Faithful Daughter of Israel

by Wanda Ann Thomas

  Maia departed. Hobbled footsteps heralded her return, followed by the sound of the door snapping closed.

  Poor girl,” Anna said.

  His mouth skimmed hers. “I have to attend to the cursed messenger, and after that I will have stern words with my mother.” He gave Anna a meaningful look. “Then I will come back, and we will finish what we began.”

  Her shimmering eyes darkened. “I will wait for however long it takes.”

  “Crucify me,” he muttered, and drew Anna from the bed.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I am taking you to my room.”

  “Oh?”

  “My door has a lock.”

  “Oh.”

  Oh, indeed! Normally, Julian took the annoyances of his job in stride. Just now, however, he was tempted to roar his displeasure at the cursed imperial messenger, shred the cursed message to pieces, and give his dear mother a good scold.

  With more than a little regret, Julian tucked Anna into his bed. Leaving her with a lingering kiss, a down payment on the night to come, he promised to return as soon as possible.

  A few moments later he was back. He set the oil lamp he carried on a small pedestal table and knelt beside the bed. Anna turned toward him. Surprise and trepidation glowed briefly in lovely brown eyes. The soft light dancing over her face lent lush luminance to her wild beauty. Her evident anticipation made his having to disappoint her even more lamentable.

  “I am afraid I cannot keep our appointment, my pretty bride.” Producing the paper scroll he’d received from the messenger, he stroked it against her bare forearm. “Malefactors have rioted in the next district. The local officials need my assistance to help quell the unrest.”

  “How serious is it? Will you be in danger?”

  “No. The soldiers have calmed the worst of it. It is the same old thing. The Greeks and Jews at each other’s throats over a perceived slight. The like happens every few years. A law is passed or a decree is made that one or the other of them thinks unfair, and the tension begins to build and build, until finally they take to the streets to beat each other up for as long as it takes the Roman army to arrive and put a stop to it.”

  A peevish scowl deepened her frown. “Why are you needed if the worst is past?”

  Likewise irked, he exhaled heavily. “Negotiations are underway with leaders from each of the aggrieved parties. Egypt’s governor has called for my help with the proceedings.”

  “Why? What can you do to help?”

  “Good question.” His sarcasm rested in the frustration of knowing there was no easy solution to the problem. The animosity between the Jews and Greeks of Alexandria reached far back, rooted in the city’s three distinct populations: Greek, Jew, and Egyptian. Tonight’s altercation represented the latest battle in their long-running war.

  These facts did not answer her real question—why him? Why not some other dignitary or some other person of influence? He crushed the fragile missive between his fingers. “The governor probably thinks or hopes my Roman and Jewish lineage will make a difference to the disputants.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Hurry back.”

  He gave her a quick kiss. He loved the sight of her in his bed. “I will move mountains to be with you.”

  Thirty-One

  Anna awoke early the next day to blankets smelling of Julian. Disappointed he had not returned, and wondering what she ought to do now, she was saved from deciding by the appearance of the plain-faced girl Maia. Cursed with a club foot, the young maiden limped out of sight behind a curtain and reappeared with one of Anna’s new tunics, one Julian had purchased for her.

  “What are my clothes doing here?” Anna said, talking more to herself than the girl.

  “Master Julian’s orders.”

  “You have seen him then? He is back?”

  “No, Master Julian is still out. A smile spread over the plain face. “I stowed your possessions here, while his mother was escorting you to the room of her choosing.”

  The talkative maiden presented an opportunity. “How long have you been a member of this household? Are you happy here?” She favored the girl with an encouraging smile.

  If the household held dark secrets, its servants—the ever-present, oft forgotten, silent observers—could be counted on to know it.

  Maia laid the tunic on the bed and smoothed a nonexistent wrinkle. “Mistress Jochebed is a gem. She found me as a babe abandoned on the stairs of Jupiter’s temple and took me in. When I am old enough, I will marry, making room for another needy child.”

  Anna knew of the heathen practice of exposing unwanted or deformed babies. This girl had been one such child. Most died, some ended up in the hands of evil people for vile purposes, a very few found pity in the eyes of strangers.

  The story earned Jochebed Anna’s instant love. The leap was a short one. Already inclined in that direction due to the widowed woman’s kindness to her, hearing Jochebed made a regular habit of helping outcasts, and heathen ones at that, won her Anna’s respect and loyalty.

  Her conscience whispered that perhaps she had judged Jochebed’s son too harshly. A heathen under no compulsion from his gods or his laws to do good, Julian nonetheless rescued her, a perfect stranger and a fallen woman, going so far as to marry her.

  And she had repaid his favor by repeatedly rejecting him.

  Ashamed, she buried her face in her hands and gave into fresh tears. She heard the door shut quietly behind the departing girl.

  Maia returned a short while later. “Let me make you ready. Master Julian has just come home.”

  ∞∞∞

  Julian was transported back to his youth, listening to his mother’s soft recital of the morning prayers drifting through the dining alcove.

  She handled the precious scroll with care and reverence. “Hear, O Israel, The LORD our God is one LORD. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

  Anna watched, mesmerized.

  He anticipated their surprise at his coming announcement.

  Finished reading, Mother entrusted the scroll to the lame girl Maia. Satisfied the scroll was properly stowed away, she passed a basket of warm bread to him. “Anna, would you do us the honor of offering thanks for the bounty before us.”

  Anna’s eyes were red-rimmed as if she had been crying, but they glowed with joy at the request.

  The women he admired most in the world bowed their heads. Julian followed their example.

  Anna’s voice was heartfelt as she prayed. “Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.”

  “Amen,” Mother added, and she and Anna shared a warm smile.

  Julian filled his plate before springing his surprise. “If you do not mind, Mother, I will accompany you to Synagogue.”

  A piece of warm bread halfway to her mouth, Anna paused and blinked. A golden drop of honey purled at the edge of her mouth. He caught it on his finger. Mindful of his mother’s presence, he refrained from licking the nectar from his finger.

  He dipped his fingers in the small bowl of washing water. “And what about you, Wife, would you be glad for my company?” He took his time drying his hand as he watched Anna.

  Was she regretting her promise to give him a few more days?

  “We are glad for your company, dear,” his mother said, coming to Anna’s rescue.

  Anna stared aghast at his mother. “But your son is a heathen. Surely the leaders of the synagogue will protest the intrusion?”

  “How can they object?” His mother leaned toward Anna and spoke behind her hand. “Julian is circumcised.”

  “Mother.” Normally amused by his mother’s humor, he could not appreciate it at the moment.

  Embarrassed, Anna shot a look between him and his mother. “But Julian…he owns idols.”

  “They are Father’s. I don’t know why I carry them from post to post. They are falling to pieces. Tevy is after me to replace them.
I would not even bother unpacking them, but Tevy insists. He tells me the men expect me to pay homage to the gods.

  “Your father tried to keep his idols hidden when we were first married.” A fond smile lighted her face. “You know your father, he was afraid of offending me, dear man. I told him, if he did not want to offend me, he could stop thinking me gullible enough to believe he had thrown his idols away.” She turned and addressed Anna. “I never asked my husband to turn from his gods. Oh, he cared for me enough to at least pretend to do it. But it never was in his heart to worship our God.”

  Anna’s eyes widened, but she did not say a word.

  His mother went on. “Heathen or God-fearer, Julian’s father was the best husband any woman could ask for.” She turned her tender concern toward Julian again. “And, Son, I know you think you made a vow to your father, promising him to follow Roman ways, but he was too honorable a man to ask you to go against your conscience or your heart.”

  His chest tightened.

  His mother squeezed his hand and reached with her other to Anna’s. “Examine your hearts, children, and consider carefully, lest you spend the rest of your life regretting foolish decisions made over issues that no longer seem to matter.”

  He and Anna studied each other solemnly.

  Mother placed Anna’s warm hand in his. “Excuse me, while I go make ready for the Synagogue.”

  Then he and Anna were alone.

  The morning light streamed into the atrium beyond, giving the shadowed alcove they shared the illusion of dark seclusion.

  “How did your mission go?” Anna asked, her voice breathy. “Are the talks at an end?”

  “It is over for now. But nothing was really settled.” Having no desire to relate the heated go-round between him and the governor, he dismissed the topic with a shrug.

  “I was worried for you.”

  The shy confession touched him. “For me?”

  “For your reputation. For your duties as a soldier. I want everything to go well for you, so you can become an important Roman.”

  He raised her hands and kissed them. Anna’s words rang in his ears—an important Roman—put that way, his quest for dignitas sounded trifling.

  Did dignitas truly signify his life’s desire?

  And what about the promise to his father?

  He clearly recalled his father talking to him of dignitas, extolling its every virtue. In his young mind, he must have mistaken his father’s strong encouragement for filial duty. He could only wonder at his mother waiting until now to correct the misconception, especially, in the light of her faithfulness to the God of Israel.

  He exhaled heavily. “When I was young, I worshipped everything about my dead father. And my mother encouraged it. Only with the coming of maturity have I learned to appreciate my mother and all of her worthy traits.”

  Desire to keep Anna close accounted for only half the reason Julian had volunteered to accompany the women to Synagogue. For the other half—call it curiosity.

  “My mother’s Jewish ways always entailed a certain amount of allure to me, but never enough to make me consider going against my father’s strong wish that I follow Roman ways.”

  Until now. Now there was Anna and the need to examine his heart for answers. Thanks to his mother he was beginning to understand that neither mother, nor father, nor wife could decide matters of faith for him.

  “A visit to a house of prayer seems a good place to start.”

  ∞∞∞

  Anna was secretly glad Julian had decided to join her and Jochebed for the visit to the synagogue. The day would reveal what to expect of daily life in Egypt. Would she find it pleasant or tedious or excessively foreign? She was also extremely curious about Julian’s sudden interest in Jewish ways. Would more come of it, or was it a passing novelty?

  With two slaves leading the way, they entered a busy plaza. People of all ages, sizes, and color, free and slave, converged and mixed here, either milling about or weaving their way in and around the many booths and displays. Colorfully clothed merchants exclaimed over goods coming from every land under the sun. Vociferous back-and-forth haggling filled the air. Rich smells ranging from roasting meats to rotting vegetables to Far-Eastern spices came and went.

  A boisterous group of drunken young men tumbled out of a dingy alley. One of them bumped into Anna, jarring her. The hard shove and the chaotic buzz of the bazaar placed her back in her nightmarish existence as a homeless outcast. Recalling the utter loneliness and vulnerability made her head reel.

  A protective arm curved about her shoulder. Julian’s sheltering presence instantly soothed. In him she had an able protector, one willing to put himself in harm’s way to safeguard her. A loud threat sent the unruly men reeling off in another direction. Julian turned his hawk-like gaze on her. Though scowling ferociously, tender concern marked his voice. “Are you hurt, Wife?”

  Wife. The title still amazed. “I have been jostled far worse than that.”

  He tucked her hand back into the crook of his arm. “You are under my protection now.”

  They moved on to a stall selling scrolls. Mother and son fell to discussing a book of interest to them, leaving Anna free to ponder the latest bewildering turn to befall her. A night spent tied up in knots at the prospects of Julian bedding her and jumping at every strange sound in anticipation of his promised return, left her no time to consider his announcement that he had changed his mind about the divorce and his stating that if they divorced it would be at her word and not his.

  Divorce Julian? She really ought to. Egypt offered a chance for a fresh start. Julian no longer represented her sole means of protection. Amiable and socially connected, Jochebed would see to Anna’s safety and welfare, and ultimately find her a Jewish husband—the blessed answer to her girlhood hopes and prayers.

  Julian glanced her way.

  Strong cheekbones shone fresh and pink from a morning shave. The sun glinted off shorn hair the color of ripe dates. Thoroughly Roman. Julian did not look remotely close to the man of her dreams.

  Bright blue eyes lit with a smile for her.

  Her breath caught, and her stomach knotted.

  Though much remained to be considered, she was sure of one thing. She wanted Julian for her husband more than anything she had ever desired before.

  Julian and his mother rejoined her.

  Exiting the crowded market, they entered another busy thoroughfare.

  “Jerusalem at Passover becomes as chaotic and crowded as this,” Anna remarked.

  Jerusalem’s population swelled fourfold with the arrival of Jewish pilgrims, filling the ancient, narrow streets to overflowing. Egypt’s population was many times larger than Jerusalem, and the number of people flooding into Alexandria that much more intimidating and off-putting.

  Thoughts of her beloved Jerusalem brought a sad sigh. “Excited though I get for the Passover, I must admit, it is something of a relief to see the festival pilgrims depart for home.” She summoned a smile. “I am sure Alexandria will make a better impression on me when the streets turn calmer and quieter.”

  “Then I am afraid you will never like it here.” Julian offered her a sympathetic smile. “Outside of Rome, Alexandria is the busiest city in the empire. The overcrowding becomes that much worse when the high feasts are celebrated. And you have viewed just one fifth of the city. A second Jewish district exists on the other side of the city, with Greeks occupying three sections in between.”

  A bone-deep unease seized Anna at the thought this large and imposing place would be her home from now until the day she died. A source of comfort did exist. “I never knew so many Jews called Egypt home.”

  “Not counting Judea, Alexandria boasts more Jews than any other place in the world,” Jochebed answered with unveiled pride.

  They turned a corner, and Julian pointed. “That temple-like building is the Wheat Farmer’s Synagogue.”

  Ringed on all four sides by a porch supported by a multitude of eye-catching colum
ns, the impressive structure filled an entire block. They continued walking, passing several more synagogues of various sizes and shapes. Like Jerusalem, Alexandria boasted dozens of synagogues associated with this or that trade or sect.

  “Mother,” Anna said, trying the name out on her tongue for the first time. Despite the tenuous nature of their relationship, her mother-in-law had insisted. Finding it awkward, she rushed on. “What unites the people who attend your synagogue?”

  “The sacred texts.” Jochebed nodded at the slave tasked with carrying a prized scroll.

  “Mother attends the Synagogue of the Therapeutae. A sect devoted to studying the Torah and the Prophets. They will be ecstatic when they learn Mother has secured a prized copy of the Book of Enoch. They possess a Greek translation, but lust to own one in the Hebrew. I searched high and low through every bazaar in Caesarea for the most obscure text to be found. And here she is giving away the scroll I paid dearly to attain.”

  Jochebed rolled her eyes. “Lust, Julian? My Therapeutae brothers and sisters will suffer fits of apoplexy if they hear you accusing them so. And you are going to have Anna believing I am a frivolous woman and an ungrateful mother.”

  She turned to Anna. “Julian always brings me the gift of a scroll when he returns home, knowing full well I will give their safekeeping over to the Therapeutae.”

  Memories of his reading the scriptures to her swirled through her mind. Anna remembered thinking it strange he owned Torah scrolls. What a thoughtful and good son.

  “The Therapeutae followers are a fairly strange lot.” Julian wagged his brows in a comical manner. “They are all virgins or widows who vow to remain celibate, and they welcome women…women,” he repeated in false astonishment. “The men and women actually sing…together.”

  The thought of men and women interacting so freely, did shock her. Learning women as well as men studied the Torah heightened her curiosity. She did not know of any women in Jerusalem allowed to study the scriptures.