Catherine spent the rest of the night finding out more about the other wives. They were all incredibly talented in their own rights, and she found herself bobbing her head to their songs as they played through her earbuds. Finally, exhaustion took over and she put her computer up for the night. As she brought the blanket up to her chin and closed her eyes, one thought raced through her brain.
I have to meet these women.
And that she did. Over the next two weeks, she called and emailed and was somehow able to get in contact with all five of the queens. (Who were all surprisingly prompt in replying.) Finally, they arranged to meet up at Anne Boleyn's recording studio next week.
What exactly they would talk about, Catherine had no idea. But she figured it was a step closer to figuring out why she had come back, and what her connection was to the other five. Because, like it or not, she had the feeling that their fates were all delicately intertwined.
The week came and went, and soon Catherine found herself kissing Thomas and Mary goodbye before boarding a plane to Shakesy-P Recording Studio. When she arrived, she was shocked to discover that she was the last one. There, sitting at a round table in an awkward silence and gazing at her expectantly as she entered, was Catalina, Anne, Jane, Anna, and Kitty.
"Um, hi." Catherine said meekly as she took a seat. "Thank you all for coming."
Some of the girls nodded, others made a mumbled noise of agreement, and Kitty sat staring sadly at the floor with her arms crossed around her chest.
Catherine cleared her throat before trying again.
"Well, I hate to go into teacher mode. But, then again, I am an English professor, so...Do we want to go around the room and say a few things about ourselves?"
The room stayed silent as they all looked expectantly at each other. All except for Anna, who shrugged.
"I'll start. Um, I'm Catherine, but you can call me Cathy. Like I said, I teach English. I have a husband, Thomas, and a daughter, Mary."
"That's my daughter's name too." Catalina offered with a small smile.
"Really? How old is she?"
"14."
"That's close to the same age as my Edward." Jane said. "He's 12."
"I guess I can go next." Catalina offered.
"Hey, I'm Catalina. I'm a nun, I also write and perform gospel music. And I'm a single mom to my daughter, Mary."
"Wait, if you're a nun, how do you have a kid?" Anne asked. "Aren't nuns supposed to be chaste or something?"
Catalina seemed to withhold a sigh of annoyance before responding. "Yes. I had her before I took my vows, obviously. Her dad wanted to get married, but seeing that he was a cheating scumbag, I said no."
"Good for you." Anne said with a knowing tilt of her head. "Sounds like my ex." Her cheeks went red when she noticed everyone was expecting her to introduce herself next.
"Uh, hi everyone. I'm Anne. I own the studio that we're using today."
"Thank you for that, by the way." Catherine interjected.
"It's no problem. Um, I'm a mom as well, to thirteen-year-old Elizabeth. Jane, did you...?"
"Sure, I'll go. Hi, I'm Jane. I'm a mom of four. Before the kids, I toured a little bit with my own music. But now that I have them, we write and perform together."
"That's sweet." Anna said, twirling the straw of her drink. "I guess it's my turn now. I'm Anna, I used to tour with my band. We did alright for a while, but now I'm mostly retired. I write and perform a few things on my own, though."
"Kitty, did you want to say something?"
She looked up shyly before finally uncrossing her arms and relaxing her shoulders, taking a deep breath before speaking.
"Um, hi. I'm Kitty. If I'm being honest, I'm a little uncomfortable being here. I think I'm the youngest one by a pretty wide margin."
"We're still happy you're here, Kitty." Catherine said, internally scolding herself for bringing out her teacher voice again.
"And I think there's a reason it was so easy for you all to agree to meet up. It's going to sound ridiculous no matter who says it, so I'll just do it."
She steeled herself and tried to avoid looking any of the others too closely in the eye.
"Did anyone else wake up about three weeks ago, and have the strangest feeling that - that they're the reincarnation of one of Henry VIII's wives?"
She looked around the room, expecting them to burst out laughing at her. Instead, they all looked at each other before enthusiastically expressing their agreement.
"Yes!" Kitty exclaimed, her eyes twinkling.
"I thought I was the only one."
"And I thought I was crazy, and then I got Cathy's email and then...I thought maybe I was right."
"That maybe, you weren't alone in the world?"
"Exactly!"
"Well I'm - glad we're all in agreement." Catherine said, positively floored.
"We should do something about this." Cleves proposed. "I mean, clearly we were all brought back for a reason. And we were all able to find each other. That's great, really! But - now what?"
"We should do an album!" Boleyn exclaimed, nearly slamming her hands on the table in excitement.
The others buzzed with agreement, but Catherine leaned back in her chair.
"I don't know guys, I don't really have any musical talent."
"You said you're an English teacher, right? So you can write?" Seymour said.
"I mean, a little. And I can play a little piano, I guess."
Seymour reached across the table and squeezed her hand.
"That's more than enough."
"This calls for champagne!" Anne called, standing up and going towards the refreshment station. She poured six flutes and passed them out to everyone.
"To the newest, hottest girl group in town!"
"But what should we call ourselves?" Aragon asked.
"The Queens?"
"The Ex-Wives?"
"Ooh, I like that one." Kitty said with a nod.
"No, that has more of a song vibe than a band name vibe." Cleves replied, scrunching her face in thought.
"How about...Six?" Catherine proposed.
They all looked at each other again, nodding in agreement.
"I love it."
"Same here."
"Six it is, then!" Catherine said, her heart swelling. Even though she had just met these women (in this lifetime, at least), she couldn't feel more at home than she did in this moment.
"Alright then." Boleyn said, raising her glass. "To Six!"
"To Six!"