Returned

by Kimberley Griffiths Little

  “I thought they were lost forever.”

  “And this,” Leila added. “Your favorite. She brought out another box and reached inside.

  “Mother’s alabaster box,” I cried, pressing my nose to the richly carved lid with its intricate design. “Thank you, Leila, thank you. You know how much I treasure this.”

  It was the greatest gift she could have given me. The last missing piece of my mother. The alabaster box symbolized the beauty and love she brought to her family, beginning with the love my father had for her.

  Before dinner, we visited my father who sat in a heavily cushioned chair before the windows. He took Sahmril in his arms, his voice cracking each time he spoke her name. When he smiled at her, she tugged on his beard while he stroked her curls.

  I watched them together, and the lump in my throat grew so large I couldn’t say a thing.

  My father brought out a doll that he’d fashioned from wood and clay, and Sahmril clapped her hands, bringing the doll to her chest in delight. The two of them proceeded to play a game of peek-a-boo while Sahmril giggled, splaying her hands over her face in an attempt to hide.

  After a while, I could tell that my father was getting tired. Leila took Sahmril to the window to point out the various landmarks while the sun began to set, casting pink and purple rays through the sky.

  I ached to see him so old and frail, worse even since the news of Horeb’s death. He’d taken it badly, always holding out hope for reconciliation. I could see that his heart had torn into pieces, and he was giving up on life, despite his joy at seeing Sahmril again.

  “Jayden,” he spoke now. When I glanced over, he was staring at me intently. “Thank you for finding your sisters. For honoring your mother’s promises.”

  I held back my emotions, feeling silly to cry in front of him. “Of course,” I whispered. “I love you.”

  “And now, will you fulfill another promise for me?”

  “Anything. You know I will.”

  “I don’t know how much time God will give me yet, but I want to lie on my death bed assured that you will teach Sahmril the ways of the desert.” He gripped my hand tightly. “Teach her how to be a daughter of Pharez. A child who loves the desert. How to ride a camel without falling off. How to wield a knife to cut an herb for medicine, or tend a newborn calf without getting her fingers bitten off.”

  I smiled at him through watery eyes when he lifted his face toward the window and kept it there for several long moments.

  “What’s there?” I asked him, confused about what he could be searching for. “What do you see?”

  “Rebekah?” he finally said, his voice hoarse with age.

  “No, it’s Jayden,” I said, biting back the ache in my chest when he spoke my mother’s name for the first time in months. “I’m wearing one of her shawls.”

  But he wasn’t actually looking at me. He was looking for her somewhere in the distance. “She comes to my dreams.”

  “She does to me, too, Father,” I told him, pressing his hand against my lips. “I miss her dreadfully.”

  With a sigh, he sank back against the pillow I’d stuffed behind his head to make him more comfortable.

  We were quiet for the next several moments. I gazed through the window as storm clouds moved across the mountains. Moving my chair closer, I laid my head on his knees, my cheek resting in my folded arms. No longer did the past weigh us down. Instead, it was bringing us together at last.

  His big hand fell on top of my head, and he stroked my hair. When I glanced up again he smiled, and a rush of relief came over me. My father would be there, standing at the wedding dais to sign my marriage contract.

  My wedding to Kadesh took place three nights later when he’d regained his strength. Blessedly, the scars of war were already beginning to fade from the battlefield.

  The palace staff created the same magical night that had been destroyed weeks earlier. The celebration was fashioned to erase all the war and death that had happened in between. It was a night where Horeb and Aliyah didn’t exist any longer.

  The food smelled even more heavenly, and the rich swaths of drapery along the dais were even a richer purple color than before. The fountains sparkled brighter, the hanging lamps glowing as if lit by the moon itself.

  The palace grounds were packed with the city council, noblemen, army captains, and citizens who brought with them an atmosphere of hopeful festivity and optimism. They yearned for a new king and queen. A future that wasn’t tarnished by the horrible events of the past many weeks.

  “As long as there is hope, all is not lost,” I murmured when Aunt Naomi inserted my earrings and clasped the matching necklace of rubies about my neck.

  She leaned down to kiss my cheek and, while I loved her dearly, I mourned that the Queen of Sheba wasn’t here to celebrate with us.

  “It’s hard not to be weighed down by what our country has just endured,” Naomi said while Tijah finished my kohl and rouge and lip color. My handmaidens tried to hide their giddy smiles over the excitement of the wedding, but I could see them in the copper mirrors hanging around the dressing area of Naomi’s suite.

  “My heart aches for the mourning so many of our citizens are enduring while we have a wedding celebration,” I said, glancing up at Aunt Naomi’s face.

  Naomi shook her head. “The country wants you married. We need the stability this wedding will bring. They rejoice to see you both alive.”

  “Kadesh and I have determined to visit every family of our fallen soldiers and give any aid or comfort we can.”

  “That’s a wonderful plan. The king and queen personally reaching out to them will give consolation and comfort. Now that our enemies are banished, we can return to peace.”

  “Outward scars heal and disappear faster than those we carry inside.”

  “You have lived under fear for so long, dear Jayden. Give yourself time. You and Kadesh finally being married will go a long way toward banishing the horror. Returning to each other and returning to the new life you’ve waited so long to claim will bring you both inner peace and joy.”

  I nodded, biting at my red lips. “My old tribe has gone the way of the sands blowing across the desert. When I was young, my father used to laugh at me because I tried to catch the wind. I could see the wind pick up the corners of the tent or toss my toys about or turn over a pot of supper when a storm was coming, but it was always out of reach, an invisible joke on me.”

  “You’re creating a new homeland here with us,” Naomi said. “There is no greater blessing at the moment. And now,” she added, “if we don’t finish your hair and get outside, the wedding will begin without us.”

  “Did you see the marriage tent, my lady?” Tijah asked, applying the final gold glitter to my curls.

  “I toured it earlier today. I think it’s even more beautiful now than it was before, if that’s even possible.”

  “This time,” Naomi reminded me, “there will be no imminent war hanging over you to spoil your time together. No worries; only each other.”

  When I walked down the flower-filled paths to the wedding dais in my ivory lace dress that Aunt Naomi’s dressmaker was able to repair, I saw smiles on the guests and palace staff. I was relieved to see Leila who was restraining Sahmril and Naria from running wild in their new party dresses, clutching baskets of magenta roses and orchids.

  Imarus stood behind my older sister, his hands on her shoulders while I headed straight for Kadesh who waited for me at the dais.

  He was devastatingly handsome in his royal uniform and gilt-edged black cloak, that distinctive mysterious smile in his eye. The noble face and beguiling man I fell in love with when we crossed the desert so long ago.

  It was an evening such as this one, on the night of my cousin Hakak’s wedding, when we no longer held back the desire we had for each other. The night Kadesh had enclosed me in his rich brown cloak and kissed me for the first time.

  Now Kadesh reached out to take my hand in his, bringing me to his sid
e as we stood before the dais and our people.

  Uncle Josiah and Pharez presided over the proceedings together, signing a fresh copy of the marriage covenant with a flourish of ink, the chief palace scribe’s chest puffed out in satisfaction.

  I was keenly aware of Asher’s absence. My eyes pricked at the memory of his sacrifice. I could hardly look at Chemish without enormous guilt over Asher’s sacrificial offering of himself, our kiss and hearts entwined in the final moments of his life. Despite the King of Edom’s assurances, I would feel responsible for the rest of my life.

  When Chemish came forward, my stomach tightened. I tried to keep my composure when he placed his hands on my cheeks to kiss my forehead and whisper congratulations.

  “Dear Chemish,” I began, but he put a finger to my lips to stop me.

  “My son was your bodyguard and Kadesh’s loyal friend. Of course, he would race across the desert to find you. He lived the last months of his life with nobility, and for that I will always be proud.”

  Even so, the King of Edom’s eyes were filled with a grief I wouldn’t fully understand until I held a child of my own in my arms.

  “I promise you,” I told him. “Kadesh and I will visit your wife, Isra, in your homeland as soon as we can.” We also planned to stop in Sa’ba to pay our respects to the Queen of Sheba’s family. It was a visit I dreaded, but I wanted to meet her husband and children so that I could personally tell them of the sacrifice she had given to Sariba and to me.

  “Be happy, Queen Jayden,” Chemish said softly when I embraced him. “I wish a long and fruitful life for you and King Kadesh.”

  At the dais, Uncle Josiah held his hands over mine and Kadesh’s, speaking words of blessings. “Go forth and be happy,” he told us. “Love your people, but most of all love each other for now and eternity.”

  After we signed the marriage contract, cheers erupted throughout the palace grounds and Kadesh kissed me in front of the packed pavilions. There was hearty applause and then drums and harps broke out in joyful music. The heady scent of exotic summer flowers perfumed the air. Lavish food would be served all night until dawn.

  My father embraced me, and Leila and Sahmril hugged me tight, as well as the rest of the royal family and my handmaids.

  We stepped off the dais and a hundred people showered us with a thousand more congratulations. Chemish kissed my cheek. “Now we are allies and friends forever.” Words choked in my throat. How blessed I was to find forgiveness within this great man.

  Kadesh’s arm went around my waist and he kissed me again, scooping me up into his arms to spin me around while my dress billowed about in a flash of sparkling jewels. My stomach soared into my throat, the lamps a whirl of light behind my closed eyes.

  The crowd cheered at his exuberance. The night rang with joy and laughter.

  “And now,” Kadesh’s voice came in my ear as he brought my toes back down to the earth. “Our marriage tent awaits us, my love.”

  “Are we allowed to disappear from our own wedding party?” I whispered against his lips.

  “We can, and we will,” he assured me in a low husky voice.

  We moved through the crowd to the tent on the far side of the palace grounds, secluded by trees and a bubbling stream to mark the perimeter. We turned to bow and make our final farewell to the guests. After the last of the cheering died away, Kadesh and I gazed at each other, hands gripped tightly together.

  Suppressing laughter, we ran through the garden pathways, past benches and fountains to the entrance of the marriage tent. “We never got a chance to eat our own wedding dinner,” I teased Kadesh.

  “Servants will bring us food and drink, but for now you are mine.” He lifted me up into his arms and carried me across the threshold. Roses and orchids bloomed about the marriage tent, sweet and heady.

  When Kadesh set me back onto my feet, we fell into each other’s kisses. Husband and wife, King and Queen of Sariba.

  “My mysterious frankincense boy,” I murmured into his ear.

  Kadesh kneeled before me to kiss my palms, just as he did that first time in the canyon so long ago. The touch of his lips made me burst out of my skin, and when his mysterious dark gaze met mine, I was lost to him forever.

  “You’re tied to the mysterious southern lands for the rest of your life,” he told me when he poured a handful of perfect golden nuggets into my hand. “Frankincense tears for my love.”

  “Your home is my home, your secrets my secrets,” I whispered, moved that he remembered the gift he’d given me that night on the desert when I feared I’d never see him again.

  Rising, he swept his rich exotic cloak around me, enclosing us together—and suddenly I recalled the sound of the fire hearth crackling on that dark moonless night when he declared his love for the first time.

  His heart pounded against mine, and it was as though we had truly become one person, one soul for the rest of our lives.

  Through the window, my eyes flicked upward to the hill beyond the city. A hill now empty of temple lights marring the view of the horizon and the mountains. Tonight, the moon hung like a ball of gold just for us.

  Later that night I danced the dance of the seven veils of womanhood for my husband, just as my mother had taught me.

  Author’s Note

  I can’t finish the last book of the Forbidden trilogy without sending a little love note to my readers around the world. Thank you for being my companions into the distant past of four thousand years ago when a girl like Jayden might have lived and loved while surviving the dangerous Mesopotamian deserts. Thank you for all the beautiful reviews and letters that you send by email and snail mail that brighten my days so much.

  I wrote lengthy author’s notes in both Forbidden and Banished, which answer many readers’ questions about the time period, tribal warfare, family life, culture, camels, frankincense, and Goddess temples, so I highly recommend reading those.

  It horrified me to read about camel stampedes in the Middle East, where wild camels will suddenly race across the desert in groups of hundreds or thousands, ultimately trampling anything that gets in the way, and often killing innocent bystanders. I knew this had to become the final epic battle among Jayden, Kadesh, and King Horeb’s foreign armies. The multitude of camels used by the caravans of the ancient Frankincense Trail provided the perfect setting for just such a battle tactic.

  The Frankincense Lands are an intriguing place because of their mysterious, lost history and their location on the bountiful fertile coast of the Arabian Sea, bordered by the Empty Quarter of endless sand dunes. Frankincense was used anciently at dozens of temples, for medicine, and for embalming. Currently, medical research centers around the world are having astonishing success in using frankincense to treat various forms of cancer.

  A map of the ancient Forbidden lands and cities, as well as book club guides and curriculum-centered teachers’ guides, can be found on my website: www.kimberleygriffithslittle.com.

  Pinterest boards about belly dancers, the Middle East, as well as my trip to Jordan, Petra, and the deserts of Wadi Rumm can be enjoyed here: www.pinterest.com/kimberleylittle.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  A thousand thanks and all my love to my husband, my three sons, and my daughter-in-law, who all brainstorm, critique, and help with so many aspects of my writing career, including holding down the fort when I’m traveling to festivals and school visits.

  I’m grateful to my writer and nonwriter friends who have cheered me on when the journey gets tough, and been so generous to read all my books. It truly means the world to me, so thank you!

  Jayden’s personal journey is both physical and emotional while mine is the brainsucking mental variety, especially when I’m throwing whole chapters away and would rather be gorging on movies and cookies. I’ve loved Jayden’s story and these characters for well over a decade, and that love drives me to keep going despite the desperate cookie-binging days.

  Thank you so much, Tracey and Josh Adams, my wonderful agen
ts whom I adore. My gratitude is difficult to enumerate and express, but I’m so happy you’re with me to keep me sane, cheerful, and optimistic.

  Loads of gratitude go to my wonderful editor, Karen Chaplin; Rosemary Brosnan; and the entire team of copyeditors and artists at Harper who lovingly and creatively guided the Forbidden series along its book production journey. The covers are magnificent and I’ve fallen in love with every single one. Thank you, Karen, for championing this trilogy over the last five years since that thrilling phone call when you signed Jayden up for this particular journey.

  A final thanks to the adorable Connie Griffin at Bookworks in Albuquerque for organizing all the book launch parties over the years, as well as the long, chatty talks. Thank you, Mark and Morgane Walton, for the fantastic evening at Weller Book Works in SLC, including dinner and hours of talking afterward. Friends and books are definitely a match made in heaven, and I’ve been blessed to have an abundance of both in my life.

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Photo credit DeAnne Payne

  KIMBERLEY GRIFFITHS LITTLE was born in San Francisco but now lives in New Mexico with her husband and their three sons. For such award-winning middle grade novels as When the Butterflies Came, The Last Snake Runner, The Healing Spell, and Circle of Secrets, her writing has been praised as “fast-paced and dramatic,” with “characters painted in memorable detail” and “beautifully realized settings.” Kimberley adores anything old and musty with a secret story to tell. She’s stayed in the haunted tower room at Borthwick Castle in Scotland; sailed on the Seine in Paris; ridden a camel in Petra, Jordan; shopped the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul; and spent the night in an old Communist hotel in Bulgaria.