on without regard to your feelings. How are you doing under the circumstances, and is there anything I can do to help?”
“Frankly, I don’t know what I am going to do without her. Not only did she take care of me but also the household staff, which she ran so smoothly. She was a natural with people and made everyone feel at ease. All of Segoia loved her. She had won their hearts over such a short time and will never be forgotten.”
“Have you discussed the funeral arrangements with the bishop?” asked the queen.
“The bishop! That fat pompous cleric! No, I’m going to ask Father Piña, her confessor, to take care of the arrangements. However, there will be a commemorative Mass at the cathedral, and I am going to commission a sarcophagus with an effigy of Lady Margaret to be built and placed in the crypt of the chapel here in the palace.”
“And the baptism of my niece?” asked the queen.
“Within a couple of days, Your Highness, when she will also be introduced to the people of Segoia.”
“Have you decided on her full name yet, Don Fernando?”
“Sí, I believe I have. She will be named Doña Lucía María Margarita Diega Alvarado de Crécy, the Duchess of Pomeroi and the Countess of Bickford, the titles from her mother’s inheritance.”
“She is also an Anjou, from my family’s household, and this must also be added to her name as well,” added the queen.
“Of course, Your Highness,” said Don Fernando.
A couple of days later, Doña Lucía was introduced to the people of Segoia in a ceremony following her baptism on the steps of the cathedral, and alongside Don Fernando, who held the infant, were King Alfonso, Queen Leonor, the bishop of Segoia, and Father Piña. When her name was announced, the crowd roared with approval. Even the baby, Lucía, after having had been held up to the crowd for all to see, appeared to have given a smile of approval by kicking her little legs in the excitement of the moment. She was a beautiful child with long blondish-red hair and blue eyes, which held a hint of mischievous. The queen predicted to Don Fernando that her daughter would be a handful, given her mother’s beauty and her father’s stubborn nature.
Not noticed in the crowd, however, was Don Raimundo, who gave a sinister smile upon the introduction of the future condesa. A sense of foreboding was in the air unbeknownst to Don Fernando. That sinister smile, along with the evil behind the dark penetrating eyes, was a precursor of what was to come.
Chapter IV
Four years had passed since Doña Lucía’s birth, and she was taking on the characteristics that would suit her well later in life. She was a beautiful child with fair skin, an oval face, a wide smile, long reddish-blond hair, and blue eyes the color of a bright azure fall sky. She could be stubborn at times and cooperative at others, depending on what was at stake.
Her nurse, Yamina, originally from Cordoba, was a Mozarab who came north to escape the strict laws of the Moors of al-Andalus. Both her parents were superbly educated and provided for her education as well. She came highly recommended by the Mendoza family, where she was nurse to all four of their children. She was a strict disciplinarian who loved to work with the young.
An empty room in the large palace served as both learning and play area for the young condesa. Yamina taught Lucía her letters and numbers, as well as basic Latin, French, and Arabic. At night, she read Bible stories to Lucía in French or told lurid stories of her homeland in Arabic. Lucía was a very bright girl who loved to learn. In her spare time, when Lucía was not learning her letters or the basics of how to run a household, she would dance to whatever lyrical note would come to her head from the music of the troubadours who would frequent her father’s court in Segoia or from her aunt’s court in Burgos.
Although she loved to dance, she also enjoyed her dolls. Her favorite was a rag doll named Cassandra, which had belonged to her mother. The doll’s name was based on a Greek myth, a story told by Yamina, about a young girl from ancient Troy who was given the gift of prophecy but was cursed by Apollo. As a result, her prophecies were never believed. Lucía related to Cassandra because sometimes people would not believe her when she got into trouble. The doll had dark curly hair of yarn and dark painted brown eyes just like Cassandra.
One day, Lucía did not pick up the toys that she had played with and wandered off on her own and could not be found. She was playing hide-and-seek. As a result, a commotion occurred, and the household guards, under Captain Gómez, as well as Yamina and Don Fernando, looked high and low but could not find the child. She had hidden in a tight place where no one would find her, and she would giggle every time someone passed by. She then, when no one was around, sneaked out to the large fountain in the garden, where she sat in the cool water on a hot summer day and played with her toy boat.
Lucía was eventually caught and punished for having had committed three offenses: not picking up her toys, wandering off without having told Yamina, and playing in the fountain. Lucía’s punishment consisted of three wallops on her backside with a wooden spoon and three days in her room. Lucía often said throughout her childhood that if Yamina was as handy with a wooden spoon in the kitchen as she was on her backside, she would have the makings of a very great chef. When Don Fernando addressed her bad behavior and told her he was very disappointed in her, Lucía was very apologetic, as she did not want to disappoint her father.
One day, Lucía was walking along the arcade with her doll, enjoying the spring air, when she noticed a girl who appeared to be the same age as her seated on a bench in the palace garden, which ran between the great hall and the living quarters. Lucía had a nose for curiosity and walked over to meet her. As she approached the girl, she noticed that she was also playing with a doll. Lucía sat on the bench next to her.
“What is your doll’s name?” asked Lucía.
“Aldonza,” responded the girl, who glanced over to Lucía.
“That is a pretty name,” said Lucía as she eyed the doll with its black yarn hair and two buttons for eyes.
“You have a pretty doll too,” added the girl, who was trying to be complimentary.
“I’m Lucía. What is your name?”
The girl turned to Lucía. “Isabella. My father said for me to wait for him here while he takes care of business and to enjoy the garden. Everything smells so nice here,” said Isabella with a big smile.
After several minutes of sitting on the bench and swinging her feet back and forth, Lucía gave a deep sigh and turned her attention to Isabella, who was calmly minding her doll.
“Would you like to play a game, Isabella?”
Isabella turned to Lucía and, with a smile, said emphatically, “I would like to, but Papa said for me to wait for him here.”
Lucía, taken aback by Isabella’s statement, was in a state of ennui. She wanted to play with her new friend but wondered how to engage her. Suddenly, she had an idea on what to say. “We could play in the garden, and you would be where your father could find you,” said Lucía, confident that would be a reasonable solution to the problem. However, Isabella didn’t say a word, and Lucía became fidgety for a response.
She finally turned to Isabella with her eyebrows raised and, with a big smile, said, “Well, what do you say, huh?”
“Well, I guess it would be all right,” responded Isabella, unsure of herself.
“What do you want to play?” inquired Lucía.
Isabella shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.”
Lucía thought for a moment. “How about hide-and-seek?”
“All right,” said Isabella, who sounded more confident. She put her doll down and rose from the bench. “So pretty. Now I can hide among the pretty flowers and trees,” she cried in joy.
The palace garden was a great place to play. It measured one hundred yards by fifty yards. There