Rebekah by Jill Eileen Smith Page A

another stance meant to show her displeasure, to elicit a change of heart. Rebekah was in no mood to placate her mother’s pouts.
    “I have more to pack.” She walked past her mother intoher sleeping chamber, her heart beating fast. Such encounters always made her anxious. She did not wish to cause strife, but she could not go back on her word now, could not choose her mother over a husband.
    A sigh lifted her chest, and she willed her racing heart to slow. She strode to the carved wooden chest that stood against one wall and lifted the lid. Selima must have already emptied it of the many new garments, along with the ones Rebekah already owned. The stone casket containing her jewels was gone from the low table, and her pallet was rolled up, waiting by the door. How quickly it had all been stowed for travel! Her pulse quickened again as she moved into the room, checking every corner, but nothing that could be packed onto a camel remained. The furniture would stay, as they had no way to easily transport it. Besides, Isaac would have his own tables and chests and more.
    Isaac.
    What would he be like? Her heart gave a little flutter at the simple intimacy of his name.
    She turned at a touch on her arm.
    “Everything is packed.” Deborah came alongside her, a smile wreathing her face. “Are you ready?”
    Rebekah glanced beyond her nurse, but there was no one in the hall outside. The room held an eerie quiet. “My mother?”
    “Is out in the courtyard with the rest of the household. They are waiting to send you off. Laban has commanded food prepared for us to eat along the way. A canopy stands near the edge of the court, and your mother has retrieved your best robe.” Deborah turned, extending a hand for Rebekah to lead the way to the courtyard.
    “She is going to have a ceremony without the groom?” Rebekah stood unmoving.
    Deborah nodded. “You can take the robe off before you mount the camel. Your family wishes to bless you, mistress.”She smiled, her expression reassuring. “Let them have this last moment.”
    Rebekah nodded, suddenly overcome once again with emotion. She looked over her sleeping room one last time, the memories short. She had not lived in this house in Nahor long. She had already left the house of her birth in Harran, and this room had little hold on her. Still . . .
    “I will miss this place.”
    Deborah put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “As we all will. But a new adventure awaits us. A whole new way of life.”
    “Yes.” The thought filled her with sudden excitement. “I am to be married.” A surge of joy bubbled within her. “To a prince.” She smiled. “Selima will be happy with that.”
    Deborah laughed. “Selima dreams of things too grand.”
    The sounds of music and voices of men and women filled the courtyard at Rebekah’s approach. Her mother hurried to greet her, all traces of her tears gone. “Put this on. Quickly now. Eliezer wishes to be off, and you best not keep him waiting.”
    But by this very act of ceremony they were doing just that.
    Rebekah did not say so as she clutched one of the new robes to her, stepped back into the house, and hurriedly switched from the one she was wearing. A moment later, she moved with graceful steps to stand beneath the canopy that Laban had used when he married Farah.
    Silence settled over the court, and Laban and Bethuel stepped forward, each holding a goblet of wine in his hand.
    “Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands,” Laban said, lifting his cup in the air.
    Bethuel did the same, smiling into her eyes. “And may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.”
    She knew what he meant. Enemies could be found in homes as well as foreign lands, and he had just blessed her and herchildren to conquer both. Her heart warmed to the thought, a little thrill passing through her.
    “Let it be so!” The small crowd shouted the words together, and the sounds of flute and lyre and drum filled the air while