Second Chances

by Carol Ashby

  A chortle rippled in Philip’s chest. “That might work with Roman aristocrats, but it wouldn’t be wise to push too hard on a Greek. We make up our own minds.”

  Claudia stepped close and rested her palms on his bare chest. “That’s silly. Greek men aren’t that different. I all but begged you to marry me, and look what happened.”

  He lifted her right hand and kissed her palm. “I’d already decided I wanted you as my wife even before the ship reached Thessalonica. That was more than a week before you tried to persuade me to marry you the night before you moved in with your brother. I was just waiting for you to become a believer so I could ask you.”

  Claudia traced the rippled scars beside his right eye. “Well, I still don’t think Greek men are that different from Roman, and Cornelia’s not the kind of woman to miss out on having the perfect husband just because he’s shy about asking her. If he’s too slow, she’ll ask him.”

  Philip kissed her palm again. “Enough talk about them. Cornelia may or may not be the perfect wife for Hector, but I know perfection in a wife when I see it. It’s time for me to enjoy the perfect woman God has blessed me with.”

  His lips sought hers before he scooped her into his arms.

  Anthusa almost laughed aloud as Mistress held out her arms and twirled.

  “It was such a lovely dinner tonight, Anthusa.” Mistress settled into the chair so her hair could be unbraided and brushed.

  “What was so special tonight, mistress?” Anthusa pulled the gold hair pins and the braid tumbled down.

  “Hector asked me to go to worship at Philip’s with him. I thought that might be dangerous, but he promised me he would talk with the Romans there to make sure it isn’t. He’s a good judge of people, so I’m sure I can trust them if he does.”

  Anthusa’s fingers unbraided the silken hair. “I’m sure you’re right. The captain would never ask you to do something he thought dangerous.”

  “No, he wouldn’t. I saw you enjoy his teaching on the ship. Would you like to go as well?”

  Anthusa worked her fingers into the hair and shook it to loosen the last of the braiding. “Yes, mistress. I would.”

  Mistress Cornelia’s reflection smiled at her. “I’m sure he’ll be glad.”

  Anthusa drew the brush through her mistress’s hair and watched her glowing eyes in the mirror. She almost looked young again.

  “Hector didn’t talk much while we were eating, but he seemed to be watching me almost the whole time.” The mistress sighed, but it was deeply happy, not sad. Too often those sighs had been sad before coming to Thracia.

  “I’ve never seen a man look happier than he did when I told Philip I was coming to worship with him. Drusilla told me Christian men only want Christian wives. He wouldn’t have been so happy if he weren’t thinking about marrying me...would he?”

  “I don’t know, mistress, but it seems that might be so.”

  “Of course, that’s not the only reason I want to go. I want to know more, to understand why Publius loved Jesus enough to die the way he did. But having Hector beside me to explain anything I don’t understand...that will be so much better.”

  “It will.”

  “I wonder if he’ll come tomorrow. I hope so. I don’t care what we do when he’s here. I just want to be close to him.”

  “I think he feels the same.”

  The brushing was over. Mistress strolled to her bed and lay down. “I think so, too.” She closed her eyes, but the contented smile remained.

  Anthusa blew out the lamp before going to her own bed. The captain almost certainly felt the same. Now he just had to do something about it.

  Chapter 38: Counting on the Captain

  The next day dawned with a cold drizzle. The dull gray clouds dipped low, leaving patches of fog that obscured Cornelia’s view down the street toward the sea.

  Cornelia’s sigh was slow and deep. “I hate it when it rains like this, Anthusa. Everyone just wants to stay indoors where it’s warm and dry. Hector’s farm is somewhere near the stream where we turned around, so it’s a few miles away from here. That’s too far for him to ride in this. He’d get soaking wet and chilled to the bone.”

  “He is a sea captain, mistress. I’m sure he’s seen much worse weather and still had to be out working in it. He might still come.”

  Cornelia brightened. “Do you think so?” Her smile dimmed. “But he shouldn’t. I don’t want him to come if he has to be out in bad weather. He might get sick.”

  She turned away from the window and sat at her dressing table so Anthusa could plait and pin her hair “He told Drusilla he would come play Mercenaries. He said he’d come early because he had business to attend to before lunch. When he gives his word, he always keeps it.”

  “Perhaps he won’t today, mistress. He’s sensible as well as honest.”

  Silence fell between them as Anthusa’s fingers twisted and pinned. “There. Your hair looks lovely, as always.”

  Cornelia drifted back to the window. “Such a horrible, gray day.” She straightened. A broad-shouldered rider wearing a broad-brimmed hat and draped with a woolen cape that spread across his horse’s rump and reached almost to his ankles materialized out of the fog.

  “I can’t believe it.” She turned to face Anthusa. “It’s him. He came after all. Quick. I want the attar of roses in my hair.” One corner of her mouth rose. “He takes slow, deep breaths when he’s close. I’m sure he’s enjoying my perfumes, and I can tell that’s his favorite.” A full grin broke free. “If he’s going to ride through the rain, the least I can do is greet him smelling of something that gives him pleasure.”

  Friday morning was sunny. Hector would have given the second driving lesson to Cornelia and Drusilla, but the side roads that didn’t have the benefit of stone surfaces carefully constructed by legionaries were muddy at best and quagmires in the lowest places.

  However, that day of sunshine made at least some of the roads passable for the cisium, so Saturday found him driving his mule team through Titus’s gate. One more day would be too long to wait before spending some time with the woman whose playful words kept popping into his mind at unexpected moments.

  Drusilla came tripping out the kitchen door. “Captain! Are we going driving?”

  He looped the reins around the short rod sticking up from the sidewall for that purpose and climbed down. “If your mother wants to. Some of the roads are dry enough, and we’ll stay off the ones that aren’t.”

  “I know she’ll want to. I’ll go get her.” Drusilla spun and disappeared through the kitchen doorway.

  Nestor emerged from his living quarters adjacent to the stable. “Good to see you, brother.” He slapped Hector’s arm. “You’ve been here so often lately that you’re almost a member of the household. Someone...ah, something special bring you today?”

  Nestor’s grin said much more than his words. Hector felt his ears warm. “Drusilla was eager for her next driving lesson. The roads have dried enough. I wanted to take her out before the next rain.”

  Nestor’s grin broadened. “I think Mistress Cornelia is eager for her next lesson as well.”

  “She said she wanted to learn. It seemed a good idea to teach her while I’m teaching Drusilla.” The back of his neck felt warm as well.

  Nestor choked back a laugh. “Yes, a very good idea.” He glanced toward the kitchen, where Drusilla, wrapped in her cloak, had just scurried out the door. “The first of your pupils is here, but probably not the most eager one.” He slapped Hector’s arm again. “Enjoy the sunshine.”

  Hector watched Nestor’s back as he walked away. Was it so obvious to everyone that he came to see Cornelia as much as to see her daughter? Was Cornelia as eager for his company as Nestor implied? He wished it were so, but he couldn’t tell whether it was just playful friendliness or real interest in him as a man.

  He’d watched her with the Romans like the senator in Ephesus and now Lepidus. She responded to them
so graciously, even when she was agitated beneath that calm surface. Any man would think she was pleased to talk with him, even when she might not be. She was too good at play-acting, but it didn’t feel like she was only acting when she looked into his eyes.

  He mentally shook himself. He was letting his desire for her run ahead of what he knew of how the world worked. Liking him as a friend was a far cry from wanting him as a husband.

  Drusilla stood in front of him, and he lifted her onto the seat. “Is your mother coming?”

  “Yes. She ran back upstairs with Anthusa. She said she’d be right out after she did something.”

  “Will it take long?”

  “I don’t think so. I heard her saying something about roses as they went into Mother’s bedchamber, but I don’t think there are any roses in there.”

  Hector’s eyebrows rose. So, she did wear the perfume that smelled like roses just for him. He fought to keep his mouth more or less straight. He didn’t want Drusilla asking him why he suddenly had such a big grin.

  A gentle breeze was blowing. Hector had spread the blanket across their laps, but he felt no chill. If anything, he felt a little too warm. The faint scent of roses washed over him as he drove the team along the main road. It raised his heart rate like chopping wood or pitching hay. He had servants to do the farm chores, but it felt good to work his muscles doing some hard labor. It felt even better to be sitting with Cornelia beside him. It was all he could do not to grin.

  He reined in and turned the team onto a dirt road.

  Cornelia’s head tilted. “Isn’t this a different road, Captain? I was hoping we might see your farm today.”

  “It is a different road, but it goes by my farm. After the rain, this one will be drier.” He drove a short distance and reined in where the road was already dry. “Who wants to drive first?”

  Drusilla was bouncing. “Me, Captain. Can I trot them?”

  A chuckle escaped. “For a quarter mile or so. You’ll have to walk them when we start climbing the hill.”

  He turned his eyes on Cornelia in time to catch her suppressing a smile at her daughter’s need for speed. Her lips were still twitching when she shifted her gaze from the road to his face.

  “So, what new driving skills will you be teaching us today, Captain?” The tease flared in her eyes. “I hope not how to get unstuck from a mudhole. I was afraid it would still be too wet to venture off the stone paving, but I’m sure you can judge that much better than I can.” Those blue eyes dragged him in deeper. “You’re the only man I know who can steer both ships and mules with unfailing skill.”

  “You give me too much credit. I’ve been blown off course more than once by a storm, and I’ve done my share of pushing and pulling to get a stuck wagon free from the mud.”

  She laughed. That raised his eyebrows. She laughed again.

  “I can’t quite picture you covered in mud and pulling like an ox to get a wagon free.”

  The smile slipped from his lips. He’d done that and much worse before Aristarchus bought him. “A man does what he has to do, Cornelia, even when he may not want to.”

  Her eyes grew serious as well. “I’m sorry. I hope my laughter didn’t offend you. I meant no offense. I know you’re right. A woman does what she has to do as well.”

  Her words took the shine off the moment as it focused him back on the reality of their differences. A noblewoman and a captain―an unlikely combination. A noblewoman and a former slave―an impossibility.

  Drusilla pulled him from his thoughts. “We’re coming to a fork in the road, Captain. Which way do I go?”

  “Uphill.” He glanced at Cornelia beside him. He’d come a long way uphill, but he would never reach the mountaintop where queens lived. Cornelia liked him as a friend, but queens married kings and princes, not captains and never slaves.

  The scent of roses had faded, but Hector still found himself acutely aware of Cornelia sitting beside him. Her shoulder occasionally brushed his when the cart joggled on the ruts in the road. She was already handling the reins like a woman who’d been driving for years. She didn’t really need any more lessons, but he hoped she’d keep coming while he taught Drusilla.

  “So, Captain, when will we reach your farm?”

  “The olive grove below us is part of it.”

  “Really?” She pulled back on the reins until the mules stopped. “It’s a lovely view from here.”

  He nodded. He’d always enjoyed riding that road to overlook the farm he’d bought after he married Damara. It had been too painful after the accident, but God had taken that pain during the voyage with Drusilla and Cornelia. It felt good to survey his land again. It reminded him of all the blessings he’d received and how far God had brought him in the last twenty-five years.

  “Where’s the house?”

  Hector pointed downslope to a thick grove of trees. “It’s in there.”

  “I can’t really see it. Can we go down?”

  “Not today. There’s no direct path to this road that isn’t still too muddy.”

  “I’m sure it’s lovely. Perhaps we can go there another day.”

  He nodded without speaking. It was all he’d ever wanted, all he ever would want, but she would be disappointed. It was only a large house, not a villa.

  “Lepidus said his estate touched your farm. Where is it?”

  Hector tried to mask his disappointment with that question. Lepidus. A Roman equestrian. The master of an estate with a villa. A decent man who’d been a good husband and father. Everything she’d want to marry, if she were to marry again.

  “Over there, past my wheat field.”

  “Your field is very green, much better than Lepidus’s. Looks like you’ll have an excellent crop of winter wheat. I’m impressed.”

  She turned her eyes from the field onto him. “I always enjoyed watching my fields green up at home. Lucius had no interest in running the estate, but I found it very satisfying. Malleolus took care of selling my harvests, but guiding the growing of them was my delight.”

  Her gaze swept his fields once more. “I’ll enjoy doing it again after I get some land. The villa was quite beautiful, especially the garden. It held wonderful memories of my boys when they were young, but once they were grown, it was really only a house. It was the land I loved.”

  The sparkle in her eyes as she talked of her land took him by surprise. The villa only a house? Would she be content not to have another villa? To have something more modest like Titus’s house...or his own?

  “I know what you mean. When I’m not at sea, I enjoy working my own land.”

  “One more thing we have in common.” Her head tilted as a teasing smile curved her lips. “I wonder what else we’ll find that we share. I shall enjoy finding out.”

  Her eyes held his. Was there an invitation there? He wasn’t sure what, if anything, he should say, so he said nothing.

  The silence stretched out between them until she broke eye contact.

  “Where is the stream where we turned around?”

  He pointed to the east. “Over there.”

  “We should drive there again. It would be a lovely place to eat lunch on a warm, sunny day.”

  “We can do that.”

  A sudden gust of wind lifted some olive leaves and swirled them around the feet of the mules. Cornelia shivered.

  “You’re getting cold. I should take you home now.”

  “Do we go forward or backward to get there?”

  “Back down the hill.”

  She handed him the reins. “I yield to your superior skill. I have no idea how to turn this cart around on a narrow road.”

  “Watch carefully, and you’ll be able to do it next time.”

  Pulling back on the first mule with one rein and slapping the second mule with the other, he forced a tight circle turn.

  “It will take more than one lesson for me to master that.” She flashed the smile that drove up his heart
rate. “I trust I can count on you for that.”

  “You can.” You can count on me for anything. If only you would.

  “I’ll remember you said that, Hector. You always keep your word.”

  Even with those laughing eyes and crooked smile, he knew she’d remember. And she was right. She meant a lot to him, and he would always keep his word.

  Chapter 39: Changing Obstacles

  Hector rode through Titus’s gate on Sunday morning. It was the first time Cornelia was going to Philip’s to worship with him. A sense of anticipation filled him, although he didn’t know what to expect.

  He dismounted and led his mare into an empty stall. After lifting off her saddle, he headed across the courtyard.

  Drusilla came from the kitchen door. “Good morning, Captain.” She slipped her hand into his. “Mother and Anthusa are almost ready. Come have some breakfast with me.”

  The warm air of the kitchen wrapped him like a blanket. The scent of rosemary-laced bread filled his nostrils. He stood by the kitchen table and lifted a slice of cheese from the serving tray.

  He’d just taken a bite when the music of her voice drifted across his ears. “It’s good to see you, Hector. Miriam’s family already went ahead. We’re ready whenever you are.”

  He turned to find her standing with Anthusa, dressed in the blue tunic that deepened the blue of her eyes.

  “I’m always ready to worship, Cornelia.” He motioned toward the door with his palm held upward.

  She stepped close as she glided past him. Her head tilted and tipped so she could look directly into his eyes. “I look forward to learning why that is.”

  He followed the three of them out the door. Then he stepped up to walk next to her. Anthusa and Drusilla fell in behind.

  He kept glancing down at her as they climbed the quarter mile to Philip’s house. If only she would decide to follow Jesus. His heart couldn’t ask for much more. To know she would live forever with Jesus as his sister in Christ―there could only be one thing that would make his joy more complete. No matter how unlikely it might seem for a captain and a queen, he still longed for her to live right now with him...as his wife.