The Velvet Promise Read online

  Gavin was out of the bed in one swift movement, hastily throwing his tunic over his head. He took the steps two at a time, but he stopped at the last turn of the spiral staircase. Judith lay just below him on a pallet, her auburn hair in a tangled mass about her head, one leg bent under her. For a moment, his heart stopped.

  “Don’t touch her!” he said with a low growl as he leaped the last steps and knelt beside her. “How?” he murmured as he touched her hand, then felt for the pulse at her neck.

  “She seems to have fallen down the stairs,” Stephen said as he knelt next to his sister-in-law.

  Gavin looked up and saw Alice on the landing, her robe clutched about her, smiling slightly. Gavin felt there was something missing in the puzzle but he had no time to search for it.

  “The physician has been sent for,” Stephen said as he held Judith’s hand. She didn’t open her eyes.

  The physician came slowly, dressed in a rich fur-collared robe. “Give me room,” he demanded. “I must look for broken bones.”

  Gavin moved back and watched the man run his hands over Judith’s limp body. Why? How? Gavin kept wondering. What was she doing on the stairs in the middle of the night? His eyes went back to Alice. The woman stood quietly, avid interest on her face, as the doctor examined Judith. The room where Gavin awakened to find himself in bed with Alice was at the head of the stairs. He felt the blood drain from his face as he glanced again at his wife. Judith had seen him in bed with Alice! She had backed away, probably too upset to look where she was going, and had fallen. But how had she known where he was? Only if someone had told her where to look.

  “No bones seem to be broken,” the physician said. “Take her to her bed and let her rest.”

  Gavin murmured a prayer of thanksgiving, then bent and lifted his wife’s limp form. The crowd of people around them gasped when he held her. The pallet and her gown were soaked with blood.

  “She miscarries the child,” Queen Elizabeth said at Gavin’s elbow. “Carry her above. I will have my own midwife look at her.”

  Gavin could feel the warmth of Judith’s blood on his arm through the sleeves of his tunic. A strong hand was placed on his shoulder, and he knew without looking that Stephen was there.

  “My lady!” Joan gasped when Gavin entered the room carrying Judith. “I just now returned and she was gone. She has been hurt!” Joan’s voice showed the love she had for her mistress. “Will she be all right?”

  “We don’t know,” Stephen answered.

  Gavin gently put his wife on the bed.

  “Joan,” Queen Elizabeth said. “Fetch warm water from the kitchen and clean linen.”

  “Linen, Your Majesty?”

  “For absorbing the blood. She miscarries the baby. When you have the linen, fetch Lady Helen. She will want to be with her daughter.”

  “My poor lady,” Joan whispered. “She wanted this child so much.” There were tears in her voice as she left the room.

  “Go now,” Elizabeth urged as she turned back to the two men. “You must leave her. You are of no use. We will see to her.”

  Stephen put his arm around his brother’s shoulders but Gavin shrugged it away. “No, Your Majesty, I won’t go. Had I been with her tonight, she wouldn’t have been hurt.”

  Stephen started to speak but Elizabeth stopped him. She knew it would be no use. “You may stay.” She nodded to Stephen and he departed.

  Gavin stroked Judith’s forehead as he looked up at the queen. “Tell me what to do.”

  “Take her robe off.”

  Gavin carefully untied the garment, then gently lifted Judith and took her arms from the sleeves. He was horrified to see the blood on her thighs. He stared at it for a moment, not moving.

  Elizabeth watched him. “Birthing is not a pleasant sight.”

  “This is not a birth, but a…” He could not finish.

  “She must have been far along to show so much blood. This will indeed be a birth, though with less pleasant results.”

  They both looked up as the midwife, a fat, red-faced woman burst into the chamber. “Do you intend to freeze the poor girl?” she demanded. “Here! We need no men,” she said to Gavin.

  “He will stay,” Queen Elizabeth said firmly.

  The midwife looked at Gavin for a moment. “Go then and fetch the water from the maid. She takes too long to carry it up the stairs.”

  Gavin reacted immediately.

  “Her husband, Your Majesty?” the midwife asked when Gavin was gone.

  “Yes, and their first child.”

  The fat woman snorted. “He should have taken better care of her, Your Majesty, and not let her roam about the halls at night.”

  As soon as Gavin set the water down inside the room, the woman snapped more orders at him. “Find her some clothes and keep her warm.”

  Joan, who had entered behind Gavin, rummaged in a chest and handed him a warm woolen gown. Gavin carefully dressed Judith, all the while watching the blood slowly seep from her. Perspiration appeared on her forehead and he wiped it away with a cool cloth. “Will she be all right?” he whispered.

  “I can’t answer that. It depends on whether we can get all the birth out of her and if we can get the bleeding to stop.” Judith moaned and moved her head. “Keep her quiet or she’ll make our work harder.”

  “Judith,” Gavin said quietly. “Be still.” He took her hands in his when she began to move them about.

  She opened her eyes. “Gavin?” she whispered.

  “Yes. Don’t talk now. Be still and rest. You will be well soon.”

  “Well?” She did not seem fully aware of her state. Then a violent cramp shot through her. Her hands clutched at his. Judith looked up at him, bewildered. “What happened?” she gasped then her eyes began to focus clearly. The queen, her maid and another woman knelt over her, looking at her with concern. Another spasm rocked her.

  “Come,” the midwife said. “We must knead her stomach and help her.”

  “Gavin!” Judith said in fright, panting after the last pain.

  “Quiet, my love. You will soon be well. There will be other children.”

  Her eyes opened in horror. “Child? My baby? Am I losing my baby?” Her voice rose almost hysterically.

  “Judith, please,” Gavin said, soothing her. “There will be others.”

  Another pain shot through Judith as she stared at Gavin, her memory returning. “I fell off the stairs,” she said quietly. “I saw you in bed with your whore and I fell from the stairs.”

  “Judith, this is not the time—”

  “Don’t touch me!”

  “Judith,” Gavin said, half-pleading.

  “Do I disappoint you that I’m not dead? As my child is now dead?” Her eyes blinked back tears. “Go to her. You wanted her so badly, and you are welcome to her!”

  “Judith—” Gavin began, but Queen Elizabeth took his arm.

  “Perhaps you should go.”

  “Yes,” he agreed as Judith refused to look at him. Stephen waited outside the door for him, his brows raised in question. “The child is lost and I don’t know yet if Judith will live.”

  “Come below,” Stephen said. “They won’t allow you to stay with her?”

  “Judith wouldn’t allow it,” Gavin said flatly.

  Stephen didn’t speak again until they were outside the manor house. The sun was just beginning to rise, the sky gray. The commotion caused by Judith’s fall made the castlefolk rise earlier than usual. The brothers sat on a bench by the castle wall. “Why was she walking about the hall at night?” Stephen asked.

  “I don’t know. When you and I parted, I fell into a bed—the nearest one at the top of the stairs.”

  “Perhaps she woke and found you were gone and came to search for you.”

  Gavin didn’t answer.

  “There is more to this that you aren’t telling me.”

  “Yes. When Judith saw me, I was in bed with Alice.”

  Never before had Stephen offered a judgment of