A Stray Drop of Blood (42 page)

“
I believe I am going mad,” Tabitha murmured.

“
If so, then we all are.” Titus looked to Abigail, whose gaze was still on the wall through which her husband had gone. “I saw him earlier, too. He led me to Tabitha.”

“
A miracle,” the midwife said in awe.

“
The babe.” Abigail rested her hand on her stomach. “He shifted.”

That was enough to grab everyone’s attention. Titus took his chair, Tabitha her spot sitting beside Abigail, and the boy climbed up uninvited into Titus’s lap. She half expected the man to push him off again, but he surprised her by smiling at him.

As Tabitha began her probe, her face lit with victory. “It is well now. The labor may still take a while, but the child will be born.”

Joyous tears ran down Abigail’s cheeks as she whispered her gratitude to her God.

Samuel grabbed her attention when he turned a sober face toward Titus. “Lord, is my father an angel?”

Abigail buried a smile, wondering how he would respond. Titus shrugged. “I know not, Samuel. But what I
do
know is that he is of God.”

It seemed to satisfy the boy. He snuggled closer to Titus, resting his head against the man’s solid chest, and looked perfectly content. Titus looked down on the golden curls for a moment in seeming stupefaction, then slowly put an arm around him to anchor him.

Another miracle. She reached out and grasped his free hand. “The pain is easing. Praise Jehovah.”

True to Tabitha’s word, the labor was still not quick. But it progressed steadily, and as the night waned, the excitement grew. With the first light of dawn, the mew of new life sounded, followed by shouts of joy.

“
It is a son!” Tabitha held the uncleaned babe up for the others to see.

Abigail laughed in exhausted contentment and reached out to hold her baby. Still squalling beautifully, the newborn came to a rest in her arms. His face was red, his cap of black hair going every possible direction, but Abigail was very certain that she had never seen a more perfect creature in all of her life.

After a moment of study, she opened her other arm. “Come, Samuel, meet your little brother.”

Samuel scurried from his place in Titus’s lap onto the bed, crawling to Abigail’s side. He looked in awe at the tiny infant. “He is even littler than I.”

Abigail grinned. “He will grow, just as you will.”

Tabitha reached to take the baby back. “I will clean him. Titus, Samuel, you should leave now. Abigail and the child will need to rest.”

This time, Titus did not argue. He picked up Samuel and stood over her bed. “You did well, Abigail. The Visibullises live on.”

Abigail smiled at him in gratitude, then watched the two leave. She looked back to Tabitha. “Thank you. I do not know what I would have done without you.”

Tabitha smiled in return, bathing the baby gently in a basin of warm water. “Our Father in Heaven brought us together, Abigail. I am just as grateful to him for it as you. I witnessed a miracle.”

Abigail nodded, drawing in a deep breath. She could not take her eyes from the tiny, squirming form her new friend held. “He is perfect.”

“
Indeed he is.”

They let silence remain after that as Tabitha finished cleaning the baby, then was ready to assist her patient with the afterbirth.

After all was taken care of, the baby suckling happily, Tabitha took her hand. “My child, you cannot stay here. There is no food in the house, very little oil, and you would be alone. Titus would probably insist upon staying with you, but he has much to do to prepare for his voyage back to Rome. You and the babe and Samuel will need someone to help you these next few days.” She smiled. “I want you to come home with me.”

“
Tabitha,” Abigail said, touched, “that is very kind. But if I leave, and then the others return. . .”

“
Do any of them read? We could have Titus write a note, or leave a message with a friend.”

Abigail smiled in spite of her concerns. “They read. We all do, except Dinah.” She contemplated for a moment, then nodded. “We will write them, and I will go with you. I thank you for your generosity.”

Tabitha’s smile was bright as she stood. “I will go inform Titus and see if he can find a mule for you to ride. You are too weak to walk, but as I said, there is no more food, and you need to eat. The sooner we get you settled, the better.”

Within an hour, Titus had brought over his horse and helped Abigail and the baby onto it, and they had packed all she would need for the next few days. Abigail penned a note explaining that her son had been born and she had gone with the midwife, detailing how to find her. She put it on the kitchen table as was the habit in their house, securing it with one of their many pottery bowls.

They set off. Before the day was more than two hours underway, Abigail was settled comfortably in a cozy room in Tabitha’s house.

~*~

Simon was needed at the inn, so Andrew set off with Dinah to find Abigail when she had not shown up by the appointed time on the first day of the week. They headed straight for their house, finding it as they had left it, secure and empty. Entering through the front door with a sigh, Andrew shook his head.

“
It feels abandoned.” He motioned toward the hall with the bedrooms. “But I will check the rooms.”

“
And I the kitchen.”

They went in their separate directions, though the search did not take long. Andrew found Dinah again moments later.

Sorrow lined her face. “The note was still on the table.”

Andrew sighed. “And the beds all made and unslept on. Where could she be?”

A knock sounded then, and both jumped, then rushed to the door. Andrew opened it to a familiar slave boy. “Laertus.”

“
Julia sent me to see how everyone fares.”

“
Abigail is missing,” Andrew replied. “Have you seen her?”

Laertus shook his head, face pinched in concern. “She has not come to our house. I am to see if I could be of service here, though.”

Dinah sighed. “There is no one here. We had to move our mistress, and we cannot find Abigail.”

“
How is your lady?”

Andrew shrugged. “Unchanged. But Drusus has hope that a change of scenes will see her improving.”

“
If Abigail comes to you, tell her to find us. We left a note with directions.” Dinah’s anxiety laced every word.

Laertus nodded, but he was obviously concerned as well.

They followed him out the door. “We will look where we can think to,” Andrew muttered to his friend, “but if we do not find her by midday, we will have no choice. Drusus said we should not tarry long.”

“
Where could she be?” Dinah looked around as if expecting an answer to sprout up. “She knew so few people in the city. Only the general’s family, Vetimus. I am worried, Andrew. Why would she not come home? What if something happened to her?”

Andrew had no response.

~*~

“
I have news.”

Abigail looked up when Titus burst into the small house and headed straight for where she sat with Tabitha.

His face was alight, and he took a seat among them with a smile. “He is risen! They are saying his followers stole his body, but I know it cannot be. I posted the guard myself, and they were our best men. But this morning, the tomb was found empty, the stone rolled away.”

Abigail exchanged a glance with Tabitha, then looked back to Titus. She did not need to ask about whom he was speaking.

“
But, how?” Tabitha asked. “How could the stone be rolled away if there was a guard?”

Titus shook his head but still smiled. “I spoke with Subrius and Marcus, the men on watch. They said that as dawn broke this morning, they were seized by a terrible fright and were unable to move. The said that they saw a figure clothed in light walk out of the tomb, straight through the rock. He looked at them and smiled, then another man came up and rolled the stone away. Only then could they move again, and they ran to tell the general. Of course, they were not believed, and they were told rather sternly that they had been drunk, had passed out, and that it was during their disgraceful stupor that the followers did their evil deed. But I know those men. They do not drink excessively, and certainly not on duty. He is risen, my friends. Our Christ is alive!”

Abigail stared for a moment as the words sank in.

Tabitha rubbed at her temple. “He said he would rebuild the temple in three days. The temple of his body. Today is the third day.” Her eyes lit up. “The prophesies have come true. There is no question now, if ever there was. Jesus is Savior, Christ, Messiah!” She reached over with a joyous laugh and caught up each of their hands. “We serve a risen savior, my friends! Christ is Lord!”

Abigail embraced her friends, laughing all the while as the miraculous truth flowed through her veins. Already she had seen the graves opened, one who was dead walking among them. It was not so hard to grasp the Son of God capable of resurrecting himself.

“
No matter what else happens,” Abigail said fervently, looking at the others, “there will always be hope for us. As I watched him die, I knew it was for our sins. I knew he was paying the price I should pay. But now he has triumphed over death, over sin. Now we can all live, free and saved and new.”

They all smiled at one another, and all looked over to the basket in the corner when the newest life set up a cry.

It was Titus who stood, went over to the baby, and gently picked him up. “Little one, you chose a miraculous day to be born. And as you grow, you will be fed on the stories of this man whose blood has cleansed us all.”

Abigail smiled and accepted the babe when he brought him to her. As she did so, she remembered the shouts her people had made when Jesus was being tried.
Let his blood be on us and our children.
Suddenly, what had seemed to her a threat was now a promise. On them his blood rested, indeed, and as the centuries of sacrifices that had come before him, it washed them clean of sin. Only this time, it would remain enough, she knew. He was not just a pure and spotless lamb to be offered anew each year; he was the pure and spotless Son of God, whose sacrifice would serve forever.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

His vessel was scheduled to sail in two days’ time–it was late as it was, but Titus was beginning to wish it had been even later to port. He was not ready to leave for Rome.

In his hand was a missive that inspired many thoughts, none of them particularly well defined. He would have to speak to Abigail. But first, he had to stop at the general’s house and pay his last visit.

“
Have you heard from Ester?” he asked the couple.

“
In a way.” Julia’s strong voice belied her reclined position. “I sent one of my boys over a few days ago, and Andrew and Dinah were there, but they left again soon after. They were looking for Abigail, but Laertus did not know where to tell them to find her. They said they left a note with directions to where they were staying.”

Titus sighed in frustration. “I was just there. The only note anywhere in the house is the one that Abigail left for
them
.”

“
Well, Dinah cannot read. She would hardly know the difference if she saw one sitting there. At any rate, Laertus got no more information from them, except that Ester is unchanged. They should not be too far, though.”

The general nodded his agreement. “Yes, I imagine they will return soon, and when they do, they will undoubtedly stop here to see if we have heard from Abigail. When you leave, just bring her to us. We will see that she and Ester are reunited.”

Titus nodded without any intention of following that advice. “I will speak with you before I leave and let you know what Abigail decides to do. I am sure she will appreciate your generous offer.”

His hosts nodded, and the general rose to see him out. He returned contemplatively to Tabitha’s house, where Abigail was finally up and moving around, Samuel dogging her every step.

When he entered, he did not waste time with preliminaries. He sat down near where Abigail was cutting up vegetables and put the letter he still carried before her.

She eyed it with lifted brows. “What is that?”

“
Correspondence from the steward at the Visibullis estate outside of Rome. They just received word of the deaths of Cleopas and Jason. If someone does not step forward soon to claim the property, it will revert back to the state. Abigail.” He reached out to still her hands. “You must make the claim for Benjamin.”

“
Of course. I will write this steward.”

Titus shook his head. “I fear it will not be enough. Word has gotten out about the lack of an heir, and Arminius, the steward, has already received several letters from people claiming to be Jason’s wife, or another relative. He wrote me because he knew I would be personally acquainted with you. He recommended that if your child were a son, you come to Rome to offer the proof of that.”

Abigail turned to face him fully. “Rome?” she echoed, sounding panicked. “
Proof
?”