In a time and place where his wrongness would lead to him being stoned or burned unto his death, Ezekiel found a way to fulfil all of his duties as given to be him by God, and yet still be true to himself.

This is the story of Ezekiel's Victory.

Ezekiel's Family have fled and Charity is to finally get her wish.

Chapter 13

Samuel sat in the bedroom with a sleeping Hope on his lap. He gazed down at the small face.

"Praise God," he whispered. "Praise God for creating such a wonder as this. May He give me the strength to protect and nurture this child that she may grow into a strong and dutiful woman."

He leaned down and softly kissed Hope on her forehead and then resumed gently rocking with his adopted grand-daughter cradled safely in his arms.

In the front room, Constance, wearing a dress for the first time in many days, had heated a bucket of water over the fire. Now Charity stood naked in the small tub while Isabelle and Constance washed her down with soap and damp rags.

When she was done, she stepped out of the tub and stood still while Isabelle dried her body and then brushed out her hair.

Constance took the bucket of water into the back room and set it down beside Samuel.

"Come father," she said quietly. "Hand Hope to me and remove your shirt. Charity will soon come to you as clean and pure as new driven snow. You should be clean as well."

Constance set the sleeping Hope down on the platform and then used the rag to quickly wash Samuel's chest, face, arms and back. Samuel protested all the while that he was capable of washing himself but Constance merely hushed him and reminded him that it was a daughter's duty to honor her father. Further, her husband Ezekiel had commanded her to honor his father as she would her own so she was doubly bound to honor him.

When the top half of him was clean, Constance said, "Now Father, stand and remove your trousers so I can wash the rest of you."

Samuel reached over and took the wet rag from her hand. Then he firmly steered Constance toward the door. You have honored me as much as is needful. Now leave me be so that I may retain some dignity while I finish washing.

Constance giggled, but allowed herself to be pushed. She stopped and turned just before the door.

"Father! Charity may talk like an experienced woman — married and widowed and so forth, but in truth she is a maiden and this will be her first time to lie with a man. Please be gentle with her."

Samuel smiled and nodded. "Of course. Despite all the weasel lawyer words that have been used, she is still my daughter. I could hardly do anything else. Now go"

Constance giggled again and then withdrew, closing the door behind her. In the front room, she helped Isabelle dig a newly made nightdress out of Charity's Hope Chest. They helped Charity to put it on and then stood back. Charity blushed and turned in front of them while they made admiring comments.

A moment later they escorted Charity into the back room and watched with pride while Charity stood before Samuel with a slight blush on her face. Samuel's eyes were wide as he looked at the young woman, taking in her beauty. He stood for a moment in silence and just stared.

Samuel grunted and shook his head slightly. He reached out and took her hands in his. Gently he stooped and kissed her hands and then led her toward the sleeping platform. The two of them were so absorbed in each other they didn't notice as Isabelle and Constance scooped up Hope and quietly made their way back to the front room, closing the door behind them.

Charity stopped just before the bed and freed her hands. In quick movements, she undid the ties on her nightgown and allowed it to drop to the floor, leaving her standing naked. She stepped out of the nightgown and picked it up, carefully draping it over an unused portion of the sleeping platform where it wouldn’t get damaged.

"What are you doing?" muttered Samuel. "You are entirely naked! That isn't necessary."

Charity put a hand on his lips to silence him. "It may not be necessary. But these past few nights with Ezekiel, I have found that being entirely naked feels quite wonderful. I thought perhaps it would be the same with us. So let us be as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Let us be naked the way God intended us to be."

Samuel clasped Charity's hands and moved them from his mouth. "But it is still day. To be so entirely naked in the light of the sun is surely …"

His protest was stopped abruptly as Charity pressed her lips to his and kissed him soundly. While he was thus distracted, her hands busily loosened the laces of his nightshirt and lifted it up, breaking off the kiss for long enough to slip it over his head. That done, she hustled him onto the bed and lay down beside him.

And so Samuel and Charity lay together the way God intended Man and Woman to lie together.

Some time later Charity gazed up at Samuel — her eyes filled with wonder. Her strong arms held him in place above her. They both stayed in place for a moment, staring into each other's eyes. The only movement was their heaving chests as they both struggled to regain their breath.

Then Samuel shifted sideways off her and rolled onto his back. Charity shifted into his side and lay her head on his chest.

"Oh!" she whispered. "My goodness!"

Isabelle and Constance, taking the silence as a signal that activities were concluded, pushed the door open and moved quietly into the room. Isabelle was holding a sleepy Hope in her arms. After confirming with their eyes that activities were indeed concluded, they approached the bed.

Isabelle was, perhaps, slightly shocked to see both Samuel and Charity lying entirely naked and completely exposed but she said nothing. She found a blanket and with the aid of Constance draped it over them so that they were covered and, at least in her mind, somewhat more decent. Samuel looked up at her with a worried expression and did not relax until he saw her smile down at him and tuck the blanket around him.

He reached down and gently stroked Charity's head where it lay on his chest.

Charity looked up at Constance with half-lidded eyes and whispered. "I understand now. There are no words to describe …"

Constance nodded and stooped to kiss her sister on the forehead.

"Definitely better than peeling potatoes," whispered Charity while her sister was close.

Constance chuckled and soothed Charity's hair.

"I'm happy for you. Rest for a moment, but then you should come and eat some supper."

Charity frowned. "But I want to do that again." She twisted her head to look at Samuel. "Can we do it again?"

"Indeed, you must," said Isabelle. "For it can take many such attempts to plant a babe in your womb. But Samuel will probably need to rest for a while before he is ready for another attempt and supper is ready.

Constance picked up the discarded nightdress and held it out for Charity.

"Come, sister. Cover yourself with this and we shall all go and eat. Making babes can be surprisingly hungry work."

Isabelle found Samuel's nightshirt and held it out for him while Constance helped Charity. Shortly after that they sat around the table and ate supper. There was little conversation while they ate but it wasn't an awkward silence. It was more that all were content to think their own thoughts and weren't ready to share those thoughts with others.

After supper was finished, Charity proudly exposed her breasts and fed Hope the small amount she had to offer. Then Constance took over feeding Hope and ducked her head towards the back room. Charity took the hint and offered Samuel her hand. When he clasped it, she led him into the back room and closed the door.

Isabelle did not hurry as she tidied up after supper and cleaned the pots. Despite this, Constance had only just finished feeding and changing Hope when Isabelle sat down opposite her at the table. They looked at each other as Constance gently rocked Hope in her arms.

"I suppose it is time we thought about bed," said Constance. "You are welcome to sleep beside me out here."

"I have been thinking about that," replied Isabelle. "It would feel wrong to do anything other than sleep beside my husband. I shall wait out here until they are finished and then go and tuck myself into the other side from Charity."

Constance sighed and looked down at the sleeping Hope. "It sounds like it's just you and me tonight."

"The sleeping platform in the back room is quite wide," said Isabelle. "There's no need for you to be alone out here when there is room in there for both yourself and Hope next to Charity."

Constance looked at her mother while she thought about that. "Hmm!"

"It does mean those two will have to restrain themselves until morning," added Isabelle.

The corners of Constance's eyes crinkled as she tried to contain a laugh. "I don't see why. The two of you never restrained yourselves when we were younger and sharing the same room with you."

Isabelle gasped and blushed. "You were supposed to be sleeping. We tried not to waken you."

Constance grinned. "I'm sure there were many times when you didn't wake us, but for those times when we did wake, we all knew what was happening. We knew to keep our eyes closed and feign sleep if we realized you were performing your wifely duties."

Isabelle kept her eyes on the table.

Constance looked at her for a moment and then shrugged. "There is no call for embarrassment. You were merely doing what God intended a husband and wife to do. Ezekiel explained it to us and we understood."

Isabelle sighed. "I suppose that even if you did look, you wouldn't have seen much. We always stayed under the blankets."

Constance grinned. "I assure you, we were well aware of that for I can't promise that we never looked. But enough talk about the past. I haven't heard anything from the back room for a little while now, so perhaps we can go to bed."

Samuel and Charity were discovered again in almost exactly the same pose as they had been before with Samuel on his back and Charity draped over his chest and both entirely naked and completely exposed. The only difference being that this time they were both sleeping.

Isabelle and Constance quietly settled Hope off to one side and then covered Samuel and Charity with a blanket. They changed into their night dresses and laid themselves down onto the sleeping platform on either side of the sleeping pair. Isabelle softly kissed her husband's shoulder in silent thanks for his actions and then kissed her daughter's head before cuddling up to Samuel's side and relaxing.

On their other side, Constance stroked and arranged her sleeping sister's hair before draping her arm around Charity's waist and resting her head on Samuel's widely flung arm. It did not take long for them to join the others in quiet slumber.

The following morning, Charity made no effort to conceal the broad smile on her face as she helped the rest of her family pack their belongings and tidy the house. Soon the wagon was making its way down to the river with their cow plodding steadily along behind. The ironworker was only just behind them as they splashed their way over the now sedate river and pulled back onto the main track.

Shortly afterwards, they came to a fork and Samuel turned the wagon to the south. Charity and Ezekiel sitting in the back watched as the ironworker turned north towards the town and left them alone.

Ezekiel climbed further into the wagon and changed out of his trousers and into her dress. Constance came back and sat next to Charity as she adjusted the bonnet on her head.

Charity looked at her with a question in her eyes.

Constance shrugged. "The ironworker told the story of a woman being hung. My name was never mentioned. He didn't seem to know many details about our family except for the baby and he didn't even know Hope was a girl. I think we're far enough away that we'll never meet anyone from the old village. We are safe. I don't have to hide any more."

"So you'll stop being Ezekiel?" asked Charity with a slight pout. "I liked you being Ezekiel."

"For now. But not for always. I liked being Ezekiel too. But I've missed being Constance out here in the light. I had to do this soon, my belly keeps swelling. Now is as a good a time as any."

They travelled in silence for a while, watching the road roll out behind them.

Charity turned to Constance. "We should stop the wagon for a moment."

Constance whistled and Samuel pulled the wagon to a halt. They all climbed out and stood in the road while Constance explained why she could now be herself again. Samuel nodded in agreement and Isabelle hugged Constance.

"We should pray," said Charity. "We should give thanks to God and to Grace. Grace sacrificed herself so that we could escape and here we are. Ezekiel said it was like a battle which he would fight to ensure our freedom. And now it is clear he has surely won his victory."

So that's what they did. They stood in the road and joined hands in a circle while they gave thanks to God for their safety. Then they climbed back into the wagon and settled themselves.

Samuel clucked at the horse and it moved. Everyone swayed as the wagon lurched once more into motion and trundled its way down the dusty road.