show him that you have made your own life. Show him. A wife who loves you. A skill he did not teach you. Show him your worth?”
“That is my dream. My sunrise and sunset.”
“But the sun shines upon you … here. Today.”
“Then what will I do with all the dreams of revenge that I have cherished?”
“You can learn to cherish this day that the Lord has made. You cannot make sweet wine from bitter grapes.”
“I imagine my older brother. What he received from my father’s hand. Everything. While Oren died and I suffered at the hands of cruel masters.” He studied the devastation beside us. “When the locusts came, I imagined my brother’s life and wished such disaster on him. When I heard the news the locusts were coming, I hoped to help defeat the plague for you and win the hand of a wife and return home a free man.”
“And will knowing the fate of your brother make you happy? Will you be happy if his life is as desolate as this field? As happy in revenge as you are here in a good life among people who love you and work that prospers you?”
Patrick’s lower lip jutted out. His brow furrowed. “Ah, I see. I never thought of it. Aye. Different thought than I have had in these twelve years.”
“Could it be that God has a different plan for you? That he has given you a new father who longs for you to stay instead of go? A mother who will cherish you?”
He looked at me, and his lips curved in wonder. “And perhaps an elder brother?”
I nodded and stretched out my hand to him. “Come. I have something to show you.”
In silence, we rode up the slope that skirted my grandfather’s vineyard. A narrow path branched off from the main road and the knoll of a low hill. A crooked trail led to a ruined cottage surrounded by an overgrown tangle of briars and a block of age-blackened, untended vines. Even after the locust plague, the wild foliage appeared to be unharmed by the insects.
I explained, “This is where my mother was raised by her widowed mother. It was a caretaker’s cottage. Ten acres of vines and a few fig trees.”
I did not speak of the thousands of acres stolen from my grandfather’s estate. Perhaps Samson had already told the sad story to Patrick, for the young man’s eyes filled with sorrow as he surveyed the wreckage.
“Right next to Herod’s vineyard,” said Patrick. “And yet not devoured. Just … unloved. Neglected.”
I took a deep breath. “It was a house of joy, in spite of sorrow. I own the cottage and the vineyard, though it has been deserted and uncultivated for many years.”
“There is still life here.”
“Samson rode out and walked the vineyard. He says the vines can be brought back to vigor. Two seasons, he says, if they are loved.”
Patrick sat in silence. “And why have you abandoned this for so long?”
I shrugged. “It was a reminder of things long past. Though it is only a few minutes’ ride from my Bethany estate, I did not wish to travel through the vines claimed by Herod to get here. So it has lain fallow these many years. These vines are the most ancient in the land. Grown from cuttings that go back to the time of King David. In my grandfather’s day, the wines from this place were sacramental. Used for holy purposes. Perhaps that is why Herod the Great was afraid to touch them.”
I studied Patrick’s expression as he took it all in. I saw his thoughts race as he considered what a clever man could accomplish in such a place.
He did not speak. I clucked my tongue, urging my mount forward toward the house. Patrick’s donkey followed.
One great vine, gnarled and as large as the trunk of a man, stood sentinel beside the flagstone path leading to the front door. “From that vine, the cuttings for many vineyards were taken. It is the ancestor of the wine of Israel. King David and Solomon drank from its fruit.”
Patrick licked his lips. “I wish that I might … one day.”
“The caretaker was a prophet, they say. He was one killed by Herod the Great in the rebellion.”
“It is a beautiful cottage.” Patrick seemed to see past reality.
The roof was damaged, but the walls were strong stone blocks. The door hung askew on broken hinges. A barn and stone-walled sheep pens were intact. The well was covered by a