(Thanks for the lovely reviews. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter. MrsPhantomSylvia I will start work on the side story tomorrow, I promise:))

'Your father,' I said, slowly, repeating Thomas words to me, not believing what my husband had just told me, 'that man, who I spoke to earlier was your father?'

'Yes, Bathsheba,' answered Thomas, placing an hand gently on the side of my face, 'he's my father,'

I'm not sure why, I did what I did next, as Thomas looked so troubled as he once again tried to inform me that his father had been to our home, but for some reason I burst out laughing. Thomas' father was long dead, dying in some loathsome tavern a few years before I came to meet Thomas. He was dead, Thomas had told me so, on one of our first nights together-he had told me his father had died after a night of drinking, choking on his own vomit.

'Oh Thomas,' I laughed, throwing my arms around his neck and kissing him on the lips, 'my poor husband, they are working you too hard. You need a rest. Why don't you and me go away from here for a few days? You need some peace,'

'No, Bathsheba,' he said, more firmly this time, his dark eyes staring straight into mine, 'my father is alive. He is alive and was here earlier. I have told him...'

'Your father is alive,' I murmured, feeling my body turn cold as Thomas words finally sunk in, 'but you told me he was dead,'

I pulled away from my husband and got to my feet, hugging my arms around my waist-I suddenly felt so alone.

'I know,' I heard Thomas say, 'I paid him off a few years before we met and declared him dead,'

'You told me he was dead,' I said, my voice sounding cold and emotionless. I wasn't really sure who I was speaking to, myself or Thomas. I felt so cold and suddenly everything good that I had with Thomas, suddenly seemed wrong.

'I have told him to stay away from us,' Thomas' voice echoed in my mind, 'if he comes near you or the children, I'll...'

'You told me he was dead!' I scream at top of voice, 'you lied to me!'

I was suddenly wild with anger. I screamed to loud that I could feel my body shake with violence. My husband, the man I had trusted above all others, the man who I would give my life for, had been lying to me for eleven years.

'Bathsheba, I...'started Thomas quietly. The colour had drained from his face and his eyes looked so sad. He put out a hand and tried to join it with mine, but I knocked him away, 'I was trying to protect you,'

'Don't tell me that, Thomas!' I shouted, putting my hands to my head and pulling at my hair, 'you told me he was dead! You lied to me! I thought I could trust you! I thought of all the men in the world, I had found someone who would never hurt me! Who would never lie to me!'

'You have, Bathsheba,' cried Thomas grabbing my arms and pulling me to him, 'you have! Listen to me, I would rather kill myself than hurt a hair on your head. I thought I was doing the right thing...Elizabeth...'

'Elizabeth,' I replied, feeling my heart leap into my mouth, 'Elizabeth knew he was alive?


'Bathsheba!' shouted Thomas, as he ran after me but despite the tears falling from my eyes, I managed somehow to out run him, 'Bathsheba!'

Elizabeth knew the truth. He had told her the truth but not me. I thought I had, long ago lost any jealous towards Thomas' tragic first wife. It was wrong to compare our marriage to their's, as all love is different, but then, I had thought our love was based on our painful pasts and the need for each other!

I threw open the door of the house with such force that I scared two of the servants, who were talking in the hallway, causing on to drop the jug she was hold, but I just grabbed my skirts and ran up the stairs. Reaching our chamber, I locked the door and collapsed in a heap on the floor.

'Bathsheba,' called Thomas, trying to open the door, 'open this door!'

'No!'

'Bathsheba, please open the door. We need to talk,' he tried the door again, 'for Christ sake, just open the door-it is my chamber to,'

'We have more rooms than people in this house, so I suggest you pick one!'

'I do not want to pick one! I want to sleep in the chamber and in the bed, which I share with my wife,' he said quietly, 'please open the door, Bathsheba,'

'I can't, Thomas,' I sobbed, 'I can't'

I heard him sigh and slump to the floor. We were both now back to back, only there was a wooden door between us and I still couldn't bring myself to unlock it.

'Do you remember the first night we spent together?'

'Don't Thomas,'

'You slept in my arms the whole night and by the fire light I could see those horrible marks on your back. They looked so painful-worse than anything I had ever suffered... You laugh, every time I say this, but I loved you from the moment I saw you doing the washing in the yard. Do you know how beautiful you look? It was not just lust, I loved you. I wanted you and I wanted to protect you,'

'I don't doubt your love, Thomas!' I shouted, banging my head against the door, 'but what I doubt is what it's based on. You always said that the love between us, was based on the fact we understood each other's pasts, in a way no one else could. That it made us know how the other worked and how we need each other to work, but all this time, you've been lying to me!'

'It was never meant to hurt you, Bathsheba,' called Thomas, frantically, his head too, hitting the door, 'I killed him off before we met. It was better all round if he was dead...please, unlock the door, Bathsheba! I do not work without you,'

'Yes you do, Thomas,' I answered, softly, 'yes you do. I never asked anything about your marriage to Elizabeth. I can live with sharing your love, but you told her something that you hide from me for eleven years!'

'And do you know what he did to her? He drove her to tears on everyone of their meetings. One time his drunken works led her to hysterics and me to almost commit murder. When I saw those marks on your back, I knew I could never let anyone hurt you and after what you told me about your father, I knew I did not want him near you...And if you think I work without you, you are wrong. If we had never met, I would not be here now-I'd be long dead,'

There's silence between us, as my mind raced. I wanted to unlock the door and for everything to once again be as it was but I was still not sure it could be.

'Dada,' I heard Kate say, 'is everything fine between you and mummy,'

Hearing Kate's words caused me to cry some more, as I heard the concern in her young voice. Me and Thomas had argued, like most couples over the years, but I always hated it when the children where in hearing distance of our rows; not because of the nature of the arguments but because I wanted them to have no bad memories of their parents.

'Your father has done something very wrong, Kate,' Thomas said mournfully, 'and I need to ask her forgiveness,'

'Don't use our daughter to get to me, Thomas,' I pleaded, 'I'm still angry,'

'I know and you have every right to be. I should have told you the truth and I swear, if I could turn back time, I would have told you everything,'

'Do you remember,' said Kate, as I heard her sit down next to Thomas, 'when we lived at Chelsea and I threw dada important chain in the river and mummy had to jump in after it,'

'Yes, Kate,' both of us laughed. The three of us had been sat in the garden, me and Thomas telling Kate that her parents were going to get married and that we were finally all going to live together. Kate had been so excited, so when Thomas said he had to return to Court, she had got upset and in her tantrum had thrown Thomas chain of office into the Thames, causing Thomas to almost have a heart attack and me to strip down to my shift and jump in after it.

'I still can't believe you can't swim, Lord Cromwell,' I smiled, drying my eyes on the sleeve of my dress, 'I thought you could do everything,'

'Yes but I'm not a fish,' replied Thomas, with a small laugh, 'besides have you seen the Thames round Putney, it's not exactly clean,'

'Most of the Thames is not exactly clean, Thomas'

'I liked it when it was just the three of us,' continued Kate, in her still childlike voice, 'we had fun. And I liked it when Gregory was with us, then Maddie, then Lily-Anna and then Daniel. We have fun, even if mummy doesn't always see the funny side,'

I thought back then on all my happy memories. Would knowing that Thomas' father was alive really have changed things? After all the man had left us alone for eleven years and I certainly wouldn't have wanted him near my family, even if I knew he was alive. I was hurt but our lives had been happy and they still would be.

'Mummy doesn't always see the funny side, Kate,' I said opening the door and peering out. Both Thomas and Kate were sat against the door, both looking at me with the same dejected look on their face, 'because mummy doesn't want you or anyone else to hurt themselves,'

I sat down with them then and Kate rested her head on my shoulder, as I felt Thomas' arm on my back.


'I'm still hurt, Thomas,' I said as we got ready for bed and Thomas came over to me and slipped his arms around my waist, 'you have really upset me,'

'I know,' he answered, looking straight into my eyes with a sad smile on his lips, 'I will make it up to you, I swear,'

'I know you will,' I said, kissing him gently, before resting my head against his shoulder and enjoyed feeling him holding me to him, 'I know you will,'

'Mummy, dada,' came the voice of our youngest daughter as she came slowly into the room, holding tightly to her favourite doll with little tears in her green eyes. She was a perfect mixture of me and Thomas, though Thomas and others always said, she looked just like me, 'I don't feel well,'

'Oh, my poor little angel,' I said, as she ran into my arms, as Thomas looked on concerned, 'what's wrong?'

'My ear hurts,'

I kneeled down beside her and peered into the ear that she was pointing at. It was a tiny bit red but I had a feeling it was more to do with having hear me and her father argue than any real illness.

'Well, it is a bit red...oh no,'

'What is it, mummy?' she cried, concerned.

'I can't see your brain, only loads and loads of potatoes!'

'Oh silly mummy!' laughed Lily-Anna, throwing her arms round me, 'can I sleep in with you two tonight?'


I watched Thomas and Lily-Anna sleep by the light of a low burning fire. They both looked so peaceful, Thomas with his arm protectively around the both us, while Lily-Anna looked like a sleeping angel, as she wiggled between the two of us. Leaning forward, I gently kissed them both, before quietly slipping out of bed, as I was in desperate need of a drink.


In the stillness of the kitchen, I sat at the wooden table and slowly drank a glass of slightly stale water. Putting my hands together, I said a prayer to God asking to look after Elizabeth and her and Thomas' daughters. I was still hurt at not being told of my father-in-laws existence, but what's done is done. It had really altered nothing of the past and now all I was concerned with, was making sure he didn't hurt my husband and children.

As I said 'amen,' and took another sip, my thoughts were disturbed by the sound of whistling, that caused me to jump, especially as the kitchen door creaked opened.

'Sorry to startle you, Bathsheba,' said Edmund, with a smile, 'I did not realise you were still up,'

'Take's ok,' I replied, 'I just needed a drink and Lily-Anna has an earache, so is sleeping in with us-but she wriggles so much, its hard to sleep,'

He pours himself some water from the jug and got an apple from the barrel before sitting down to join me.

'I hope you do not mind me asking,' he asked, taking a bite from the apple, 'is everything well between you and Lord Cromwell?'

'We are good,' I replied, with a smile, 'we always were,'

Edmund nodded and looked down at his glass of water. There was silence between the two of us for a moment, as he stared hard at that glass.

'It is just I heard both of you arguing earlier,' he said, carefully, 'and it sounded like very harsh words were said,'

'There was,' I replied, still sounding cheerful but really was feeling uneasy inside, 'but we've talked and everything is good,'

'I'm glad to hear it. It's just...'

'It's just?'

'Well, cousin,' he spoke his words slowly, his fingers played with the glass, 'it's just I cannot imagine it is easy being a second wife,'

'It's not,' I said, dropping my cheery tone and speaking carefully as Edmund, trying not show the uneasiness I felt, 'but once you realise that all relationships between two people are different, you learn you have nothing to be jealous about,'

'Maybe,' sighed Edmund, looking at me from across the table, his eyes studying my face, 'but as a man, who has suffered the pain of having to bury a much beloved wife, I cannot imagine taking another and if I ever did, I would feel sorry for her, having to constantly be compared with her predecessor,'

It seemed strange, but in the days since Thomas and Edmund had started to get along with each other, I was finding myself extremely uncertain about him. I couldn't quite place my finger on the reason, but I was something about his recent actions that made me feel that I had been wrong to trust this man. He got on well with the girls, especially Maddie, not to mention Katherine, Gregory and Elizabeth. He had never said or done anything menacing or threatening but his words were starting to seem out of place; not fitting in with other words he had spoken.

'Not that I'm suggesting thats how it is with Lord Cromwell,' continued Edmund, leaning forward and taking hold of my hand, 'I have said too much,'

'Yes you have,' I answered, forcing a smile to cover up my nerves, 'it's time I was returning to bed...goodnight Edmund,'

'Goodnight Bathsheba,'


I was being silly, I thought, as I went back into my bedroom. There was nothing sinister about Edmund, it was just me overreacting. I had been so overjoyed when Edmund had arrived-it was like I had a family, in the same model as everyone us. Perhaps I had let this blind me to his faults.

'You all right, Bathsheba,' mumbled Thomas' sleepily, as I climbed back into bed and he replaced his arm around my waist, holding me and Lily-Anna protectively.

'I just needed a drink,' I whispered, 'sorry did I wake you?'

'This little one will not stop wriggling,' said Thomas, kissing his sleeping daughter gently on the head.

'Our little angel,' I replied, with a smile, kissing her as well. I snuggled down beneath the covers and started to feel my eyelids heavy with sleep, 'you're right Thomas, Edmund does whistle through his teeth,'