A Woman of Passion by Virginia Henley

Author:Virginia Henley [Henley, Virginia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-307-56855-7
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 1999-01-16T05:00:00+00:00

Bess finally wrote home to tell her family that she and William were expecting a child, and her favorite sister, Jane, came to be with her. The moment Jane arrived, Bess moved her household to Northaw, and William took Jane aside the following day.

“Bess will never admit it, but the baby was conceived before we were married. She could go into labor at any time now. Mistress Bagshaw's sister is a midwife and she's already here.” He ran his fingers through his hair distractedly. “Jane, I'm worried to death about her.”

Jane was only momentarily shocked. Bess did everything her own way. “I'll get her to bed. Don't worry, William, when Bess does something, she invariably does it well.”

Jane's prophesy turned out to be true. The following afternoon Bess delivered a baby girl. Her daughter had not red hair, but the same shade of dark auburn as her father. The very next morning the proud mother was sitting up in bed, feeding her daughter, and looking radiantly beautiful. She told William her plans for the christening. “I want Frances and Henry Grey to be her godparents, but we won't ask them until June.”

“But, darling, that is two months away. Babies are baptized within days, not months.”

“There is no law about the time of baptism of which I'm aware!”

Again William took Jane aside. “Can you talk to her and persuade her she is being silly about this?”

Jane looked at him in surprise. “William, Bess isn't like other people, you must know that by now. When she makes up her mind about something, nothing and no one can persuade her otherwise.”

As Bess decreed, little Frances Cavendish was christened in June with Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, standing as godfather. Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk, and her close friend Nan Dudley, Countess of Warwick, were the two exalted godmothers. This was a far-reaching choice since the Dudleys were politically powerful. A huge christening party followed at Northaw, where no one seemed to know or care that baby Frances was over two months old.

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