She said nothing.
Disturbed by her silence, David turned her to face him and tipped her chin. Her face was thinner, and she was as pale as alabaster. He removed the veil, and jealousy gripped him as he saw the small bottle on a string. He lifted it mockingly. “Did you love him so much?”
“I loved Uriah,” she said softly. She raised her head. Her eyes were dark with pain. “But not as I’ve loved you. You were always the man of my dreams.” She held out her free hand, palm up. “The man who held my heart in the palm of his hand.” She clenched her fist, her eyes filling with tears.
David touched her cheek, marveling at the softness of her skin. She was the most beautiful woman in his kingdom, and she belonged to him now. “You’ll never know how much I love you, Bathsheba.” He saw her shudder and cupped her face. “You are my wife now.” Ignoring the distressed look in her eyes, he removed the bottle of tears and tossed it aside. “Forget him. I will treat you like a queen.” He leaned down and kissed her, gently at first, until he felt her respond. “All other women pale when compared to you.” He dug his fingers into her hair.
* * *
David stood just outside his door and read the note Joram had brought from one of his advisers. Matters of state beckoned. He crumpled the message impatiently. He didn’t need to be reminded that he was responsible for the lives of his people, and it was time to return to matters of state. Joram waited, silent, eyes straight ahead.
“Summon the eunuch in charge of my harem,” David said quietly so that Bathsheba wouldn’t be disturbed from her sleep.
“Yes, my lord the king.”
David went back into his bedchamber and closed the door quietly behind him.
He crossed the room and stood beside the bed, looking down at his wife. She was exquisite. He’d never seen a more beautiful woman, and he knew she would always be so. Like Abraham’s Sarah. He smiled, taking a tress of black hair and rubbing it between his fingers. It was like thick silk. He would no longer be tormented by her absence. She belonged to him now. He could summon her any time he pleased.
Smiling, he sat on the edge of the bed. Leaning down, he kissed her and watched her awaken. She stretched and sighed softly. When she looked up at him, he realized she no longer had the look of starry-eyed adoration that she’d had as a young girl. Her love was mixed with troubled awareness. He didn’t ask why. She reached up and touched his brow. He took her hand and pressed a kiss into her palm. “I don’t want to leave you, but I must.”
“You are the king.”
“A chamber has been prepared for you.” He stroked a tendril of curling black hair back from her brow. “If there is anything you need or want, you’ve only to tell the master of the harem. He will see to it.”
A blush spread across her cheeks. He saw the moisture building in her eyes.
Stricken with emotions he couldn’t identify, he grew impatient. “Up, my love.” He had no time for teary brides! “We can’t spend the rest of our lives in bed.” He rose and moved away. The covers rustled behind him and he glanced back, intending to enjoy the pleasure of watching her dress. She reached for her widow’s garb. “No!” He wrenched the garments from her, rolled them into a ball, and flung them into the corner. Shaken by the power of his emotions, he glared at her.
“Am I to enter your harem naked, my lord the king?”
He strode across the room and grabbed one of his own tunics. “Wear this!” He thrust it into her hands. She trembled violently as she put it on. The purple hem pooled around her feet. She looked so young and vulnerable; he was reminded of the little girl who’d followed him to the stream of En-gedi. “Bathsheba, I’m sorry.”
A knock sounded on the door, startling them both. He knew the eunuch had arrived to take her to her quarters. “Come!” he called out and the door opened. Bathsheba looked at the servant, but didn’t take a step toward him. “I will call for you again soon,” David said pointedly. Why should he feel guilty? Didn’t she understand he was a king?
Her eyes flickered. Her cheeks filled with color as she bowed low. “I am yours to command, my lord the king.” When she straightened, he saw a tear slip down her cheek before she turned quickly away. She followed the eunuch from the room.
David rubbed his chest, wondering why his heart should ache so much when everything had turned out exactly as he’d planned.
* * *
Bathsheba’s quarters were sumptuous, her new life one of leisure and luxury. She had beautiful clothing, plenty to eat, and the protection of the king. She was never alone, for more than two hundred people lived in David’s palace—six of his other wives, their numerous handmaidens, his children, servants, secretaries, craftsmen, laborers, nannies, caretakers, cooks, guards, porters, stewards, and artisans. There were also many faithful elderly retainers and old soldiers who could no longer carry arms. A stream of visitors came and went into the palace as David’s wives visited with their family members and entertained.
No one came to visit Bathsheba.
When David’s wives gathered for the evening meal, they did not include her in their conversation, nor even acknowledge her presence. His older sons did look at her—pointedly: Amnon, the eldest, with lasciviousness; Absalom, with contempt. These women and their children were her family now, and Ahinoam had spoken for most of them the day Bathsheba had been shown into the women’s quarter: “So this is the king’s whore!”
She remembered overhearing her grandfather say to her father years ago, “Never trust anyone outside your own family.” But Bathsheba knew she could never trust any of these women or their sons, and her child would always be in danger.
The days wore on her like a windstorm over stone. Whispered words blew harsh, rubbing painfully, reshaping her. Bathsheba sat alone, consoling herself with love for the child she carried. When her son came, she wouldn’t give him up to a wet nurse or a nanny. She would keep him with her and love him. And if the child was a girl, she would watch over her and train her into womanhood herself, rather than entrust her to the care of others. And she hoped. Let the child be a son to make David proud!
She waited a month before letting the news be known that she was carrying the king’s child. There were some in the palace whose loyalty toward David ran so deep they refused to think ill of him, no matter what others whispered. They rejoiced that the king’s household was about to grow by another child. However, there were many who cast sidelong glances at her, lips sneering. Some would not look at her at all.
The wives spent every day entertaining themselves with games, music, conversation. Some did handwork to while away the hours. Whenever word came that the king would spend the evening with them, they focused all their energies on preparing for his visitation. Each tried to outdo the others in beauty preparation. They primped and fussed, sending handmaidens hither and yon for whatever they thought might attract David’s attention. Ahinoam put on Egyptian kohl and Persian mascara. Maacah painted her toenails with henna and wore anklets. They all braided their hair and anointed themselves with perfume. Bathsheba bathed, brushed her hair until it shone and rippled over her shoulders and down her back, and wore the simple dress of a commoner. Let David remember her as she had been, not as she had become.
When David entered the room, her heart leaped. She watched as he looked around. His gaze settled briefly upon her and his eyes glowed warmly. But he looked away, speaking to Ahinoam, who caressed his arm and smiled up at him as though he were the moon and the stars. Though he did not linger long, David wandered the room, pausing here and there, giving each a measure of attention.
Bathsheba observed his every movement with increasing anguish. He greeted each woman with a smile, talked amicably, charmed them with a touch. He was so handsome, who would not love him? She felt a shaft of pain each time he brushed his knuckles against an upturned face, took a hand and kissed it, spoke a soft word, or laughed. The women flirted boldly, some so boldly Bathsheba wanted to scream and tear their hair out. But she remained in her seat, pret
ending a calm she didn’t feel. When David sat upon a cushion, he was surrounded and caressed. He looked at her only one more time, but she took little comfort in the darkening of his eyes, for his attention was drawn away almost immediately.
So this was the pain her mother had warned her against! Hadn’t her mother tried to tell her what it would be like to be David’s wife? “One among many.” Could there be any agony worse than seeing the man she loved pampered and petted by six other women? She shifted her body so that she wouldn’t have to endure it.
David came to her then. “Are you well, Bathsheba?” She was too distressed to answer, afraid if she spoke she would give the women fuel for further torment when David was gone. “Bathsheba?” He spoke in a hoarse whisper and hunkered down as he turned her face so that she had to look at him. He searched her eyes, his own hungry and troubled. “Try to understand. I can’t give in to what I want and forsake all these others.”
The irony of his words made her look away. Hadn’t she forsaken all others for him? Wasn’t her husband now dead because she had given in to what she wanted without thought of the consequences?
“Bathsheba,” he said again, her name a soft groan. The others watched like a pride of lionesses.
“Of course I understand,” she whispered, looking into his eyes and hoping he didn’t sense her despair. Understanding increased her suffering. He was a king, above all. And a king must have many wives so he could build up his house with sons. Now that it was known that she was already with child, what need had he to call her to his bed? She remembered her mother’s words: “When you grow up, you will understand the wisdom of worshiping God and not a man.”
She must grow up and throw away her fantasies! She must face her circumstances! There would be worse scandal if the king summoned her now that her pregnancy was known. Everyone knew the only reason the king visited a wife was to beget more children. She and David couldn’t be alone together until after the child was born and she’d fulfilled the rites of purification—forty days for a boy, eighty for a girl. Oh, let it be a boy!
Her heart sank as she thought about the months of loneliness ahead of her. For she was despised among these women, the object of their jealousy, the victim of their constant gossip. But what right had she to resent them? Everything they said was true!
David brushed his fingers against her cheek and rose. With a heavy heart, she watched him walk away. Bowing her head, she took up her embroidery and kept her gaze away from him for the rest of the evening. Her heart fluttered and her forehead broke out in a cold sweat. She knew exactly how long he spoke with each wife. Never had she thought her sweet dreams of David could turn into such a nightmare! She was torn between relief and dread when the king finally rose to leave the company of his wives. She knew when he looked at her, but she didn’t look up. She kept thinking of how he’d sung to his men around the fire, looking from one to the next. She was no more or less regarded by the king than any other woman in this room. She was just one of many who lived to be in his company. Her mother had told her so time and again, but life was her teacher.
The women relaxed as soon as the doors were closed behind the king. They no longer competed for his attention. Some talked. Some lounged indolently. Others returned to their handwork. When the eunuch entered the chamber, they fell silent. “Abigail,” he said, and she rose quickly, cheeks flushed as she followed him out of the room.
Never had Bathsheba felt such pain! Her heart felt as though it were being torn from her! Maacah smirked. Haggith whispered behind her hand to Eglah, who laughed and looked across the room at Bathsheba. Did her anguish show? She wanted to leap up and run. She wanted to lock herself in her private chamber and scream out her pain.
Ahinoam sniffed. “Why is he calling for Abigail? He hasn’t called for her in months. Besides, she’s too old to bear him another son.”
“Better her than another whose name I won’t mention.”
Maacah glared at Bathsheba. “Perhaps David craves the company of a virtuous woman.”
Words of retaliation rose like bile in Bathsheba’s throat, but she swallowed them. Why pour oil on the fire? Besides, what defense had she? She was faithless. She gathered her sewing, rose, inclined her head, and walked sedately from the room, refusing to give them further opportunities to stab her heart. When her chamber door was firmly closed, she crumpled to the floor and stifled her sobs with a pillow.
She slept little that night, tortured by thoughts of David and Abigail. She rose early and walked alone in the inner garden. She sat beneath an olive tree and bowed her head, afraid to pray. Why draw God’s attention when the price for sin was death? She moved her hands slowly over her abdomen, love distracting her from her anguish. She would pour her life out for her child. David’s child.
“Bathsheba?”
Startled, she glanced at Abigail.
“I’ve come from the king,” the older woman said.
Bathsheba’s heart twisted. She clenched her hands in her lap, her stomach tightening. Did Abigail mean to gloat over the night she’d spent in David’s arms? With an effort, Bathsheba kept silent, refusing to show her feelings.
David’s third wife studied her for a moment. “May I sit?”
“If it pleases you.”
Abigail took a seat beside her. “I’m not here to cause you more sorrow, Bathsheba.” She looked down and brushed imaginary dust from her dress. “David asked me last night if you are adjusting to life in the palace. I told him you’ve shown great dignity. He asked if you’ve been well, and I told him I haven’t heard you utter a word of complaint. He asked if you’ve received visitors, and I said not to my knowledge.” She gave a soft broken laugh. “I suppose our husband felt he could speak with me about these things because I’m older than he and was married to another before him. I suppose he thought I would understand your feelings better than anyone else in the palace.” She drew in her breath and released it slowly. “He also asked me if you still grieved for Uriah.”
Fighting tears, Bathsheba stared straight ahead.
Abigail lifted her head and turned to look at her. “I’ve never known David to ask so many questions about a wife, or to show jealousy over one. He’s always been very careful to treat each one equally to preserve peace in the household. We all vie for his attention, but he has never before found distinction among us. Last night, he let his heart be known. Not because he wanted everyone to know, but because he can’t help himself. He has a special regard for you.”
Bathsheba sucked in a sharp breath as joy caught her off guard. She quickly dampened it when she recognized the pain in Abigail’s eyes. How many others were in love with him? “I’m sorry, Abigail.”
Abigail understood her meaning and smiled wryly. “It is never wise to fall in love with a king.”
“My mother told me that years ago.”
“Your mother is wise.” She lifted her eyes. “I think David is in love with you. I don’t think he could’ve done the things he’s done otherwise.”
Heat surged into Bathsheba’s cheeks, but strangely she heard no condemnation in Abigail’s tone, nor saw it in her eyes. She trembled. “I’m the one who sinned.” It was better for all if she took full responsibility.
Abigail shook her head. “We’ve all sinned.”
“You didn’t. You warned David against sinning.” She didn’t have to add the rest—that she’d unwittingly encouraged him to do so.
“I called my husband a fool before witnesses.”
“You remained faithful.”
“And waited until Nabal was sober so that I could tell him what he had done and have him understand completely. I knew his greed. I knew his arrogance. I also knew his cowardice. I spoke and watched the terror come upon him. I watched him die, and thanked God for my deliverance. And when David sent for me to be his wife, I packed in all haste and came to him because I’d loved what I’d heard about him and loved him still more when I laid eyes upon him.” Her eyes were shiny with tears. “I love him stil
l.”
Bathsheba was deeply touched that Abigail trusted her enough to be so open. “You did nothing deserving of condemnation. Everyone spoke of your wisdom and quick actions. You saved countless lives that night, Abigail.” Whereas Uriah was dead because of her, as were all the men who had stormed the walls of Rabbah with him.
“Do not praise me. God sees the heart, Bathsheba, and God will judge us all.”
Bathsheba felt a chill in the pit of her stomach. Closing her eyes, she hung her head. “That’s what I fear most of all.” I’ve broken the Law. How can I ever undo what has happened because of my sin? Oh, Lord God of Israel, be merciful. Please pull me up from the pit I dug for myself and change the direction of my life!
Abigail put her hand over hers and squeezed it gently. “God is also merciful to those who repent.” She rose, leaving Bathsheba alone to wonder how repentance would change anything now. No matter what she did from here forward, people would remember her as an adulteress.
The child she carried would be the evidence held against her.
* * *
When the child came, Bathsheba saw in the eyes of those who assisted her that her sins were now revealed. The eighth wife of the king, a mere six months after entering the palace, had borne a fully developed child with strong limbs and lungs. As her baby screamed in the midwife’s arms, Bathsheba felt the woman’s repugnance. She looked from face to face and was afraid. Ignoring the pain and summoning her strength, she reached out quickly. “Give me my son!”
The midwife dumped him into her arms as though he were an unclean thing. Shocked by such careless handling, Bathsheba drew back from the woman and held her son close. If she’d ever wondered what treatment her child would receive, she knew now. The entire population of the palace—nay, the nation—would know her son had been conceived in sin!