The Sons of Isaac(24)
All afternoon she paced up and down digging her nails into her arms, pulling her hair, and cursing her evil luck. If she could only get a message to her father in time. She could depend on him to be livid with anger. He would act forcefully and swiftly. Slowly she devised a plan that would have to be carried out under the cover of darkness.
Just as the sun set and darkness descended over the house of Nahor and the village of Haran, Barida put her plan into action. She called her little serving maid to her rooms. “Quick,” she ordered her in a whisper, “you must go and warn my father that my husband, Laban, is in the very act of arranging a marriage for his sister with a distant cousin. My father must act immediately or it will be too late.”
The girl repeated the message to be sure she could remember it, and then slipped out and headed for the back gate where there would be less chance of being noticed.
Barida’s plan would probably have worked but for one mistake. She was so angry she could not resist threatening Laban when he finally returned to their room. “It seems you have forgotten that your sister is promised to my father,” she said. “If your plans actually work out, he’ll never forgive you for such an insult.”
Laban swung around and glared at her suspiciously. “What do you mean, ‘if’? There is no ‘if’ about it. My sister will go with this messenger and marry our cousin. It’s better this way.”
Barida laughed a cold, cynical laugh. “You forget, it seems, that she was promised to my father. He’s counting on it. He’s not used to being disappointed.”
Laban was instantly defensive. He had known there would be trouble, but he could not resist claiming the wonderful gifts that Abraham had sent. These were gifts to be enjoyed right away, while it could be a long time before he would be able to claim any of Nazzim’s wealth. This was a sure thing, while to depend on a scheme involving Nazzim was not so sure. Nazzim could marry Rebekah, and if he was not pleased with her return her the next day, and there would go all of Laban’s carefully made plans.
Barida realized she had to act fast. Her father was old and often confused. She couldn’t depend on his prompt reaction to the news she had sent to him. She quickly decided to tell Laban what she had done. She was sure he would be afraid to proceed further with his troublesome plans. Given enough time she had no doubt her father would put pressure on Laban and his family so that Rebekah would be forced to marry him.
“My lord,” she said with a toss of her head and a strange tightness to her mouth, “my serving girl has already gone to deliver the message to my father that his promised bride is about to be given to another. I have no doubt that he will act quickly to put an end to your crafty plans.”
Laban clenched his fists and glared at her in disbelief. He had underestimated Barida, but he had no doubt about Nazzim and his anger and penchant for wreaking vengeance upon anyone who stood in his way. He knew very well what trouble Nazzim could cause. He had been foolishly counting on enough time to work something out. Now there was no time. Nazzim would be descending upon them at any moment. Such was the anger of the man when aroused that he could very well arrange for Rebekah to be disfigured or killed so that if he couldn’t have her neither would anyone else. In fact it was possible that under the circumstances he would no longer want her but would not allow her to marry anyone else.
These thoughts raced through his mind as he swung around to face Barida. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her toward him so that he was glaring directly into her pinched and watery eyes. “By the gods of my family, you will not succeed.”
She laughed a harsh, defiant laugh. “Your gods are from Ur and have no effect here. It is my father’s god called Sin that rules.”
Laban was half-afraid she might be right, and so he let out a vile oath and flung her from him as he left the room.
* * *
As Laban came out into the courtyard, he found only the women sweeping and kneading the bread for the morning meal. He was about to go on up to the roof when his mother came hurrying toward him. “Laban,” she whispered, “I must see you immediately.” By the look on her face Laban knew something very serious had happened. Without a word he followed her to the small receiving room off the courtyard.
The minute the door was closed, she leaned toward him and whispered, “I have your wife’s maid locked in the provisions room. I don’t know what mischief she was about, but I caught her leaving from the back gate. She’s crying and threatening terrible things. Of course Barida was sending her.”
A look of surprise crossed his face and then he grinned and rubbed his hands together. “You caught her going out the back gate? You did well, very well,” he said. “You’ve saved us a great deal of trouble.”