Into the Light (The Light, #1)(96)

“Elizabeth?”

She looked up from the sofa as I handed her a cup. “Thanks.”

“What’s up? You look far away.” I looked to Raquel, who shrugged.

“Nothing,” Elizabeth said. “I’ll talk to Luke about it.”

“Do you always tell him everything the women tell you? Like whatever you were talking to Sister Mary about?”

She nodded. “I have to.” Her striking green eyes scanned from Raquel to me. “I mean, we work together. For example, if Sister Mary were to tell me something that her husband needs to know, then Luke would be the one to do that.” She shrugged. “It’s up to Luke, really.”

“But if she talks to you in confidence?” I asked.

Elizabeth’s head moved back and forth. “Sara, you know that there can’t be any secrets or confidence or whatever you choose to call it between a wife and husband.”

I nodded. “What if all marriages weren’t like ours?”

“What do you mean?” Raquel asked.

I sat on the other end of the sofa from Elizabeth, pulled my knees to my chest, and tucked my skirt around my legs. “I mean, what if some husbands take the whole discipline thing too far?” I exhaled. “OK, I’m just going to say it. I’m worried about Deborah.”

Raquel nodded while Elizabeth’s lips formed a straight line of disapproval.

“Why,” I pointedly asked my friend, “Elizabeth, is it bad for me to be concerned?”

“Concern is your right, but you need to give it to Brother Jacob and pray about it. Not gossip about it.”

I blew on my coffee, helping it cool. “First, I’m not gossiping. If I were, I’d be telling you something you didn’t know. You know what I’m saying. And, second, I have given it to Jacob.”

“You have?” she asked, surprised.

“Yes, and it’s still happening.”

Raquel became uncharacteristically quiet.

“Raquel?” I asked. “Deborah works with you. Do you think my concerns are unfounded?”

She shook her head, and then, looking to Elizabeth, she said, “I’ve done the same as Sara.”

“And what did Brother Benjamin say?”

“He said to pray and support Deborah.”

I placed my cup on the table and flung my body back to the sofa. “I don’t think she’s happy, not like us. I mean, I get that Jacob is the head of our household. I even accept his correction, but I also know he loves me, and I love him.”

Elizabeth and Raquel shared some strange secret smile.

“What?” I asked.

Raquel patted my knee. “Nothing. We’re just happy to hear you say that.”

I scrunched my nose. “Isn’t it obvious? I mean it is with you and Brother Benjamin and you and Brother Luke.” I smiled at Raquel. “Even when Brother Benjamin mentions you at the lab, his eyes go all adoring.”

Raquel’s cheeks blushed as she looked down.

“It is obvious,” Elizabeth said with a smile. “It’s also nice to hear.”

“But that’s just it,” I pursued. “It isn’t obvious between Deborah and Brother Abraham. I mean, have you watched them together? I think she’s afraid of him, and I don’t see the adoration or love, from either of them.”

“Sara!” Elizabeth said, “You can worry and talk about Deborah, but you can’t presume to talk about Brother Abraham.”

I exhaled, unable or unwilling to hold my tongue, even if it meant my own correction. “We’re wives of Assemblymen. Are we just going to sit back and wait until Deborah isn’t at the clinic as a nurse, but as a patient?”

Raquel sighed. “It’s already happened.”

“What?!” I asked, while simultaneously Elizabeth exclaimed, “Raquel!”

“Elizabeth, you heard Sara. She’s here, fully. She needs to know.”

I tilted my head. “What do you mean, I’m here . . . fully?”

“I mean, you’re back, like a hundred and ten percent. As you were recovering from your accident, we didn’t want to burden you.”

“I don’t understand. Why can’t we help her before it’s too late?”

“Because,” Elizabeth began, “Brother Abraham is also an Assemblyman. If he were a follower, like Brother Adam, it would be different.”

“Who’s Brother Adam?” Raquel and I asked in unison.

Elizabeth shook her head. “Forget I said that.”

My mind spun. “Is Brother Adam the husband of the woman who spoke to you, Mary?”

“It’s not something I can discuss.” Her green eyes shot toward me. “Forget I mentioned it.”

“Wait, so let’s say hypothetically”—I paused. When she didn’t respond, I went on—“a female follower comes up to you and tells you in confidence that she has a problem with her husband. I’m just going to say it. He’s abusive. Then do you tell Brother Luke and let it go from there?”

“Hypothetically,” Elizabeth said, “yes.”

“So with Deborah, if she said something to her overseer’s wife, could that Commissioner’s wife tell her husband, and then could he talk to Brother Abraham?”