A Stray Drop of Blood (43 page)

“
If you come with me, I can vouch for you and the child. You have the ruby Jason gave you, and the ring he always wore. It will be enough.”

“
But
Rome
? Titus, I have never been more than ten miles outside of Jerusalem!”

He smiled at her distress. “Then it is high time you had.”

“
But Ester–”

“
One of Julia’s slaves spoke with Andrew and Dinah a few days ago. Ester is unchanged, and not far off, but they did not know where she had been taken; they had apparently left you a note telling you this, but it has somehow gotten lost. Dinah saw your note, assumed it to be their note. . .”

Abigail groaned. “This should not be so difficult. If I had just stayed there–”

“
You would have been alone and hungry,” Titus finished for her. “They will probably check with them again in a few days’ time. They now know where to tell them to find us. But Abigail, my ship sails for Rome in two days. If we do not find them by then, I suggest you come with me.”

She regarded him hollowly. “With you?”

He nodded, certain she saw in his face how serious he considered this matter. “You cannot waste much time. And if Ester is unwell, she would be unable to travel with you even if you found her today. If you do not go with me, you will go alone, and that would not be wise. It is the only viable recourse.”

Abigail drew in a deep breath, her eyes distant.

“
You would not have to stay there for long.” He squeezed the hand under his. “Just long enough to make your claim. Then you can return and be with your mother. While there, you can stay with my family. I can see no other option, Abigail. Tabitha cannot support all of you, and though the general offered to open his home to you, I do not trust him, and it would not solve the dilemma of the property.”

“
I know.” She met his gaze once more. Hers had grown soft, almost reminiscent. “I never wished to go to Rome, but I obviously have no choice. Thank you for your offer, Titus. I suppose I must accept.”

Titus gave her a small smile and stood. “I will see to the arrangements for your passage. Is there anything I should pick up for you from your house before we leave?”

“
My trunk. It is in Jason’s chamber. All I own is in it. Two days.” She sighed. “Poor Benjamin will be fussy. His circumcision is tomorrow.”

Titus felt the blood rush from his head at mere mention of the procedure, and Abigail laughed. “You are certain you wish to subject your son to that?”

“
Jason willed it.” Innocently, she tacked on, “And if you are going to learn the Law, Titus Asinius, perhaps
you
should consider it as well.”

The suggestion was enough to send Titus quickly out the door, shouting over his shoulder that he would return soon.

From behind him he heard Samuel’s voice. “Mother, may I go with him? Please? Please?”

“
Very well.”

Titus held up, bracing himself for the impact. As expected, Samuel barreled outside and launched himself at Titus’s legs, shouting, “I am coming! Take me with you! I want to see the boat!”

Titus laughed and picked him up and swung him onto his shoulders. “We will not see the boat today, Samuel. It is at Joppa. I am going to tell one of my father’s servants to book passage for you and your mother, though, and then, the day after tomorrow, we will go to see it.”

“
Is it big?” the boy asked, bending over to see Titus’s face.

Titus grinned at the curls that fell down when Samuel put his head upside down. “It is big. With sails larger than your house and poles as tall as the fortress. And Rome is many times larger than Jerusalem, too.”

Samuel gasped in amazement. “Bigger that Jerusalem? Benjamin will be frightened.” His voice hinted at some trepidation of his own. “I will have to protect him.”

Titus chuckled and tickled one of the feet dangling over his shoulder. “You will indeed.”

“
What is your house like, Titus?”

“
Large,” Titus said, considering. “Luxurious. But not very warm.”

“
I shall bring a blanket.” That proclamation made Titus laugh again. “Will there be any boys to play with?”

“
A few, perhaps.”

“
And the place Mother is claiming for Benjamin? Is it big?”

“
Very big,” Titus said. “Very nice. And very much more welcoming than my house. You shall like it there, Samuel, and I think your mother will, too. But do not tell her that just yet. She may decide not to, just for the sake of it.”

Such a thing seemed to baffle the boy, but he nevertheless vowed secrecy and kept up his barrage of questions.

~*~

Andrew felt pounds lighter as he traveled back to the inn. He had just come from the general’s house, and most of his worries were eased. Except for that detail about her traveling with Titus Asinius.

Drusus greeted him at the door. “Well?”

“
She is well,” Andrew replied with a smile. “She had a son. She has gone with one of Jason’s friends to Rome, to claim the Visibullis estate–apparently the steward has been in touch, and needed verification of an heir.”

Drusus nodded, not looking surprised. “One of my servants came shortly after you left with a similar message for me. I am glad she went; it spares me from needing to do so too quickly. But still, I too should make the trip soon, to remove any doubts they may have of her.” He sighed, glancing inside as if seeing through the walls to where Ester lay. “Go tell your mistress her grandson has been born. Perhaps it will bring life back to her soul.”

Andrew moved to her room and knelt beside the bed. She had grown so thin, so pale. “Mistress?” He picked up her hand, the fingers lax. “Mistress, I just got the news. Abigail had her babe, a little boy. You have a grandson, Lady. Your husband and son live on.”

Ester opened her eyes and smiled.

~*~

For the first few days of the voyage, Abigail was so sick she could barely stand. But she soon got her sea legs, much to the relief of her companions, and was able to move about with relative ease. They were traveling on one of the ships that Caius Asinius owned, and it was a trading vessel. They occupied the only two cabins available for passengers, and both were rather cramped. Abigail had insisted on taking the smaller of the two, and Titus had insisted back that if she did that, Samuel would stay with him.

So she and Benjamin had their own little room, which had seemed quite cozy at the start, of which she was completely oblivious for the next hours, and which then began to suffocate her. For her own sanity’s sake, on the fourth day of the voyage she fled to the decks, baby bundled up against the brisk sea air and nestled against her.

“
Abigail.”

At the sound of Titus’s voice, she turned from her place at the rail, smiling when she saw her friend and Samuel drawing near. Titus did not return the smile.

“
You should not be up here.” He sent a scathing look at one of the sailors until he skulked away.

“
I was about to lose my mind in that cabin. I needed fresh air.”

Surely Titus could understand such reasoning–he spent most of his free time out of the close space. He sighed. “Well in the future, please only come on deck when I am with you. You are a bit of a novelty on board.” He glared at another man who had lingered a bit too long with his gazes. “I am afraid these men will eventually decide staring at you is not enough.”

Abigail blushed and cleared her throat, holding Benjamin a little closer to her. “One would think this little bundle would deter them.”

Titus’s look was dry. “Only if one thinks as a woman instead of a man. Be wise and cautious, my friend. Your beauty has not dimmed, and Jason is not the only man who could appreciate it.”

Abigail searched his gaze carefully but saw only concern there, none of the things that had once made her blood chill whenever he looked at her. She nodded, docile again, and took a step closer to his side. “I will be careful. And I will only come out here with you.” With a smile she added, “As long as you bring me at least twice a day, anyway.”

Titus grinned his agreement and held out an arm to urge her into movement. He fell into step beside her, even put one hand protectively on the small of her back as they walked. Samuel attached himself to Titus’s other hand, swinging it happily as he skipped along beside them. The boy’s eyes were focused on the water.

Abigail looked up at her companion. “This evening I will resume our lessons, if you wish.”

“
I was hoping you would offer,” he admitted with a smile. “I have spent the last days trying to sort through all you have already told me, but I have many questions. These Laws are all-encompassing; I fear I will never learn them all, and that at each moment of my life I will have to stop and wonder what it is I should be doing.”

Abigail laughed. “That is not a bad thing, my friend. If you pause to wonder, then you will have paused to hear your conscience, the voice of God. But you remember the basics, do you not?”

Titus nodded, his face at peace. “Love the Lord first of all, and then my heart will bend in the right direction. Love my neighbors, and do unto them as I would have them do unto me.” His gaze went hard, focused straight ahead. “It will not be easy. My life up until now has been dominated by those things God forbids. Women, drunkenness, violence. In moments like these, I feel as though I am capable of leaving it all behind. But when I am alone, facing Rome?” He shook his head in dismay. “I know not how I will resist falling into those habits once more.”

“
You will not be alone,” Abigail swore. “Our God is everywhere, Titus. He is in us. And you heard what Tabitha said, that Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit in his place, to comfort us and teach us.”

Titus sighed. “I have not seen this Spirit. How will I know it?”

Abigail looked up into his face and smiled. “How did you know the messiah?”

Titus returned the smile. “He touched me.”

She nodded, looking forward again. “His touch was fire, as was his blood on me. His Spirit will be fire, too. We will know, Titus. We will know.”

Chapter Thirty

The vessel rocked violently in the storm, the boards creaking under the strain and groaning with the effort of staying afloat. According to the captain, they were in no great danger; the storm was a mild one, he claimed, and they would weather it with no troubles. Titus believed him because he knew the man, and he knew that he spoke the truth.

Abigail did not look convinced.

Samuel was asleep as though it were nothing but a lullaby, and Benjamin had finally settled, too. He knew Abigail needed some rest, but she groaned every time she closed her eyes. Hence why she was sitting on the floor in his cabin, Samuel’s head in her lap, the baby’s basket beside her. Titus sat on his pallet and watched the lantern sway back and forth on its hook in the ceiling.

“
I have been sick enough this past year to last me a lifetime.” Her voice sounded tight, strained. “Must I
sail
back to Israel when this is done? Can I not simply will myself to be there, or strap myself to the back of a giant bird?”

Titus chuckled. “Before the storm began, you were claiming to have gained a love for sea life.”

“
I spoke prematurely.” She put a hand on her stomach.

Titus patted the space beside him. “Come here.”

She eased from under Samuel and crawled the few feet to his side. He slid a hand under her braid and gently massaged at the pressure in her neck. She sighed.

“
It is your nerves that are making you ill,” he said. “You must relax.”

“
That is what I am always told right before something unpleasant befalls me.”

Titus bit down a chuckle. “Jason once said that you never complained. That you were perfect humility, modesty, and grace.”

“
He then proceeded to spoil me.”

He smiled, though she could not see it. “You have no idea how tired I got of hearing your name. It seemed that every time I saw him, you were the only thing on his mind. I had to follow him around as he searched for presents, listen as he vented his frustrations with the walls you kept around you.” He shook his head, breathing a laugh. “And once the others had seen you, it only grew worse. We could not meet without mention of Jason’s Venus.”

Abigail laughed outright. “Venus? I think you were a bit strong in your teasing.”

“
No. I think you simply do not realize how beautiful you are.” His hand stilled on her neck, then fell away. Abigail turned to meet his gaze, her own questioning. He drew in a long breath, wondering at the trust he saw in her eyes. “I certainly never made it a secret that I found you attractive. I think I made you blush every time we met.”

She surprised him by smiling. “You were certainly shameless.”

“
If you had been anyone’s but Jason’s,” he began, but then shook himself to halt that thought. “But for all that, I could not understand how he had let himself fall in love with you.”

“
Neither did I.” Sighing, she leaned against the wall at her back. “I thought he would tire of me quickly. I wanted him to. But it seemed that no matter what I did, he found something in it to pursue. If I held aloof, he would take it as a challenge. If I treated him normally, he would take it as encouragement. If I argued with him, he would find it entertaining. And then the baby.” Her eyes fell on Benjamin, and she smiled.