My Enemy, My Love (Truly Yours Digital Editions)
Page 16
When he pulled back, there was a slight quirk to his lips. “That seems to be the only effective way of silencing you.”
“My father,” she began, but he was already shaking his head.
“No, Anna.”
Angry at his refusal, irritated by his pride, she could only stare at him. A voice from the doorway wrenched them apart.
“No, Anna, what? You cannot accept a gift from me?”
Anna quickly left Barak’s side and went to her father, hugging him tightly. “Father, I have missed you.”
“As I have missed you, my dear.” His look went to Barak. “Now suppose you tell me what is going on here?”
The room grew uncomfortably quiet as Tirinus searched first one face, then the other. “Then let me,” he suggested as the silence continued. “Barak would like to marry you now that he no longer considers you a heathen.”
Tirinus watched the color come to the Jew’s face, but he had to give the lad credit for never breaking eye contact.
“Regardless,” he continued. “Anna was about to tell you that she has property of her own. Her dowry, you might say. Her aunt gave it to her before she died, since she had no offspring of her own. I have had to hire a man to farm it for years until Anna should either sell it or choose to live there.”
When Barak gave no sign, Tirinus frowned. “Perhaps you cannot bring yourself to live in Sychar.”
Barak lifted his hand impatiently. “I have nothing to offer her.”
Anna wanted to tell him that all she wanted was him, but he hadn’t yet declared his love for her.
Tirinus rightly guessed at the look his daughter gave him. “You have love,” he disagreed softly. “And strength. And knowledge. You have my blessings if you can work this out between you. I want only my daughter’s happiness.”
The door closed behind him and Anna knew her father hadn’t heard Barak’s soft, “As do I.”
He came to her then, taking both of her hands into his own. “I have been so wrong about so many things. I still have much to learn.”
Anna smiled. “We all do.”
His voice grew soft, husky. “I would wish to learn them with you by my side.”
She willed him to say the words she was waiting to hear, but he didn’t. Frowning, she pulled her hands away.
“You would be willing to live in Samaria? To accept a dowry of land?”
He smiled then. “I am willing to accept such a dowry, but only if it includes you. There are many of the Way in Sychar. I have seen for myself that they are a good people, and I no longer see them as enemies, but allies. You taught me this.”
“I still can’t believe that you have accepted the Lord. My prayers for you have been answered.”
“Anna. Look at me.”
Reluctantly, she did as he bid.
“All of this dancing around the issue is getting us nowhere. Tell me one thing. Do you love me?”
Words would not come past the tightness in her throat. All she could do was nod.
He crossed to her quickly, taking her into his arms and holding her close. “And I love you.”
She closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around his waist. She had so longed to hear those words. Now, she was almost frightened by them.
“Are you certain?”
For answer, he closed his lips over hers in a long kiss that left her shaken to her very core.
“I have never been more certain of anything in my life. Marry me.”
“And you can live in Sychar?”
“I can live anywhere where you are. I will never let my pride come between us again.”
He slid his palms across her cheeks and met her eyes seriously. “It will be hard,” he warned.
Anna smiled. “With God all things are possible.”
Epilogue
Simon glared from one man to the other, then fastened his eyes coldly on the girl beside Barak.
“Take your heathen wife and leave. You are no longer my nephew.”
Anna flinched under his angry perusal. Barak had decided that it would be better for them to marry before coming back to Jotapata. Perhaps that decision had been unwise.
“Simon!”
Barak motioned his mother to silence. He fixed an equally angry glare on his uncle.
“Saying it will not make it so. I will always be your nephew.”
“No! No longer.”
Adonijah stepped forward. “Uncle Simon, if you would only hear us out.”
Simon slapped Adonijah across the face, spinning the boy aside. “Never use that title for me again,” he hissed. “You were welcomed to this house as one of us, but now that is not so. Get out. All of you.”
“I won’t leave without my mother,” Barak told him inflexibly.
“Tamar will stay here. She has not turned her back on the Lord.”
“And who would care for her?”
“I will take her into my house, as the law commands. She will be my wife.”
Tamar gasped at this declaration. Her eyes lifted to her son. Lips pressed tightly together, he told her, “The choice is yours, Mother. I cannot ask you to give up everything, but know this. You are welcome in my home.”
Anna nodded. “We would be pleased to have you with us. Adonijah has already agreed to come.”
Snarling, Simon moved toward Anna, but Barak stepped into his path. Glaring brown eyes met glittering brown eyes, and Simon stopped.
“Get her out of here,” he told Barak. “Get her out of my house.”
“We’re going,” Barak told him, his voice soft with warning. “As soon as I have Mother’s decision.”
Simon’s face purpled with rage. “I tell you, she will stay here.”
Barak ignored him. “Mother?”
Tamar looked from one to the other in indecision. To give up everything she had ever known and move to Samaria, of all places. Still, the thought of being separated from her only child didn’t bear thinking about.
“Oh, Barak,” she lamented. “Why must it be this way?”
Barak’s eyes softened and he went down on one knee before her. “Mother, the Messiah has truly come. Adonijah and I know it. We searched for the truth, and we found it.”
“Blasphemy!”
Barak turned his head slightly. “No, Uncle Simon. Truth.”
Adonijah had remained silent. Now he stepped forward. “If you would only let us tell you what we found.” His plea was as much for Simon as for Tamar.
“I said get out!”
“Simon.” Tamar’s quiet voice added balm to a fiery situation. Simon stopped, questioning her with his eyes.
“I am honored that you would be willing to have me as your wife, as the law commands, but this I cannot do. I will go with my son.”
Simon sucked in an angry breath. “You can’t mean it!”
Her eyes were fixed on her son. “I do. I will go with Barak.”
There was silence for a full minute before Simon exploded into rage. “Go then! All of you! Get out of my house now!”
Adonijah came to Tamar and lifted her into his arms as Barak tried once more to reach his uncle.
“Search the Scriptures. Seek the truth. It’s there for all to see.”
Simon lifted a knife from the table, shaking it threateningly at his nephew. “Be gone, I say!”
Frightened, Anna pulled at his arm. “Come, Barak.”
Uncle and nephew stared into each other’s eyes a long moment before Barak turned, and taking his wife by the arm, he left.
Barak stood outside the door looking around him at the home of his youth. The grapes were ripe and ready to be harvested. His fingers itched to tend the fields. He swallowed down the lump in his throat.
Anna wrapped an arm around his waist. “It’s beautiful here.”
He heard the uncertainty in her voice and turned and wrapped her in his arms.
“I am not sorry, Anna. You led me to Jesus, and Jesus led me to you. I am not sorry.”
The firm conviction of his voice
warmed her into a feeling of security.
“I told you it would be hard,” he reminded.
She looked up at him and he saw the tears in her eyes reflect the sunlight.
“I love you, Barak. For now and for always.”
“Then that is all that matters,” he told her, his voice rough with emotion. “As long as we have each other, and Jesus as our Lord, as you said, all things are possible.”
The way would indeed be difficult, but as long as they had the Lord and each other, that was all that mattered. Turning, they followed Adonijah down the hill.
About the Author
Darlene Mindrup is a full-time homemaker and homeschool teacher. A “radical feminist” turned “radical Christian,” Darlene lives in Arizona with her husband and two children. She believes “romance is for everyone, not just the young and beautiful.”
Dedication
I would like to dedicate this book to my minister, Kenneth Hoover. His sermons have inspired many of the thoughts in my books, and his knowledge of the Bible has helped me more times than I can number. I am especially thankful for his help on this book and for his willingness to help me portray the early church as accurately as possible.
A note from the author:
I love to hear from my readers! You may correspond with me by writing:
Darlene Mindrup
Author Relations
PO Box 719
Uhrichsville, OH 44683
Table of Contents
Copyright
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Epilogue
About the Author
Dedication