It seemed time just flew watching Meremoth grow. He had adorable little fists and moves. It was a joy just watching him move on the mat I had sewn so he could play on the floor while I did things around the house. When he started getting to energetic Uriah built a play pen for him so he could be safe while I cooked or cleaned or slept.

I do not know why but I found myself constantly exhausted the first 6 months after having him. I put it down to his irregular feeding habits. Though Mere had been sleeping through the night from 4 months. Perhaps it was just that I was not use to the unsettled sleeping that I took so long before I started feeling energetic during the normal daylight hours for doing things.

Mere was 6 months old when I fell pregnant again with my second child to Uriah. I was not expecting it, but perhaps I should have, it was not like we were denying ourselves of pleasure, rather at any given opportunity we met each other's needs. On my part it was to relieve my stress from having a new baby.

9 months later a baby girl was born to us. Uriah had been away most of this pregnancy as, being one of "The Thirty loyal to King David", he could no longer ignore the summons to war that was issued. It was a tough time for me then. I felt alone in the big family home. Uriah's sisters had gotten married and had moved away from the family home. This left me in charge of the younger siblings.

I do not know why the men thought it would be ok to leave me alone for weeks at a time with our babies and brother-in-laws that were still too young to leave the home, but they did. If it was not for my mother visiting for a short time, I would have probably gone mad. I was ever so grateful for her visit and help. I immediately invited her back when she had to go.

My mother's visit did trigger a change though. One I can happily say was for the better. The children were pleasantly cooperative for a long time afterwards. It was not until word came that Uriah and his father was returning that they started to act up again, demanding their presence now. I explained to them repeatedly, "They will come when they come, I cannot make them show up any sooner."

To which I got a cheeky, "I am sure Uriah would come sooner for you. He loves you."

"I do not think so. Uriah loves his God more and is very conscious of his ways. He is not going to sleep with me if his men are at war. He is too conscientious." I would argue back. It was not until much later my arguments were proven sound.

While the men were at war, I had taken to bathing on the roof whenever necessary. The roof was surrounded by a parapet and olive trees were planted in pots and placed around the roof providing shade.

The roof also had a pergola from which blinds hung to ensure our privacy. This structure only took up half the roof as we needed to leave the other half for when a sukkah [a temporary hut constructed for use during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot.] was needed. The pergola was a permanent structure with a natural roof that often-needed repair as it was made out of palm leaves. The pergola was next to the one solid wall which was facing the street, giving us maximum privacy, as there were no buildings taller than ours, except for the palace, and for whatever reason there was only 3 windows facing our house, so the likelihood of anyone being there was low.

🍀A/N Please vote if you enjoyed this chapter. If you see any errors, please let me know. This story will be on hold until my coauthors can help again.🍀