When Jesus Wept - By Bodie Page 0,60
payment for saving my vineyards? “You are not a slave.”
She held her gaze on Mary. “Then if I am free, why will I be married and taken away from my home and family?”
Martha asked, “Don’t you like the fellow?”
Adrianna replied, “Like. Yes. But if I am free …”
I interjected, “Even women who are born free have arranged marriages.”
Mary shot me a disapproving glance. “Brother, what do you know of a woman’s heart?”
Adrianna’s eyes filled with tears. “Then I am not free.”
Martha agreed with me. “What our brother says is correct.”
Adrianna dared to blurt again, “But if he takes me to Britannia—a place I do not even know, nor do I know how far it is from my home—then if I am taken there against my will I am not free. You see?”
Of course we all understood the concept of freedom. We understood that women were not truly free to do as they wished. Mary had rebelled against custom, and it had resulted in the ruin of her reputation. Yet my concern was for the overall happiness of my household. My cook would never smile again. My winemaker would weep salt tears into the barrels. My barrelmaker would simply be gone.
I thanked Adrianna and sent her back to her mother in the kitchen.
“Well,” I said to my sisters, “that was of no use to me. I have given my pledge to Patrick.”
“No use at all,” Martha concurred. “I came upon Delilah sobbing as she kneaded the bread this morning. Too much salt in her tears for the bread to bake joyfully.”
Mary’s pretty lips pressed tight, as if she was trying not to speak.
I asked her, “What do you want to say?”
“No one cares about the girl. All you care about is keeping your word to Patrick. A pledge that you gave upon the life and happiness of another human being. Upon the lives of several others, if you count your cook and your winemaker. And all the rest of us.”
I argued, “She might be very happy in Britannia.”
Mary tossed her hair. “I know something of that place. It is a land where none are free. And women are worth less than cattle. There is a custom among them that a wife or daughter may be taken away and used vilely at the will of the royalty and then, after the ravage, returned to her husband.”
Martha’s mouth twitched. She stared off at the vines. “A terrible revelation, sister. How could you know such a thing?”
“Does it matter?” Mary snapped. “Brother? Does it matter how I am aware of such a terrible practice among the pagans of the north? I tell you, you must find a better way. If you have given Adrianna freedom, then she must be free. If she loves him but does not want to be taken from her mother and father, then you must find another way to keep your promise.”
Patrick’s hair was the color of the red donkey. A matched pair, I thought, as we rode toward Jerusalem. Only the donkey was not stubborn. And for the first time I thought that Patrick was in need of a beating.
Patrick’s freedom had suddenly made him unmovable.
“I am a free man.” Patrick lifted his chin. “I will marry Adrianna. I asked, and you said if I saved the vineyard I could have her. A promise is a promise, sir.”
“But her parents. Samson is your friend. Delilah is … well … you cannot break the heart of such a good woman.”
“I will go where I will go. That is what being a free man means, does it not?”
“But to marry Adrianna and take her away to Britannia! To deny the girl’s parents the joy of raising grandchildren.”
Patrick set his eyes on the road ahead. Herod’s devastated vineyard was on our right. There was not one green sprig remaining. I remembered the sorrow Samson had expressed over what my grandfather had lost when his life was taken from him: he had lost the joy of knowing his grandchildren!
Sweeping my hand toward the ravaged vines, I said to Patrick, “Samson has been kind to you.”
“Like a father.”
“Then you would treat him thus? Stripping away his joy? To take his daughter and future grandchildren? To deny old Samson the joy of dandling grandchildren on his knee? Then you send the locusts to devour his finest dreams of happiness.”
Patrick frowned at my words, and for a moment I thought I was getting through to him. “And my family? In Verulamium. When I was conscripted to