Cato held his baby sister and kissed her head. “I will never leave her,” Cato said solemnly. “I’ll protect her. Father doesn’t want her, but I do. Why doesn’t Father want her, Mother? Why doesn’t he want you?”
Marcus’s instant scowl told her all she needed to know about his feelings for Galerius Janius.
“I don’t know why your father doesn’t want us, Cato. I think he believes that money and power give him happiness. You must remember that true joy comes from God alone. If you read your scripture and pray, if you find good friends who believe in the one God as you do, and live a life of love, you can find happiness.”
“I know all of that, Mother,” he said, exasperated. “You’ve taught us that since I was a baby.”
Annia smiled and took his hand and squeezed it. “You are a good student, Cato.”
He smiled, but she could tell there was something on his mind that he needed to say.
“Father’s new wife doesn’t know the Christ. And Father has changed the altar. It’s to Hera now,” he said, “and some other gods and goddesses that I don’t know.”
Annia’s heart beat hard in her chest. This was not good news. This was very frightening. The lives of her boys were in grave danger.
She exchanged a glance with Marcus.
“Has she said anything to you about your worship?” Marcus said.
“No,” Cato said, “but Father doesn’t answer our questions, so I’m not sure what to do.”
Emperor Claudius cast a blind eye on Jewish believers, but for the Romans who were not Jewish, and who had accepted the one God, he was not so forgiving.
“You must be very careful,” Annia said.
“Oh, we are,” Cato said. “One morning, she saw us worshipping. We do our scripture reading and singing and prayer every morning, just like you taught us.”
“And what did she say to you?” Annia asked, trying to keep the panic from her voice.
“She asked what we were doing, and we shared the good news of the Christ with her,” he said, smiling broadly.
Annia’s mouth was a grim line.
Marcus stood.
“You aren’t pleased, Mother?” he asked, his face falling.
“Oh, my child, I am so pleased,” she said. “It’s what the Christ called us to do. It’s just that you must be very, very careful.”
“Should we stop our morning prayers?” he asked, his face scrunched as if he were trying to absorb words he didn’t understand.
She took his hand and said, “Never stop your morning prayers. The peace you receive will help you throughout the day.”
He nodded solemnly.
Annia smiled. “There are many things in this world I don’t understand. But what I do know is that I love you and want you, and am so happy you are here I can hardly stand it.”
“I must take my leave of you,” Marcus said. He took Annia’s hand in parting. “I will do what I can,” he whispered to Annia. “Your other son. He needs to be here, safe with you. I will make it so.”
Tears rose in her eyes. “Thank you,” she said.
Cato and Annia watched Marcus walk away.
“He seems a nice man now, not at all what I thought when I was chasing after him,” Cato said.
“Why were you chasing him?” she asked Cato. “How did it happen that you were able to come here?”
“I overheard Father talking to this Marcus, again,” he said. “I went to the window and saw the soldiers, and they frightened me. Then I heard what they were saying, how the baby had been taken care of—eaten by wild dogs—and that man Marcus just stood there. He denied nothing. And Father was glad.”
Cato squeezed his eyes together angrily and swatted away tears.
“I hated Father, and I hated Marcus for getting my baby sister and taking her away, so I determined to find the man who took my sister. I followed him through the streets.”
“Were you scared?” Annia asked.
“No, I wasn’t scared. It was daytime. I would have been scared if it had been night, but I would have done it all the same.”
“I’m sure you would have. You are a brave boy,” his mother said. If only Flavius had been able to sneak away with him.
“Can we get Flavius here soon?” he asked, as if reading her thoughts. “He will be scared without me to sleep with.”
“I’m not sure how we can get Flavius, my son,” she said, “though there is nothing I want more.”
“I’ll think of something. Why, I’ll go back and get him and bring him here just as I came. It wasn’t so hard.”
His face was serious, and he handed her the baby and stood as if he were going to get his brother at that very moment.
“I don’t think that is a very good idea just yet. Someone may follow you back here and take all of us. Then your baby sister and I, we may both die.”
Annia hated speaking such harsh words to the boy, but they were true, and she knew she had to paint a very clear picture. Otherwise, this son, so very much like Annia, would be off—convinced he could get his little brother all alone, using only his wit and his wiles.
The boy’s face was pained, and he was silent for a few moments, thinking. “I can’t leave him there all by himself. Now that I know you and my sister are safe, I can go back and care for him. Don’t worry, Mother, I will be back.”
Cato hugged his mother.
“No, son. You need to stay here. I don’t want to lose you again.” Annia held him tight. “You are my precious child. I don’t think I could bear being separated from you again.”
“Don’t cry, Mother,” Cato said. “I will make it so that we can all be together again, and so that Father loves you and the baby and Flavius and me just as he used to.”
She took Cato’s face in her hands and looked into his eyes. “What makes you think he doesn’t love you and Flavius the way he used to?” she said.
He looked away. “I didn’t say that,” he said evasively.
“But you did,” she said. “That’s exactly what you said. Why? Has your father done something to make you think he doesn’t love you?”
“No, Mother. It’s just that...” The boy paused and looked down at his feet. He scrubbed the sandy soil with his leather sandal and gazed out at the newly shorn sheep.
“What?” Annia asked, holding the boy in her arms and rubbing his sturdy back gently.
“It’s just that since Father’s new baby with his new wife was born, he doesn’t call us in to dinner. He doesn’t ask us to go places with him. He won’t come and do things with us when we ask him. He looks at us as if he doesn’t know us.”
The boy’s chin trembled, and tears welled in his eyes. “I don’t think he loves us anymore, Mother. That’s why I must go be with Flavius. He will be frightened without me.”
“I understand, son,” she said. “I understand that you want to protect your brother. But the best way to protect him may be staying away right now. Sometimes waiting is the brave thing to do.”
Annia uttered these words with conviction. But she wondered if they were true.
Wait for what? What was she waiting for?
For