Page 66 of In Just a Year
Buried to the hilt inside his gorgeous bride, Ben broke the kiss. He had to look at her, see her expression.
“You are so deep inside me,” she whispered, marveling at their joined bodies as she looked down.
He pulled out a little. It was easy, and she was so slippery and warm.
Her eyes grew wide.
Then he slipped back in.
She inhaled sharply and met his eyes. Holding on to him, she welcomed him.
That was it. They were testing and probing. But in no time, they clutched each other and found a rhythm.
Finally, Ben was united with the love of his life.
Their hearts, souls, and bodies were one, and he wanted to keep her in his arms for the rest of his life.
CHAPTER33
The wedding breakfast had turned into a luncheon and a lively family awaited Ben and Esther downstairs. What had started as a breakfast had generously been transformed into a midday buffet. Esther cast Eve a grateful smile for the lovely wedding arrangements. At the same time, Esther blushed, for everyone must know what had occurred upstairs. She had not paid much attention to the time but it was well past two o-clock. She and Ben must have been in her room for over four hours.
He held her hand tightly, their fingers interlaced. Ben’s hands were rougher than they’d been, calloused from the journey she feared to imagine. Yet, he’d returned, and she gleefully noticed that he couldn’t keep his hands off her. On his left ring finger, he wore the wedding band she’d watched his brothers make for them. It was a plain circle, but nothing seemed more complete than the loop that joined their lives.
“Eydlshteyn majse.” Gemstone stories, Fave said excitedly when Raphi, Laila, Gideon, and Arnold leaned over the table in the center of the room. On the white tablecloth between peony centerpieces and the finest crystal stemware, Esther could easily see three large blue gemstones. They sparkled with a fire that drew the eye in.
“He brought back a treasure indeed,” Tate’s voice came from behind Esther. Her father came to stand before her, casting Ben a warm look. Gustav Pearler joined and then Pavel, who padded Ben on the shoulder. Ben tightened his grip on Esther, lovingly showing that she was his, and her heart fluttered.
“We are immensely proud of you, Benny,” Pavel said. Ben smiled brightly, his face colored with the boyish charm Esther knew and loved, but a new edge emerged—a man’s knowing smirk.
“And my father would have been very proud of you, too,” Gustav Pearler added. Fave and Arnold, whom Esther could see from the corner of her eye, raised their heads from their examination of the blue stones, and Fave brought them over.
“Ben found the Chintamani Triad, sapphires that are worth more than the whole shipload of gems.” Fave held out his hand, and Esther instinctively reached out. He dropped the stones carefully on her palm and she felt that they had a certain weight to them.
“My father said that Jews made the Dreidel of Destiny when they were not united. The hatred from outside split them rather than fostering their sense of community,” Gustav said.
“And now you hold on to the next installment of his treasure,” Pavel said.
“The blooming of the dreidel is a message and a symbol for unity and peace. It’s supposed to remind our people of their shared roots. If we forget where we all came from, we fail to realize our collective fate,” Tate said in the preachy voice he usually saved for sermons.
“I don’t understand,” Esther whispered, intimidated by the elders who gave her more attention than she expected this afternoon. She felt as if they expected her to say or do something, and she could no longer slip away undetected, a daughter nobody would notice.
“Before my father repaired it, this sacred dreidel has been passed down through generations, embodying unity, faith, and the enduring strength of the Jewish people,” Gustav explained. “You have both proven worthy and earned a place of honor among us.”
“It’s not merely about love, you know. We all love our children. They belong with us. But when they take on something bigger than themselves and emerge triumphant, we know that the next generation can thrive because of what we taught them.” Tate gave Pavel a look and he blinked tears away. “You have united our families and our fates.”
“The Diamond Dynasty has a safe future in your hands,” Pavel said, his gaze locked with Ben.
“It was not my victory alone that I found the stones. Without Vati, I couldn’t have-” but Raphi had joined them and interrupted Ben.
“Without Esther, you wouldn’t have known where to go, would you?” Raphi asked.
“What?” Ben’s eyes shot to Esther’s, and she held the three sapphires up to him. But he didn’t take them from her. “What happened here when I was gone?”
“Nagy had some symbols, and I suspect that he intercepted them from Aaron and Peter’s letters from Edinburgh,” Raphi explained but he paused when Chawa came to his side, holding little Izaac in her arms. She cast Esther a knowing smile. “Esther found him snooping around and took his notes, copied them for you and gave him a burned version back.”
Ben burst into laughter. “You did that?” He beamed at Esther.
“It wasn’t funny,” Chawa chastised Ben in a voice that showed a mother would never stop educating her children with love and a firm hand.
