Kath, his third wife, had it the worst. She wasn’t raised with the confines of AUB teachings. Polygamy was new to her. This religion was new to her. She learned after the first year to stop questioning so much and to just submit.
“Where are you working again?” Summer asks as if I haven’t already told them a million times.
“Some corporation in Salt Lake City. I’m sure you’ve never heard of it.” My mind goes to the script on the business card. “Townsend Energy Holdings. They’re a renewable energy organization.”
Sadly, that’s the only thing I know. I’d Google him if I could.
But I can’t. My father has a Christian internet filter installed on my laptop. I can only access religious and educational websites.
“Oh, so like solar energy? Wind energy?” Summer dumps a handful of chopped pineapple into a bowl of marshmallows.
“Exactly.” I nod, wearing the confident expression I summoned from the depths of my liar-liar-pants-on-fire soul.
“Don’t get too attached to this job,” Mom says through half-pursed lips. Her nose scrunches as she shoots me a look. “You know it’s only temporary. Once you marry Cortland, he may not want you working outside the home.”
These fools really believe I’m going to marry Cortland.
“Yes, I know. I’m just saving money for my future. For our future.” I lean my elbows against the counter. “If it’s God’s will that I marry Cortland, we’ll have a beautiful wedding and a nice war chest to start our life with. And this gives me something to channel my energy into for the time being. I hate to be one of those girls who obsess over their future husband, you know? Like Holly Dwyers from church. Remember her? And that man ended up deciding not to marry her in the end. That girl needed a hobby outside of courting.”
“Cortland came into your life at just the right time. I’ve been saying for months now that it’s time for you to meet someone, Bellamy,” Summer says. Her eyes light up and mist at the same time. “No one deserves to be lonely.”
News flash, I’m not lonely. Finding a man is the least of my concerns.
“I can’t wait for you to have babies.” Summer grins ear to ear like my future is playing before her eyes on some imaginary movie screen. “You’re so good with the kids. You’re going to be a great mother. I just know it.”
“I’m just glad she’ll be a first wife,” my mother interjects, her eyes on me. “Firstborns are stubborn and headstrong. Bellamy would never do well as number two or three or, God-forbid, four. Can you imagine Bellamy being that far down the chain of command?”
“Is that how you think of us, Jane?” Summer leans against the counter, her smile fading. “As numbers? Less superior than yourself?”
They bicker like sisters sometimes, though I suppose that’s basically what they are: sisters with a spiritual bond who share a husband.
Totally normal.
Everybody does it.
Psh.
“You know that’s not what I meant. I was simply stating an observation about my daughter,” my mother fires back.
“Our daughter,” Summer reminds her.
I slip out unnoticed and trek up to my room to slip out of my pencil skirt and button down. My hand traces the lines of the calendar hanging above my desk. I lift a few pages until I get to August.
Four more months.
I did the math in the car on the way home.
All I need is four more months, and then I should be able to afford a place for my eighteen-year-old sister, Waverly, and myself to stay while we figure things out, because I’m taking her with me. If my father is itching to marry me off, she’s going to be next. She’s about to graduate from high school. I can’t leave her behind. And someday we’ll come back for the others.
Four more months until my life is my own.
I’ll be able to give my body and soul and heart and mind to a man of my choosing when I choose to do it.
I’ll belong to no one.
I’ll submit to no one.
Submission has never been in my DNA.
THREE
DANE
“Hate me yet, Randy?”
I lean back in my chair, my free hand gripping the leather armrest as I spin around to take in the foggy morning view of the city. Randy Mutchler wheezes on the other end of the phone. Being a larger man has never stopped him from nailing his fair share of beautiful women on a regular basis, especially women who find money particularly arousing.
I may have swiped his newest conquest out from under him, but the way I look at it, I was doing her a favor.
She’ll thank me someday.
“Every single day,” Randy puffs, his voice rattling. He really should lay off the cigars.