12. Merit
CHAPTER 12
Merit
“ I now pronounce you man and wife.”
My father is by my side, a very firm grip on my shoulder. I glance at Pastor Stevens with fury. “What the hell? Just like that? Nothing about sickness and health? No chance for me to object?”
“Shut up, Merit. You shut your smart mouth right now,” my father yells into my ear.
“I’m going to take such good care of you, my love,” Gregory says with his buck-toothed grin.
Pastor Stevens steps away, not even meeting my eyes before heading out the church’s side door.
“You can’t be serious,” I look at Dad, trying to appeal to any decency that may be left in him.
“A woman’s role is to be seen and not heard. To serve men, and to spread her legs when we want her to. If she follows that purpose, society is harmonious. When she speaks up and gets out of order? Everything collapses, Merit. I won’t let my blood contribute to this degradation.”
I hate what I’m hearing. I wish I could say listening to him spout all of this bullshit whole-heartedly was unbelievable, but I’ve been hearing it for the last ten years. After a few days with Mac, though, it sounds all the more unnatural. “Well, I imagine Mom wouldn’t have married you if you went and told her all this while you were dating.”
I’m met with a slap across my face. It stings, but I remain standing, and I remain defiant.
My mother has been distant for so long. I wonder why she never left him. Probably had her own ideas of what family was, once upon a time, and it couldn’t have been this. No parent should ever treat their child like my father was treating me.
“Come along, darling,” Gregory says in that sing-songy voice of his. “We need to consummate the marriage.”
“Is there any possible way you could say that in a less sexy manner?”
My father shoves me as Gregory takes my hand, the two of them walking me along.
“Wait, where are we going?” I was expecting to have to deal with Gregory alone, but with my father’s hand on my shoulder I’m left a tad bit confused.
“Downstairs. To where all the magic happens.” God, I just hate the sound of Gregory’s voice.
They open a cellar door and lead me down, Gregory guiding me by my hand and my dad reminding me there is nothing romantic about this at all.
I’m led to a plain-looking mattress in the center of the room with equally plain white sheets and pillowcases. Surrounding the bed, there are cameras looking down on it, and it’s surprisingly well-lit for a bed in a church basement.
“What… what are the cameras for?” I ask.
“New profit stream for our compound,” my father answers, a tinge of pride in his voice. “Plenty of people are willing to pay big money for some real, illicit videos, and we’ve been bringing in girls for a while and reaping the rewards. It’ll establish a fine future for the Free State.”
I glare at him, eyes wide in disbelief. “You bring girls down here and force them to have sex?”
“Women have no right to refuse,” he spits. “And now it’s your turn to prove your worth to our people, Merit.”
“I’m your daughter!” I shout in protest.
He slaps me again. this one stinging a bit more. “You lost your privileges when you refused everything I did for you by running away. You’re not much better than an outsider now.”
“Then let me be an outsider!”
“And waste all the time I spent training you and matchmaking for you?”
Dad shoves me forward and Gregory catches me, only to in turn shove me onto the bed. He has a shit-eating grin on his face, apparently perfectly fine with this way of getting a woman, and even having the audacity to consider me his wife.
I grind my teeth, wondering what to do now.
“Why don’t you strip for me, darling?” Gregory says in his gleeful, nasally voice.
I would rather die than let Gregory touch me in that way. There’s only one man who I want like that, and it’s Mac.
The thoughts of him fill me with confusion. I wouldn’t be in this situation if I’d been honest about my feelings, if I hadn’t pushed him out the door this morning. He would have been there and protected me from these men.
I want to see him again. I want my body to be only for him. I’m so torn up inside, unsure of just what I’m supposed to do now. Instinct commands me to ram my knee in between Gregory’s legs at the highest speed I can manage, but the way my father is looking at me is scary.
Would he hesitate to just put me in the ground? If he can view his own daughter as property enough to do this to her, it doesn’t seem too far from possibility.
“Strip, darling. We can’t begin until I see your creamy white skin,” Gregory says with his disgusting laughter.
A shiver goes down my spine as I reach for the hem of my shirt with great hesitation.
Then, the sound of gunfire in the distance.
My father grunts. “The hell is that? Hal better not be shooting at no squirrels again.”
More gunfire. Rapid shots. Enough that it can’t be one gun making the racket.
“We’re under attack,” my father declares. “Gregory, get your gun.”
“What about my wife?” I shiver again as Gregory refers to me that way.
“Just lock her in here, she’s not going anywhere ever again.”
The two of them rush up the basement stairs and slam the door behind them, leaving me alone.
It’s an improvement over my previous situation but damn, not by much. The gunfire continues, and I just sit and wait. What else can I do? The basement door is made of some thick wood, and I have cameras all around me. They’re likely rolling and I don’t know if someone’s watching me – someone who will come check on me even amidst the gunfire if I act up.
Although the temptation to pick them up and slam them on the ground is tempting… but something I hear from above stops me before I get the chance.
“It’s the feds! They’re closing in on us!”
“They won’t take us alive! We’re free men, born that way and free until we die!”
The feds? Like, the FBI? These cameras might be important, then. Especially if they’ve recorded these evil men’s crimes.
“Don’t let them in the church!” my father barks. “Bar the doors! Use whatever you can until the runners get us our guns!”
“Martin,” Gregory shouts, “They're coming in from behind!”
“What do you mean…” There’s a loud thud, and I imagine it’s the sound of a body hitting the floor.
“Who hits someone with a sledgehammer…” Gregory says before another thump hits the ground.
There’s a storm of footsteps, all of them sounding like heavy boots.
“Try to find a key or something for this cellar,” one of them shouts.
“Didn’t you give someone a crowbar?” a familiar voice shouts back. Mac? Is that Mac?
“Yeah, but a key would make this a hell of a lot simpler!”
I run up to the top of the stairs and knock on the wood. “Mac! I’m in here, Mac!” I say, making as much noise as I can, worrying that this whole dungeon is soundproof.
“Merit? Merit, I’m coming!”
A crowbar pokes through, and I hear his grunts as he tries to pry the door open.
“Found the key,” one of the other voices says.
“Give me it!” Mac yells, and I hear the locks tumble and the door opens.
Light floods the basement, and Mac clamors in and grabs me in a fierce embrace.
“Thank God you’re here. Are you alright?”
“As alright as I can be.” He holds me close. It’s so comforting. “And I’m feeling a whole lot better now.”
Behind him are nine other men. All of them are wearing bright orange vests, rifles slung over their shoulders, various weapons and tools in hand.
“Who are they?” I ask, my voice low.
“My brothers. My cousins. I asked for their help and they came immediately.”
Mac takes a gander around the dungeon I was forced into. He sees the bed. He sees the cameras and the lights. He makes assumptions quicker than I could. “Bastards. Every last one of them. I hope they rot or burn, whatever their fate is after today. Are you okay?”
I nod. “You got here before they could go through with it.”
He helps me out of the basement and I see the unconscious bodies of my father and Gregory.
Mac asks, “Who are they?”
“My father and the man he tried to force me to marry. Well, technically he already did – they did the ceremony the minute they got me back here.”
“That shit won’t hold up in court.” He shakes his head in disgust. “Your own father was the one trying to force you into this? Man, I wish I swung harder now.”
“You would have liquified his head if you swung any harder, Mac,” one of the other men comments.
“You saying he wouldn’t have deserved it, Cash?”
Cash shrugs. “Just an observation. Ever considered getting into baseball? You could be a homerun king with some training.”
“Sports aren’t for me, and that doesn’t matter. We’ll give our statements to the police later. Let’s just get out of here.”
Together we hustle out of the church and toward the back fence, where a huge hole has been cut in it. I look back at the battle that has erupted. FBI agents are crawling all over the compound, cuffing people and taking them down. The bright orange vests the boys are wearing must have been their way of signifying they were friendly, and somewhat conspicuous since they’re the outfit of a safe hunter.
Up a nearby hill, I look on at the compound with a bit of sadness. For better or for worse, this place was my home for ten years of my life. The people inside it were once ones I considered friends. I never wished to go back there and be part of it again, but I can’t deny the pangs of guilt I feel at leaving them.
We’re out of danger now, the situation dying down. We stop, looking at the sunset in the distance with Mac and his family.
“Merit,” he says, then drops to one knee. “I should have told you this earlier. I should have made my feelings clear a whole lot sooner.”
I look at him with wide eyes.
“I love you, Merit. With all of my heart. I know it’s sudden and we haven’t known each other long, but I guess Rough boys just have a habit of falling in love hard and fast, and for good. My love is for you, Merit.”
I gasp in awe as he presents me with a cracked open velvet box. “Mac, I… I just…” The words can’t come out of my mouth. There’s some traffic jam in my brain created by shock.
“Marry me, Merit. Don’t make me wait any longer. Don’t let me make that mistake again. Be my wife, and make me the happiest man alive.”
“Of course!” I say, the shock wearing off, overtaken by sheer joy. “Of course, Mac! I love you too. And I wanted to tell you, I was so worried I wouldn’t get to.”
Without hesitation, he slips the ring on my finger and brings me in for a powerful kiss, embracing me firmly in his arms.
The Rough and Rowdy family cheer us on. It’s a bit weird having an audience, but I do have to say I don’t mind their encouragement.
After what I’ve experienced, I’m going to need to be taught what family means again.
Mac and his family are the best teachers I could ever hope for.