tranquilstars Presents: Beyond the Ending of THE WIVES

The final chapter of my book "The Wives" left a lot of things unanswered, namely what happens to every single person in the book other than the main character and her love interest. Therefore, it seems only fitting that for my post, I give you all a peek into what happened next with a short story. For those who don't know, The Wives is a novel about a closeted lesbian woman called Endure Mary who is living in a futuristic United States where polygamy is the norm, and ends up escaping to be with her girlfriend Anne. 

Without any further ado:

Returning to Adam's house feels strange, almost as if we've just been for an outing, gone for an afternoon. But it's been a lifetime. My daughter, wedged in between her mother and I, is holding both of our hands, connecting us in a daisy chain of human beings. Anne glances at me, pushing her bangs out of her eyes with her free fingers. She mouths: ready? Her eyes add the question mark at the end, and I nod. We are ready.

Behind us, twelve women, and one man, are waiting for our signal to force their way inside the house. When we've gotten in, we'll go for the wives, first. The children will be easier with Audre here, as she will make them feel safe. Adults aren't so easily persuaded.

We will leave Adam if we have to, but I don't want to. I want him to come home with us. I twist my neck around like an owl looking behind, and nod at the electric souls and fiery eyes standing as if they're soldiers. I nod.

"Move in."

The door is unlocked, because no one steals in the States, not even Delilahs. Leah encounters me first, when I round the corner into the kitchen, where she is slicing a hunk of bread for Adam's midday comunion. His wine is already poured on the counter, wine that is spilled as Leah jumps in fright.

"Endure," she shouts, "what are you doing here?"

"Anne and I, and our daughter, we want you to come home with us. We're asking you to come to the West with us," I tell her, voice calm as I repeat the words Anne and I have rehearsed for weeks.

"Get out of my house," she tells us, bread knife still in hand, even though she can't use it as a weapon without going to Hell.. Anne steps forward, still holding Audre's hand.

"Hello, Leah," Anne tells her softly, "this is my daughter, Audre. Mary's and mine. We can have a family in the West. We have a home. I say shit without praying for forgiveness or being banished to a closet."

Leah looks down, eyes red from the salt. "What do you want?"

"Where is he?" Upstairs I can hear Adam's wives beginning to panic. Our makeshift troop of women went upstairs as soon as we came in. The man, our neighbor Darwin, stayed with us, in case Adam gets violent. There have been stories of that, when these raids happen. Old wives getting slaughtered by their old husbands.

"He's in the garden -" Leah looks up at Anne with something like hope, and she adds: "he has Jezebel."

"Jezebel?" Anne breathes. She lifts Audre into her arms, gives her a kiss, and pushes her into Darwin's arms. "Take her to the House of Fruitful Blessings. Don't let anything happen to her."

Outside, Adam is sitting with a little blonde girl in a white dress, her fifth birthday gift, a Bible, open in front of them on the bench were Susanna and I sat so long ago. He looks up when he hears us, at first assuming it was Leah, but then seeming unsurprised, unimpressed, undid. He looks like a man who has given up. He gave up as soon as he heard about the raids, because he knew we would come. He knew that Anne would find out where Jezebel was, and he would come for her, collateral damage be damned. The damage was done when they took her away at the Regional House of God.

"Endure Jezebel," Adam tells her, staring at Anne, "I love you."

The child looks at her father with adoring, nervous eyes, because this is the first time anyone has ever said that to her. In the States, people don't love you. God loves you.

"Jezebel," Anne says, kneeling down in the grass to be closer to her daughter, "I grew you inside of me. I made you. I made you a home inside my soul, and then a real home after they took mine away. I'm your mother, baby. I want you to live with me again."

She's just a baby. She doesn't understand those words, but she understands the tone they were spoken in. It's the voice of someone who cares about someone else. Adam speaks in that way with her, and she edges closer to him as Anne talks. Anne keeps talking, about anything, everything. She tells Jezebel about our house by the sea, and about Audre, and going to school.

"You live in the ocean?" Jezebel asks, giggling.

"Kind of," Anne laughs, "do you want to see?"

"Yes," Jezebel tells her, with the same bright excitement as Anne had on our first day in California.

"Say goodbye to your father," I say. Jezebel glances at Adam, who gives her a kiss on her forehead, the way he did with all his children after they visited.

"Go with Anne, Jeze. It will be alright. I love you," Adam tells her.

"I love you, too," his daughter tells him, and then walks towards the woman who is her mother. Anne, who can't hold back her tears any longer, opens her arms.

"Could I . . . Can I give you a hug?" she asks Jezebel, who nods, slowly, still a bit unsure. Anne grabs her, and holds her close to her chest. "Oh, God," she sobs, "thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for giving her back to me."

She's speaking to a God she doesn't believe in, but also to Adam, who is crying, too. He loves his children more than he loves his wives. I know from the last update we received that he has had nine more children in the past five years, bringing his total to thirty-eight. He is a true Husband of God, this man is. An Official..

Adam meets my eyes. "Are you happy now, Endure?" he asks.

I think of my home, my family, my wife, and my work. Churches that love people, people who love people, oceans. Children who know they are wanted. Women who can stand as tall as their husbands without threatening to topple the social order.

"Always."

"Do you miss me?"

"Sometimes."

Adam stand up, not to be taller than me, but to feel in control. I used to do that when we argued, because, due to an error in the system, we were matched as husband and wife, and married before anyone realized I was an inch and a half taller than him.

"What am I going to do now, Endure? What am I supposed to fucking do now?"

Carefully, I lean forward, and I peck his cheek.
"You'll go by Thomas again," I tell him. Adam frowns, wistful and hopeless all in one moment.

"I don't even remember who Thomas is, anymore. I haven't thought about him in years, not since . . . I don't know when."

"So invent a new Thomas, a better one," I tell him, and Adam grins. Together, we walk through his empty house, into his empty town, and I find him an empty car. When we drive away, we drive in opposite directions, but we are both free. 

★ ★ ★

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