Unshaken by Francine Rivers Read Free Book Online Page B

leaving Ruth and Naomi alone at the well.
    Ruth wept softly. “I have brought shame upon you. I have made your homecoming even more difficult than it might have been otherwise.”
    “No,” Naomi said wearily. “They remember the way I was before I left. My husband prospered and I had cause to rejoice. I could laugh and sing with them. Now my wretchedness makes them uncomfortable. If it could happen to me, they think, it could happen to them. It’s not a comforting thought.”
    “You will laugh and sing with them again, Mother.”
    Naomi shook her head. “I didn’t expect to find anyone,” she said softly. “But this . . .” She bent her neck, staring down at the ground. “Not one offered us so much as a loaf of bread or a sip of watered wine.”
    “Because of me.”
    “Should you take all the blame? I lived in Moab for twenty years. I dwelt among idol worshipers and opened my home to the foreign women my sons took for wives. In Hebrew eyes, I am as defiled as you. Perhaps more so because I knew better. ” Naomi’s eyes welled with tears. “Oh, my dear. You’re all I have. You’re God’s blessing to me. We are not going to be welcome in their homes, Ruth. It is the way things are. We will have to make our own way.” Tears spilled down her cheeks. “And tomorrow is Passover. I’d forgotten. How could I forget a day so important? The most important celebration of my people and I . . .”
    Ruth embraced her. She held Naomi close, stroking her as she would a hurt child, all the while aware of several women watching them from their doorways. When Naomi regained control over her emotions, Ruth kept a protective arm around her. “We will find someplace to stay, Mother. Everything will look better after a good night’s sleep.”
    Ruth took a coin from the small cache she kept deep in her pack, but when she offered it to an innkeeper on the edge of town, he shook his head. “There’s no room in the inn for you.”
    As Ruth turned away, she saw how haggard and dejected Naomi looked. Truly, Naomi was “Mara,” for Ruth had never seen her look so bitter. “We will go on,” Ruth said. “There will be another place farther down the road.”
    But there wasn’t. As the morning wore on, Ruth realized there would be no room for them anywhere in Bethlehem. “We have slept under the stars before,” she said, trying to remain hopeful for her mother-in-law’s sake.
    “The land that belonged to my husband is not far from here,” Naomi said as they walked beyond the borders of the town. “There are caves near it. The shepherds use them as folds for their sheep during the winter months, but the flocks will be gone by now. They will have contracts with the landowners to graze in the fields after harvest.”
    The larger caves were still occupied by members of the shepherds’ families. Leaving a cave unattended was an open invitation for the destitute to take residence. But not far away was another cave that was empty, one not large enough to be of use as a sheepfold, but more than big enough to shelter two tired, lonely women from the elements. Naomi entered and looked around as Ruth unpacked their bedding and few possessions.
    The difficult days of travel were over, but Ruth could see her mother-in-law’s grief was deeper and more acute now than it had been during the grueling days of their journey. All the years her mother-in-law had dreamed of coming home, only to find herself here in such mean surroundings with nothing but the clothes on her back and a few necessities for survival—cookstove, blanket, water. Night was falling. It was going to be cold. They had little food left and no relative to show pity on them.
    Naomi moved farther into the cave and sat with her back against the stone, staring into the shadows. Her face was filled with despair. Ruth wondered if she was thinking back to the way things had been before she and her husband and sons left this city. Were regret and guilt being added to grief