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"I do not know if I love Varian," Nyssa said honestly, "or if I will ever love him. Is that not a chance people of our station take when we marry? You did not know if Mama would ever love you when you married her. Varian is a good man, and I do not think I can expect anything more than that, Papa." She kissed her stepfather's cheek. "Now come, and give my husband your hand in friendship. Give us your blessing too."

"But," he protested, "I always promised you your choice of a husband, Nyssa. I feel that I have failed you somehow. I should not have allowed you to go to court. I knew it at the time, but I let you all overrule me because the king promised to watch out for you. Bliss, you swore to me that you would chaperone my daughter carefully. You failed, and now my child is trapped in a loveless marriage."

"Anthony," his wife said sternly, "Nyssa is not trapped in a loveless union. She is as loved by her bridegroom as I was loved by you when we were first married. Look at your son-in-law! He is calf-eyed over the girl. If you cannot see it, it is because you do not want another man in Nyssa's life but you. You never encouraged her to consider any of the young gentlemen hereabouts. Well, the matter is now out of your hands. Nyssa is a married woman, and if you will not, I will now welcome the Earl of March into this family." Standing upon tiptoes, Blaze kissed her son-in-law. "Welcome toRiversEdge, Varian de Winter. I met your father but once, at my wedding feast, when I married Nyssa's father, Edmund Wyndham. You favor him, except about the eyes. You have your grandfather Howard's eyes."

He smiled a slow, warm smile at her, raising her hand to his lips and kissing it. "I appreciate your kindness, madame. Let me assure you that I will care for your daughter with all the devotion I am capable of, I swear it!"

"Aye," Blaze said, returning his smile, "I think you will. You have my blessing."

"Hrrrumph!" Anthony Wyndham cleared his throat noisily, and they turned to him. He held out his hand to Varian de Winter. "You have my hand, my lord, and my blessing as well," he said. "But treat my daughter badly and you will have my enmity. I am not pleased with the fait accompli that you have presented me with, but since it would appear that I can do nothing about it, I will give you the benefit of the doubt."

"I thank you, my lord. I love Nyssa. I will not fail the trust you have placed in me," the Earl of March said.

"Then it is settled, and we can go home to Marwood Hall," Bliss said brightly, relief permeating her entire being. It had not been as bad as she had thought it would be. Anthony had been angry, and he had castigated her, but he was now resigned, thank goodness!

"Where is Giles?" Blaze asked her sister.

"The Princess of Cleves is going to remain in England," Bliss said. "She will now be called the king's sister, and only a new queen and the princesses will take precedence over her. She asked Giles to remain with her household, and he agreed to do so."

"He's a born courtier," Nyssa told her parents. "He thinks he has a future at court, and considers the lady Anne's household as a starting place. He will eventually be asked to join another household, Mama, I'm quite certain. He is very well-liked, and most clever for a boy so young."

Blaze and her husband nodded, satisfied. It was a good future for their second son.

"Will he come home anytime soon?" Blaze asked.

"He said perhaps in the autumn," Nyssa replied.

"We really must depart before dark," Bliss said loudly.

"Oh, very well, Bliss," her sister said. "Go home!"

The Countess of Marwood practically ran from the Great Hall, her husband following in her wake, chuckling quite audibly.

Anthony Wyndham could not prevent the smile that set the corners of his mouth lifting upward. "Poor Bliss. She was, I see, quite fearful of what I would say about this matter," he said.

"And with good cause, I think, Papa," Nyssa told him, laughing.

"You must be exhausted with your traveling," Blaze said. "Show Varian to your chamber, Nyssa. We will eat at the usual hour."

"Where are my brothers?" Nyssa asked her mother.

"Probably swimming in the river. Surely you have not forgotten? 'Tis summer, and all of you loved to paddle about the old Wye," Blaze said. "That is far more important than having an old sister return from court." She laughed, and Nyssa joined her.

"How old are your sons, madame?" Varian de Winter asked his mother-in-law.

"Richard will be nine in the late autumn. Teddy was just five, and wee Henry is three," Blaze told him. She looked at her daughter. "You will not believe how Jane and Annie have grown, Nyssa. Jane is already saying 'Da, Ma,' and she says 'Bo' for her brothers. They adore her. Annie, however, is quieter, allowing her sister to speak for them both, but she is close to walking on her own, and getting into everything." She looked at her new son-in-law again. "Do you like children, my lord?"

"Indeed I do, madame. I hope we will have as fine a family as you do. I was raised with my aunt and uncle, but I was some years their senior. I would have enjoyed a larger group of siblings."

"If you wish to remain here talking," Nyssa said, "I shall leave you, my lord, for I desire nothing more than a bath right now. I vow that all of the dust from England's roads is lodged in my hair and on my skin. The tub I had at our house in Greenwich was nowhere near as big and as comfortable as the one I have here atRiversEdge. I shall insist upon taking it, Mama, when Varian and I depart to Winterhaven."

"Go then, my dear," Blaze told her daughter. "We shall be happy to entertain your husband while you bathe, unless, of course, he would like to bathe too."

"Perhaps I shall," Varian de Winter said, and he quickly followed his wife from the Great Hall.

"Must you encourage that licentious behavior, madame?" Anthony Wyndham growled to his wife.

Blaze laughed. "Ohh, Tony, do not be such an old fuss," his wife teased him. "You like to bathe with me sometimes."