Desert Wives (9781615952267) (21 page)

“None of her others did. She's had about six of them, I think, and all died right after birth. I hear this one's got some real serious problems, too. The Circle of Elders was over there at the clinic all morning praying over it.”

I didn't even bother asking why Hanna and the baby hadn't been taken to the hospital. After more than a week in Purity, I knew why. Would proper medical care help the poor thing?

The van drove off but we continued sitting there until I heard a rumbling noise. I looked up at the sky and saw that masses of dirty-looking clouds had gathered. But they didn't appear dark enough yet for thunder.

“Saul, was that your stomach?”

He grinned. “Nobody nukes Ramen like you do, wife.”

After we'd eaten, Ruby asked me to help with the dishes. I almost refused, but then I saw the expression on her face.

“I'm so sorry, Sister Lena,” she finally said, as I dried the three forks and glasses she'd taken so long to wash. “I didn't mean to tell, really I didn't, but Brother Earl is pretty persuasive.” Her eyes lowered to her wrist, bare now since she'd rolled back her sleeve to wash the dishes. I saw a man-sized bruise.

I clenched my fist. “It's all right, Ruby. I know what you're up against.”

“No, you don't.” She said little more.

The next morning I rose to a new resolve. After dressing hurriedly and pouring cereal for three, I headed out the door toward Davis Royal's house.

A bewildered Sissy Royal, overcome by my insistence, led me to his office. As soon as she shut the door behind us, I asked him the question.

“Brother Davis, will you marry me?”

Chapter 16

“Why Sister Lena, I didn't know you cared,” Davis said, a bemused smile on his handsome face. “May I ask what brought about this sudden declaration of love?”

I sat down on the big leather sofa. “It's not really a declaration of love. It's just that…”

My voice trailed off. Davis wasn't stupid. To make him believe my wild tale, it needed to smack of reality, and the only way to do that was to tell as much truth as possible. But how much? I obviously couldn't tell him everything, that during the long, fearful night I'd come to the realization that to save Rebecca, I'd screw the devil himself. Not that Prophet Davis was the devil. Far from it. From what I had observed, he was the only polygamist who had shown a shred of compassion toward women. He certainly didn't have any thirteen-year-old “wives,” and to his credit, had ordered the practice halted.

Start with the truth, then. I took a big breath. “Brother Davis, I'm a desperate woman.” No lie there.

He lifted one blond eyebrow. Damn, the devil was good-looking. “Desperate? How so?”

I filled him in on the Circle of Elder's decision not to sanctify the marriage between Saul and myself, and then I added my own spin, mentally apologizing to Saul as I did so.

“Saul, well, he's an older man, and, well…”

Davis nodded. “I understand. It's a more common problem than women realize. But when it happens, the poor things believe it's all their fault.”

Had the man been reading
Cosmopolitan?
Or did he speak from experience? My surprise must have shown on my face.

“Sister Lena, several women have discussed their marital relationships with me. You may not know this, but when I assumed the role of prophet, I married two widows, women who had been the wives of elderly men. They had both endured situations such as yours.”

His smile was gentle, his blue eyes calming. Encouraged, I plunged ahead. “Then you understand it's so very, very wrong for the Circle to punish me.” I threw out my hands, trying to look pathetic. “Brother Davis, I want to be obedient to the rule of Purity, but I'll admit that unlike the women who were raised here, I've been out in the world and sometimes those rules are hard for me. I've done wicked, sinful things, and I really messed up my life.” Mimicking shame, I ducked my head.

When I peeped up again, the expression on Davis's Greek-god face told me I'd made an impact, so I continued my tale of woe. “If I have to leave Purity, God knows what's going to happen to me! I want to stay, I really do! I want to lead a good life, a Godly life. But I know that the only way I can stay here is to be married. You only have, what, six wives? I'd be a good wife to you.”

A faint smile played about his well-sculpted lips. It was no trouble imagining them pressed to mine. But only if that's what it took to save Rebecca, of course.

“Sister Lena, I hear you're not a very good cook.”

“No, Brother Davis, I'm not. But I can do other things.” I allowed a sultry note to enter my voice and leaned forward, making my breasts strain against the cheap fabric of my dress.

Davis wasn't blind. A fine sheen of perspiration appeared on his brow. He crossed his legs and cleared his throat. “Other things?”

My performance would have done a hooker proud. “Believe me, Brother Davis, if you take me for your wife, you won't be disappointed. And if you want me to learn how to cook, I'll learn how to cook. I almost know how to make biscuits.”

He threw back his glorious head and laughed. “That's not what I hear!”

I laughed back.

He wiped his brow and shifted in his seat. As if seeking to remind himself that my body wasn't perfect, his eyes flickered to the scar on my face. “Women can do other jobs around here, Sister Lena. You went to college, didn't you?”

I blinked in surprise. Was it that obvious? Yes, I had graduated with honors from Arizona State University, but there was no way I'd admit to that, so I hurriedly disavowed my alma mater.

“Well, I took some courses at a community college. History, mainly, and English. Some economics. I wasn't the world's greatest student, though.” Actually, my grade point average had been 3.8, not bad for a kid who'd lived like a gypsy in more than a dozen foster homes.

“You could teach at the school.”

“Without a degree?”

He leaned toward me, his knees touching mine. “Sister Lena, none of our teachers have even graduated from high school, and it's been a growing source of concern to me. Knowing that one day I'd assume his own role as prophet, my dear father sent me to Utah State University to study economics, but the experience transformed me in ways he didn't foresee. I came back a changed man. Now I'm convinced that so many of Purity's problems are traceable to lack of education. Yes, I know my father believed God would teach us everything we needed to know. But I think God needs a helping hand every now and then, don't you? After all, that's why God gave us brains—to use.

“Now here you are, an obviously educated woman, a woman seeking a higher calling in life, a woman so desperate to learn God's teachings that she is willing to marry a man she hardly knows, a man she does not love.”

He leaned even closer to me and as he took my hand, I caught a heady combination of soap and sweat emanating from his pores. “Don't look so surprised, Sister Lena. I know you're not in love with me, but that is perfectly acceptable. After all, few marriages around at Purity begin with love, especially on the woman's side.”

His hand closed tightly around mine. “Oh, yes, I am well aware it's panic and nothing else which brought you to me with your generous offer, but that doesn't mean I don't take your offer seriously. There's good sense in your desires, both the good sense of a woman's natural need for a man, and the good sense of a woman who with all her problems still desires to serve God. Admirable, truly admirable.”

While one hand continued to clasp mine, the other slid slowly up my arm and caressed my shoulder in a soft, circular motion. When he drew me toward him, my body leaned forward to meet his. God help me, at that particular moment, I wasn't acting.

His lips, just before they closed on mine, whispered, “Sister Lena, eagles mate with eagles, not with mice.”

Only half-acting, I reached toward him.

“Brother Davis! Brother Davis!” Sissy's insistent voice and loud bangs on the office door made us both jump.

Davis drew back but didn't let go of my hand. “I am counseling Sister Lena, wife,” he called. “Please do not disturb me.”

“But Brother Davis, the Circle of Elders is here,” she called. “They need to see you right away! Something about Brother Saul and Sister Lena!”

Davis rose, pulling me up with him. “I can imagine what they want to tell me, can't you, Sister Lena?”

I pressed against him, inhaling his scent. It had been a long time since I'd been with a man.

“Yes, Brother Davis,” I whispered. “I can.”

When Davis announced our engagement, the Circle didn't like it, but most of them knew better than to argue with the compound's new prophet.

Earl Graff scowled, and I noted happily that his eyes were blacker than mine. And was it my imagination, or did he sport scratches on his face, too? I didn't remember putting them there. Maybe my nails needed trimming.

“You can't be serious, Brother Davis!” Graff protested, ignoring the warning whispers of the other men. “The woman is…she's…”

“Watch what you say about my intended wife,” Davis warned. “She is dear to me and therefore must be dear to you. Do I need to remind you that you brought your problems with her upon yourself? Brother Graff, Purity's women are to be cherished, not struck.”

“But…”

“Brother Graff, have you returned Sister Cynthia to her mother?”

“No, I…”

“Then do so immediately.”

“But the Circle of Elders performed the marriage ceremony last night!
Sister Cynthia is now my wife!
”

Davis dropped his arm from around my waist and took a step toward Earl. He towered over the piggy man by at least eight inches, and it was gratifying to see the little thug shrink back. Not gratifying enough, however, to keep the image of the terrified Cynthia out of my mind. What had that monster done to her?

Davis grabbed Graff by the throat. “Then you disobeyed the direct order I gave you. Why did you do that?”

Earl gagged and choked until Davis loosened his grip slightly. “I…I convened the Circle of Elders, and we decided that since Prophet Solomon promised her to me, I might as well go ahead and marry her.”

Davis's eyes narrowed. “That prophet is dead. I, as the new prophet, hereby annul your marriage and demand that you release that girl to her mother. To make certain you follow my orders this time, I'm returning to your house with you, and I'll escort Cynthia back to her mother's myself. Woe be to you, Brother Earl, if Sister Cynthia has one mark upon her person.”

“But she…I had to…She…”

Without another word, Davis released his hand from around Earl's throat and grabbed his collar. Half shoving, half pulling, he hustled the cowering man out the door and toward his house. We all ran after them, across the dirt circle to the Arizona side, and up the stairs of the tar-papered hovel Earl called home. The front door, barely attached to its hinges, flew open with one shove of Davis's huge hand.

“Sister Cynthia!” Davis bellowed, as unkempt children scattered everywhere. Three very pregnant women stared at us, wiping their hands on their aprons. “Sister Cynthia. It's Davis Royal! I'm here to take you home!”

One of Earl's wives said nervously, “Our new sister wife isn't feeling well this morning, Brother Davis.”

Another wife, a tall, sharp-featured woman who'd hung back in the doorway of the kitchen, threw a look of utter hatred toward Earl. “She had a bad night,” she said. When Earl turned his eyes toward her, she pretended great interest in the worn linoleum, but her expression didn't change.

“Sister Pearl, you fetch Sister Cynthia,” Davis commanded. “Now.”

“Certainly, Brother Davis. But I might need a helping hand.” Her eyes flicked toward me. “Perhaps Sister Lena…?

I took my cue, noticing with interest that the woman knew my name. “Certainly I'll help, Sister Pearl. Where is she?”

“Follow me.”

She led me down an unpainted, dark hall lit only by a single bare bulb dangling from a cord, and finally stopped before a cheap pine door.

“Don't be surprised at anything you see,” she said, her voice flat. “Our husband isn't the gentlest of men.”

When Pearl opened the door to the bedroom, I saw that what I had done to Earl Graff had been revisited a hundred fold upon Cynthia. The girl's beautiful face had been battered almost beyond recognition. Both eyes were swollen shut. Teeth marks covered her cheeks and neck.

“Brother Earl likes to bite,” Pearl said, matter-of-factly. “You probably don't want to see what's beneath the covers.”

I felt sick.

Pearl studied the wrecked room, the broken lamp, a shattered mirror, and a million feathers from shredded pillows. “Looks like she put up a fight, never a good idea with Earl. Those of us who've been around here awhile know it's better to just let him do what he wants and get it over with as fast as possible.”

Maybe so, but I couldn't help but hope that Cynthia had taken a piece out of Brother Earl where it really counted.

I walked over to the bed and leaned over the girl. “Cynthia, it's Lena. Brother Davis just annulled your marriage to Earl. I'm here to take you home.”

Cynthia forced her swollen eyes open, and I could still see burst capillaries in both of them. The whites had turned to blood. But her voice sounded strong. “I'm not sure I can walk.”

“We'll help you, dear,” Sister Pearl said, slipping an arm under her.

As Sister Pearl raised the girl up, the covers fell away. We both gasped. Bite marks sprinkled Cynthia's breasts and abdomen. Fist-sized bruises covered her entire body in huge, dirty polka-dots.

“My dress,” Cynthia whispered. “Please.”

Pearl reached for the torn garment at the foot of the bed, but I stopped her.

“No! I want them to see her. I want them to see what they've allowed to happen to women in Purity!” Turning back to Cynthia I asked, “Do you have the courage?”

Her poor, battered face contorted. “Let them see me? But I'm so ashamed.”

“The shame is his, not yours. Let them see.
Let everyone see
.”

Pearl put her hand on my shoulder. “Sister Lena, are you sure about this? After what the poor child has been through it seems cruel.”

“Cruel? Let me tell you what's cruel, Sister Pearl. Covering up situations like this,
that's
what's cruel! I'm so sick and tired of everyone pretending they're living in Paradise. There's plenty of snakes in this so-called Garden of Eden and I want them rooted out. I want…”

I forced myself back under control. What I wanted was the entire compound wiped off the face of the earth, the women and children sent to shelters and the men to prison—but not before I'd found Prophet Solomon's killer and removed Rebecca from harm's way.

I swallowed my rage as best I could. “Sister Pearl, I've talked to Brother Davis about the problems some of the women are having here, and he agrees with me that something needs to be done. If he sees how bad things really are, I'm sure he'll take steps. But…” I turned back to Cynthia. “But he has to
see
first! He has to see what happened to you. And the other men on the Council, they have to see, too.”

Cynthia groaned. “No man has ever seen my body, I mean, until Brother Earl…”

Then Sister Pearl surprised me. “God created your body, dear, and God does not create anything of which we need to be ashamed.”