by Summer Lee
“Thank you.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I look forward to being alone together with you once more.”
“As do I.”
“What’s that behind the bed?” She picked it up. “It is a dried-out orchid. Wonder where it’s from.”
“Me. I left it when I first came to you. I left it on your pillow.”
“I never saw it. I guess it fell behind the bed.” She tucked it into her bodice. “I will keep it always.”
He picked up the bags for her. “Do you have everything?”
“Yes, everything is in the oxcarts outside. Let’s go.”
She clasped his arm and followed him down the stairs and out the door to the waiting oxcart. Rachael was going home now to the palace that she shared with Sammael. They would ride across the rough terrain together, rather than fly. She would like this, because they could talk and spend time together on the way to the palace in Babylon.
Asher hugged her and told her how proud he was of her. Kenana then approached and she saw her father walk away.
“Goodbye, Mother,” Rachael said. “I don’t know when we will see each other again. What will you do now?” Rachael asked, as she studied the queen’s face.
“I don’t know for sure,” she said.
“Father says you’ll go to Adah with Uncle Tall.”
“He is probably right.” She choked up and added, “I’m sorry that you had to see the other side of me.”
“Will you be divorcing Father?”
Tears streamed down her mother’s cheeks. “I am not a wife to him anymore. He is married to the kingdom.”
Rachael narrowed her eyes. “What does that mean?”
Kenana ducked her head. “We don’t sleep in the same room anymore, let alone the same bed.”
“I guess I am not to understand how that came about,” she said. “But I do love you, as I love Father.”
“I love you, my daughter.” They kissed each other on the cheeks.
Meanwhile, Sammael had packed her baggage on one of the oxcarts and now reached for her arm to help her aboard the royal cart. Rachael clasped his arm and stepped up into the cart. She watched her parents waving as she rode away from them.
As they drove out of town, she noticed how similar the city was to when she grew up here. The graceful columns in front of the temple were as they had been years ago. The food vendor sheds, the grain silos, the horse stables—all were still as it was when she was as a child. The only change was her mother. She did not expect her to be here long. Kenana owned the palace where Tall now lived and she had been spending a lot of time there lately.
“Will you stay with me forever?” Rachael asked Sammael as they bounced along in their oxcart going home.
Sammael thought for a moment and quietly said, “I don’t know for sure yet.”
“Please don’t leave me like my mother is leaving my father.”
“I do not choose to go or not go,” he said. “A court in Heaven decides my fate and I must obey. I do not have free will as you do.”
“I understand now.” Tears filled her eyes as she finally did understand that Sammael served God, no matter what His will.
On the open road, with the sun going down, Rachael said, “I wish we could be alone tonight. Just you and me.”
Sammael agreed. “We need to be away from others now.” He called a soldier over and told him that they could camp by the road, but he wanted to be alone with his wife.
“I understand.” The soldier stated that they would keep watch over their privacy.
As the royal oxcart bounced over the rocks and bushes to the shade of a large cedar, Rachael thought about all that was happening. In her mind, she reviewed the information she had been given about Sammael. She was not surprised that her relationship with him had come to a stronger, more loving kinship. Rachael recalled how he had come to her and put her under a spell to love him. She thought about the times he had disappeared and she had felt abandoned, even when Sammael was off doing God’s work. Anything new would not surprise her now.
Wind moaned through the branches on the trees as the couple made their way to the perfect camping spot. Pulling on the reins, Sammael halted the oxcart. Rachael could feel his eyes on her. With teary eyes, she stared ahead.
“I love you,” he said.
“I will always feel your love,” she said.
She turned and faced this man who was by her side and who dominated her dreams. He was dressed in a dark-green tunic and cloak. He was tall and trim. His features were refined and his chin strong. She had a feeling that he was going to leave soon.
“I want you to know that if you have to go that I will never marry again,” she said, her heart nearly breaking to say it aloud. “I will always love only you.”
Well away from listening ears, they camped under a cedar tree. While Sammael threw a heavy blanket on the ground, Rachael stepped out of her robe and tunic. He watched as she removed her undergarments. Picking her up, he placed her in the middle of the pallet on her back. He then dropped his outer robe and lay down beside her. “I will always love only you,” he said, cupping her bosom.
How many times had this handsome angel placed her under his spell? They had often laughed and cried together. How happy she had felt under his mesmeric influence. She did not feel he was trying to control her now, though, but wanted her to feel her true feelings of passion. She said, “I believe you.”
Placing one arm around her back, he pulled her to him with the other. “We must savor our love.”
“Yes,” she said, falling into his arms, “we must.” Holding her close to his body, he kissed her.
Breathless, Sammael said, “For now, we are husband and wife and we are alone.”
“That makes me happy.”
They made love under a sky peppered with a million stars, and then the two found pleasure sleeping in each other’s arms.
When they started toward home the next morning, Sammael seemed to be energized. He said he hoped to make good time on the road. He grabbed the reins and tapped the rears of the oxen and whistled to them.
As the oxen bolted forward in the traces, Rachael burst out laughing. “You are full of life today, Sammael,” she said.
“It is your love,” he said. “You give me new energy every time we are together.”
“It is because I truly love you.” Rachael had only lived in Babylon for a few months, but she had grown to love the land, the people, as well as the palace and all its workers. But most of all, she loved Sammael. She said a silent prayer of thanksgiving to El.
The sky stayed cloud-covered most of the day as they put miles behind them. Yet each mile told her heart that Sammael would be going away soon, probably for good. Quick tears rose in her eyes. She clasped his arm. “I want to be alone with you again tonight.”
That evening, a circle was formed of all of the oxcarts and in the gathering darkness, the oxen lowed and frogs croaked in the small stream that paralleled the road. Aaron built a fire and Hannah cooked some wild vegetables that the soldiers had found in a field.
Rachael told the others that she wanted to spend the night alone with her husband again. She sensed things would not be the same when they got back home in Babylon.
After the evening meal, Sammael rolled up a blanket and tucked it under his arm. He clasped Rachael’s hand and said, “Come. I know of a place that you would like to see. It is more peaceful than this.” He winked.
“Take me there.” She giggled. The two of them walked away and the crowd cheered. Sammael lifted her up into his arms, and carried her to a meadow filled with poppies, and once again they sat under the spreading branches of a large tree.
Sammael threw the blanket on the ground. Rachael picked a poppy and pretended it could magically control her future. She peeled off the petals slowly, letting them drift away on the breeze. Friend or lover, she wanted this angel in her life. He made her feel wonderful. He accepted her for who she was, and that was enough to bond her to him forever.
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“Let’s spend the night in each other’s embrace again,” she said.
He agreed. His imposing presence completely obscured the night sky. “I want to hold you forever,” he whispered in her ear.
This time, they undressed each other.
“Your love makes me cry for joy.” Rachael’s heart pounded as she lay in his arms by his side. She took in a deep breath and said, “I am so glad you love me, and I’m sorry you are risking God’s punishment to be with me.”
He dropped his lips onto hers to quell her apology.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Together, the small band of travelers returned to Babylon. Servants returned to their chores.
Like two young children, Rachael and Sammael clung to each other. They played like children and when the one would catch the other, they tumbled into the grass together.
Slowly, the days crept by.
One day, while sitting in the grass together, she said, “Tell me about your past. How long have you been visiting people on Earth?”
He looked at her and grinned. As usual, she felt a tingling crazy twinge in her stomach. There was a sharp-edged awakening of her passions that only Sammael could stir. “I’ve been visiting young girls ever since Adam and Eve had their first daughter.”
“Did you marry any of them?”
“No, only you, but I had many chances.”
“Would you tell me about them?”
“There have been many girls that would die to be in your position.”
“My position?”
“Lying here beside me as my wife.”
“I am sure that is true,” Rachael said smiling at him. “But you would be surprised how many men would die to be in your position.”
“And…?”
“And what?”
“You didn’t finish.”
“I know a couple of young men that would die to lie here beside me.”
“I believe you.” He laughed and leaned over and kissed her. “What shall we do now?” He asked as he gave her wicked playful grin.
“I assume you are thinking of lovemaking.”
“Well, what do you want to do?” He slipped his arm under her and pulled her close. Running his hand down her back, he tugged at her tunic. “Are you ready to make love out here in the open air?”
“In front of everyone?”
“There is no one out here but you and me and God. Who knows what excitement we might feel?”
“We might even make a baby.”
“Maybe.” He was now close enough for it to happen.
*
They were so happy together. Married life was more beautiful than Rachael could ever imagine. She loved having him share his past with her and hearing how people had lived in the past.
“Which of my ancestors did you like best?” she asked.
“Man or woman?”
“I was thinking of a woman.”
“I want you to know, dear, that no one woman came close to you. You are the best. But the men were righteous men down to your great-grandfather, Enoch. Your grandfather, however, was not so holy.”
“My mother’s father was strange. I did not see him much as a child.”
“I knew the Watcher who was supposed to protect your mother. He did not do his job.”
“I know. Malluch got her pregnant with Tyro.” Rachael shook her head and laughed.
Sammael picked her up and kissed her. “Forget all those people. Right now, it is just you and me.”
Rachael was happier now than she had ever been. Perhaps Sammael won’t leave me anymore, she thought.
But things soon changed.
Now she realized there was a new problem—rather, an old problem which was resurfacing. His soul was filling up with negative emotions again. She could sense both his pain and deep-seated rage, all revealed in his knowing eyes. His evil side was emerging. “You are changing. Something is wrong. I can feel it.”
“Oh, Rachael. Only God is good, and I don’t know how to cling to Him. I feel so much frustration inside my soul right now, and I don’t know what to do about it.”
“What did you do before you met me?”
He gritted his teeth. “I went to my star. Remember?”
“Then go to your star now and find peace in your soul.”
He lifted her chin toward his face and kissed her. “With your approval, I will be leaving you. Hopefully, I will be back.”
Oh my, she thought, as she saw love gleaming in his eyes, I hope I’m not making a mess of things. However, she knew she had to let him go.
Rachael fled to their bedroom. Standing by the open window, she looked after the cloud that bore him away. As he faded out of sight, she started to cry uncontrollably. She knew in her heart that she was taking the first steps of sorrow that being alone provided. Could she bear the pain that losing him would bring?
She thought of her mother, Kenana, and how she must have felt when she lost the love of a supernatural being. She sensed she would now feel the same broken heart.
Rachael walked out to the stables and asked to have her horse saddled. She then rode to the back of the grain field and down a narrow path toward the distant hills. She descended the last hill, going down into the garden. She determined that she would spend the night here, waiting for Sammael to find healing in his soul. Tying her horse to a tree, she entered the shelter. Alone, she watched the sun go down. She stayed there until darkness fell and the stars came out. Staring at Sammael’s star brought comfort to her heart. She prayed that God would help her understand.
The only sound was that of the falls cascading down the mountain. Listening to the water splashing at the bottom, she could hear it swell or shrink in the rhythms of the swollen river that fed it.
Slowly, she drowsed into slumber, but her dream was not good. She saw Sammael standing before her. He stared, scowling briefly. She heard him say, “The world is a mess and full of wickedness, but I am the one to be punished.”
She awakened with a start. She called out, “Sammael, where are you?”
With no answer, she felt frightened. She mounted the horse to return to Babylon.
Interlude – The Watcher
The angels came to present themselves before God Almighty. Sammael came among them. He felt nervous, because he did not want to tell how he had found the woman of his dreams. He did not want to share that he had thought that the only way to get this girl was through deception.
Now, he faced judgment with thousands of angels; most of were pure, and most of them walked in holiness. The Archangel Gabriel, asked, “Where have you been?”
Sammael answered, “I have been in Babylon, ruling over the humans there.”
Gabriel pushed, “Have you been with the maiden, Rachael?”
Sammael ducked his head. “Yes, I have. However, I married her in God’s name.”
“You know the penalty for angel-human couplings. Why would you risk such a thing, knowing the price?”
Head still bowed, he answered, “I love God, and I love her.”
“Angels live forever. It is not so for men. They die, and the only way they can live on is in the lives of their children. That is why they are allowed to have posterity.”
“I admit that I was selfish and self-centered.”
“The next time you come before the throne, you will be sentenced to eternal separation. Go now and settle matters on Earth, and then return.”
“I will.”
Lucifer was next in line. He accused Rachael of many things, none of which were true.
Then the Almighty spoke, “Lucifer, I reject your false accusations of Rachael. Yes, I—the God of Enoch, Methuselah, and Lamech—rebuke you. Yes, the Lord who has chosen Noah to build the ark, rebukes you.”
Lucifer had spread evil all over the world. Only evil. He did not have a good bone in his body. It would be fine with Sammael if Lucifer was cast into hell immediately, but he had heard that it would still be thousands of years. The name “Satan” popped
into his mind. Lucifer had become the evil Satan. Sammael just wanted the evil one to stay away from his wife.
Sammael humbly bowed his head and with a heavy heart, he went away to do as he had been told.
Chapter Thirty
Rachael was in the palatial yard alone when Sammael returned to her.
“Sammael! They let you return to me! My heart is so glad!”
“Rachael, dear one, I’ve been only allowed to finish my business on Earth, so I just turned the palace over to Aaron.”
“No, please. They cannot take you away forever!” She burst into tears.
“Please don’t cry. We have only a short time left between us.”
He picked her up, and pushed with his toes. Upward they shot, and it felt like she had been picked up by the wind. “I want to be alone with you for a while.”
While riding in his arms, she looked back over his shoulder, and held on tightly. Bravely facing the thought that Sammael was leaving soon, she choked back the tears. Rachael’s tunic whipped about her, and she clung to Sammael’s neck. “Where are we going?”
“To our garden.” He smiled. “But first, I will take you on a tour of the world.”
“You remembered!” she said.
“More than that, I keep my promises.” He took her east over the hills. Hills turned into valleys. Valleys merged into rivers. And rivers raced downhill. Crossing the wide body of water, they soon saw land again, and then another wide body of water. It was the Mediterranean Sea, and on it was a lone ship. The word Yarona was painted on the side of a ship, and she knew Buck Cruz was at the helm. But Sammael filled her heart these days and she didn’t feel a flicker of love or desire for Buck Cruz.
As they approached Mesopotamia, she recognized some sights below. It seemed like they had gone in a great circle. Rachael realized that Sammael was swiftly carrying her over the final hill.
He landed in the middle of a field that was bursting with color and life. She saw butterflies, birds and animals. She smelled the daffodils and ran to pick one. He followed her and sat down in the middle of the flowers. She sat beside him and placed the yellow blossom in his hair. There was quiet acceptance of their fated parting as he held her close for the rest of the day. She felt an inner peace and tried to connect her feelings with his. She did not want to lose him. Not ever.