Time Jump, 19 April 1512
Catalina's heart beat furiously.
Her whole life, she had been waiting for this moment – the moment in which she would meet her husband. In her mind, he was handsome, smart, charming, loyal, strong, and kind. He was everything that a prince could be, even if he was not meant to be king.
He was Arthur, Duke of York, and she was finally going to meet him.
Of course, they would hardly be alone. His father, King Henry VII, would be there as well, with his mother Lady Margaret Beaufort. And the three people who stood between Catalina and Arthur and the throne would be there as well - Henry, Prince of Wales, Anne, Princess of Wales, and Prince Edmund of Wales, Duke of Cornwall.
At one time, Catalina had felt horribly bitter at the thought that she would not be Queen of England.
She knew that for the Great Alliance, Anne of Russia had to marry Henry, Prince of Wales, and that she had to marry Arthur, Duke of York, though she did not quite understand why. When she had first heard of this, she had stomped her foot and screeched and yelled and begged her parents to change it, but for once they had not given in.
Now, she was just happy to be marrying at all. It was high time she was married, after all, and she wanted children very much.
"Her Royal Highness, Catalina, Infanta of Spain!" a voice cried, and Catalina stepped forward to meet her new family.
She paused and stopped to observe them.
A formidable-looking old woman glared down at Catalina. She could only be Lady Margaret Beaufort. She was the first person Catalina's eye landed on, though she was standing off to the side of the royal family. Catalina knew she yielded precedence to her son, King Henry VII, and his sons and daughters, and their spouses and children. As of yet, Catalina herself had to yield precedence to the old lady – but not for long.
King Henry himself looked stern. He was not one with whom one could joke, or tease, but one with whom one must be at the utmost serious. Catalina knew this instinctually. She curtsied deeply to him, and muttered, "Your Majesty."
"Infanta," he greeted in return, bowing shallowly and offering her his arm. She accepted and he turned around to introduce her to his family.
"This is your brother-in-law, Prince Henry," he told her, "Along with his wife, Anne of Russia, and their son, Prince Edmund of Wales." Catalina curtsied to the little family, and noted happily that Anne of Russia greeted her with a smile that was genuine, not forced.
"This is my mother," the King declared, introducing her to the old lady, "Lady Margaret Beaufort." Again, Catalina curtsied, before turning to the little girl at Lady Beaufort's side. "This child is my daughter, your sister-in-law, Princess Mary." Catalina curtsied to the princess who curtsied back in return.
"And this," the King continued, "is your husband-to-be, my son, Prince Arthur, Duke of York." The King withdrew, standing beside the rest of his family as his son came forward.
Catalina curtsied, and the prince bowed in return, taking her hand in his own and kissing it. "I hope we shall be very happy together, Princess."
"Henceforth," the King interrupted. "You shall be known as Katherine of Aragon, and as Duchess of York shall be second lady in this kingdom only to the Princess of Wales and any daughters she may bear, and to any wife I should chose to have."
At this declaration, Catalina saw Prince Henry, Prince Arthur, and Princess Mary all wince a little. Catalina understood. Her mother's death only a month before her departure from Spain had been heartbreaking, topped only by her father's instant remarriage to Germaine of Foix. Stepmothers were not real mothers, and she hoped these English royals would never had to know that.
Later, Same Day
"I say we were luckier with Anne," Lady Beaufort told her son. "The Russian girl was clearly raised better than the Spanish one. There's something… insolent about that Katherine."
"Yes, I'm sure there is," Henry nodded absent-mindedly.
"And all those foreigners!" Lady Beaufort continued. "Anne didn't bring anyone with her when she came, and only sent for four of her ladies once she was with child. This Spanish brat arrives here with twenty ladies and wants to know how many more she shall receive! I do think she means to bankrupt us."
"Her dowry is good," Henry reminded his mother.
"Yes," Lady Beaufort conceded. "Her dowry is good. But does she honestly expect us to provide her with a household of fifty ladies as we do for Anne? Not to mention she demands twice the salary for each of them!"
"She can't have the same size household as Anne," Henry scolded his mother. "Everything is about appearances, and we must make it clear that Katherine is below Anne. She can have forty, at the same salary as Anne's."
Lady Beaufort nodded.
"And were you serious?" the lady added. "You mentioned the possibility of a wife. Were you serious?"
Henry did not answer right away, which prompted his mother to poke him. "Well?"
"Ferdinand of Aragon has remarried already," Henry reminded her. "A country needs a Queen. You are doing wonderfully, Mother, but it's just not possible for a country to go so long without a Queen."
"Then remarry," Lady Beaufort insisted. "I'll find some candidates."
Even later
"I'm so glad your father agreed to let Arthur and Katherine come live at Ludlow with us," Anne rambled to her husband that night.
"Are you?" he replied noncommittally. Ever since Edmund's birth, Anne had been quite a favorite of his, though he flattered himself that the reason ran deeper than the birth of their son.
"Yes," Anne confessed. "I think Katherine and I could be great friends, don't you? She'd be someone to be my friend, but my equal as well…" Anne trailed off, startled at the glower suddenly present on her husband's face.
"Arthur's wife is Duchess of York," Henry reminded her sternly. "My wife is the Princess of Wales, one day the Queen of England. She is not your equal."
"Near-equal, then," Anne corrected herself. "She's closer to being my equal that anyone else in England… at least she's not my lady-in-waiting."
"I suppose having them won't be bad," Henry said just to agree with her. It was true that he was all but King at Ludlow, and having complete authority over Arthur, who had always been a bit of a rival to him, would be satisfying.
"I think we're all going to be very happy, now," Anne breathed a little sigh as she laid her head down and closed her eyes for sleep.
22 April 1512
"Shh," Henry, Prince of Wales, snapped at his brother as they tried to listen. "I can't hear!"
"I can't either," Arthur snapped back. "I want to know just as much as you do!"
"Want to know what?" a voice asked behind them. "And why are you listening at your grandmother's bedroom door?"
"Mary!" the two boys hushed her.
"We heard a rumor that Father was going to marry Margaret of Austria," Arthur explained. "Margaret's thirty-two, and was widowed twice. The first time she was married to Katherine's brother."
"Is he?" Mary asked anxiously.
"I hope not," Henry snapped. "I don't want any stepmother. But anyway, if he is, Grandmother would know, and she'd be talking about it. Now hush, Mary, I want to hear."
"No!" their sister pushed them over. "Let me listen!"
"Move over, Arthur!"
"Henry, get off!"
"I can't hear!"
"Stop it, Henry, or I'll tell your wife!"
"I'll tell yours!"
The three were so busy bickering that they forgot to listen at the door. Therefore, it was no surprise that no one heard the tapping of high-heeled shoes as Lady Beaufort, who heard hushed voices outside her door, walked over to it and opened it.
"What is going on out here?"
Later
"What were you doing?" the King demanded of his children. It was times like this that made him wonder if they were really as grown-up as he thought them to be. At this moment e wished that Margaret, obviously the most mature of his children, had not left.
"Absolutely childish," Lady Beaufort insisted. "Squabbling like idiots trying to listen at my doorway instead of just asking what they wanted to know."
"Will you answer us, then?" Mary begged. "You're not going to get married again, are you Father?"
"No," the King sighed dramatically. "It was an idea, but I've already got more than enough heirs and my mother can take care of anything that a Queen would need to do. Now you can all stop worrying."
The three children let out simultaneous sighs of relief.
"Was it really that pressing of a matter?" King Henry asked. At the shrugs and nods of his children, the King leaned back his head and laughed at the mental image of his three children squabbling at the door to his mother's suites.
26 April 1512
"This damn baby had better be a boy," Ruth Lyons growled.
She had no reason to be in a bad mood. She had this lovely manor all to herself and her servants. It was a picturesque place where many women would be happy to live and have free reign over. But there was one problem – it was not a castle, and it was not in the country.
The only thing that got Ruth through all of this isolation was the thought that when Prince Henry became King, he would surely honor all of his sons, legitimate or not.
And she, as a mother of one such son, would be sure to reap the benefits of royal favor. Perhaps, if she gave Henry a boy, he would call her back to Ludlow – and later, when he was King, to London – to be his official mistress.
She'd picked out names – Richard, John, Peter, Henry – but only for sons. Her sister Maud had attempted to get her to pick out girl names a few days ago, and Ruth was proud to say she had defended her baby to the best of her ability.
Maud thought that she might name the child Ruth, for herself if it was a girl, and Ruth had flown into an awful temper, insisting that it was a boy.
It had to be a boy. A daughter – and illegitimate daughter, nonetheless – would do no good to anyone. It would not raise the status of the Lyons family, or earn honors from the royal father that the child would certainly be able to claim. If the child was a girl, she would be raised here, in this miserable, beautiful manor, and given a dowry and married off to some rich gentleman or noble when she was old enough.
Ruth herself would gain a dowry and a bastard.
That would be all that they had.
If this baby wasn't a boy, Ruth knew, then she had ruined her family.
A/N: Tell me what you think! This was a bit rushed, I don't have much time because of my exams, so definitely not my best work. But let me know anyway, I love reviews!