My life was extremely busy for the next few months between the fields, Torah class and Solomon's class. Our grapes were starting to ripen nicely. We were unsure of whether or not to let this harvest of grapes go to fallow, but it was decided for us by the family who came to ask us whether or not we were celebrating shavot this year.

"We are not sure on whether or not to," Mina explained, "It is the first year that we have grown these grapes, but the vines have been in the ground for many years. They have been resting 10 years now."

"Well, each of the past 2 years we have been here asking if the harvest festival is coming here. Our family is the only one the old man would allow perform the festival here - he was a bit facetious about cleanliness, we had to wash our feet before we could jump in the treading floor to squash the grapes. Will you want this tradition continued?"

I nodded, looking at Mina and Abishag, who also nodded.

"So, we will see you in a few weeks then?" the man asked.

"Yes, thank you!" I said, "How do we pay you?"

The man smiled and said, "Give us 5% of the resulting wine, and we will call it even. We will help you do everything with regard to harvesting, including putting the liquid into the vats and later the bottles."

I thought it sounded fair, since 10 % of the best wine would go to the temple in thanks to the Hebrew God. I was planning on selling 2/3rd of the wine to prepare for the years expenses to come and to give Abishag and Mina their share in cash. The rest I was planning to keep as a present to Solomon.

Abishag, Mina and I had been watching the grapes carefully to pick them when they were the ripest. What we did not know was the women folk of the men who were coming to squash the grapes had been watching too, and on the day we decided to harvest our crop we suddenly found ourselves with extra hands. We followed the biblical rule of leaving some for the birds of the air and the poor people and put the grapes onto the treading floor after a group of women had cleaned it.

I had not even thought of cleaning the area, but apparently this was part and parcel of the way the old man made his wine. As it was separate from the building that held the barrels, I had missed this entirely. I just thought that the area was awkward holes in the ground.

Abishag laughed and my misconception later.

The next day the men were there squashing the grapes and the women prepared food and drink - it was one big celebration.

The juice made was collected in the treading floor which led to the collecting vat. The remaining skins were then squeezed in a winepress located near the vineyard to preserve the freshness of the grapes. From there, wild yeast was added and the juice was left to ferment for approximately three days. Once the 3 days were up the wine was then placed into barrels to age a little more before it was transferred to the wine skins or jars.

I was still sick every morning, but I ignored it mostly, choosing to face my day with a bucket. I am sure it was because of the extra stress of the harvest and wine making that I collapsed while serving the men at Solomon's class.

I suddenly saw what appeared to be shiny white spots floating around me and blackness filled my vision and I collapsed. I remember a man catching me as I fell and asking "Miss Amari, are you ok?"

I was not, I woke to Solomon and an apothecary looking at me.

"I have just a few questions, young lady," the apothecary said.

I nodded at him, looking at Solomon thinking Why is the apothecary here? I am not that sick.

"Good. Now, have you fainted before?"

"No."

"Are you eating ok?"

"Sort of," and the apothecary looked at me with his eyebrows raised as if to say What do you mean by that? So, I continued, "I cannot seem to keep anything down in the mornings and I have cravings of particular foods."

"I see," the apothecary looked at Solomon, "Please leave us for a moment Solomon."

Solomon nodded and left,

"Why did you ask Solomon to leave?" I wondered.

"Because I wanted to ask some personal question, I suspect you are pregnant," the man said matter of factly.

"I could be pregnant?" I was thrilled by the idea.

"Yes, could you tell me when your last period was?" he asked looking at me over his scroll.

It was then I realised I had not had one since the first time I had been with Solomon which was 4 months ago! "Four months ago," I said.

"And you have been sick how long in the mornings?"

"About 3 months," I estimated.

The man put down his scroll and looked at me seriously, "I think you are pregnant, but I need to feel your belly to be sure. Can you please lie down so I can?"

I nodded and lay down. The man was very professional, he only felt for the baby.

"Ah, yes!" he said smiling eventually, after a thoughtful distracted look, "You do have a little one growing. As this is the case, I will refer you to a competent midwife to look after you. Do you want to tell Solomon, or shall I?"

My hands went to where my little one was growing and I smiled a happy smile. "Hello, little one, I am pleased to meet you!" I dreamed of Solomon and I playing with the child, raising him together in unity. Until I heard my sister's voice outside.

"Solomon, I heard you ended your lesson early as Amari collapsed! Is she alright?" Namaah demanded.

My dreams all collapsed in a pile of ash, as I remembered my roll - my children were Namaah's children. I was not their mother. Tears formed in my eyes and I said to the apothecary looking at me in concern, "You can tell Solomon." and I turned onto my side away from the man so he could not see my tears.

"Alright, I will tell him, but do you want me to chase away the young lady asking after you."

I nodded, "Yes please, I need a little time..."

The man smiled pityingly at me, I guess it was because he must have seen my situation with some of the other wives, "Just rest, I will get her to come back tomorrow." and he went outside and did just that. Once Namaah had gone he spoke to Solomon quietly inside our room, "Amari is pregnant. My guess is she is about 4 months along."

Solomon's smile in that moment could have cracked his face with how happy he looked at the news. He looked over to me and if I had not been lying down, I am sure he would have picked me up and spun me around in happiness. It was like he had received the best news in the world. My guess was that he also had forgotten our marriage terms in that moment.

I decided not to take the moment from him and let him hug and kiss me, as if I was a precious treasure. I knew it could not last, I would be shipped off to Namaah's room for the rest of the pregnancy. But for this moment, I enjoyed all of his attention, totally reveling in his delight, love and affection.

Solomon was wonderful though, he promised to look after the child so that I could still be a part of its life as Namaah had openly said I was not welcome to be around the child once it was weaned as she wanted to raise him her way. My way was too religious for her liking (she wanted to raise it to worship Molech not the God of Israel). I did warn him though of my sister and her desires for Molech to be worshiped in Israel. He nodded but did not comfort me at all I do not think he understood what my sister was going to do with our son. I promised myself when I could I would tell my child of the God of Israel and encourage him not to follow his mother's faith.

Shortly afterwards, I was moved out of Solomon's rooms and into my sister's room until the birth of the child. My only time with Solomon in this time was the hour he set aside to read from the Torah to the child while it was in the womb. It was one of only two times I was not in Namaah's company, as she would leave then to escape from hearing God's word. I was delighted to hear Solomon reading God's word, his deep voice resonating through my body, somewhat turning me on.

The second time was when Solomon held his classes. After I fainted, Abishag was requested to be with me, but it ended up being a mix between her and Mina. Mina wanted to chat and we got into trouble a few times with her making too much noise. Abishag had the sense not to chat there.

I came to appreciate my time at these classes as it was the only time Solomon could sneak in making love to me. It was quite by accident we started to start with.

I was walking the hall back to get more food and drink to put on the tables ready when I saw Solomon dressed as a shepherd. Curiosity got the better of me as it was rare for anyone to see him that way, so I followed him and ended up in the wine storage room. Clearly one that only Solomon knew of as it had a cot in the corner and Solomon went to lie on it.

"What are you doing Solomon?" I asked.

"Hiding from my retainers so I can be in the right frame of mind for this afternoon's class," Solomon answered, "What are you doing here? Not that I am objecting to your presence or anything."

"I was curious to see what you were doing dressed like that," I replied, "Now I know, I will go. Sorry for disturbing you."

"Amari," Solomon quietly begged, "Please stay, I miss you sleeping with me."

Seeing my hesitancy as I had not finished my work he spoke again, "Even if its just for a little while... Please stay, I need you."

I nodded and entered the barely used room, closing the door behind me, and joined him on the cot. I do not know why, but the little while ended up not being restful at all. It turned out we had both been burning for each others touches and we ended up making love. Solomon pulling out before he came so as not to cause a mess that neither of us could clean up. It made both of us feel a little unfulfilled, but it was what it was. This bit was better than the nothing at all I had been getting since being with Namaah.

"Can we meet here again next week?" Solomon asked me, his violet eyes shining with hope and love.

I nodded, "If I can get away." and so our weekly trysts began. As the baby grew, each week presented more of a problem, sexually, until eventually we could not do anything as I was too big and I was worried about what our activity might do to the baby. Solomon respected my wishes, but he also thought that no harm would come to the baby even doing it.

It came to the 9th month of my pregnancy and cramps suddenly came upon me. I called out to Mina when she came to visit me. Upon finding me like this she went to get the midwife and I suffered alone, scared as I did not know what to expect being my first pregnancy and birth. Scared because water fell out of me and I had no idea why. I thought something was wrong. The midwife settled me once she came, but until then I was afraid.

I was in labour the rest of the afternoon, and my son was born on dusk. The midwife immediately cut the umbilical cord when he was born, rubbing salt on his skin and the baby was swaddled and handed him to me. My sister choosing this moment to arrive.

"Oh, the baby is born," she commented, "Is it a boy?"

I nodded tiredly as she went on "Oh it is, why are you applying salt to the child?"

"To make the baby's skin harden," the midwife explained to her, "The swaddling we do now is to straighten the baby's limbs."

Namaah just nodded, as she checked to see if the baby was attractive.

I do not know why she bothered, to me all newborn babies looked like shriveled up prunes and not very attractive. The time to judge would be later about when the baby was weaned. Once the baby was wrapped the midwife handed me the baby and encouraged me to put it on my breast to encourage the milk to flow.

Once I had done this, Namaah could not hold off any longer and she snatched the baby away.

"So this is my child," she crooned, "I will call him Rehoboam."

I just nodded, it was her right after all. Solomon arrived then and Namaah proudly showed him their son, introducing him to Solomon. I felt his eyes on me a few times, but mostly he was proud of his son. As he left he reminded Namaah, "In eight days our son must be circumcised according to the law, will you go with him then to the temple or do you want Amari to go?"

"I will walk you to the temple, but Amari can take him in. Doesn't she have some ritual to perform too?"

Solomon nodded, "Yes, she is considered niddah for 7 days and then 33 days later she is to bring sacrifices to the temple to be purified."

"I also must perform the mikvah when my blood flow ceases," I added.

Solomon nodded and Namaah rolled her eyes. Rehoboam started squirming and wanting to be fed again then, so he was handed back to me to feed.

I stayed with my sister then, until the child was weaned. So, I did, I did my best in the short time I had to tell him of Solomon's God, but it was too short a time as my sister was jealous of the way the boy was turning to me and not to her. Her solution was to get rid of me, Solomon was there as much as time would allow as Rehoboam was his declared heir.

Assuming I would be left in the common bit of the harem as I was now childless my sister kicked me out. I do not know why she would have thought that since I was friends with both Abishag and Mina, but she did. Solomon, by then had other plans. He was tired of only seeing me once a week in the storage rooms and he instructed me, "Amari, since Reho is weaned and you have to leave here now, move back to my room please."

I nodded and did so. My sister on finding out he had instructed this, flew into a jealous rage. It was not just her; it was half the harem.

"Why should a cheater be allowed in your room Solomon?" one of the wives asked him.

"When did she cheat? I think you find you are misinformed," Solomon dismissed her as she gaped at the air, followed by a glare at me. If looks could kill I would be dead.

"Well there was the time that Jahzarah saw her with a man, and just recently she was meeting up with a strange man in the storage rooms to have sex with him," one of the wives bravely said.

"Well, you are clearly misinformed if those were the two times you saw her cheat," Solomon said, dismissing the wife who was tattling.

"How? I saw her there in the storage room," she said.

"What you think you saw is incorrect," Solomon said firmly.

"But..."

"But nothing," Solomon ended the conversation, but he did not explain that it was him. He figured if the wife could not tell her own husband from a stranger, he was not going to explain it.

Resentment for me grew then. All the wives except for Mina and Abishag were against me. My life became a living hell. I thought this petty vindictive behavior would be all I would suffer, and I chose to ignore it as I was free of it most of the day being in the fields, maintaining them.

I was wrong though, totally wrong.

I had heard of plots to poison someone, but I had never seen it, nor would I have thought it would happen to me. But it did. I was at the banqueting hall, with Solomon's other wives eating, when suddenly I could not breath.

I felt my airways contract and I got up to go outside. Mina and Solomon both noticed my distress and they followed me only to see me collapse.

Solomon scooped me up and took me to his room, calling for the apothecary to come. I knew he would not make it in time. So I begged for a feather quill and scroll. Which Solomon got from his desk. I wrote on it a message for when the wine was ready, giving the messages to Mina, they told him of my love and I hope that he continued to look after this vineyard including the old folk who owned it, in my memory. I then wrote a short note to Rehoboam to read when he came of age encouraging him to follow the God of his Father not the God of his mother.

Writing took the last out of me, I lay in between Solomon and Mina in their arms, "I love you both. Thank you for being in my life, and thank you for the child we had together, Solomon."

"I love you too Amari. I promise Rehoboam will be king after me."

"You do not have to do that Solomon," I gasped out.

"But I want too, you were everything to me in this short time we had," Solomon cried then and Mina comforted him.

"Please watch over Rehoboam, my sister is a very devout Molech worshipper. If you let her she will turn him from our God," I worried for him.

"We will," they promised and with that my eyes closed and blackness came over me, my breath ceasing just as the apothecary arrived too late to do anything.

The end.

A/N Historically, Namaah is Rehoboam's mother and he did become king after Solomon and was the last monarch of a United Kingdom of Israel and the first king of the Kingdom of Judah. His story can be read in 1 Kings and 11 Chronicles.

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