Ester nodded and turned to empty-handed Abigail. “Abigail, go to my chamber. Under the couch you will find a wrapped parcel. Bring it to me, please.”
Abigail wasted no time. She easily found the chamber again, and the package was right where she was told it would be. But her thoughts were elsewhere. Where exactly, she could not say. Somewhere in the past, perhaps back so far as to when her father yet lived. Perhaps she was remembering what it felt like to be in a house where Caesar was spoken of only as the monster he surely was. Perhaps she was remembering simply her own father, and how he reprimanded her with that loving reproach.
Perhaps it was useless to even think about the past. She went back to the outer room with the object in her hands, handed it over, and then retreated to the wall.
Jason’s attention was surely piqued, but to his credit, he waited patiently for whatever gift lay under the wrappings to be given with introduction.
Cleopas cleared his throat. “Your mother and I know that this is the time when we need to let you go, son, to make your own way in the world. You are a man now. And while I will hope, pray, and pull whatever strings necessary to see you back here,” he paused to exchange a grin with his son, “there is still the possibility that you will fall in love with Rome.”
“Or some lady there,” Ester added with a twinkle in her eye.
Jason rolled his own but did not interrupt.
“Since we have no daughter, what remains of your mother’s dowry will go to you when you wed. We do not want to burden you with too much, so we selected these few things to send with you now.”
Ester handed their son a smallish wooden box, ornate in engravings that pictured the ark of the covenant. Jason barely glanced at the lid. He flipped it open and drew out a heavy chain of gold with a pendant of surprising wealth hanging from the end. It was a large ruby, which complemented the words Ester recited as she watched him withdraw it.
“‘Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. . . Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.’”
Jason ignored the proverb and pulled out the other object.
“It was my father’s,” Ester offered by way of explanation when he slipped the ring onto his finger.
Jason met his mother’s eyes. “I did not realize that your family had such wealth.”
Ester held his gaze steadily for a moment before answering. “My father was once high priest of the synagogue. When I married your father, he would have no more to do with me.”
“But this jewelry–”
“Was his method of paying me to stay away.” She averted her gaze. “He was a hard man, but a good one. I am sorry that he died before you could meet him; I have a feeling he would have taken you under his wing as though you were his son, rather than that of the daughter he claimed not to have.”
Jason ran his tongue over his lips, looking at a loss for words. Cleopas smiled softly and apparently decided to take pity on him. “Have you sent your belongings to Steven yet? He asked that they arrive before you so the caravan would be ready to leave upon your arrival.”
Jason stood, tucking the closed box under his arm. “I will see to it now, sir.”
Cleopas held Ester’s gaze for a moment longer, then got up to join their son.
“Two days’ journey to Joppa,” Ester whispered in a voice low enough for only Abigail to hear. “And then the sail to Rome.” Her gaze was on the seat that Jason had just vacated. “So long before I will even know if he arrived safely. So long before I see my son again.”
Abigail was shocked to see her small hand on Mistress’s shoulder and to hear her voice whispering just as softly, “‘Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.’ ‘For in thee, O Lord, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.’”
Ester’s gaze was still focused on the absent, but her hand came up to engulf Abigail’s. “‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.’” Their gazes met, and a smile even crept onto her face. “We will learn a lot in these coming years, you and I. And when Jason returns, he will find two women worth more than any jewels that bedeck the finger of Caesar.”