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It was dinner time, and the servants worked carefully to set up the meal table. They gave one another a look before the Duke and the Duchess of Gloucester made their entrance, separately.
Or most likely separately.
Neither was in a good mood.
More than a week ago, the couple had a fight. They argued fiercely and their voices were getting louder and louder to the point that the servants could hear them in the hall. The argument ended with door slamming. The Duke gravely informed the household that the Duchess was not allowed to leave her chamber without his permission.
The Duchess had not said a word to anyone after their argument.
***
Richard arrived first. He sat and ate. Moments later Anne joined him. She wore a dark green dress, the one he particularly hated. Her hair was braided tightly behind her back. Richard was certainly not pleased with her looks this evening; it reminded him of Lady Margaret Beaufort.
Anne sat across from him but refused to eat.
“Eat,” he ordered.
“No,” Anne snorted. “I’m just going to stare at the food.”
“Eat it!”
“No,” Anne rose from her seat. “This is my castle and I do as I please!”
She swiftly turned and left.
Richard rose and went after her. He took her by the arm and dragged her to his chamber. Anne tried to struggle, but no avail. Granted, Richard was a well-trained warrior who had more than a handful experience in the battlefield.
Still, she refused to give in. She turned away from him and not speaking.
“Why are you acting like this?” Richard asked. “This isn’t like you.”
“Funny, I am thinking of the same thing,” Anne retorted, still refused to look at him. “I had endured enough battles and conflicts and I want to put it all behind me. Now, you are initiating war with me.”
She folded her arm and refused to say anything more.
Two weeks ago…
Richard was in his study signing documents and reading letters. As Lord of North and Duke of Gloucester, his duties were mountainous high to say at the least. After he finished his duties for the day, he left his study to see Anne. Since the stillbirth of their daughter, their first child, Anne’s moods were not well. On his way, he saw a servant carrying a package and a letter; that servant just walked out of Anne’s antechamber. Curious, he asked the servant to hand him the letter and package, to which the servant obeyed without hesitation.
Richard opened a package and found it to be a pair of gloves with a heraldic badge of swan sewn on them. He knew that all of his gloves had his heraldic badge on them; his was a white boar. The only individual who had a swan as personal device was Edward of Lancaster.
Lancaster…that name made his blood boil.
He tore open the sealed letter. It was written by Anne to Margaret of Anjou. In the letter, she gave the former mother-in-law her condolences and wished her to find peace in her heart. The last lines of the letter caught his attention: It was to my comfort that your son was happy in the last months of his life.
Happy? What did she mean exactly?
Immediately, he took the gloves and the letter to confront Anne.
Normally, Anne would’ve explained her reasons; but not this time. Instead she accused Richard for not trusting her and called him cruel.
One thing led to another.
Richard asked Anne upfront if she still had feelings for Lancaster. Anne, in turn, reminded him of his liaisons with Kate Haute and their bastard children. In the end, she accused him for not loving her and treating her unfairly.
“At least Lancaster treated me as his one and only! He never talked to me like this, not even once!”
Richard’s face paled. He did not speak another word. He walked out of her chamber and slammed the door behind him. Then he issued the order that Anne was not allowed to leave her chamber without his permission.
***
“What do you want now?” Anne asked bitterly. “What else I am doing that is not pleasing you, my lord husband?”
“Everything!” Richard told her and forced her to look at him. “You’re wearing this…hideous green dress to annoy me on purpose, knowing how much I hate it. You plaited your hair the way I like the least. You refused to eat—“
“I do what I please. This is my castle!”
“And I am your husband and it’s my duty to care for you!”
“Care for me?” Anne snorted. “If you cared for me, then you would’ve been there for me when I lost our child. But no, instead, you were with her! If you cared for me, you wouldn’t neglect my bed! If you cared for me…”
Her voice began to crack and tears streamed down from her eyes.
Covering her mouth, Anne turned away from Richard and began to cry. She didn’t even notice that he was approaching her from behind.
“What do you want, Anne?” He asked as he handed her his handkerchief.
Anne took it and wiped her tears away. She swallowed hard and told him, “I want to live in a happy, settled life. I want to put all these painful pasts behind me. I hated what my father made me do and I cannot forgive Isabel for betraying me. Edward is not the monster you believe he is. He never abused me. Though I never loved him, but I pitied him. He’s now dead and I let him go. But she…she is still in London. When I found those pair of gloves at the bottom of my chest, I thought maybe it’s the last thing I could do to make peace with the past. I also did it because I’m a mother who lost my child…and I thought maybe…if God sees this, he can be merciful and give my child back to me…”
Richard pulled her into his arms. “Anne…we are still young…”
“No!” Anne shook her head against his chest. “Don’t tell me that…no other child can replace her…”
“Anne,” Richard whispered against her hair. “I’m sorry…When I got the letter, it was from a priest. He informed me that Kate is dying. I went to see her to promise her that her children will not starve. I never loved anyone but you, Anne. But Kate, she’s the mother of my bastard children. I made a promise to her not because she’s my former lover, but because she’s a mother.”
When Richard went to see Kate, Anne hadn’t even begun her confinement yet. Her baby came early and it was a stillborn; Richard was still on the road.
“Where are they now?” Anne asked. She stopped crying.
“I have them settled in York.”
“You can bring them here, if that pleases you.”
“Anne…”
“They are your children and you are all they have,” Anne said genuinely as she softened in his arm. “Why did you neglect my bed lately?”
Richard replied, “After I saw how much you suffered from the birth of our daughter, I can’t bear to put you through that again. I want to wait until you recovered.”
“I have,” Anne told him. “I do want another child.”
She placed his hand on the crook of her neck.
“Make me a mother again…” She whispered as her lips met his.
Richard pulled out a dagger. Swiftly and skillfully, he cut the lace and bodice into pieces. As the fabric of her green dress pooled by her feet, he released her braids.
He took her hand and guided her to undress him.
“Did you bolt the door?” Anne asked as she removed his shirt.
“No, but they know better,” he replied.
He carried her to bed and made love to her. He kissed her tenderly on the shoulder as he peeled her shift over her head. Anne moaned as his hands caressed her breasts, her belly, and then her thighs. Her fingers dug into his curls as he sucked her nipple. She wrapped her legs around him as he thrust into her. They joined hands and he held her arms over her head.
“Richard…oh love!” Anne cried out as they reached climax.
***
The sheets were twisted and their body intertwined.
Anne moaned with satisfaction as he rubbed her belly and kissed her breasts.
“Richard?”
“Hmm?”
“Promise me…that you will never neglect my bed again, ever.”
“I promise.”
“And promise me…that I’m your one and only…and that no other woman will ever share your bed.”
“Do you need me to promise you that again?” He teased.
“I want to hear you say that again.”
“Alright, I promise to never neglect your bed as long as I’m not separated from you. And I promise you that you are my one and only in heart and in bed,” he said solemnly. “Now it’s your turn to promise me something.”
“What is that?”
“One, always take good care of yourself; two, stop wearing dark green or I will cut it into pieces; and three, do not mention anything on Lancaster again.”
“I promise,” Anne replied as her hand interlocked his.
The two sealed their promise with a kiss.