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A Long Goodbye; (HStaffs)
Topic Started: Jun 12 2011, 09:52 PM (216 Views)
Renna Stafford
Unregistered

The house was quiet, filled only with the sound of crackling wood and a hint of wind rustling the new leaves in the nearby woods. Renna sat motionless in her place, her sewing left idle in her lap as she looked into the flames. Tonight was the last time she would see Henry, for months...perhaps the last time she'd see him alive. What if he never came back?

The thought filled her with unspeakable terror, and she clenched her hands in her lap. Living without her husband, who had tried so hard to win her love and earned it with a vengeance -- could that even be called a life? And what if he did come back, but changed? Renna knew she could care for someone blinded, or missing an arm or leg, but she could not be happy at such pain being visited on someone she held so dear. She wanted him to return safely. More than that, she wanted him to never leave at all.

Finally she stirred and set her embroidery aside, to sorrow-laden to concentrate. She would have plenty of time in the next few months for sewing; it was pointless to worry about such trivial chores now. Without a word she rose and walked to her husband, bending down to put her arms around his neck.
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Henry Stafford
Unregistered

Henry didn’t want to think about leaving tomorrow. Even though he now had friends he could trust who would back him up as he would with them, the thought of leaving his beloved wife behind was killing him. Nothing, no one could prepare him for such a task. Because no one knew who was going to survive and who wasn’t, yet that didn’t stop him from praying every night that he would come back in one piece to his wife. The scariest thought though was that if he were to die in battle, who would continue on the Stafford name? He was fairly certain Renna wasn’t pregnant, unless she had been keeping it from him.

He looked over at her now, studying her for any signs that might point to a babe in her belly, but he could see none. But it wasn’t as if he knew what to look for or if he could tell if the signs were there. He was young when his mother was pregnant with his sisters, so it was unlikely he would have learned how to pick the signs.

He watched her for a moment more, letters and documents spread out on the small table beside him, quill in hand. Never in a million years would he have realised that one day he would be the King’s Secretary. He was so unaccustomed to such work, but the long chain of events that led to here with him having no title meant he had to do something to uphold him and his wife. It was actually because of Renna that he had been able to study with Sir Thomas More and thus ended up with said position. He just hoped he was doing enough, and giving her the life she wanted. His love for her at least was enough for now; at least it seemed to be.

He smiled as she realised he was watching her and as she set her embroidery to the side, he did the same with the quill and documents. Why on Earth was he doing that now anyway? Having no reason for doing it meant it was forgotten rather quickly when his beautiful wife came to him. Anything he could have been doing no matter how important it was would have been set aside for her, for their last night. As he felt her arms wrapping around his neck, he wasted no time in gathering her up and pulling her onto his lap, arms tightly around her as he breathed in her scent. “I will miss you too, love.”
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Renna Stafford
Unregistered

I'm going to miss you too, love.

Renna's eyes immediately filled, and she turned in Henry's arms so her face was pressed into his shoulder. He was so good. How could he leave her now? Their wedding was still silver-clear in her mind; a cold, dreary January day that had still somehow managed to be beautiful and warm. He'd been so gentle then, so delighted in his wife, and that night he'd taught her how to love something she'd once thought she could never endure. Now it was April, and they'd only been wed four months, and he was going to war.

A sob ruined the quiet, and Lady Stafford was immediately ashamed of herself. Henry didn't need a sniveling wife. He already had a heavy weight on his shoulders; she had no right to make it worse. But it hurt (oh, such agony!) to lose him to terror and uncertainty, and try as she would Renna could not keep the tears at bay. "Oh, Henry," she whispered. "If only I could know that you would be safe."

The wife tightened her arms around his neck, breathing him in just as he breathed her. It was very intimate, but still not close enough. "At least you know some French now. That might help if...if something happens. I'm glad I was able to do that much for you." And that he wasn't going to Scotland. That would have been too horrible to bear.

Lady Stafford wiped her eyes and tried to smile for him to make this last night easier. "You were watching me tonight. What were you looking for?"
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Henry Stafford
Unregistered

Henry smiled as she buried her face into his shoulder, trying her best to shield her tears from him, but he knew. And all he could do was hold her tighter to him. But when he heard that sob, he brushed her hair back as he looked down at her, before using his thumb to wipe her tears away. “We can only pray, my love.” He didn’t want to think about it more than he already had. The thought of leaving Renna all alone was killing him. “But I will do my best to come home to you in one piece. I will be with friends, the Lords Wilmington and Warwick; they will have my back just as I will have theirs. Do not worry too much my darling wife, but pray the war will be a quick one.”

He smiled softly at the mention of him knowing the French language a bit more than he had been destined to be the next Duke of Buckingham. He nodded and lifted up her chin to him, so their eyes met. “Yes indeed, my love.” He smiled encouragingly, hoping he could share her some of his courage, before he brought his lips to hers and kissed her softly, sweet and tenderly.

When their lips parted, he tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear, before smiling once more. He had to pause though, wondering if he should be honest. The last thing he wanted was her having added pressure in conceiving his child. He was no longer like any other nobleman in the country, they were both young and young into their marriage, he had no urge to have a son to continue on his name. Their children will come when it is time. But he couldn’t deny the urge to see her with a babe in her arms and a toddler at her feet. The sight, he knew would be beautiful, just as it would seeing her in the bloom of pregnancy. Suddenly a grin shone through his smile and he raised a brow. “Am I not allowed to stare at my beautiful wife?” Amused even considering the circumstances, he kissed her again, before pulling back and rubbing her side gently. “I was just wondering whether you were with child, but you would tell me wouldn’t you?” The question was a statement one in the same; he knew she would tell him, didn’t he? He rubbed her side a little more and kissed her forehead softly. “I just want to be there for you…every step of the way.” And then finally, he knew how they could distract one another. “How many children do you think we’ll have, would they be boys or girls or will we have an even number? The girls, I know will be as beautiful as their mother.”
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Renna Stafford
Unregistered

He was thinking of children? Renna's tears faded as she blushed and moved to her husband, nestling her cheek on his shoulder. "Of course I would tell you, love. But we haven't been wedded long -- even if I am with child, it could be months before the signs come. Two months, maybe three...maybe one. I don't know." She cuddled to him, fitting herself into the truest home she'd ever known. Henry knew how to distract her and make her smile; he'd always known how but his talent was really shining on this darkest of nights. "Even; how about three girls and three boys? Boys as handsome as their father...and likely as wicked. I'm sure they'll run me ragged."

But she smiled and pressed her forehead to his, already seeing each perfect little face looking up into her own. "I'd like it if all of them had my eyes except one. One needs his father's brown eyes, so I can see you in his face. All of them should inherit my smile, and all of them should especially be given my nose." She chuckled and kissed Henry's, soothing the insulted feature with affection. "I think one little daughter will look just like me, but possess your spirit. Won't that be wondrous?"

Lady Stafford sighed and turned her head, resting her cheek on his shoulder as she gazed into the fire. "But first they'll be babes. Mine to hold and teach and love, and yours too. Ours. Our babies."

The shadows were punctuated by a sigh. "Oh, I wish they would come soon."
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Henry Stafford
Unregistered

Now that was what Henry was used to seeing, there probably wasn’t a day or night gone by without him making his wife blush and he was sure she hated him for it, which only made him all the more determined to see those cheeks turn red for him. He held her close, knowing that prior to marriage this probably wasn’t allowed, and yet still it was only an arrangement that could be done in privacy. “Well, we shall see won’t we love?”

He sighed in content, glad that this distraction was working for them both. He chuckled at the mention of his wickedness and to prove thus he tickled her sides softly before kissing her cheek. “I am no such thing as wicked.” And then his lips moved to her own, kissing her softly as he relented, giving her peace as she spoke of what she wished their children to be like. Though at the mention of noses, he again tickled her, teaching her a lesson for wishing that all their children had her nose rather than his. She had mentioned it once before…when he had come to her in Grantham and convinced her to marry him, or at least allow him to court her. And his nose had come up in a jesting conversation when they had lain out on the ground spotting different images in the clouds.

The memory gave him a reminder to invite her to do it again; maybe it could be a tradition even with children to find time to just forget the world for a moment as they carried out such a childish activity. He then raised a brow at the mention of a daughter with much spirit as he, any of their children who took after him would be a handful and now finally just the idea of it almost made him groan. He remembered how much of a bother he was to his parents, or rather to those entrusted to his care and education. “I do believe any children will be a handful no matter what they look like and who most they take after. But with a mother as fine and clever as my wife, hopefully they won’t be too much trouble.” He smiled and nuzzled her gently. Then when she voiced her wishes for such children to come into their lives, sooner rather than later, it almost seemed as if the fire in his eyes were a mirror image of the one they sat at. He grinned softly, a teasing hand at her ankle. “Well maybe, my Lady Stafford, we should go try a little more.”
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Isabel Leigh
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Virtue alone is invincible.
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