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years?”
    “My love, there is naught to forgive. I have only gratitude that you raised and guarded my son. All else was beyond our control.”
    “Alaïs,” William said thoughtfully, “I have a serious question to ask. I have been giving this some thought.”
    “My lord?” I asked, moving to a more comfortable wooden stoolbut still within his reach. We could have been any domestic peasant couple in a cottage at the end of the day, talking comfortably while the man washed the dust of his work away. I needed only his hose to darn to complete the picture.
    “Do you ever wonder what Francis will say when he finds out what we have kept from him?” His voice was thoughtful, and I searched my soul for an answer.
    “Do you fret over this? You have been his guardian for so many years. I cannot think he would be angry with you about aught.” I spoke slowly, thinking more on William than myself.
    “Indeed, I am of the same mind.” William’s voice became more robust. “I harbor no fear that Francis will bear me ill will for my part, for he has a kind heart and has ever been well disposed toward me since he was a small lad.” William reached a long arm for a towel from the stool near the wooden tub. “He knows I care for him. And I want to reassure you that you should have the same confidence.”
    “In truth, I do have a lurking fear…” It was so difficult to put into words, even to William who knew the secrets of my heart. “Perhaps that is why I am so eager to get past the telling, to say to him all the things I must say as a mother. And to help him understand…”
    “Because you think he will blame you for not holding on to him when he was a babe?” William shook his head, water sprinting from his mane of hair. Then he wiped his face with a serviette that I handed to him. “You know better than that. He considers you a kindred soul, though he does not know how truly kindred you are! Do you recall when you first met Francis as a young man, when he was my clerk? You did not know yet who he was. We were all traveling together. One night in Chinon you and the young lad, unbeknownst to the other, escaped my men to have an adventure. I had to spend my time looking for the pair of you, and found you both in the same crowded square—watching the town players. Living for illusion, the pair of you.”
    I had to smile at his feigned irritation. “Too bad, for the mighty Lord William, having to search for his family!” And I was rewarded for my impudence by a splash of water that dampened my gown and made me cry out with surprise.
    “William! Will you never grow up entirely?”
    “But now, do be serious,” he said, as if it were I creating the frivolity. He took my hands, offered to help him from the bath, but he did not move. “I want to tell you, my dearest heart, that when we can, when it is safe to tell Francis who he is, we will support him in his choice of action over his claim to the throne of England. But we shall also offer him the chance to do nothing but stay with us as our son. Because by that time, pope or no pope, we shall have spoken our vows as man and wife.”
    Before I could give voice to the several responses crowding forward inside me, there were three loud knocks on my chamber door. William responded with a hearty, “Enter,” and the door flew open. The tall, comely youth stopped short on the threshold, his cheeks flushing at the sight of his master in the bath.
    “Forgive me, Princesse Alaïs,” he said, with some confusion. “My Lord,” he added, beginning to back out. Behind him three round-eyed menservants, each carrying an armful of wools and silks of the deepest reds and blues, stopped short also and the young, newly made knight was in danger of tripping over them. For indeed it was my son, the young knight Francis.
    “Come in, lad. Please,” I said, as I extended my hand to him, giving way to a broad smile from my heart.
    “Put those clothes there, on the bed, and leave us!” I