Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh

by Ann Jacobs

  Only then did Anne realize that she had left out the promise to be obedient. Rob smiled at her and only by the largest amount of self-restraint held in the laugh that was obviously bubbling up from within him.

  Joshua Fielding looked startled for a moment. Then he drew a breath and continued. “Insomuch as Robert and Anne have this day and before this company joined hands and have taken one another in wedlock, I pronounce that they be man and wife together. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, bless these two of your children newly joined in marriage. Bless them with all the comforts and fruits of marriage that their home may be a haven of peace and blessing for all, through Christ our Lord, Amen.”

  Everyone echoed the “Amen”. Anne and Rob left the chapel and went to the Hall.

  The musicians followed close by and began to play William Byrd’s quite lively Jhon Come Kiss Me Now.

  By the time that almost five-minute piece was done, the crowd from the chapel had all made it into the Hall.

  “Friends!” Rob called to the noisy crowd.

  Everyone quieted down.

  Rob laughed. “Thank you for sharing this day with Lady Robert and myself. When the food is served, I beg you to eat heartily and join us in dance to celebrate this marriage.”

  John spoke up as the great bowl of wassail was brought into the hall, “Indeed, join me in drinking to the health and happiness of my mother and her new husband.”

  Everyone took the opportunity to get a cup of the hot wassail.

  John continued, “To Sir Robert and my mother, Lady Robert, may their joys be great and their troubles small.”

  All raised their cups to the newlyweds.

  Then once the Hall was quiet once more, John spoke, “As Mother is no longer Lady Solway, pray allow me to introduce the new Lady Solway. My dearest, come, stand beside me.”

  Everyone looked around the room. Anne had the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Katherine Norris came forward to stand beside John. Fourteen year old Kitty Norris took John’s hand in hers. Anne looked at Cordelia Norris. The other mother was clearly shocked beyond words. Cordelia did not recover her composure easily.

  John smiled at the young woman. “Lady Solway and I were married in Scotland three weeks ago.”

  Anne sighed. She knew her son well enough to know that he was telling the truth. She also knew that there was nothing to be done about this. Anne was certain that in three weeks they had consummated the marriage. There might even be a babe on the way. Both of them were too young under English law to wed here without parental consent, but English law recognized marriages in other countries. So, her son and Katherine were wedded and bedded, man and wife in the eyes of God and of the State. There was nothing to be done about it, but to put a good face on it. Anne hated this, but John had made his choice. She only hoped that he didn’t live to regret it.

  “My lady Solway, welcome to the family, my dearest daughter,” Anne said in the stunned silence of the room, forcing a smile.

  Katherine Norris Hepburn blushed prettily. “Thank you, Mother Garrick. I will make Solway happy. I promise you.”

  Anne only hoped, prayed, the child was right in that assessment. What did a fourteen year old child know of running an estate like Hepburn? Keeping things running smoothly here was a requirement to making John happy.

  “Raise your cups with me to the Earl and Countess Solway, may their happiness together know no bounds, and may their grown grandchildren someday stand in this hall and bless them in their hearing,” Anne said, blinking back tears, hoping that everyone thought they were tears of joy, instead of pain.

  After an especially elaborate supper of traditional Christmas foods ending with a flaming steamed pudding with hard sauce, the sets for dancing formed up. Anne met up with her son during the figures of a round dance. “Quite a surprise, Son.”

  “Aye, Mother,” John answered with a smile as they separated. “Happy Christmas.”

  Anne met up with Joshua Fielding.

  He smiled at her. “Matrimony is contagious.”

  “It would seem so, Doctor,” she agreed as they separated.

  Anne’s next partner was Sir Nathaniel. “Thank you, my lady, for introducing me to my future bride.”

  “We seem to have an outbreak of marriage,” Anne replied with a smile.

  “Indeed,” Sir Nathaniel answered as they parted in the dance.

  Henry Clay was Anne’s next partner. “Thank you so much for introducing me to Mistress Elizabeth. She has accepted my proposal of marriage.”

  Anne laughed. “I am pleased for you.”

  Rob was Anne’s next partner.

  “Wife, you are a matchmaker,” he teased her.

  “It would seem that way.”

  “Both my cousins and my best friend are to wed Norris ladies.”

  Anne shook her head as she and Rob were separated and the dance continued. All Anne wanted was to excuse herself and to have a few moments away from prying eyes to compose herself. But that was a luxury she knew she couldn’t have. Her disappearing from her own party would be remarked upon, cause speculation, and undermine Katherine’s authority in the house. That, she couldn’t afford to do. With John married, the duties of mistress of this house were no longer hers. She only hoped that young Katherine was up to managing a house and the servants.

  When next she met with Rob, she told him, lowly, “They are so young.”

  “We all were young once,” Rob answered. “We grew out of it. So shall they.”

  Anne sighed. She had wanted so much for her son. And now, he would never go to University. He wouldn’t broaden his view of the world much beyond Hepburn. That hurt. But, he had made his choice in life. He had rushed full headlong into manhood when that journey should have been a leisurely stroll. She watched as her son and his bride met in the figures of the dance. They looked so happy together!

  A footman, Ned, came to her during one of the dances she chose to sit out. All of the tenants had already departed. The only people in the house were the Mistresses Norris, Rob’s people, and the servants.

  “My lady, you are needed. Come with me, pray,” Ned said.

  She followed the footman to her private parlour where a cloaked and hooded figure lingered by the window.

  “How may I be of service?” Anne asked.

  The person near the window threw back the hood to his cloak and turned to face Anne.

  It was the messenger who had always come to her with royal commands.

  “Good evening, my lady,” he said as he handed her a letter. “Charles sends word and a gift for you.” He motioned to the table-top where a smallish, plain, hinged wooden box sat.

  Anne took the sealed letter, and broke the wax. She read the words.

  My lady, the king’s hand wrote, I have sent a small gift of my regard for you. Please accept this with my best wishes for your and Garrick’s marital happiness. Be good to my servant Garrick. He serves me faithfully. I need both of you in London for this upcoming session of Cromwell’s Parliament. Garrick needs all the allies he can have. I reward my faithful servants. Charles.

  With the sound of the door opening, Anne quickly crossed to the fire and prepared to feed the paper to the flames. The door closed. Anne looked up. Rob stood there, alone.

  “Nan?” Rob asked in concern as he came to stand beside her. “Why have you left our guests?”

  “A wedding gift and letter of best wishes,” she replied.

  “From whom?” Rob asked.

  Anne drew a deep breath and handed him the letter, although her sense of self-preservation told her to burn it and never show it to him. Soon she would know the measure of the man she had married. Charles’ declaration that Rob was in his service gave Anne some sense of safety in showing him this. Yet this note had forced her to reassess and realign her thinking.

  Rob read it and smiled. “Well, this is unexpected.”

  “You said that we were of the same mind,” Anne answered in a small voice.

  “Aye, my dear
, I did,” Rob told her. “I do not believe we need to retain this.”

  “No. I don’t believe so,” she answered lowly.

  “Are you going to open the box?” Rob asked her.

  Anne walked over to the box and opened it. Inside was a vial of perfume, nestled in a bed of amber-colored pieces of frankincense resin. Another note lay beneath the perfume and atop the bed of the chunks of resin.

  I recall, my lady, Charles hand had written, this is your favorite scent. It certainly suits you. I can think of nothing so appropriate of a Christmas gift/wedding gift than this. Except, of course, my pledge of an Earldom for Sir Robert at the happy conclusion of our business. Such a charming and faithful lady should be nothing less than a Countess.

  Rob read the note over her shoulder.

  She shook her head. “Our guests, husband, await us.”

  “So, wife, they do.”

  Anne turned to the messenger. “Tell your master that his gift was received with great gratitude. Will you stay for the dancing?”

  “No, milady. I must be off. I have much more to do before I return to my master,” the man said.

  “Godspeed you then, good sir. God give you a happy Christmas,” Anne said as she sent him on his way.

  “Thank you, milady. Blessings on this house and all who live within.” And then he left.

  “Charles has an eye for the ladies,” Rob said, a shade of jealousy creeping into his voice.

  Anne took the other note from Rob and fed both of them to the fire. “There is no need to use that tone with me, my husband.”

  “One day people will speak of Charles as the father of his countrymen, or at least of a good many of them,” Rob observed.

  Anne laughed. “He does collect mistresses and bastards, does he not? Perhaps one day, he will marry and secure the succession. He certainly has proven his ability to father children.”

  “Then you can understand how uneasy it makes me to have him call you ‘charming and faithful’. “

  “Better to be thought charming and faithful, than shrewish and whorish.”

  “Aye, wife,” Rob answered. “Much better.” Then his eyes narrowed as he looked at her. “Were you ever numbered about Charles’ bedmates?”

  Anger flashed in Anne’s eyes. “You impugn my honor in the asking.”

  “Perhaps. I would have an answer.”

  “That doesn’t deserve an answer. I won’t dignify that with an answer. Now, we had best return to our guests now, or people will be talking about us,” she told him, her voice as cold and frosty as the weather outside.

  Rob pulled her into his arms. “I don’t care in the least if people think I lure my lovely wife off in order to be private with her.”

  “How in the world can you insult me so grievously, then want to hold me?” she asked him.

  “Nan, my love, I’m sorry,” he told her, his voice gentle and genuinely contrite. “I have never been a jealous type until now. Yet, I find the idea of sharing you grievous in the extreme. Forgive me, my love.”

  Anne kissed her husband’s cheek, “I should be immensely angry at you. But I find myself incapable of retaining the anger when you hold me close and speak so gently.”

  “I shall remember that,” Rob told her with a wicked grin on his face.

  “Yes, you probably will,” she acknowledged quietly.

  Just then the current Earl Solway poked his head into the room. He laughed.

  Anne looked over at the door. “Come in, John, and close the door behind you.”

  Her son’s face fell. But, he complied.

  As he entered, Anne removed herself from her husband’s arms and turned to face her son.

  “What is it you desire, Mother?” he asked carefully.

  “Sir Robert and I will vacate the master suite and leave it for you and your bride. I’ve already spoken to the servants and they are moving our things into other rooms and are moving your and Katherine’s possessions into the master suite. Rob and I will take the dowager’s rooms.”

  “Thank you, Mother,” John said carefully, obviously waiting for the retribution he feared.

  “Sir Robert and I will spend another week here before we remove to London,” she told him.

  “You are leaving?”

  “We can hardly stay here, under the circumstances.”

  “Mother!” John said with something akin to panic in his voice. “It was not my intention to force you away from your home.”

  “Force has naught to do with it. Rob needs to be in London when Parliament resumes on the twentieth of January. Had Hepburn been without a mistress, I would have allowed him to go on his own and would have remained here. But, since you have married, I am not needed here. In the fortnight’s time remaining, I will endeavor to leave Katherine detailed instructions concerning the management of the house and the staff. I will do what I can to make the transition smooth from one mistress to another,” Anne replied.

  “Thank you, my lady, I am certain that Kitty will appreciate that kindness. I know the staff looks to you for guidance,” John replied quietly.

  “For the sake of public appearances, I shall be pleased with this marriage. In reality, I am gravely disappointed in your choices.”

  John stiffened.

  Anne continued, “Katherine is a lovely, well-mannered girl, of a good family. Do not take my meaning wrong. I should have been utterly overjoyed to have you wed her if you had waited another few years until you were both more mature. I fear that she is too young to bear the full weight of being a married woman. Is she with child?”

  “Her monthly flux is late. We believe she may well be,” John replied, clearly embarrassed.

  Anne sighed heavily. “Very well. We shall wait and see.”

  “Happy Christmas, Mother.”

  “And a happy Christmas to you, my son,” Anne told him with affection in her voice. “You have made your choice of how you wish to live. This is now up to you to live it out successfully. I wish, I pray, for only the best things for you.”

  “Thank you, m’am.”

  “We should go rejoin our party now.”

  “Aye,” her son agreed. “We have left them alone for too long. Kitty’s mother was obviously not pleased with this marriage.”

  “Do you blame her? Kitty, Katherine, is only fourteen.”

  “Girls can marry at twelve in Scotland.”

  “I am aware of this. The age of consent is considerably higher in England however.”

  “Which is why we married in Scotland,” John replied.

  Anne shook her head and sighed. “I pray that you do not regret this marriage.”

  * * * * *

  When Anne, Rob, and John returned to the hall, Cordelia was clearly quietly browbeating the young Countess.

  Anne put her hand on her son’s arm to stay him. Then she went over to her daughter-in-law and Cordelia. “Come ladies, let us reason together,” Anne said.

  “My dear,” Joshua Fielding stated, trying to intervene, “Katherine has married. I understand that this upsets you. Yet there is nothing you can do about it.”

  “We can have it annulled. They are under age,” Cordelia replied.

  “Would you have your grandchild born outside of wedlock?” Anne asked gently.

  Cordelia recoiled. “Grandchild?”

  “The children have been married for almost a month, Cordelia,” Anne said in a reasonable tone. “Is it so difficult to believe that she may be with child?”

  “You are happy about this, are you not?” Cordelia asked, suspiciously.

  “Nay. I believe both of them to be too young. This was not what I had planned for my son. The decision has been taken from us, however,” Anne replied. “Now, all we can do is to pray God for their happiness. I will do whatever I can to support them in their marriage. Can you not move beyond your own disappointment, Mistress Norris, and make the best of this situation?”

  Cordelia sighed. She touched her daughter’s face. “I do wish you well, Kitty dear.�
��

  Katherine smiled. “I know, Mother. Forgive me for causing you such distress, I beg you?”

  Cordelia nodded. “I understand that you failed to consider anyone else. Being young and in love tends to cloud a woman’s judgment,” she allowed. “One day, when you have a young daughter, you will understand how difficult this is for me.”

  Katherine took her husband’s hand. “All the Earl and I want is to make our life together here at Hepburn, to raise and love a large family here.”

  “It’s not as easy as it would seem,” Anne told her, “to run a great house with many servants. The lady of the house has to be skilled in every task in the house from cooking to cleaning, to preparing wool for carding, to being a healer for her tenants, to managing servants. I will teach you some of this. Some you will have to learn for yourself. But, you have to know it all. The health and happiness of your family, the staff, the tenants, and the neighborhood depend on the skill of the lady of the house.”

  Katherine blanched. Anne was certain the child hadn’t thought in concrete terms before about her role as chatelaine of this great house.

  “But come,” Anne added kindly, “tonight is a time for celebrations. Work comes soon enough, my dear daughter. “

  About ten o’clock the servants brought out hot drinks and dishes heaped up with sweets and savories.

  Everyone remaining ate and drank, then went off to bed.

  * * * * *

  Rob stood before the fireplace in the Dowager’s sitting room. The fire was burning brightly. Two brocade upholstered arm-chairs sat behind them.

  “This is the only set of rooms on this floor with fireplaces,” Anne explained. “These were my mother-in-law’s rooms. Toward the end of her life, the cold bothered her dramatically, and she was unable to walk very far, so Anthony had the fireplaces added to this room as well as to the bedroom in this suite. These rooms were the extent of her world.”

  Rob looked at his wife. “I know that Solway’s marriage is of concern to you.”

  Anne nodded tightly. “There is naught we can do about it. He has run headlong into adulthood. Now he has to live with it.”

  “The first good day, my friends and their intendeds are planning to cross into Scotland and wed,” Rob said.