by Carol Ashby
He ate quickly. He wanted to get to the garrison early to return the pack mule. As he walked through the kitchen on his way to the stable, he paused.
“I’m counting on you to protect Claudia. That’s your most important duty. Don’t let her be alone. After last night, I’m not sure it would be safe.”
Miriam turned from the dough and focused dark brown eyes on him.
“Yes, master. I’ll keep her safe.”
Those eyes pulled him in, just like they had in the slave market. He wasn’t sure what it was about them, but something made him certain he could trust her to protect Claudia from herself. He wouldn’t have to worry about his sister today.
With a quick nod, he headed out to his waiting stallion.
Miriam watched through the window as he mounted and headed for the gate. She pulled a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was good the master was more interested in her getting work done than in having her stand waiting for him to want something. Today would be the first day trying to do the work of three, and she needed every minute of it. Somehow, God would help her get everything done, even though she had to watch over the mistress. There must be some way.
As soon as she set the bread dough aside to rise, she climbed the stairs to check on Mistress Claudia. In the daylight, she could see how hard the mistress had cried. Even after a night of sleep, her eyes were still puffy. As Miriam stood gazing at the beautiful girl who was almost her own age, the mistress stirred and opened her eyes.
“It’s Miriam, isn’t it?”
“Yes, mistress. If you wish, I’ll unpack your trunks now so you can choose what you want to wear this morning.”
Mistress Claudia rolled onto her back and rested her arm across her forehead. “That’s fine.”
Miriam opened the ornately carved doors of the cupboard to reveal a set of drawers that would hold the mistress's jewelry and hair accessories. Even the inside of the doors and the front of each drawer were beautifully carved. This was a very expensive piece of furniture. Nestor had mentioned that the master rented the house already furnished. Who would put such lovely furniture in a rental house?
When she began to transfer the clothing from the rugged travel trunk to a trunk carved to match the cupboard, her breath caught at the sheer beauty of the fabric of almost every tunic and palla she lifted out. The textures were so soft. The fabrics draped so gracefully, and the colors were exquisite, like those of a rainbow. There was only one tunic in the whole chest that was an ordinary one.
“You have beautiful tunics, mistress. I’ve never seen so many lovely ones.”
“Philip bought them all, except for that pale blue linen one. I had to leave everything behind except what I was wearing and that small box of poetry when I ran away.”
“He must be a very generous man, mistress.”
“The most generous man ever. He hadn’t even met me when he gave Penelope money to go buy everything she thought I’d need.”
Miriam’s eyebrows rose. Was that the start of tears in Mistress Claudia’s eyes?
“He’s been so kind to me. It was wonderful making the trip with him…and Penelope, too, of course. I miss him…them so much.”
“Nestor said their house is very close, so you can probably see them often, mistress. Perhaps invite them for dinner. I can prepare something special for you.”
“He’s out of town for a week.”
Something in the mistress’s voice told Miriam she’d better shift the subject before the mistress started crying again. It wasn’t only the loss of her father that Mistress Claudia was grieving. She placed the last tunic in the ornate chest and lowered the lid.
“I have your breakfast ready for you downstairs. Did you want to dress before or after you eat?”
“After, I guess. No, before. It doesn’t really matter.”
“Which tunic would you like, mistress?”
“I don’t care. You pick something. It doesn’t matter. No one will see me.”
Mistress Claudia had been sitting up, but she flopped back down on the bed and curled into a ball. She wasn’t openly crying, but Miriam saw one small tear trickle down her cheek and disappear into her reddish-blonde hair.
Miriam selected a light green tunic that would be perfect with her hair. She took some gold tunic clips from the smaller travel trunk, and carried everything to the bed.
Suddenly the dam broke, and tears began cascading down the mistress’s cheeks. Miriam laid the tunic at the foot of the bed and sat down beside her. She began rubbing her back. The mistress started shaking as she sobbed.
“Is there anything I can do to help, mistress?”
“No. Only Philip can.”
Miriam’s hand continued making slow circles on her back, and she began to hum a lullaby as she prayed for her mistress’s tears to end. It wasn’t long before the sobs turned back into tears and the tears stopped.
Mistress Claudia rolled onto her back, then sat up. She wrapped her arms around her knees.
“I didn’t mean to do that, Miriam. Sometimes I just can’t help it. I get thinking about Father being gone forever, and now Philip’s gone.” She flicked the tears off her cheek.
“But it’s only a week until Master Philip will be back. That’s not so long.”
Claudia sniffed. “You’re right. I can’t keep crying like this. Don’t tell Titus.”
“I won’t tell the master anything you don’t want me to. He bought me to serve you more than to serve him.”
Claudia stared into Miriam eyes, then a slow smile appeared. “I’m ready to get dressed now. The green one is a good choice.”
As Miriam helped her mistress into the green tunic, she gave thanks that Mistress Claudia was already telling her some of the things in her heart. The more she knew, the sooner she could help her heal.
As Mistress Claudia went down the stairs in front of her, Miriam fought a frown. How was she ever going to get everything done if she had to keep an eye on the mistress all day? Even worse, she had to do it without the mistress suspecting. Any grown woman would resent being watched like a small child.
Mistress Claudia was heading toward the dining room when the answer popped into Miriam’s head.
“Mistress, would you rather eat in the kitchen where you can watch me work or all alone in the dining room?”
The mistress paused, then turned. “That’s an excellent idea. I’d much rather watch you than be alone right now.”
With a welcoming smile, Miriam stepped back to let her mistress enter the kitchen ahead of her. Her breakfast tray was waiting on the table, so Mistress Claudia seated herself and began to eat.
Miriam returned to the counter where the dough had finished its first rise. She punched it to deflate it, then began shaping it into the loaves that she would bake in a half hour or so after the second rise.
When Miriam finished shaping the last loaf, she turned to check on Mistress Claudia. The mistress’s elbow was on the table, and her cheek rested on her hand as she watched. The cloud of sadness that had hovered over the mistress earlier had been replaced by curiosity.
Miriam would start dinner preparations after lunch. Until then, she needed to start gathering and drying some of the heavy crop of apples that hung on the large tree at the back of the garden. If watching her make the bread had distracted the mistress...
“Would you like to come with me into the garden now, mistress? It’s such a beautiful day to be outside. I need to start picking the apples to dry for winter.”
Everything Miriam was doing was new to Claudia. She’d never spent time in a kitchen before. Food always magically appeared fully prepared and prettily arranged on the serving platters or individual plates.
Miriam’s question drew a shrug. “I suppose so.”
She didn’t have anything else she wanted to do. There wasn’t a single poem in her library that she hadn’t read to Philip or he hadn’t read to her. After what happened when she read to Penelope
yesterday, she was afraid to read when she was already missing him too much.
Miriam went into the storeroom and brought out two baskets.
“There’s a nice chair under the big tree, mistress. You could watch from there.”
Miriam waited for Mistress Claudia to go outside ahead of her. After the mistress was settled in the chair, Miriam limped over to the apple tree, where Nestor had already placed a ladder for reaching the upper branches. With her basket slung from one arm, she began to climb. She had good enough balance on the ground, but climbing tall ladders with her bad leg...that made her heart beat faster. She was about one third of the way up when Nestor appeared below her.
“I’ll pick the upper branches, and you can pick the lower ones. Come down now. You don’t look very steady there.”
She smiled down in gratitude. “I can do it if I have to, but I’d rather not climb too high. Thank you, Nestor.”
He grinned. “Master Philip made me steward here. I’m going to protect every part of Master Titus’s household, especially his chef. I like eating your cooking.”
Miriam returned his grin as she stepped off the ladder. “And I like feeding you.”
He picked up a basket and scampered up.
As Claudia watched Nestor reach out for apples from the ladder top, visions of Philip on the mast in the rain and wind swirled in her mind. She’d been terrified that he’d get hurt. Was he somewhere now where he might get killed and never return to her? She closed her eyes and tried to push that thought out of her mind, but she couldn’t quite do it.
“Hello!” Penelope’s cheery voice pulled Claudia from her fear-filled thoughts. “We missed you and thought we’d visit.”
Penelope and Junia, escorted by one of Philip’s stable men, beamed as they walked toward her.
Miriam appeared at Claudia’s side. “I’ll fetch some fruit and something to drink out here, if you wish, mistress.”
Nestor was already moving a bench under the tree to give extra seating.
“Yes. Do that.” Claudia wiped her cheeks to be sure no tears remained and stepped forward to greet her friends.
A smile sprang to her lips. “I’m so glad you did. I’ve missed you, too.” Palm up, she swept her hand toward the bench. “Miriam has gone to fetch refreshments. It will be almost like sitting under the canopy on the ship.”
Almost, but not quite. The most important person was missing, and he would be for five more days. Her smile dimmed; then she forced it to brighten again. As Miriam had said, a week wasn’t so long. Five days was even less...but even an hour wouldn’t be too soon.
Philip had ridden to the farthest estate first and would work his way back. He had three to visit. It was a day and a half out to the first, then a day of accounting with the harvest celebration that evening. With half a day’s ride between each and staying for an evening celebration with his workers, it would be five more days before he could be with Claudia again.
As he listened to the happy laughter shared by the women preparing the evening’s feast, her trembling smile as he reined away from her kept slipping into his mind.
She was with her brother. Titus loved her and would try to take care of her. But it wasn’t the same as doing it himself. She’d been his responsibility since Rome. She should be his responsibility as long as they both lived.
God, protect her. End her grief. Open her heart to hear and follow you.
He rubbed the back of his neck. If Penelope’s right that you brought her to be my wife, please let that be soon.
Patience was one of the gifts of the Spirit, but this wasn’t the way he wanted to practice his.
Chapter 50: The New Helper
Lunch was over, and it was time for Miriam to start dinner. Mistress Claudia sat at the table, watching her gather the pots and utensils she would use to prepare the master’s Roman dinner.
“I need to go to the garden to gather some fruit, vegetables, and herbs for dinner. Then I need to get two sauces started. Would you like to come, mistress?”
Mistress Claudia hesitated, but the hopeful smile Miriam directed her way tipped the decision. “That sounds better than sitting here.”
Miriam picked up the two small baskets she kept by the door and led Mistress Claudia into the vegetable garden.
The mistress bent down and fingered the lacy leaves of a carrot. “These were in the peristyle garden in Rome, but I just thought they were pretty. I didn’t know they were food. The dinner last night was truly delicious. Titus loves good food, so I’m glad he bought you to cook for us. What are you going to make for tonight?”
“The master expects three-course Roman meals. For the salad course, I’ll make carrots in one of my mother’s special white wine sauces. For first table, pork in a red wine sauce that my last master loved. For second table, some pears in a white wine sauce I make with cinnamon and nutmeg.”
She headed for the pear tree, and the mistress followed. Several perfectly ripened pears went into the basket. Then she gathered carrots, onions, celery, fennel, parsley, lovage, rosemary, and bay leaves.
The mistress lifted the sprig of rosemary from the basket and sniffed. “So many different things for a single sauce. I never would have guessed.”
“I’m making both a vegetable stock and a pork stock, but there are many things in each. Time for me to cut everything up and start those simmering.”
As Miriam stood at the counter washing the purple carrots before she peeled them, Mistress Claudia wandered over beside her.
Miriam lifted a small knife from the rack and began peeling.
Mistress Claudia rested her hand on the counter. “You do that so fast.”
“I’ve done this since I was a child, mistress.” The smile she gave the mistress failed to draw one in return. “Practice makes everything fast and easy.”
As the mistress’s hand started toward the knife rack, Miriam’s eyes widened. The mistress took one of the largest ones out of the rack and felt the edge with her thumb.
While the mistress turned the knife in her hands, Miriam’s heart raced. The master had said his sister tried to kill herself with a knife, and here she was in the kitchen with one of the sharpest knives in her hands. What would the master do if he knew she’d let his sister anywhere near a knife? What if she tried to use it?
“Mistress, it must be boring to have nothing in particular to do but watch me. It’s much more fun to do something than to watch. Would you like to help me cut up the carrots? If not, I’m going to need that knife.” She held out her hand and waited for Mistress Claudia to place it in her palm.
The mistress tilted her head, then a slight smile appeared. “You’re right. It is boring. I’d like to help, but I’ve never done anything in the kitchen before. Teach me.”
That was not the response Miriam expected, but as she watched Mistress Claudia perk up at the prospect of helping, a slow smile curved her lips. She could get her work done while keeping the mistress entertained and safe. God had given her a way to do two things at once.
Miriam carried the peeled carrots over to Mistress Claudia. Then she lifted down a cutting board that hung on the wall by the knife rack.
“For the salad and the pork stock, you cut them up into small pieces like this. Be careful. The knife is very sharp, and you don’t want to cut your fingers. Hold the carrot like this so you won’t.” She cut two slices as the mistress watched.
“That looks easy enough.”
While Miriam cut up the onions and celery for both the vegetable and pork stocks, Mistress Claudia carefully sliced the carrots.
By the time the mistress finished, Miriam had the stock pots filled with cut-up vegetables, herbs, and spices. She stirred the pork bones into the smaller one. They only needed the carrots to be ready to hang on the metal hooks that would hold them over the cooking fire to simmer.
“Is that all, Miriam?”
“No, mistress. After these cook about three hours, then they�
��ll be ready for the next step in the recipes.”
“You were right. It is more fun to do than to watch. Can I help some more?” The mistress’s lips curved into the first real smile Miriam had seen.
“Yes, mistress, but I think the master wouldn’t like it if you do too many things in the kitchen, even if they are fun. You can’t be doing anything when it gets close to the time he comes home.”
She’d only asked Mistress Claudia to help to distract her from using the knife on herself. How angry would the master be if he thought she was using the mistress as a kitchen helper?
“Titus doesn’t have to know. I’ll keep it a secret if you’ll let me keep doing this.”
Mistress Claudia’s hopeful eyes made it impossible to refuse. “As you wish, mistress. You can help me when the master isn’t here, and watch when he is.”
The mistress’s smile appeared again. “Philip loves working in the rigging of his ship, just like his crewmen. Penelope said he learned how when his father had him work a summer as a sailor. I was always busy in Rome, but I have almost nothing to do here. You can teach me to cook.”
Miriam fought a grin. God had, indeed, provided. “I’ll teach you whatever you want to learn, as long as the master doesn’t forbid it.”
“I don’t think Titus would care, but we won’t tell him, just in case. It will be fun to watch him eat what I’ve made, thinking it’s one of your delightful creations. I’ll try not to do anything that won’t be up to your standards.”
The mistress’s smile was accompanied by a tilt of her head. “If you’re going to teach me how to cook, let me teach you something. Can you speak Latin?”
“No, mistress. Only Aramaic and Greek, but I’d like to learn if you’d like to teach me. I can work on the apples while you do.”
Claudia’s smile broadened. She didn’t have Philip to fill her days with battles and poems and visions of distant countries, but she could keep her mind occupied with teaching and learning from Miriam. Miriam was right. It was much more fun to do than to watch.
