed. “Your father has always done right by Philipa. He denies her nothing.”

There was a note of envy in her mother’s voice. Anne smiled at her.

“He never gave her his love. That has been yours alone.”

“Just look what that’s done to you.” Ivy shook her head. “She used me against you, didn’t she?”

“Love is not one-sided, Mother. You have made sacrifices for me as well.”

Ivy frowned. “It is not the same, Daughter. This was evil.”

Anne sighed. She gazed out the window and realized that it faced north. Out there was Sterling. Her child belonged there with the kilts and long swords strapped to the men’s backs. Warwickshire was not home. There was no feeling of warm joy here, no comfort.

“I believe that good has already begun to unravel Philipa’s work. I left Bonnie in Scotland, away from Philipa’s reach. It was not a bad experience, Mother. If that is sinful, I am guilty.”

Ivy only shook her head. “I am not in any position to counsel anyone on the foolishness of love.” Her mother laid a hand on her daughter’s swollen belly. “Yet I did wish that your first child would be born in less turmoil.”

“I returned to make sure of that. This child will take his place even if I must allow Philipa to continue her foul scheme. If I speak against her, my babe will be illegitimate. There is no other way. Just as I could not watch Bonnie leave Sterling with Cameron. She is safe now. Brodick is a good man; he will not allow Cameron to take her.”

Anne felt confidence surge through her. She would not fail. There was naught but a curtain hung in the arched doorway between Philipa’s room and the solar. Philipa frowned as she strode into the room. Hatred blazed from her eyes when she looked at Ivy.

“I shall have satisfaction for every year that I have been forced to endure the shame of you giving my husband children.”

Cameron stepped into the room, grinning.

“Step outside this solar, and you shall face harsh consequences.”

Ivy glared at the mistress, her face displaying her contempt for the first time that Anne could recall.

“Wipe that look off your face…slut.” Philipa shook a finger at Ivy. “I am mistress here. You are nothing but the lightskirt my husband used to ease his lust.”

“I am much more.” Ivy raised her chin, defiance filling her voice.

The mistress of Warwickshire didn’t appear to know how to deal with the silent refusal of both women to lower themselves. Philipa shook with rage, her face turning red.

“You’d better remember.”

The curtain hit the wall when she left. Cameron followed her.

“You owe me for the service of fetching her back, since I don’t get the younger one now.”

Philipa argued as Ivy shook her head. But Anne smiled. She had diverted one plan and she would succeed in making sure her child was born to his rightful place. She sat at the loom, gently working it to make sure it was oiled. She needed to create. Her hands fairly itched to begin working. Selecting a thread, she began to weave it.

“I shall show you what he looks like, Mother.”

Anne worked at the loom, willing her memory of Brodick waiting for her in the spring sun onto the growing tapestry. She did not quit until the last rays of light vanished. At dawn she began again. Her back ached but her son kicked. The only thing that she lamented was not being able to fill the chamber with fresh air. She walked around the room to ease the strain in her lower back, but always returned to her tapestry, determined to finish it.

Determined to see Brodick’s face again, even if it was no more than silk.

The days stretched out and Anne didn’t really notice how many passed. She was intent on her tapestry, working hard to finish it. Her mother wrote a list and gave it to Mary, who grumbled about fetching things like a servant. Ivy remained firm.

Cameron had to haul a birthing chair into the solar himself. He dropped it with a sneer.

“Women’s work.”

The man left as Ivy laughed at him. “Selfish man.” She ran a hand over the sturdy chair. The seat was cut into a large horseshoe shape. Such a chair allowed the mother to bear down while having her body weight supported by the chair. It was quite a modern convenience.

Lady Mary threw a book across the chamber.

“Mother, there must be some concoction that you can get old Ruth to fix that will make that baby come today.”

“Stop whining, Mary. For the final time, you shall wait.” Philipa glared at her child. “We have but one chance to secure you in this marriage without risking your life. That child needs to be healthy and strong. Not forced into the world before his time.”

Mary pouted.

Philipa’s eyes narrowed. She glanced behind her toward the curtain. Seeing that it was smoothly draped, she waved Mary toward her. Her daughter shrugged and closed the space between them.

“Ruth fixed this for me.”

Philipa raised her hand and showed a small glass jar. Inside was a jumble of leaves and strips of bark. Philipa placed it on her vanity table.

“Seeped in wine, it will send the drinker into a sleep they never awaken from.”

Mary gasped, but a look of savage enjoyment crossed her face. She reached out to touch the jar. “Once the baby is born, we’ll mull some wine and give it to both of them.”

“Exactly.” Philipa looked behind her once more. When she was assured that Ivy and Anne did not hear, she patted her daughter’s cheek. “No more fits from you. It will all be done shortly.”

Mother and daughter shared a smile that was pure evil. The jar sitting on the vanity awaited its moment of use.

Scotland

“Good God, man, ye look exhausted.” Druce stood up, offering his chair to Captain Murry.

The McJames’ retainer didn’t take the chair. He offered Brodick a quick pull on the corner of his bonnet before speaking.

“The mistress was taken back to England.”

“What?”

It was impossible to tell which man spoke first. Brodick, Cullen and Druce’s voices all bounced around the small town house together. Brodick held his hand out, authority rippling out of the gesture.

“Why did ye allow that?”

“She snuck out of the castle, made her bed look as though she was in it.”

A deadly look passed over the earl’s face.

“There’s more my lord and it isnae good.”

Brodick listened as Captain Murry explained the details. He shook his head, unable to absorb the deception completely. Who plotted such a thing?

There was a snort of laughter from the other side of the room. James Stewart hit the table top as his amusement grew.

“I didnae think the English had such cunning in them.” He chuckled and raised his tankard towards Brodick. “Well, my friend, I suppose ye’ll be wanting yer leave. ’Tis yers. Go fetch yer wife back.”

“Yet is she yer wife, my lord?” Captain Murry lowered himself before the king before turning to ask the question.

“She sure as hell is, man! She’s carrying me son.” Brodick was on his feet. He reached for his sword and tied it into place with stiff motions.

“Aye. I agree with that.” Druce nodded his head and reached for his own sword.

The king looked pensive for a long moment, too long for Brodick’s taste.

“She’s also the Earl of Warwickshire’s daughter and his wife sent her with me. Told me that was the bride I’d come for.”

James Stewart raised an eyebrow. “Yer too passionate by far, man, but ’tis the truth that I envy ye.”

The king stood, the two men-at-arms with him, keeping close to their master. “I agree that the marriage is valid. But I’ll ask ye this, do ye want a woman that lied to ye?”

Brodick stared at his king, his mind replaying that first meeting.

“She didnae lie to me.”

James raised an eyebrow.

Brodick clenched his fists. “She said nothing at all. That bitch of a countess should be flogged for abusing her position so greatly.”

James snorted. “Aye, I see yer thinking there, man.” He nodded. “Go fetch her back and I’ll see that the wedding agreement is honored.”

There was nothing more to be said. Brodick quit the room with Druce and Cullen on his heels. Their men hurried to saddle the horses. Leather snapped in the autumn morning air. Bridles and reins were secured while a few meager supplies were strapped to the horses. Brodick swung up into the saddle, his heart pounding.

What have ye done, lass?

He didn’t care. He was the McJames and she was his. According to the laws of both her country and his, and by right of possession. If he had to take her back, he would. Leaning over the neck of his mount, he urged the animal forward.

His…