Cleopas turned to Andrew. “I imagine my wife has sent her with the correspondence I forgot this morning. Go ahead and fetch it. I shall be over in a moment with the letter.”
Andrew nodded and moved away from the open field, back into the building. Cleopas watched the soldiers for a moment longer, shouting out a command when one flank broke formation. Then his thoughts drifted to the parchment he had received that morning, and his pulse kicked up.
Usually he would bring any news from Jason home with him in the evenings and read it to Ester himself. She had never learned to read Latin, but Jason would write in nothing else. This, however, could not wait. He would entrust it to Abigail, who would not only read it without fault but would be a steadying check on his wife’s nerves.
Eyeing the angle of the sun, Cleopas dismissed his men for their meals and spun around to find his servants. Andrew had accepted a few twined letters from Abigail and had maneuvered her into a corner, shielding her from view of the other men. Had she realized his reasoning, she would probably not have stood so happily, chatting.
“Dinah will need my help,” Abigail was saying to Andrew, “so we shall have to cancel your Latin tutorial tonight.”
Andrew sounded as though he was grinning. “A terrible shame. I shall mourn its loss.”
Cleopas rolled his eyes as he moved over to them. Abigail had long ago caught up to him in knowledge, but Andrew still needed the lessons as much as he hated them. Upon reaching the two, he greeted her with a nod. “Abigail, thank you. I am glad you came. Could you please take this home?” He pulled out the parchment, handed it to her. “Read it to your mistress straight away.”
Her eyes sparked curiosity that made it nowhere near her lips. “Certainly, Lord. I shall take it over this moment.”
“Have a good afternoon.” Andrew stepped back to let her pass and sighed as she left another wave of staring soldiers in her wake. “Your men are beginning to notice that Abigail is no longer a child, Lord.”
“Mm.” And distracted soldiers were never a good thing. “I think it is time that Simon resume the responsibility of trips to the Praetorium. Though our young friend will not enjoy the curb to her independence.”
Andrew grinned and took his place behind Cleopas. “I say we let the mistress be the one to tell her, then.”
“You are a wise man indeed, Andrew. That is a sound plan if ever I heard one. We shall let my wife be deafened by her silence and save ourselves the guilt.” Grinning in return, he nodded. “Her obedience can be so demeaning, can it not? Were she a man, she would make an excellent soldier.”
“Were she a man,” his servant said behind him, “I suspect she would soon command us all.”
*
Abigail smoothed out the parchment, wondering what news it held. Surely something important, for Cleopas to send it home midday. But nothing bad, or he would not have delegated the task.
She glanced at her mistress, whose foot swung back and forth as she waited. Abigail smiled. “Shall I read it in Hebrew?”
Ester nodded. “Please.”
She cleared her throat and directed her gaze to the words. It was addressed only to Cleopas, so Abigail skipped the salutation altogether. It may hurt her mistress, if only slightly, to know that her son had not cared to include her in whatever was of such import.
“‘I have not much time to write,’” she began, “‘as I must go soon to the house of a friend to dine. They are an influential family, and it may serve me well to be accepted by them. Titus’s father, Caius Asinius, was up until recently a consul, and a very successful one. Of course, some say it is because of Tiberius’s excellent mood due to the death of Germanicus that he was met with such ease in his duties, but I will retain judgement on the matter, as I have never had cause to meet the Emperor himself. At any rate, the house of Asinius is one destined to greatness, and I am pleased to be seen as one of their friends. Actually, though, I find Titus a bit intolerable sometimes, as he seems to have the opinion that he is too good to serve as a soldier. He seems to think that his career in war will not be long-lasted, as his father apparently has other plans for him in a year or two. At any rate, it is still Menelaus Casicus I most enjoy spending my time with, but as he is of a family far below our own, originally Greek, I believe, it is not so advantageous to spend my evenings with him.