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Back When She Returned Save as PDF
Chapters (48)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT
  3. CONTENTS
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. ONE
  6. TWO
  7. THREE
  8. FOUR
  9. FIVE
  10. SIX
  11. SEVEN
  12. EIGHT
  13. NINE
  14. TEN
  15. ELEVEN
  16. TWELVE
  17. THIRTEEN
  18. FOURTEEN
  19. FIFTEEN
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN
  22. EIGHTEEN
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. THIRTY-THREE
  38. THIRTY-FOUR
  39. THIRTY-FIVE
  40. THIRTY-SIX
  41. THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. THIRTY-NINE
  44. FORTY
  45. FORTY-ONE
  46. FORTY-TWO
  47. FORTY-THREE
  48. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The married couples stood next to each other. Their children curled around their legs tighter, because, despite how hard we all worked with the children, they still ran to their parents at night.

“How does any of this work?” Malachi asked the question we’d all been thinking.

“However it chooses to. There are no rules. That’s the point. No constraints. No boundaries. The lines of separation between us no longer exist. We are free to procreate as God intended. Whenever and with whomever we feel.”

Malachi cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I mean, that would mean you could have sex with my wife if you wanted to.”

Abner nodded. “If she chose to.” He pointed to the other men in the group. “Or she might choose to have sex with one of them.”

The color drained from Malachi’s face.

“But we don’t have to sleep with anyone else unless we want to, right?” his wife, Gilly, asked, gripping his arm and moving closer to him.

“Of course not. No one is ever forced to do anything they aren’t called to do. From now on, people are free to couple with whomever they choose.” Abner’s faced beamed with purpose and light. “I will do my part as well. I will begin lying with our maidens to see if my fruit might create a soldier. This is how we will build this army.”

THIRTY-THREE

THIRTY-THREE

MEREDITH

NOW

“If you’ll just excuse me, I’m going to head to my room,” Kate said, inching her way past us and moving upstairs. Scott looked like he’d been sucker punched in the gut. He leaned against the kitchen counter for support.

“What happened the morning Kate left?” Her words had done what she’d intended them to do—flipped my world upside down.

“You have to look at it from my perspective before you jump to any conclusions.”

Oh my God, so he had lied. Scott had lied. I couldn’t believe it. “She’s not lying?”

He shook his head. “You have to understand—”

I cut him off. “I don’t have to understand anything. I just want to know the truth. You owe me that, at least. All this time you’ve been on me about how important it is to build trust and safety for her, and you’ve been lying.” I tried to keep from sounding hysterical, but I was teetering on the edge. “What happened?”