Page 54 of Shadow Redemption
He kissed her temple. “According to my mom, Dad was so proud of his new son that his co-workers knew when he came to work each night, he’d bring more pictures of me to show off. Mom stayed home with me and Dad didn’t think anything of working extra shifts to provide for his family. Life was good until the summer I turned eight and everything changed.”
When he fell silent again, Ruth covered his hands with hers, offering wordless support. If he stopped now, she’d suck it up and deal with the disappointment. That Ben Martin, stoic man of mystery, had opened up to her this much was a miracle and a blessing that she would treasure.
Ben tugged her closer. “On August 7, my father pulled over a car that he’d clocked going ninety miles an hour in a residential neighborhood. When he approached the car, the driver shot him in the face, killing him instantly.”
Tears streaked down Ruth’s cheeks, pain for him and his mother shredding her heart.
“The cops never found the driver. Mom was so devastated at the loss of her mate that she drifted around the house for months, aimless, barely able to function enough to be sure I went to school and had food to eat and clean clothes to wear. Dad had made sure we were taken care of financially if something happened to him, but money didn’t fill the void in our lives. Things continued that way for about three months. One day in November, I came home from school, and Mom was different.”
Another kiss to her temple. “She was dressed in jeans and a pretty blouse instead of the torn, dingy sweats she’d taken to wearing the day after Dad’s funeral. She’d taken a bath, fixed her hair, and put makeup on her face. She looked like my mom for the first time in months. I couldn’t believe the difference.”
“She met someone?” Ruth asked, voice soft.
He snorted. “Oh, yeah. Jeremiah Davidson, better known as the prophet, the leader of the Eden commune. At first, I didn’t care what caused the change as long as I had my mother back. Losing my dad was hard enough, but I knew I couldn’t raise myself.”
“What happened?”
“Mom started talking about selling the house and moving to Tennessee. I couldn’t understand it. One day, I couldn’t get her to respond to me at all. The next thing I knew, she was planning to sell the house and move us away from our friends. I was supposed to start spring training for the baseball season at school. The last thing I wanted to do was move. I didn’t want to go and let her know about it. She told me I was being selfish. Everything in our house reminded her of Dad and made her sad. She couldn’t stand it anymore. Mom insisted this was a chance to start over somewhere new, a place that didn’t have reminders of Dad or people who looked at her with pity in their eyes because she was a cop’s widow.”
Ben’s voice thickened. “I didn’t have the heart to fight her further and agreed to try it. If I didn’t like the new place, she promised we would leave and find somewhere else that would welcome both of us. We left Miami the day after the school year ended for the semester with a suitcase for each of us. The rest of our belongings were put in storage until we knew what our living arrangements would be.”
Ruth frowned. “Wait. Are you telling me your mother moved the two of you to a place she’d never seen based on the word of this stranger?”
“That’s right. He sold her on the whole peace, love, and joy of the commune with people who accepted you exactly as you were. Davidson said it was a place for her to heal and become the woman she’d always been meant to be and a chance for me to grow into a real man.”
“Did he try to sell you the same pipe dream?”
“I never saw him until we were inside the gates of the commune and there was no way out. Once we arrived, Mom and I were escorted to Davidson’s office where he greeted her with a kiss to her hand. I didn’t like the way he looked at her.”
A protector, even at the age of eight. Ruth wasn’t a bit surprised.
His hold tightened. “We were separated immediately. Mom went with Davidson to what I later learned was his house. I was taken to the building where the boys slept. The girls were housed in a building across the compound. I was assigned a room and given a list of tasks to complete before I would be allowed to eat or sleep. If it took all night, that was too bad for me because everyone was required to be up by five o’clock every morning. That list of chores was a long one, so I didn’t finish everything until nearly midnight. One of the women was still awake. She felt sorry for me and fed me, then I was taken back to my room and locked in for the night.”
Ruth had to push aside her anger for that long-ago boy so lost and alone in a strange place in order to speak. “When was the next time you saw your mother?”
“The next morning at sunrise service and breakfast. Davidson made everyone listen to one of his sermons at 5:30 every morning, rain or shine. Anyway, Mom was radiant, her attention riveted by the prophet. She barely acknowledged me. Before I could tell her about all the chores I’d been forced to do, the boys were rounded up and sent to work.”
“Doing what?”
“Working the garden and mowing grass when spring came. Since it was winter when we arrived, I helped with maintenance around the property, chopping wood, building pens for animals, cleaning up after them and feeding them, all tasks that were necessary to keep the commune running and earning income and feeding its members.”
She thought about that a moment. “Gardening and raising animals for slaughter couldn’t be the only way they earned money. It wouldn’t have been enough, especially during winter.”
“They had a side business that brought in a lot more cash all year long. I’ll get to that. The girls were taught domestic chores. Cooking, cleaning, quilting and sewing, and catering to the men of the commune, especially the prophet.” Bitterness filled his voice.
“Except for catering to the men, life for the girls doesn’t sound too bad,” she murmured, wondering what she was missing.
“It reminded me of life around the time of Laura Ingalls Wilder,” he admitted. “Mom was a big fan of the television series based on Wilder’s books.”
“But something was wrong in that commune.”
“Oh, yeah. Took me a while to figure out what it was.” Ben shuddered. “Within two months of us arriving at the commune, Mom was pregnant with Davidson’s baby. My half-sister was born seven months later. They named her Lydia. The prophet was very pleased, and word spread through the commune that Mom was to stay secluded in his house until Lydia was healthy and strong. The only problem was that Lydia was given to one of the other women to take care of not long after she was born. If Davidson was so concerned with Lydia’s health and wellbeing, why would he send her to another woman to raise as her own?”
Ruth’s stomach tightened into a knot, memories of her own captivity at the hands of Hugo flooding her mind. “He kept your mother a prisoner.”
“She became pregnant again two months after Lydia’s birth when she was allowed to leave Davidson’s house for short periods of time with a male escort. I did what I could to keep an eye on both Mom and Lydia, but it wasn’t easy. The men of the commune kept me away from them. I found ways to visit for a few minutes every few days without a guard discovering my presence.
“The next summer, the commune held a coming-of-age celebration for the boys and girls who turned ten during the year. To me, it was like a big party and a day away from the field which I enjoyed. I didn’t think anything of it until the year I turned ten.”