My Nephew, My King

Inner Beauty

"Your father doesn't like me," Anne of Cleves said to Edward as soon as they were alone.

"Of course he does," Edward quickly assured her. "He's just a bit reticent about meeting new people, that's all."

"I fear that my looks don't please him," Anne replied.

"When he gets to know you and finds out what you're like on the inside, he'll love you just as I do," Edward predicted.

"Believe it or not, I was quite attractive before I contracted smallpox," Anne told him.

"Your scars don't bother me at all," said Edward. "I consider them evidence that you survived. If the smallpox had killed you, you wouldn't have scars."

"Sweet Jesu, I never thought of it that way at all," said Anne.

Lady Jane Seymour was strolling in the palace gardens with her husband, Henry, when her labor pains began. Startled, she clutched her belly and looked at Henry.

"Is it time?" he asked her.

She nodded, and he took her by the hand and rushed her back into the palace as quickly as he could. He helped her to lie down in her bedchambers and then went in search of the court physician, who quickly examined Jane and confirmed that she was, indeed, in labor.

Twelve hours later, Jane gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Henry was thrilled.

"Let's name him Edward, after your brother and mine as well," Jane suggested. Henry agreed.

Everything seemed to be fine for the following twelve days. However, twenty-eight days before Jane's Churching was to take place, Henry was visiting Jane in her bedchambers when he saw his wife's face turn ashen white and, aghast, watched as she slumped to the floor in a pool of blood.

Edward married Anne of Cleves in the same chapel in which his older siblings had been wed before him. Henry begrudgingly admitted that if Edward wanted to marry a woman that he himself considered homely, it was no one else's business but Edward's. Katherine, who had taken an immediate liking to Anne, continued to treat her warmly.

Waiting for her new husband in her bedchambers that night, Anne hoped that Edward wouldn't have any second thoughts about having married her when he saw her naked body for the first time.

Edward smiled at her as he entered the bedchambers, then walked up to her and began kissing her. As he did so, he began to remove her clothing. At last she stood before him naked, and he glanced over her body appreciatively before starting to remove his own clothing.

"Does my body please you?" she asked shyly.

"Of course it does!" He sounded surprised that she'd even ask.

Soon all his clothing had been shed as well, and they lay together on the bed, exploring one another's bodies and becoming more and more aroused, until at last they joined together in their first act of marital love.

As little Georgia grew into a toddler, she resembled her father more and more with each passing day. Two years after her birth, Joanna gave birth to a son. He was named Thomas for George's father. George and Joanna were very happy with their growing family and still loved one another very much.