Chapter Twelve
Axton
“I expect her to be crippled with fear when she wakes.” Koty Ashford was a small man without any real muscle, but he held his head high and tried to give off a tough guy persona. His blond hair was light, but he had dark brown eyes and didn’t think I noticed the nervous tick in his eye. I had just broken the news to him that he wouldn’t be seeing Belle until he answered my questions. She wasn’t far, just in the bedroom of the small house as we sat at the kitchen table.
“Why did you help her escape?” I asked.
He glanced down, which told me there was a smidgen of guilt. “I wouldn’t say I helped her escape as much as scooped her up in the middle of the night and didn’t give her much of a choice.”
“You said you had your parents blessing, didn’t you?” I sat back calmly, waiting for each answer with a great deal of curiosity that I wouldn’t let him see.
“I have failed my father every day of my life, Mr. Axton. That’s a fear of every son that strives to make his father proud. I am only faithful to two beings in this existence and that’s where I have failed him. I have a great love for God, and I am deeply faithful to him, but he is not the God my father has prayed to his entire life. I am not a believer or faithful to my father’s church, his religion, his practices, or his prophecies. I am only faithful to my God and my sister. I would like to say that I once looked at the man that fathered me and had respect for his beliefs, but I cannot remember a day that I believed one thing he ever said to me. I am a lover of books and have studied the Bible and various other writings to search for answers as to what was wrong with me. Yet, I found nothing to explain the feelings I had my entire life. That was until I came of age and stumbled into a Catholic Church where I met Father Gallagher. He took me on a spiritual journey, and I found some answers. He is the one that told me to seek refuge here with these people. The other person I am faithful to is my sister. We are the same age, but I never saw her the way boys in our community saw girls like her. I love her dearly because she is my best friend, and the other boys would laugh at me. We both had a hunger for knowledge, and her hunger was not something that was respected in our community in a woman. Where I have always seen Belle as my equal, other boys saw the girls as submissive and dutiful.”
“Like they were just vessels to grow a flock?” I asked.
“Exactly. While we were raised to fear the sinners of the outside world, I wanted to embrace them and soak in knowledge from their written words. Bellemy is like me in that, she loves the written word, but she fears the influence of the sinners. When I say sinners, I am speaking of every human that does not follow the teachings of my father. I’m sure that you, like so many others, see her beauty and are struck by her, but my father was especially taken by her beauty the moment she was born. That’s when he had a so called prophecy about her. She was different than any other girls in our community. She had a purpose, and my father catered to her. She wanted to learn, so he allowed her to learn. She is the first female in our ancestry to graduate high school through a homeschooling program supported by some private school in Utah. Then he allowed her to gain a college education through a community College. He even allowed her to take classes in a real classroom setting. He said the education would serve her well when her intended came for her. Father says the man is an angel just like her, but he would be a soldier fighting God’s wars and doing God’s work here on earth. That is why she was never married. There are two reasons why I didn’t just take off at the first opportunity. I knew I couldn’t take Belle, and I feared I would be shunned and never able to safely escape with her. I’d never see her again. My fears made me comply, but I’m a disappointment to my father and our community. I was forced into a spiritual marriage with a child, but I refused to touch her. I wouldn’t consummate the marriage and produce a child. I know I was on the verge of punishment, but I did what I could to buy time. Father Gallagher arranged a meeting with Ms. Allred, but she did not feel comfortable taking me on because of Belle. She knew escaping with her would be far too dangerous. I pestered her for two years until she finally gave me the card for Creed’s Lake and said to give your organization a try.”
“You were going to just show up on our doorstep?” I asked.
“I was going to call when we got to the state line, and I had an idea where to go because of your website for the motorcycle business. I had to get her out of there as soon as possible. Our father is down to his last days and the moment he takes his last breath Belle is going to be forced into marriage to Jeremy.”
“What happens to the girl you married?”
He lifted a brow. “She is not my wife. Not legally and not in any way that counts. As the son of a bishop, I was given the most faithful of girls, but I had no desire to be responsible for a child, let alone treat her as a wife. She is dedicated to the cult, and she lives a life of shame because I refuse to share my bed with her. I worked and contributed to the community. By doing this, I earned a roof over our heads and the food on our table, but that’s all I ever gave her. The only thing I have ever owned is my truck, which was bought for us as a wedding gift. I was only buying time until I made a decision that would have made me an outcast and I would never see my mother and father again. The thought of a child disgusted me. In my opinion I did her a favor, but she will disagree. Once married she can never marry again until I am dead. I feel that keeps one girl out of the hands of a man that will defile her at a young age. There is no such thing as divorce and as long as she is faithful to their beliefs, she will never marry. Women can only have one living husband at a time. Meaning she will never have to go to any other man that won’t see her as more than a vessel for his happiness, and not consider hers.”
“What will happen to her?” I asked.
“She will likely be assigned to a married man, and work as a housekeeper and midwife to his wives. She will never earn money, only food, a roof over her head, and blessings from the church. Essentially, she will be a servant until I die. I’m not sorry for it, I was forced into something that I couldn’t emotionally or physically carry out. She is assumed to be undesired by her husband and that brings a lot of shame to her. All of this is very difficult because I may not believe in my father, but I love him and my mother as much as I do Belle. It wasn’t easy taking her away from our father and her mother, but he finally understood how dangerous Jeremy is and shocked me by asking me to take her away. If we waited any longer there would be real consequences worse than being shunned. Jeremy is taking over as the next bishop without truly earning it as my father did. He has already started making laws and taking away the very few freedoms we had under my father’s leadership. He learned our oldest brother agreed to Jeremy’s request to marry Belle as soon as he died. He told Belle we were going to Utah to seek help, just to give her some comfort, and he did hope that was where I would take her, but I did tell him I wouldn’t take her anywhere that Jeremy could have influence.”
“Why does this Jeremy character want her so badly?” I asked.
“He claims to have felt a love for her since he was fourteen and she was seven, and it was God that spoke to him when he looked into her eyes. In reality, he wants my father’s estate, and he is obsessed with her beauty. Everything is in my father’s name, every dime he ever saved along with what our ancestors left him will be given to God and his soldier, and the soldier would become the new prophet. He lives an extremely modest life, and invests just about everything his followers give him. He is not a violent man, but Jeremy is and claims to be the next prophet. He is not a faithful man, and the only reason he doesn’t care about waiting so long for her is because he fornicates with women who have loose morals. I have followed him and seen him making deals with men in motorcycle gangs and he goes to bed with their women.”
I leaned back in my chair and studied him. Following that Jeremiah clown must have been risky, so maybe the little man was braver than I gave him credit. He wasn’t as scared for his safety as he was scared to leave Belle behind. “How sure are you that she is the daughter of the parents who raised her? I must say, I don’t see much of a resemblance in the two of you.”
He chuckled. “You’re not the first to ask. Belle resembles our great grandmother. She was tall and had her hair color. She’s the grandmother of our father. In order to prove to the community that Belle was the daughter of the bishop and sister Abigail, the three of them took two sets of DNA tests and they also matched her as my half-sister. I also took the test, it was ridiculous. It was through some ancestry database, in which our community holds their ancestors very close to their hearts. We are not the Amish, we may live simple lives, but we do believe in science and technology.”
I made a mental note to call Patrick to do his research since he was our amateur genetic genealogist, and I wouldn’t have to make it creed’s business if I wasn’t using our lab. “What are your hopes for your life moving forward?” I asked.
“I am uncertain for the moment but will seek those answers through prayer.” He answered.
“And for Belle?”
He shrugged. “Maybe she could learn independence and teach? I really don’t know, but I want her to find joy in life. I fear she will never find happiness if she continues to believe fathers prophecies.”
Belle
Again, there was something warm in my hand. It wasn’t the hand of the kind man, but I knew he was near by the warm presence I felt. My eyes fluttered open to meet a pair of wet brown eyes.
“I am so sorry.” Koty cried as he kissed my hand.
I tried to speak, but my throat still hurt, and I coughed. “I have ice water for her.”
The kind man moved into my view, and I knew I was safe. “Let me try to sit you up, Belle.” Koty was still sniffling when he pushed an arm under my back and lifted me to sit up. The kind man sat on the side of the bed and the straw from the cup he was holding met my lips. I took a sip of the water, and it helped, but my head was still hurting, but not as bad as before.
“Where?” I coughed and couldn’t get words out, my throat was too irritated.
“Belle, we are in a house that is safe.” Koty spoke up. “This man is named Mike, and he came all the way from Indiana to help you.”
His name was Michael, the same as God’s mightiest soldier who cast Satan from heaven. Michael the archangel.
“To help both of you.” The man corrected Koty.
I tried to speak but Koty wouldn’t have it. “Don’t try to speak, Belle. Give your throat a rest and I’ll do my best to tell you everything. Your mama and our papa know we aren’t in Utah, and they’ve given us their blessing to do whatever is necessary to escape Jeremy. They feel as if a marriage to Jeremy will end the church. He will do illegal things to bring the law to the community and our family will be arrested. John Henry gave his blessing for Jeremy to marry you.”
I tried to lay back. “What hap…?” I coughed. I meant to ask what happened to him.
“You want to know what happened?” He asked and I shrugged. I remembered enough about what happened to me.
“Jeremy is collaborating with some bad people. A motorcycle cut us off and I crashed my truck. I lost consciousness and when I woke you were gone. I heard about this small club that could help us, and I made my way here to ask for help. They are good people, Belle. The doctor that helped you at the hospital is a part of this club, along with fire fighters and police officers.”
My heart sped up.
“No, Belle. They are not the type of police officer’s papa fears. They are good men that just want to help people.”
I looked at the kind man and his eyes softened.
Koty spoke again. “His name is Mike Axton, and he lives in a safe community in Indiana. He wants to help us, Belle. Jeremy is looking for us, so we can’t stay here long. We need to leave for Indiana as soon as you are well enough to travel.”
I let go of Koty’s hand and reached up to a bandage on his face.
“I’m okay, it doesn’t even really hurt. We are both going to be okay. You have scrapes and deep cuts all along your right side and you have stitches. They helped you sleep because you bumped your head and that noggin of yours was a little bruised. Mike has medicine for you that will help you sleep and relax. Before we give it to you, we would like to see you eat something. Do you think you can try?” Koty asked and I nodded.
“That needle in your other hand just has fluid in it so you wouldn’t dehydrate, and they gave you medicine in it. It’s okay to leave there until Dr. Ford from the hospital feels it’s okay to remove it. You have to be taking in fluids on your own before he will take it out.”
I gave him a nod letting him know I understood. I saw something in Koty’s eyes that I had never saw before. It was something I saw in others but never him. It was hope and my heart broke for him. I knew everything he was doing was something he needed his entire life.
“I’ll heat up her soup.” The kind man stood, and I watched as he walked away, then looked at my brother.
“He is very kind.” I forced out a whisper.
Koty smiled. “He has a woman he works with at the safe community with him. Her name is Valerie, and she is also very kind. Belle, they kept all your money safe and gave it to me, then paid all your medical bills out of their own pockets. That’s what they do, they risk their lives to help people like us. He never left your side at the hospital and made sure you were safe at all times. They helped us and brought you to me. Please trust them, Belle. Don’t let your fears stand in the way of your safety. Trusting these people and understanding the things they do aren’t sins may save our mothers from losing the lives they know and feel safe living.”
I tried to say words again, but they came out in a whisper. “What about my soul?”
He sighed. “Belle, please listen and listen closely. We are all sinners, and God has room in his heart for forgiveness. What you think is a sin isn’t as bad as you think. You have to find safety then you have to understand that your life is as valuable as everyone else’s. You are going to experience things that scare you because we’ve been taught things are sins that are not sins. Its manipulation to control our behavior. I need you to trust Mike, he will lead us to safety and a better life.”
I wouldn’t mention the mark. Koty was a non-believer in papas prophecies and any mention of them frustrated him. I simply nodded in respect to my faith and my faith in papa. He also wouldn’t understand the comfort I felt in the man’s presence before I saw the mark. I had more faith in Koty’s plan than ever after meeting the kind man.
I heard something and turned my head to see the very man I wanted to see walk in the room with a tray. “I have chicken noodle soup, crackers, and some ginger ale in case your stomach is a bit upset from the pain.”
“Thank you.” Koty stood to take it, but I grabbed his arm, and he looked down at me.
“My right side.” I whispered.
Koty nodded like he understood what I was saying. “You’re right-handed. I can feed you.”
I looked at the man. “Would you mind?” I forced a whisper.
“Me?” The man asked and I nodded.
“I have questions.” My voice was slowly growing stronger.
Koty looked at him. “It’s up to you.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Sure.”
“Would you like me to stay?” Koty asked and I shook my head.
“No, I’ll be okay.” I whispered.
Koty leaned down and kissed my head before leaving the room. The man set the tray down and grabbed some pillows to help me sit up, then took a seat next to me. “I hope you like chicken noodle soup. It’s from a can, but I always made it for my little sister when she was sick.” He picked the bowl up and turned to me. His eyes caught mine and I studied his, which made me think of pictures I saw of a deep blue ocean on a calm and sunny day. When his eyes tore from mine a ping of disappointment came over me.
“Warrior Angel.” I whispered and he tilted his head.
“Do what?”
I smiled. “Michael the Archangel. Are you a soldier of God?” I asked.
He made a funny snort sound then chuckled. “I’m just a man.” He shook his head. “Far from an archangel or any other kind of angel.”
“Do you fight to protect the innocent from evil? I am asking if you have served in the military.” I whispered, and my voice was raspy.
His eyes met mine again. “At one time I was a soldier, but now I am a veteran.”
“You are helping us.” I pointed out.
I could tell he was a humble man by his reaction, which was to say nothing. He dipped the spoon in the soup.
“You are doing God's work by helping the needy and risking your safety to do so, and I believe you are still a soldier.”
He lifted the spoon to my lips, and I swallowed the soup down, but it hurt just a little, so I winced. I knew I needed the nutrients, so it was okay.
“Thank you for everything you are doing. I could never repay you and I remain in your debt.” I whispered.
He swallowed hard then gave me another spoonful. “If you were my sister, I would hope someone would help her just as I have helped you. So no, you will never have a debt to me to repay.” He had a deep voice, and I could tell he was trying to sound delicate to give me some comfort.
“Your sister is a very lucky girl.”
He gave me a half smile as he put another spoonful to my lips. “I try telling her that all the time, but she doesn’t seem to believe me.” He winked then looked back down at the bowl.
I smiled. “She may not want to admit it, but she knows.”
“You surprise me.” He said. “I was prepared to meet a frightened young woman who fought me on everything we are trying to do. So why so much trust in complete strangers?”
I knew from when I attended public school and then again took college courses that my beliefs were ones others didn’t appreciate and found ridiculous. I was the girl the boys laughed at, and when I took courses at the college the young men teased me. I didn’t believe the soldier of God would do the same if I told him the full reason, but it may have caused him to think I was not of a sound mental capacity. I read enough books to know what was acceptable outside of my community. “Something tells me I have nothing to fear, and you did pray for me.” He had the mark, and I was to trust him with not just my life but my soul.
He smiled as he dipped the spoon in the soup. “You remember that, huh?”
“I remember a lot of things, and feel a deep concern for your adored Santa Claus.”
He paused and was speechless.
I blushed and gave him a little smile. “I will pray that his little elf learns some self-discipline and finds God in the near future.”
He had to set the spoon in the bowl to laugh. “I am so sorry you heard that, and at the same time surprised you aren’t offended.”
“I never said I wasn’t offended and didn’t fear sin, Michael, but I can’t say I don’t enjoy your laugh. Just please don’t lead me to that kind of sin, that’s all I ask.”
He chuckled. “We may share that same fear, and if you knew Drakos and Melissa you would understand. That gave me a nightmare as well.”
“This safe community, is it based on religion, and will you keep me safe from sinners?” I asked, although my throat still hurt to speak.
I saw his jaw flex, he swallowed hard, his lips parted, then he looked up at something like he was praying then looked at me. “We do have some church services at Creed’s Lake for those who choose to attend, and there’s also a few churches close to us. As far as keeping you safe from sin, I guess that depends on your idea of what is a sin. I think Koty said God forgives, right?” The kind man looked very concerned.