him ere Philippe and Heinrich do.” Seeing her frown, he said before she could refuse, “There is no one better than you at such diplomacy. Moreover, you already know the man and none would doubt your authority to speak for me.”
Eleanor’s eyes searched his face intently. After a silence that he found ominous, she said with a sigh, “Very well. But it will be up to you to reconcile Joanna to our abrupt departure. I am sure she’d expected to have some time to get to know Berengaria.”
Richard looked uncomfortable. “Joanna will not be returning with you, Maman. I want her to accompany us to Outremer. It will not be easy for Berenguela in the Holy Land, and I thought she’d feel less homesick if she had Joanna for company. That is even more true now that we cannot wed until the end of Lent, for her reputation will suffer if she does not have a woman of high rank to act as her . . . duenna, as the Spanish call it.”
Eleanor bit her lip to keep from protesting. As little as she liked it, his reasoning made sense. “I will not be rushing off on the morrow,” she warned. “I’ll act as your envoy at the papal court, but I want some time with my daughter first.”
“Of course,” he agreed hastily and leaned over to graze her cheek with a grateful kiss before holding out his hand to assist her to her feet. “I am truly sorry that we cannot wed whilst you’re here, Maman. You missed so many family events during those years of confinement. It does not seem fair that you’ll be deprived of my wedding, too.”
Eleanor was both surprised and touched that he understood how much it had meant to her. “So . . .” she said with a warm smile, “what do you think of your bride?”
“She seems quite suitable,” he said with an easy smile of his own. “From all you’ve told me, she acquitted herself well during the hardships of your journey. I think she’ll make a good queen.”
Eleanor thought so, too. But for a moment, she felt an unexpected pang of regret, for she was in her twilight while Berengaria’s sun was just rising. Almost at once, she rejected that twinge of envy, for she’d not have traded her past for her daughter-in-law’s youth. She’d experienced so much that Berengaria never would, that few women had, and she smiled, thinking that no man would ever have dismissed her with Richard’s casual “quite suitable.” She’d wanted more, and if her memories were bittersweet now, they still testified to a life lived to the fullest, a life that had not lacked for passion or adventure or the élan of her beloved Aquitaine.
Richard was looking at her curiously. “You’ve an odd expression, Maman. If you were a cat, you’d be licking cream from your whiskers. What were you thinking?”
She gave him a half-truth. “Of my marriage and yours. Have you given any thought to how awkward it will be for Philippe, having to bear witness as you wed the woman who replaced his sister?”
“Why? You think I ought to ask Philippe to give the bride away?” He laughed down at her, stirring memories of the mischievous boy he’d once been, and she stilled the voice whispering that he took his enemies too lightly, for she knew he’d not have heeded her words of warning.
ELEANOR DID NOT DEPART for another four days, despite Richard’s coaxing. It was not until the afternoon of April 4 that her ship’s oarsmen began to maneuver their way out into the harbor. Richard, Joanna, and Berengaria stood on the quay, and Eleanor continued to return their farewell waves until Messina began to recede into the distance. A northwest wind had robbed the sun of much of its warmth, but Hawisa stayed loyally beside the queen instead of withdrawing to the shelter of their canvas tent. She knew that this parting was painful for Eleanor, so she’d done her best to hide her own elation, her joy that she’d not have to lay eyes again upon her husband for many months, if ever. Men died so easily in the Holy Land, after all.
Eleanor remained on deck, indifferent to the spray splashing over the gunwale. “I knew Richard would be facing daily danger in Outremer,” she said at last. “But I’d not expected to have to fear for my daughter’s safety, too.”
Hawisa glanced at the queen’s profile, wishing she could say there