Avenger of Blood Read Free Page A

hired Agatha, a recent convert, as part of the villa’s housekeeping staff. Agatha had a young infant of her own, so she could nurse Victor if need be.
    â€œI suppose,” Rebecca agreed, yet she looked pained and almost panicked. “But even if I weren’t worried about Victor, I still couldn’t do it.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œI’m afraid. Afraid of what people would say. Or what they wouldn’t say. Some of the other Christians think I’m a bad person. Oh, most of them won’t say it to my face, but they talk about it behind my back. I don’t know who my friends are anymore.” Her face fell as she admitted, “And I’m still too sad to be around people most of the time.”
    Now, there was a problem, Marcellus acknowledged silently. A few people had been upset when Rebecca returned from Devil’s Island with Victor. Instead of rejoicing over a fellow believer surviving the ordeal of a brutal prison camp, they had wagged fingers at an unwed mother. If they only knew the whole story, Marcellus thought. He’d been the one to find Rebecca after she had been sexually assaulted and savagely beaten.
    â€œI understand,” he said. “But hiding at home all the time won’t quell the gossip. And I’m sure the people who need your help won’t really care that you came back from prison with a baby but no husband.”
    Marcellus stood and offered his hand to Rebecca. The brilliant fireball of sun had faded to a burnished glow that shimmered over the Aegean waves.
    â€œLet’s go home before it gets dark,” he said as he helped her stand and secure Victor for walking down the hillside. “Just promise me you’ll think about it, all right?”
    Rebecca had thought about their conversation for several days, then she had decided to help Helena, who urgently needed her.
    For the past week Rebecca had risen early each day to help coordinate their efforts to minister to the needy. The first day she’d been so upset about leaving Victor that she’d fretted constantly and had tried to rush Helena out of every home they visited. But when she’d returned to the villa, Victor was fine, sleeping contentedly in the handcarved crib that had once been hers, with Agatha and her baby girl close by.
    After a few days Rebecca was still trying to hurry Helena along, but simply because the woman had no concept of what it meant to keep to a schedule. The needs had indeed multiplied far beyond anything Rebecca’s mother had overseen. In their area of the city alone, some twelve families were in dire economic situations. In households where someone was sick, they tried to visit every day, and at one place Helena had taken several children home with her because their mother was too ill to care for them.
    Rebecca’s worries about people being unkind or thinking she was sinful had also evaporated. In home after home she had been embraced warmly, grateful men and women telling her how much they missed her mother, what a kind person Elizabeth had been, and how glad they were to see Rebecca following in her mother’s footsteps. Rebecca’s spirits had lifted immeasurably, and she was beginning to feel much more hopeful about life.
    One afternoon as they returned to the villa, Helena commented on the changes in Rebecca. “It’s good for you to be with people,” she said.
    â€œI enjoy your company, Helena.” It was true. In spite of the air of confusion that sometimes surrounded her, Helena brought a lot of joy to people. She was warm-hearted and generous to a fault.
    â€œI was really talking more about people closer to your own age. In fact, I was thinking you should get to know Antony.”
    Rebecca noted that Helena’s hazel eyes—which were beautifully tinted but too large for her small heart-shaped face—always sparkled when she talked about Antony.
    â€œMy son is a good man,” Helena said,