I’d accepted my place at his side in public but still couldn’t imagine living with him the way Alice and David could be together. He still lived in the house he’d occupied with his first wife, Bethany, before her tragic death two years earlier. Her cancer had since increased the community’s vigilance to follow all laws regarding food to the letter.

I’d been told that the council deliberated our pairing for some time. Still in his late forties, Andrew had plenty of healthy life left, and unable to have children with Bethany, he felt lacking.

Rose had assured me that I would grow to love him, but until then it was more important that I honor and respect him. Not only was he a man, he was an elder in the community, and he’d picked me, so for that I should feel blessed. Maybe I would get pregnant and have a son who looked like Lukas. I could hardly imagine anything as wonderful.

Submitting to my role as Andrew’s wife by spending two nights a week with him was a price I really had no choice but to pay for such a blessing. So maybe I should be grateful.

“Remember, family, the trickery of evil,” Harrison was saying. His voice was rich and comforting. His wife, Rose, and their three children listened attentively from the front pew. “It masquerades in sheep’s clothing and hides its fangs behind alluring lies. It makes promises to entice your flesh, and if you believe lies and give in to falsehoods of the world, you too become like the world, subjecting yourself to the ravages of sin.”

He paused, his words sinking into my brain and igniting my shame.

“Remember always that the thief comes to steal the hearts of the bride. Soon a wolf will come in sheep’s clothing to test us, as Sylous has spoken through our sister Rose. A Fury dressed as a friend will arrive when we least expect it. The darkness of its heresy will masquerade as light to plunge us into punishment. The Fury will come, but when it does, we will not yield!”

He slapped the pulpit hard and I jumped. A chorus of amens filled the sanctuary, punctuated by a handful of nevers!

“We will throw that evil out and stand firm in our inheritance as the bride,” Harrison continued. “An inheritance we earn by believing the truth and submitting to the one by whose blood we are saved into our holy calling. And so we protect our hearts from the evil of the world. We must never forget the danger that comes for us. Fear it, beloved saints. Use that fear to be vigilant. When you feel afraid, run, for surely you are getting too close to the evil of the world. Safeguard your hearts. Only then will we be faithful when the time of great testing is upon us.”