Page 100 of Gideon
“Let’s do this shit,” I smirked at him.
“I want to get out of here,” I hissed quietly as I found Gideon in the lobby just after Sunday school classes had finished. The main service had yet to begin, and the foyer was bustling with people; everyone chattering and making so much noise, my head was spinning.
“What’s wrong?” he whispered back. A fake smile drew up the corners of his mouth, playing like we were happily discussing the events of our separate classes before the sermon began.
“That class was awful,” I whispered back with my own grossly false smile spreading my lips wide.
“Just the sermon left and then we can —”
“Gideon, Naomi!” my father’s voice boomed, echoing in the foyer and drawing fucking everyone’s attention.
“Father, Mother,” I said docilely, lowering my eyes so that my look of pure hatred at my adoptive parents would not give me away. Plus, it helped me to sell the act of being the perfect submissive wife. Which wasn’t technically wrong either. A smirk lifted the corner of my lips in a genuine smile that I tried desperately to hide. Now wasnotthe time.
“It’s so lovely to see you both in church again this morning,” my mother praised us, reaching for my hand. I took hers, looking up at Gideon and holding still as she patted the back of my hand. In comfort? In happiness? Who the hell knew?
“It is so good to be back, Mrs. Cantor. We missed it over the few weeks we were sequestered on our honeymoon. While it serves a purpose, it was difficult to be without the ability to worship our Savior in His glorious temple.” Gideon poured the platitudes on so thickly they were dripping onto the floor.
Don’t roll your eyes. Don’t roll your eyes. Don’t roll your eyes.
“You simplymustjoin us for lunch after the sermon, Gideon,” my mother preened. “Oh, goodness me! I should sayElderTemple!” She was nearly jumping up and down with joy. Her daughter had married an Elder. It was like her secret mission in life.
“Oh, we couldn’t possibly impose on—” Gideon began, but my father interrupted him quickly.
“Now, now, Son. Surely you wouldn’t deny your in-laws a chance to host our daughter and her new husband for a mid-day meal, would you?” It was sickening, the way they just pushed and poked until they got their way. There was no sense of boundaries with these people. I could see Gideon’s jaw twitch when my father called him son.
“We would be honored, of course,” he said with a smile, though his words were bit out through clenched teeth. Not that my parents noticed.
“Won’t you sit with us during the sermon?” Mother’s voice pleaded, her hand squeezing mine. Before I could answer, Gideon wrapped his arm around me, pulling me into his side and squeezing my arm.
“As much as we would love to, we have already told my brothers we would sit with them. However, we look forward to seeing you at your home after the sermon concludes. You’ll excuse us, won’t you? We want to get to our seats before the Reverend starts in on his sermon. I wouldn’t want to miss a word,” Gideon answered them, handling the situation with far more finesse than I could have.
Giving my parents a smile, we made our way into the sanctuary. Gideon squeezed my hand and gave me a smile as he gestured to where the other Temple wives sat, before moving to the other side of the sanctuary and sitting with his brothers. Feeling the loss of his closeness like a physical blow, I moved quickly to sit between Delilah and Talia. It calmed my nerves a bit to be surrounded by my new found family.
Delilah gave me a sweet smile and took my hand as the sermon began. The Reverend’s words filled my heart with ice as his cold, hate-filled rhetoric blasted around the room. It was as it had always been. Reverend Jacob spewed words of vitriolic hatred about the room, waxing poetic about the sins of the modern world, the way man had been plagued by Satan himself, possessed by demons in their drive for greed and lust.
He spoke of the Lord’s calling for us here in Zion, how we were called to live by His word, and His word alone. We all read along from our bibles, pretending that the words on the page matched the twisted version of reality the Reverend spoke of. How did no one realize he did nothing but twist these words into a grotesque parody that fit his narrative? Idiots. All of them, idiots.
The message rang on, interspersed with songs from the hymnal and the ever present call to purge ourselves of sin.
Finally, the sermon concluded, the Reverend releasing us to a day of rest and contemplative devotions. The sanctuary emptied into the foyer, everyone leaving the church on their ways home. Gideon and I rejoined one another, and walked silently to the truck. We both sat there in silence for a solid minute as we came down from the difficult act we had just put on.
“That was harder than I thought,” Gideon sighed heavily.
“Much harder,” I agreed with a sigh of my own. “And it’s not going to get easier just yet. We have to head to my parents’ house.” I let out a groan of frustration, holding my head in both hands.
“Hey,” Gideon’s voice cut through my moment of self-pity. “You’re not alone. We’ll get through it together. Just think of it as another day here in Zion. Just one more day we have to get through.”
“I’m so tired ofgetting throughdays in Zion,” I groaned, taking his offered hand across the truck’s bench seat.
“As am I. But we know our days here are numbered. We know that we are leaving. Sooner rather than later,” he reminded me.
“Don’t you ever get tired of this endless ticking clock? I know you’re right. I’m not disagreeing with that. I’m just saying that I wish this countdown had an actual expiration date. Aknownexpiration date,” I groaned.
“I agree. But we know that it’s coming,” he tried to reassure me, squeezing my hand in his.
“Okay,” I sighed, taking a deep, cleansing breath. “Let’s get this damn lunch over with. We can deal with the rest later, right?” I pasted on a fake smile of strength and resolve.
“Let’s do it,” he agreed with a smirk. We drove silently to my parent’s house, the long trek of six blocks that it was. As we pulled into the driveway of their modest home, I could feel the dread and hopelessness this house had given me over the years settle over me once more. Gideon helped me down from the truck, his touch on the small of my back bolstering my strength as he led me in.
