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sister, I would gladly take whatever help she would offer. 
    Rachel. 
    Within a few moments we passed Quartzsite by and were closing in on the border to California. 
    The time spent in Los Angeles was every bit as bleak as Phoenix.  I began to yearn for Jericho Valley where Winston’s attentions could not be so resolutely focused on me.  There was another puzzling meeting which I couldn’t concentrate on carefully enough to discern anything but the words ‘Faithful Cooperative’ once again.   I knew that the Faithful leaders branched out into many different business forms.  I gathered that these men Winston kept meeting with had something to do with it all.  But I didn’t know why their words were so tense and hushed.  Frankly, I didn’t care much anyway.   
    Later that night I sat up in the king-sized hotel bed I shared with my husband and watched him with a hatred so intense I nearly couldn’t see.  If he had opened his eyes he might have been alarmed at the sight of me glowering beside him like a furious wraith.  But he only slept on peacefully, untroubled by anything he had done to me, or anything he planned to do. With every harsh blow my husband inflicted on me I was reminded of a story I’d read as a girl.  The story was about a spirited wild horse and the brutal man who had captured her.  He systematically began the vicious process of domesticating her, ‘breaking’ her, smothering her iron will so that she could meet his expectations.  With some wryness I mused that Winston Allred must have read the same book.  
    Carefully I lay on the plush mattress in a way which would cause the least amount of pain.  I was glad that tomorrow we would be taking the long trip back to Jericho Valley without stopping.  It would be dark by the time we reached home.  I was learning how to mask my feelings and I would hide everything that had happened to me since Winston put his arm around my shoulder in my mother’s house.  I would do everything in my power to help Jenny escape the life I was resigning myself to.  And my other young sisters too, the daughters of my father’s wives.  I would care for women and deliver babies as I’d been taught.  With a sickening feeling I realized I might become a mother sooner rather than later.  Though I tried not to think it, the idea of Winston Allred’s seed implanting and growing inside of me was enough to make bile rise in my throat.   I swallowed hard and turned my head.  There was nothing to be done about it now. 
    Winston was again cheerful in the morning.  He kissed me on the cheek and told me how delightful the past few days had been.  He let me know it was an uncommon treat for a man to have the luxury of so much private time with his newest bride. 
    “Won’t you eat?”  H e frowned, shoving the plate of toast closer.  
    I nibbled a bite of toast.  All around me happy patrons dined on their breakfast and paid scant attention to a strangely dressed girl and the portly man who accompanied her. 
    Winston loudly chewed his bacon and slurped some orange juice.  His eyes twinkled.
    “Promise,” he said grandly, “you’ll be happy to know your wedding dress has already found another use.” 
    I was confused.  “Oh?  I didn’t know there had been another wedding planned.  Was it yesterday?” 
    “Mmm,” Winston nodded. “Actually it was on Monday, the afternoon of our departure.  Rather impulsive affair, although the Bishop had been planning the union for quite some time.”
    “My uncle took another wife?”  Aston Talbot already had seven wives. 
    Winston shook his head.  “He did not.  It’s an honor for your family, for our family.”  He spread his hands wide and continued to grin at me.  “Josiah Bastian received a call from God.  He has taken a new bride.” 
    The mention of the venomous prophet of Delta City caused me to drop my toast.  I could barely speak.  I didn’t want to ask the question but I had