Prince of Israel Series on Kindle Vella features twelve fictional princes modeled after the Princes of Israel mentioned in the Old Testament in the book of Numbers, Chapter One verses five-fifteen.

Numbers 1:5-15

Allow me to introduce my character, Gamaliel (Leo), the Prince of Manasseh!

At the beginning of the story, Leo is naïve, childlike and trusting, with no real-world experience.

Basically, he needs to grow up!

In the book Prince of Israel Series on Kindle Vella, he starts off nervous to go to the Tribute Festival. He think he won’t know anyone, won’t know where to go, what to do, who to talk to, and wants to back out of his responsibilities as Prince of Manasseh. Until he and his cousin rescue two college-age girls whose car broke down on the side of the road.

Esther is also eighteen, recently graduated high school, and is excited to attend the Tribute Festival for the first time. She and her sister, Talia just wanted to have fun and meet guys. Instead, their car broke down and they were picked up on the side of the road by a couple of princes. Not how they expected to spend the festival. 

Thus begins a potential romance between Leo and Esther. You’ll have to read the book to watch how that plays out.

A little more about Leo: he is barely 18 years old, lives in modern-day Nablus, West Bank, and is mentored by his cousin Elishama (Shama), the Prince of Ephraim. Shama has been warned not to corrupt his cousin by taking him out partying. But that’s a story for a different day.

You can meet Leo and Esther, Shama and Talia, and all the other characters, now in the Prince of Israel Series on Kindle Vella.
 
Here are a few paragraphs of Leo’s opening chapter:
“I’m nervous,” Leo said to his advisor, Itai. “I’m too young. I’m not going to know anyone. I won’t know where to go, what to do, who to say what to, and who to not say anything to. I don’t think I should go this year. Maybe next year?” He tried to return to his palace. He didn’t want to leave Nablus or the beautiful mountainous region of the West Bank. This was home. The center of his tribal territory. The land of inheritance for the tribe of Manasseh. He was their prince.
 
“You’re going,” Itai insisted, turning him back toward the waiting SUV. “The reason the council assigned me to be your advisor is because I’ll be able to help you. I used to serve the former Prince of Gad before he got married, and I intend to serve you until you get married.”
 
“I’m too young to even think about getting married.”
 
“That’s why I will be at your side from the time you walk into the hotel in Jerusalem until the time you leave the temple mount at the end of the festival.”
 
“You promise?” Leo sounded like a little boy, even to his own ears. At eighteen years old, he was tall and lanky but he’d bulked up in recent months. He almost looked like a man even though he was barely out of secondary school.
 
“I promise.” Itai patted Leo on the shoulders and pulled him in the direction of the passenger door of the car. “You’re going to have a blast in Jerusalem, and your cousin, Elishama, will be there with you.” As Leo climbed into the car, Itai walked around the front and climbed into the driver’s seat.
 
“Father said I should avoid hanging out with Shama,” Leo said as he was clicking his seatbelt into place. “He’s a bad influence, and I need to keep my heart and mind focused on the sanctity of the Tribute Festival. I should remember why I’m there and the reason I’m there.”
 
“And what is that reason?” Itai asked. He shifted the SUV into gear and drove toward the gates to leave their property. “Explain it to me as if I’ve never heard of the festival before.”
 
“Um… to pay tribute to the Levites?”
 
“Why?” Itai quizzed Leo further.
 
“Because they don’t have any land of their own?”
 
“Why don’t they have any land?”
 
“Because they are the keepers of the temple.” Leo nodded definitively, knowing he was completely glossing over most of the true nature of the festival.
 
“Good, now introduce yourself to me.”
 
Leo took a deep breath, then lifted his chin with confidence. “I am Gamaliel, Prince of Manasseh, whose tribe is named after the son of Joseph, who was the son of Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham.”
 
“Prince of Manasseh is fine. You don’t need to give people your whole lineage. Most people already know that Ephraim and Manasseh were sons of Joseph.”
 
“Am I allowed to tell them they can call me Leo?”
 
“In casual conversations, yes, but never around the king, or any prophet for that matter. Or any commoners not directly related to your inner circle. The other princes, yes. A girl you’re flirting with, yes. The staff at the hotel, no. And most definitely no one within the temple mount.”
 
“Okay, I can handle that.”
 
The drive from his hometown of Nablus to his cousin’s city, Turmus Ayya, was only an hour, but they would ride together from there to Jerusalem, which was another hour and a half.
 
They wanted to be on time for the meeting with the king, and that meant they needed to get moving. As long as they didn’t have any major detours, they’d be fine. But the drive had mountainous twists and turns through rock and desolation. Anything could happen. They made it to Elishama’s house without issue.
 
A butler opened the door for them, and Leo’s cousin came bounding down the stairs with his overnight bag slung over his shoulder. Leo was so excited he couldn’t help calling out, “Elishama! It’s so good to see you after all these years.”
 
“Leo?” Shama’s jaw dropped. “When did you grow up?”

​Read the rest of the story now in the Prince of Israel Series on Kindle Vella.

Prince of Israel Series on Kindle Vella features twelve fictional princes modeled after the Princes of Israel mentioned in the Old Testament in the book of Numbers, Chapter One verses five-fifteen.

Numbers 1:5-15

Allow me to introduce my character, Nethaneel, the Prince of Issachar!

At the beginning of the story, Nethaneel is a bit of a know-it-all. He thinks he’s better than others because he’s wealthy and educated. Nethaneel is a religious scholar, a mighty man of valor, has an understanding of the times, a knowledge of the world, is scholarly, wealthy, and united in wealth and learning.

Basically, he needs to be knocked off his high horse!

In the first paragraph of the book Prince of Israel Series on Kindle Vella, he quite literally knocks into a woman named Naomi.

Naomi is a hard-working, uneducated cook at the hotel when Nethaneel is staying for the Tribute Festival. She has no idea he’s a prince and he doesn't tell her (for several chapters!). 

In the story, Nethaneel and Naomi are competing for grant money from the same grantor. Nethaneel wants to repair a library at his alma mater university. Naomi wants to provide scholarships for low-income teens to attend college.

Nethaneel realizes fixing a library is important, but not if the youth of the community can’t afford to attend college. He immediately withdraws his proposal and asks the grant committee to fund Naomi’s proposal instead. He even volunteers to help run her youth program.

Thus begins a potential romance between Nethaneel and Naomi. You’ll have to read the book to watch how that plays out.

A little more about Nethaneel: he is twenty-two years old, lives in modern-day Kfar Tavor, Israel, and is best friends with his former college roommate, Eliab (Eli), the Prince of Zebulon. Eli is the guy who helped Nethaneel write their grant proposal. Needless to say, Eli is quite mad when he finds out Nethaneel withdrew their proposal… until he meets Naomi’s best friend, Hayley. But that’s a story for a different day.

You can meet Nethaneel and Naomi, Eli and Hayley, and all the other characters, now in the Prince of Israel Series on Kindle Vella.

Here are a few paragraphs of Nethaneel’s opening chapter:
Hurrying around a blind corner in the hallway between the conference center and the hotel, Nethaneel ran smack into a woman. The stack of papers he was holding flew into the air along with a similar stack of papers she was holding.
 
“I am so sorry! Oh my gosh, I am so late for my meeting,” the woman said, dropping to her knees. “I wasn’t watching where I was going, and I’m late turning in my proposal, and I’m supposed to clock in for my job in five minutes, and, oh my gosh, why do these all look alike?” She was as flustered as he was.
 
“This isn’t your fault.” Nethaneel crouched to gather the papers that had scattered on the sculpted carpeting. She was right; they all looked alike. Not bothering to glance at the woman, Nethaneel couldn’t help noticing her intoxicating smell—a subtle vanilla hand lotion combined with the lingering notes of cooked sausage. Now he was hungry. “I was walking too fast, and I really should have been paying better attention.”
 
He sat back on his heels, clutching a stack of loose pages, and finally lifted his gaze to the woman who smelled like breakfast.
 
He stopped short. Forget his appointment. He wanted to take this woman to brunch. Shaking off the thought, he realized she probably had already eaten if she was smelling like sausage.
 
The depths of her tired eyes showed more maturity than her youthful face would imply as if she’d witnessed her fair share of a hard life than most women in their early twenties. Disheveled tendrils of brown hair framed her face after falling loose from her long braid. Something about her made Nethaneel want to take her in his arms and make all the problems in the world go away.
 
As if he hadn’t embarrassed himself enough by scattering two stacks of nearly identical papers into the air and then all over the floor, followed by staring at her with a slack jaw, Nethaneel blurted out, “You smell really good.”
 
“Good as in, ‘it’s obvious you spent the morning cooking overpriced food for rude businessmen at a high-end hotel full of people who want their over-easy eggs cooked all the way through and their sausage crispy instead of chewy?’ or good as in, ‘you obviously haven’t had time for a shower since last night when you got home from yesterday’s double shift?’”
 
“Am I right to assume that there is no correct way to answer that question?” Nethaneel asked, fighting a grin and losing miserably.
 
Read the rest of the story now in the Prince of Israel Series on Kindle Vella.

Click here if you missed a chapter of First Prince of Israel!
​
“Walk with me, will you, son?” Laban put his arm around Jacob’s shoulders as they all emerged from the elevator after the staff meeting and luncheon. He pulled Jacob down the hall toward his own suite, which was in the opposite direction from each of the girls’ suites.
 
“Have I displeased you, Uncle?” Jacob asked, glancing back at Rachel as she brought up the rear of the group of ladies. She shrugged, and Jacob returned his attention to his father-in-law.
 
“Not at all,” Laban said. “I thought things went well this afternoon.”
 
“Thank you, I agree.”
 
Instead of entering his suite, Laban pulled out a key ring and used one to open a door that led to the roof above the main part of the building, a floor down from the penthouse level.
 
“You know, if you push me off the roof, you’re going to have to raise all these children by yourselves.” Jacob chuckled in jest.
 
“How many of them are pregnant?” Laban asked without acknowledging Jacob’s taunting.
 
“No more than three since Leah won’t allow me in her bed for another four or five weeks,” Jacob said with lighthearted dry humor.
 
“Yeah, let’s not talk about you in bed with my daughters,” Laban said.
 
Jacob gulped as they stepped out onto the roof. “Long way down…”
 
“Sure is.” Laban draped his arm around Jacob again as they stood there in the desert air, overlooking the valley. “That’s why I think we need a sturdy fence going all around the garden, maybe wrought iron or something. What do you think?”
 
“Uh… sure. Wrought iron is nice.”
 
“You’re a fan of sustainable agriculture, right? Have you ever seen a roof garden?”
 
“I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never actually stood on one.” Jacob glanced down on the ugly tar roof below his feet.
 
“Well, you will soon because I’m remodeling.” Laban held out his hand like a game show host displaying a prize. “Can’t you just see it?”
 
Suddenly Jacob could see it. A roof garden laid out in front of him as if on a virtual-reality display grid. There were vegetable plants and playground equipment and flowers. “It’s beautiful.”
 
“And not just a garden.” Laban turned them around so they could look at the outside wall of the penthouse level of the building. “The whole upper floor of the building. A little girl needs her own bedroom, and I’m thinking each of the boys could bunk up two to a room, and then we’ll need a nursery or two for the babies, and a playroom full of toys, and maybe a computer room with desks and stuff for homeschooling. We’ve got a lot of work to do between now and when twelve more grandchildren come to live here.”
 
“I couldn’t agree more, Uncle.”
 
“You’re my favorite nephew, Jacob.” Laban patted him on the shoulder. “Well… son of my cousin, but close enough. I’ll call you my favorite nephew.”
 
“That’s good because I’m married to two of your daughters.”
 
“Yeah, and if you ever hurt either of them, I will push you off this roof.”
 
“As well you should, sir.” They both chuckled.
 
Laban turned Jacob so they were facing each other, eye to eye, man to man. “In addition to marrying two of my daughters, you have also married four of my best employees, so I would appreciate it if you helped the four of them as they continue running my resort.”
 
“I’ll do my best, sir.”
 
“That being said, raising my grandchildren is their most important job, and I think if we all work together, we can pull this crazy brood into a great group of kids, and the start of a righteous kingdom devoting our lives to God.”
 
“I agree with all my heart,” Jacob said.
 
“Now, let’s get off the roof—through the door—and I’ll go draw up some engineering plans, and you go do whatever it is you do.” They chuckled as they walked toward the door that led back into the hotel. “Just, don’t give me any details about what you do with my daughters, and we’ll stay in each other’s good graces.”
 
“Fair enough.” Jacob stopped his uncle before they opened the door and pulled him into a tight hug. “Thank you. For… everything.”
 
“You’re welcome, son.” Laban patted him on the back, then they separated and went inside.
 
As Jacob strode down the hall, Rachel stepped out of her suite.
 
“What was that all about?” she asked.
 
He followed her inside and took her in his arms, holding her firmly with love and happiness and devotion. After breathing her in for a moment with his eyes closed, savoring her closeness, he whispered, “Your father loves us, that’s all.”
 
Rachel chuckled and held Jacob tight, resting her head on his shoulder. “That’s good to know.”
 
“And I love you,” Jacob whispered.
 
“I love you too,” Rachel whispered back.
 
After a few more seconds of bliss, Jacob pulled away and grabbed Rachel’s hand, pulling her toward the door. “Come on, let’s go tell your sisters about the remodel!”
 
“Remodel?” Rachel laughed as she followed him. “What remodel?”
 
“The one with the roof garden and the nursery and the playroom and the boys’ bunk beds and the little girl’s room—I think we should name our daughter Dinah!—And then there’s the computer room, and of course I’m going to need a man cave. Oh, your father didn’t mention that, but I definitely need one if I’m going to give up my apartment.”
 
Rachel giggled as she trailed him down the hall. Jacob knocked on Bilhah’s door and then Zilpah’s, calling them to join him in Leah’s room with baby Reuben.
 
Jacob welcomed each of his wives, and their eyes lit up as he told them about their patriarch’s plan of happiness for their future.

Click here to read more chapters of First Prince of Israel!

The ENTIRE book of First Prince of Israel is FREE right now. Click here to obtain a copy!

The next twelve books in the series are being featured on Kindle Vella! Click here to start reading now!

Click here if you missed a chapter of First Prince of Israel!

“Thank you all for joining us for this staff meeting,” Laban called out to the room full of employees at the resort.
 
They didn’t really have a choice, Jacob thought. Not if they wanted to keep their jobs. Jacob stood beside his father-in-law at the head of the room, with Leah sitting at the table in front of him, holding their two-week old baby. Rachel was at her side and Bilhah and Zilpah on either side of the twins.
 
They had selected only the housekeepers, management, restaurant workers, and essential staff from the main building rather than the entire resort. The privileged information the staff would receive that day was sacred and not meant to be shared with the general public.
 
Even with only these select individuals, they filled most of the small conference room in which they’d been gathered.
 
“First things first. You’re all getting a raise,” Laban said with a smile. There was a general buzz in the room as people looked around at one another with eyes alight and excited chatter. Laban held up his hands to quiet the group. “There are some stipulations, however. We are asking you to sign revised employment contracts, and you are free to walk away should you choose not to continue employment with more stringent confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements.”
 
Faces around the room grew a little more serious but not necessarily in a bad way. Jacob met the gaze of the night manager, Duman, who had been of some assistance the night Leah’s water broke. They nodded respectfully to one another, and Jacob was glad he’d taken the time to talk with him prior to leaving for the hospital.
 
“None of you have done anything wrong, and we haven’t received any complaints from guests who rightfully deserve privacy,” Laban said.
 
Jacob was reminded of the conversation he’d had with Zilpah while lying in bed together on their wedding night. He’d mentioned knowing if anyone was doing anything immoral or illegal. He felt confident about all of these people and considered them his friends.
 
“But circumstances in my immediate family have changed, and that needs to be addressed. I’d like to turn the time over to my son-in-law, Jacob, for some explanations.”
 
“Thank you, sir,” Jacob stepped forward as Laban sat at the table near his daughters. “I think most of you were in attendance at my wedding last year when Leah and I said our vows. A couple of you are new, but I believe we’ve met.”
 
He glanced around and met the gazes of a few new people. Jacob placed his hand on Leah’s shoulder and gave the proper attention to their new baby.
 
“I’m honored to introduce our son, Reuben, although I think most of you also attended Leah’s baby shower.” Lots of people smiled fondly at Leah and the baby. “We promise to get her back to work eventually, and we appreciate your patience with her twin and their assistants. But I also want to announce that we intend to have many more children, and that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
 
Some of the housekeeping employees gave each other side-glances and knowing grins, and Jacob waited for them to face forward again, a mask of contrived patience with slight raised brows. Someone cleared a throat, and suddenly everyone was paying attention again.
 
“The housekeeping staff is most likely privileged to certain information simply by nature of their jobs, but I didn’t want there to be rumors about infidelity on my part or that of my wives.”
 
That caused additional murmurings that died down even more quickly than the snickering amongst the housekeepers.
 
“Since the time I was a young child, I’ve been answering God’s callings as directed by His Holy Spirit.” He let that sink in, then continued. “Sometimes God calls select men and women to take upon themselves tasks that may seem unconventional. Before moving from Be’er Sheva, God showed me a path upon which I was promised twelve sons and one daughter, and that path led me here.”
 
“Shooot,” one older woman called out. “My sixth baby about did me in! Thirteen? I pity your wife.”
 
Leah whimpered playfully, knowing that if all continued according to plan, she’d be giving birth to six children also.
 
“Wives,” Jacob corrected the older lady. “My thirteen children will be divided between my four wives.”
 
That number must have been news to everyone because there was a general uproar, although still in a respectful manner. Jacob held up his hands to calm everyone back down.
 
“As I was saying a moment ago, God occasionally calls a few men and women to help him build his kingdom, and the five of us were foreordained to take upon ourselves this rare and sacrosanct calling.
 
“I want to impress upon you the sacred nature of this situation and ask that you not speak of this in a derogatory way, especially regarding the sanctity of these choice daughters of God.
 
“We would also appreciate the same discretion you would give to any guest who would stay at our resort. There are many people in this world who would not understand our reasons for taking this upon ourselves and might even be critical of us. Do any of you have any questions?”
 
The same older lady who mentioned having six children piped back in. “Are you willing to tell us who the four women are?”
 
“I’m sorry, yes, I thought you all knew.” He cleared his throat and put one hand on each of the twins’ shoulders. “You all know about Leah, and I’m also married to her twin sister, Rachel.” Then Jacob moved to stand behind Bilhah and introduced her, and then Zilpah.
 
“Are you planning to take any more wives?” one younger lady on the housekeeping staff asked, almost with a hopeful gleam in her eye.
 
“Absolutely not, sorry.” Jacob glanced away, and some people in the room chuckled. “I have done what God has asked of me and would never want any more women in my life who all have PMS at the same time.” He winked at Zilpah.
 
That brought comfortable laughter to the room, and the mood was lightened.
 
“Anything else?” Jacob looked around, but no one else spoke up. “As my father-in-law mentioned, we have revised employment contracts for all of you, and raises lined up, and we appreciate your support. The kitchen staff has graciously prepared us a light lunch, and you’re all free to join us.”
 
With that, the meeting was adjourned, and everyone began talking amongst themselves. Many people came over to coo at the baby or talk to the girls, or shake Jacob’s hand. He hoped that afternoon would help them maintain a small semblance of peace at the resort.
 
Click here to read more chapters of First Prince of Israel!

The ENTIRE book of First Prince of Israel is FREE right now. Click here to obtain a copy!

The next twelve books in the series are being featured on Kindle Vella! Click here to start reading now!

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“Tell me more about these visions and dreams you receive?” Zilpah asked softly, tucked within Jacob’s arms, drawing circles on his bare chest, with their legs intertwined, enjoying the quiet evening of their wedding night. “At what age were you called to be a prophet?”
 
“I have never been told by God that I am a prophet,” Jacob said. “But he has been speaking to me since I was very young. I didn’t realize I was different from any other kid until I spoke out loud in response to a voice I heard when others were in the room.”
 
“Did they think you were weird?”
 
“Yeah, and then many times, I’ve known something was going to happen before it happened.”
 
“Like how far in advance?” she asked. “Days? Weeks? Years? Or more like a few minutes prior?”
 
“All the above.”
 
“Really? Did you ever, like, tell people their futures or anything?”
 
“Definitely not,” he insisted but then corrected himself. “I guess there have been times when I’ve warned people about things for safety reasons.”
 
“Give me an example.”
 
“I ran to the front of a school bus once yelling, stop! and thankfully the bus driver listened to me because she slammed on the brakes, throwing everyone out of their seats just as a semitruck came barreling through the intersection in front of us, running a red light. If we hadn’t stopped, there would have been a lot more injuries than the few scrapes and bumped heads.”
 
“Oh my gosh.” Zilpah sounded a little freaked out.
 
“But mostly I just zoned out occasionally and talked to God as if he was standing right there with me, and people thought I was talking to imaginary friends or that I was schizophrenic or something.”
 
Zilpah chuckled softly. “Did they want to commit you to the loony bin?”
 
“I’m sure some people have desired that,” Jacob said. “Especially when I’ve called them to repentance.”
 
“What do you mean?” She turned so that she was facing him.
 
“Sometimes I know when a friend or family member or another adult has done something wrong, and I tell them to stop.” He shrugged. “When I call them out in front of others, they get very angry. Teachers sometimes put me in detention. I lost a job at a fast-food restaurant after I called out the manager when there was money missing at the end of the night.”
 
“Oh my gosh, what did they do?” Zilpah’s eyes gleamed with humor.
 
“The manager basically turned the matter around and made it seem like I was accusing him in order to cover my own misdeeds. Needless to say, I stopped doing that eventually.”
 
“Do you still know those sorts of things?” Zilpah asked. “Like if one of our employees was doing something wrong, would you know?”
 
“Yeah, probably. I haven’t felt anything off from anyone here at the resort.” He smirked at Zilpah. “I did know the impure thoughts you had about me when we met.”
 
“No!” She laughed and tucked her head to his chest. “Please don’t tell me that. I am mortified! There were sooooo many of them.”
 
“Can’t say that I wasn’t a little bit excited to marry you and fulfill some of your fantasies,” he admitted.
 
“Only some of them?” She looked up at him again with a teasing expression.
 
“You have to admit, some of them were pretty far out there.”
 
“Nah,” she dismissed. “You’re just not used to being around a woman with such elevated desires as mine.”
 
“Elevated?” Jacob rolled her over in the soft bed so that he was looking down on her, meeting her smoldering gaze. “I’ll show you what elevated looks like.”
 
“I bet you will,” Zilpah whispered, biting her lower lip.
 
Jacob bypassed a traditional kiss and placed his mouth behind her left ear, then behind her right, then on her shoulders, and wherever else she desired from him. He had promised Zilpah that her patience before marriage would be worth the wait, and he kept that promise.

Click here to read more chapters of First Prince of Israel!

The ENTIRE book of First Prince of Israel is FREE right now. Click here to obtain a copy!

The next twelve books in the series are being featured on Kindle Vella! Click here to start reading now!

Click here if you missed a chapter of First Prince of Israel!

“Father, we come before you at this time to bless and name this child and dedicate him unto you. The name by which he shall be known while living on this earth is Reuben.” Jacob had his hands on his son’s head as his father-in-law held the three-day-old baby in his arms.
 
Leah stood beside Jacob, her head bowed and eyes closed. Rachel stood on his other side with Bilhah and Zilpah standing nearby, all with their heads bowed.
 
This was the first time Jacob had ever blessed a baby, or any person for that matter. He prayed for other people all the time, multiple times a day, whenever he felt prompted to do so. But never while placing his hands upon someone’s head. This felt different somehow. His tone shifted, and suddenly Jacob was talking directly to his infant son with authority and a higher tenor.
 
“Reuben, you will grow to be a great man who will be a joy and a helper to your mother and father. You will have many opportunities to choose right from wrong and must use the power of discernment so that you will not become fickle and unstable as water. Your kingdom will be divided between your four sons, and you will be given land suitable for your needs.”
 
Jacob felt his heart sink and dreaded the next words he needed to say but knew they were from God.
 
“My firstborn son, you have the potential to be a great warrior and fight with the strength of the lion, but you must use that power for good or the mantle will be stripped from your shoulders.”
 
Leah gasped softly beside him, and Jacob felt tears prick the corners of his eyes. He took a deep breath and completed his prayer.
 
“I leave these blessings and cautions with you and any others that God sees fit to bestow upon you. Amen.”
 
“Amen,” the others in the room echoed with apprehension, and everyone shifted nervously. Leah had tears flowing down her cheeks, as did Rachel.
 
Bilhah didn’t seem to understand why everyone else was upset, and Zilpah wiped a single tear away but lifted her chin with confidence.
 
What just happened, God? Jacob asked. Have I condemned my son?
 
The child you have dedicated unto me will have the freedom to choose good from evil just as all children I have placed on this earth. Lead him in the way he should go.
 
“I will lead him, Father,” Jacob whispered out loud, in a semi-trancelike state.
 
“Jacob?” Leah touched his arm to garner his attention. He blinked and met his wife’s gaze. “I have faith in your ability to do so.”
 
“Thank you for your trust in me.”
 
“All children have the freedom to choose good from evil, right?” Leah asked.
 
“That is what Heavenly Father just reminded me also.”
 
“We will raise him as best we can,” Leah said.
 
“You are already a wonderful mother,” Jacob said, leaning closer and kissing her. “I’m honored to have you for my wife.”
 
“I’m honored to be your wife.” Leah lifted onto her toes for one more kiss. “Speaking of wives…” Leah turned to Zilpah.
 
Zilpah met Leah’s gaze, and the two women nodded in a tiny agreement that the time had come.
 
“While we are all gathered together as a family,” Leah said, taking Zilpah’s hand. “I think now would be a good time for us to dedicate your lives to one another.” Leah pulled Zilpah gently forward and placed her hand in Jacob’s.
 
Jacob questioned Leah. “Are you sure you want me to leave you alone with the baby?”
 
“Of course, I’m fine,” Leah said. “I have a twin sister who loves this little guy almost as much as we do, and she doesn’t hog the covers.”
 
Bilhah snickered then cleared her throat and pinched her lips together, then snickered again. “You do hog the covers.”
 
“Great. Nice to know.” Jacob turned to Zilpah and deadpanned. “Are you sure you want to marry me.”
 
“I’m positive,” Zilpah answered with solemnity, bringing them all back to the spiritual nature of the covenant they were all about to make.
 
Jacob addressed her more formally this time. “Zilpah, will you accept the rights, privileges and responsibilities that will be placed upon you as my wife?”
 
“I will, Jacob.” Zilpah nodded with serenity and peace in her countenance. “Will you accept me as your wife, committing yourself to the responsibility of protecting me and our children?”
 
“I will, Zilpah.” Jacob held her gaze for another moment before Rachel interrupted them.
 
“Shall we pray together as a family?” Rachel suggested.
 
“Yes, my love.” Jacob turned to Rachel. “Would you be willing to offer that prayer?”
 
“Of course.” Then Rachel turned to her own father. “As patriarch of the family, would you continue to hold our son as we bless this union?”
 
“I will.” Laban stood between his two daughters as Rachel prayed.
 
“God, you have blessed us with a strong family and increased our numbers according to your plan. We are thankful to have the opportunity to serve you and ask that you continue to bless us, as we welcome another of your choice daughters to be joined with our husband.”
 
Jacob found it interesting that neither he nor Zilpah lowered their heads or closed their eyes, but instead met each other’s gaze and searched one another’s features, as if seeking love and devotion.
 
“Father, if it be your will,” Rachel continued, “please bless this marriage with children whom we will dedicate unto you, and provide Jacob and Zilpah with happiness in each other’s arms.” Rachel stopped speaking without closing her prayer, as she often did, handing the final words over to Jacob.
 
“Thank you, God, for these good women whom you have entrusted into my care. Help me to be the man they deserve, to lead them and our children, and protect them forever. Amen.”
 
“Amen.” This time there were happy tears around the group, and Jacob leaned forward to meet Zilpah with a brief kiss, sealing their commitment to one another.
​
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“How is baby Reuben?” Zilpah asked when Jacob ducked his head in the door of their offices. He had just left the hospital after thirteen hours of labor and six hours gazing at his wife and baby, feeding a first bottle, and changing a little diaper. Jacob was completely in love but completely exhausted.
 
“He is the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen in my life,” Jacob said through a yawn. “Seven pounds, thirteen ounces, twenty-one inches long, and a full head of hair.”
 
“You look like you’re about ready to fall over.” Zilpah rose from her chair and came around her desk.
 
“Yeah, they sent me home to get a nap, and then Leah might be able to come home later today. I’ll head back up to the hospital in a few hours.”
 
“Can I walk with you up the stairs so I can talk with you about some business?” Zilpah asked in a professional voice as they walked into the lobby. “I won’t take much of your time.”
 
“As long as you’ll let me take the elevator rather than the stairs, I’m fine with that. I’m about ready to fall asleep standing up.” Jacob chuckled as he hit the button to the elevator, knowing she didn’t have any hotel business to discuss and probably wanted to talk about that kiss from the day before. He knew the time had come for them to take the next step in their relationship and had already discussed the topic with Rachel.
 
As soon as they were in the elevator, Zilpah’s tone changed, and her professional persona disappeared. “We need to get married.”
 
“Yeah, I know.”
 
“Oh, good. I thought I was going to have to…persuade you.” Zilpah ran a finger up his arm, causing shivers to run up his spine. “You know, women are encouraged to wait at least six weeks after having a baby before, you know…”
 
“Having sex?” Jacob prompted with a chuckle. “Yeah, I’m aware.”
 
“Now would be the perfect time for you and me to get married,” Zilpah pointed out. “You’ll be off on paternity leave, Rachel can help with her new little nephew, and Leah can get some rest. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
 
“I plan to spend a good deal of time with my new baby while I’m off on paternity leave, you know. That’s kind of the point.”
 
“And I have to spend all day at my office trying to do two people’s jobs since my boss will be upstairs taking care of her new baby,” Zilpah said. “Then you and I can spend every night… together.” She stepped closer and looked up at him with bedroom eyes.
 
Jacob was very tempted to lean down for a kiss but felt the elevator slow to a stop and didn’t want to run into any guests or employees when the doors opened. “Give me a couple of days, okay?” His voice was husky and low, and he was completely on board with her plan. “Let me get Leah and the baby settled first.”
 
“I’ve been patient for almost a year,” Zilpah said. “I think I can wait a few more days.”
 
“Thank you,” he whispered before they stepped out of the elevator. As they walked down the hall toward their suites, Zilpah continued their conversation in a hushed voice.
 
“You seemed startled yesterday when I mentioned prayer, but I want you to know that I’m almost as spiritual as you and Rachel—well maybe not quite that much, but a million times more so than Bilhah, and probably even more so than Leah. Just because I’m a flirt doesn’t mean I don’t love God and want to follow his plan for my life.”
 
“I’m glad to know that,” Jacob said, wishing he could reach out to her. “I was a bit concerned.”
 
“The first time you shook my hand, I knew you were a prophet of God, and I knew I was going to marry you.”
 
“You did?” Jacob knew he’d felt that same warmth and connection as he did with the other girls, but he hadn’t realized she’d felt quite that strongly about him.
 
“Yeah, and you know, um… a woman who has a strong relationship with God can still be… how should I say this politely?”
 
“You don’t have to say anything out loud,” Jacob said. “I totally get it.”
 
“Good, I’m glad we had this conversation.” Zilpah sounded as if she was resigned to head back down to her office, but Jacob wasn’t done with their little discussion.
 
He glanced down the hall and saw there were no people anywhere, then unlocked the door to Leah’s suite and pulled Zilpah inside briefly. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to do for quite a while and that requires a tiny bit of privacy.”
 
“Yeah? And what’s that?” Zilpah slipped her hand into his and laced their fingers together as Jacob pushed her gently against the closed door.
 
“I’d rather show you.” He dipped his head lower and pressed his lips to hers with a little more heat than he ever would in front of the other girls. He didn’t usually kiss any of them with this much passion.
 
When he finally pulled away, Zilpah whispered, “Dang, I can’t wait to marry you.”
 
“I promised I’d make it worth the wait,” he whispered.
 
“Are you sure you want to wait any longer than right now?” she asked. “Leah won’t be needing that bed in there, you know, since she’s in the hospital.”
 
“I’m positive, you little minx.” Jacob stepped away from her and reached for the doorknob. “I am going to marry you first. Now go back to work before you get in trouble with your boss.”
 
“Did I not just mention my boss is in the hospital?” Zilpah asked playfully. Then she placed her hand on Jacob’s cheek and kissed him one more time before slipping out the door.
 
Jacob locked himself in, then fell onto Leah’s bed with a frustrated smile on his face, wishing he was already married to that temptress but too tired to do anything regardless. He was asleep before he could even climb under the covers.
​
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Jacob was awakened to an insistent pounding on the door to Rachel’s suite. He’d been spending a good deal of his time with her in the wake of her miscarriage, and all the other girls encouraged him in that. Several weeks had gone by and life was getting back to normal.
 
Because Rachel had so much support from her sisters, Jacob didn’t feel the need to take many days off work, especially since he was about to take time off when Leah’s baby arrived.
 
“Hang on,” he called through a groggy yawn to whoever was rude enough to disturb him at three in the morning. He tugged on a pair of sweatpants and stubbed his toe just before pulling open the door. “What?”
 
One of the night managers stood in the hall with his jaw dropped, and only then did Jacob realize this man probably thought he was cheating on his wife, Leah. The manager shook off his startled expression and pointed down the hall in the direction of Leah’s suite. “Mrs. Medad asked me to find her sister because her water broke, and she couldn’t find her… husband.”
 
The night manager, whose name tag said Duman, glanced down at Jacob’s half-dressed state and assumed correctly that he had located said husband.
 
Jacob glanced behind him and called out to Rachel, “Leah’s water broke!” Then he grabbed one of the keycards from the table by the door and followed the manager into the hall, already seeing that Rachel was climbing out of bed.
 
“Need I remind you, Duman, that your employee contract included a nondisclosure agreement about pretty much everything that happens inside this resort?”
 
“No, sir, you do not.” Duman shook his head adamantly.
 
“Good, now go down the hall and find the twins’ father. Then come right back here because there’s more I want to say to you.” Jacob mentally chastised himself for leaving his cell phone plugged in in the living room instead of next to the bed.
 
“Yes, sir, right away, sir.” Duman started to turn around, but Jacob placed his hand on the man’s shoulder.
 
“And, Duman, thank you for your help.”
 
“You’re welcome, sir.”
 
Jacob hurried down the hall and opened Leah’s suite, then rushed into the bathroom where she was sitting on the edge of the tub, a trail of fluid all the way from the bedroom. “Hey, babe! You look like you’re ready to bring my first son into the world.”
 
“Yeah, the little brat decided to come two weeks early.”
 
“How are you feeling?” Jacob tried to tiptoe around most of the fluid in order to get to his wife.
 
“Wet.” They both chuckled. “But no contractions yet. Just some cramping.”
 
“Sorry I wasn’t here.” He leaned down and kissed Leah on the top of her head.
 
“That’s okay, Rachel needed you. Besides, with this much baby I’m carrying around, I sleep better when you’re not in my bed so I can stretch out.”
 
“Let me grab you some dry clothes, and I’ll help you get cleaned up. Your sister should be right over too.”
 
“Give me one little kiss first.” Leah took his hand, and Jacob leaned down to give her a little more than a little kiss.
 
Rachel hurried into the suite and immediately called for housekeeping to come clean up the mess made by Leah’s water breaking, then took Leah’s clothes from Jacob and told him she’d help her sister while he got himself dressed.
 
By the time Jacob left the bedroom in jeans and a hoodie, the twins’ father was letting himself into the room, and Duman stood in the hall with his hands in the pockets of his slacks. Jacob met him at the door and pulled it almost closed behind him.
 
“Look, I wanted you to know that I’m not cheating on my wife. I’m married to both of them.”
 
“It’s really none of my business, sir.”
 
“I realize that, but I also want to be able to look you in the eye, man to man, for the rest of the time we know each other and have you understand that I’m doing what God has asked me to do.”
 
“I totally get that,” Duman said. “The first time I shook your hand, I knew there was something special about you, and I have a strong testimony that you are a man of God.”
 
“Thank you, my friend, that means a lot to me.” Jacob placed his hand on Duman’s shoulder. “I think we’ll have a staff meeting one of these days and explain things to the main team of employees who work in this building. Oh, and get our lawyer to draft a little more stringent nondisclosure agreement.”
 
“That’s understandable.” Duman nodded.
 
“Hey, man, I know you’re not a valet, but will you find my car and pull it around to the front of the building?”
 
“Of course.”
 
Jacob hurried back over to Rachel’s suite and found his car keys. “It’s a silver Mercedes Cabriolet and should be in the south parking lot.”
 
“Trust me, I know your car. And it will be my honor just to sit in the leather seats for the two minutes it takes me to drive from there to here.”
 
They both chuckled and were distracted when Leah waddled into the hall with her twin sister, holding one arm and her father holding the other. They were all smiling and there was a general feeling of excitement in the air.

​Bilhah stumbled out of her suite, wearing a pair of tiny, pink boy shorts and a pink tank top, and Zilpah came out of her suite, pulling a silky maroon robe around whatever pajamas she had on underneath. Jacob didn’t want to know… yet.
 
“Is the baby coming?” Bilhah asked through a yawn as if that wasn’t an obvious conclusion.
 
“Yes, sweetheart.” Without even thinking about the fact that Duman was still standing there waiting for the keys to Jacob’s car, he pulled Bilhah into his arms for a quick hug and kiss. Then he leaned over and kissed Zilpah on the lips, which wasn’t something he’d ever done before but felt entirely right.
 
“We’ll be praying for Leah,” Zilpah said, which startled Jacob. He wasn’t aware she regularly prayed, at least not as much as he and Rachel did.
 
“Thank you,” he whispered and kissed her one more time.
 
When Jacob turned back around, Duman mumbled, “Must be nice to be a prophet.”
 
“Dude, don’t even go there.”
 
“Sorry,” Duman said.
 
Jacob tossed him the car keys. “Run and get my car.”
 
“Yes, sir.”
 
Hurrying over to Leah, Jacob gently insisted that his father-in-law hand her over into his care, and he and Rachel helped her waddle down to the elevator.
 
His heart racing with excitement, Jacob realized within a few hours he was going to be a dad!
​
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Three weeks after Jacob and Bilhah returned from their quick honeymoon in Cyprus, he and Emre were in his convertible, driving home from a two-day trip to one of the dams in the Tigris River Basin, when Jacob’s phone rang. Without glancing at the caller ID and forgetting that the Bluetooth was connected to his car, Jacob answered the phone, and Rachel’s voice came through the speakers, sobbing.
 
“Darling, what is the matter?” Instinctively, Jacob slammed on the brakes and pulled to the side of the road, inherently knowing something was very wrong.
 
“I’m having—” More sobbing.
 
“Jacob, it’s Leah,” Leah’s voice interrupted her sister’s crying. “Rachel’s had a miscarriage. I’m here with her. How far away are you?”
 
“Miscarriage? I didn’t even know she was pregnant!” Jacob gripped the steering wheel with both fists.
 
“I didn’t… want to… get your hopes up,” Rachel said.
 
“My love, this is something I would have wanted to know, hopes or not.”
 
“Our father and I are going to take her to the hospital,” Leah said. “How quickly can you get here?”
 
“We’re still—” Jacob glanced at his watch and then at Emre.
 
“We’re about five hours away,” Emre said.
 
“Five hours?” Leah growled. “Okay, don’t worry about a thing. I’ll stay with her.”
 
“Not worry? How can you even say that?” Jacob lost control of his emotions but tried to hold himself together for the sake of his wives. “Babe, there is no way I could possibly not worry.”
 
“You know what I meant,” Leah said. “Just don’t speed and get in a car accident or something. Get here safely.”
 
“I’ll drive,” Emre said, placating all of them. “We’ll get your husband home safely. I promise.”
 
“Thank you, Emre,” Rachel choked out. “And, Jacob, pray for me all the way home.”
 
“I will, my love, I promise.”
 
“We’re gonna go now, Jacob,” Leah said. “I’ll call when I have an update.”
 
“Thanks, babe, I love you.”
 
When they disconnected the phone, Jacob leaned over the steering wheel and sobbed with every ounce of energy he had in his body, no coherent thought, not even praying to God, just sobbing, his heart broken into a million pieces.
 
Emre rubbed Jacob’s back in silence. A dutiful friend who probably had a million questions. When Jacob’s crying had lessened marginally, Emre finally spoke. “Come on, man, switch me places so we can get you home to your wife.”
 
Those were the magic words that woke Jacob from his stupor, and he opened the car door to walk around the other side. Before he climbed into the passenger seat, he retched on the roadside, every emotion choking his body eliminating along with his lunch.
 
When he stood there with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily, completely spent, Emre called to him. “Here, man, have some water.”
 
Jacob grabbed the proffered water bottle and rinsed out his mouth, knowing the sooner he could get this over with, the sooner he could get home to Rachel.
 
“Thanks,” Jacob managed to whisper as he slipped into the passenger seat and clicked his seatbelt into place.
 
Emre pulled back onto the highway, only a little clunky with the manual transmission. He glanced over at Jacob a few times with a nervous expression. “Now you want to fess up about your twins?”
 
“I have three wives,” Jacob said without emotion. “And will be marrying the fourth in a few months.”
 
Emre whistled once but didn’t otherwise react. “Leah was your… first?”
 
“Rachel a week later,” Jacob said.
 
“Hence the two-week honeymoon,” Emre said. “Makes a little more sense. And the third?”
 
“Bilhah and I were married almost a month ago.”
 
“Five-day vacation to the Mediterranean?”
 
“We were married near her family’s home in Gaziantep and honeymooned on the Island of Cyprus.”
 
“Sounds exotic.” Emre nodded but without humor or teasing.
 
“It’s not like that at all,” Jacob said. “God has asked me to bring forth twelve sons who will multiply into a great nation, and one beautiful daughter.”
 
“Wow, that’s a lot of kids,” Emre said. “A lot of responsibility for one man.”
 
“God will provide the strength to endure the weight that has been placed on my shoulders. Rachel and I counsel daily, multiple times some days, and make many decisions together.”
 
“She’s kind of… your favorite,” Emre guessed. “Isn’t she?”
 
“Rachel is my queen and my true love. Leah is… oh, I love Leah almost as much as her sister. She and I have an incredibly passionate marriage.” Jacob smiled softly, feeling his cheeks warm. He cleared his throat. “Bilhah is a sweetheart. She’s so youthful and easy to please. Wrap her in pink snuggles and feed her chocolate and she’s in bliss.”
 
Emre chuckled. “And the fourth one?”
 
“Zilpah scares the crap out of me,” Jacob admitted with his eyebrows raised. “I’m afraid on our wedding night she’s going to handcuff me to the bed and do things to me that will have me on my knees begging for God’s forgiveness.”
 
Jacob and Emre both laughed lightly, and Emre finally settled down. “On that note, you promised your wives you’d pray all the way home, so you’d better get on it.”
 
“I’m mostly going to pray in silence if you don’t mind.” Jacob glanced over at his friend and confidant. “Much of what I need to talk to God about is too sacred for me to share.”
 
“Go right ahead, man,” Emre said. “I’ll just drive.”
 
“Thanks, man.” Jacob let himself drift into a meditative state and petitioned God for all the help he could get that day and going forward. God never promised this life was going to be easy, just that he would never walk alone.
​
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The wedding proceeded without a wrinkle, and Jacob did his best to be the doting groom, allowing Bilhah to drag him around and introduce him to everyone from her hometown.
 
He had the perfect excuse why his family and friends weren’t in attendance because everyone lived so far away. He kept telling people, “Today is not about me; it’s about my beautiful bride.” Then he would wrap his arm around Bilhah’s waist, kiss her temple, and turn the focus back onto her.
 
Most people immediately went back to gushing over her fancy princess gown, and her perfect hair and makeup, and the perfect ceremony, and the delectable catered meal.
 
He and Bilhah stayed at the wedding reception much longer than he had during Leah’s wedding because Jacob wasn’t that excited about heading upstairs to their hotel suite. After the spiritual evening he’d had the night before with Rachel, his suite almost felt too sacred to invite another woman into his bed, even if she was his wife.
 
Jacob worried that his wedding night with Bilhah would be the first time in his life he had any difficulty allowing his body to take over and give pleasure to his wife. He and Rachel had prayed about that as well, as strange as that seemed. He had confided his concerns to her, and she gave him some pointers on how he could best focus on Bilhah, and the rest should happen naturally. As he’d mentioned many times before, God made a man and woman’s body to come together and create babies, and that’s what tonight was about. The only reason Jacob was marrying Bilhah was because God was encouraging him to increase his flock.
 
Bilhah was easy to make happy. She almost had a checklist of what she wanted for her wedding day, right down to the wedding night. She asked her bridesmaids, led particularly by Zilpah, to go to their room a little while before the end of the reception and decorate Jacob’s suite with pink rose petals on the bed, and a lacy negligee, and lit candles and chocolates, so that when Jacob carried her over the threshold into their suite, the ambiance was just right.
 
He provided the proper superficial actions of feeding her chocolates and of kissing her neck and of telling her she looked beautiful in that pink lingerie and of saying sweet things to her about how soft her hair was and how her eyes gleamed in the candlelight and how elegant she had been at the altar. All the words he said were true, but Jacob almost felt as though he were lying because everything was so staged.
 
Still, he wanted to give her a wedding night she would remember as the best day of her life, and he kept reminding himself the words he’d spoken to others all evening. This was not about him; it was about his beautiful bride.
 
Bilhah fell asleep beside him with a dreamy smile on her face, and Jacob lay awake staring at the ceiling, wishing he could sneak across the hall to spend the night in Rachel’s arms.
 
After twenty minutes of Bilhah’s even breathing, he was certain she was fully asleep, and he slipped out of her bed and spent time on his knees on the bathroom floor, praying and crying, silently pouring out his heart to God, asking over and over if he was making the right decision. He wondered if God got sick of Jacob questioning his direction, but God patiently spoke peace to his heart. Jacob stopped feeling sorry for himself and started talking to God about each of the people he’d met that evening, calling them by name and blessing Bilhah’s family and friends with prosperity and health and comfort and that they would feel God’s love all around them.
 
Eventually, Jacob realized he was half asleep and had run out of names of people he’d met at the wedding. He snuck back into bed beside Bilhah, and when she rolled over to snuggle into his arms, he pulled her close, allowing God’s Spirit to rest upon their little marriage and give him comfort about his decisions.

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“Hey, Jacob, can I talk to you?” Bilhah called to him as he entered the resort’s lobby. He usually took a moment to stop and say hello to his girls in their offices on his way home from work, but that day, he basically smiled at them and waved, holding up the sack of groceries he was carrying.
 
“Sure. Wanna follow me? This is heavy.” The bag wasn’t actually heavy. He just wanted that as an excuse to dissuade rumors if any of the employees were close enough to hear. Once they got into the elevator, Jacob took her hand. “How’s your day been, sweetheart?”
 
“Um… good.” Bilhah looked down at their adjoined hands with an excited smile.
 
Jacob didn’t often touch her other than a quick hug once or twice a day, but he guessed the topic of this conversation. Although he’d already had confirmation from God that they would soon be planning their union, Jacob wasn’t expecting Bilhah’s pronouncement.
 
“I want a real wedding.” She bit her lower lip as if nervous.
 
The elevator door opened, and he dropped her hand just in case there were any people in the hallway. They walked in silence to the end of the hall without encountering anyone.
 
“Let me just tuck this bag of groceries into Rachel’s suite,” Jacob said, juggling his key card. There weren’t any perishables in the bag, so he left it on the kitchen counter and stepped back into the hall. Bilhah was already holding open the door to her suite, and he followed her inside. He said the first thing that came to his mind after seeing the decorations in her room. “That’s a lot of pink.”
 
“Yeah, pink’s my favorite color.” There were complimentary shades of pink on every surface, throw pillows on the white couch, a pink vase with pink flowers, kitchen utensils, wall art, and through the bedroom door, Jacob could see a pink comforter on the bed. “Anyway, can we sit down for a minute?” she asked.
 
He pushed aside several pink throw pillows and sat on the sofa, then turned to her and took her hand, wondering how best to address her declaration. There was no way they could keep this secret if she wanted a real wedding.
 
“I grew up in Gaziantep, which is over two hours away. Nobody from here knows me there and nobody from there knows me here. I want to get married there where I can invite my family and friends and wear a puffy, white dress and a tiara in my hair and have my father walk me down the aisle.”
 
“Let me guess, there would be pink rose petals strewn on that aisle and your bridesmaids would all be wearing pink gowns,” Jacob said, seeing her youthful vision.
 
“Exactly. See, you understand.” Bilhah nodded with excitement.
 
“This could work, sweetheart.” Jacob wanted to make every one of her dreams come true, even though they were somewhat juvenile and silly compared to the sacred nature of the vows they would take at the altar. “I need to see if I can get a few days off work so we can have a quick honeymoon.”
 
“Can we go to Cyprus for our honeymoon?” she asked, her eyes lighting up. “I’ve always wanted to visit Cyprus. We could walk the beach and pick up seashells and tour the shipwrecks.”
 
“I was just telling my father a few months ago that I’d like to make a trip over to Cyprus. That sounds like a lot of fun.”
 
“Oh! Thank you, Jacob!” Bilhah threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.
 
He laughed at her jubilance, wondering how he could possibly compare the sacred love he shared with Rachel or the fire he shared with Leah to this bubbly girl who suddenly seemed too young to get married. She wasn’t too young though. He knew she was twenty-two, but still. If he didn’t have firm confirmation from God that this was the right course for his life, he would doubt this decision.
 
Bilhah gushed with excitement almost too fast for him to keep up. “I’ll talk to my parents and arrange for a time when you can meet them and ask my father for my hand in marriage, and then we can set a wedding date, maybe a few months from now so we’ll have plenty of time to plan, and don’t worry, I’ll do all the planning. You won’t have to do a thing.”
 
“That’s really good, because I work long hours.” Thankfully, he added in his head.
 
“I know you do.” She said it as if she was excited for him to work long hours. “You’re such a hardworking man. I’m so honored that you’ve chosen me to be one of your wives.”
 
“Thank you, sweetheart.” He hugged her back, relieved she was happy.
 
“Just… don’t tell my father that you have two other wives, okay? He would freak out.”
 
Jacob gulped. “I’m sure the subject will never come up.” Although he wasn’t keen on lying, he was certain that no one in her family would ever think to ask. He would have to be very careful around Rachel and Leah to make sure he didn’t show them any outward affection during the wedding or anytime around Bilhah’s family.
 
What he didn’t realize at the time was that Zilpah would be a bigger problem.
 
Bilhah didn’t choose Rachel or Leah to be her bridesmaids. She made an excuse that Leah was going to be too pregnant by then and that she didn’t want to ask Rachel if she couldn’t ask her twin. She did have Zilpah as one of her bridesmaids and that made Jacob nervous.
 
Zilpah had taken to flirting with Jacob more in recent months, and she gave him butterflies. She was exotic and sultry and seemed to know the effect she had on him. He had no doubt that being married to her would be passion on steroids. That made him simultaneously nervous and excited. Jacob had a talk with her, together with Rachel and Leah, the day before the wedding after Zilpah winked at Jacob as she walked down the aisle at the rehearsal dinner.
 
“You cannot do that to me when I’m around Bilhah’s family,” he insisted. “Her parents think I’m an innocent minister or something even though I told them I work in agriculture irrigation.”
 
“Oh, please.” Zilpah scoffed. “Anyone who can’t see that you’re a prophet is blind. And you might want to avoid glancing at either of the twins tomorrow because you worship the ground Rachel walks on, and undress Leah with your eyes from across the room. There are reasons I can’t wait to be your wife, and it’s not just because you’re drop-dead gorgeous. Everything about you is sensual.”
 
Jacob’s jaw dropped, and Rachel and Leah were wide-eyed and speechless. He wasn’t even sure how to validate any one of the things Zilpah had said, much less address them collectively as a whole. “Uh…”
 
“I won’t flirt with you again. I promise,” Zilpah said, then mumbled under her breath. “Until you’re home from your honeymoon with Bilhah.”
 
Rachel grabbed Jacob’s hand and pulled him down the hall in the direction of his suite at the Grand Hotel Gaziantep where they were staying the night before the wedding. The reception the following day would be held downstairs in the ballroom. “You and I need to spend some time in prayer before you take vows with Bilhah tomorrow.”
 
“Don’t keep him up too late,” Zilpah called after them. “He’ll need his energy for tomorrow.”
 
When Jacob glanced back at where Zilpah stood in the hallway, he saw Leah smack Zilpah on the arm, chastising her.
 
“What has gotten into her?” Jacob asked Rachel once they were safely inside his suite.
 
“I think she is desperately jealous,” Rachel said. “Still, there was no excuse for that.”
 
“Thank you for getting me out of that incredibly uncomfortable conversation,” Jacob said, then looked Rachel firmly in the eye. “Are you sure we’re making the right decision here?”
 
“I’m not sure about anything right now.” Rachel paced in front of him, pulling at her hair. “All I know is that we need God’s direction and advice, and we certainly weren’t going to get that with Zilpah practically climbing on your lap.”
 
“Okay, that was a visual I did not need to see in my head.”
 
“Relax, once you’re married to her, you won’t need a visual. I have a feeling you will have an extremely fun wedding night.”
 
“Again, that’s not something I want to think about right now. I need to spend this night on my knees and sincerely ask God if I’m making the right decisions.”
 
“Trust me, you are,” Rachel said, tossing a couple pillows onto the floor. “I pray about this every day and get the same answer. Bilhah and Zilpah are each going to give you two sons.”
 
Jacob lowered himself to his knees in front of Rachel and chuckled. “That specific, huh? Which one of you is going to give me a daughter?”
 
“Leah,” Rachel said with a serene expression, and Jacob could tell there was something she wasn’t telling him.
 
“What about you?” Jacob whispered, worried she was going to tell him she would never be able to have children.
 
“Two sons,” she whispered back. She still seemed to be hiding something, but Jacob didn’t push the subject.
 
“Gee, guess Leah’s gonna have six children. Am I counting right?”
 
Rachel nodded.
 
“Is it true I undress her with my eyes?” Jacob cringed at the answer. At six months pregnant, Leah was as beautiful as she’d ever been, maybe more so. The fire between them hadn’t lessoned since the day they’d said their vows.
 
“Oh yeah, Zilpah was totally right about that. Don’t even so much as glance in Leah’s direction tomorrow.”
 
“Okay, then.” Jacob took Rachel’s hands gently in his. “Shall we pray?”
 
“Sure… I’ll get us started.” Rachel took a deep breath and let it out slowly then spoke with authority. “God… we need your help.”
​
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“Hey, man, how was your honeymoon?” Emre asked when Jacob walked into his office Monday morning. They gave each other a half hug handshake with a knowing grin.
 
“Absolute heaven on earth,” Jacob said.
 
“Did you guys go anywhere fun for your honeymoon?”
 
“We live at a hot springs resort, dude.” Jacob chuckled. “People come here for their honeymoons. Why would we want to go anywhere else?”
 
“I dunno. Get away from family drama?” Emre asked.
 
“We did have a fair amount of family drama,” Jacob acknowledged. “Identical twins tend to be joined at the hip and that doesn’t make for an easy honeymoon.”
 
“Dude, I don’t know how you can tell them apart. Thank goodness for the white dress or I wouldn’t have been able to discern which one was your bride at the wedding.”
 
Jacob wasn’t about to tell Emre they were both his wives. But he addressed the underlying notion. “They are nothing alike, man. Leah’s eyes are softer, but she’s a lot less religious. Rachel loves to pray almost as much as I do, but she’s fiery and snarky.”
 
“I thought Leah was your wife…”
 
“She is…”
 
“You talk about Rachel as if you’re in love with her.”
 
Stammering, Jacob wasn’t sure what to say to his friend’s spot-on observation. He decided to make a joke. “I’m gonna tell her you said that.” He pushed Emre’s shoulder jokingly. “She’ll get a kick out of that.”
 
“You’re not doing a little triangle thing, are you?” Emre wiggled his eyebrows mischievously. “King-size bed, one twin on each side? Huh?”
 
“I am a man of God.” Jacob wiped the humor from his face. “Lovemaking between a man and his wife is not meant to be cheapened in such a way.”
 
“Hey, man, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” Emre tucked his hands in the pockets of his slacks and took a step back.
 
“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get upset. I forget that not everyone sees visions from God and hears his voice constantly.”
 
Over the course of the several months they’d known each other, Jacob had confided in Emre about his spiritual connection and conversations. He’d had to address the subject after the third time Jacob made a declarative statement out loud when there were no other people in the room besides Emre.
 
“Anyway, I probably have a ton of emails in my inbox, and I’m meeting with the engineers up at the Karakaya Dam in a few days. It’s the oldest dam in the system, and we’ll be planning some repairs.”
 
“Yeah, they’ve already set up the meeting for that one,” Emre said, heading for his desk, which was only twenty feet away from Jacob’s. “You’ll find the details in an email from last Friday, I think. We can ride up there together if you’re willing to drive the convertible.”
 
“Oh, can we?” Jacob laughed. “I think that can be arranged.” All tension from their uncomfortable conversation was broken after that, and they both buckled down on work, Emre helping Jacob get caught up with everything he’d missed.
 
Jacob had the distinct impression that Emre would eventually figure things out, but now was not the time to address the issues.
 
They had several more occurrences over the next few months when Jacob almost slipped.
 
One evening, Jacob received the strangest and happiest news of his life in the same conversation at dinner.
 
Zilpah smirked across the table at Jacob and said something that almost made him choke on his food. “You do realize women who spend every day together, like we do”—she looked around at the other girls—“have their monthly cycles synchronized. You’re going to have to deal with four women who all have PMS at the same time.”
 
“That… is not information I had ever considered.” Jacob dabbed at his mouth with the cloth napkin that had rested on his lap. “Good thing I kept my own apartment, right?” he joked.
 
“Yeah, I started this morning,” Bilhah said as if the subject wasn’t the most awkward thing a man ever had to discuss.
 
“I started last night.” Zilpah took a drink of her ice water and glanced at each of the twins.
 
Rachel lowered her gaze and set her fork aside.
 
Leah lifted her chin with confidence. “Now would be as good a time as any to announce that I suspect I’m pregnant.”
 
“You’re kidding?” Jacob almost jumped out of his seat. “Why didn’t you say anything?” He glanced down at her middle, then back up at her eyes, wanting desperately to take her into his arms and kiss her enthusiastically in congratulations and excitement. He tried not to do things like that when they were all together in hopes not to hurt any feelings. But this was too much. He reached for Leah’s hand and squeezed almost too hard in his excitement.
 
“Yeah, this would have been my second missed period.” Leah shrugged. “Guess I should go buy a pregnancy test, huh?”
 
“Excuse me,” Rachel said quietly and stood from the table, dropping her napkin on her unfinished dinner. “I’m not feeling well. I think I’ll retire early tonight.” She started to walk away, but Jacob also stood and left the table.
 
Jacob paused to say goodbye to the girls, leaned over to kiss Leah quickly on the lips and told her, “You and I need to talk later.” Then he hurried after Rachel, calling to her before she reached the elevator.
 
As they rode the lift up to the penthouse suites, he pulled her into his arms. “What’s wrong, my love?”
 
“I had hoped,” she choked out. “Guess it’s not meant to be yet.”
 
“Hey, we’ve only been married a few weeks.” He smoothed her hair away from her face and lifted her chin to look up at him. “These things take time.”
 
“I should have known Leah would be your first.” The elevator door opened on their floor, and Rachel almost stormed into the hallway. “She got to be your first at everything else. Why not your first baby?” She strode down the hall, and he hurried after her.
 
“Darling, I’m sorry,” Jacob said. “We’ll keep trying.” They reached her suite, and he used his key to let them in.
 
“Well, we can’t try tonight.” She pushed past him. “Or tomorrow, or the next day, and maybe several days after that. So you might as well go sleep with your other wife and celebrate with her.”
 
“I’m not leaving you tonight, my love,” Jacob said. “Sometimes celebrations need to be set aside in times of mourning.”
 
“It’s not like I had a miscarriage.” She rolled her eyes. “I just started my period. No big deal. Happens every month from now until menopause.”
 
“No, only from now until we get pregnant,” Jacob said, pulling her into his arms. “And we will, soon, I promise.”
 
“You don’t know that for certain.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his shoulders. “But I guess we’ll have fun trying, right?”
 
“Right.” He kissed the top of her head. “What do you say we do something fun tonight like pop some popcorn and gorge on M&M’s while we watch a funny movie or something?”
 
“I am still hungry from not finishing my dinner,” Rachel said. “And women crave chocolate this time of the month.”
 
“Cool. You choose the movie, and I’ll stick a bag of popcorn in the microwave.”
 
“Okay.” She pulled away from him, but Jacob snagged her close again and kissed her long and hard.
 
Later, when Rachel was getting ready for bed, Jacob took a moment to send a text to Leah.
 
Congratulations! I can’t wait to celebrate with you! We’ll talk tomorrow. Love you, babe.
 
Love you too, Leah’s return text read. Miss you.
 
Miss you too. He set his phone aside as Rachel emerged from the bathroom in comfortable pajamas.
 
As he brushed his teeth and changed into a pair of sweats, Jacob realized this was the first night since he’d gotten married that he wouldn’t be making love to his wife. He also realized he hadn’t taken the time to speak with God since he’d heard the news that he was going to be a father.
 
Not waiting until he was with Rachel and the welcome addition of a prayer pillow, Jacob knelt on the cold, hard floor in the bathroom and whispered, “Thank you God for the great blessing of a child growing inside my wife Leah. I am honored to have the opportunity to be a father. Please comfort my wife Rachel as she is mourning the loss of hope she had to become a mother. We have faith this will happen in your time, and we will be patient. I promise.”
 
When he left the bathroom, he found Rachel already in bed curled under the covers. Without another word, Jacob climbed in and wrapped her in the cocoon of his arms, treasuring the chance to comfort her. He knew he’d made the right decision to stay with her that night.
 
The following morning, Jacob excitedly told Emre that Leah was pregnant. He fought the urge to tell him that Rachel was not.

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​
​“How dare you.” Rachel stood at the door to Jacob’s apartment the day after he’d made the stupid choice to leave her five days into their honeymoon to spend the night with her sister.
 
He had decided to take a shower while he was in his apartment packing a few items he wanted to take to Rachel’s suite, so he stood before her soaking wet, wearing only a pair of sweatpants he’d pulled on quickly when he heard knocking at the door.
 
Rachel pushed past him and stormed into his living room, leaving Jacob standing by the open door, which he closed behind her. “Leah had seven days with you. Seven! And I get five? Not even five! Four! Four whole days.” Rachel approached Jacob and shoved him, hard. “That’s not a honeymoon. It’s a long weekend. Barely.”
 
“It’s not a competition, Rachel.” He didn’t try to take her in his arms or appease her in any way. He followed the nonverbal cues of her fiery eyes and clenched fists. He really didn’t want to be on the receiving end of one of those fists. “Darling, you knew this wasn’t going to be easy.”
 
“Easy?” She raised her eyebrows. “Easy would have been seven days together before you had to go back to work. Easy would have been knowing you wanted to be in my arms and in my bed for the duration of our honeymoon. Easy is not receiving a text at three o’clock in the afternoon announcing that you’re spending the night with my sister. Easy is not the obvious realization that at three o’clock in the afternoon you aren’t sleeping with my sister.” She actually held up air quotes.
 
“I’m sorry,” he choked out, knowing there was nothing he could possibly say to make this situation any better.
 
“You’re sorry?” She raised her eyebrows. “I don’t think you even know what that means. I don’t think you know what you want, or who you want to be with, or where you want to go. I don’t think you know where your relationship with God is right now. If you want to apologize to anyone, say you’re sorry to God.”
 
“God knows that I am doing what he wants me to do,” Jacob said. “I am trying to follow his plan for me, for us. This is what you saw in your vision. Remember? This life. This situation. This family. We can’t all get what we want at the same time. I can’t be in two places at once.”
 
“I’m not asking that of you.” Rachel’s voice softened a little. “All I want is the same things she got.”
 
“That was never possible, Rachel. You knew that going into this.” Jacob took a tentative step forward, still not reaching for her, afraid she would run away and never look back. “I gave Leah everything I had. You asked me to do that, remember? You insisted I give myself to her. And not pretend it was you. And I did as you asked. And now it’s too late. I am in love with your sister. More than I ever thought I would be. Not just the superficial love that presents itself when one is forced to do something they don’t want to do. The deep, lasting, forever kind of love. My love for her is almost as strong as my love for you.”
 
“Almost?” Rachel’s lip was quivering, and Jacob could tell she was barely holding herself together.
 
“Come here, darling.” He pulled her into his arms, and she rested her cheek against his bare chest, which was still clammy from his shower. “We made this decision together, and we’re going to get through it together. There is nothing on this earth that I want more than your happiness and Leah’s happiness, and Bilhah and Zilpah’s happiness. You are my life. You are my reason for living.”
 
“You’re my reason for living too,” Rachel said softly. “I don’t like this contention between us.”
 
“Me neither.” Jacob leaned down and kissed the top of Rachel’s head. “What do you say we do something fun today? Like put the top down on the convertible and go for a drive. Feel the wind in our hair and the sun on our shoulders and get away for a few hours.”
 
“I would really like that.” Rachel pulled back and smiled up at Jacob. “Maybe we could go to dinner together somewhere far away from here where no one knows us and we don’t have to pretend we’re not married.”
 
“I like that idea.” Jacob kissed the tip of Rachel’s nose. “Let me finish getting dressed. Do you need anything from your suite?”
 
“No,” she insisted. “I don’t even want to go back over to that side of the resort right now.”
 
“How about we stay here in my apartment tonight?” he suggested. “Far from anyone else.”
 
“That sounds perfect,” she agreed.
 
If only he could find a way to give her perfect.

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After four days of long naps, sensual bubble baths, and cooking simple meals together, Jacob and Rachel chose to have dinner with her sisters. Although not as awkward as the first meal they’d had together after his wedding with Leah, there was still an undeniable tension around the table.
 
The prior week, Leah had been his bride and main focus. This time Rachel was his bride, but Leah was also his wife. Jacob felt an overwhelming pull toward Leah and wondered how he’d not missed her these past few days. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her until neither of them could see straight.
 
Technically, he and Rachel were still on their honeymoon. He’d taken two full weeks off work, although no one at his job realized he’d had two weddings during that time. Not even his parents knew. Other than the five of them, only the twins’ father knew. Their mother had died when they were very young.
 
As far as the resort staff, the restaurant servers, and all their friends and family were aware, Jacob was married to Leah. Period. End of story.
 
And yet, this was only the beginning of their story. They weren’t sure how far into the future he would marry Bilhah and then Zilpah, because they were waiting for directions from God.
 
They had decided to move the girls up into their own suites on the same floor in the same wing of the resort so that the four of them monopolized their own little penthouse corner.
 
Eventually, Jacob would have to be selective where he spent the majority of his time. He had the distinct impression that he’d be choosing Rachel’s suite more often than not. He sensed that may cause contention. He wasn’t prepared for how quickly conflict would occur.
 
Five days after his wedding to Rachel, he left her suite with the intention of returning to his own apartment and packing a few belongings when he was startled by Leah opening the door to her suite. She had her purse strap over her shoulder and her car keys in her hand.
 
For a few seconds, they stared at each other, then looked around and found themselves alone in the hallway. They hadn’t been alone together since he’d left her bed the day before his wedding to Rachel.
 
“Hey, babe, how are you?” Jacob cleared his throat and stepped closer to Leah. She seemed at a loss for words, and he waited several seconds for her to answer. “Are you okay—?” His question was cut short by Leah pulling him to her and pressing her lips to his.
 
Leah had her door fully opened faster than Jacob knew what hit him and slammed the door behind them just as fast. She tossed her purse and keys on the floor as Jacob tugged Leah’s shirt over her head. In between kisses, they left a trail of clothing items into the bedroom, but they didn’t make it all the way to the bed. The plush carpet was plenty comfortable under the circumstances.
 
Afterward, they lay on the floor beside each other and stared at the ceiling. Out of breath, Leah turned to Jacob with glassy eyes. “Dang, I missed you.”
 
“I never would have guessed.” He chuckled and held her gaze for a long moment. “Missed you too.”
 
“This is crazy,” Leah said. “I can barely sleep. Going to my office is nearly impossible. I can’t even think about what you’re doing with my sister. This isn’t fair. I understand it’s part of some grander plan, but I don’t care about that. I just want you in my arms.”
 
“I’m sorry.” He gulped. There was nothing more he could say. He couldn’t pretend he wasn’t happy being married to Rachel. He couldn’t promise Leah anything beyond this moment. He wasn’t even supposed to be here with her. He was supposed to be packing a few things at his apartment and then returning to his wife. Well… his other wife.
 
Leah was right. This wasn’t fair. Nothing about this was fair. But life wasn’t fair and sometimes sacrifices had to be made for the greater good.
 
Suddenly questioning everything about this plan, Jacob felt tears spring to his eyes and found Leah was crying also. He pulled her into his arms and held her as she cried. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay, babe. I love you.”
 
“I don’t want to be alone anymore,” she sobbed. “I don’t want to live without you.”
 
“You have me. I’m right here. I’m with you.”
 
“But you’re not here, and you’re not with me, and I don’t have you.”
 
“How about if I stay with you tonight,” he asked, pulling back and drying her tears with his thumbs. “Would that help?”
 
Leah nodded with sad eyes and pouting lips.
 
Jacob couldn’t deny her anything if he tried. He scrambled away from her and found his slacks on the living room floor. He pulled his cellphone from the pocket and typed out a quick text to Rachel. Staying with Leah tonight. Didn’t want you to worry. Love you.
 
Then he dropped his phone on the floor, scooped Leah into his arms, and carried her to their bed.
​
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“I got something for you!” Rachel’s tone conveyed more excitement than Jacob had seen in weeks, maybe months.
 
“A key to your suite?” he joked as she used hers to let them into the main living area. Each of the suites looked pretty much the same other than individualized decorations, which caught Jacob’s attention the minute he stepped in the door.
 
Leah’s suite, where he had spent the past week, was decorated in elegant neutral tones of beige and creamy whites and accented with gray. Rachel’s had color. Although the walls were mostly white, they were adorned with artwork. A theme of forest green and violet seemed to dominate.
 
“Got you one of those too.” She winked at him and held up an electronic key card that had been lying on the table beside the door. A gilded mirror hung above the table just like the one in his apartment, and he caught their reflection. Momentarily distracted, he stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his head on her shoulder and meeting her gaze in the mirror.
 
“Look at that beautiful bride.” Jacob couldn’t take his eyes off Rachel. Her white dress was simple and understated, form fitting and embroidered. With her hair swept up into curls and wrapped around a wide band of gold, she looked like a queen. “I’m honored to be your husband,” he whispered.
 
“I’m honored to be your wife.” She smiled softly through the mirror, then her features grew more animated, and she wiggled her eyebrows at him. “Now, do you want to see your gift or not?”
 
“Yes, show me my gift.” He unwrapped himself and stepped away.
 
“Come on, it’s in here.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the bedroom. He willingly followed. Rachel picked up two forest-green throw pillows from on top of the thick, violet comforter and handed one to him. “That’s for you.”
 
“Uh…” He held the pillow in his hand, and she kept the other one hugged to her chest, smiling at him as if she’d given him the most valuable wedding present she could think to buy. “Thank you?”
 
“It’s a prayer pillow.” Her eyes shone with the excitement of a child. “For your knees… well, for our knees. One for you, and one for me.” She held out the one she had clutched to her chest.
 
“You got me a…” Jacob was dumbfounded and in awe of this incredible woman he was fortunate enough to have married. He was reminded of the vision he’d had the first time they’d prayed together of the two of them kneeling in prayer just before climbing into bed together. “Oh, my love. I don’t know what to say.”
 
“You will.” She reached for his hand, pulling him closer, and flopped her pillow onto the floor beside the bed, then pulled his out of his hands as he stood there in shock. Placing his beside hers, she lowered to her knees and tugged on his hand, encouraging him to kneel with her. “You always know what to say when you’re talking to God.”
 
Jacob knelt on the pillow, facing her, and held both of her hands in his. “How could I ever ask God for another gift for the rest of my life when he has already given me you?”
 
“How about if you ask him to bless our marriage?” Rachel asked with an expectant smile.
 
“I suppose that’s a good place to start.” It took Jacob a minute to release her gaze and bow his head, but finally he did, then took a deep breath and spoke from his heart. “Father, this day you have granted me and Rachel a gift beyond that which I ever could have imagined in all my life. Nothing on this earth could possibly compare to your glory and yet this comes closer than anything I’ve ever experienced.”
 
Part of Jacob’s heart was broken that he couldn’t have shared his whole self with her just as she was sharing her whole self with him, but he forced himself to remember that this was part of God’s plan, and they were following his direction. He continued.
 
“Thank you for this righteous woman whom you have given to me in marriage. Help me to be worthy of her love and trust and devotion. Help me to be the spiritual leader and head of her household that you have called me to be. Give me the gift of discernment of how best to guide our family unto you.” Jacob paused and took a deep, shaky breath, then closed his heartfelt prayer. “At this time, Father, we ask that you bless our marriage with love and happiness and if it be your will that we might bring forth your children. We devote this night unto you. Amen.”
 
“Amen,” Rachel echoed.
 
When Jacob opened his eyes, he was met with happy tears streaking his wife’s cheeks and the Spirit of God was wrapped so closely around them that there was almost a physical pull to join himself with her.
 
They had yet to kiss one another. For some reason that hadn’t been part of their solemn ceremony before her father and sisters. Something about the moment just didn’t feel right, as if kissing Rachel in front of Leah would somehow cheapen the moment.
 
This was the right time and place, kneeling together before the one witness who watched their every move, heard their every thought, and directed their path in life. Jacob leaned closer, and Rachel met him halfway across the distance, pressing her lips to his in one simple, quick kiss. There was no desire behind the gesture. It was almost more of a sealing of the blessing they’d just received.
 
After pushing himself off the floor, Jacob helped Rachel to her feet, then wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close.
 
He lifted his hands and cradled her face before lowering his lips to hers for a more loving kiss than they’d shared after their prayer, still restrained and tentative, as if he wanted to savor the touch and make every moment count with her from now until eternity.
 
Turning Rachel around, he began gently pulling hair pins from around the band of gold that acted as a crown until long ringlets draped over her shoulders. He pulled them aside and kissed her neck before reaching for the zipper of her dress. Slowly, savoring each click of the tines, he lowered the zipper, relishing the opportunity to touch her bare back before sliding the heavy satin over her shoulders and letting it fall to the floor.
 
As he stood behind her, occasionally kissing her neck and cheeks, Jacob unfastened his own buttons and removed his clothing, never turning her around until they were both completely vulnerable for one another, nothing between them.
 
Without allowing his eyes to roam over the beautiful figure he knew stood before him, Jacob pushed aside the comforter and sheets and lifted his bride into his arms, placing her gently onto the bed and tucking himself in beside her. They pulled the sheets and blankets around themselves and held each other in the dark, skin to skin.
 
Their lovemaking was an extension of their prayer.
​
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Before you read this chapter (and the rest of the book):
First Prince of Israel is a modern-day scriptural retelling of the Old Testament prophet Jacob, father of the twelve tribes of Israel. I am in no way advocating the practice of marrying more than one person at the same time. The prophet Jacob was asked by God to have twelve sons (and a daughter) and his twelve sons are well documented in history as having filled the earth with multitudes of people. This can be proven by genetic testing and actual historical records. My story is fiction and takes place in modern-day Turkey, in the Paddan Aram area just north of the Syrian border. The hot springs resort where they live actually exists, and it’s beautiful. The characters are fictional, and I’ve taken extreme artistic liberty in telling this story. I’m pretty sure the ancient prophet didn’t have a cell phone or a fancy Mercedes convertible. With all that in mind, enjoy the story!
 
Joining the land of the living wasn’t as easy as Jacob had hoped. He almost couldn’t look Rachel in the eye at first. As he gave a quick hug to the other girls, Leah and Rachel held each other for a long moment in the kind of embrace that only twin sisters can pull off.
 
Then Rachel left her sister and wrapped her arms around Jacob. He forgot himself briefly by holding her a second too long and then kissing the top of her head. Leah pursed her lips together, then plastered on a fake smile while hugging Zilpah and Bilhah.
 
Jacob held out the chair for his wife as the other three girls found their own seats, then he took his place at the head of the table. Small talk was understandably strained as they discussed menu options and gave their orders to the server.
 
Finally, the five of them were alone at their usual table tucked discreetly into a corner of the restaurant. Jacob didn’t waste a second after the server was out of earshot.
 
“Rachel, should I assume you have not spoken with your sisters about your vision?”
 
“No, my love, I have not.” Rachel nodded respectfully. None of them blinked an eye at Jacob referring to the girls collectively as Rachel’s sisters, nor at her calling him my love. If any of them noticed, their faces didn’t give away any shock.
 
Glancing first at Zilpah and then at Bilhah, Jacob cleared his throat. “We have something we need to tell you.” Without going any further, Jacob reached for Leah’s hand and took Rachel’s hand with his other. Without preamble he spoke with confidence. “Next week I’m taking Rachel as my second wife.”
 
“I knew it!” Bilhah exclaimed with jubilance. “I knew there had to be more to this arrangement than you guys were letting on. I mean, I thought it would be Rachel first and then Leah, but whatever. I guess Leah is oldest, right?”
 
Zilpah met Jacob’s gaze across the table, her exotic greenish gold eyes smoldering. “I’m last, aren’t I?”
 
Bilhah stopped talking and glanced over at her. “Last?”
 
Zilpah turned to her friend with surprise. “Oh, come on, you had a hunch about Rachel. Don’t tell me you didn’t think you were next and lastly me.”
 
“What makes you think you’re last?” Jacob asked, embarrassed by how sultry his words sounded, even to his own ears.
 
Zilpah shrugged with forced nonchalance. “Just a hunch.”
 
“I’ll make it worth the wait, I promise,” Jacob whispered.
 
“I have no doubt,” Zilpah whispered. Electricity zinged across the table between them, as they held each other’s gazes.
 
“Anyway, gosh, will you look at the time?” Leah said, clearing her throat. “The food should be here any second. Maybe we could talk about something else now.”
 
“I’m still a little bit confused,” Bilhah said with youthful innocence. “Are you having another wedding next week?”
 
“Just a brief solemn ceremony with the five of us and our father,” Rachel said, giving Jacob’s hand a gentle squeeze. “That, and God’s blessing, are really all we need.”
 
“Is that, like, legal?” Bilhah asked. “I mean, I know Muslims often take more than one wife, but does the Turkish government recognize that as a legal wedding?”
 
“I’m an Israeli citizen,” Jacob noted, “but God’s laws supersede all government jurisdictions, and He is who is asking us to enter into this union.”
 
“Because you had a vision or something?” Bilhah asked.
 
“I had the vision, actually,” Rachel said. “Jacob needed God to smack him upside the head to get him to understand.” They all chuckled.
 
“The vision I had the following day wasn’t quite a smack on the side of the head.” Jacob cleared his throat and took himself back to that moment when he saw his wives and posterity laid out before his eyes as if they were standing in front of him. He glanced at Rachel and touched the side of her face. “But, yeah, I needed God to show me the vision before I could believe. And for that I am truly sorry.”
 
“Leah, did you believe your sister right away?” Bilhah asked, still with creased brows and a confused daze.
 
“Without question,” Leah said, smiling across the table at her twin. “And I didn’t need a separate vision from God like my doubting husband.” She pushed Jacob’s shoulder playfully, and he took the opportunity to pull her hand to his lips and kiss her knuckles. Then he winked at her subtly and recognized his own hunger reflecting back in her eyes.
 
“Who had the vegan chee kerfte?” the server asked, breaking the spell and interrupting their conversation.
 
“That would be me,” Zilpah said, holding up her hand and sitting back for the server to place the dish in front of her.
 
The tension at the table dissipated as the servers brought out lamb kabobs and rice and stuffing and baked eggplant. Before any of them lifted a fork, they held hands around the table, and Jacob spoke a heartfelt prayer, asking God to bless their food and their little family.
 
Conversation was easy around the table as they enjoyed dinner together, and then they gave each other hugs at the conclusion of the meal and went their separate ways.
 
Jacob and Leah kissed all the way up the elevator again and only made it as far as the sofa in the living room before they were in each other’s arms.
 
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“Babe, we need to talk,” Jacob whispered, holding Leah in his arms while drawing lazy circles on her bare stomach. Neither of them had any desire to move or breathe or pull blankets or sheets up around their bodies. After four incredible days of making love, there wasn’t an inch of each other’s bodies they hadn’t explored nor wanted to conceal.
 
“Honeymoon’s over already?” she teased.
 
“Definitely not,” Jacob said in a husky voice, then kissed the top of her head and pulled her a little closer. “But we need to get dressed temporarily and go have dinner with your sisters.”
 
“Clothing is so overrated,” Leah drawled. “I’ll just stay here, and you go talk to them.”
 
“Do you really want to let me out of your sight while I go have a romantic dinner with three other women?”
 
“On second thought, where are my clothes?” She halfheartedly tried to scramble out of Jacob’s arms, but he pulled her back and rolled her over so that he was looking down into her gleaming eyes.
 
“Dang, you’re gorgeous,” Jacob said with conviction. “How the heck did I get so lucky to be married to you?”
 
“I dunno, ask my sister?” Leah joked.
 
“Very funny.”
 
“I thought so.” She reached up for a tiny peck, then laid her head back on the pillow. “But back to why you’re making me get out of bed long enough for a meal with the girls.”
 
“We haven’t told them anything yet,” he reminded her. “Like, anything.”
 
“Hadn’t thought of that.” She sighed. “Yeah, I guess that warrants a trip to the dining room.”
 
“Rachel and I talked before the wedding about just telling the girls about her and me getting married and not going into any further details.”
 
“You don’t think they’re ready?” Leah lifted her eyebrows.
 
“What do you think?”
 
“I dunno, I mean, I think they’d agree willingly.”
 
“That’s kind of what your sister thinks too.” Jacob brushed the strands of hair away from Leah’s face. “Maybe we should play it by ear. See how they react to the news that I’m marrying Rachel.”
 
“Sounds like a good idea.” Leah nodded. “I’ll follow your lead on that.”
 
“Thank you.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Want to take a shower with me?”
 
“Uh, yeah.” There was an underlying duh at the end of Leah’s answer.
 
As they were moving to get out of bed, Jacob realized what a complete mess their suite had become. They’d dismissed maid service since the wedding, ordered room service so many times that there were stacks of trays and dishes lying around, and clothes strewn everywhere.
 
Leah’s wedding dress was still on the floor in a crumbled mess of white lace that had been kicked into the corner, Jacob’s suit pants still had the belt in the belt loops and was in a similar pile on the other side of the room, and yoga pants and hoodies and underwear were strewn about.
 
Every time they tried to get dressed and do something other than make love, their clothes didn’t stay on longer than it took to eat a meal or lie on the coach and talk. The television may as well have been a decoration on the wall, and Jacob couldn’t recite any current events happening in the world.
 
“Maybe we should clean up a little first,” he suggested. “And call for maid service while we’re at dinner.”
 
“Sounds like a good idea.” Leah started gathering articles of clothing as she was heading toward the bathroom. “I have a hamper in here if you want anything sent to the laundry.”
 
“I don’t think I’ve had any of these clothes on long enough to call them dirty.” Jacob held up his favorite sweatshirt, noting that he couldn’t even remember wearing it, or taking it off for that matter. “Do we have to dress nicely for dinner?”
 
He answered his own rhetorical question by heading to his suitcase and digging out a pair of slacks and button-down shirt. He folded his hoodie and athletic shorts, tucking them back into the suitcase as if they hadn’t been lying on the floor for who knows how long.
 
“Do you have any idea where my cell phone is?” Jacob asked, turning around and glancing at any surface within his view.
 
“It’s here on the floor in the bathroom,” Leah called from where she was starting the shower.
 
“What a strange place to leave it.” Jacob couldn’t remember when he’d last held it in his hands. He grabbed his charger, took it with him into the bathroom, and plugged in his phone before joining his wife in the shower.
 
He had the honor of helping Leah wash her hair, then they got so distracted that they ended up back in bed, soaking wet. A little while later, Jacob lay on his pillow with the afternoon sun streaking shadows across his face and chuckled. “I think I need another shower before dinner.”
 
“Tell you what.” Leah rolled over and propped herself on one elbow. “You take a shower, and I’ll call down to arrange for maid service.”
 
“Sounds good,” Jacob said. “I’ll send a text to your sister, asking if she can gather everyone together for dinner.”
 
“Mm-kay.” Leah closed the distance between them and kissed Jacob lightly on his lips, then whispered, “I love you.”
 
“I love you too, babe.” He forced himself to get out of bed and headed for the bathroom where he found his phone and typed out a quick text. Hello, darling, could you gather Bilhah and Zilpah and meet us for dinner this evening?
 
A reply came back almost immediately with one word, Yep.
 
Jacob could almost picture Rachel’s tight-lipped response, and he chuckled. She didn’t seem happy, but there wasn’t much he could do about that now. He’d make it up to her later.
 
He turned on the hot water and climbed in the shower with a soft smile, knowing that in less than an hour he would hold Rachel’s hand as he sat between her and her sister and prayed over their meal together.
 
It was in that moment that Jacob realized he hadn’t taken the time to speak with God in days. Oops, sorry.
 
A warmth flowed through Jacob’s heart, and he knew God had never been more proud of him. Prayer and devotion didn’t always involve words. God had been witness to Jacob’s every move since the last time they’d talked on the sofa in his apartment while holding Rachel’s hands.
 
Resting the side of his head against the shower wall, Jacob closed his eyes and let God’s Spirit pour down upon him, cleansing him symbolically as the water and steam cleansed his flesh. His tiny, whispered prayer contained everything God needed to hear in that moment. “Thank you.”
​
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Jacob had been completely off base when he was concerned that he’d be tempted to think of Rachel when he was taking his vows with Leah. The minute he saw Leah in her wedding dress, nothing else in the world could have pulled his eyes away. She was elegance wrapped in beauty wrapped in cinnamon wrapped in white lace. Leah was everything Jacob could ever want in a wife, and in that moment, he was entirely and unequivocally in love with her and her alone.
 
The soft blush on Leah’s cheeks, and the way she couldn’t take her eyes off Jacob told him that she was every bit as entranced by him as he was by her. No outside observer would ever question that they hadn’t fallen in love at first sight and committed their lives to one another without hesitation. And there ended up being quite a few outside observers.
 
Wedding planning had gotten out of hand, even with short notice and only a few weeks from the date of the proposal. One could not marry the daughter of a prominent business owner without inviting most of the employees at the resort. Only a few of Jacob’s new co-workers came to the wedding, with his friend Emre acting as his sole groomsman.
 
Leah, of course, had three bridesmaids—her twin sister, plus Bilhah and Zilpah—all dressed in those same regal violet evening gowns. Jacob had been momentarily distracted by each one of them when they’d walked down the aisle carrying matching bouquets. They held his gaze exclusively as they approached him, and he met them with a love and devotion he hadn’t realized existed in his heart. These were his princesses, and they didn’t even know it yet. Then his queen approached with more serenity than he would have thought possible, and then his bride.
 
And that’s when Jacob lost all train of thought. There was nothing lustful about the overwhelming excitement he felt at the thought of spending the night in Leah’s arms. There was nothing impure or visceral or even physical about his desire for Leah. God had intended for her to be his bride, his wife, his first kiss, his first partner, his first child bearer. She was his and he was hers, and he couldn’t say his vows quickly enough.
 
Jacob was tempted to carry Leah from the chapel and straight upstairs to her penthouse suite but knew they still had dinner and dancing and photographs and well-wishers shaking his hand and offering congratulations. His parents had driven up from Be’er Sheva, his grandfather from Bethel, numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and friends from high school and college. All he wanted was to be alone with his bride.
 
Thankfully, the wedding planner was efficient in moving the evening from one element to the next, and finally she announced the cutting of the cake. Jacob knew that once the cake was distributed, he and Leah had permission to disappear. They smeared cake on each other’s faces during the photos and spent the entire ride up the elevator kissing frosting off one another.
 
They kicked the door to their suite shut while simultaneously slipping off their shoes. Leah pulled Jacob’s suit coat off and started working on the buttons on his shirt. Jacob barely stopped his kisses as he backed her toward the bedroom, his hands wandering all over the outside of her dress, ignoring any need to remove the fabric from her incredible body.
 
After falling onto the bed with most of their clothes still on, they spent countless moments between kisses gradually removing layers. Never thinking about the magnitude of their actions or the complete submission to their desires, they came together with desire and hunger and need.
 
Jacob whispered Leah’s name many times that night as a soft caress into her ear, cried her name in passionate release, and told her over and over with his words and with his body how much he loved her.
 
And he thought of little else for several days.
 
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“Jacob? May I have a word with you?” The tentative voice of the woman knocking on his door was not his bride, so he didn’t hesitate to open the door for her sister.
 
He’d been nervously pacing by the door of his apartment, checking and rechecking his appearance in the mirror, straightening his tie, pulling nervously at his cufflinks, emotions warring within his stomach. A distraction was a welcome addition to his afternoon.
 
Rachel stood at his doorway in a royal violet floor-length gown that hugged her curves and made him question the vows he was to make one hour from now. He gulped as she pushed gently past him into his living room.
 
“I’m sorry to barge in like this,” Rachel said with regret and apprehension.
 
“You’re always welcome, darling,” Jacob said with an equal amount of regret but no apprehension.
 
“No, Jacob, for the next week, I am not welcome in your home, nor should I be.”
 
“I’m really not looking forward to going a week without seeing you,” he said through gritted teeth.
 
“I’m sure you’ll be sufficiently distracted.” Her sarcasm and frustration flashed through her statement, and she looked down at the suitcase by the door.
 
A concierge was planning to move some of Jacob’s belongings over to Leah’s suite in a little while, but Jacob was keeping his apartment for the time being. Knowing that in a week, he’d be spending half his time with Leah and half his time with Rachel, there seemed some logic to him having a space to himself where he could come to decompress and pray or meditate or just lounge around without needing to fill every empty space with conversation.
 
Men needed time alone, and Jacob especially since he spent so much of his day conversing with God. Some conversations were more private than others and he needed the freedom to have those conversations without anyone else involved.
 
Jacob didn’t validate Rachel’s snarky comment, just waited for her to speak again.
 
She lifted her shoulders and then sighed with what could only be described as unwelcome surrender to the inevitable. Jacob couldn’t help pulling her into his arms and just holding her for a moment. She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. They didn’t speak for a moment, and then she whispered, “I’m gonna miss you too.”
 
“It’s only a week, my love.” He pulled back and raised his hands to smooth her hair back from her face. She kept her arms around his waist but looked up at him with sad eyes.
 
“It might as well be a year.” Her voice wavered.
 
“Have you talked to Bilhah and Zilpah yet?” He changed the subject.
 
“No… you’re supposed to do that.”
 
“Dropped that ball, didn’t I?” Crap, he thought to himself. “Alright, maybe in a few days, the five of us can have dinner together and discuss what’s going to happen next week without telling them anything else. One shocking revelation at a time.”
 
“I honestly think they’re going to be excited when we tell them the long-term plan,” Rachel said with a smile. “They love you. If you were to turn to one of them right now and ask them to wear Leah’s white dress this afternoon, they’d take their vows today.”
 
Jacob snorted. “You’re probably right.” He chuckled softly. “Still, one thing at a time. Let’s get through today, tell them about next week, and then in a few weeks talk to them about the rest of the plan. They still have the choice to say no and slap me across the face and tell me to go home to Be’er Sheva.”
 
“But they won’t.” Rachel smirked. “Hey, none of this is the reason I came to talk to you.”
 
“Why did you come to talk to me?” Jacob and Rachel had stepped away from each other in the process of discussing everything, and he took the initiative to reach for her hand, giving it a little squeeze.
 
“I thought maybe you and I could spend some time in prayer before you take your vows with Leah.”
 
“I think that sounds like a great idea.” Jacob led Rachel into the living room and sat with her on the couch, turning so they were almost facing each other. He took her other hand in his. “Would you like to start? Or would you like me to?”
 
“You are my spiritual leader and head of my household,” Rachel said. “Would you please petition God for His Spirit to attend us as we discuss this with Him?”
 
“Of course.” Jacob gulped. Most of what Rachel had just said was news to him. She wasn’t his wife yet and therefore her father was still head of her household even though she was an adult.
 
She was putting a lot of faith in him by calling him her spiritual leader. The weight of her declarations rested on his shoulders, and he took a moment to breathe and silently contemplate how best to address this time of prayer with the woman who would eventually become his queen. He squeezed her hands gently and bowed his head, inherently knowing she would follow his lead.
 
“Father, thank you for this incredible gift that you have given us in bringing us together as a family. We are humbled by your trust in us.” Jacob paused and took another deep breath. “God, the vows we are about to take, we do as a family, intending to devote our lives and our children unto you. Please help us to have confidence and peace with our decisions to do so. Father, at this time, I ask that you hear the words of your servant, Rachel, as she petitions you for comfort and understanding…” Jacob paused his prayer, knowing Rachel would pick up where he left off.
 
“Thank you, God, for this time to be with your servant, Jacob, and to come before you in prayer. Today I need your comfort as I willingly hand over my husband to my sister, with faith that a week from now, he will be back in my arms.
 
“Please help me to set aside my wariness and frustration, surrendering myself to your will. Please help me to be happy for my sister, taking joy in the blessings that you are giving unto her and not envy for that which will never be mine. Heal my tender heart, Father, and send your Spirit to be with me this week as I am missing both my twin sister and my husband.
 
“Help my sister to find happiness in her husband’s arms and comfort as she allows him to leave her home temporarily a week from now. If it be your will, let the love shared between my sister and my husband bring forth the first of many children who will join our family…” Rachel took a deep breath, then gave Jacob’s hands a gentle squeeze, passing the lead back to him.
 
“God, thank you for this good woman who you have entrusted into my care, and for her twin sister who will willingly become my wife in a few moments. Please bless our marriage with your love and your children and send your Spirit to be with us. Amen.”
 
“Amen,” Rachel echoed.
 
For a moment, Jacob and Rachel sat there in silence, heads bowed, allowing God’s peace to envelope them. Finally, Jacob whispered, “Do you feel better?”
 
“I’ll be okay,” Rachel said. “Don’t think of me further today or for the next few days. Give yourself to Leah.”
 
“I promise,” Jacob whispered. They finally opened their eyes and smiled at each other.
 
“Oh no!” Rachel jumped up from the sofa and hurried to the kitchen.
 
“What?” Jacob stood and followed her.
 
Rachel grabbed a dish towel and ran it under the water at the sink. “My makeup is all over the shoulder of your suit coat.”
 
As she dabbed at the makeup, he realized there was no way that was coming off without a dry cleaner. “Stop, I have another suit. I’ll change. You go get ready for the wedding. I’ll see you at the altar.”
 
“I’ll be the maid of honor holding my sister’s bouquet.”
 
“I’ll be the one forcing myself to look into her eyes as I take my vows.”
 
“Very funny,” Rachel said.
 
Very honest, Jacob thought. Then he kissed Rachel’s forehead. “Goodbye, my love.”
 
“See you in a week,” she said, then slipped out the door to his apartment.
​
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“I honestly don’t think we should have a big wedding,” Leah said, once again tucked into Jacob’s arms while lying together on a lounge chair by the pool. This had become their evening routine after having dinner with the other girls. They planned together, talked of deeper, more meaningful subjects, and kissed—a lot. “Our family and closest friends. And, I mean, closest friends.”
 
 “Are you sure you don’t want a poofy, white dress and a tiara tucked within an intricately curled upswept hairdo?”
 
“Unless you want a double wedding and my sister can have the same princess wedding, then no.”
 
“That’s not part of the plan.” Jacob gulped.
 
“Exactly. She deserves everything I receive.”
 
“That is not part of the plan either,” Jacob said, knowing Leah would understand. He was giving Leah his innocence, something a thousand times more valuable than he would be able to give her sister. His gift to Leah was a onetime thing.
 
“Are you still feeling regrets about giving yourself to me?” Leah asked tentatively.
 
“Babe, I don’t have any regrets about anything involving our marriage, including that.” He turned and rolled slightly away so he could look her in the eye. “I’m giving myself to you, willingly, wholeheartedly, all of me.” He gulped, realizing the inaccuracy of his statement but not backtracking to correct himself. His whole heart was not with Leah, and he knew that she knew what he couldn’t verbalize.
 
“Ooh, I get all of you for seven whole days. I’m honored.” Her words dripped with sarcasm, masking the underlying hurt and resentment that no amount of reassurance could abate.
 
“Our marriage is forever, not for seven days.”
 
“Let me rephrase that.” Leah cleared her throat. “After seven days I will have to share you with my sister.”
 
“I wish you wouldn’t think of it that way.” Jacob felt like crying. No matter how many times he tried to reconcile the situation, there would always be jealousy between these two otherwise inseparable twin sisters. And he couldn’t help feeling he was at fault.
 
He kept reminding himself that this was part of God’s plan to build his kingdom by bringing children into the world, and that they would all be blessed for their involvement. They were entering into this agreement with clear minds and open hearts. There was no other way they could make this work. “I am going to give you the best of me for seven days, and that is something Rachel will never have. For her entire married life, she will have to share me.”
 
“I hadn’t thought about it that way,” Leah said with humility. She tucked herself back within Jacob’s embrace, but he wasn’t done with his impassioned statement and pulled away again to look her in the eyes.
 
“During those seven days, I want to make you feel so loved and so… satisfied… that for the rest of your life you will look back on that time as the happiest days of your life. I want you to show me how to love you.”
 
“I have no idea how to do that,” Leah said.
 
“Then we’ll learn together,” Jacob whispered. “Because I have no idea what I’m doing either.”
 
“Then neither of us will be disappointed if things don’t work out perfectly,” she said with a provocative lilt to her voice. Jacob almost purred with anticipation, his body responding to having her in his arms and tucked up against him. Leah raised her eyebrows and smirked. “Based on your visceral reaction to our conversation, I’m guessing you and I will have no problem figuring things out.”
 
“God made our bodies this way,” Jacob said, trying unsuccessfully to calm down. “There is no other way in this plane of existence to get closer to God then through the joining of our bodies.”
 
“I wish we could experience that right now,” Leah said.
 
“You and me both.” Jacob ended their verbal communication by lowering his face and joining their lips, molding himself to her in a way that was beyond what they should be doing before marriage. His hands twitched from the overwhelming desire to reach for places they shouldn’t roam, and he gripped his fists into the hem of her shirt, forcing them to stay on the correct side of the fabric. He released his connection to her mouth and moaned into her hair. “Leah, I want you so badly.”
 
“We need to stop,” Leah gasped.
 
“I know, I know, I’m so sorry.” Jacob surrendered to the sobs that overtook him as he pressed his face into her hair. “Leah, I’m so sorry. God, Father, I’m sorry.”
 
Jacob knew repentance was going to need more than one fervent request for God’s forgiveness. He’d taken things too far. Way too far. Allowing his physical emotions to overpower the spiritual nature of what he knew would be the best night of his life, if he could hold off that long.
 
“We’re not doing this again,” Jacob said suddenly, pulling away just far enough to look down into Leah’s eyes again. “Tomorrow after dinner, we are going to sit somewhere where other people can see us at all times, and we’re not going to lie on a lounge chair together, and we’re not going to kiss passionately, and I probably shouldn’t be alone with you again until our wedding night.”
 
“Probably a good idea,” Leah squeaked out a response.
 
“And I promise you that on our wedding night I am going to exert every last bout of my energy making you feel incredible. I want to touch you everywhere and kiss you everywhere and let every molecule of my body make love to every molecule of your body.”
 
Leah’s only response to Jacob’s sensual declaration was a soft moan that was almost a whimper.
 
“But tonight, I will spend on my knees asking forgiveness from God.”
 
“Jacob”—Leah took his face in her hands and held him a few inches from her—“God will always forgive you.”
 
“I sure hope so,” Jacob said with yearning. Then he pressed his lips to hers hungrily one last time, knowing he wouldn’t be doing this again until their wedding night.
​
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On their way into the dining room, Jacob caught Rachel by her elbow, separating her from her sister and Bilhah and Zilpah. “Could I have a word with you, Rachel?” he asked. The other three ladies turned with raised eyebrows. “We’ll just be a minute.” He smiled softly, meeting each of their gazes, then winked at Leah.
 
Leah blushed and lowered her gaze, likely remembering every kiss and sigh and declaration of affection from the night before. Jacob could think of little else the entire day, but knew he had to ask Rachel a few important questions before they all sat together for dinner.
 
“Are you okay?” Rachel asked quietly. Her face was a careful mask of indifference barely hiding the torture behind her eyes.
 
“I am. Are you okay?” Jacob asked.
 
“I’m hanging in there. What did you need to talk to me about?”
 
“What have you told Zilpah and Bilhah about your vision?”
 
“Almost nothing.” She shook her head. “I guess I figured you should take the lead on that.”
 
“It was your vision,” Jacob pointed out.
 
“But the mantle rests on your shoulders, my love.” Rachel placed her hand gently over Jacob’s heart, and he fought the need to take her in his arms and kiss her ten times more passionately than he’d kissed her twin sister. He reminded himself that they had a very captive audience and that he was currently promised to another woman. “This is your responsibility. Your promised blessing.”
 
“Our promised blessing, darling,” he reminded her.
 
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” She sighed.
 
“Try not to be troubled,” Jacob begged. “Remember God’s plan. And your important role in that plan.”
 
“I will try.”
 
“That’s all I ask. Thank you.” Again, he fought the need to pull her close. “I think we should wait to tell them anything beyond my engagement to Leah.”
 
“Really?” She met his eyes with confusion. “Why the delay?”
 
“God reminded me while I was praying yesterday that we learn things line upon line, precept upon precept.”
 
“You don’t think they’re ready to hear the truth?”
 
“Not yet.”
 
“Okay.” She nodded once. “Have you mentioned this to Leah?”
 
“I wanted to counsel with you first.”
 
“She will follow your lead,” Rachel said with confidence, reaching up to pat him on his cheek. “As will I.”
 
“Thank you, my love.” Jacob held Rachel’s hand to his face, then turned and placed a quick kiss on the inside of her wrist. “I desperately want to hold you right now,” he whispered.
 
“Don’t,” Rachel said forcefully and with insistence, pulling her hand away. “Our family is waiting for us. Let’s go announce your engagement… to my sister.”
​
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Jacob found Leah sitting by the pool, with a novel in her hand and wrapped in a sweatshirt against the impending cool of evening.
 
“Whatchu reading?” Jacob asked casually, pulling up a lounge chair as if this was any normal social conversation.
 
Leah held out the book for him to read the cover. “The Source.”
 
“James Michener? Impressive choice.”
 
“Not historically accurate, but whatever. It’s fiction, right?” She set the book aside. “Not exactly in the mood for a romance novel right now.”
 
“Yeah, why’s that?” He gulped, knowing Rachel had told her sister everything about her vision.
 
“Finding out my groom intends to marry my sister seven days after he marries me doesn’t exactly make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.”
 
“You are not my second choice, Leah.” Jacob tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “You are God’s first choice.”
 
“And if God hadn’t given you this big premonition, you would have ignored your obvious attraction to my sister and approached me all on your own?”
 
“I love you, Leah,” Jacob declared, believing every word even though he hadn’t planned to say them.
 
“You love her more.”
 
“There is no more or less, there’s just love.”
 
“I don’t believe you.” Leah crossed her arms over her chest, her creased brow showing vulnerability rather than anger.
 
“Let me prove it to you,” Jacob begged.
 
“How?”
 
“Do you remember the first words I said to you after we met?”
 
“Something about having soft eyes and asking me if I was single or something.” She shrugged.
 
“I mentioned that you looked like you were in love, and I wondered who the lucky guy was.”
 
“And I suppose you think that lucky guy is you.”
 
“I hope that if I can prove my love for you that someday I will be that lucky guy.”
 
“You’re a smooth talker, Jacob Medad.” Leah brushed the shaggy hair off Jacob’s forehead. “You need a haircut before the wedding.”
 
“Know any good hairstylists?” His words came out as a husky purr brought about from Leah’s fingers playing with his hair. For the first time in his adult life, he allowed the stirrings of desire to flow through his body. For the first time in his adult life, he was alone with the woman he intended to give his body to on his wedding night.
 
“Based solely on your glassy eyes, I should probably do the haircut myself. I wouldn’t want your longings for me to be misdirected toward whoever has her hands in your hair.”
 
“We might want to do that haircut in a well-lit, public location, with people around, or I’m going to need to spend a significant amount of time on my knees to get back in God’s good graces after I take you to our marriage bed days before I’m legally allowed to do so.”
 
“Wouldn’t want that.” Leah’s voice was seductive, and the tone of their whole conversation shifted. Jacob realized in that moment that allowing Leah to be his first would be easier than he originally thought. Easier than ice cream on a summer day or a shower after a strenuous workout. Easier than flying down the highway in his convertible. Easier than a king-size bed covered in down blankets and Giza cotton sheets.
 
“Will you marry me, Leah?” Jacob blurted out softly, no preamble, no declaration of romantic notions, no promising to spend the rest of his life making all her dreams come true.
 
“Yeah, I’ll marry you, Jacob.” She sighed and smiled softly.
 
Jacob scootched closer and lifted the book off Leah’s chair, then nudged her gently over and climbed onto the lounge chair with her. He cradled her body in the crook of his arm and gazed down into her eyes. “There they are,” he whispered.
 
“There who are?” Leah asked in a quiet voice.
 
“Not who. What.” Jacob leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose. “Your soft eyes. The ones that show me you’re in love.”
 
“Does that mean I’m in love with you?” she asked.
 
“You tell me.”
 
“I’m getting there.”
 
“Me too.” Jacob didn’t pass up the opportunity to share with her his first kiss, knowing that kiss was the first of many, many firsts. All of his firsts would be shared with Leah. The woman he would marry. The woman he loved with… half… his heart.

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“I’m surprised it took you this long to come meet with me.” Laban looked up from his desk and removed his reading glasses.
 
“My apologies, sir.” Jacob nodded with respect. “I’ve been… distracted.”
 
“That’s what I understand.”
 
“Have I displeased you, Uncle?”
 
“No, son, you have been a welcome addition to our otherwise mundane lives.” Laban stood and approached his nephew. “How are your mother and father?”
 
“They are well, thank you.”
 
Laban waved his hand toward a small grouping of sofas where they could sit and chat. “Will they be making the drive up here for your wedding?”
 
“How did you know that’s why I came to see you?” Jacob gulped as he sat on the edge of the closest sofa, not wanting to relax his stance.
 
“Oh, please.” Laban scoffed. “This was a foregone conclusion the minute you arrived.”
 
Jacob chuckled. “Even before that.”
 
Laban cleared his throat, and his features hardened. “You do realize our culture requires that my oldest daughter marry first, don’t you?”
 
“Yes, sir.” Jacob lowered his gaze.
 
“Don’t you dare look away from me, son.” Although Laban’s words were threatening, his tone was compassionate. “Rachel told me about her vision.”
 
“And you are in accord?”
 
“Do I have a choice?”
 
“We all have a choice,” Jacob said confidently.
 
“Who am I to argue with God?” Laban shook his head, his features resigned.
 
“I sometimes do.”
 
“And how does that work out for you, son?”
 
“Not well, sir.” Jacob chuckled.
 
“Have you spoken with Leah yet?”
 
“No, sir.”
 
“Well, get on it, son.” Laban stood, implying the conversation was over.
 
Jacob rose as well and extended a hand that his uncle clasped, noting that he did not receive an electric warmth when he did so.
 
“Oh, and, tell my cousin I look forward to seeing her.”
 
“I will do that, sir, thank you.” Jacob nodded to his uncle and strode from his office, intent to seek out his future bride, if Leah would agree to the arrangement. He had his doubts.

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Jacob was the first to leave the office that evening, barely waiting for the clock to tick its final second. He knew that, as a salary employee, he would be able to make up the time on a later date. He almost felt that he needed to use a vacation day to replace the time he’d spent distracted. Maybe this could even count as a sick day as terrible as his stomach was churning because of what he was about to do.
 
He peeled out of the parking lot without bothering to lower the top on his convertible, which was something he almost always did before driving back to the resort. He left the radio off. He drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. He tried not to even think. The car knew the way home.
 
After parking in the front lot that was designated for guests rather than residents, Jacob hurried inside, past the front desk to the offices where his true love sat at her desk with a patient expression as if she’d been waiting for him.
 
Dropping to his knees beside her chair, Jacob rested his head on her lap and said the only thing he could choke out in that moment. “I love you, Rachel.”
 
“I know, Jacob.” She rested her hand on his head and ran her fingers through his hair, finally whispering words she would likely regret. “I love you, too.”
 
“I can’t do this without you.” Now understanding what God was asking him to do, he couldn’t fathom how he was going to go through with this.
 
“Yes, you can.” Her tone was indifferent and monotone. Even though she was the first of them to see the vision, she couldn’t possibly be happy about God’s plan for their future.
 
“I don’t want to do this without you.”
 
“You don’t really have a choice, do you?”
 
Jacob lifted his head from her lap and met her gaze. “We all have a choice. God gives us the free agency to choose.”
 
“And what will you choose, Jacob?” Rachel’s words were poignant.
 
“You already know what I will choose.” He lowered his eyes in shame, dreading the next steps in this course for his life. God was asking him to marry four women. Four! There was nothing that was okay about that. He wanted to crawl into a cave and escape the world rather than take upon himself this task.
 
Rachel lifted his chin, forcing him to look at her again, then she rested her hand against his cheek, wiping away a tear he hadn’t realized had fallen.
 
“Rachel, do you understand each of the choices I must make?” He feared her answer, but she just nodded with solemnity.
 
“Yes, Jacob, I know it all.” Her words were clipped and frustrated. “You know I do.”
 
“And you don’t mind?”
 
“Of course, I mind,” she said. “How could I not?”
 
This trial of faith was extraordinary. Not only was Rachel being asked to step aside and let her sister marry Jacob, but she was also being asked to marry him one week later. And then a few months later welcome two other women into their family. Granted, Bilhah and Zilpah were already like family but that didn’t make the situation any easier.
 
“I want this to be you,” Jacob whispered.
 
“No.” Rachel shook her head. “You need to give your whole heart to my sister.”
 
“How can I do that when half my heart belongs to you?” His frustration bordered on anger.
 
“Promise me something,” Rachel said, ignoring his tantrum.
 
“Anything, my love.”
 
“Let it be her.”
 
“What do you mean?” He sat back on his heels, already suspecting he knew her answer.
 
“Don’t pretend it’s me.”
 
Jacob tried to force his heart to expand and accept her request. “Have you talked to Leah yet? Explained everything?”
 
“Yeah, I talked to her and my father,” Rachel said.
 
“I bet he’s livid.”
 
“He has stronger faith than you’d expect. I think he’ll surprise you.”
 
He almost choked out his next question, “Where can I find him?”
 
“Take the elevator to the top floor. His penthouse suite of offices will be on your right.”
 
“Okay.” Jacob stood and took a step back, his heart breaking as he backed away from her. As he turned to leave, she called out to him one last time.
 
“Jacob?” He turned to meet Rachel’s gaze. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
 
He nodded once and gulped, knowing he wouldn’t have that same luxury. While Rachel was waiting for him, he was expected to give himself to her sister. He choked back emotions and headed for the elevator.
 
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Jacob replayed in his mind what Rachel had said after praying the night before. You’re going to marry my sister. Not exactly the answer he was expecting, but not surprising.
 
He spent the following day trying to concentrate on his new job and failing miserably. So far, he’d watched countless training videos, poured over schematics and hydrology maps, and read textbook-style material that was a recap of what he’d already learned about the Southeastern Anatolia Project. The history, the strategic goals, the effects on society, the economic development. He wished they would just give him a test on the material and let him get to work.
 
He’d been hired to participate on the project for regulation of water in irrigation canals and methods and technologies for water saving. With so many facets of society needing diversion of water, there was a strong focus on reuse of irrigation discharge water, protecting the soil from erosion, and micro-catchment rehabilitation.
 
As excited as Jacob was to be taken on tours of the dams and hydroelectric power stations dotted throughout the Tigris and Euphrates River basins, and to get started with strategic planning of seventeen thousand acres of land, all he could think about were Rachel’s words from the night before.
 
You’re going to marry my sister.
 
How could she possibly know that? Jacob didn’t usually question God’s direction, but he’d been too stunned to even ask God about Rachel’s vision.
 
Marry Leah? He shrugged. The idea wasn’t unappealing. He really enjoyed Leah’s company. But he’d been so focused on his budding relationship with Rachel that marrying her twin sister hadn’t even occurred to him. At least not since they’d made a joke in the elevator about which one of them was willing to give birth to thirteen children.
 
Jacob stood suddenly from his desk, startling one of his co-workers. “I need to take an early break. Is there someplace I could go for a walk or sit in a solarium or something?”
 
“Uh, sure.” His co-worker and new friend Emre stood and approached Jacob. “I’ll show you the indoor gardens. There’s a path you can walk and sitting areas for contemplation and reflection. Do you need a prayer mat or anything?” Emre glanced at his watch with a creased brow. If Jacob was Muslim, this would not have been considered a time for devotions.
 
“That won’t be necessary, but thank you. I just need to be alone.” Jacob followed his new friend, grateful that he’d found someone who recognized the panic in his countenance.
 
As they approached the indoor garden and Emre opened the door, Jacob felt the comfort of moist heat replacing the air-conditioned building and took a deep breath.
 
“Is there any other way I can be of assistance?” Emre asked.
 
“Could you point me in the direction of the farthest corner away from where I might be disturbed from my meditation?”
 
“Yes, follow the path to the right.” Emre pointed.
 
As if a virtual-reality overlay had draped across the garden, Jacob saw that at the end of the path there was a little bench that would be perfect for a heart-to-heart with God. “Thank you,” Jacob mumbled as he strode with purpose down the path.
 
Before he even reached the end of the brick pathway, he started talking out loud, hoping there was no one else nearby. He hadn’t seen a soul since entering the garden. “God, what is going on? I’m terribly confused, and that’s not a normal feeling for me. You have been showing me where to go and what to do for so many years that I’m not even sure how to make my own decisions anymore. Have I relied on you too much?”
 
He stopped talking as he approached the bench and sat down hard, staring off into the tall plants and grasses but hearing nothing. His impatience was disconcerting.
 
Finally, he rose from the bench and lowered to his knees, wishing he’d accepted the proffered prayer mat. He’d have to remember that for the future. Maybe a little pain in his knees was something helpful in order to hear God’s whisperings. He remembered the teachings of his youth. Weaken the body to strengthen the spirit. He needed influences from God’s Spirit right now and was willing to do just about anything to receive his guidance.
 
“God, I’m sorry for my frustration and confusion,” Jacob started again, then fought a catch in his throat, fearing an onslaught of tears as he wrestled with God. God always won. Why did he even try? “I will be patient. I will wait as long as you need me to wait. I will do what you want me to do and go where you want me to go. Have I not done so thus far?”
 
You have, my son.
 
“Oh, thank you, God. Forgive me of my fear and doubt. I need you. I can’t do this without you.”
 
You are never alone.
 
Jacob lost his control at that declaration and sobbed, laying his forehead onto his adjoined hands. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
 
There is work to be done.
 
“Here am I, Father. What would you have me do?”
 
You already know what you need to do.
 
“That can’t be, Father.”
 
Are you questioning my direction after you have just promised to follow me?
 
“Forgive me, Father. This has never been done before.”
 
You have never been more wrong, my son.
 
Jacob sat back on his heels, staring off into the corner of the indoor garden. But instead of plants and glass enclosures and the desert beyond, he saw concourses of people as far as his eyes could see.
 
When I am ready to build up my kingdom, I always provide a way.
 
“How would you have me assist in your plan, father?”
 
Line upon line, precept upon precept, my son. You will be shown the proper order as each task presents itself. I have faith in you. Now go, and doubt not further. There is work to be done.
 
“Thank you, Father.” Jacob received no other directions as he sat on his knees, seeing only plants and a glass enclosure protecting him from the blazing desert beyond.
 
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