Page 117 of The Confidant
My dad looked down at the maroon journal and leafed through a few pages. Then, carefully turning the book on the table so it was right side up for me, he pushed it across the desk so I could read it. He said, “This passage here is where Samuel wrote that his oldest son, Jethro, was to continue to take spiritual partners in secret.”
“He what?” I asked, feeling like I was just repeating that same question over and over during this conversation.
“It was very confidential, and only those parties involved actually knew about it.” He pointed to a paragraph in the journal, written in an old-fashioned scrawl. “They were forbidden from even discussing the sacred ceremony except for in a special place in the church.”
The sacred ceremony?
“In fact,” he continued, “I probably wouldn’t have even heard anything about the sacred ceremony if the new revelation didn’t involve you.”
“How does it involve me, Dad?” I asked, hoping it wasn’t anything like what was currently formulating in my mind.
His eyes darted away, and my whole body filled with dread. “You see,” he said, letting out a long sigh. “The High Priest received a new revelation this past September about the man who will be the High Priest when Jehovah and Samuel Williams return to take us with them to heaven.”
“He has?” I asked, a thrill of excitement flashing through me briefly at the prospect of there being more information regarding the second coming of Jehovah and Samuel Williams—something I often wondered about.
“We’ve known it was coming soon,” he said. “That we are in the last days and need to be prepared. But until this revelation, there wasn’t a firm timeline.”
I sat forward in my chair, all ears now. “So, is it happening soon?”
Were we on the cusp of welcoming our beloved leaders back to Earth? Was the current High Priest theChosen One?
“I think we still have many years to prepare,” Dad said, seeing how I was growing excited. “But it was revealed that the Chosen One will be conceived soon. That the ceremony prophesied to bring about his eventual birth is to take place on the Friday before Easter.”
“Really?” I asked, shocked it was so soon. “So in just two weeks, he could be conceived?”
“Yes.” Dad nodded, a grave look on his face.
That was when I realized what he’d been working up to say this whole time. He’d said the revelation had something to do with me.
“I just thought we’d have more time, Scarlett,” he said, noticing the realization dawning on my face.
“Are you trying to say that, I—?” I paused, trying to process, “—that I’m going to be part of this ceremony?”
“I didn’t know about the timeline until recently,” he said quickly. “Which is why I was trying to let things develop slowly. You’re still so young and—”
“What are you trying to say, Dad?” I asked, my head feeling like I had a swarm of bees buzzing around it. “What exactly does this revelation have to do with me?”
“The High Priest revealed that you’re the chosen vessel for the future High Priest, Scarlett.”
“What do you mean by ‘chosen vessel?’” I asked.
“Just like Mary was the maiden chosen to carry Jehovah, you have been chosen to carry our future High Priest.”
“No.” I shook my head, scooting my chair back. “I-I can’t be. I’m o-only eighteen.”
“That’s what I told the High Priest.” Dad stood and walked around his desk. “I told him it must be a mistake and that there must be another girl. Someone a little older. Someone ready to be a wife and mother.”
“Yeah, it can’t be me. I’m just a regular girl. I—I’m not like…” I shook my head, trying to think through the scattered thoughts flooding my mind. “I’m not like this special, perfect girl.”
I always did my best to stay on the right path. But I didn’t keep all of the commandments perfectly all of the time. I wasn’t anything close to what someone would call “chosen” or “special.”
Not special enough for something as huge as this.
“I tried to argue with the High Priest.” Dad bent down in front of me so that we were eye to eye. “Not because I didn’t believe you to be worthy of such a calling. But just because you’re still in high school, and I didn’t think you needed to carry such a huge responsibility.” He took my hands in his. “I tried to ask him if the chosen vessel could be another chosen daughter of God. But as it turns out, the revelation was extremely specific about who could be the chosen vessel.”
“What do you mean?”
“The revelation revealed that she would be of age at the time of the ceremony—which now that you’re eighteen, I suppose you are that. She was also to be born in the first month of the year, with fair skin and hair of scarlet—the same color of the Son of God’s blood that was spilt on the cross. She would be a prize among women—pure, smart, exceptional in every way.”
