A Stray Drop of Blood (50 page)

While Abigail closed her eyes and took a moment to draw in a deep, calming breath, Titus approached and lifted Benjamin from her arms. “He is a child, Abigail,” he said softly. “Do not be embarrassed by what spills forth from his young lips. He only wanted to be reassured that he was loved, that the mother he loved was loved, and that the brother he loved was loved, but I figured I had better also remind him that the father he loved was loved, too.”

The complexity brought a smile to Abigail’s lips as she opened her eyes to look on his face. “You are a good man, Titus Asinius. I never would have guessed at how patient you have proven to be with the children.”

“
I would not have either.” He smiled down into Benjamin’s cherub face.

“
You will be a better father, someday, than the one you have had to learn by. You will surely love your own children more than you love mine, and even with mine you are wonderful.”

He chuckled. “But yours are perhaps easier to love because they have none of me in them. My own will undoubtedly share my stubbornness and drive me to madness with it, which is perhaps why I have so long ignored my mother’s prodding to look for a wife.”

Abigail returned the smile, her hand settling comfortably on his arm as he held her son. “But the time is coming, Titus, when look for a wife you must. And you must promise me that when you find her, you will invite me to the wedding and provide a long enough engagement to give me time to arrive. I would share in such a joy with you.”

His face sobered, his eyes searching hers. “But how will I find a suitable wife in Rome, Abigail? I am not fool enough or vain enough to think I could maintain a faith when surrounded totally by unbelievers. I will need a wife who believes. But I daresay that at this moment, the only such woman in Rome is you.”

“
Truth travels quickly. Already Arminius and his family believe, and they will tell their friends, and soon there will be a church forming in Rome as we heard was forming is Israel. You will not be alone here. But even if you were, as long as you seek God earnestly, he will sustain you.”

Titus reached out to cup her face tenderly. Gratitude shown in his eyes. Gratitude and something else she could not quite define. “How is it that such a beautiful, delicate flower is never bent by the winds of doubt?”

Abigail leaned just a bit into his hand. “I have been bent double, Titus, until I thought I would break. Perhaps it has made me stronger, or perhaps I am now only in a calm between the storms. But this I know: our only hope to escape it is through our Lord.”

For a moment, she thought he would kiss her. She could almost convince herself that the glint in his eye was akin to the one Jason had gotten so often, right before claiming her lips. But he pulled away, dropped his hand. “In this last week or so we have, Abigail, we should resume our lessons. There is surely much I have not learned.”

“
Yes.” She looked to her son, afraid he would see the disappointment in her eyes. Benjamin was asleep. “Tonight after dinner. I will make sure Samuel joins us, too; I have not been attending to his lessons as I should.”

“
You have been busy learning yourself. You have practically devoured our library.”

“
And I will miss it when I leave.” She made sure her tone was just as light as his as she took Benjamin back. Titus trailed her into her room, where she would put him down for his nap. “I will pine over those books, Titus. And my longing for their knowledge may even remind me to miss you a little, too.”

Titus smiled but said nothing until they had returned to his room. “I think I may have found a eunuch to purchase, but I did not want to make a decision without you. You should see him for yourself.”

“
Meet him, you mean.” The corners of her mouth tugged up. “
Seeing
a man will not tell me much about his loyalty, will it?”

Titus smiled in return. “I suppose not. Meet him, then. He has been serving these past years in the house of an acquaintance of mine, as the guardian of the daughter. But she has just married into a house that has no need of her slaves, and her father has no need of this one, either. He has always served her with devotion, I know, and I find it hard to imagine anyone serving
you
with anything else, since you treat them as your equals.”

She grinned. “They are my equals. Not only because I was a slave, but because we are all the children of God, and we should not be judged according to our fortune or misfortune.”

“
You are of course right, as always,” he granted. “But there are few enough others to share your view that you stand out as an extraordinarily kind and deserving mistress. Which was my sole point.”

“
Then your point is granted. What is this man’s name, and when shall I meet him?”

“
His name is Phillip.” She was almost surprised he knew that detail. “And you will meet him tomorrow, if that is to your lady’s liking?”

“
I like it very well,” she said with a muted grin. “And now, my lord Asinius, I would like you to take me on a stroll through your magnificent gardens, as soon as I call Antonia up to watch over the babe.”

“
I submit most gladly to your wish.” To prove it, he called for Antonia himself while she prepared herself to go outside once more.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Phillip did not remember much of childhood. Some vague impressions of running free through the forests of Germania, but that was all. He had lived through only thirteen winters when the Romans came to his land and captured his tribe. He remembered the fear that snaked through the trees, the courage that the warriors called upon to face it, and a bloody fight that stripped him of his father, his brothers, his uncles, his cousins. The last time he saw his mother and sisters, they were being raped by the Roman soldiers, three of his sisters dying of it, the youngest only nine years old. He remembered looking into his mother’s eyes and seeing her command: Live!

He had a different name before he was in his thirteenth winter, but he would never speak it now. They had called him Phillip because he had attempted an escape by stealing their horses, creatures supposedly so loyal to their masters that theft was not a worry. He had been caught, of course, having never so much as ridden a horse before that day, but for the rest of the journey back to Rome, he had learned of the magnificent creatures, how to care for them, ride them properly, speak to them. He had hoped he would end up somehow with these beasts.

Instead, he had been treated as though he were one. The castration he had completely blocked from his mind, but he recalled the humiliation of being sold. His first master had been a merchant that needed laborers to load and unload all of the wares from ship to land and back again. It had been grueling work, but it had paid off. He had grown strong and large, and when his master died and he was sold again, he was intimidating enough to be made a guard.

He had come to this house when he was in his nineteenth year, and the girl he was assigned to protect at all costs was nine. She reminded him of his smallest sister, and he honored her as though she were. Even as she grew up and grew insolent and cruel, he served her faithfully. To do otherwise would be to die, and that was the one thing he would not do. As long as he lived, he was obeying his mother’s last command.

When his mistress became engaged, he was not unhappy, even knowing it would mean his service here was complete. She had made a good match, and the man may even have a chance at making her happy. And secretly, deep inside, he was glad to be rid of her.

He knew his sale must be impending, but obviously his master saw no need to keep him informed of how it was going. But he was not surprised when he was called early that morning and told to go to the atrium to be examined by a prospective buyer. He simply dressed in his usual garments, designed to display his muscle more than any other purpose, and went where he was bidden.

When he entered the room, he recognized the man. Titus Asinius, once a friend of his mistress’s older brother. His mistress had entertained a crush on him for a while. Heartless was the best word he knew of to describe him, but Phillip could not see the same ice in his face now that he had always seen before. Curious.

But not his place to wonder.

The woman he had never seen before. He would have remembered such beauty. This would be the one he was meant for in these proceedings, he knew. A face so fair was in danger, and the child she cradled in her arms gave many reasons why her life was important. Asinius’s wife? Phillip doubted it. He imagined even he would have heard the gossip if the mighty Titus Asinius had been wed.

“
Here he is,” his master said when Phillip entered the atrium. “Germanic. He has always served loyally.”

The woman nodded, and he stood tall and straight so that she could examine him. But her eyes did not roam over his body; they sought out his face. She handed her babe to Asinius and stepped closer to him.

“
Hello, Phillip.” She spoke in a warm alto voice that he imagined would soothe the child and send shivers up many a man’s spine. “My name is Abigail Visibullis.”

The lesson of speaking only when necessary had been beaten into him, so he just bowed his head in deference.

The woman smiled. “Do you speak, Phillip?”

“
Yes, Mistress.”

She tilted her head up to look into his eyes.“What languages?”

“
My native Germanic and Greek.” He knew his accent was not perfect, even after so many years in Rome. “A very little Latin.”

Abigail nodded again and turned back to his master. “Can you give me a few minutes to speak with him, my friend?”

Phillip was surprised when the man agreed without hesitation. He was usually not one to take orders, nor was he one to not have his hand in every part of a transaction. But he left soon after.

Abigail turned to him again with a smile. “Please, have a seat.”

He did not sit often, and it was uncomfortable. His post was usually in the corner of a room, standing as if a piece of the furniture, ready at any moment to spring forward and defend or kill. The only time he did not stand was when he slept. But she had asked him to sit. He sat.

Abigail smiled again. “Phillip, I will present myself honestly, and I will then ask you if you think you can serve me with your whole heart. First of all, I am a Hebrew. My parents died when I was a small child, and I was sold into slavery. A Roman prefect purchased me, and I became his wife’s companion.”

Not what he expected, certainly. He blinked.

“
This Roman’s wife was also a Hebrew, and she wanted a girl to teach, to share her days. My mistress taught me the Laws of our people, and my master taught me the laws and the language of Rome. Though a slave, I was raised to think all men are equal, no matter their lot in life or where they were born. And when I married their son, a Roman centurion, they raised me from my slavery altogether and called me a mistress along with those I once served.

“
Months ago, my husband and his father were both killed in an uprising in Jerusalem. I came to Rome with my husband’s friend,” she said, nodding toward Titus, “to claim his estates for our son. On my way here, I had Titus to protect me. On my way home again, I will have no such friend. But I do not plan to return to Rome for more than a visit, so if you agreed to serve me, you would make your home in Israel. I would ask you to learn the laws of my God and to listen with an open heart to the faith that I hold dearer than life. I served my masters with love, not from duty, and that is how I wish to be served if served I must be. I would not ask you to do anything I can do myself; only to step in when my strength or abilities fail. The choice is as much yours as mine, Phillip, and while I would see the money I give your master to be buying your freedom, not your life, if you cannot see it that way, and if you would not freely help me in return for all your physical needs, then I will not make this transaction.”

She halted and regarded him evenly, obviously waiting for a response. But what response could he possibly make? Here sat this beautiful woman, saying she had once been as much a slave as he, claiming to want to free him if only he would protect her from her enemies. Here sat this beautiful woman, looking at him as though he were her friend, never so much as questioning his ability to do the labor he had been trained for, only asking if he could soften his heart.

That was harder for a man like him than killing. But she seemed to think he could accomplish it, and strangely, that inspired him to think that perhaps he could, as well. His gaze flitted to Titus, and he wondered if maybe this girl had something to do with the softening in
him
. He was holding her son tenderly, and the hard mask he had always associated with the man was absent.

Phillip nodded. “I would serve you eagerly, Mistress, no matter where you go. I will listen to whatever words you wish to teach me, and take them into my heart in hopes that it becomes like yours.”

She gave him a brilliant smile. “Then we will get along well. Right now, my entourage consists of you and a six-year old boy whom my husband bought but who has since become my son. When we return to Israel, we will join my mother’s house, where there are three others. Andrew, who is probably about your age, Simon, the head of slaves who has always been like a father to me, and his wife, Dinah, the cook, beside whom I served happily for many years.”