The Crimson Cord: Rahab's Story (29 page)

Salmon stared at his friend’s relaxed pose. Mishael was just baiting him, as he and Zimri and Mishael had baited each other throughout their childhood. He couldn’t marry Rahab any more than Salmon could.

And yet as Salmon closed his eyes, it was Rahab’s vulnerable face that appeared in his mind’s eye . . . with that scrawny homeless cat tucked into her arms.

He must have slept, for dawn woke him with much the same thoughts as he’d had hours before. Mishael had already doused the embers of last night’s fire.

“How long have you been awake?”

“Not long.” Mishael glanced at him. “You ready to head to town?”

Salmon rose and stretched. “Yes.”

They left camp and headed south toward the plain, where the gates of the small city stood open before them. “How shall we handle this?” Mishael asked.

Salmon tapped the earth with his staff. “Same as before.”

Mishael nodded. Salmon felt the slightest tension between them. “Look,” he said when the silence stretched on too long. “I know you think me conflicted about Rahab, defending her one moment, shunning her the next. But I can’t marry a prostitute, no matter how much she might have changed.” He paused, glancing at his friend. “So if you find her worthy, you have my blessing.”

Mishael stared into the distance. The gates of the city drew closer. “I will think on it.”

Somehow the thought that Mishael preferred Adara but would consider covering Rahab’s shame tasted sour on Salmon’s tongue. Would to God he had such courage. The woman had captivated him with more than her beauty. She was smart and resourceful and she loved her family. And that silly cat.

All qualities he would want in a wife.

If only her past didn’t keep coming between them.

25

R
ahab awoke before dawn to the sound of loud purring in her ear. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. What day was it? Unnatural silence greeted her. Of course, everyone would still be abed. She glanced at the cat that had perched on her chest. “Perhaps the cook was right about you, you little beast. Why did you wake me?”

She rolled over on her side, trying to ignore the animal. But the absence of the predawn activity she should have heard grew deafening. She tossed the covers aside and stood, wrapped a robe about her, and walked slowly to her tent’s door, heart pounding. She peered into the gray light and looked from right to left. There was no sign of her family. The tents, the water jars, even the few goats the Israelites had given them were gone.

Shock broke through her foggy thoughts, and the dew tickled her feet as she walked. “Adara? Cala?” Had no one the decency to say goodbye?

She stifled a soft cry and placed a hand to her throat as she walked the length of the small area where each tent had
stood. How far had they gotten? Did they wait until they knew she slept?

Twin daggers of betrayal and hurt pierced her, bringing with them a physical ache so deep she had to remind herself to breathe. With the breath’s release came a simmering rage. How could they do this to her? She had saved their lives!

She looked south, toward Egypt. No sign of Adara or even of her family’s small caravan in the distance. They must have left during the darkest heart of night.
Oh
God, what am I supposed to do?
Was there no one trustworthy, no one who wanted her?

Soft fur rubbed her calf, followed by the cat’s familiar purr. A moment later, he hopped up into her arms. Round green eyes looked directly into hers as if to say, “I didn’t leave you.”

She held him close, wetting his fur with her tears.

Rahab tried to sleep again, to no avail. At last she rose, tidied the small tent of her few belongings, and pulled the cat into her arms. “Don’t worry about the people,” she whispered in his ear. “Just hang on to my robe, and I won’t let you go.” She couldn’t leave him alone. He might not wait for her, or worse, he might be torn to pieces by some wild animal. She covered her hair with a veil, shielding the cat like a babe in arms, and headed toward Israel’s camp.

She passed several women talking in a group near some of the tents, but their conversations stopped abruptly as they saw her approach. She glanced their way and nodded, her stomach tightening with their lack of response. She sighed, mentally shaking herself. It did not matter what they thought of her. She was here now, and she would seek Joshua’s protection.

The camp seemed to stretch on forever, and she searched her mind for the path Salmon had led them over a week before. At last she spotted Joshua addressing a group of soldiers. “Be strong and courageous and take the city,” she heard him shout as she grew close. “The spies have agreed that not all of us need to go up, for the city is small. So go now, and defeat Ai in the name of the Lord.”

Rahab glimpsed Salmon and Mishael among the group that turned and marched away at Joshua’s orders. When the last man left the camp, Rahab forced her feet to continue forward until she stood within arm’s length of Joshua.

“My lord, may I speak a word with you?” Her voice sounded distant, and she could not help the dead feeling inside of her. The hope she’d felt when Israel had rescued her family, when men had actually kept their word, failed her now.

Joshua turned, his lined face smiling at her as though she was already one of them. Of course, she wasn’t. “How can I help you, Rahab?” He motioned her to enter the sitting room of his tent, then called to his wife to bring water to drink. “Please, sit.”

Rahab found a cushion and settled the cat in her lap as she lowered herself to the floor. She smiled at Joshua’s wife Eliana, a woman much younger than Joshua himself. She noticed the slice of fresh cucumber floating in the clay water cup. She sipped. “Thank you.”

The woman nodded and smiled, then spotted the cat. “Well, who is it you have here?” She knelt at Rahab’s side and gently touched the cat’s head. His purr followed. “What a friendly little thing.” Eliana looked from the cat to hold Rahab’s gaze. “We are so glad to have you as one of us now. I hope you will consider spending some time with my girls and me.”

The offer took Rahab off guard, but she managed a slight nod. “Thank you. That is very kind.”

“Not at all. You are a hero in this camp. If not for you, we would never have had the advantage to take Jericho.” She smiled again, then sat in a corner and picked up her spindle and distaff.

Joshua gave his wife an affectionate look, then faced Rahab. “Now, please, tell me what I can do for you.”

Rahab swallowed, drawing on courage she did not feel, calmed by Eliana’s kindness. “It appears, my lord, that my family has left the protection of Israel. They broke camp and left by cover of night while I slept.”

“Oh, my dear girl, how awful for you!” Eliana said, her expression filled with genuine sympathy. She glanced at her husband. “You must come and stay with us, of course.”

How was it this woman seemed to know her very thoughts? “Thank you again, mistress. That is very kind of you.”

“Call me Eliana.” She nodded to Joshua.

“Of course Eliana is right, Rahab. You cannot live alone outside the camp. It isn’t safe.”

“But to live among you, a woman alone . . . is that safe, my lord? Will your men keep their distance from me?” She met his gaze and knew he understood her meaning.

“If any one of my men sought you out as the men of your city once did, he would be punished. Our God does not abide adultery, Rahab. He is pleased when we marry and are fruitful and multiply.”

“I could live in my own tent then?” She stroked the cat’s head and could not meet Joshua’s gaze.

“As long as you pitch it near my wife’s. No one will touch you under my protection.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

“Call me Joshua, dear girl. I am not your master. Only one God is master of all.”

Rahab nodded, though she found the comment curious, even confusing.

“But I wonder if I might ask you a question,” Joshua said quietly, sipping on a cup of water.

“Of course. Anything.” She would not pretend or lie in giving her answer as she had become so adept at doing.

“Why would you choose us over your own family?” He paused. “I realize you feel a devotion to us for saving your life. But family ties are strong, and the bonds of father and daughter hard to break. Why would you not remain under your father’s protection now that you are free?”

She studied the outlines of the cat’s dark and varying shades of brown, slightly tightening her grip, tugging him gently closer to her heart. Was the animal her new shield against pain? But of course, the little thing had no power to keep her from the wounds of men and women.

“If you would rather not tell me, you have no obligation to do so,” Joshua said after her lengthy silence.

“No, no. I do not mind,” she said quickly. “You must understand. I love my family.” Her voice caught on the memories of their absence, and suddenly she felt completely alone.

Eliana laid her distaff and spindle aside and came once more to kneel at her side. “If you are not ready, we do not need to know your secrets, Rahab. Just know that you are accepted. Whatever happened with your family or in your past is past.” She looked to her husband, who gave a slight nod. “One day I will tell you about our sacrifices, and then
perhaps you can confess the hurt to our God and be made whole once more.” She patted Rahab’s knee.

“I have not been whole since I married an unworthy man.” She suddenly realized that the memories of Gamal, Dabir, and the others were still too fresh to share with strangers. Even kind strangers.

“You may set your tent in the circle of mine,” Joshua said, “near Eliana’s. I will see to it that no man comes near you. You will spend your days serving my wife, helping her to prepare food and clothing for some of the younger unmarried men or care for the widows among us. Does that please you?”

“Yes. Thank you.” She swallowed the perpetual emotion, wondering where the stoic lying prostitute had gone. In this place, with these people, she felt nothing like that now. “I will go and gather my things.”

“I will send my daughters to help you.”

She nodded and waited for him to call his daughters, left the cat with Eliana on the promise of her swift return, then walked with the girls to her tent, feeling as though perhaps something would at last be right with her world.