Chapter 6
*Author's note: For the purposes of this story, I have altered the timeline so that Lola's pregnancy is not yet physically obvious.*
The party was going quite smoothly, Mary prided herself, despite her frazzled nerves. She watched Francis chatting with a duchess who was quite beautiful. He even laughed a few times and seemed to be relaxing, despite his comment at the beginning of the evening in Mary's ear, "this is going to be truly awkward." Well, in the end, the event wasn't so much awkward as it was contrived, a slightly better outcome. Francis was as good-humored as he could be about it. Across the small sea of gorgeously dressed dancers, Mary caught sight of Catherine, who was staring at her in undisguised curiosity. As always, the Queen's scrutiny was unsettling.
"I'd have thought to see Francis have a dance with his actual wife at least once this evening," Catherine remarked after striding over.
"You certainly shall," Mary assured her, pasting on a smile. "Francis is merely being hospitable to our distinguished guests."
"Hospitable?" Catherine repeated disbelievingly. "My dear, that is the tenth stunningly attractive aristocrat that my son has had his arms around tonight. Between the guest-list and the festivities, this entire affair seems like a matchmaking scheme for someone who is already wed. What in heaven's name are you playing at?"
"I'm not playing at anything," Mary replied smoothly. "Your paranoias are getting the best of you."
Soon enough, Catherine's suspicions would be confirmed, and Mary would no longer be able to stave off the consequences. As they spoke, Mary had advocates in Rome approaching the Pope with a secret annulment request on her and Francis' behalf. The entire matter rested upon Mary's inability to become pregnant and provide heirs, which could potentially end the legitimate royal line. She could only pray that this would be a sufficient excuse to procure the much-longed-for release from this marriage. Mary did not really know if she was barren; in fact, in her heart of hearts she somehow doubted it. She felt she was meant to be a mother one day and longed for that time. However, that she hadn't conceived a child during her time with Francis seemed like a sign that the two of them weren't meant to be parents together. Her future, her family, her home...they were all destined to be with Bash.
"Excuse me," Mary said in a clipped tone to Catherine, sliding away to where Lola was standing, watching Francis with a level of interest Mary was surprised by. "Lola, how are you?"
Lola looked up with troubled eyes and said tremulously, "I'm alright. But things have changed for me rather drastically, and in a way that has brought me to come troublesome conclusions."
"How so?" Mary asked, concerned. She slipped her arm through Lola's as they began to stroll around the party.
"Julian was...not Julian," Lola revealed. "He was a fortune hunter who merely took the identity of Lord Julian upon his death. While the man I married did love me, he had to flee to survive. The whole relationship was built upon lies. And as it collapsed around me, all I could think of was what I'd been trying to deny all along as I rushed into that union and then tried so hard to find love within it."
"It's Francis," Mary guessed. "You regret not telling him about the child after all."
"Yes," Lola admitted. "Mary, I am sorry to give you pain and don't mean to offend you after all you've done for me. Of course, I have no designs on Francis and will do nothing to take advantage of-"
"Actually," Mary interrupted. "There's something you should know. My circumstances are altered as well since last we had a real talk. But Lola, there is something I must know, and I beg you not to feel that I will be upset in the least if your answer is yes. Do you have feelings for Francis?"
Lola lowered her eyes, then raised them again. One quality the two women had always shared was the bravery of pride. "Yes. I never would have been with him if I did not."
"Then I believe I know the solution to all of our problems," Mary confided.
From the dance-floor, Francis rolled his eyes as he spun his latest dance partner, who kept stepping on his toes and then laughing loudly about it. Mary gave him a small nod indicating that he should approach her when the song ended.
This particular type of event could not have been better designed to distract King Henry, who was chasing after every pretty young lady with a zeal that seemed to never cease. Perhaps that was another reason for Catherine's grumpy appearance as she sat with her arms crossed in her throne. Kenna had chosen to stay in her room that evening, and Greer was sitting at some distance, quietly chatting with Lord Castleroy.
When Francis reached Mary's side, questions were brimming in his eyes. "I want the two of you to talk," Mary announced to him and Lola, taking each of them by the arm and guiding them outside, as if they all just wanted a bit of fresh air. "Each of you has my full permission to share with the other everything you have kept hidden. Francis, tell Lola of our situation and plans. Lola, confide in Francis the truths that he needs to know...all of them." That last bit included the intimation that Lola should not leave Francis in doubt of her affection towards him.
"Very well," Francis said quite slowly, furrowing his brow in some confusion at Mary's pointed words.
"Alright," Lola added a little shakily. Mary clasped her friend's shoulder in encouragement and then left them to talk.
As it fell out, the Pope would allow the annulment only with the agreement of the King and Queen of France...but he would then grant the release. When Mary showed Bash the letter a few days after the party, which had yielded a marriage prospect for Francis in quite an unexpected way, he shook his head in anxious reproach.
"How are you ever going to get my father and Queen Catherine to sign off on this? Mary, again, I beg you to consider your own safety. There can be no going back from such a step." Bash seemed to know he spoke words of caution in vain, for he added, "Not that I expect you will pay heed to my words."
"I always pay heed to your words," Mary said, stepping closer than she strictly should in the palace halls. She forced herself back a little bit, though it pained her. "No one's words carry equal weight with me. But have a bit of confidence, Bash. Show me that fire within your spirit that makes me love you so fiercely. Remember, we have all of our cards laid out perfectly. Francis will marry Lola, who will produce an heir. Her pregnancy is not evidenced as yet, and if we bring the matter about speedily enough-"
"My brother wishes to marry Lola?" Bash inquired.
"Certainly," Mary confirmed. "I believe there was something drawing the two of them together all along, but they kept denying it after the prophecy was dismissed and my marriage to Francis took place. Without my being in their way, it's clear to me that there is real affection between them that may well lead to a rich and deep love such as they both deserve. And Francis is keen to be a father to his child, though he certainly let Lola and I know his thoughts on our having kept the secret from him so long."
"You kept it from me as well, until recently," Bash pointed out. "I only knew that Lola's child was not Lord Julian's, but I little suspected it was my brother's."
"It wasn't my secret to tell, Bash," Mary said softly.
"I understand," Bash replied, "But the world seems to be hurtling forward all of a sudden in ways I never could have anticipated. I wish there was a way for me to protect you from the consequences that may result from this plunge into danger. Instead, however, and let me inform you in no uncertain terms that I desperately want to sweep you into my arms right now and show you exactly how much I mean this, I will do as you ask. I will support you in your every scheme, be by your side the whole way, and be there ready to become your adoring companion far away from all of this squalor of artifice, human drama and complication."
"And I can't tell you how dearly I wish I could be swept into your arms right now," Mary murmured in reply. "I would show you how entirely I am yours, and always shall be."
"Until we meet again," Bash answered devotedly.
It took some time to carry the scheme off. First, Mary had a lengthy conversation with King Henry wherein she explained that an angel had told her in a dream that she was destined to never bear a child. This informative messenger from above had also disclosed that Francis should with all due speed extricate himself from Mary and marry Lola, who was preselected by the heavenly powers to provide the dauphin with many a healthy child. In fact, the angel had added, once Francis and Lola were wed, she would conceive on the very night of their consummation.
Henry, who was obsessive about the royal bloodline and the decrees of the Lord to that end, seemed swayed and deeply motivated by this made-up saga of Mary's prophetic dreams. However, he was at first unable to dismiss the problem of how badly he wanted England, a country he hoped to gain by Mary's taking the throne.
"If you are truly destined to rule England, God will lay another means of obtaining it at your feet," Mary suggested. "There is no question as to His commands as they were sent to me in my dream. Clearly, you are meant to prioritize the continuation of the royal line above all other concerns. For if your heirs are to end with Francis, what future will the country have after his reign? It would fall into the hands of a stranger, some distant cousin or other pretender to the throne. I know you would never allow that."
"Never," Henry bit out angrily, blaming Mary in no small part for her supposed infertility. "I just wish God had not waited to long to let me know how utterly useless you really are. Now I have to see my son wed to a mere lady-in-waiting. It's atrocious."
"You won't think so once you hold your first grandchild in your arms," Mary assured him.
"Perhaps," Henry said, coldly dismissive and distracted. "Get out of my sight, you inane former pawn. Go back to your precious Scotland and see how much good it does you. If there's one positive that comes out of this ordeal, it will surely be not having to listen to you complain about my lack of support for that pointless and profitless nation."
"Yes, your majesty," Mary bowed, suppressing a grin.
Once the King's mind was set on the annulment and remarriage, there was nothing Catherine could do to stop it, as her own approval was a mere formality the Pope likely cared little about. Her signature was simply an indication of her having borne witness to Mary's continued inability to conceive. With an almost shockingly simple acquiescence, Catherine set her name to the document before it was sent back to Rome.
But once she could get Mary alone, Catherine's words were scathing. Mary was already packing to leave court post-haste. It had been impossible to bring the plan to fruition without staying this long, but now, it was in everyone's best interest that she made away.
"If you think I will let you slip away from marriage with my son with such a pathetic excuse, you are gravely mistaken," Catherine fumed. "How dare you humiliate and abandon Francis with such callous cruelty? After how dearly you claimed to love him? It nauseates me, especially since I know this is all because you never got over that obnoxious bastard brother of his. Confess, you heartless slut: you plan to reunite with Bash as soon as you land in Scotland, do you not?"
"That's truly none of your affair," Mary remarked cooly. "All you need know is that I have done you one of the greatest favors you may ever receive. First of all, you ought to be aware that Lola is already carrying Francis' child."
Catherine's face turned white, then red, then pink again as she processed this news.
"I, on the other hand, may never provide an heir. Secondly, your hatred for me has been evident from my return to France and throughout my entire stay here. Perhaps somewhere in that iron-clad heart of yours there lingers a fragment of affection for that child you nurtured years ago. But you found it easy enough to side-step those emotions and try to assassinate me all too recently. So thank the heavens for their proclamations that allow you to be rid of me forever."
"You're a delusional maniac," Catherine retorted bitterly. "However, you are right that I'd rather see Francis wed to someone fertile and to a woman who has the good grace not to be you. Having said that, you truly are insane if you think I'll ever believe God decreed all this to be destiny."
"Goodbye, Catherine," Mary said quietly and succinctly as her servants gathered the rest of her belongings and followed her when she exited her now-former chambers.
The Queen said nothing, and Mary wasn't there to see Catherine roll her eyes, ball her fists, release them again, and then shrug in reluctant acceptance that she had been outplayed, but ultimately it might be for the best.
Mary's farewells to Francis and her ladies were far more difficult because she truly loved them.
"Thank you for freeing both of us from a marriage that was only holding us back from real happiness," Francis said, embracing Mary without bitterness. "I didn't want to admit it for so long, but you were right. I hope that you and Bash will be very happy."
Lola smiled and took Mary's hands in her own. "I know this will not be our last meeting," her lady hoped warmly.
"I hope not," Mary replied, "though it is hard to imagine how and when we might meet after all of this. Lola, I charge you to write to me constantly. In fact, I demand it of you both." And she embraced Lola as well, detecting the slight bump that was hidden beneath a cunningly flowing gown. Francis and Lola were to be married that very night, and it would all go forth just as they all needed it to.
Greer took Mary's departure the hardest, assuring her that she and Lord Castleroy would visit Scotland as soon as possible, and that she could hardly wait to be reunited with her Queen. Mary, having glimpsed the situation with the newly-returned Leith, wasn't at all certain it was Castleroy who would accompany Greer on that visit. But she just smiled and told Greer they would be most welcome.
Kenna allowed Mary into her chambers but said not one syllable for several minutes. Mary finally threw her arms up in surrender. "Kenna, I know there is nothing I can do to atone for my wrongs against you. I beg you to at least understand that I never intended-"
"To hurt me," Kenna finished, sighing and paying an unusual amount of attention to a wrinkle in the bed linen that she was smoothing as she sat there avoiding Mary's eyes.
"I know." She finally looked up at Mary quite seriously. "I know." There was a modicum of forgiveness there that brought Mary unspeakable solace.
"What will you do? I would gladly bring you with me, but-"
"But I'm hardly going to serve you and watch you enjoy a life with my own former husband," Kenna remarked. She had gone of her own volition to King Henry and begged him to undo the dreadful marriage he had imposed upon her, insisting that she could not stop thinking of Henry himself and his son simply could not measure up to his sexual prowess, which haunted her constantly. Puffed up with pride and kingly powers of mercy, and still infatuated with Kenna, Henry had requested and been granted a second annulment from Rome, ending the marriage between her and Bash.
"Why did you help us?" Mary asked. "You might have prevented Bash and I from ever marrying."
"What was the point?" Kenna explained. "You would have been together anyway, though illicitly. And I would have been denied the chance at another match. As it is, the King has found me another wealthy fiancé, and this time it's one far away from here. I'll be leaving the country myself soon. Despite his lingering weakness for my charms, I've made myself annoying enough to Henry that he'll be glad to see me go. I'll create a new life for myself. I'm sorry I couldn't find the happiness with Bash that I imagined possible." Kenna paused, and the sadness that she still suffered on that account was all too evident in her face.
"But," Kenna resumed, summoning her more typical expression of sassy resilience, "as a consummate survivor, I suppose I can accept a life of luxury and riches, far away from this awful place and all it represents, and be satisfied enough."
With all of these seemingly impossible solutions coming together, Mary left France feeling like a free woman with an endless ocean of opportunities to find peace and contentment laid out before her. Knowing that Bash awaited her in Scotland, she willed the ship onward incessantly in her mind throughout the entire journey. And when she had arrived to the sight of him waiting for her, his blue eyes aglow with welcoming and overwhelming love, Mary felt that somehow, all of the confusion and heartache that they had been through to get there was worth it.