Faithful Daughter of Israel

by Wanda Ann Thomas

  Not a bit cowed, Jochebed tucked her arm under Anna’s elbow. “The sooner you divorce, the sooner Anna can get on with her new life.”

  Julian frowned. “I will discuss the matter with you in private, Mother.”

  “In private?” Jochebed smiled in amusement. “It sounds as though it is the two of you who need to talk in private.”

  Amen and amen, Anna agreed.

  And then Jochebed led her away and talked to her as though they were old friends, leaving Julian to trudge after them.

  Anna could hardly believe how well things were proceeding.

  “I hope you are not offended, by my wanting to rush the divorce,” Jochebed said. “I assume you agree with Julian that your marriage was one of expedience?”

  Mother and son stared expectantly at her.

  Anna nodded her agreement.

  It was for the best. She could get on with her life. And it would be a good and happy one. Jochebed would do well by her—she knew it. And Julian would be free to move on.

  So why did she feel so bereft?

  Twenty-Eight

  Alexandria boasted more people, buildings, streets, animals, fountains, statues, markets, and general hubbub than seemed good and right. Anna supposed she would grow accustomed to it, too. But, not today. Or anytime very soon.

  Shortly after leaving the docks behind, Julian had inserted himself between his mother and herself and offered each an arm. Anna marveled as a wide path parted before them. The sight of Julian in full military regalia had the magical effect of moving people out of the way. She did not see fear or disgust on their faces, but respect and awe. Unlike Jerusalem, Egypt loved Rome’s soldiers. Either that or, they were very good at pretending.

  Julian seemed oblivious to the reactions. His attention was wholly focused on giving a detailed account of the sights of significance they were passing. “Julius Caesar was said to have spent a night here.” He pointed to a tenement building rising five dizzying floors off the ground.

  As if Julian had conjured them up, a half-drunk soldier and the woman keeping him on his feet stumbled out of the building’s front door. Wooden shutters opened two floors above them and two women leaned out to shout obscenities at the couple now weaving their way unsteadily down a narrow alley. Then the two women, who by now were hanging far out the window, were hauled back into the room by a large, half-naked soldier. The women’s loud giggles made it clear they were willing participants. Anna sucked in a breath. Did the building house five stories of harlots?

  When the street mostly quieted again, Julian winced. “I am sorry you had to witness such debauchery.”

  Anna was not offended. Her own experience with desperation, and the unthinkable paths it could lead, made her far more cautious about judging others. Her face, however, burned with embarrassment.

  She glanced toward Jochebed, wondering just how much of her sordid past her soon-to-be ex-mother-in-law knew.

  “My goodness,” Jochebed said. “I am sure the place was nicer in Caesar’s day.”

  Julian threw his head back and laughed. “Mother, your bright take on the world, no matter how dark the appearance, never ceases to amaze me.”

  Anna felt a smile on her lips. What a wonderful woman. No wonder Julian’s father had left personal dignity and his family’s good name behind to marry the Jewess Jochebed.

  Leaving the squalor and poverty of the tenement building behind, they walked stone-paved streets to a district made-up of higher quality shops and multifamily homes. Though cleaner and more respectable, the streets proved just as jammed with people, animals, homes, and businesses.

  Dropped like jewels among lumps of clay, grand palace-like homes began to appear.

  Julian stopped to point out special aspects about each one, using words Anna had never heard before. Despite her ingrained distrust of immense wealth, she could not help but admire the next gleaming palace-home they came to.

  He paused again. “What do you think?”

  “It looks perfect,” she said.

  “What makes you say that?”

  Not as expensive looking as some of the others, or as ornate, or as massive, it was still easily the best of the grand home they had passed. She did not have the fancy words he did, but she did her best. “Its beauty is in its simplicity. The others look as though someone was trying too hard.”

  Julian smiled. “Keeping it simple is harder said than done.”

  Was he hinting at his attempts to help her and how out of control things had become?

  Julian led them toward the house’s perfect carved wooden doors. “I am glad to hear you approve of my home in the city.”

  Anna halted. “But…but that means you are horribly rich.”

  A puzzled frown crimped Julian’s forehead. “I told you as much.”

  “Yes. But I thought only that you were prosperous. Like Crispus and Miriam. But you are rich, rich.”

  “You sound disappointed,” Julian said, smiling his devastating best. “It is good to know you did not marry me for my money.”

  “It would serve you right if you had ended up married to the likes of Salome.”

  “I think it would be best to take this interesting conversation inside,” Jochebed said.

  But once inside, Jochebed smiled warmly at Anna. “I suggest we all bathe and dress for dinner. I have a room ready for you, dear.”

  The prospect of immediate escape sounded wonderful until Julian ruined it. “Anna’s place is with me, Mother.”

  Anna tensed.

  Jochebed’s placid smile did not falter. “Let me show Anna to her room and then you and I can discuss matters.”

  Julian’s intense blue eyes said he was nowhere close to relenting as Jochebed whisked Anna away.

  ∞∞∞

  Anna suspected Jochebed wanted a private word with her. She braced herself for a stinging rebuke. But the patient woman did not say a word until they reached the privacy of the bedchamber.

  “Julian did not tell you, did he?”

  A shiver of dread went through Anna. “Tell me what?”

  “The wedding contract binding you and Julian together is a Roman document. Unlike Jewish contracts, Roman law allows a wife to divorce her husband. Did you know you can divorce Julian this instant, if you so desire it? All you have to say is ‘I divorce you,’ and it is done.”

  “Me?” Anna squeaked. “But… but… but…”

  “There, there.” Jochebed patted her arm. “You do not have to decide anything now.”

  “Decide? What is there to decide? Of course we will divorce. That was the arrangement all along. It is what we both want.”

  “Slow down. Nothing need be decided today.” She clasped Anna’s trembling hands and gave them a reassuring squeeze. “Do you know what I think?”

  Anna squeezed back as a host of vivid accusations flashed through her mind.

  Sinner of sinners.

  Greedy fraud.

  Witch.

  Past flabbergasted, Anna shook her head and held her breath.

  “I think you and I are going to become good friends.”

  “Do you?” Shocking statements must be a family malady. This ranked up there with Julian announcing he would find her a husband.

  Jochebed’s smile widened. “I do.”

  And strangely enough, Anna believed her. In the same way Jochebed understood they would be friends, Anna knew deep down she could put her trust in Julian’s mother.

  “If you choose to divorce my son, we will not allow it to interfere with our friendship. The differences between you and Julian are for the two of you to work out.”

  Anna tightened her grip on Jochebed’s hands. “What is Julian waiting for? Why hasn’t he ended the marriage already?”

  “I am not entirely sure what my son is about. But I am sure we will know the answer sooner rather than later.”

  Anna owned no such confidence. “Why do you say that?”

  The silver-haired matron’s kind smile vanished, replaced
with the feminine version of a bold smile Anna recognized all too well. “Unless, or until, Julian declares his intention to keep you as his wife, my son’s days of sharing a bed with you are over.”

  “He will not like that.”

  “That is the exact reaction I am counting on.”

  Not bold enough to ask what Jochebed hoped to accomplish, wild conjecture after wild conjecture spun through her mind. Could this respectable and wonderful woman really want a failed harlot and cursed stranger for a daughter-in-law? She brushed it away as too good to be true.

  Listening to Jochebed explain the household’s daily schedule, she wondered if what the widowed woman really craved was a steady companion. But a woman as wealthy as she must have a multitude of people eager to befriend her. Perhaps she thought a daughter-in-law would better serve the need. Yet, dozens of women must pine to marry the rich and powerful Julian of Alexandria, ones with reputations more respectable than hers.

  “If you like, you can attend Synagogue with me tomorrow.” Jochebed said.

  The offer could suggest the devout woman viewed Anna as a religious project. But it seemed a true invitation and not a command. No one had ever invited her to Synagogue. Innate curiosity won out. “Yes, I would like that.”

  A tap at the door was followed by a slave slipping quietly into the room. Jochebed gave orders for a bath and clothes. Before leaving, she gave Anna a loving hug. “Welcome to your new home, Anna.”

  Home.

  She once more had a place to call home.

  The many grateful tears she shed thereafter made the warm bath water seem redundant.

  Twenty-Nine

  A short time later Anna left the security of the bedchamber. Her bedchamber. Having a whole room to call her own was almost as unnerving as it was wonderful. She dreaded the prospect of joining Julian and his mother for dinner.

  She told herself she would have liked nothing better than to avoid all contact with Julian until he returned to Jerusalem, but they would have to see each other at least one more time, even if it was only to tell each other they wanted to divorce.

  Who was she trying to fool?

  This brief separation from Julian, after weeks of his near constant presence, made her uneasy. She had grown used to his company. Felt safer with him near.

  She missed him. She truly, truly missed Julian.

  But it was too late for them. No doubt Julian and his mother had already discussed matters. The marriage would end. And in all probability, the divorce would happen before the night was over.

  The silent slave leading the way stood aside to let Anna pass. She entered a formal dining area. Like the rest of the home, the chamber’s style was reminiscent of the spacious and refined living quarters at Herod’s little palace in Caesarea and the Roman fortresses in both Jerusalem and Caesarea—Roman and foreign.

  Her steps slowed.

  Julian’s eyes locked onto her. Arresting as ever, the piercing blue gaze also held a new, sharper, fiercer edge.

  The tingle of a chill raced up her spine. Her heart beat faster.

  It will be tonight, he will divorce me tonight. The refrain beat in her mind for the entire, excruciating evening. Though Julian never stopped staring or looking terribly ferocious, he did not speak the fatal words either.

  Miserable under the silent assault, Anna’s insides churned and churned. Released at last, she greeted with immense relief her room and the feather-soft bed.

  Sleep proved impossible. She whispered the same prayer over and over.

  “Lord God, grant me more time with my heathen husband. Give me a few more days with Julian, and I promise to turn my back on heathens for all the rest of my days.”

  ∞∞∞

  Julian spent the whole dinner hour brooding over his mother assigning his lawful wife a room of her own. Though for the best, he hated the idea.

  Exhaling a heavy breath, he turned his attention back to his food.

  “Julian, dear?”

  He lifted his head to find his mother watching him.

  “You are quite taken with Anna,” she said.

  “It is that clear?”

  She patted his hand. “The last time I saw that look in your eyes, it was young Pollio Marcus’s handsome new chariot you were lusting after.”

  “I wish it were only lust. Excuse my crass talk, Mother, but that type of itch is easily cured at a whorehouse.”

  His dear mother—a lover of sinners and her son the foremost object of that love—did not blink an eye. “You would do better to buy another chariot, my son.”

  They joined in a welcome laugh.

  He clasped her hand and gave it a gentle press. “I have missed you, Mother.”

  “What are you going to do about Anna?”

  He rested his head against the chair back and stared up at the ceiling. “I am going to divorce her.” He offered up the salient points of the whole sorry affair. “Quite a mess. It is probably just as well Anna hates me, otherwise I might be tempted to keep my lovely wife.”

  A long silence ensued. “Why Anna?”

  He had been asking himself the same thing. Considering Anna’s silence throughout the length of the long journey home versus the small bits of conversation he had with her since reaching Alexandria was as revealing as it was welcome.

  “I feel less lonely when she is near.” Another moment’s silent contemplation, and he added, “How does one miss someone who was never truly theirs?” Tired unto death, he shook aside the pensive thought. “I will divorce Anna soon.”

  He stood to leave.

  “Wait, Son.” His mother reached for his arm. “I told Anna it is within her rights to divorce you.”

  “What?” He dropped onto his chair. A host of contrary and intriguing thoughts rattled about his mind. “Interesting…” he said more to himself than to his mother. “Anna sat through a whole evening, knowing it was within her power to divorce me, and she did not act on it?”

  A seed of hope sprouted only to be lopped off by the sharp edge of reason. He disliked sharing the essential reason, but… “Anna hates Romans. Especially a certain Roman who failed to mention he was circumcised.”

  His mother, who unfailingly faced disasters large and small with a calm-eyed demeanor, winced, a telling indication of just how badly he had botched matters.

  “Do not worry over much about Anna’s attitude toward Romans. When I was young, I had similar feelings. I did not exactly hate Romans, but I thought them as foreign to me as the beasts of the field. Then I fell in love with your father, and the fact he was a Roman mattered not. Furthermore, your Anna does not have to overcome the loud objections of her family for marrying a heathen, but only the constraints of her own conscience.”

  Other than his amusement at his mother calling Anna, your Anna, the words proved a welcome piece of insight.

  She squeezed his fingers. “From my short observation, I would say Anna suffers from a broken heart rather than a hate-filled one.”

  Knocked back by the suggestion his head reeled and his ears rang. A broken heart? Anna cared that much for him? Dare he believe…might she…love him?

  Intending to find the answers to those questions sooner rather than later, he leaned over and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek. “Goodnight, Mother.” Standing, he strode from the room, heading to the one room in the house forbidden to him.

  Thirty

  Deep in the night the bedchamber door creaked open.

  Anna rose on her elbows. Moonlight streamed through the window. Broad shoulders filled the doorway.

  Julian.

  Though the air was hot and heavy, a chill shiver swept over her. She barely had time to sit up before his full and considerable weight settled beside her. The rich smells of Arabia filled her nose. The heat of his mouth closing over hers incinerated the questions ready to roll off her tongue, and she kissed him back with fervor.

  He broke off the kiss. Husky-voiced, he said, “What is this, Anna? I thought you did not want anything more
to do with me.”

  She did not know her own mind. “Is this wrong if we mean to divorce?”

  He released her and stood.

  She pushed at the disheveled hair hanging in her eyes. “Please stay.”

  Always imposing, just now with his jutting jaw, wide chest, and powerful limbs, he could pass for one of his muscled pagan gods come roaring to life. “Do you desire a divorce or not, Wife?”

  “No.” She let the word fly too quickly. “Not just yet. But soon. In a day or two.”

  He studied her for a long moment. “If we divorce, it will be by your word and not mine.”

  “Mine?” she choked out. “But… but it was agreed. We would divorce and you would go back to Jerusalem.”

  Caution and recklessness warred in the midnight blue eyes regarding her. “Yes, we agreed. But I have changed my mind.” He brushed the hair away from her face. “I want you for my wife for a short while more. Will you grant me this lone favor?”

  Given a choice, she should end her heathen marriage. But hearing Julian ask for the very thing she had been praying for stopped her cold. No matter how dubious the merits of her prayer, it seemed it was answered.

  “I suppose a few days cannot hurt.” Except, she suspected they would both suffer a great deal more by time all was said and done. And what if there was a child?

  She squeezed her eyes closed. That was a risk best not to contemplate.

  ∞∞∞

  Awash in soft moonlight, Anna had never looked more beautiful as she welcomed Julian into her bed and into her arms.

  “Master Julian,” a soft voice called.

  Desperate to have his wife, the voice coming from the open door hardly registered.

  “Master Julian!”

  Open door? He cursed himself for his carelessness.

  Julian glared at the intruder. “Close the door and leave.”

  The blushing slave-girl Maia stood her ground and spoke with determination. “An imperial messenger has just arrived. He says the matter is urgent.” Bowing her head, she rushed on. “And your mother sends her best wishes to Anna.”