Lady Jane: A Time For Us

m******e Part One

August 1572

"The true believers in France are being massacred by the papists," Guilford told Jane one evening. "Admiral Coligny has been assassinated, and many more are dead or wounded." Guilford's voice was heavy with sorrow.

Jane looked up from feeding Bessie, shocked. "We must help them!" she exclaimed. "They saved our lives, Guilford. We both would have been dead these past eighteen years if not for them."

"I know that, Jane. But what can we do? We are only two people, and Bessie is at such a tender age to be left in the care of others."

"Bessie has many who love her and whom I would entrust with her care. I cannot sit back helplessly and watch while our brothers and sisters in Christ are being slaughtered." Guilford recognized the determined tone in his wife's voice and knew that her mind was made up.

"Very well, then. We shall travel to France as soon as possible. I will contact Francis Walsingham and you may help care for the wounded and their families."

Jane finished feeding Bessie and began to burp her. The physician was well pleased with the little girl's progress. She had gained a few pounds and was now able both to hold her head up and to turn over. She was a very pleasant baby who smiled and laughed a lot, and everyone at court had fallen in love with her. Her most ardent devotee was, surprisingly enough, Robert. He visited his little niece on a regular basis and brought her little toys and dolls. Seeing his devotion to her daughter, Jane quickly developed a more positive opinion of her brother-in-law than she had held previously.

"He never had any children of his own," Guilford explained. "I imagine that Bessie is almost like a daughter to him."

"It's a side of him I've never seen before, nor indeed even suspected he had," Jane replied.

"Of course, I would be delighted to care for Bessie in your absence," Mary Keyes told her sister. Due to her unusually short stature and also her spinal deformity, it was doubtful that Mary would ever have children of her own, and she doted on her nieces and nephews, especially Bessie.

"Come to me, my darling," she said to Bessie, who cooed and gurgled at her.

"On my word, I have never met a baby with a sweeter nature," Mary told Jane.

"She's a special gift from God," Jane agreed. "I'll thank Him forever that He allowed us to keep her and has blessed her as He has."

It was very difficult for Guilford and Jane to say good-bye to their tiny daughter. Both kissed her tiny forehead, ran one hand gently over her down-covered head, and told her how much they loved her before departing.

"I will come along as well," Grace decided upon learning of her parents' plan. "I owe my life to them also, as had you both been executed I would never have existed, even."

"I am very concerned for your safety, as there is still much fighting going on in the streets," Jane told her. "And what of Henry? He shall surely miss you."

"Henry has his business for Her Majesty to occupy his time," Grace said. "God would desire that I do everything possible to help His suffering children, I know."

Although she wouldn't admit it to herself, Grace had a reason of her own for wanting to accompany her parents, one which she tried her best to push to the back of her mind, however often it stubbornly came to the forefront again.

As they entered the main hospital in Paris and were confronted with the tragic results of the first wave of violence, Jane and Grace were horrified. The moans and cries of the wounded tore at their hearts as the overwhelmed doctors and nurses rushed from bed to bed in an attempt to ease the suffering of the victims, but it was obvious that the task was far beyond them.

Jane noticed a very young woman, barely older than Grace, who seemed to be bleeding from between her legs. Jane began to search for clean bedsheets and bandages when the woman grabbed her arm, desperately, frantically.

"Please, madame, can you tell me where my Louis is? I haven't seen him since they brought me in here hours ago."

"I'm very sorry, madame, but I have only just arrived here myself. I know the whereabouts of no one," Jane told her.

"You are English. I can tell by your accent."

"Yes."

"We came to Paris for the wedding of our Prince Henry to the King's sister, Margaret," the woman continued. "We heard the bells ringing and knew that something bad was about to happen. We became very frightened and searched for a place to hide. We were headed for a building that we knew had a basement when suddenly someone came up to Louis and stabbed him. Blood was everywhere. I started screaming and must have passed out because the next thing I knew, I was here."

"Louis and I were so happy. We had just wed only a few months past, and I had just found out that I am with child. Now I fear that my child may be lost. Oh!" The woman grimaced with pain.

"Let me see if I can find some medicine for your pain," Jane said, but the woman clutched her arm even more tightly.

"No! Please don't leave me! Please don't leave..."

Jane stayed beside the woman, holding her hand and stroking her forehead and attempting to comfort her. Within minutes it became obvious that the woman was indeed having contractions. The pain and bleeding increased until the woman finally passed an indistinct flesh-colored mass.

"My baby...my baby..." the woman cried.

"I'm so very sorry." Jane held the woman in her arms and murmured comforting words to her until the woman at last fell into an exhausted sleep. Then Jane gently covered her with a sheet, wrapped the object she had passed in a piece of cloth, and took it to a doctor, who told her to dispose of it.

The doctor's words made Jane very angry, and she refused to do as he had told her. Choking back sobs, she instead took the little bundle back to the woman's bed and tenderly laid it on the bed beside her, carefully covering it so that no one could see it. Then she kissed the sleeping woman's cheek and, valiantly struggling to subdue the spasms of grief threatening to overtake her, turned to another patient.

"Today I watched a woman lose her baby," Jane told Guilford later. "The doctor told me to dispose of it...as if it were merely a piece of trash..." At last she could let the grief she had kept bottled up inside her all day out. In Guilford's caring arms she cried until there were no tears left. He said nothing, offered no empty platitudes, just held her as she wept. He was still her rock, her fortress, her haven, as she was still his moral compass.

They were still two sides of the same coin.

Grace had been working at the hospital almost non-stop for several days when she saw him, sitting beside the bed of a patient. A moment later he saw her as well, and his eyes registered first surprise, then delight, as he rose to greet her.