Her Roman Protector

by Milinda Jay

“I think we need to talk,” his father said, and pulled Marcus into his study.

  “Who was the child?” his father asked.

  “The son of Annia, the woman we brought in last night.”

  His father looked past him into the atrium where water flowed peacefully into the impluvium from the openmouthed cherubs.

  “I fear this child spells trouble for us all,” he said.

  “Yes,” Marcus said, “but the trouble began before the child came, though he has certainly multiplied it. One of my men reported to me this morning that Galerius Janius—the man who ordered the baby exposed—does not believe she was actually exposed.”

  “Do you think he will come looking for you?” his father asked.

  “He already has,” Marcus said. “In the barracks. There is no danger of him following me home. The men don’t know where I live,” he added.

  “And the boy?” his father queried. “How did he find you?”

  “I think he must have followed me from his father’s house. I saw him watching us from the window when I reported to the father that the deed was done.” Marcus squirmed uncomfortably on the small wooden folding bench that sat in front of his father’s massive ivory-inlaid ebony desk.

  “Do you think anyone followed him?” his father said.

  “I don’t think so,” Marcus said, “though I can’t be sure.”

  “Well,” his father said, “we must do what we can to protect the other women and children we have housed here. We can’t risk the lives of so many.”

  “What do you propose, Father?” Marcus asked.

  “They must go.”

  “Go?” Marcus repeated. “But where?”

  “Far from here,” his father said.

  “Give me two days, Father. I think I might be able to come up with another solution.”

  His father studied him. “You are an experienced soldier. Battle-hardened and wise. But something about this woman... Otherwise, why would you risk so many lives?”

  Marcus felt his stomach tighten. “I know what it must seem like to you, Father, but I think that a better plan can be found. And you needn’t worry. She is not the right woman for me. But it is a matter of honor to protect her.” He believed his own words. She was not the right woman for him. But she was lovely.

  “Make it fast, son,” his father said. “You have no time to lose.”

  Chapter Six

  “I thought you had died, Mama,” Annia’s son Cato said, lapsing into his baby name for her, “and I thought the baby was eaten by dogs.”

  “We are both here, safe and sound,” she said. She hugged him hard, so hard that he pulled away.

  “Mother,” he said, reverting to the formal address, “you are suffocating me.”

  Annia laughed. “I am sorry. I am just so happy to see you.”

  “And you say the soldier, Marcus, saved you? Brought you here to this safe place?”

  Annia nodded and smiled. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Marcus slip through the gate again and come out in the green pasture. He sat with them beneath the gnarled olive tree.

  Cato turned to Marcus. “I owe you an apology. You’ve saved my mother and my baby sister. For that, I am eternally grateful. Accept my apology?”

  Marcus stood and shook Cato’s hand as if he were a grown man.

  “I accept,” Marcus said.

  Annia tried not to smile overmuch.

  Cato dropped Marcus’s hand and offered him a stiff salute.

  Marcus nodded. “Very good, son, very good. You will make a Roman soldier yet.”

  Cato’s smile covered his entire face.

  Annia wondered when the last time Galerius Janius had paid attention to his son, as Marcus had just done, or offered the boy hope for the future.

  “How do you like my home?” Marcus motioned for the boy to sit down and then sat down beside him.

  “Very much. It is quite lovely.” Cato turned to his mother. “There are so many babies here, Mother. More than I’ve ever seen in one place in my life. I had to dodge them running through the villa to find you.”

  Annia nodded. “Scribonia is the mother at this house. She has been saving babies whose mothers want to keep them, but whose fathers have ordered to be exposed.”

  “And my job,” Marcus added, “is to help make certain the babies make it here safely. And the mothers, too, if that is their heart’s desire.”

  Annia caught him stealing a glance. She looked away but blushed. She was half embarrassed and half proud of the fight she had put up against him.

  Cato nodded solemnly. “When I’m a father,” he said, “I’m going to keep all of my babies.”

  Annia laughed.

  Marcus patted his back, and Cato pointed to the baby. “She is lovely, Mother, sweet and pink. I’m so glad I could see her. She looks so comfortable there.” His voice was wistful as if he longed to be the baby in the front pack.

  Growing up was hard. Harder when your family fell apart when you were ten. How awful this had to be for him. Divorce was common in Rome. But that it was common certainly made it no easier on the children.

  Annia unwrapped baby Maelia. “Would you like to hold your new sister?” she asked.

  He smiled in answer and held his arms out for the babe. Annia eased Maelia onto his lap.

  Annia looked at her two beautiful children. She had not expected to be allowed this joy, this pleasure, ever again. Annia smiled over his head at Marcus. She hoped he understood how very much she appreciated all he had done for her.

  He smiled back.

  But she needed her third child, Flavius, now more than ever.

  Cato held his baby sister and kissed her head. “I will never leave her,” Cato said solemnly. “I’ll protect her. Father doesn’t want her, but I do. Why doesn’t Father want her, Mother? Why doesn’t he want you?”

  Marcus’s instant scowl told her all she needed to know about his feelings for Galerius Janius.

  “I don’t know why your father doesn’t want us, Cato. I think he believes that money and power give him happiness. You must remember that true joy comes from God alone. If you read your scripture and pray, if you find good friends who believe in the one God as you do, and live a life of love, you can find happiness.”

  “I know all of that, Mother,” he said, exasperated. “You’ve taught us that since I was a baby.”

  Annia smiled and took his hand and squeezed it. “You are a good student, Cato.”

  He smiled, but she could tell there was something on his mind that he needed to say.

  “Father’s new wife doesn’t know the Christ. And Father has changed the altar. It’s to Hera now,” he said, “and some other gods and goddesses that I don’t know.”

  Annia’s heart beat hard in her chest. This was not good news. This was very frightening. The lives of her boys were in grave danger.

  She exchanged a glance with Marcus.

  “Has she said anything to you about your worship?” Marcus said.

  “No,” Cato said, “but Father doesn’t answer our questions, so I’m not sure what to do.”

  Emperor Claudius cast a blind eye on Jewish believers, but for the Romans who were not Jewish, and who had accepted the one God, he was not so forgiving.

  “You must be very careful,” Annia said.

  “Oh, we are,” Cato said. “One morning, she saw us worshipping. We do our scripture reading and singing and prayer every morning, just like you taught us.”

  “And what did she say to you?” Annia asked, trying to keep the panic from her voice.

  “She asked what we were doing, and we shared the good news of the Christ with her,” he said, smiling broadly.

  Annia’s mouth was a grim line.

  Marcus stood.


  “You aren’t pleased, Mother?” he asked, his face falling.

  “Oh, my child, I am so pleased,” she said. “It’s what the Christ called us to do. It’s just that you must be very, very careful.”

  “Should we stop our morning prayers?” he asked, his face scrunched as if he were trying to absorb words he didn’t understand.

  She took his hand and said, “Never stop your morning prayers. The peace you receive will help you throughout the day.”

  He nodded solemnly.

  Annia smiled. “There are many things in this world I don’t understand. But what I do know is that I love you and want you, and am so happy you are here I can hardly stand it.”

  “I must take my leave of you,” Marcus said. He took Annia’s hand in parting. “I will do what I can,” he whispered to Annia. “Your other son. He needs to be here, safe with you. I will make it so.”

  Tears rose in her eyes. “Thank you,” she said.

  Cato and Annia watched Marcus walk away.

  “He seems a nice man now, not at all what I thought when I was chasing after him,” Cato said.

  “Why were you chasing him?” she asked Cato. “How did it happen that you were able to come here?”

  “I overheard Father talking to this Marcus, again,” he said. “I went to the window and saw the soldiers, and they frightened me. Then I heard what they were saying, how the baby had been taken care of—eaten by wild dogs—and that man Marcus just stood there. He denied nothing. And Father was glad.”

  Cato squeezed his eyes together angrily and swatted away tears.

  “I hated Father, and I hated Marcus for getting my baby sister and taking her away, so I determined to find the man who took my sister. I followed him through the streets.”

  “Were you scared?” Annia asked.

  “No, I wasn’t scared. It was daytime. I would have been scared if it had been night, but I would have done it all the same.”

  “I’m sure you would have. You are a brave boy,” his mother said. If only Flavius had been able to sneak away with him.

  “Can we get Flavius here soon?” he asked, as if reading her thoughts. “He will be scared without me to sleep with.”

  “I’m not sure how we can get Flavius, my son,” she said, “though there is nothing I want more.”

  “I’ll think of something. Why, I’ll go back and get him and bring him here just as I came. It wasn’t so hard.”

  His face was serious, and he handed her the baby and stood as if he were going to get his brother at that very moment.

  “I don’t think that is a very good idea just yet. Someone may follow you back here and take all of us. Then your baby sister and I, we may both die.”

  Annia hated speaking such harsh words to the boy, but they were true, and she knew she had to paint a very clear picture. Otherwise, this son, so very much like Annia, would be off—convinced he could get his little brother all alone, using only his wit and his wiles.

  The boy’s face was pained, and he was silent for a few moments, thinking. “I can’t leave him there all by himself. Now that I know you and my sister are safe, I can go back and care for him. Don’t worry, Mother, I will be back.”

  Cato hugged his mother.

  “No, son. You need to stay here. I don’t want to lose you again.” Annia held him tight. “You are my precious child. I don’t think I could bear being separated from you again.”

  “Don’t cry, Mother,” Cato said. “I will make it so that we can all be together again, and so that Father loves you and the baby and Flavius and me just as he used to.”

  She took Cato’s face in her hands and looked into his eyes. “What makes you think he doesn’t love you and Flavius the way he used to?” she said.

  He looked away. “I didn’t say that,” he said evasively.

  “But you did,” she said. “That’s exactly what you said. Why? Has your father done something to make you think he doesn’t love you?”

  “No, Mother. It’s just that...” The boy paused and looked down at his feet. He scrubbed the sandy soil with his leather sandal and gazed out at the newly shorn sheep.

  “What?” Annia asked, holding the boy in her arms and rubbing his sturdy back gently.

  “It’s just that since Father’s new baby with his new wife was born, he doesn’t call us in to dinner. He doesn’t ask us to go places with him. He won’t come and do things with us when we ask him. He looks at us as if he doesn’t know us.”

  The boy’s chin trembled, and tears welled in his eyes. “I don’t think he loves us anymore, Mother. That’s why I must go be with Flavius. He will be frightened without me.”

  “I understand, son,” she said. “I understand that you want to protect your brother. But the best way to protect him may be staying away right now. Sometimes waiting is the brave thing to do.”

  Annia uttered these words with conviction. But she wondered if they were true.

  Wait for what? What was she waiting for?

  For Marcus to get her boy for her?

  Did he care enough to do that?

  There was only one person who really cared for her boys, and that was Annia herself.

  Was she alone in this world?

  Lord, she prayed, please give me the strength to do whatever it is that I need to do to keep my boys safe.

  She had one in her arms right now. How precious he felt. What if she lost him again? What if she lost him and never got to see either of them again? It was more than her heart could bear to think of such things.

  “Mother?” Cato asked. “Do you have any food? I’m a little hungry.”

  He broke away from her tight grip, and she had to laugh.

  “Oh, my sweet child. I am so sorry. Of course you are hungry. Please forgive me for not offering you something to eat and drink right away. Let’s go eat. I’m hungry, and I feel certain there is food in the kitchen.”

  She wondered when he had last had a decent meal. Was he being fed? Surely the slaves were caring for him as they had done before she was exiled.

  She wrapped Maelia in her baby sling and tied her to her chest, and they made their way back to the villa garden.

  Cato squared his shoulders as he walked.

  “I smell something cooking, Mother. Do you smell it?” he said.

  “Yes,” she said, “it smells like fresh bread and some kind of stew. I’m hungry, too. Shearing sheep is hard work.”

  “After we eat, we can think a little more clearly,” Cato said.

  Annia tried not to laugh at his very serious observation. He was such a little man.

  But she feared for the boy. She feared that once he was determined to go back to his little brother, nothing would be able to stop him.

  In the kitchen around a large wooden table, several of the women Annia had seen singing this morning were gathered. They looked tired but happy. The women sat talking with one another, feeding their babies and eating the fare before them.

  It made Annia miss Virginia. If Janius found she was alone in Annia’s villa, he would find her and sell her at the slave market. He knew how much Annia loved her. Annia must find her before then. But how could she do that?

  Annia looked around her and found comfort in the familiar sounds of women laughing and babies babbling.

  Cato’s eyes lit up when he saw another little boy about his age across the table eating bread.

  “Would you like some?” the boy asked, offering Cato half of his loaf.

  “Yes,” Cato said, and took the soft, warm bread the boy offered him.

  Annia’s heart sang. A friend for her son. Maybe that would keep him here?

  But what if he stayed? Would that endanger them all? Would Galerius Janius come looking for him? Even now, were her husband’s spies just be
yond the safety of the villa walls?

  Chapter Seven

  Marcus had assured Annia that he would get her son. But how? Was Galerius Janius a man he wanted as his enemy? What had changed? Three days ago, all Marcus wanted was a position in the Praetorian Guard. Rescuing Annia and her baby two nights ago had changed him. He now wanted something else. But what was that something else? Was it real? Was he fooling himself?

  What he did know was that if he wished to continue his plan for promotion, he would need to find another supporter. One who was still in favor with the emperor.

  He made his way to the home of his friend, Gamus, for the after-duty breakfast Nona had promised him.

  As he walked down the quiet streets, he felt eyes on the back of his head.

  He sensed he was being followed.

  He stopped, and listened.

  All was silent.

  Perhaps he was unreasonable in his fear. Twenty years fighting one ambush after another in Britain would do it to anyone.

  But there was more to this than unreasonable fear, and he knew it. Someone was following him.

  Marcus seated himself on one of the wooden stools surrounding the round tables in Gamus’s shop. Gamus was there, along with a fellow believer, Callus, who had served as a centurion, but was long retired.

  “You need a wife,” Callus said to Marcus, “and some healthy baby boys,” he laughed.

  “Yes, I agree,” Nona said. “A good-looking boy like you must have someone in mind.”

  Marcus had no one in mind, no one at all, but the picture that seemed to draw itself in his mind’s eye was a woman, small, dark, with brown eyes, curly hair and a temper to match a tiger’s.

  Nona caught his eye. “You have someone, don’t you.” She shook her finger at him. “I recognize that look. Who is she?” she asked, piling his plate with fresh bread, goat cheese mixed with garlic and rue and fresh olives.

  Marcus filled his mouth full of the fresh, warm bread and grinned mischievously.

  Nona shook her head knowing very well Marcus had stuffed his mouth so he would not have to talk.

  “Take care that you marry a woman who has never been married before,” Callus said.