He cleared his throat and asked, “How are you?”
“I’m fine,” she replied uncertainly, balancing on one bare foot. “How are you?”
He paced around the room, pretending to examine the window shade. “Oh, I’m well. Thank you for asking.” He spun around and asked, “Do you like the room? It’s yours now.”
Taken aback, she answered, “It’s alright, I guess.”
“Good,” he seemed relieved. “That’s good.” Approaching her awkwardly, he kissed her on the forehead and patted her shoulder. “Well, good night then.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but no words emerged. She was too taken aback.
With a brief nod in her direction, he left.
She stopped brushing her hair and simply stared into the mirror, puzzling over everything. God told her it was her duty to increase his kingdom. The people around her told her she was lucky to be married to the son of the diviner. They said she should be happy. Everybody had an idea about what she was supposed to do and how she was supposed to feel about it. Everybody except her, that was. Most of the time her insides felt like an overpacked suitcase. Stuffed with all the things other people told her she should want. She wondered what she wanted for herself. The question took her completely by surprise. In all her life she had never asked herself that. It seemed like a selfish thing to want to know. Still, she wondered.
Turning away from the mirror, she walked back toward the bed. She switched off the light and crawled under the strange quilt in the strange bed still thinking about the strange man who was now her husband. What did he want from her? What did she want for herself? Maybe tomorrow she’d ask herself that question again. Maybe tomorrow she’d know the answer.
Chapter 8 – Run from Your Wife
Bright and early on the morning after his nuptials, Daniel knocked warily on his father’s office door.
“Enter!” a magisterial voice commanded from inside.
The visitor took a deep breath before entering the lion’s den, anticipating how awkward this conversation might be if he didn’t handle it just right.
His father glanced up from his paperwork. When he saw who his caller was, he actually smiled. That was a rare occurrence. Daniel wasn’t sure if he didn’t prefer the characteristic scowl after all. The smile reminded him too much of a grinning skull.
“Hello, Father.”
“Good day, my boy. Have a seat.” The smile remained. “I trust you slept well last night?”
The question hung in the air like an axe poised to fall. Daniel remembered his awkward encounter with Hannah and his hasty retreat from the very idea of consummating the marriage. He looked down at the carpet. “I, uh, that is, well… um. Yes, I did.” He allowed his father to draw the obvious though incorrect conclusion.
“I am glad to hear it! Please sit down,” he urged.
The younger man sank into the low visitor’s chair in front of the massive desk. It automatically forced him to look upward to carry on a conversation. His father always liked to keep the high ground.
Folding his hands across his papers, the old man asked, “What is it you want to discuss?”
“I’m ready to leave for Crete now.” The words came tumbling out too abruptly.
“What?” The smile finally left his father’s face. That at least was a relief.
“Yes, there have been some new developments.” He wasn’t actually lying. He did believe he might know where to find the relic his father had become obsessed with recovering. The first of five. As for the need for an immediate departure, that was motivated by more personal concerns. He didn’t require another wife making awkward sexual demands upon him. He already had three wives toward whom he felt no inclination. Daniel had performed the necessary, though distasteful, duty of providing each one with a child and had hoped the matter would end there. But that was before his father singled him out for this relic hunt.
Daniel’s entire life up until that time had been spent in pleasant anonymity. One of twenty sons of the diviner and a middle son at that. Unexceptional but for his unfortunate ability to translate ancient languages. That ability had caused him to give Abraham what he wanted—or at least the hope of obtaining what he wanted. As a consequence, Daniel had been elevated to the rank of his father’s favorite, even named as his successor—a role which his brothers envied and which he would gladly have exchanged for obscurity once more. Being the favorite meant his father had taken too keen an interest in his son’s business. Daniel had succeeded in fathering only three children, all of them disappointingly female. This was unacceptable behavior for the son of a diviner. How ironic that his father would choose to show his favor by giving Daniel a gift for which he had no earthly use—another wife. Better to leave the country and let the dust settle for a while. Perhaps if he could bring back the first relic, his father’s attention might be diverted. He paused as a more appalling thought struck him. Perhaps if he succeeded, his father would show his appreciation by giving him a fifth wife! He brushed the thought aside. He would cope with that calamity when, and if, it ever materialized.
Focusing back on the present moment, he continued his explanation. “I believe I’ve isolated the location of the relic to a specific cave on Mount Ida.”
His father nodded approvingly. “That is excellent news, my son. Excellent! I had already begun arranging your next trip, but I didn’t anticipate you would be ready to leave immediately.”
“Since I know you have a pressing need for these artifacts, I thought I should go as quickly as possible.”
The old man seemed puzzled. A rare occurrence. “But surely you want to spend at least a little more time with your new bride, don’t you?”
Daniel didn’t want to arouse suspicion. He skirted the question. “You misunderstand me, sir. While I mean
