All the Assemblymen lived in the same building in similar apartments. The only differences were the color and placement of the furniture, not that there were many options. Space within the community was limited, but we had what we needed. No one questioned. After all, even Father Gabriel lived as we did. According to Elizabeth our apartments were bigger than those of the regular followers. Her and Brother Luke’s jobs meant they often visited followers in their homes. As an Assemblyman’s wife, I too was supposed to help with the wives of followers under Jacob’s direction. So far I’d met with them only in the temple. But going to them and helping them understand Father Gabriel’s word was a responsibility I was honored to perform again, and one of the reasons I’d studied so diligently.
When we arrived back at the apartment building, Brother Benjamin asked Brother Luke and Jacob to come to his apartment. The way they looked at one another, I assumed they wanted to discuss something from their meeting. Whatever it was, we wouldn’t be told the details, especially if it was something they believed needed to be discussed in private. Before they left, Jacob said to the others, “With your permission, the ladies may wait together in our apartment.”
I bit my lip and waited: there was something I wanted to discuss too. As part of the chosen, we had to be careful what we did or said in public.
Brothers Luke and Benjamin agreed.
“Come on in,” I said, as my two best friends entered my apartment. “Would you like something to drink?”
Raquel chatted about something as I made coffee and contemplated bringing up the question of Deborah. If it had been only Raquel, I wouldn’t have hesitated, but sometimes Elizabeth was more rigid with the rules.
“Elizabeth?”
She looked up from the sofa as I handed her a cup. “Thanks.”
“What’s up? You look far away.” I looked to Raquel, who shrugged.
“Nothing,” Elizabeth said. “I’ll talk to Luke about it.”
“Do you always tell him everything the women tell you? Like whatever you were talking to Sister Mary about?”
She nodded. “I have to.” Her striking green eyes scanned from Raquel to me. “I mean, we work together. For example, if Sister Mary were to tell me something that her husband needs to know, then Luke would be the one to do that.” She shrugged. “It’s up to Luke, really.”
“But if she talks to you in confidence?” I asked.
Elizabeth’s head moved back and forth. “Sara, you know that there can’t be any secrets or confidence or whatever you choose to call it between a wife and husband.”
I nodded. “What if all marriages weren’t like ours?”
“What do you mean?” Raquel asked.
I sat on the other end of the sofa from Elizabeth, pulled my knees to my chest, and tucked my skirt around my legs. “I mean, what if some husbands take the whole discipline thing too far?” I exhaled. “OK, I’m just going to say it. I’m worried about Deborah.”
Raquel nodded while Elizabeth’s lips formed a straight line of disapproval.
“Why,” I pointedly asked my friend, “Elizabeth, is it bad for me to be concerned?”
“Concern is your right, but you need to give it to Brother Jacob and pray about it. Not gossip about it.”
I blew on my coffee, helping it cool. “First, I’m not gossiping. If I were, I’d be telling you something you didn’t know. You know what I’m saying. And, second, I have given it to Jacob.”
“You have?” she asked, surprised.
“Yes, and it’s still happening.”
Raquel became uncharacteristically quiet.
“Raquel?” I asked. “Deborah works with you. Do you think my concerns are unfounded?”
She shook her head, and then, looking to Elizabeth, she said, “I’ve done the same as Sara.”
“And what did Brother Benjamin say?”
“He said to pray and support Deborah.”
I placed my cup on the table and flung my body back to the sofa. “I don’t think she’s happy, not like us. I mean, I get that Jacob is the head of our household. I even accept his correction, but I also know he loves me, and I love him.”
Elizabeth and Raquel shared some strange secret smile.
“What?” I asked.
Raquel patted my knee. “Nothing. We’re just happy to hear you say that.”
I scrunched my nose. “Isn’t it obvious? I mean it is with you and Brother Benjamin and you and Brother Luke.” I smiled at Raquel. “Even when Brother Benjamin mentions you at the lab, his eyes go all adoring.”
Raquel’s cheeks blushed as she looked down.
“It is obvious,” Elizabeth said with a smile. “It’s also nice to hear.”
“But that’s just it,” I pursued. “It isn’t obvious between Deborah and Brother Abraham. I mean, have you watched them together? I think she’s afraid of him, and I don’t see the adoration or love, from either of them.”
“Sara!” Elizabeth said, “You can worry and talk about Deborah, but you can’t presume to talk about Brother Abraham.”
I exhaled, unable or unwilling to hold my tongue, even if it meant my own correction. “We’re wives of Assemblymen. Are we just going to sit back and wait until Deborah isn’t at the clinic as a nurse, but as a patient?”
Raquel sighed. “It’s already happened.”
“What?!” I asked, while simultaneously Elizabeth exclaimed, “Raquel!”
“Elizabeth, you heard Sara. She’s here, fully. She needs to know.”
I tilted my head. “What do you mean, I’m here . . . fully?”
“I mean, you’re back, like a hundred and ten percent. As you were recovering from your accident, we didn’t want to burden you.”