First Prince of Israel - Chapter Four

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By the time they reached her father’s resort, Jacob and Rachel were practically engaged. At least in jest.

They figured out that Jacob didn’t actually work for her father. She had just assumed that because he was heading to the resort.

Jacob learned that Rachel had an identical twin named Leah, from whom most people couldn’t distinguish a difference. Rachel was curious if Jacob could figure it out and gave him that challenge.

Both she and her sister worked as assistant managers at the resort and occasionally switched name tags just to see how quickly their administrative assistants would figure out their deception. None of the other staff could distinguish between them, and Rachel wondered if some of the employees at the resort even realized there were two assistant managers.

Her favorite color was purple because she said it was the color of royalty and she fully intended to be a queen someday. Jacob promised to fulfill every dream she had for her future.

Rachel was simultaneously in awe of and jealous of her twin sister because she was older—by twenty minutes—and prettier, which was laughable since they were identical twins. Jacob couldn’t wait to meet Leah and figure out if he could tell the difference.
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Turned out he was able to tell the difference immediately because when he met Leah that afternoon, he knew her right away. As Jacob was waiting in the lobby for the concierge to escort him to his new apartment, both girls approached him wearing identical outfits with matching hairstyles.

Jacob confidently extended his hand. “You must be Leah.”

“What makes you think I’m Leah?” She kept her arms folded across her chest.

“Your eyes are softer.” He didn’t lower his hand, and Leah didn’t reach out yet.

“What?” both girls asked at the same time and in the same tone. The sound was more musical than the stereo in his Cabriolet.

“Rachel’s eyes are snarky.” Jacob nodded to the twin on the left. “But yours are soft, almost as if you’re in love. Who’s the lucky guy?”

Leah finally slipped her hand into his. Her words were suspicious. “I’m not dating anyone.”

Her eyes widened and her jaw gaped as their hands connected with the same warmth as when he’d held Rachel’s hand. Weird.

He took a step back and cleared his throat, then rubbed his hand down the pant leg of his jeans as if he could brush away the electricity that seemed to flow between him and these beautiful twins.

“You’re the first person to ever notice that,” Rachel said with awe in her voice. “I’m blown away.”

“I think I am as well,” Jacob said. “I was expecting a little mole or beauty mark or something that I would notice eventually, not to have an immediate connection like that. Anyway, is there someone who can show me to my apartment? I’m desperately in need of a shower and some food after driving for almost thirteen hours.”

“We’ll show you the way,” Rachel said, grabbing one of Jacob’s smaller bags.

“Where did you drive from?” Leah asked in a subdued tone, also picking up one of Jacob’s bags. She was so different from her twin he couldn’t understand how anyone could mistake them.

Jacob raised the handle on his largest suitcase and nested his overnight bag on top, then rolled the bags behind him as he followed the girls. “I left my home in Be’er Sheva yesterday but stopped overnight to see my grandfather, Abraham, where he lives in a place called Bethel, just north of Jerusalem.”

“That is a long drive in one day,” Leah acknowledged. “You must be exhausted.

“Worth the fatigue to have had the chance to spend the evening with my grandfather yesterday,” Jacob said. “I have no idea how soon I’ll be heading back home. Could be years.”

“You’re staying that long in Harran?” Rachel questioned, as if she hadn’t just spent forty minutes beside him in the car discussing their planned future together.

“Well, I mentioned that my wife is waiting for me here, right?” Jacob chuckled nervously.

“I thought you were joking,” Rachel said. They turned at the end of a long hallway, and she pressed the button for the elevator.

“I would never joke about any prompting from God,” Jacob said with complete confidence.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Leah placed her hand on his arm. “God told you that you needed to find a wife in Harran?”

“No…” Jacob always hesitated to admit just how much he talked to God and how many visions and dreams he had that came true exactly as God had shown him. But he was already in too deep with these ladies. Either they were going to think he was strange and distance themselves from him, or they would embrace him as a visionary man. “God told me that my wife was waiting for me here and that he would place her in my path.”

“Jacob thinks that I’m meant to be his wife,” Rachel said with a defiant smirk. She wrapped her hands around his upper arm as if claiming him for her own.

“Why else would God have placed you in my path not more than thirty seconds after I’d been praying about the subject?” He patted her hand and winked down at her.

The elevator door opened, and they all picked up the bags they’d been carrying and stepped into the lift. They were quiet as they got settled and Leah pushed the button for the fifth floor. She turned to Rachel and Jacob, lifting her chin playfully. “I need to marry first because I’m the oldest.”

“By twenty minutes,” Rachel said. “That hardly counts.”

“Can’t fight the traditions of our culture,” Leah responded with sass.

“If that’s the case, then we need to find you a husband,” Jacob said. “Because I need to marry your sister as soon as possible.”

“What’s the rush?” Leah asked.

Jacob realized immediately that he could either lie or freak these girls out and cause Rachel to run away before they even started dating. He chose to be extremely vague. “So that we can have children.”

“You think I’m just going to give up my career to have your babies?” Rachel teased. “I’ll have to think about that.”

“How many children do you want to have?” Leah asked with sincerity. There was a hopeful lift to her expression, as if she’d be more than willing to give up her career to have his babies.

“God has promised me”—he gulped, wishing he didn’t have to answer that truthfully. He hurried through the rest of his response so that it almost sounded like one long word—“twelve sons and a daughter.”

“Twelve…” Leah coughed and stumbled to echo Jacob’s bold statement.

“Thirteen kids?” Rachel asked with wide eyes. She stepped away from Jacob and pushed her twin forward. “He’s all yours. You’re the oldest. You take him.”
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They all laughed half-heartedly, but Jacob resigned himself that he had blown the opportunity to date Rachel. If she didn’t want to have children, he couldn’t marry her. Jacob trusted God more than he trusted his own youthful attraction to a pretty girl.
He had thought Rachel was the one for him but couldn’t deny what he knew to be true. God had told Jacob that he’d have twelve sons and a daughter. Somehow, God would provide a way for that to become a reality.

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