Page 33 of Before the Storm
She shook her head. “I know I should have. This whole thing with Pam has me thinking about all the girls still stuck in that world. Some don’t know what’s happening to them is wrong.”
“If they were born and raised in a cult, how could they?” He closed the gap, snagging his wine. He lifted it to his lips and downed it one gulp before pouring more and polishing that off. “I can understand your need to get out and put it behind you. I don’t fault you for that. I’ve worked with dozens of women who, for whatever reason, couldn’t or wouldn’t press charges. They wanted to disappear. Not to mention that sometimes the system doesn’t work as well as it should and the perpetrator often ends up back on the streets.”
“Like Pam?”
“She’s not the best example because she’s not violent. Or at least she’s not showing signs of that. But yes. Her crime was a misdemeanor. But if she does it again, and it’s reported, she’ll be in more trouble.” He cocked his head. “What your father and husband did is a felony. That’s entirely different, especially if they are still doing it.” He eased back into the chair. “How did you get out?”
This was the part of the story that would take more work to tell. She sipped her wine and contemplated where to start. “I was never legally married.”
“That doesn’t make it okay.”
“Trust me. I know that,” she said. “I was wife number four. A year after I was married, my father brought a sixteen-year-oldto my husband. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen that. I wanted nothing to do with it, but I was pregnant and I felt trapped.”
“You have a child?”
“No. I had lost that baby.” She sniffled. “As a matter of fact, I had three miscarriages and one stillbirth.” The words tumbled from her mouth like an ice cube. Cold and hard. She had no emotion left for what happened. Of course she cared about her unborn children. She’d been devastated by losing those babies. She believed she’d been ungodly. Unholy.
“Jesus, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. I believe I’ve come to terms with it. In the long run, it turned out to be a blessing.” She squared her shoulders. “But between what happened with Pam and seeing something on the news about my father’s church?—”
“Wait a second. Is your father Adam Weiss? The leader of the Fundamentalist Christ Revolution?”
“How do you know about him?”
“I watch the news every day. I saw that someone accused the FCR of crimes against minors.”
“When I was a toddler, the church came under fire under my grandfather’s rule. It all had to do with plural marriage back then and we were living in Utah where at the time it was criminalized. It’s not in other states. But my grandfather didn’t believe in child brides. He always thought eighteen was the right age. And he never arranged marriages. Those were choices between men, women, and God. My father is the one who changed all that.”
Phoenix let out a long sigh. “You certainly know a lot about the law. Did you understand all that living in the FCR, or was that something you’ve learned in the last three years?”
“I didn’t have an education outside of our bible when I left. I could read and write. I had a basic understanding of math. But I knew nothing of the real world. It’s all accumulated knowledge.”
“I’ll be honest. I expected either a traumatic childhood or an abusive ex. But this is a lot to digest.” He ran his hand over his face. “What made you decide to leave and are you worried at all about them finding you?”
“It was the way I was treated when I lost my last baby.” It amazed her the strength that soared through her veins while she told her story. Anne Marie told her it would empower her and that’s exactly what it did. “And I had met someone at the hospital who had once been in an offshoot of my father’s church. She had escaped and she offered to help. I took her and her husband up on it and I didn’t once look back. I never stayed longer than a few months in any one town because, yes. I’m scared that if my father or spiritual husband ever found me, they might try to kidnap me or force me back home. I’ve seen women who had left return. It’s never good.”
“I imagine it’s not.” He took both her hands. “You’re a courageous woman for doing what you did.”
“I would have been more courageous if I had told my story to the authorities or done what my friends do and helped other girls escape.”
“Sometimes you have to take care of yourself before you can help anyone else. You weren’t ready. And as I’ve learned over the years, you can’t save everyone because some people don’t want to be saved.”
“I swear, one of my sister wives believed wholeheartedly in my father’s message. When he came to her telling her that her daughter, who was only fifteen, was called to marry my dad of all people, she handed her over without question. She was proud and honored. I was horrified.”
“I’m sorry. That’s disgusting and I have no words.”
“It was hard to live.”
“I’m going to have my mom check in with her contacts at the FBI to see if they know anything.”
“Poking around in the FCR isn’t a good idea. They have found ways to hide behind religion and their right to practice it. Their followers will lie in order to protect their place in heaven because they believe they have to, even if their hearts are telling them something else.”
He pressed his finger against her lips. “I’m going to ask you a really tough question and trust me when I say, it pains me to even speak the words.” He cleared his throat. “Did your spiritual husband, or whatever he was, force you into his bed?”
“It was our duty as his wives.”
“That’s bullshit.” His eyes narrowed and his face hardened. “Sex is not an obligation. It’s not a husband’s right to take his wife anytime he pleases. It’s a privilege. And that works both ways. In any relationship. If you’re not in the mood or don’t want to, you have the right to say no and a real man would never force you. That’s called rape and it’s criminal. So is having sex with a minor.”
