The Other Elizabeth

Chapter XXVI: Winter 1459-Winter 1460

"'Twould be a good match, a rather good one," my Mother says thoughtfully, and I feel my heart leap. I could, in all seriousness, marry Anthony? Would I truly want to- yes... yes! "There has long been an understanding betwixt our two families- his sister Elizabeth was once thought to marry Thomas." We smile sadly at one another; indeed, it brings back the memory once more of the day Thomas died, and my Mother saying the same such thing. Now I wonder if the chanting in my head, Elizabeth Wydeville, Elizabeth Wydeville, Elizabeth Wydeville, was fate speaking directly to me. Mayhap I was always destined from that moment to be tied to the Wydevilles, and destiny was speaking my own name, that I one day would become Elizabeth Wydeville. I feel a huge rush inside me at the prospect of marrying Anthony. Could this be? Could it be arranged? I am rather giddy at the thought, and my Mother sees I can barely contain my feverish excitement as I beam, and a sudden breathlessness overcomes my person.

"Anthony is also his father's heir. I would be Baroness Rivers as well as Scales one day..." I say dreamily. Two baronies between us! Yes, this prospect is fine indeed! "Is it not his lady mother whom is reportedly descended from a water goddess also?"

"Pha- myths and legends," she replies, and she reaches for my hand. "Now, do try not to become too excited. I shall have to talk to your Father upon the matter- he shall be too addled tonight." We smile at each other ruefully. "There are good links between us- Thomas nominated Richard to be a Knight of the Garter for one... I cannot pretend that I am not displeased by your actions. Your Father intended to marry you to the Tyndale boy or one of the Earl of Oxford's sons, for they are your heirs anyhow, and it seemed fitting to make an alliance with either one. I should marry you to the Tyndale boy after how you behaved in the summer." She looks at me with mock sternness.

"The Tyndale boy!" I cry, tucking in my chair and throwing sand over my damp papers, for I have finished writing to the stewards of my manors; that business is done- and there is different business to attend to. Thomas Tyndale is a mere youth, and blusters whenever he talks. I need a strong man such as Anthony...

"Oh Elizabeth, I jest, I would never make you so miserable!" she draws me to arm's length. It is rather hypocritical of her, seeing as how miserable she made me in my girlhood. "As Anthony says, you are a becoming young woman." I smile back at her. She suddenly appears to me so weak and vulnerable that I walk over and embrace her small frame. "Thank you," I whisper into her hair, for she could have married me to any old buffoon, and yet she lets me follow my heart, and marry, as most cannot; marry for love, for I do believe I love him, and we could be most happy together.

There is a knock on the door, and we turn around to see my Father peering around it.

"Is she finally ready?" he says, smiling. Alas, for once, he is not addled! I reach for my headdress on the bed, and set it on my head. Mother tweaks it, for it must have been lopsided.

"I am now," I say, linking my arm around the one my Father proffers for me take.

"I am proud of you, Elizabeth," he says gruffly to me, and I beam back. My Mother takes his other arm, and he kisses her on the brow. In this moment, I am truly content. I have a Mother and Father who are not arguing for one, who are finally proud of me, and I have my kinsfolk waiting to greet me below, and I could possibly marry Anthony, if all goes well, and we can head into the future together. What could go possibly go wrong?

"Come, let us join the feast. They shall be wondering where we are!" I say, and we walk out the door together, together as a family. 

*****

A most distressing event has occurred in the first few weeks of the new year! My Anthony, my Anthony Wydeville, and his lady mother and the lord his father, have been captured!-and by none other than my own Yorkist kinsman, namely the young, gallant, Edward, Earl of March who winked at me at Ludlow, and his father's allies of Warwick and Salisbury. These were the men whom I saw fleeing to Calais for their lives after cowardly abandoning their army to the mercy of the Lancastrian one, and the cause I did champion. I shall never forget how I feared for my life as I stood amongst the screams, the smoke perforating the air, horses neighing wildly, as they reared about me, and the incandescence spiralling about us, lighting up eyes with fear...