- 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑒𝑖𝑔𝑛 -
It's the year 1464 and Eleanor Woodville lives at Grafton Manor as one of the younger daughters of Jacquetta and Sir Richard Woodville. At 11 years old, her worries are little and her joys great but her o...
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~My Baby~
August 1470....
Eleanor giggled as she bounced her daughter on her lap, watching her toothless grin with joy as her tiny hands fiddled with the jewels that were sewn to the front of her mother's gown. "Now now, my darling" the Duchess said gently as she pried her daughter's fingers away, pushing her copper braid over her shoulder "we must not damage this, it is one of my favourites!"
Jacquetta merely stared up at her with her large blue eyes before she took to sucking on the sleeve of her own gown which made Eleanor laugh and hug the babe closer to her.
"She is behaving, I hope, votre grace?" Marie called from where she was arranging the Duchess's jewellery at the other end of the chamber. "Of course!" Eleanor replied sunnily, standing and cradling her daughter in her arms, never tearing her eyes from her perfect features as she walked. "my daughter is always well behaved....well apart from when she screams for her nurse....but we needn't worry about that"
Jacquetta suddenly sneezed, shaking a little as she did so then looking to her mother in wonder and fear as she recovered, seemingly confused about what she had just done. "Ah, ma petite rose" Eleanor murmured as she placed her daughter in her crib and gently placed the covers over her small body "I love you with all of my heart"
"All of it?" Marie repeated with a smile and Eleanor nodded, kissing Jacquetta's forehead. "Oui, mon ami"
꧁꧂
"And so what was this news you called for me to hear about from your very lips?" The Duchess asked as she walked into the Queen's chambers the next day and quickly curtsied before rising with a smile.
Elizabeth took her hands and grinned, leaning her forehead against her sister's. "It is nothing much!" She replied gleefully "I simply wanted to see you!"
"Did you now?" Eleanor exclaimed as she then watched Elizabeth almost skip around the room, throwing one of her windows open to let in more of the warm August sunlight that the courtiers all loved to bask in.
That summer had truly been a glorious one, no matter the threat of war from Warwick and Margaret of Anjou in France and Eleanor could remember many a time when she had sat in the gardens with her daughter, Lizzie, Mary and Cecily all crowding around her to see the baby.
"I do not want it to turn to winter" she remarked absentmindedly as she joined her sister by the window "I would rather it stay summer so that I can wake up to a blue sky as clear as the shallows of the ocean and a sun that smiles down upon us"
"Quite poetic of you, Eleanor" Elizabeth teased and the Duchess grinned at her, though it was only a few moments before her face fell. "Bella loved summer" "She did....have you heard from her?"
