“This isn’t the seventeenth century, Mother. I can marry whoever I want. I’m a grown woman. I can make decisions for myself.”
“Bad decisions. You always make bad decisions. First you decided you wanted to be a mechanic. A mechanic! Your father said you should be allowed to choose your own career, so we let you go to that vocational college, and after you graduated you worked in a garage for what? A month?”
“Six weeks,” she mumbled. “I don’t like working on new cars. They have too many electronics.”
“So you decided you wanted to go to college to be an audio engineer like your brother. You went to Alaska each summer to work on fishing boats and oil rigs. Why?”
“To get away from you, maybe?”
“That’s lovely, Rebekah. Where did you learn to speak to your mother that way?”
“Let go of my arm. I’m leaving.”
“And then you got sick during your junior year. You know why you got sick?”
“Because I had cancer?”
“Because God is punishing you.”
Her mother’s words punched Rebekah in the stomach, and her heart gave an unpleasant lurch. “That’s not true.”
“It is. I know it is. You’re lucky He let you live.”
“He didn’t let me live. Medical treatment let me live.” Rebekah yanked on her arm. “Let go.”
“He took your ability to have children, Rebekah. God is punishing you. Punishing you for making bad decisions.”
“Punishing me? What did I do that you think is so wrong?”
“All those bad decisions, Rebekah. Your whole life. Cancer was your wake-up call.”
“It was my wake-up call. It showed me that I have to live life to the fullest each day, and the only one who has ever made me feel truly alive is Eric.”
Rebekah twisted her arm, not caring that her mother’s grip would leave bruises. Mom refused to release her no matter how hard she pulled.
“I’m moving in with Eric. We’re going to get married and adopt kids. That’s what I want.”
“What you want doesn’t matter, Rebekah. All that matters is what God wants.”
“How do you know what God wants?”
“He talks to me.”
“Mom,” she said, “I think maybe you need to talk to, not God, but a psychiatrist.”
“You think I’m crazy?” Mom shook her head in annoyance. “I want what’s best for you. You know Isaac stood by your side the entire time you were sick. He’s a good man.”
That was true. He also did some pretty sneaky, conniving things to come between her and Eric. “If I promise to talk to him, will that get you off my back?”
“Are you going to marry him?”
“No.”
Mom scowled, and then she got a peaceful look on her face. “Yes, talk to Isaac. God will bring you back together. I have faith.”
Rebekah did plan to talk to Isaac as soon as she left. She had a few choice words to share. Words her mother would be embarrassed to know her daughter knew, much less used.
***
Eric sat in the restaurant where he and Rebekah had agreed to meet for dinner. She was over forty minutes late. She wasn’t answering her phone. He was starting to worry. He didn’t want to leave the restaurant and miss her, but something wasn’t right. He wanted to believe that she hadn’t gotten cold feet and run for the hills, but that was better than the thought that something bad had happened.
Another ten minutes passed. Another. A petite woman entered the restaurant and his heart stuttered, but it wasn’t Rebekah. When he couldn’t stand it any longer, he dialed her parents’ house.
Mrs. B answered the phone. “What do you want?”
“Rebekah was supposed to meet me for dinner after she stopped by your house. Have you seen her?”
“She’s not here.”
“Did she make it there?”
“Yes, but she already left.”
“How long ago?”
“Almost an hour ago.”
“She should have been here by now,” he muttered, more to himself than Mrs. B.
“I don’t think you’ll be seeing her anymore. She’s with Isaac now.”
He didn’t want to feel the jealousy those words inspired, but he couldn’t help it.
“With Isaac?” he questioned breathlessly.
“I told you they were meant to be. As written in the good book, Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah, his mother, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. Isaac loves Rebekah. She will become his wife.”
“What?” Was she quoting from the Bible?
“I promised God that if He spared Rebekah’s life, I would do His bidding. I promised.”
“God’s bidding?”
“The book of Genesis speaks of it: And Isaac prayed to the lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.” Mrs. B muttered under her breath. Eric wasn’t sure she knew she was still on the phone. “Though barren, Rebekah conceived. Isaac prayed, and Rebekah had two sons. There is still hope for her. My daughter. My Rebekah. Still hope. She must… must be with Isaac. Must be. So she can have babies. And he loves her. Isaac loves her. Loves Rebekah. It is God’s will.”
Eric was starting to think that Mrs. B was off her rocker. “Where is Rebekah?” he asked.
“When David was paralyzed, I knew God was punishing me again for allowing Isaac and Rebekah to break up. I promised if he spared David that I’d make sure Isaac and Rebekah would end up together. I promised. They must stay together, you see. I cannot live through another tragedy brought upon my children. I cannot.”
“You honestly believe that, don’t you?” Eric asked, flabbergasted. “That the bad things that happened to Rebekah and Dave are a punishment from God.”
“Leave Rebekah alone. I will not let you come between her and Isaac again. Will not.”
“Can I speak to Dave?”
The woman’s demeanor changed from demonic to angelic in an instant. “Dave is with his physical therapist. Did you know he stood for the first time the other day? I’m so proud. I think he’ll be walking soon. God answered my prayers. I must live up to His expectations.”
Eric decided Mrs. Blake needed a new jacket. A jacket with sleeves that fastened behind her back.
“Okay, thanks.”
Eric hung up and tried to call Rebekah again. He wondered if she had any idea how unbalanced her mother was.