‘You’ll do. Get two of the jars from the dowry brought in here immediately, and a dozen drinking bowls.’
‘As you wish.’
‘And – And—’ Ekron said.
‘Yes?’
Ekron glanced at Delilah, then moved out into the hallway. But if he was hoping not to be overheard, then it was in vain.
‘And one other thing. I’ve seen you looking at Delilah in that way you do. But you’re just a servant in this house, and she’s not here for you to look at like that. Do you understand? Remember your place.’
Delilah glanced quickly through the doorway. Joshua was turning away, but he caught her gaze and smiled as Delilah rolled her eyes.
Ekron moved back into the room, and squeezed Delilah’s arm.
‘Be kind to Hemin, please?’
Almost as though she knew her siblings were discussing her, her stepsister fixed Delilah with a look of unmistakeable triumph. Hemin didn’t need her kindness, but she smiled nonetheless, for it was difficult to ignore the unspoken significance in Phicol’s offer. A marriage between them would rescue the family from the disaster of Samson’s rejection, it would cement ties within the Philistine community. Though it galled Delilah to think of Hemin gaining undeserved distinction, the thought of him pulling the secret tie of her dress could hardly fill Hemin with joyful anticipation.
That was the nub of the matter, wasn’t it? Hemin might have all the fine dresses and status she wanted, but she still had to marry the pompous, unpleasant and boring old fool, live with him, and share a bed with him. Delilah glanced back at Ariadnh, and realised that her gnawing jealousy had vanished. What on earth would the wedding night advice be this time?
Chapter Six
Delilah would have been happy never to see Samson again. As it was, their paths crossed again sooner than she could have expected.
It was a busy two weeks for everyone in the household, putting matters in order for the wedding. The preparations were made mostly by Phicol’s household as the ceremony was to take place there. Almost every trace of the betrothal to Samson had been erased in these new arrangements: the food, the drink, the dowry gifts, the flowers, the setting, even Hemin’s dress – the simple linen shift had been discarded in favour of a fussy red arrangement of pleats and folds, a gift from the groom – were all different from the first wedding. Delilah had the only remnant of that earlier day, insisting on wearing the orange dress, which Ariadnh naturally disliked now that it could be worn comfortably. Delilah had washed it herself four times, so that it would be soft against her skin.
With the focus almost entirely on the wedding, Delilah had managed to spend more time with Joshua, or ‘distracting him from his duties’ as her mother had put it with a raised eyebrow. He would come and go from the house with various deliveries, but Delilah made it her business to find out his movements, and would often be waiting for him as he returned. She found that from the verandah she could spy him as he stripped to the waist beside the well, and then ‘chance’ upon him before he was clothed again. She could tell he knew what game she was playing, and that shared knowledge only made the game more thrilling.
Inevitably, Ekron had been torn throughout the wedding between fawning over his employer and gazing wide-eyed at Delilah. The ceremony itself was a long and boring affair, with Phicol taking every opportunity to pronounce judgement on this or that, between introducing his new fourth wife to every one of the three hundred guests. People had come from as far away as Ashdod and other towns up the coast, and Achish had been required to meet many of them as well. His enthusiasm had never waned but the day had clearly taken its toll on him. The bruise beneath his eye had almost healed, barely noticeable in the dark smudges of tiredness. He was all but mute on the way back to the vineyard, and the stillness of the late afternoon air reflected everyone’s tired mood.
The cart was just through the stable gates when David, the chief clerk to the estate, came running out of the rear of the house.
‘What is it?’ asked Achish.
‘It’s Samson. He’s outside the front. He won’t come in but he won’t leave until he’s seen you.’
A wave of fear started in Delilah’s knees and spread through her limbs. She lifted herself up in the cart to peer at the house.
‘We’ll see him soon enough,’ said Ekron. ‘Anyway, you should keep your head down after the bashing you gave him with that jug.’
‘Wait here, please, everyone,’ said Achish, climbing out of the cart. ‘I’ll speak to him.’
But as soon as Achish had disappeared into the house, Delilah clambered out after him.
‘You should wait here with us,’ said Ariadnh. ‘That man is dangerous.’
‘Ariadnh is right,’ said Beulah.
‘But I was the only one who stepped in to rescue Father last time,’ said Delilah, disappointed at this show of unity between mother and stepmother. ‘I think Samson knows what threat I pose.’
‘Then I’m coming with you,’ said Ekron, jumping down beside her. ‘You shouldn’t be alone.’
It was easy enough to find them, for Samson’s voice was already booming through the house. Delilah and Ekron crawled into the hallway and crouched behind a pair of large terracotta urns that flanked the front door, taking in the unequal argument. Only half a moon had passed since the disastrous ceremony, but Delilah was quite sure that Samson was far bigger than she remembered. But perhaps it was simply his anger that had grown.
‘So you marry your daughter off to Phicol the Philistine?’ he said to Achish.
‘Please come into the house, and we can talk about this more comfortably.’
‘Comfort is irrelevant. You have broken the contract.’
‘Please, Samson. Let us not discuss it out here.’
‘The setting does not change what has happened.’
Achish sighed and shook his head. ‘I don’t wish to argue with you about this, but you must admit that it was you who took issue with the arrangements after they had been agreed. You rejected the dowry we had given our mutual consent to, you insulted my family, you threatened them, and finally you left the ceremony before its completion. I’ve known marriages to go ahead after a dowry has been resettled, but never after a groom has left the bride before the betrothal has been completed. What else were we to think but that you no longer wanted to marry Hemin?’
‘I thought we had an understanding,’ said Samson. ‘For all those months you courted me. You spoke such high words about making an example to end the petty squabbles between our peoples. Was that empty talk?’
For a moment, Samson’s anger seemed subdued.
Achish lifted both arms in frustration. ‘Of course not.’
‘Then she is still to be married to me.’
Delilah rolled her eyes. He was going round in circles!
Achish’s tone changed to that of a father speaking to an unruly child. ‘Not now that she has married Lord Phicol.’
‘Then you agree you have broken the contract.’ Samson pounded his fist into his palm.
Delilah winced at Ekron across the hallway. It seemed that the giant was exhibiting some self-restraint, but how long would it last? If anything, he was more terrifying than he’d been at the ceremony, for his rage was just below the surface now, dark and threatening like a late summer storm.
‘But surely you see that the marriage to Hemin