Betrayal (4 page)

             
Sarah started to protest, but Elisabeth silenced her with a look. The child picked up her slate and settled at Elisabeth’s feet.

             
Elisabeth lifted her pen, beginning a new sheet of parchment.  The scratch of pen on the parchment competed with the tick of the mantle clock, all else was quiet in the room.

             
“Brother Michael, do you know who we saw in the garden?” Sarah asked excitedly.  “I bet you cannot guess.”

             
“Hush, Sarah,” the old monk scolded.  “Now is the time for work, not gossip.”

             
“It is not gossip.  I saw him myself,” Sarah protested.  “And I am to go with him on prosmis,” she finished proudly.

             
Elisabeth giggled at the child’s error.

             
Brother Michael reluctantly laid his pen down.  “Prosmis? And what is that? You must tell me your news, little one, for I fear no work will be done until you do.” He sat back in his chair looking to Elisabeth for an explanation, but the excited child began again.

             
“I didn’t know it was him, when I bumped into him.”

             
“He, Sarah, I didn’t know it was he,” corrected Elisabeth.

             
“You didn’t know him either, Elisabeth?  Imagine, the King, as large as life, standing there, bold as you please, talking to the Cardinal, and me running to get away from Elisabeth, and well, you know,” Sarah finished suddenly shy.

             
“The King? Elisabeth, what is she saying?”

             
“In the madness of her game Sarah came out of the boxwood hedge maze at full charge and nearly bowled him over. Were it not for the King’s good humor, we’d be scrubbing the Chapel floor and may yet be if my lord Cardinal has his way.”

             
“What be this prosmis the child speaks of?”

             
“A prosmis, we’re going on a prosmis,” Sarah sang tunelessly.

             
“His Grace is taken with the child and begs her to accompany him and his lady to Greenwich,” Elisabeth flushed red in her excitement. “And he begs me accompany her.

We are to be part of the royal progress to Hever and Greenwich when it leaves in a fortnight’s time.”

              “To Greenwich!  Nay, Elisabeth, I cannot have you gone so long. Nor will my lord Cardinal be pleased to lose your services.  No, I think not! Now, be quiet, child, so that we may return to our work. You and I, Elisabeth, will speak of this later.” Brother Michael turned back to his worktable, mumbling, and began to shuffle pages of parchment.

***

             
George Cavendish swept into the library, scattering sheets of parchment into flight.  The old monk wrinkled his brow, frowned, and set about straightening the windblown parchment.

             
“What is it now?” Brother Michael growled.

             
“Your pardon, Brother Michael,” Cavendish began as he crossed to the older man’s desk, “but I am sent by my lord Cardinal. I am to tell Elisabeth that the King wishes to present Sarah to his Lady in the hall this evening.”

             
“Well, you have told her, now leave us to our work.”

             
“Yes, Brother, but I am instructed to bring Elisabeth without delay to the Cardinal, now.”

             
“Now?” the old man yelled. “Can you not see we have work to do?”

             
“I see your work, Brother Michael, but I have my orders.  His Excellency would see Elisabeth immediately, if not sooner.”

             
“But, I have need of her,” Brother Michael complained.

             
George Cavendish drew himself up and tensed.

             
Elisabeth fearing that words would be said that could not be taken back stepped away from her desk.  “I will come now, Master Cavendish.”

             
“And the child, does my lord Cardinal require the girl as well?” Brother Michael asked angrily.             

“She is to remain with you,” Cavendish replied, leading Elisabeth to the door.

              “Of course,” the old monk grumbled.

             
“I will return as quickly as I can,” Elisabeth whispered as she passed Brother Michael’s desk.  Then, turning to the child playing beneath the worktable, she said, “Be good, Sarah.  Brother Michael will check your letters.”  Elisabeth smiled as grimaces twisted the faces of both Sarah and Brother Michael.

                                                                                    ***

              Cavendish led Elisabeth to the small room that Wolsey called his office.  Cavendish knocked softly on the heavily carved door, when no answer came, Cavendish, knocked loudly on the door.

             
“Come in, come in,” came the disembodied voice from within.

             
“The scribe, Elisabeth, my lord,” Cavendish swept a deep bow.

Elisabeth sunk into a nervous curtsey. “You wanted to see me, my lord?” her voice trembling as she spoke. She was sure he meant to punish her for Sarah’s misbehavior in the garden.  She held her curtsey, her eyes on the plank floor at her feet and waited.

              “A pretty scene you displayed earlier,” Cardinal Wolsey said as he pushed back from his writing desk. “Did you plan to embarrass me or did it happen by chance?”

             
“Purely by chance, my lord,” Elisabeth began still holding her bow.  “But my lord, it was never my intention…”

             
“Enough, Elisabeth,” Wolsey said.

             
“Yes, my lord.”

             
“It has come to my attention that my friend, the King, does not intend to return you and Sarah to my service, but instead to place you in the Lady Anne’s household.”

             
Elisabeth began to protest, but he interrupted her.

“I know you have not sought this honor; still I do not find it to my liking.  The Lady you go to serve likes me not.” Wolsey turned from Elisabeth to gaze out the small window overlooking York Place’s grand courtyard.  After a moments silence he spoke as if he were speaking to himself, “God’s Bones, I wish I knew then what I know now.
” He wiped his mouth with the heel of his hand.  He cleared his throat as he turned to face her.  “Tonight, you will bring the child to the hall at precisely seven o’clock; you will be presented to His Majesty, after the meal you will both return to your room.  Do you understand, Elisabeth, she is to be brought in on the strike of seven o’clock precisely!”

“Yes, my lord, I understand your order.”

“Good girl.  I would beg you to remember he who gave you a place in this grand house, and if the chance should arise, I beg you to plead for me with the Lady Anne and to remind her that once I was her friend.”

“As you wish, my lord,” Elisabeth replied softly, executing a deep curtsey, which she held until he said, “Go now.”

   FIVE

As Lydia brought the stack of the day’s lab reports to Dan’s desk, she hesitated by his chair.  A hurried notation on his desk calendar caught her eye, ‘Stokes, Thursday 3pm’.  She made a mental note to ask him about it later.  The constant ringing of the telephone and the seemingly endless parade of patients through the office wiped it from her memory.

             
The following morning Lydia awoke early, as the dawn turned the ceiling to gold. She thought of getting up, until Dan rolled over and wrapped her in his arms. Soon they both fell back to sleep.

             
The sharp ringing of the alarm clock woke them.

             
“It’s seven-thirty, time to get up,” she said, throwing aside the feather duvet. “Half- day in the office and the weather man is a calling for a sunny afternoon.  How about a picnic at the beach?  I just have time to make a pasta salad before I have to leave to open the office.  There are steaks in the freezer, so what do you say?”  She shook her head, setting her long blonde hair to dance prettily around her shoulders.  Dan reached for her.  Taking her hand, he pulled her back into bed.  He frowned when she asked again about the picnic.

             
“We can’t,” he said.

“Why not, you’re not on call and it’s such a beautiful day.  It would be an absolute shame to waste it.”  Lydia puckered her lips into a pout that Dan usually found hard to resist.

“Nope.  Can’t,” he said, mimicking her pout. “We’ve got an appointment.”

For a few minutes the room was silent.  She searched his face for information. Finding none, she became indignant.  She pulled free of his embrace, tucked her long legs up under her and leaned back against the pillow.  “Well, I’m waiting.  Who is more important than spending quality time with the love of your life?”

Dan worked his mouth, but no words came out.  His face paled as his mouth spat out two words, “Alan Stokes.”

“No!” Lydia said, as she stood reaching for her robe.  He leapt to stop her, but she pushed past him into the hallway.

“Lydia!” he called.  “Lydia, will you not listen to reason? Why can’t you see that this is the only way to go with this situation?  I can’t stand much more of this!”

“You can’t mean that you will leave me?”  Lydia was devastated. She crumbled against the wall.  Tears welled in her eyes, her bottom lip quivering.  “You can’t mean that.  Isn’t it enough that I have these terrible dreams in the first place without you’re threatening to leave? ”

Dan moved to embrace her, but she twisted out of reach.  Lydia studied the man before her.  “Well,” he began.  He looked down at his feet kicking at invisible dust balls.

             
‘He can’t look me in the eye,’ Lydia thought.  She yearned to put her arms around him, but she resisted the urge. 

             
“To be honest,” he said at last, “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

             
“You don’t know! You don’t know how much more you can take? You, who fall asleep effortlessly every night, you, who don’t wake up when I lay there screaming beside you.  You don’t know how much more
you
can take! Well, let me tell you. Lots!  Let me pass, please.”

             
“No,” he said, “I have backed down before on this and I will not back down again.  I want you to meet with Stokes and I want you to talk with him about your nightmares and I want you to let him help you.  That is what I want.  He has listened to the tape and he says he can help you.  The least you can do is go and talk to him.  If you refuse I guess I will sleep in the office tonight.”

             
“Are you threatening me?” Lydia stopped. “Tape, what tape? What are you talking about?”

             
Dan paled.  He wanted to stop but his anger drove him on. “Yes, if that’s what it takes to make you get some help, I admit it. I taped the conversation we had in your office.”

             
“What conversation?”  Lydia asked, but then suddenly she knew.  “Are you referring to the day we talked about my dream?  You taped that!  I can’t believe you would sneak behind my back and record me when I felt so desperate and afraid, and then you have the audacity to allow a stranger to listen to it!”

             
They glared at each other.

             
“You left me no choice.  I had to have something to take to Stokes. You need help and you wouldn’t get it on your own.  It’s simple, Lydia, really.  You go and see Stokes or I sleep at the Clinic tonight.”

             
“You would really leave me?”  Lydia asked leaning heavily against the wall.

             
“I would seriously consider it,” Dan said, throwing his hands up in frustration.  “Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t want to leave you.  I love you more than I thought any man could love a woman.  But I am angry and frustrated that I am helpless to stop these night terrors of yours.  I can’t stand back any longer and watch you suffer like this. Please, Lydia, for the sake of our future together, for my sake, if not your own, please see Stokes and see if he can help you.”

             
Lydia nodded her surrender.  “All right, I’ll go. What time is ‘my’ appointment?”

             
“Three o’clock, in his office at the University.  I could take you if you like.  I have some journal articles I should read.  I can wait in the car.” Dan soothed. Once again he reached out to embrace Lydia and once again she twisted out of reach.

             
“Well, I guess.” Lydia snapped.

“Well, I guess,” Dan repeated as he turned back to the bedroom to dress.  In silence, they ate their breakfast.  The morning passed slowly.  When at last, the last patient had gone, Marjorie left, locking the door behind her, leaving Lydia and Dan alone.  Finishing up his paperwork, Dan came into Lydia’s office. “Shall we go?” he asked.