Bradgate, August 1525
To Their Gracious Majesties, King Henry and Queen Marie,
I write this letter in haste, knowing as I do how eagerly Your Graces will be waiting for news of the Lady Jacquetta and her condition. I am delighted to say that, as Lady Salisbury has no doubt already informed Your Majesties, we need have no more fear for the Lady Jacquetta’s life. Her Highness is strong and fair as I’ve ever seen her.
It grieves me however, to have to write that while the Grim Reaper stayed his scythe, he extracted the Lady Jacquetta’s hearing as his toll for letting her go. No matter what examination I did, Her Highness was immune to them all. As of this present moment, the Lady Jacquetta cannot hear a thing.
Of course, nothing is beyond the powers of Almighty God, so it is possible that time and grace will heal the damage that has been wreaked on Her Highness’s ears by her illness. To that end, with Your Majesties’ permission, I will examine the Lady Jacquetta again when the royal children come to Court for Christmas. However, I must admit that I fear that for Her Highness to recover her hearing would be nothing short of a miracle akin to the healing of the deaf man in the Gospel of Mark. As far as my human, professional powers go, it is out of my hands. I send my humblest prayers and apologies for this bitter news and remain, as ever, Your Grace’s most humble servant…
Marie looked up from the letter her husband had handed her. She felt her lips press together and she swallowed hard, trying to sort through her muddle of emotions. She knew they were lucky to have Jackie at all. The mumps could so easily have taken their frail youngest daughter from them. But to know that it was more than likely that their fifteen-month-old daughter would likely never hear again – and therefore would also likely struggle to learn to speak, given that children learn by copying what they heard around them – well, that was a blow as bitter as any gall.
“I suppose Jackie’s hearing was a small price to pay, given we had all but given her up for dead,” she managed at last, though her voice cracked and it was only with an effort that she finished her sentence.
Grim-faced, Henry nodded, squeezing her arm silently.
“We’ll struggle to find a groom for her. No country is going to want a deaf or dumb Queen.”
The words would have sounded callous to anyone who didn’t know Henry as well as Marie did. Indeed, had it been earlier in their marriage, she too might have struggled with his cold assessment of the matter. But, with a full five years of marriage behind her, she was able to look past the blunt words to the tension in his shoulders, to the grey cast to his features and see just how much Dr Linacre’s letter had affected him too. Jacquetta was his child too. No doubt he’d sworn the same silent oaths to protect her as she had. But even the greatest King on earth couldn’t protect those he loved from the dread of disease.
“Then it’s probably just as well I swore an oath to give her to the Bridgettines at Syon.”
Marie heard her voice ring hollow and knew that, like her husband, she was focusing on the practical, because she couldn’t bear to think of the full implications of Dr Linacre’s letter.
Henry’s head snapped up, “You did
what?”
“I bargained with the Lord. I said I’d send Jackie to Syon like your aunt Bridget if He let her live. I didn’t actually think He’d listen, but…” Marie trailed off as Henry’s face clouded. She braced herself for an explosion of fury – how dare she decide Jackie’s future without speaking to him, etc, but it never came.
When she dared to look up at her husband again, he was staring at her, shock written all over his face.
“Henry…” she began, but he shook his head and opened his arms to her.
“Not today, sweetheart. Not today.”
For a moment, Marie feared he was only stifling his anger, but he wrapped his arms around her and bent his head to kiss the crown of hers, she felt herself relax. Henry had never been able to hide his emotions. He wouldn’t embrace her like this if he was truly angry about the fact that she’d sworn to give Jacquetta to the Church without consulting him. At least, she didn’t think he would. Swallowing hard, she let him pull her up against him and the two of them stood together, stealing what solitude and comfort they could as they fought to come to terms with their youngest daughter’s suddenly very different future.