- 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑒𝑖𝑔𝑛 -
It's the year 1464 and Eleanor Woodville lives at Grafton Manor as one of the younger daughters of Jacquetta and Sir Richard Woodville. At 11 years old, her worries are little and her joys great but her o...
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~Little Eliza~
October 1473, Middleham....
Richard awoke steadily as his ears filled with the distant noise of clattering and the quiet cursing of a young woman as she picked up the mirror she had accidentally knocked to the floor.
Opening his eyes he could tell by the dim light that it was only just past dawn and was surprised to see Eleanor rushing around their chamber already fully dressed without the help of her ladies, a winter cloak pulled tightly around her. He kept watching as she pulled on a pair of leather riding gloves, slowly flexing her fingers to ease the tough material before she tucked a curl, that had escaped her hastily arranged braid, behind her ear.
"What on earth are you doing, Leena?" He asked, suppressing the urge to laugh as her surprised gaze shot to his. Looking upwards a little, she crossed herself before letting out a sigh and walking back to the bed, sitting beside him while smoothing out her skirts.
"I had hoped I would not wake you" she said softly "but I was going to leave a note! I'm going to collect Eliza" "Ah" he observed with a nod "so today is the day? I had momentarily forgotten!"
"It is" she confirmed, a certain excited gleam in her eyes as she spoke before she took his hand, a look of sincerity overcoming her "I made a promise, to Bella, that I would take her in.... much like the promise I assume you made Kate with her chi....with Katheryn and John"
"I did" Richard confirmed, squeezing her hand as she gave him a small nod.
"I understand that now" she said "I have thought about it a lot over the past three weeks that they have been here, Richard and....I have come to the decision that today....when I return" she took a breath, reading herself for her announcement "that I would like to meet them. Katheryn and John, I mean"
She offered Richard a small smile, feeling pleased at the look of surprised joy that swept over her husband's face. In truth, she had been deliberating her decision for weeks, weeks during which she had been observing the children from a distance.
She had readily allowed for them to begin playing with Bess and Matilda and one morning had slipped along the ramparts to see Katheryn playing 'ring- a ring a-rosie ' with Isabel and Elizabeth while Anne watched on holding the little babe.
She found herself smiling at the little trio of girls whose grins she wagered could light up the very sky with their childish happiness and even felt her heart warm a little as she watched Katheryn hand Tilda her stuffed rabbit, curtsying prettily before she pressed a soft kiss to her half sister's cheek.
