The Last Boleyn(80)

He sat in Staff’s vacated seat and threw his hat into middle of the table. Norfolk draped his furred cloak over the back of Will’s chair and sat against it silently, his eyes darting from Will to Mary, who closed the door.

“Well, where is she?” Lord Bullen demanded. “She refused him, they say. Where did he send her? Is she back here with you?”

“Anne and George have gone to Hever, father,” Mary said behind him, and he swiveled in his seat to stare up at her grim-faced.

“And I suppose you were not even on his arm, or were sour-faced and sad to be near His Grace as you have been the past year. You lost him, girl. You let all this happen.”

“Mary held him for five years, my lord,” Will responded quietly, and Thomas Bullen shot him a frown.

“Well, obviously, that is all water over the mill dam now, Carey. So we must regroup and go on from here. He said he wanted all the Bullens to get out of his sight?”

There was a silence and Mary could tell that Will was hesitating to tell him of the shove the king had given him, which he clearly interpreted as the banishment of the Careys with the Bullens.

“Well, Stafford?” Thomas Bullen swung his gaze to the tall man sitting against the wall. “I knew I could not depend on rationality here when we are so desperately in need of it. How did you interpret it? Can Mary stay? To try again?”

Staff strode to the table and leaned his hands upon it, towering over Bullen and the avid Norfolk, who had not yet spoken a word. “I shall tell it to you as I see it, my lord. Mary dare not stay, at least for now. If Will complies with the implication of His Grace’s meaning, they should retire for a while, and they may very well be welcomed back later as part of the court. I think the king feels no enmity toward Mary and will not unless she becomes an embarrassment to him if he decides to pursue Anne further.”

“Ah,” Bullen let out breathlessly, before his eager eyes became impassive again.

Stafford paused as though to let the possibility sink in. “Anne is the cause of the unrest, my lord. The king is hurt, but I believe the hurt may turn to challenge. It is not impossible that the king may choose to hunt a doe in the quiet gardens of Hever as he did in the noisy forests of Eltham.” Staff straightened as though the lecture were complete. “He has done so before, I remember.”

Norfolk’s deep voice broke the pause. “Then, Thomas, there is the possibility of Anne. I cannot believe Anne could hold him over Mary’s beauty, but we have seen it—His Grace is bored all the time now, with the queen, with his future.”

“And Anne can be made to see the error of her ways,” Thomas Bullen intoned. “Damn the willful wench to lead him on and deny him in public. It is worse than the nightmare of Elizabeth’s refusal.”

Mary shuddered at the outright mention of the family secret she had heard her parents discuss so long ago, when she was first sent away from Hever. Will stood impassive, and Staff retreated against the wall. Unheeding, the two men huddled over the table in earnest conversation, as though there were no one else in the room. Mary strode over to Staff and drank from his cup. She had had much wine, more than usual, and she felt dizzy, but she did not care. She did not care about anything as long as they left her children out of it and she did not have to return to the smothering arms of the king.

The low buzzing of their talk ceased, Will was the only one close enough to hear what they had been saying and he stood frozen, like a statue, near the table.

“You think Carey may come back to court after a time?” Bullen questioned again, turning to Staff and speaking as if Will were not standing only five feet away.

“Yes, milord. Especially if they get away before his return.”

“But if Anne should come back to court?”

“Will’s position as Esquire should not be in danger, even if Anne should return. The king will only promote a Gentleman Usher to do the work while Will is away. I think I can see to that. And why should the king’s new mistress not ask for her sister to come back to live at court if worse comes to worse? It will not touch His Grace’s scruples, and it will be as though Mary were never in his bed. You have seen it, Lord Bullen. You know it to be true.”

“Exactly. Then I am off to Hever tomorrow to deal with the foolish baggage who has caused all this upheaval. Damn it, Norfolk, her mother always did spoil her and cling to the girl as the last of the brood. She said she would never live with me again if I sent Anne to France younger than I had Mary. It is the only time I ever gave in to the woman. I waited over two years past when Anne should have been at Francois’s court with Mary.”

Norfolk nodded as he spoke. “Yes, Thomas. Mary has always been as sensible as she is beautiful. But I have hardly known Anne since that crazy Percy affair. Something broke in her then, I think. I wish you God’s help in dealing with the sticky situation.”

Thomas Bullen rose to go, as though all were settled, then spun back to Will, who still seemed dazed by it all. “See that you are gone before the retinue arrives, Will. To Plashy, I think, since the house is better there than the one in Lancaster.”

“I had thought Plashy. If you can use your influence, be certain my household position awaits me when we come back.” Will’s voice was strangely forlorn, not bitter or taunting as Mary had expected when he faced her father. He had not seen Thomas Bullen as crushed by the news as he had hoped. He is astounded at the Bullen resiliency, she thought.