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When Anne was a child, family made her safe and happy. To her, family meant her Lord Father (Lord Warwick), her Lady Mother (the Countess), and her sister Bella (Lady Isabel). Never could she ever dreamed how it all changed since she was fourteen after her lord father fell out with Yorkist King Edward.
But it was all over now.
Her lord father was gone, dead.
Her sister Bella was now married to George, Duke of Clarence. The two sisters had mended their fences and reconciled. But like all daughters of nobilities, they married and settled in separate households. They may visit, but pregnancies and ailing health were their excuses not to.
Her Lady Mother was in sanctuary.
Anne was still living at Middleham Castle, but with her new family—her husband and her son; soon, her mother would join them.
In her heart, however, Anne was not too happy or excited.
She had yet forgiven her mother for deserting her in the battlefield.
***
When the Countess arrived under Richard’s escort, Anne was nursing her little son Ned. He was born premature; she hadn’t begun her confinement when her water broke. Richard wasn’t by her side because he was on the road. The midwives commented how small the baby was. Anne, on the other hand, was thankful that he was healthy and complete. Unlike other high-ranked ladies, Anne stubbornly decided to nurse and care the little boy herself. She would’ve named him Richard, after his father and two grandfathers. However, Richard decreed he’d be called Edward, after his uncle the King of England.
Anne shuddered at that name.
Edward was also the name of her first husband; someone she’d rather forget.
She never called her son Edward; she called him “Ned”.
“So you have a son,” a voice said. Anne looked up and found her mother standing before her. Blushing, she adjusted her dress and laces and handed her son to his nanny. “Nursing him yourself, isn’t it against the protocol?”
Her mother sounded stern, not caring.
Anne found herself lost in words.
Then Richard walked in behind the Countess.
“I’m sure you’re happy to be home again, Lady Countess,” he said courteously, but fully in control.
“Home?” the Countess snarled. “You mean prison?”
“Lady Mother, please—“
“Anne, ask him. Ask your husband what he had done!” The Countess spat and left abruptly, leaving Anne alone with Richard.
Anne looked at Richard, confused. She understood that her mother suffered losses, but not in hands of Richard. When Ned started to cry, she took Ned back from his nanny and resumed her nursing. The nanny bowed and left.
“You are still nursing him?” Richard asked, amused when Ned tried to grab Anne’s braids.
Anne nodded. “He’s small. My milk will help him grow.” Then she changed the subject. “Why is my mother upset?”
“Because she is declared legally dead,” Richard replied bluntly.
Anne nearly dropped her child. Rocking Ned in her arms, she looked at Richard as he were a stranger.
“Dead? But she is here, alive!”
“Indeed,” Richard said. “This is only to settle the property dispute between us and George.”
He stopped there.
“Is there anything else you’re not telling me?” Anne’s voice started to shake.
“I had the Parliament passed a clause,” he muttered. “The Beauchamp estate shall remain mine even if we were to divorce.”
Anne froze.
“Why…why are you telling me this?”
“Because I thought it’d be better to hear it from me than from your mother.”
***
For rest of the day, Anne refused to speak to anyone. She looked at herself in the mirror and wondered what had she done that God must punish her thus. She married Richard for her inheritance and safety. Compared to George and Lancaster, Richard was much more pleasant. Yet, at the same time, he was an inward person; a man with secrets.
What else had he not tell her?
He defined his decisions as their decisions and that everything he did was for them. But she did not recall that he ever involved her in any of his decision-making.
The Countess had settled in the other side of the castle. Her mood was far from good and Anne did not feel like seeing her at all.
As for Richard, she did not know what to say to him.
When she was married to Lancaster, the part she hated the most was when Margaret of Anjou and Edouard often talked and plotted together, excluding her in almost everything. She understood that they did not trust her since she was a Neville. Yet, her relationship with Richard should’ve been different.
To her disappointment, Richard kept things from her as well.
It made her felt alone.
***
That evening, Anne went to the nursery to check on Ned. At a happier time, her mother would’ve told her that she was smothering her child.
To her surprise, she heard Richard’s voice from the nursery and Ned’s cooing.
She stopped and listened and watched from afar.
“Mama is upset,” Richard said as he picked up Ned from the crib. “She does not understand, does she?”
Ned’s blue eyes widened and reached out his little hand to grab Richard’s black curls. Richard laughed out loud, which was rare.
“Sometimes Ned, there are things better not said,” he continued as if his son were a fellow scholar. “When I married your mother, I promised myself to protect her from exile, threats, and war. I promised to give her back her home, and her happiness. I bargained with your uncle George and your uncle the King. Here we are, in Middleham, where you mother spent the happiest time of her life. Then, we had you. You came early, and I was on the road. You couldn’t wait for me, could you? Your mother faced the pain all alone. Thankfully, you came to us safely. You are small, but you will grow.
“We are not living in a perfect world, Ned. There are prices to pay and things have to be done. What matters is the ultimate victory. We have a vast fortune; we have your grandmother living with us; we are far away from the court. Your Papa had a hard early life, but it will not happen to you. I promise you, my son, that I will not allow you or your mother to suffer another day of war, fear, and exile.”
He gently kissed little Ned on the forehead.
“Pa!” Ned squealed in happiness.
Richard laughed heartily. “Can you say it again?”
Ned went on making other sounds with Richard trying to get him to say “Pa” again.
At that moment, Anne decided to leave them alone.
***
The ladies were undressing Anne when Richard came to her bedchamber. Since their wedding night, Richard never shunned her bed except for the days when he was away. The ladies curtsied and left, suppressing their giggles. They knew their Lady Duchess was upset with their Lord. However, somehow, they always ended up reconciling the next morning.
He approached her and finished unlacing her dress. Anne stepped out of her dress and settled in bed. She watched as Richard undressed himself.
“I have something to show you,” he said.
“What is it?” Anne asked as she propped the pillow for him.
Richard handed her a document. Anne read it and her eyes widened.
It was papal dispensation; and it was dated prior to their wedding date.
So their marriage was legal and valid in the eyes of laws and church.
Anne said nothing more and handed the document back to Richard.
“Thank you,” she muttered. All her confusions and anger towards Richard were gone. Richard would never leave her or betray her, never. Not after everything he said and promised to their son.
After he joined her in bed, he took her hand and pressed it against his lips.
“I’m sorry,” Anne said softly.
“For what?”
“For doubting you,” Anne replied. “You gave me everything a woman could’ve asked for.”
Richard was silent for a while and then said, “You have to trust me, Anne. Everything I do is to protect you and Ned.”
His hand still held hers.
Anne nodded. “I know that.”
“Do you?” He raised an eyebrow.
Anne rose and pulled her nightshift over her head. “I trust you…that you can give me another child.”
Richard laughed as she fell into his arms.
After a long, slow passionate moment, Anne hoped that she can give Ned a sibling. In a few years, Ned would be older and bigger and left to the care of his tutors. Richard would need another small child to confess his true feelings to. Maybe he knew she was there listening.
Before others, he was the Duke of Gloucester, Lord of North, Constable of England.
Only in the presence of herself and their child he was Richard, a husband and a father.
Power and wealth may bring safety. But family—her and Ned—brought him true happiness.