Riverbend Reunion(23)

“Birth control pills.” Risa shrugged. “It all boils down to birth control pills.”

“What?” Haley’s brow furrowed.

“Just what I said. According to Martha, any kind of birth control was taboo, and using it was right next to worshipping Satan. She believed wholeheartedly in the Quiverfull movement and quoted those verses in Psalms almost on a daily basis: Children are a heritage from the Lord. Offspring are a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth.”

“And you used birth control pills, right?”

Risa nodded again. “I got them right after the twins were born and managed to keep them secret for sixteen years. Martha was of the opinion that babies are blessings straight from God, and sons are put on pedestals. She told me that I must be sinning because God had closed up my womb like he did when women sinned in the Bible.”

“Sweet Lord!” Haley gasped. “How did you survive as long as you did? Do any of the other daughters-in-law sneak around and use birth control?”

“I think some of them have figured out how to get around producing a baby a year by using the rhythm method, but it wasn’t something anyone talked about, not even in the kitchen when we all gathered around to wash dishes after Sunday dinner. Several of them had ten or more children, so the weekly family dinner was a big affair.”

“Paul didn’t take up for you?” Haley could hardly believe that her friend had lived in that kind of situation. “That’s like living in a commune.”

“You got it!” Risa raised her glass in a toast. “There was the underlying fact that Paul’s old girlfriend became a widow last year. She’s the woman that Martha had picked out for him, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them get back together real soon.”

“Why didn’t he marry her back then?” Haley asked.

“They dated from the time they were in junior high school. After graduation, she broke up with him for one of his buddies. Paul joined the army without asking or telling anyone in his family. They almost disowned him over the whole thing, and then he married me—that was two strikes, since his mama didn’t approve of him marrying a woman outside of their faith. Somewhere in Corinthians it talks about not being unequally yoked with unbelievers. I thought I’d been raised in a strict religion, but Martha’s was even worse, and it wasn’t until I had the twins that Martha accepted me into her church.”

“Her church?” Haley asked.

“We all lived in a sort of community of our own, and Matthew, the oldest son, was the preacher. They had fixed up an old barn to serve as a church, and we were required to be there for services every Sunday morning and Wednesday night. I was just grateful that she hadn’t built a school or made us all homeschool our kids,” Risa answered.

“And Paul went along with all that?” Haley was stunned that a grown man wouldn’t stand up for his wife and kids no matter what.

“He didn’t want to get a third strike, so he buckled down and became the son that his mama wanted him to be.” Risa finished off her whiskey. “It wasn’t so bad, really. Matthew usually preached on the value of family and loving one another. He didn’t talk about hellfire and damnation, and for the most part I tuned him out, just like I did when Mama made me go to her church all those years.”

“Why did you take the pills when you knew they were taboo?” Haley said.

“I was pregnant by the time I figured out that my life wasn’t mine, and Paul’s wasn’t his, either. We both belonged to the queen bee, a witch by the name of Martha Jackson. Before I even left the hospital after having the twins, they were already talking about me maybe having twin boys the next year. I didn’t want to be pregnant again that quick, so I asked the doctor for a prescription.” Risa’s tone sounded flat and lifeless. “Martha and the six sisters-in-law had told me that God must love me because He double blessed me with twins. The only thing better would have been if they had been boys. The Jackson family puts a lot of stock in male heirs, just like the folks in the Old Testament did. She often talked about how that she had asked God for a quiver full of sons, and He had answered her by giving her seven.”

“How did they find out about the pills?” Haley asked.

“I got careless and left my newest package in my purse,” Risa answered. “At least I was lucky for sixteen years, or maybe, looking back, those were an unlucky sixteen years, because I lived with constant ridicule from Martha. According to her I needed to spend some time on my knees in repentance.”

“Holy smoke!” Haley gasped. “How did Paul find the pills if they were in your purse?”

“He was digging around for my truck keys and found them. After he threw a fit, and a few dishes, he took the pills to his mother, and the rest is history. To be honest, since I had girls, and apparently was never going to be able to give him a son, he was more interested in how many deer heads and antlers he could hang on the walls than he was in being a husband or a father. He took the girls fishing a few times when he figured out that we weren’t going to have more children, but even that didn’t satisfy him. He wanted sons and lots of them, like his brothers all had.”

Haley finished off her milk. “I’m sorry you had to live like that. You should have told me years ago about all this. I would have gotten a bigger apartment, and you could have come to stay with me.”