She’d sensed my awkwardness and saved me. Something in her had changed since Ben and Eli’s arrival. She was hardly the same woman I’d known a week ago, and I loved her even more deeply for it.

Andrew removed his hand and his eyes darkened with concern. “Should she see the doctor?”

“Oh, no,” my mother said. “He’s already instructed her to take appropriate vitamins and rest. I’m keeping a close eye on her, don’t you worry.”

Andrew nodded. “Good. Thank you.” He dropped his voice and shifted his gaze back to me. “Perhaps when you’re feeling better then? We should discuss your move into my house.”

I hesitated. “Yes, of course.”

After a lingering gaze, Andrew stood and walked to sit on the front pew with the other council members.

I offered my mother a thin smile of appreciation, and for a moment we held each other in a knowing look. Things were different between us now that I was with child. For the first time in many years, she was mothering me.

She gave my knee a gentle squeeze, then turned her focus back to the stage. I glanced up and saw Rose taking the podium. Silence filled the room.

Rose faced us, her eyes focused. They lingered on me longer than the others. Or maybe my fear was making me see things.

“Is it not true that we have accepted Jesus, God’s only Son, and him alone, as our Savior?”

The congregation answered in unison, “Yes.”

“Is it not true that all forms of wickedness would drag us away from our inheritance of the kingdom of heaven, which awaits us all because of our decision to accept him into our hearts?”

Again, “Yes.”

“And that we follow every word given us in his Holy Scriptures?”

“Yes.”

“That word warns us about wolves in sheep’s clothing, who come with a message of hope and love while drawing us into idolatry. This is the bride’s great test. We have accepted our calling while the world has fallen prey to the Fury.”

She paced to her right, eyes on her flock, drawing them into a holy passion for righteousness. I could feel it washing over me and I cringed, knowing I had desecrated the very holiness the word had led our community into.

“By now you all know that a man named Ben Weathers entered our haven. Many of you knew Ben before we were called to holiness, and because of that connection to our past he was permitted to stay within the perimeter as we sought to understand the meaning of his arrival. How could a man survive the Fury and make his way to us? Now we know: he was infected with the Fury himself. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. But the darkness swallowed him and took his life the day before last.”