WHO: Catherine and Henry WHAT: Flashback! WHEN: 1509 WHERE: Catherine's meagre rooms at Durham House
As kind and touching as Henry's plan to convince his father to allow them to marry had been, it hadn't come to fruition, as Catherine knew would happen. His father was a miser, more concerned with filling England's coffers than doing the right thing by his young daughter-in-law. After all, with her mother's death, her value on the marriage market had decreased considerably, and, though she should have been sent back to Aragon if she was not to marry his son, the King didn't wish to pay back her dowry.
She had gotten wind that a certain important person was going to be visiting her soon, and her rooms had been a flurry of activity. The best candles were brought out, the wood floors and paneling scrubbed with beeswax until they gleamed, and, if her gown was a bit worn and threadbare, at least her auburn hair had been brushed until it gleamed. All ready in anticipation of her visitor. She wouldn't be caught unawares as she had been in the past.