Read Online The Handmaid and the Carpenter by Elizabeth Berg - Free Book Online

him, her beauty more breathtaking than ever. She moved closer, and he smelled her sweet scent and saw her smile, and even while he told himself to step back, he moved forward. He caught her in his arms, buried his face in her neck, and began to weep.
    “Joseph,” she said softly. “Joseph. My beloved husband.”
    He pulled away from her angrily, wiped at his face, and felt his hands begin to tremble. At least part of his rage was directed against himself, for his weakness. “Do not call me husband, for such is not your privilege! You have disgraced and humiliated me! You have—”
    “Have you not spoken with my mother?” Mary asked. “Did she not tell you the circumstances of my condition?”
    “Mary. I shall ask you once and once only to hold your tongue. Hold your tongue! And listen to me! Show me at the ending of our union the respect you should have shown at the beginning!”
    Her eyes filled with tears. “Why do you raise your voice against me? Your words do not hurt me more for being so loudly spoken.”
    He stood still, aware of the fact that he was panting. She was so beautiful. She could manipulate a weak man as easily as wet clay. But Joseph was not weak! He was strong! He spoke more quietly, saying, “I shall dispense with the things I deserve most wholeheartedly to say to you. Instead, I will tell you only this: We are divorced. I have prepared the document.”
    She spoke calmly. “Joseph. I am with child.”
    The words pierced him through, and for a moment he could not answer her. Finally, his mouth dry, he said, “As I am exceedingly well aware.” He cast his eyes to the little mound of her belly. It looked dear to him, he realized; it moved him, and he looked quickly away. In a voice hard with pain, he said, “You are free to marry another.” He felt hollow saying this; his eyes hung heavy in their sockets.
    “Who would have me now? And Joseph,
Joseph,
I want no other man! I have come to understand your great worth, as well as the depth of my love for you. In my time away, I—”
    He spoke over her as if he had not heard a word. “You are free to marry another, as am I. And I intend to take Naomi as my betrothed.”
    Mary turned quickly to look in the direction of their village, in the direction of Naomi’s house. Her high forehead, her strong nose, her soft mouth! When she turned back to him, he did not see in her the pain he desired, or even anger. It was only Mary he saw, as he had always known her. Her clear eyes, her direct gaze. But still, that distance—she lived far behind her eyes.
    “Have you love for Naomi?” she asked.
    He opened his mouth to answer, then did not. He started to walk away.
    “Joseph!” she called after him. “Do not turn away from me, who desires only to tell you the truth! Take me not as your wife, if that is your desire, but before you go, let me reveal to you all that is in my heart!”
    He stood immobile. If she wanted to talk, let her come to him.
    When Mary saw that he was waiting—though with his arms crossed over his chest and his face turned away—she moved closer to him. Her voice was low and rich, intimate, achingly familiar. “I know that my mother has told you of the angel’s visit to me. And I know you find it hard to believe or understand. As I assure you I did also! I was terrified by his presence! But oh, Joseph, such rich understanding has come to me, such clarity of purpose, such joy at the change in me that causes you such pain! For I know with certainty that the Holy Spirit came unto me, and—”
    “Blasphemy!”
    She moved yet closer to him and gently put her hand on his arm. “Joseph. You of all people know and revere the power of God. If he chooses to visit a miracle upon us, who are we to question his methods? I tell you that I have been chosen to bring into the world the Son of God, and—”
    Joseph yanked his arm from her. “I will hear no more!”
    He strode quickly away.
    He could feel her watching him go. And then she