I WAITED AS LONG AS I COULD, but a man in love is as restless as a lion and as impatient as a puppy. My father frequently made comments about the dangers of marrying an outsider, but his words fell away from me like leaves from a tree in autumn. I was in love.
“Lust,” Rei insisted for the thirtieth time. “What you are feeling is lust.”
“How would you know?” I gave him a scornful glance. “You have not married, you have never been in love—”
“Not true,” he said. “I love Adonai with all my heart, soul, and strength.”
I snorted and waved him away.
In truth, sometimes my servant was like an annoying fly—always buzzing about, whining in my ear, and appearing when I least wanted to see him. But he had been with me since childhood, and he would probably stay with me until death, especially if I grew irritated enough to strangle him.
One of a bridegroom’s duties was to prepare a home for his bride, so I spent several weeks building a small home near my parents’ home. I selected a spot that faced the rising sun, then framed out a house large enough for a couple and three or four children. I engaged a carpenter, who framed several windows, and I built a wall around the space that would be our courtyard and garden. The carpenter installed a gate as I thatched the roof with the wide fronds of a palm tree. Mother helped me choose plants and flowers to fill the garden, and by the time we had finished, I was well pleased with our work.
I hoped Kesi would be, too.
When I had finished preparing the house, I put on my finest tunic and robe and walked over to my parents’ home. “I am ready to fetch my wife,” I announced. “Will you come with me?”
My mother blanched and withdrew into the dark veil she wore like a shell around her face. Father looked as though he would also like to curl up and disappear, but he did not have that luxury. He had arranged my marriage, so it was his duty to accompany me and witness the fulfillment of the shitre erusin, the nuptial contract.
He sighed heavily. “When?”
“I’d like to go today.”
Father shook his head. “Impossible. I have to find a suitable gift for the girl’s father. And we really should invite some of our friends and neighbors to represent our tribe at the feast—”
“Gather whomever you will,” I answered, making my decision in an instant, “because I am leaving at sunrise tomorrow.”
When the sun peered over the horizon the next morning, Rei and I stood alone in front of my parents’ house. Father came to the door with bleary eyes, nodded at me, and gripped his walking stick. Mother followed, her hair covered with a dark veil. None of my brothers appeared.
We set out together, just the four of us, and Father didn’t have to explain why none of our kinsmen had come along. Marriage to a foreign woman was offensive, but I could have softened the insult by also taking a wife from my own tribe. When I refused to do so, my kinsmen saw my marriage as a snub to every daughter of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
At the fork in the road, my parents again took the southern path where the walking was easier. Weary of enduring their stony silence, I chose the northern route.
“I’ll meet you at the inn,” I told my parents, “and together we will see this through.”
Father grunted in response. I drew a breath, ready to chide him for his lack of support. Shouldn’t a father want his son to be happy? I opened my mouth to gently rebuke him, but Rei stepped between us and shook his head.
I exhaled my indignation. Ah, well. When even my servant knew that I should keep quiet, perhaps I should bite my tongue.
I watched my parents until the road turned and led them out of my sight, then I climbed the steeper trail. My thighs bulged and stretched as I stepped over large stones, yet my soul expanded with the physical exertion. I increased my pace, leaping from rock to rock and avoiding the footpath entirely. Behind me, Rei shouted in complaint, but I laughed, enjoying the exercise. God had given me strength and agility, so why shouldn’t I celebrate His gift?
I stopped at the vineyard. The grapes were gone now, the harvest over. I would find no juicy treats here today, unless the harvesters had overlooked—
An unusual sound caught my ear, a buzzing. Not the thin sound of a rogue bee, but the ferocious roar of a hive. I peered down one row, then another, and finally located the source of the buzzing—and my old enemy. The lion I had killed months before lay between the vines, its body desiccated by the arid climate. Bony ribs poked through the leathery skin, and bees flew in and out of the animal’s rib cage.
Oblivious to the insects, I knelt and peered into the carcass. The little creatures had made a home of the animal’s corpse, and inside the ribs I could see the golden stickiness of a good-sized hive.
Grinning, I waited until Rei came up the path, breathing hard and perspiring. “Look.” I motioned to the carcass. “Have you ever seen the like?”
He leaned against a boulder and stared at the corpse with wide eyes. “Never.”
“Find something for a torch, will you? This will be a wonderful gift for my bride.”
Rei bent forward and braced his hands on his knees. “Sorry, but if you expect me to climb this rocky trail, you have to give me time to catch my breath.”
I rolled my eyes at his cheeky answer, then searched among the hedgerows until I found a branch with green leaves. I thrust the end of the branch into a pile of dried weeds and then started a fire with pieces of flint from my satchel. A spark caught the dry tinder and burst into flame. I then picked up the branch and held it close to the body of the dead lion.
The bees flew out in a near-continuous stream, allowing me to slide my hand into the corpse and pull out the dense honeycomb, dripping with golden sweetness. I wrapped the comb in a piece of leather, tucked it into the satchel at my waist. “An unexpected prize,” I told Rei, who had barely managed to pull himself off the rock. “How many bridegrooms go to their weddings with sweets for the sweet?”
“A dangerous precedent,” Rei said, shooing bees away from his neck. “For bridegrooms—ow!—and their servants.”
Smiling, I led the way to Timnah.