Delilah

Copyright

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

AVON

A division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

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First published in Great Britain by

HarperCollinsPublishers 2011

DELILAH. Copyright © Working Partners Two 2011. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Eleanor de Jong asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Source ISBN: 978-1-84756-238-8

Ebook Edition © APRIL 2011 ISBN: 9780007443192

Version: 2018-07-19

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Chapter One

‘Lilah! Where are you?’

Chapter Two

‘It’s just as well, Delilah, that it was I who…

Chapter Three

Delilah put down the tray of empty drinking bowls, and…

Chapter Four

Due to their late arrival, Delilah had found herself too…

Chapter Five

‘How could you have let it come to that, Father?’

Chapter Six

Delilah would have been happy never to see Samson again.

Chapter Seven

The man’s hollow, watery eyes settled on Delilah for a…

Chapter Eight

Delilah regretted having pushed her shawl back so far from…

Chapter Nine

Samson appeared not to have heard her. ‘Your rescue will…

Chapter Ten

Delilah always enjoyed her visits to the centre of Ashkelon.

Chapter Eleven

‘So the Chass’ela vines have done better than we expected…

Chapter Twelve

It took a lot of eyelash-fluttering to convince Ekron to…

Chapter Thirteen

‘So Achish has you investigating your competitor’s wines.’

Chapter Fourteen

‘I don’t remember you wearing out your sandals so quickly…

Chapter Fifteen

Delilah had not noticed it the first time she entered…

Chapter Sixteen

The vineyard shimmered in the afternoon sun. The green leaves…

Chapter Seventeen

Phicol might have spies everywhere, but she doubted Samson’s reach…

Chapter Eighteen

By the time Delilah arrived at the market just after…

Chapter Nineteen

She lifted herself from him, genuinely alarmed. Were Phicol’s men…

Chapter Twenty

Joshua was terrified. ‘You shouldn’t have told your mother that,’…

Chapter Twenty-One

Delilah was studiously tying up the laden vine branches one…

Chapter Twenty-Two

Joshua helped Delilah climb into Achish’s best carriage, then he…

Chapter Twenty-Three

‘If I didn’t know better,’ said Phicol, ‘I’d say you…

Chapter Twenty-Four

The boats were drawn up on the shore, well clear…

Chapter Twenty-Five

The crowds were already gathering in the centre of Ashkelon.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Delilah looked at Phicol, searching his face for any sign…

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The waves, normally so soothing and peaceful, jarred at Delilah’s…

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Delilah wanted to avoid the breakfast table at all costs,…

Chapter Twenty-Nine

It took four long days for the bruise on Delilah’s…

Chapter Thirty

The watery sky was just tinged with the first red…

Chapter Thirty-One

Delilah barely stirred when Samson left the tent before dawn,…

Chapter Thirty-Two

Delilah traversed the edges of the crowd until she was…

Chapter Thirty-Three

Delilah hardly left her room for three days. She was…

Chapter Thirty-Four

There were soldiers too. At least ten, clustering around Phicol.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Though the night passed peacefully, Delilah was aware that her…

Chapter Thirty-Six

‘I had to go back,’ she said. ‘You understand that,…

Chapter Thirty-Seven

She explained to Joshua about the drugged drink. He listened…

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Ekron shuddered, a thin groan escaping his lips. His hair…

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Ariel reined in the donkeys and the wagon halted.

Chapter Forty

The sky was heavy with low-lying clouds that lingered but…

Jezebel

The Darling Strumpet

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Credits

About the Publisher

Chapter One

‘Lilah! Where are you?’

Delilah tucked her feet more tightly beneath her and closed her eyes. She knew she couldn’t be seen – that was the magic of her tiny nest between the vines, especially now, with the leaves so broad and green and the clusters of grapes beginning to swell on their stems – but it made sense to keep still and wait for Ekron to pass. Up the slope behind her, the sounds of the wedding party were like the rush of a distant river.

‘Delilah? I know you’re—’ She heard him break off and clear his throat, growling to himself, trying to keep his voice deep, to give the impression of being the man she knew he longed to be. He sounded so close; he must be in the next row over beside the well.

‘I know you’re out here, Delilah. You can’t keep secrets from me!’

Ekron’s last word came out in one painfully high squeak above the rest of the sentence, and Delilah gulped down the giggles that rose inside her. She could hear him wailing to himself as he trudged away along the path. His face would be burning red like the evening sun by now.

The scuffs of her stepbrother’s sandals against the dusty earth became quieter as he continued his search further down the slopes. She couldn’t understand his hurry to grow up. She’d be happy if she was eight forever, but he had begun marking off the time until his twelfth birthday even though it was at least four moons away.

When he was out of earshot, Delilah untucked herself and sat cross-legged against the trunk of the vine. She ran her fingers along a pair of branches that rose over her shoulder, feeling the bark as it twisted around itself, already brown in the late summer heat. One branch was fatter than the other. Her father had once told her that it was branches like these that should be tied to the supports, for they would provide the frame of a plant year after year. The other branch, weaker and thinner, had coiled along the stronger one, strangling it. Delilah knew that if her father had been here, he would have cut the tendril away, even though it already held the promise of fat fruits.

Thinking about her father made her sad, and she pulled the leaves gently apart to peer up the valley towards the house. There was a strange little hump on this part of the slope that raised these few vines slightly above their neighbours. She’d found the hiding place by accident over a year ago, tripping among the neat rows of vines on her stepfather Achish’s estate as she ran headlong from her mother’s howls and the ritual laments of the gathered mourners. Tearing her dress had been just another horrible part of that wretched day.

Ekron had come after her then too, like he always did when she was upset, but she’d dodged him and weaved among the vines, faster than him, more desperate to escape than he was to catch her. From the secret nook she’d watched the groundsmen with their spades, repairing the ground that had been broken up to accept her father’s body. His burial had been quick, hurried along by the Israelite traditions of which he had been so proud. Later that night, as her mother stitched her dress and Delilah cleaned the dust and tears from her face, she’d all but forgotten Achish’s words of comfort by the graveside – not to worry, that he’d take care of her. Until that moment, he’d been just her father’s employer, and a man with whom she rarely came into contact. She’d been too young to realise that one day he’d be something more.

Now, fourteen months later, the earth above her father’s grave looked as brown and smooth as the earth around it, the only mark of its presence a young olive tree that cast a thin shadow across it. Achish had kept to his promise, and today marked the day that he took Delilah’s mother as a wife. They had a new family, a new home, and each night she added the great Philistine god El to her prayers, thanking him for his kindness. Her mother had learned to smile again and Achish had made that happen. Ekron seemed happy enough too, to have Delilah as a stepsister as well as a friend. But Hemin – well, Hemin couldn’t smile if you pasted one on that thin face with clay. And Delilah knew Hemin would sooner make herself sick than call Delilah her sister.

‘—of course, it will be very difficult for Achish, raising that Israelite child in his own Philistine family—’

Delilah let the leaves fall together again and tilted her head to listen. Over by the well she could see the feet of two women, old wrinkly feet in fussy sandals, their painted leather now dusted with dry earth.

‘She is a handful, I’m sorry to say.’ That was the voice of Achish’s first wife, Ariadnh. She sounded a bit more formal than usual, as though she was trying to impress the woman she was speaking to. ‘She has no sense of her place, no sense of how lucky she is.’

‘Lucky indeed. I mean to say, her mother Beulah seems a pleasant woman—’

‘Pleasant enough for an Israelite—’

‘But she has married out of her culture and well above her station. Surely Achish knows how people will see it: the effects of such an association on himself, on his children, on you—’

‘It’s not merely a question of station, of course. Clearly I couldn’t possibly say this to Achish myself—’

‘It’s not a wife’s place to speak frankly to her husband—’

‘Although Beulah does speak quite bluntly to Achish, I’ve heard it—’

Delilah bristled. How dare Ariadnh talk that way about her mother? From a young age, she recognised that there were differences between the two peoples who occupied the land, but it was only now, as the two worlds came together, that she realised the Israelites were a station beneath. One rarely saw Philistines in the fields when the sun was at its hottest, and even in the city there were areas that Philistines wouldn’t go to without a chaperone. Among the other workers on Achish’s estate, Israelite and Philistine couples didn’t mix.

She crawled out of her hiding place. The two women were still chattering on and had turned to walk slowly back up the hill again. Delilah crept along, listening carefully.

‘But that’s the Israelite way,’ the other woman was saying. ‘As the senior wife, you will need to take care that little Hemin and Ekron are raised properly, and that Beulah’s more casual manners don’t infect them. You only have to look at Delilah to know that she lacks breeding and self-control; she has none of the poise of Hemin, no sense of her new father’s status in the community—’

‘Lilah!’

Delilah looked up to find Ekron standing at the head of the row, waving to her.

‘I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Where have you been? Come back to the party. My father is asking for you specially. He has a honey cake he wants you to try.’

Though she was barely tall enough to see over the vines, Delilah lifted her chin at the now silent women who were peering over the rows at the eavesdropper. She gave a haughty grin to Ariadnh and skipped away up the slope towards Ekron, aware that her hair was springing wildly about her head. This morning, especially for the marriage ceremony, her mother had tied her curls into the neat twist favoured by older girls, and entwined flowers to match her own headdress into her daughter’s hair. They’d long since fallen out or been snared on the branches of the hideaway. Delilah didn’t care. If Ariadnh and her friend expected her to look like little more than a farm girl, she might as well stop worrying about keeping clean and tidy, and enjoy the day.

Ekron beamed at her, and they set off together, back towards the big house. The guests were starting to thin out now, and several were walking away in groups down the long path to the city road. She couldn’t see her mother or Achish among the remaining crowd, and no one paid any attention to the two children approaching the thatched awning that covered one edge of the courtyard.

‘Did you not hear me calling for you?’ Ekron asked.

‘No.’ Delilah gave him a big smile and widened her eyes, just the way she’d seen Hemin look at the stable boys when she wanted to be allowed to pet the horses. ‘I’ve been running among the vines.’

‘I didn’t see you.’

‘I run quickly. And quietly.’

‘You do.’ Ekron started to pat her on the shoulder, then his hand fell away.

‘What?’

Ekron looked at his feet. ‘Nothing.’

‘Can you get me a drink? It’s so hot today.’

‘What do you want? There’s one with rose petals and honey—’

‘Lemon. I want lemon.’

Ekron gave her a little bow. ‘Don’t forget that father – I mean Achish – well, he wants—’ He winced. ‘What are you going to call him now?’

‘Father, I suppose, even though he is not my proper father—’

‘And don’t you ever forget it, Delilah,’ said a voice behind her.

Hemin was standing with her arms folded, tapping one foot on the ground. She was only a year older than Delilah but her dress was a grown-up’s, identical to her mother Ariadnh’s. ‘I’d never want to be confused with being your sister, Hemin.’

‘And I’d sooner pull every vine from this land than be confused with being your sister. Except that’s your job as the vine-keeper’s daughter. Where have you been? Father’s been asking for you, but you look like you’ve been rolling in the dirt. You’ve got vine suckers in your hair.’

In truth, there was little chance that anyone who saw the two girls together might mistake them for sisters. Hemin had been the same height as Delilah until two years before, but she had recently shot up and was taller than Delilah by half a head. With the spurt, though, she’d lost none of her ungainly youth. While Delilah’s hair was black as a raven’s wings, such that in some lights it flashed with purple, Hemin’s was the brown of the earth. Her eyes were too far apart and prone to squinting, as though frequently suspicious of the world around her. In fact, all her features were a shade too small for her face. Her nose was dainty certainly, but like a child’s, and her lips seemed permanently pressed together. Delilah’s skin was darker by several shades, her lips fuller, and her eyes tilted up at the corners. Hemin teased that she had some Assyrian blood sullying her ancestry, but Delilah didn’t care.

She noticed that Ekron had disappeared from her side. Typical! He’d never stand up to his sister. Hemin smoothed her hands over her still perfectly neat hair, and flicked at her earrings. They were new today, a present from Achish. Her stepsister had missed no opportunity to swing them under Delilah’s nose before the ceremony, taunting her that her ears weren’t yet pierced.

‘A pretty house does not improve a dull landscape,’ said Delilah under her breath. She’d no idea what it meant, but she’d overheard Ariadnh say it about her mother during the ceremony.

‘What did you say, you little—’

‘Hemin?’ Delilah heard Ariadnh’s cautious voice above her head, and she glanced up with deliberate sweetness. You may be the first wife, but anyone can see you will never be the favourite, not now.

In the courtyard, her mother, so pretty and happy, was sitting next to Achish, laughing along with him. Her heart warmed to see her mother looking like that. Even with her father’s cold body in the ground some way down the hill behind her, she felt that nothing could really spoil today.

‘Fetch Ariadnh a drink of the rose water, Delilah, and one for me too,’ said Hemin, moving into her line of sight.

‘Get them yourself.’

‘Fetch us the drinks, Delilah. We’ll be sitting over there.’

Delilah stuck her tongue out at Hemin’s back, then turned smartly in the opposite direction, almost colliding with Ekron, who was holding two drinking bowls.

‘I brought your lemon drink.’

‘Hemin wants water to wash her hands. Can you get it for her?’

‘Of course. Take these.’ He handed her the two bowls, then hurried off towards the table of refreshments that stood beneath one of the colonnades in the courtyard. Delilah drank slowly from her bowl as she watched him, savouring the tartness of the drink. She suddenly felt hot and tired; tired of Hemin and her meanness, tired even of Ekron with his endless enthusiasm for running around after her.

But there was her mother, smiling across the courtyard at her, and Achish laughing and holding out a plate to draw her attention. Delilah skipped through the guests and cuddled up between them, taking a cake from the plate as her mother’s hand slipped around her waist. It was very good cake, and Achish had just begun to explain to her how he’d endured the attentions of the bees while collecting the honey when the smash of crockery against the flagstones interrupted him.

The hubbub of the conversation stopped abruptly. Across the courtyard, Hemin stood over her brother, her arms spread wide. Ekron was shaking as he stared at the wet shards of pottery at his feet.

‘What did you do that for, sister?’

‘Pah!’ shouted Hemin. ‘You’re no brother of mine if you take your orders from that little Israelite cat.’

Delilah felt her mother’s fingers squeeze her waist, and twisting around, she saw Achish’s jaw stiffen. This was her father’s special day. How could Hemin be so cruel? To cover her embarrassment, she tugged Achish’s embroidered sleeve.

‘These are lovely cakes,’ she said. ‘Tell me more about the bees.’

Achish’s eyes fell to her and he smiled a little sadly. ‘They have a nasty sting, Delilah, but they’re just defending their territory.’

Chapter Two

Six years later

‘It’s just as well, Delilah, that it was I who had the purse today, and not Achish,’ said Beulah, smiling indulgently. ‘I’ve no doubt he’d have let you come away with four dresses, not just two.’ Delilah watched the housegirl squeeze through the narrow door into the cool recesses of the house, her arms piled high with cloth-wrapped packages.

‘But I really couldn’t decide, Mother. The colours were all so pretty.’

‘Thank goodness I managed to talk you out of those Egyptian reds, for there would be nothing left to spend on Hemin’s dowry if you had bought that particular dress.’

‘And the groom must be paid to take her off our hands!’

‘Tsk!’ Beulah scolded.

Delilah couldn’t quite tell if her mother’s outrage was genuine or merely a warning, so she gave a neat little curtsey of contrition and tucked her hand into the crook of her mother’s arm. The seemingly bottomless well of Hemin’s meanness was directed at both of them, but Beulah bore it with an inexhaustible reserve of patience. Delilah snapped back as a rule, through stubbornness now, rather than real irritation.

‘Well,’ murmured Delilah, ‘the groom will have to have the courage of the god Ba’al, the wisdom of the goddess Asherah, and allow himself to be blinded by the earthy passions of the goddess Qadeshtu—’

‘You’re much too young to know of Qadeshtu,’ said Beulah primly, her eyes crinkled with amusement.

‘I’m nearly fifteen! I’d surely be married already if it weren’t for the difficulty of finding a man fool enough to take Hemin.’

‘Samson’s no fool. He is a catch, Delilah, make no mistake.’

‘But only an Israelite catch—’

Beulah pressed her lips together in a look of mild pain. ‘Your lack of interest in your culture is nothing to be proud of. Samson’s already well regarded. Some say he’ll even be leader one day.’

‘Leader of what?’ Delilah asked. ‘A patch of sand which the Philistines can take away at any time.’

Beulah waved a hand. ‘Land means nothing. If Samson is made a Judge of the People, he will control their hearts.’

Delilah realised arguing would only drive a wedge between them. A part of her felt guilty too. It was true that since her father’s death, she’d enjoyed the life of a Philistine and conveniently forgotten the plight of her father’s people, living and working under Philistine rule. It was easy to, within the shady confines of the house. She offered her mother a smile. ‘All I’m saying is that it serves Hemin right after all her years of belittling us for being Israelites to have to marry one.’

Beulah pulled away to look soberly at her daughter. ‘Achish’s example is one we should all follow. None of us is better than the other, and this match is Achish’s way of signalling that to his own community as well as to ours. He foresees a time when Israelites pay the same taxes as Philistines, when families can eat and shop together. When we’re equals.’

Delilah bit back the easy retort that Hemin’s equal could only be found in Lotan, the God of Destruction. She seriously doubted that one marriage would sow the seeds of conciliation, but it was typical of her stepfather’s optimism. ‘Of course, Mother,’ she said.

‘Anyway,’ murmured Beulah, the corners of her mouth twitching into the slyest of smiles, ‘Hemin should be grateful for this match, for Samson is apparently quite without equal in one particular area.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, I think it’s Hemin who will have to pray to Qadeshtu, for Samson is clearly one of her most gifted disciples already.’

‘Mother!’ squealed Delilah. ‘How do you know such things?’

‘Samson’s reputation goes far and wide—’ Beulah smirked. ‘Perhaps that’s not quite the right way to put it.’

Delilah began to giggle, and soon mother and daughter were laughing together.

On the floor above, a shutter opened and Ekron peered out into the courtyard. ‘What’s going on down there? I’m trying to study – Oh, Lilah, it’s you.’

Delilah wiped her eyes with the corner of her shawl and pressed her hand on her ribs to calm her breathing. ‘We just got back from shopping.’

‘Did you manage to choose a dress for the betrothal ceremony?’

‘Two, actually,’ she said breezily. ‘Would you like to see them?’

Ekron leaned further out through the window. ‘You’ll try them on for me?’

‘I suppose so.’

‘I’m coming down. Meet me in the hall.’

Delilah shrugged at him but Ekron had already disappeared from the window and she could hear his bare feet on the rush matting upstairs.

‘You should be careful of Ekron’s feelings,’ said her mother.

‘A second opinion will be useful!’ Delilah replied.