Page 106 of Her Ex-Husband's Brother

Before going out to cook breakfast this morning, I felt a shudder run through me as I put it on and went to look in the mirror after doing my hair as I had done it every Sunday for nine years.

I don’t think I’d ever stopped believing in God.

I’d just stopped believing in Jake and Jake’s mother’s God. A long time ago now.

The woman in the mirror with perfectly shaped brows, and lined lips and mascara to elongate every lash to twice its God-given length and rouge on the high of the cheekbones like my mama taught me when I was just a girl but I didn’t really perfect until after I was married…

She looks real pretty, I guess.

Not quite magazine perfect, but definitely, with a couple Instagram filters, a woman who could move some product.

Certainly a woman Jake will be proud to peacock around with on his arm.

She also doesn’t look a thing like me. I couldn’t even glimpse my real self. Like the prison wasn’t just the house I’d stepped into, but my own body, forced to be the way I knew Jake wanted it to be.

I rubbed the medusa on my arm in gratitude and felt myself come back into my body with a little gasp.

There was still some part of me that wasmine.

When I stepped out of the room, Jake’s eyes immediately dropped right to the tattoo on my inner forearm.

“What have youdone? Go back and cover it up!”

“But I like it.”

“It’s garish.” His cheeks were going all pink again. “Satanic. No wife of mine is gonna have such an ugly mark on her. We’ll get it lasered off. Now go cover it up.”

When I stood defiantly still, staring at him, his jaw went hard. “Do you want me to honor this bargain or what?”

Which was when I realized that me just coming back wasn’t going to be enough. He was gonna use this to wield as much control over me as possible.

But realizing it and knowing what to do about it were two different things. So I pushed past him into what was once my bedroom and grabbed a light black cardigan to cover up my medusa.

But we were just hiding, weren’t we? And we would come out and turn him to stone when the time was right. I promised myself.

And now here we are, pulling into the huge building with the big, bright steeple. I take in a large breath to fortify myself before pushing out the door, almost as soon as Jake has put the car in park. I can’t stand to be in an enclosed space with him a second longer than necessary.

As soon as I do, I feel stares from every direction.

Ah.

Small communities are fueled by gossip, and this one’s no different. Everybody loves a secret, or what they perceive as a secret. Even though it’s gone through so many rounds oftelephone that it’s less a secret and more a snowball gathering the momentum of a scandal as it rolls downhill.

I guess this scandal was big even before the snowball got going. The wife of one of the church’s core couples left her husband, and right afterwards slept with his brother. I’m sure Kathy made sure to share that juicy tidbit, even as Jake felt no doubt humiliated by it. She wouldn’t have been able to hold herself back, because it proved herrightin what she’d always thought about me.

Judging by the judging stares I’m getting now, I’m guessing Kathy got to every single person on the church directory. She probably went along with the preacher on any pastoral visits he was doing just in case anyone hadn’t heard the news.

I startle as Jake appears beside me and intertwines his arm with mine, securing me tight to his hip and marching me through the open double doors.

But not before hissing in my ear, “You’re gonna do everything asked of you the next two hours, you hear me? Repent in front of God, the pastor, and the congregation just like you promised me.”

I frown up at him, my stomach falling out wondering what the hell he’s talking about before suddenly we’re right in front of the pastor. It’s a different pastor than the one who dunked me in the frigid baptismal a decade ago. Pastor Sean is younger and more charismatic, but his face clouds as soon as he sees me.

“I’m sorry,” I blurt as soon as I see him, not sure exactly what Jake means about wanting me torepentin front of people.

Pastor Sean nods gravely and takes my hand after Jake passes it off to him. Uncomfortably, I allow him to hold my hands between his two, which he presses together like he’s giving me a blessing of some kind.

“Lennon Marie, all who are lostcanbe found. Prodigal sons and daughters will be welcomed back into the fold with joy andthanksgiving. But like he who recognized that laying down with the pigs was nothing to his Father’s bountiful table, we must be brought to our knees sometimes and beg forgiveness. Do you understand?” His brows are earnestly drawn together and he gives my hands he’s still holding a gentle shake.