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she’d not worked off her debt, but she thought he’d at least softened toward her in recent days. “We’ve got to get out of here!” She started gathering up the few things people had brought them over the past few days. “Wait.” She dropped everything and crouched beside her mother. “Did you just point?”
    The corner of her mother’s lip lifted slightly. “Yes.” Her answer came out rusty and low, but it had come out just the same.
    “Mother, have you come back to me?” Ruth put her hands on her mother’s shoulders and watched her nod hesitatingly. “Praise God, you are back!” She wrapped her mother in her arms. “Thank you, Lord.” Though she had continued to hold out hope, if she was honest, Ruth had begun to wonder if she’d lost her mother forever. She stared hungrily into the lucid depths of her eyes; then they held each other and sobbed. “Oh, Mother. I’ve made such a mess of everything.”
    Voices and the shuffle of many feet outside the window put far too quick an end to their reunion. “Stay here,” Ruth whispered.
    She tiptoed to the shutters and peered out.
    Across the street people were gathering at the burned-out ruins of the rug shop. Were they waiting to see who the soldiers arrested? Ruth’s stomach lurched. From every direction, others were trudging toward them, brooms and shovels resting on their shoulders, rocks in their hands.
    She craned her neck for a better view. “I think they’re going to stone us.”
    A loud rumble drew her attention. Had the proconsul dispatched an entire legion to bring her in? She held her breath, unable to move.
    Ruth worked to sort the crowd for any clues. In the middle of the hive of activity stood the tall, lanky dyer and her landlord. Metras was pointing his cane here and there, and Caecilianus was nodding.
    What had he done?
    “Come on, Mother. And bring the cat. I smell a rat.”
    •   •   •
    CAECILIANUS DECIDED to let Metras direct the effort, since it was his property and his idea to offer the proconsul the full restoration of the burned-out building without incurring any of the cost. That left Caecilianus to manage the needed materials, which made sense since he was secretly paying for everything and had rallied the church to help. “Stack the bricks here and the lumber there.”
    He aimed his broom handle at the only vacant space on the sidewalk.
    “Wouldn’t it be more efficient to position the lumber where it could be used first?”
    Caecilianus turned to find Ruth and her mother watching the cleanup. “Ruth, I—”
    “Couldn’t leave it alone, could you?” The struggles of the past year showed in her expression, and it was all he could do not to scoop her up to protect her from ever getting hurt again.
    “If you insist on paying your own debts, then why do you need God?” He hadn’t meant his frustration to come out in the form of a rebuke. “Listen, I know you don’t want to see me, and once I get you settled in a decent place to live, you won’t have to, but—” He started for her and tripped over a charred beam, falling headlong into the ashes. He used the broom handle and scrambled to his feet, coughing and sputtering like the fool she surely thought he was.
    Ruth’s stern expression had dissolved into uncontrollable giggles. “You look like that kitten you found in your potash pile.”
    “Well, you look like you haven’t slept in a week.” Caecilianus reached down and grabbed a handful of ash and released it atop her head.
    Sputtering, Ruth bent and snatched up her own handful and tossed it on him. The crowd watched with open mouths as they tossed ash back and forth, laughing uncontrollably.
    Finally, as the moment passed, Ruth swiped her mouth and gazed steadily at him. “Is it duty that compels you to relieve me of this debt, Caecilianus?”
    “No.” He swallowed and found his courage. “It is love.”
    She scrutinized him for a long moment, as if testing the truth in his words, then stepped