Page 3 of Wife Number One

“She’s disobedient, but I’m working on it,” Shari assured him. “She will become a good woman in time.” She side-eyed me. “When her soul has been properly cleansed of the sins she was exposed to as a baby.”

There was nothing I could say about that. My sins were known to all in the community. How I’d left. Gotten pregnant and come back home a year later with a newborn baby in my arms and my tail tucked between my legs.

How my parents had begged Josiah for forgiveness on my behalf.

How they had agreed I would marry him and bring him the heir he so desperately craved. After all, I had a proven track record of being able to carry a child to term, and at the time, I had been one of the few women in the group of marrying age.

But I had failed at all of it.

“Indeed,” Josiah agreed, his gaze sweeping over Hayley Jade. “Her manners need work, but she is growing up into a beauty. How old is she now?”

Anger and disgust bubbled through me. Hayley Jade wasn’t disobedient. And she didn’t need to learn her place. Or kneel at my feet like she was some sort of servant. She was beautiful and kind and sweet. All qualities I’d admired in her as I watched her from the window of my bedroom in Josiah’s home.

The man sharpened his gaze, studying my daughter.

Her good qualities suddenly seemed dangerous.

They drew the attention of men, the same way her aunt Jacqueline did.

My daughter had been removed from my care as a punishment, but when Josiah took too much interest in her, as he was now, I was grateful she was being raised outside his home.

“Thank you for your blessings,” I said quickly to Shari. “May the Lord bestow abundance upon your home this week.” I ended the conversation so she would be forced to move on down the line, taking Hayley Jade away from Josiah’s watchful eyes.

But also away from me.

2

KARA

Itook up my place at the end of the line, walking silently behind the other wives and their children. The women chatted about the sermon we’d just heard, the latest episode of Josiah’s podcast, and the new dress Laurie had made for herself which had gotten a lot of compliments. Josiah carried his eldest son, four-year-old Mathew, on his shoulders, while the other children skipped around his feet or were pushed in strollers by their mothers.

Nobody paid me any attention, trudging along alone.

When we reached the large, nearly new house Josiah had built for us all to share, I headed for the kitchen as unobtrusively as possible, my stomach rumbling.

Josiah caught my wrist as I reached for the refrigerator door. “Go upstairs, Kara.”

“I will,” I assured him without really thinking it through, my stomach protesting the fact I hadn’t eaten yet today. “I just need something to nibble on first.”

A hush fell over the other women, their conversations faltering, and I quickly realized my mistake.

I hadn’t been sweet. Or meek. I had spoken back after being given a direct order.

His grip tightened until it hurt. “You eat more than any of the other women, and it shows. I said go upstairs. Pray to the Lord to forgive your greed.”

I lowered my gaze to the floor. “Of course, Brother Josiah. I didn’t mean to misspeak. I’m sorry.”

My apologies didn’t change his expression. The anger that hid behind the pale-blue ocean of his eyes. He let go of my arm, and I turned quickly, avoiding the stares of the other wives as I hurried up the stairs and to my bedroom.

I perched on the edge of my neatly made bed and waited.

He would come to punish me for my insolence. He always did.

Downstairs, the household went on about their normal morning routine, the wives making an elaborate brunch of eggs from our chickens and bacon from the last pig we’d had slaughtered. The bread had been baked earlier that morning before we’d all left the house, and the fresh, sweet smell of it still lingered in the air, even up here.

My stomach rumbled again, twisting itself into knots with hunger.

Josiah was right. I was a greedy woman.

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