Jane does not want to share her hope - it is too new and she has already felt the pain of the loss of a possible child but she is, in her heart, certain that this child will live. And that he will be a boy, a child of her and her love who will bring them back together. She knows, in her heart as she strokes her slowly growing stomach that this child will bring righteousness back to England as Anne Boleyn's son never could.

She knows he will make all well again. She knows it for sure - for the Lord has merely sent her these trials to test her faith to be sure she is worthy and she is sure the Lord has found her so now.

"Be strong my son. Be strong." she whispers to her stomach.

"William, you cannot think to visit her - she is not your wife and she deceived you besides - what madness is this, that you would see a woman who is only spared from the Tower by the grace of the Queen?"

William Parr looks at his sister beseechingly - just as he had when he was a child and had gotten into a mischief that he wished his older sister to fix.

"Cate...Cate I...I just, I need to talk to her..."

The silence drags on before William finally blurts out the truth.

"I bedded her Cate. I did not think it wrong - we were already betrothed and were to be wed in such a short time and I felt for her, she had had so much loss already and she was so kind when I surprised her with a visit and..."

"Oh Will. Oh Will." Catherine shakes her head with a sigh. "You cannot visit her. Do not think of it - for one I do not believe the convent will accept visitors, let alone male ones and for another you would come under suspicion if you even attempted it. Forget it and forget her and forget that you told me this - does anyone else know?"

"No, no Cate - I surprised her in the gardens and well, she was alone because her maid had had to retire and..."

"I see well enough, brother. Well there is that, at least. Do not give it anymore thought."

Will nods to his sister but he is not sure that he can put it out of his mind. Jane had been so sweet, so kind in those moments they had had together and he had thought they would do well together. He had even begun to dream of children with her blue eyes and his brown hair, of how well she would be in his home. He knows he should think her entirely wicked but he finds he cannot, not even now.

The pain in Anne and Tom's eyes when they had learned that Jane Seymour was with child had pierced Henry's soul but he had been amazed that they had both been firm that he must acknowledge the child - that it would be Henry's son or daughter and they would be innocent and deserving of a father.

("It hurts Tom" Anne had said "It hurts to think of but...I cannot let a child be cast aside for my hurt")

He had almost thought not to tell them - to merely tell Audley that he wished the matter to be handled with discretion and the resulting infant to be adopted by a suitable and loyal family but he knew somehow that he could not rely on such a secret being kept - especially if the child was a boy. And he could not repay the chance he had been given with deception.

No, no he would tell them the truth and let things fall where they might. He had already vowed that when he wed Anne and Thomas together he would face the truth of his mistakes because he could not do less for them.

And no, he does not think of his child as a mistake but he wishes he had not burdened it with such a mother.

There is unkind gossip when the news that Jane Seymour is with child eventually comes out - however discreet the nuns, the maids and the midwife hired to oversee the delivery are there are some who are not and it comes back to court. Anne is loved, yes but there is still gossip - some saying that she might be discarded after all, that the King has fallen back in love with Jane and will restore her from the convent after the child is delivered.

Henry glares but he knows that he cannot quell gossip - it is one of the limits of his powers as King (the secret of the three of them is kept by the discretion of a select group of servants and the courts scepticism that Thomas Cromwell has any desires or feeling at all - "I swear, he must be more ice than man" one courtier had once said in Henry's hearing and Henry had been torn between rage and laughter - for had he not just kissed a laughing Thomas in their bed?) and any notice would only add fuel. But it is still hard.

Anne bears it with a graceful Queenly air but she delights in spending time with Bess, Tommy and Tom. With both Princess Mary's and her family but her eyes around him are still wary and Henry knows it.

It is an awful thing to think but Jane thinks she hates her child. Her girl child. She had been so sure, so certain and it had been taken away from her and she is sure that it is the fault of that black sorcerer who has poisoned Henry's heart. The child does not even look like Henry - she has Jane's blue eyes and a smattering of brown curls. She is small and delicate ("She's healthy my lady, for all that she came early" the midwife had said cheerfully as though there was anything to be cheerful about when the wrong child had lived to be born) and Jane rages to look at her.

Someone had asked her what she wished the child to be named (she had wanted to name her son Edward for her brother and his great grandfather) and she had felt resentment that they should want her to care about such things for the child she did not want but had stammered out that she would defer to his majesty on the matter.

She does not want to think on the child any further.

Henry looks down at his new daughter with a sad but fond smile and says that he will name her Margarey.

"Lady Margarey Fitzroy. She can stay with her mother for the time being" he decrees - later Henry will give her a household of her own or perhaps he will ensure she is raised either with her half siblings or in a family that will love her but is also loyal to Anne but it seemed cruel to rip an infant from a mother so early - even to Jane.

"I don't want it. I don't want her here - you can leave her as a foundling for all I care. She's a cursed child of Satan and she caused my son to not be born - I wish for nothing to do with her, do you hear me" is what Jane says to the Abbess who comes to tell her of the Kings decision.

The Abbess looks at the young woman and sighs - she can see that the lady is in pain and clearly not well but also that she adamantly wants nothing of the care of her child and it would be dangerous to try. Perhaps, perhaps with time and care it might change but for now the Abbess merely hires a wetnurse and a maid for the child with the funds that have been provided and takes little Lady Margarey away.

The child does not cry but her eyes already seem to be sad, although she knows she is not a welcomed child.

"Cate, you can't think to do this? To raise the bastard child of that woman - you are to be married yourself soon and have children of your own - why would you bring a..."

"Because the child is an innocent, mama. And whatever her mothers sins she deserves to be with people who will love her, not shame her for something she has no part in. Hal agrees with me, in any case - we will raise her and love her and it will be well."

Catherine Parr looked at her mother fiercely.

"Besides, would you prefer she goes to the Seymours. Lord only knows what they might teach her."

Maude Parr had to agree.