So basically, it’s like an official marriage confirmation.
The patriarchs step forward and each place their hands on the woman’s belly. And all of them smile as though it’s nothing.
“You are now blessed with the seed of God,” all the patriarchs say.
“Praise!” everyone yells.
“God will give you a child. Whether it’s this day or the next,” the president says. “All of you will bear for Him, because it is right.”
My whole body begins to tremble.
“Are you cold or something?” Now it’s Holly asking.
“No,” I say.
“Silence, girls,” says an elder wife who’s kneeling behind us.
My nostrils flare at her, but I don’t say another word. Now is not the time to argue.
“You are now wives,” the president continues. “Give your husbands whatever it is his heart desires, and He shall do the same for you. God is giving; God is love. Love encompasses all that we do here at the commune, and we thank the Lord for all he has given this family.”
“Amen,” the people say.
The president snaps his fingers. Two men step forward, who I assume are elders, and they hand the patriarchs red cloaks. They drape them over the women and clasp them together at the neck, which makes them look like Red Riding Hood to me, but I guess it has a spiritual meaning.
Emmy leans in. “That cloak signifies the end of their initiation and the beginning of their wife-hood.”
“I thought every woman only wore white here,” I whisper back.
“This is a special occasion. It’s only for women who are no longer untouched.”
That’s complete horseshit. But I guess that ultimately suits these men’s narrative … make women believe their virginity is something holy, something that’s to be celebrated when it’s claimed by a man.
Men rule this world.
But that doesn’t mean it’s right.
“That girl bled like a slaughtered goat,” Holly whispers, while pointing at the girl with the visibly pregnant body. She sniggers. “But she got taken by three different men that evening, so it was a good night.”
That’s what she calls a good night?
“I thought they were only allowed to be claimed by one man?” April asks.
“The patriarchs always have the final say. If they want a girl, they can claim her on top of someone else’s claim.”
Right. I completely forgot how skewed this community is toward the men in power. I wonder if Noah has fucked another girl. If he’s fucked one of them standing up there, right in front of him. A pang of jealousy shoots through my veins, but I ignore it vehemently.
Suddenly, his eyes land on mine, and I feel watched … caught in the act.
It’s almost as if he knows when I’m uncomfortable and wants to see me that way.
Like it turns him on.
Because I can sure as hell feel that burn in his eyes from all the way across the hall, and it makes my heart throb. Fuck. I should not be feeling things like that for a man like him. He’s wrong on all levels. Yet my body betrays me each time I look at him, each time he licks his lips or even blinks my way. It’s as though my brain wants me to remember what I did in the Jacuzzi with him the other night.
When all the women have been cloaked, they accept a kiss on the forehead from the president himself, and then they all kneel with the crowd as though participating in the prayer too.
“Prayers are not yet finished,” Noah suddenly says. “Today is a special day. I have an announcement to make.”
Everybody seems surprised, including the patriarchs … and the president himself.
His eyes still homed in on me, he says, “I’ve chosen a wife.”
And as my eyes widen and my jaw drops, he points his finger straight at me.
Chapter 17
Noah
Finally, it’s time to claim my prize.
Not at the ceremony, but now at the prayers, when there is no celebrations, no dancing, no distractions. Everyone’s gaze is fixated on us. She’s caught, trapped with no way out. This is happening, and it’s happening now.
She’s ready.
I’ve waited such a long time for this moment when I finally get to make her mine.
She was the one who pulled the trigger, who chose me over any other man in this community, and she knows it. I can see it in her eyes, that look of betrayal … of her own heart.
She may think I’m wrong for her, but I’m the only right choice she could ever make. The only option to make all the pieces fall into place.
“Noah! What are you doing?” my father whisper-yells from the side, but I ignore him.
Natalie shakes her head, mouthing, “No,” but there’s no going back now. I’ve pointed at her, singled her out among all the girls sitting beside and in front of her. She’s the one … and she knows.
The girls around her push her up from the ground with huge smiles on their faces, despite her reluctance to stand. They look so happy for her, and I wonder if those are the girls she’s spent most of her time with while she was here. She’d better say goodbye while she still has the chance.