Robert Hayward is the newly created Earl of Haverstock,
given Abbey lands and a title by King Henry VIII as reward for his assistance
in securing the King’s divorce. He is just getting used to the honour and the
sudden rise in status, when the King presents him with a new countess to go
with his other gifts.
Lady Miranda Gorston has lands adjacent to Haverstock Abbey and
is well known for her public and devout mourning for her late husband. Each day
she visits the small churchyard attached to Gorston Hall to pray over his grave
and all who see her are impressed with her devotion to his memory.
But nobody knows the real reason Miranda visits that
graveyard and her new husband is no exception. He feels that once they marry
she should give up her public grieving and concentrate on her new marriage, but
she refuses and will not explain why. He knows she did not love Lord Gorston,
so why does she continue to mourn him? Why does she put their future happiness
at risk to do so?
Robert does not feel he can stay and be made to look a fool,
that people will be saying Lord Gorston is more important to his wife than he
is. He returns to London and there remains, until five years later when Thomas
Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, informs him that his wife has been
entertaining another man and orders Robert to return to his marriage on threat
of excommunication.
But Miranda’s visitor is not what he seems and Robert finds the
man’s presence only causes even more questions for which no answers are
forthcoming.
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