Read Online Rachel and Leah (Women of Genesis) by Orson Scott Card - Free Book Online

nastiness,” said Bilhah. “If you don’t want other people to judge you, keep your spite to yourself.” She stalked away.
    Now, though, Rachel understood what difference it made to be a free girl. No slave who could be whipped would ever have said that to the daughter of Laban. And if Rachel wanted to go to Father and complain about Bilhah being cruel to her and saying ugly things, what would Bilhah think
then
, as she found herself getting thrown out of camp?
    Rachel shook her head to drive out the ugly thought. Would I do that to a girl, just because she spoke boldly? Deprive her of the only home she had?
    Besides, Bilhah was about half right. There were still times when Leah and Rachel laughed together at jokes that only they understood—hadn’t they laughed like that only a few minutes ago? But quarrels came up more often now than ever before, and they were uglier and more spiteful. Why had Rachel said that, about Father insisting that Leah be forgiven for everything because of her eyes? That was low of her, and she was ashamed.
    She stood there, staring off into the dim distance, thinking only of her shame, when suddenly the vision came to her again. The man at the well, and now it was Jacob. The girl, and now she knew it was herself. And he kissed her. That wasn’t in the first dream she had, was it? She would have remembered. She would have told Father about it. No, this wasn’t the vision returning, this was just her imagining it, only now the way she wanted it to have been. She wanted to have Jacob brought to her by God. Maybe he would marry her and take her away from Leah and her envy—and the constant temptation for Rachel to be meaner than she really was at heart.
    “Rachel!” It was Father’s voice, and he didn’t sound happy. “Come here!”
    Of course she went to him, but at a walk, not a run. It washard to run toward peril, and from his voice, she was in danger.
    “Why didn’t you tell me this man kissed you?”
    “I was about to, but you started telling everybody what animals to kill and how to roast them and I couldn’t say
anything
to you.”
    Father glared at her. “Don’t blame
me
for your deception.”
    “Why would I lie?” said Rachel. “He’s my cousin, he has a perfect right to kiss me.”
    “Old Jaw says he kissed you before he told anybody who he was. So as far as you knew, he was a complete stranger, and you didn’t even try to stop him.”
    “Of course not,” said Rachel. “I saw him kiss me in my vision.”
    Technically, it was true—not in the original vision, but in the vision she had had only a couple of minutes ago. So maybe it wasn’t a lie, and if it wasn’t, then maybe she hadn’t done the things that made it so Leah could easily tell when she was lying.
    Whether her pause and whine gave her away or not, Father didn’t notice. He had stopped cold at the mention of her vision. He took her by the shoulders—far less gently than Jacob had—and in a fierce whisper he said, “Tell that to no one, do you understand?”
    She knew then that Father feared her telling that story. So she could use it to end the suspicion of Jacob. “I will tell it to
everybody
who accuses Jacob of anything improper.”
    Father glared at her. “You think you’re so clever, getting me to do whatever you want.”
    “I can’t help what I’m shown in visions,” said Rachel. “And none of the voices I hear ever told me not to tell.” Whichwas a flat lie, the woman’s voice especially was prone to whisper, Shhhhh, don’t say it.
    I lie too much, thought Rachel, but the thought soon fled, because it’s not as if she started each day thinking, I’m going to tell a dozen big old lies today. She only lied when somebody
made
her do it. She had to protect Jacob, and if she could do it by pretending that God had shown her a vision of Jacob kissing her, well, it was worth the lie. If that made her wicked, then maybe God would punish her by stopping the visions, and if the truth be