will be there,” Rachel said. “Sharmila, I want to get to know you, and both you and Naam need to know more about Samuel.”
“I’m glad you stopped by,” said Samuel. “I really did not know just what we should do.”
“We will have a great time,” said Sharmila. “I can see that there will be enough young people there to keep the party lively.”
As we left Sharmila remarked that she was glad we had given them a special invitation. She said, “Your mother has a lot of good ideas.”
“She does, and I think it is because she is always thinking about the well-being of others.”
7
Abdi-anati came back to the house to tell us that he would need to stay at the academy for more interviews. He suggested that Sharmila and I go back without him, saying that he would come with the other men to the party.
Mother packed us a snack for our walk back to Tamar’s, and when we sat down to eat it, I said, “I am wondering if we could get married on the second day of the party. All the Jerusalem folks would be returning on that day, and we could have Tamar’s house for our wedding night.”
Sharmila kissed me saying, “I would like that, and it might be the best time. However, I will have to talk with mother about this. Also could you get word to your mother about our plans? She would want to think about what she would need for a wedding.”
“You are right. Joel and Jacob will probably be going to Jerusalem tomorrow, and I could send a letter with them. If not I will go back tomorrow morning. You need to talk with your mother this evening.”
“I will.”
“And we also need make a few plans. In my mind, our wedding started with your journey the other day. Your journey was the wedding procession. My father always called Rebekah’s journey a wedding procession. Of course, as we know, at the end of your procession you did not veil yourself for your “Isaac.”
“No! I did not, but your arms held me, and your kiss was what I had been waiting for.”
“So since our wedding has already started, we will have to finish it. On the second day of the party, the others can bring you to Tamar’s house.”
“That won’t take long.”
“No, but the women will have to party at Sarah’s and the men will be at Tamar’s. That will take some time.”
As soon as we arrived, Sharmila talked with her mother. Pidray was not surprised, and confided that she had brought some clothes for Sharmila in case there was a wedding. Sharmila said, “How did you know?”
Pidray drew her daughter into her arms and said, “I know my girl. It was written in your eyes and in your smile. Your heart is an open book.”
They both had tears on their cheeks when they came out of the house and told me to start writing my letter to mother.
“That I can do,” I said.
Running to the bench under the tree, I began to write.
After writing about half of the letter, I looked up and saw mother with my two sisters standing at the gate. I almost fell off of the bench. “What a surprise! I was just writing a letter to you. I was going to send it down to you with Jacob or Joel.”
“Well now you can just tell me your news. On second thought you don’t have to tell me. I can guess what you were writing. You were telling me that our party will include a wedding. Right?”
“How did you know?”
“It was obvious. I just looked at the two of you, and I thought that you could not say good-bye again. So, here we are. We brought along some extra things for the wedding. We will have a day before the others arrive. Now I want to meet Sharmila’s mother.”
I took mother and the girls into the house. Sharmila couldn’t believe her eyes. She ran to mother for a big hug. Mother said, “I want to meet your mother, and I see by your happy tears that you have been talking about something important.”
Sharmila turned to her mother and said, “Mother this is Keziah, Naam’s mother.”
“And you are Pidray. I am happy to meet you.”
I said, “I was writing my letter, and I looked up; there they were. My mother had guessed that there would be a wedding and decided to come early. Perhaps she senses these things because her father was a prophet.”
“No,” said Pidray. “We just know our children. She did not need to guess.”
After all of this my sisters, Elissa and Ruth, already had introduced themselves to Huraya, and the three of them ran outside to plan their activities.
“We will get them to help us after we know what we need to do,” said mother. “However, it is getting late, and we won’t get much done today. But we have tomorrow, and the rest of the women and children will be here the next morning. I don’t expect the men until later. Sharmila and Naam, you had better take a walk and catch your breath. I will help Pidray with supper, which she started before the two of you interrupted her preparations.”
Sharmila and I went out side and walked over to Tamar’s. We sat on one of the terrace walls in the garden. We were both praising our mothers’ intuitions and their willingness to help. I said, “We thought this was going to be a big problem, but everything just fell into place.”
“Our mothers are sensitive and in touch. We should have known that they would help us. I am happy, and soon we will really be together.”
As I kissed her I said, “I can’t wait for that moment.”
“I think we can wait, but perhaps not, if you keep kissing me like that, and it is getting dark. We should invite Joel and Jacob for supper and walk back.”
When we got back to the house our supper was ready. In fact the girls were already eating, and mother and Pidray were getting to know each other and having a friendly conversation. We sat down at the table, and the girls began to tease us. But as soon as Jacob and Joel came in their attention was turned to them. Mother and Pidray made some remark about getting some food ready for the “love birds.”
The next day everyone had a job, but we also had a lot of fun. We cleaned both houses and both yards. Joel helped us with the work, but Jacob had to go to Jerusalem, and he was instructed to tell Sarah and Tamar about the wedding. In the afternoon we all helped mother and Pidray with a lot of baking and cooking. Joel and I gathered wood, carried water, and brought onions and herbs from Tamar’s garden. By evening we were all tired. I did not sleep much because I was too excited, and I wanted to write something for Sharmila.
In the morning the women from the academy arrived early. This was the first day of the party. Sarah, Tamar, Deborah, and Naomi came with the children, and everyone carried some of the supplies. They wanted to get things ready, and Sarah said, “The men will be here later; they claimed that they had work to finish. We left some heavier things for them to bring. Jonathan said he would bring a donkey to carry the wine.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” mother said.
Everyone was introduced to Pidray and Huraya. The new arrivals were ready for a rest before they started their preparations. Sarah said, “We were told yesterday that there was going to be a wedding. Is that the case?”
“That is right,” said mother. “I came a day early, because I just thought that this might happen.”
“Keziah has always been correct about such things,” said Naomi. “She knew that Magon and I would marry, and she also knew that Tamar and Khety had wedding plans.”
Rachel and Samuel came immediately to Sharmila and me, and Rachel said to Sharmila, “I am jealous. I thought Samuel and I would have our wedding first, but we will have to wait until Samuel’s folks can come to Jerusalem.”
“My