Lady Jane: A Time For Us

Tragedy

As the days became longer, Jane's nausea and lethargy subsided, and by late summer, she had developed a voracious appetite. She was always careful to leave enough food for Guilford, but he could tell that she wasn't quite satisfied after each meal. He always offered her some of his share of the meal, but she always declined.

One evening in late September, Jane was startled to feel a faint movement from deep inside her belly. It made her think of the feeble movement of a baby bird's wing. A moment later she realized what it was, and a wave of excitement washed over her.

"Guildford! I can feel our child's movements now!" Jane placed her husband's hand on her belly, and a moment later, the slight flutter happened again. Guilford's eyes widened, and a look of awe came over his face.

"So, little one, you have at last chosen to make your presence known," he said, patting Jane's belly.

A few nights later, Guilford heard Jane crying softly in the middle of the night.

"What is it, my love?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to awaken you." Jane looked up at him with eyes full of tears, and he was alarmed.

"Never mind that. What's wrong? Are you in pain?"

"Oh, no, not at all. It's just that I feel...so hungry."

"Hungry?" Guilford laughed softly. "Is that all? Well, then, I shall find you something to eat."

"How?"

"There's more than one way out of this attic." Guilford moved a piece of the attic's roof. "I shall climb down the drainpipe and return the same way again."

"Oh, Guilford, no! That's far too dangerous! What if you should fall? It would break your neck!"

"I'll be very careful. That I promise."

Jane still looked doubtful, but Guilford grinned at her. "I'm the lion on the other side of the coin, remember?"

"I'd say 'foolhardy' is more like it."

Guilford feigned annoyance, then laughed. He kissed her cheek, stepped outside the attic, and disappeared down the side of the house.

Jane listened for the sound of his fall, and was relieved when it never came. She had almost dozed off again when he returned carrying a small bag.

"Mission accomplished!" he announced. "Although I'm sorry it isn't more. I dared not linger for fear of being discovered."

Jane reached into the bag he offered her and took out several small, round, white wafers.

"Why, they look just like..."

"That's exactly what they are."

Jane gasped with shock. "Guilford, you didn't!"

"There's a church only a couple of houses up from this one. Luckily, the door was unlocked so I didn't have to try a window."

Jane simply stared at him, unable to say a word.

"Please eat, Jane. I can't bear to see you suffer from hunger. They are, after all, simply wafers made of flour and water, nothing more. You know that as well as I do."

A distant memory suddenly returned to Jane.

So God made you, but the baker made God?

Jane had to quickly bury her face in a pillow to keep from bursting out laughing as Guilford watched her with a bemused smile.

"What is it? What's so funny?"

Jane, unable to speak, only shook her head as tears of merriment filled her eyes.

Guilford concluded that he would simply never understand the ways of women, especially those who were with child.

Jane's merriment didn't last long at all, as soon afterwards Suzanne visited them with upsetting news.

"Gaston was captured on his way home from our last church service," she told them. "He's now in prison. They will try to break him, to force him to part from the true faith and embrace Catholicism once again. We must pray that God will grant him the fortitude to resist their persecution."

"We will no longer be able to hold our church services here in this attic anymore, due to the increased danger. Henri and Simone have volunteered their own attic for the weekly service, so it will be held there from now on."

"I shall miss the others," Jane told Guilford after Suzanne had left. "I always so looked forward to the church service every week, and now that comfort has been taken from us."

"Please don't despair, Jane. We can still have our own church service right here, just the two of us. I daresay your own knowledge of scripture at least compares to that of Gaston, and surpasses it perhaps. At any rate, it certainly supasses mine." He chuckled ruefully.

"Oh, but you've proven to be such a fast learner, Guilford."

"As have you, my lady."

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean."

Guilford glanced at her rounded belly and grinned mischievously at her. Jane giggled and blushed slightly. She realized that he was attempting to lift her spirits, and although it was only momentarily successful, she still appreciated the effort.

That night Jane and Guilford sat facing one another, their hands clasped firmly together.

"Dear Lord, please help our brother Gaston to stand firm in the faith to the end," Jane prayed. "Help him to resist those in power as they try to break him. Help him to stay strong and remain true even in the face of death. We ask this in Your precious name, Jesus. Amen."

"Amen," echoed Guilford.

The next visit from Suzanne brought devastating news.

"Our dear Gaston is in the sheltering arms of our Lord and Saviour now," she told them between sobs. "They tried to get him to submit to the authority of the Pope. He refused. They tried to get him to take communion with a Catholic priest, to accept the doctrine of transubstantiation."

Jane's eyes met Guilford's, but there was not a trace of merriment in them this time.

"He refused. They tried to get him to denounce our church fathers Martin Luther and John Calvin as heretics. He refused. They put him on the wheel and tortured him until he died. His last words were, 'Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit'."

"The final words of our Saviour as he died upon the cross for our sins," Jane whispered.

Suzanne sobbed disconsolately, and Jane, near tears herself, embraced her. It was then that Jane realized that what she had suspected for weeks was indeed true. Suzanne was with child as well.