Page 53 of Bartholomew
“No, Delilah. Look at me. Look in my eyes and see the truth there. The plan was never to leave you.” I was about ready to get on my knees and beg her to believe me. Christ, this was all going tits up faster than one of Gideon’s rope bottoms during a suspension class. Get your mind out of kink, Ollie.
“Then what was the plan? Or, rather, what is the plan, I suppose?” she asked, her shoulders slumping in defeat. “I just… I thought last night meant something.”
“It did. It did for me.” This time I went to her. I got down on my knees in front of her as she sat on the edge of the bed. “Last night showed me just how much we could actually have. Delilah, the plan for my brothers and I was to leave Zion. We decided to go through with the arranged marriages and offer our wives a way out, when the time was right. That was the plan all along,” I admitted, my voice heavy with my conviction.
“A way out together or —” she asked, her eyes searching mine for the truth.
“The plan was always to offer our wives a choice. To stay in Zion, to leave with our help and set out on a new life for themselves, or to leave. With us. Zion has taken away too many of our choices, especially from women. I don’t think I, or any of my brothers, could take away a woman’s choice when it came to that. And I mean that honestly. Please, come back to the study and just talk with us. Talk with Ruth. No more secrets, okay?” I offered her a gentle smile and, knock me down with a feather, was overjoyed to see her return it. It was a hint of smile that held more pain and worry than I would have liked. But it was a start.
“Okay, Ollie. Okay.” I offered her my hand, and we both stood and made our way back to the study where Levi and Ruth still sat, quietly discussing something or other.
“Delilah!” Ruth exclaimed, catching sight of us in the doorway before Levi had. Delilah stopped anything she was about to say with her hand in the air.
“No, me first. I need to apologize to both of you for my outburst. It was uncomely and most definitely not befitting a Temple wife,” Delilah explained.
“No, but it was most definitely befitting this insane situation. I should apologize for interrupting your honeymoon and I hope I will earn your forgiveness,” Levi stood and offered his hand to Delilah in hopes of forgiveness.
“You might be right there, Leviticus. You might be right.” Delilah took his offered hand, shaking it firmly and offering both of them smiles. “Is eleven in the morning too early for a drink?” she laughed nervously.
It was the exact right comment for the moment and the four of us burst into laughter. Grateful that at least some of the tension had eased for the moment.
“Absolutely not too early. I’m pretty sure drinking at brunch is a common occurrence outside of Zion. And please, call me Levi,” my brother spoke, silently offering to make each of us a drink to wash away the tension of the moment.
“Thank goodness you built your house outside of the Zion city limits, husband,” Delilah teased, offering me a smile and then — to my shock — a wink. I clutched at my heart, throwing her my most genuine, wide smile of joy.
Perhaps we would be okay in the end.
“So, tell me what justified interrupting my honeymoon,” Delilah broke the ice. Asking the question like it was not the elephant in the room.
“While working in the offices of the church, I overheard Reverend Jacob talking with our father this morning of his plans to potentially cut your honeymoon short and ask Ollie, here, to come to work early,” Levi explained, taking control of the situation as he always seemed to.
“Why would they do something like that?” Delilah asked with genuine surprise. “I’ve never heard of a honeymoon being cut short. Not once.”
“You’re right. To our knowledge, it’s never been done,” Ruth added.
“Like I said to you earlier, Ollie, I do not know if anything will come of it. I only heard part of the conversation, and I honestly couldn’t tell if it was Father’s idea or Reverend Jacob’s. Either way, you need to be on your guard about it. That, combined with what’s going on at the church… just be careful, Ollie,” Levi warned.
“What’s going on at the church?” Delilah asked from her seat. Her earlier bravado seemed to fade and I could see her shrinking further into her seat, and into her shell, as the conversation continued.
“There seems to be growing tension with our father and Reverend Jacob regarding us boys. I can’t tell if I’m just reading into something that’s not there, or if it’s something else. I can’t fathom what it would be, but I can’t put my finger on it. There seems to be an urgency to get us brothers elevated to Elders as quickly as possible,” Levi explained.
“Couldn’t it just be that your father wants you boys to succeed and grow in the church?” Delilah asked, the drink Levi had prepared for her held untouched between her hands.
“I’m sure there is a measure of that, but it feels like more than that,” Levi added.
“Plus, it’s the last thing any of us want,” I interjected. “We don’t want to be a part of a church, or a community that treats its people the way Zion does.”
“What do you mean by that, though?” Delilah asked, leaning forward in interest.
“Well, besides the obvious fact that they would ostracize us if Zion were to find out that we like to tie our women up and beat them?” Levi chuckled, taking a sip of his drink.
Well, fuck.
I watched as Delilah’s eyes widened and her drink dropped from her hands, spilling onto the floor.
“Oh, um, oh! Oh no!” she exclaimed, leaping from her chair and darting off to get something to clean it up.
“You fucker,” I cursed at my brother.
