Part 12 (2/2)

”Stand up with me.”

I pushed myself up with her a.s.sistance and stood in the tub. Kathryn retrieved the folded white robe from the table, opened it wide and told me to step out of the tub. She draped the robe over me and helped me slide my arms into the sleeves.

”You see? You're perfectly whole,” she a.s.sured me. ”You have nothing to fear. We're almost done.”

She led me to the table, picked up the bra.s.s bowl, and dipped her fingers into the liquid.

”With this virgin oil, I anoint you, Eden, the spotless lamb cleansed of all unrighteousness.”

She raised her hand over my head and sprinkled some of the oil in my hair. Then retrieved the golden ring from the table and lifted my left hand.

”With this ring I do wed thee to G.o.d.”

She slid the ring over my finger. Then kissed each of my cheeks.

”What was lost is now found. What was dead is now risen from the grave. What lived in transgression is now made whole, a spotless bride now loved by the G.o.d of vengeance.”

She gazed lovingly at me for a long moment, then turned and walked to the wall. There was a whip with leather straps hanging from a nail. She unhooked it and walked back, face now flat, eyes on Bobby.

”And on the goat he transferred all of his anger for the goat he found unworthy of his love.”

She was going to whip Bobby? My heart froze, and I almost cried out. Maybe the fear had robbed my voice, I don't know, but I watched in disbelief as Kathryn instructed Bobby to take off his robe and turn around.

He was smiling as he did it, eyes on me. Proud. Surely not aware of what horror might be headed his way.

”Bend over,” she instructed.

He obediently doubled at the waist and stood ready.

Kathryn gently whipped his back with the straps once. It was a symbolic beating.

”To this unworthy flesh I transfer all of G.o.d's wrath.”

She whipped him again, gently. But her words cut to my heart.

”I confer all of our sin to the defiled one . . .”

Another lash.

”So that righteousness might be found in the pure bride.”

Again.

”I curse thee . . .

Again.

”I curse thee . . .

She laid the whip across his back seven times. On the third 'I curse thee' something in me changed. I was watching my young brother who was too nave and innocent to fully grasp the emotional burden being placed on his back, and I realized something new.

I knew that I was home.

That I was home and I wasn't going to leave.

I wasn't going to leave because if I did, there would be no one to save Bobby, just like Kathryn had told him. I couldn't abandon my poor, innocent brother. Ever.

What I'd half decided the night before was now sealed in my mind.

After Kathryn had laid seven lashes across Bobby's back she told him that he could stand straight.

He turned around, smiling wide with crooked teeth, as proud as could be. And I smiled back, holding back a well of tears that wanted to cleanse my eyes of what they'd just seen.

I love you, Bobby. I will take care of you. I promise you, I will never leave you.

”It is finished,” Kathryn said, spreading her arms wide.

Wyatt started to clap and was joined first by Bobby, and then by me.

”It is finished.”

But really, it had all just begun.

12.

Five years later

KATHRYN STOOD at the kitchen sink and watched through the window as Wyatt's truck pulled to a stop beside the house. He'd left long before sunrise and had been gone all day, hauling barrels and repairing a copper still for Zeke.

Now, dusky shadows reached deep into the surrounding bayou. Despite the approaching night, the summer air was still thick. She didn't mind at all, though, because it reminded her of the day her precious lamb had come to her. Their first night together as a family had been a night just like this one.

Had it been five years already?

Five years . . . Amazing how quickly time slipped away. Eden had been so beautifully naive then, clueless about the ways of redemption and purity and yet so innocent.

Five years . . . She was so much more now. Not always perfect, but as close as any human was likely to be. It hadn't been an easy path-righteousness never was. Her role as mother and teacher had required never-ending attention and wisdom. Eden's had required trust and obedience.

But there was no price for purity in the eyes of G.o.d. No cost too high for absolution. No task too great for the sake of love. And no mother or daughter could possibly love each other the way she and Eden did.

Wyatt's work boots clomped up the rickety porch stairs, and then the rusty screen door slammed shut behind him. His footsteps stopped a few feet behind her.

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