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Chapter 23
Natalie
After more convincing, the matriarchs finally took the vials and helped us get rid of Patrick’s body. There’s a tiny, fenced-off backyard behind the women’s room that’s used for gardening. We dug a hole there and stuffed his body in the pit, covering it up with soil and plants to make it look like we had been gardening.
No one came to check on us, despite Agatha having ample time. I wonder if she knows what we’ve been doing and has been turning a blind eye. Not that I care. If she tells the patriarchs, who are they going to believe? An elder’s wife? Or us, the wives?
I’m certain we can get away with this. We must. There’s no other choice.
The men can’t find out … yet.
And until we’re ready to put up a fight, we need to lay low and pretend nothing’s going on.
Of course, not all the matriarchs helped without protest. Trisha didn’t want to lay a hand on Patrick, but she promised she wouldn’t tell a soul. I doubt she wants to throw her fellow matriarchs under the bus because there’d be no one left … and being cooped up all alone in this giant house is certain to drive anyone mad.
These women have had it the best, and still, they feel suppressed by their men. That means something because if we can move these women … we can move all the women in this community.
And today is the day.
Because with Patrick gone, it’ll only be a matter of time before the president finds out someone did something bad … and he’ll make that someone pay.
There’s no time to waste. I’m going to do something now.
My pockets are filled with vials that my mother made. She created most of the poisonous vials in the middle of the night when no one was awake. I can’t believe she went this far, but at the same time, I recognize the desperation. I was there, too, once, and I feel her pain.
My father should’ve died, yet he still walks around, pretending he owns this Holy Land like it was his to begin with. He doesn’t know what’s coming. If she’s tried once, she’ll try it again, and I can’t wait to see the look on his face the moment he realizes he died by his wife’s own hands.
But until then, I’ll have to sit it out … and emblazon the women in this community to stand up for themselves. And I know just how.
Mother and I devised a plan. Noah didn’t agree, but I told him it was our way or the highway. This time, he doesn’t get to make the decision. I do. He wants to break down this community and survive as a patriarch? Then he has to be on our side.
So he vowed not to intervene.
Mother gave me the key she stole from Father, and I used it to escape the temple during the day … right before the scheduled dining hut visit.
I put on the old white clothes I used to wear. Agatha kept them in a closet in her room, and it was easy enough to snatch those because she’s always busy with chores.
Then I went out to join the women in their daily walk toward the dining hut … and I slipped into the crowd unnoticed.
My pregnant belly is hidden behind the white drapes well enough to escape the guard’s attention.
While walking with the women, I tap on the shoulder of those my mother has already spoken with, and I hand them a vial. I place a finger against my lips and shake my head.
No speaking. Nothing to get noticed.
I trust them to be discreet.
I get a thank-you nod and go on my way to the next.
Some of the women I’ve seen myself while my mother and I snuck into their huts at night to help them with their unruly husbands. Others I only know by name and by asking other women to point me in the right direction.
It’s not easy finding the women who’ve been wishing for so long for an escape … but there are many. Too many. It’s time for a change.
We go inside the dining hut, and I look around to see where everyone’s sitting. One of the elders hands me a scarf to cover my face since I didn’t enter with a husband holding my hand. Without saying a word, I grab it and put it on.
I peer around the room and find Emmy sitting at a table for wives. She clenches the fork in her hand but doesn’t eat. Her face is still covered in bruises, and the smile on her face is long gone, along with the sparkle in her eyes. But something else has replaced that cheerfulness she used to have; a vicious yearning for vengeance. And the man sitting beside her, chomping down on his food is the target of all her rage.
