father had his problem solved; and, knowing Josse as she did, undoubtedly he would wish to employ Jehane as wet nurse for as long as his son needed her. So, Jehane would keep away from the back alleys of Tonbridge for a few precious months. Who knows, she mused, a time of living a different, better life might just persuade Jehane that there were alternatives to earning her bread on her back.
But perhaps that was asking for too much.
For the next two weeks, Josse and his family remained at the abbey. There were all at once many things clamouring for his attention. Helewise, watching and eagerly helping whenever she was asked, thought that perhaps he had made up his mind to keep busy in order to stop himself grieving for Joanna. He had told her, briefly and in a manner that suggested he did not want to be faced with any questions, no matter how sympathetically asked, that Joanna would not be returning. ‘I have a task now,’ he added, with a tentative pride that touched her deeply. ‘I have my daughter and my little son to raise, and Ninian has expressed a wish to join my household.’
One of Josse’s priorities, then, was to find out how he went about becoming Ninian’s legal guardian. Watching the two of them together — Ninian actually made Josse laugh, something Helewise recognized as a minor miracle just then — she thought in a flash of illumination, the boy has treated Josse like a father ever since they met! The poor lad never knew his real father and he loathed his stepfather. Then, when he and his mother were on the run, along came Josse, a man to depend upon, admire and love.
Something occurred to her. Josse had told her that Ninian had been in the forest looking for his mother. Helewise thought that was not the whole truth, for she was certain that the person Ninian had been waiting for as he lurked on the forest fringes was Josse. Well, now they had found each other. Soon Ninian would be Josse’s son in the law’s eyes as well.
Josse had told her of the plan to set up home in the house in the woods. At first she had been greatly surprised; she had associated him with New Winnowlands for all the long years of their friendship and it was hard to envisage him anywhere else. As she grew accustomed to the idea, however, she realized that Josse had never truly been at home in his manor. It is too far away, she thought. He wants — needs — to be near both the forest and the abbey, and he would not have been so generous as to share New Winnowlands with my son and his family if the house had taken up a place in his heart.
As if to underline that his decision was final, Josse had a document drawn up that passed the estate of New Winnowlands unconditionally to Dominic Warin and his descendants. Then, as July ended and August began, he set out with Ninian, Meggie, the baby and his wet nurse, Brother Augustus and Brother Erse the carpenter to begin turning the house in the woods into a family home.
It was not far away — under an hour on foot and considerably less than that if you went through the forest instead of following the track around its perimeter. One morning, burning with curiosity to find out how Josse was getting on, Helewise set out to see for herself. She took Sister Tiphaine with her, and the herbalist, a frequent visitor to the forest, unhesitatingly set off on the shorter route.
‘Joanna’s hut is just over there.’ Tiphaine jerked her head to indicate a faint path through the undergrowth.
‘What will become of it now?’ Helewise found she was whispering.
‘The forest folk will look after it. They’ll keep it safe as long as they’re here to do so.’
‘As long as… You mean they’re going away?’
Sister Tiphaine looked at her, sorrow in the deep eyes. ‘The world’s changing,’ she said. ‘Soon there will be no more wild places. The coming men will not have your tolerance, my lady, for people who kneel before a different deity.’
Helewise fell silent. They strode on and, deep in thought, it came as a mild surprise to find they were already at their destination. Josse and his companions had been busy. All the windows and doors of the old house stood open to the sunshine — someone had been felling and pruning, cutting back the surrounding trees and bushes so that there was now a clearing of perhaps ten paces all around the buildings — and as Helewise went up into the hall, she was greeted by sweet smells and a shiningly clean stone floor.
Josse came hurrying to greet her and took her on a tour of his new domain. His man Will had come over from New Winnowlands to lend a hand; Josse confided that he had asked if the move could become permanent, being too long in the tooth, as he had said, to get used to a new master. He and his woman, Ella, were going to join Josse’s household as soon as Dominic had found replacements.
There was another addition to the household; with a smile and a firm hand on the young woman’s sleeve preventing her from turning tail and fleeing as she was brought before Helewise, Josse presented his new housekeeper. ‘This is Tilly,’ he said.
Helewise stared at her. Tilly was perhaps twenty years old, lean and thin-faced with brown hair drawn severely back under a white cap. Her pale eyes looked frightened. Helewise, wanting to reassure her, said kindly, ‘Hello, Tilly. Have you come to answer Sir Josse’s prayers?’
‘Don’t know about that,’ Tilly whispered. Then, raising her head and, with a visible effort, summoning her courage, she added in a rush, ‘Jehane sent word that ’e needed a maid and Goody Anne, she says ’e’d done ’er enough favours over the years and it were high time she did ’im one back, so ’ere I am.’ Flushed at her own boldness, she hung her head again.
‘Thank you, Tilly,’ Josse said.
Sensing herself dismissed, Tilly dropped a bob curtsy and scurried away.
‘She comes from the inn at Tonbridge?’ Helewise asked.
‘Aye.’ Josse smiled. ‘She loves it here. I did wonder if she would settle out in the woods so far from everything she’s ever known, but it seems she’s a countrywoman at heart. She’s doing wonders with my hens.’
‘Hens?’
‘Aye.’ The smile broadened. ‘Ninian’s made a fox-proof run and we have fresh eggs every morning. He’s also got a pair of hounds and a cat with kittens. He and Meggie apparently share a passion for every sort of living creature the good Lord ever made. Meggie’s rescued a dove with a damaged wing, and most nights we have badgers feeding on the bank beyond the house.’
‘And Geoffroi is thriving?’
Josse’s expression softened. ‘Aye. Jehane too; without her paint and dressed in a less spectacular fashion, she’s already looking more like the woman she was before… er… when…’
‘I understand,’ Helewise said. Another prayer answered, she thought.
‘Come and see them!’ Josse grabbed her arm. ‘She’s set up a nursery in a room behind the hall, although I really would like to build a solar. We do need the extra space.’
‘I know a fine team of masons,’ she said. ‘They just happen to be finishing their present job. Would you like me to ask them to pay you a visit?’
He laughed. ‘I would indeed.’ He met her eyes. ‘I have gold, my lady,’ he said very quietly. ‘Queen Eleanor was extremely generous.’
‘I see.’ She was glad for him. ‘Lead on, Sir Josse — I want to see this son of yours!’
Geoffroi d’Acquin was baptized at Hawkenlye Abbey at the end of August. Helewise stood godmother, and Brother Augustus was godfather. The young man had asked Brother Firmin, who in turn had asked Helewise, if anybody thought it would be a terrible thing if he abandoned the life of a lay brother at Hawkenlye Abbey — where, he had said earnestly, he had been very happy, don’t let anyone think otherwise! — and went to work for Josse. Helewise summoned him and told him very gently that there was nothing terrible about discovering that his calling was no longer where he had believed it to be. She undertook to set about the necessary steps that would release him from the abbey.
Josse told her in private that Gussie had fallen in love with Tilly. The young man believed nobody but he knew of his sweet anguish — until he was released from his lay-brother status, he had not admitted his feelings to anyone, least of all Tilly — but Josse had been reliably informed that, when the time for revelation finally came, Tilly would not turn him down. According to Josse, she had put on some much-needed weight and was blossoming into a rather lovely young woman.
Josse’s new household, Helewise reflected, was proving to be a healing place for more than just its master.
St Edmund’s Chapel was completed as September drew to a close and the mists of autumn began to appear. It lay empty over the winter months, for Queen Eleanor had asked the new king, her son, to attend the service of consecration and he was fully occupied over in France, where he had inherited his elder brother’s enemy, King
