Free Jars of Clay by Lee Strauss Page B

Father.”
    “Under Roman law, you must marry.”
    “But not until I’m nineteen!”
    “It’s not always good to wait.”
    “Father, please. I will not shame you. Don’t do this, please.”
    “I must. We have entered negotiations. But I can insist that he wait for your hand, perhaps a year or two.”
    “A year or two? Father, surely you can do better for me than…” she flipped her hands toward the office, “than that ?”
    “Should I rather choose a harsh army man, who would beat a wife he is displeased with? Or a Senator who takes pleasure in many women? Would that be better?”
    “He will bore me to death!”
    “Then death by boredom is your destiny. You could do worse. I have made up my mind, Helena. You will not change it.”
    Helena dropped her hands to her sides, defeated. At least for now. The head of a Roman family had legal rights in the lives of all in his household. She was bound to obedience. Perhaps in time, in one or two year’s time, he would soften and change his mind.
    As for Cassius? She was going to kill him!
    Retreating to the privacy of her room, where she intended to throw herself onto her pillows and weep, she passed her mother’s door, which was jarred opened.
    Impulsively, she went in. The room was dark, the window covered with a gray satin cloth. Virina lounged on her bed, eyes closed. She shifted, and propped herself up when her daughter entered.
    “Helena?” She seemed surprised, and not at all angry, as Helena had feared.
    “Mother?”
    Virina was thin and her hair hung limply over her shoulders. Helena dimly recalled the mother of her childhood, how she dominated a room when she entered it, and how Annia slaved to please her, choosing her clothing and styling her hair. Where had that woman gone?
    “What is it? Helena, is something wrong?”
    “Father wishes for me to marry.”
    “I see. It was bound to happen.”
    “I can’t, not to, him .”
    “Who?”
    “Vincentius… I don’t remember his name, and I don’t care to.”
    “This is every woman’s lot, Helena. You must marry.”
    “Yes, Mother, but just any man, for any reason? Is there no room for love?”
    Virina let a humorless chuckle escape. “Love is a mythical belief.”
    “Didn’t you love, Father?”
    “Helena, you are a woman now and must accept adult realities. I barely knew Brutus.”
    Helena thought of Lucius and her pulse jumped. Lucius she could love, Lucius she did love, but Vincentius, never.
    “Mother, please, talk to Father. He’d listen to you.”
    Virina smirked. “I’ve barely spoken two words to your father in months. I’m the last person in Rome he would take advice from now.”
    “I can’t marry this man, I just can’t. Mother, I need your help.”
    “Your father’s word is law, Helena, you know that.” Virina closed her eyes and a soft groan escaped her thin, narrowly parted lips.
    Helena’s hopes fell. She left her mother alone in the darkness of her room.

Chapter Twenty-Two
    HELENA
    Helena poured libations on the altar of Diana’s image in the family garden, the sweet honey and floral scent overwhelming her senses.
    “Oh holy Diana, come to my aid, a humble servant and a woman in distress. Deliver me from the plans of my father.” Helena was in an impossible position from which only the divine could bring deliverance. She poured again and repeated her chant, bowing low before the idol.
    A concerned voice called out, “Helena?”
    Helen straightened sharply, placing her palm over her heart. “Tatiana? You startled me.”
    Tatiana wasn’t the sort of friend who could keep a secret this big.
    “I’m sorry,” Tatiana said, greeting Helena with a kiss. “Felicity told me I could find you here. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
    “It’s quite alright.” Helena pressed the wrinkles from her tunic with her hand, wishing suddenly that she had worn something nicer.
    “Helena? What’s the matter?” Tatiana’s smooth forehead wrinkled and her mouth pulled down into