Page 32 of Taken By the Soldier
“Trouble? What kind of trouble? What did you do?” Not only does Adella sound worried, but she’s gone pale as well. Her reaction makes me hope her husband is treating her with kindness.
“Oh, you know, the usual,” I say with a casual shrug. “I kneed him in the dick and tried to run away.”
Adella and Chloe pause mid-step and stare at me in utter shock. “You did what?” they say in unison.
I repeat myself very slowly, even though I know they heard me correctly the first time.
Adella gasps. “That must have made him furious. What did he do to you? Did he…punish you?” She whispers the last two words.
I sigh and finally give a slight nod. “Yes, but I survived it. It was just a spanking. I’m okay.”Just a spankingdoesn’t even begin to cover it, not when Luka’s palm is made of steel, but I don’t want the sisters to worry about me. So, I try to play it off like it’s no big deal.
“I’m so sorry,” Chloe says. “I-I know how much spankings hurt. Gunnar has punished me a couple of times. I have a tendency to curse when I get frustrated, and as I’m sure you know, Zasforran men have a weird hang up about women cursing. They act like you’re committing murder if you let a harmless word likeshitordamnslip out.” The second she finishes speaking, she looks around quickly with a worried expression. But the men are standing far enough away that there’s no possibility they heard her.
“Forrest washed my mouth out with soap the first and only time he heard me use foul language,” Adella says as she makes ayuckface. “But he’s promised to spank me if he ever hears me curse again. Have you ever actually tasted soap? I think I’d much prefer the spanking.” She giggles and so does Chloe, but I stare at them as if they’ve each grown an additional head.
How can they find humor in this situation? We’re captives. We were forced to marry enemy soldiers. Men who are strict. Men who won’t ever let us go. And yet… they seem just as happy with their husbands as all the other couples I’ve met thus far today.
Maybe something is wrong with me. Why can’t I be happy too?
I used to think the only thing that would make me happy is freedom. But I can’t truly claim I wish to leave the Deep Creek settlement. Not anymore. Not after all I’ve seen today and all the kind, hard-working people I’ve met.
This place is probably a paradise compared to the shitshow that is the rest of my country. If I leave, I’ll probably end up sleeping on the floor of a cold tent in a refugee camp that houses thousands of people. And that’s if I’m lucky enough to make it to a western state alive. Society has pretty much fallen. I suppose it’s a little ironic that it’s not safe outside the security of an enemy settlement.
“Do you think you’ll visit us again soon?” Adella asks as the men start walking our way. She gives me a comforting look and squeezes my arm.
“I hope so,” I say, meaning it. I like Adella and Chloe, even if I think they fell down the rabbit hole of subservience to their Zasforran husbands a little too quickly. But if they’re truly happy, who am I to judge? “It’s my hope that Luka will eventually trust me to leave the cabin on my own. I don’t know when that will be, but when it happens, I’ll come visit the two of you first. I promise.”
Chapter18
LUKA
“You did well today, princess,”I say as I peer at Judith across the kitchen table. We’re eating a late dinner—a delicious venison stew that she found instructions for in one of the recipe books left behind by the previous occupants of the cabin. “We’ll try to make a point to walk around and visit our neighbors every Sunday.”
She gives me a wary look, squirms in her seat, then nods, and I sense she wants to ask me something. Before she opens her mouth to speak, I realize what it is she wants from me, though I’m hesitant to grant her the freedom she desires.
“I enjoyed meeting all our neighbors today,” she says in a cautious tone. “I especially liked hanging out with Adella and Chloe. And their garden is beautiful. I used to have a small indoor garden as a kid—we couldn’t have a very large one in our apartment in the city—and I always wished I could have a huge garden outside one day. Guess I should have left the city for that, huh?” Her gaze flickers to mine and she blushes. We both know she’s rambling. We both know she’s stalling until she works up the courage to ask me the question that’s lingering on the tip of her tongue.
I lean forward and stare her directly in the eyes, giving her my full focus. “I know you want me to allow you the freedom to leave this cabin whenever you wish,” I say. “I know that’s what you’re planning to ask me.”
She fidgets in place and her gaze darts around the room for a few seconds. “Well, yes, I was hoping you would soon let me leave the cabin. I would like the chance to visit with my new friends and also the opportunity to start a garden of my own—of our own. And I have other ideas about how to make this settlement better that I hope you’re willing to listen to and allow me to help with.”
Intrigued, I gesture for her to continue.
“Well, during our walk today, I didn’t see a library or a school. Just a partially built church. I know before the war that most Zasforrans preferred to homeschool their children, but I think it would still be nice to have a school, then those who wish to send their children there could do so. I’m certain there are probably at least a few teachers among the American women who now live here. Anyway, there will probably be a baby boom in a few months, and then a few years from now there will be a huge number of children who are suddenly ready to attend school. We ought to be prepared for that.” She aims a hopeful look at me.
“We’ve talked about building a school, a library, a post office, and a meeting house, though we haven’t started on any of these projects yet,” I say, pleased that she’s thinking about the future of the Deep Creek settlement. Perhaps it means she is finally starting to consider this place her home. Perhaps it means she won’t attempt another escape.
“Oh, well that’s good to hear. A school should be built as soon as possible, in my opinion, so that the war orphans who now live here can get back in the classroom. It’ll provide some much-needed normalcy and structure to their days. But any school that’s built needs to account for our growing population. As for the library, I’ve always been an avid reader and I wouldn’t mind taking it on as a personal project,” she says as her eyes light up. “I even saw the perfect location for it as we were walking today.”
“So, does this mean you’re no longer thinking about running away?” I ask, tensing in my seat as I await her answer.
A shadow crosses her face, and she sighs and falls silent for a long moment. She turns to stare out the window, watching as a few boats zip by on the lake. “I should still want to run away,” she eventually says. “But I’m starting to like it here. It’s safe here, and logically I know traveling west would be incredibly dangerous.” When our eyes meet, she appears conflicted. “I wish I were brave enough to keep fighting you, brave enough to run away. But I’m not.”
“Actually, I think it’s braver of you to stay,” I say, and a thoughtful look soon falls over her, and finally she graces me with a faint smile. When her eyes sparkle like that, all I want to do is see her smile again. She’s starting to grow on me, starting to make me think I’m not as broken as I once feared I was. A strange warmth fills me as I stare at her, and to my shock, I find myself wondering if we’ll ever have children together.
“Thanks for saying so.” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “Um, so what about leaving the cabin? Will you allow me to venture out on my own during the days?”
“Promise me you won’t run away or get up to any mischief, and I will allow you the freedom to leave the cabin,” I say. “Swear it. Swear on the souls of your ancestors that you will not try to run away again.”
