The Virgin's Daughter (Tudor Legacy #1)(104)
And then there’s the Penguin Random House team. Julia Maguire has the unenviable task of reminding me of the many things I forget. Shona McCarthy, Maggie Oberrender, Abbey Cory, Angela McNally, Pamela Alders, Caroline Cunningham, Susan Zucker, Liz Shapiro, Marietta Anastassatos, and Susan Corcoran are the most dedicated, talented professionals—each of whom has made every day better since they allowed me into their world. I was visiting London when I got the news that they wanted this trilogy. I nearly burst into tears in Trafalgar Square when I realized I could continue working with all of these people—and more.
Peter Weissman is the most fabulous copy editor ever. His green pencil never (okay, almost never) freaks me out. He deserves special appreciation for this book, which he received sooner than I expected him to. For wading through my many errors, a million thanks.
An enormous thanks to the Romantic Times organization, especially the reviewers who have given so much love to my books. Winning Best Historical Fiction from them was the best surprise of last year—and I’m still a little afraid they’re going to take it back.
And always and ever, there’s my family. I have had many opportunities this last year to remember that, as much as I love my books, I love my people that little bit more. Last June our second son graduated from high school and started college three weeks later—two thousand miles away. Also in June, our beloved as-good-as-daughter graduated from college and left our house after more than two years with us.
The greatest loss last summer was my dear father-in-law. I met him when I was only seventeen and in the nearly thirty years since, his has been one of those few whose good opinion I cared for. This book is his, if for no other reason than because he helped raise his youngest son to be a person who makes every day of my life better. I chose the word “gentleman” in the dedication advisedly—because Dee Andersen was, truly, a gentle man. We miss him.
BY LAURA ANDERSEN
The Boleyn King
The Boleyn Deceit
The Boleyn Reckoning
The Virgin’s Daughter
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LAURA ANDERSEN is married with four children, and possesses a constant sense of having forgotten something important. She has a B.A. in English (with an emphasis in British History), which she puts to use by reading everything she can lay her hands on.
www.lauraandersenbooks.com
Find Laura S. Andersen on Facebook
@LauraSAndersen
THE VIRGIN’S DAUGHTER
Laura Andersen
A Reader’s Guide
FROM THE DIARY OF MINUETTE COURTENAY
30 August 1561
Wynfield Mote
Elizabeth’s summer progress has brought her to Warwick Castle for a fortnight, a visit that might very well bankrupt Ambrose Dudley. It is, of course, a mark of great favour to host the queen—but the wretched man apparently had to build an entirely new timber structure in which to house her, seeing as the castle itself is in such poor repair. Perhaps that is why our queen never chooses to stay with us at Wynfield Mote—she knows that we would not go to such lengths to impress her.
But as Warwick is only ten miles distant, Elizabeth has come to us for this one night only.
There have been rumours, of course, since almost the moment she made her wedding vows last December. But I said I would believe none of them until Elizabeth herself told me. And so she did, as we sat alone together after dinner.
“I am with child.” She delivered the news as abruptly and matter-of-factly as though she were commenting on possession of a new book or piece of art. But I know her too well to be deceived.
“I am glad of it,” I replied, with real pleasure. “Have you been ill? Tired? Uncomfortable?”
“I cannot afford to be ill, breeding or not.”
“Philip must be pleased.” I called him by name deliberately, to separate the husband and father from the King of Spain.
“Naturally he is pleased. It means he has done his duty. Now he can return to Spain for the winter.”
“I do not think you are only a duty to him, Elizabeth. And nor will his child be.”
But my friend has refused to be sentimental since the death of Robert Dudley. “We cannot all be as fortunate as you, Minuette, with your adoring husband and perfect brood of children. For it is no secret in this household that you are also set to deliver another before spring.”
There is no such thing as perfect, I wanted to snap. What does Elizabeth know of the price Dominic and I continue to pay for our past sins? Does she know how my husband retreated to Tiverton after Stephen’s birth last year and did not communicate for so many months I began to think he had left me? He loves me, I know, and he loves Lucette equally with Stephen—but love does not preclude pain.
As Elizabeth knows well.
—
27 February 1562
Tiverton Castle
Elizabeth is safely delivered of a daughter.
She is named Anne Isabella, for her Boleyn grandmother and her Spanish great-grandmother. If there is disappointment that the newborn is not a son, it is masked for now with relief that the queen is clearly capable of bearing healthy children. King Philip will return in the spring to meet his daughter, yes, but also to begin the business of the next child.