In the Field of Grace by Afshar Tessa

Author:Afshar, Tessa [Afshar, Tessa]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2014-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Twenty

The LORD will fight for you: you need only to be still.

EXODUS 14:14

Ruth returned to the field several days before they started winnowing the grain. Rebelliously, she wore her old grey, threadbare tunic, having stored all of Boaz’s luxurious gifts in her chest. She tried to bury his memory in the same place, with little success.

Physical labor, she knew from experience, acted as an effective balm for a troubled mind. She worked with fast efficiency next to Dinah and Hannah. Dinah, she was pleased to note, had gained a new measure of popularity since the fire. One young man in particular paid her marked attention. Without being asked, he fetched her water when the sun grew hot, and saved her a warm piece of bread during their midday repast. Dinah smiled, neither encouraging nor dissuading his attentions.

“You have a new suitor,” Hannah teased when they returned to the field.

Dinah shrugged. “It means nothing.”

But the next day when the young man teased her about her corkscrew curls, which peeked from beneath her veil, she teased him back and they laughed as if they had been dear friends for years. As Ruth turned to pick an abandoned stalk, she caught Adin watching, brows lowered, his mouth a flat line. She moved toward him, following a trail of barley stalks.

“Peace, Adin,” she said. She had not seen him since the morning before the fire.

“Peace? What peace? What’s wrong with her? Did the fire go to her head? Why is she acting like this?”

“Dinah? How is she acting?”

“Like … like Rahab before she repented.”

Ruth, who had heard of Rahab, suppressed a bubble of laughter. “I’ve seen Canaanite girls of that occupation and I can’t perceive the similarity.”

“True. They are probably too modest for the comparison.”

“Adin!” Ruth crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you expect? You don’t talk to her. You don’t pursue her. She won’t sit around waiting for you forever while her youth passes by. If you don’t want her, others do.”

“Who says I don’t want her?”

Ruth drew nearer so that she could stare him in the eye. “Do you want her?”

He shuffled like a little boy. “I’ve always wanted her.”

“Do you love her enough to marry her? In spite of your parents’ displeasure? In spite of her occasionally sharp manner?”

Adin said nothing. Ruth threw her hands in the air. “Then you must bear the pain of watching her grow fond of another man. Stand by as she marries another man. Bears the children of another man.”

A fit of coughing shook Adin. “Are you trying to ruin my day?”

“You are doing a good job of that yourself.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Make up your mind, Adin. Marry her, if you love her. Grow up. Be a man and bear the cost of your love.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.