Harmony took a shower, washing off both the remnants of our wedding joining and the dye. She dressed, and I dried her hair. When the final strand was dry, I stood behind Harmony and swallowed. I stayed that way for too many minutes to count.
I snapped myself out my stupor and turned her by her shoulders. “Look up, baby.” Harmony’s shoulders sagged, and my mouth turned dry as I lifted my finger to each of her eyes and removed her contact lenses.
I looked at my wife, and I staggered back in disbelief. Forcing myself to gain some semblance of composure, I walked back to where she stood, completely still. I saw the unshed tears shining in her eyes.
“Brother Stephen told you . . . about me . . . ?” she whispered. It wasn’t really a question. It wasn’t a statement. It was a shocked realization that I knew everything about her.
Taking her wrist in my hand, I lifted it, and with a wet face towel I wiped off the impressive makeup on her wrist . . .
A tattoo. A tattoo I had seen only three times before, the name and numbers of a passage of scripture: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
“Revelation 21:8,” Harmony said cautiously. Bringing her wrist to my mouth, I kissed the tattoo. I wrapped my arms around her and brought her to my chest, holding her securely in my arms.
“I’m sorry,” I said hoarsely. “I’m so fucking sorry for the life you had.” Harmony began to cry, but only for a few moments. She pulled back and wiped at her eyes. I couldn’t stop staring at her. My heart simultaneously beat and bled for her. She was even more beautiful now, but not in the way I’d thought she’d be. She was simply a more beautiful Harmony. No one else. I couldn’t compare her. There was no comparison to me. As hard as that was to believe.
Harmony fought to regain composure, and I said, “You are the strongest person I have ever known. What you’ve been through, what you’ve survived . . . what you were willing to do to save the people in the commune . . . ”
Harmony laughed a single mirthless laugh. “That is not true. I had to be strong because people relied on me. I was looked upon as the strong one by the ones that I loved. But inside”—Harmony lifted her hand and brought it to her chest, right over her heart—“in here, I would crumble just like anyone else. I simply hid it from the world. I would not let the cruel men that hurt us find fuel within my tears. Strength is a shield, only to be lowered by trust.”
Her words were a blow to me, but it was the glint in her eyes that truly undid me, because it told me that she trusted me. Fuck . . . she trusted me.
Edging toward her, I let my hand fall down over her now-black hair. I looked into her captivating eyes. I was lost in their beauty, but we had to leave. It was time for Harmony to find her peace . . . even if it meant the beginning of one hell of a fucking war for me.
Slipping my hand into hers, I said, “Are you ready, baby?”
“Yes,” she replied, then stole the final fragment of my heart as she nervously added, “Baby.” She blushed as I smiled at the endearment.
I led Harmony out to the truck. We had about twenty miles to go.
So I held on to Harmony’s hand again. Smiling in the knowledge that her shattered heart would soon be fully healed.
A small act of redemption in my clusterfuck of a life.
*****
I didn’t know how I would feel as I rolled up to the place I once called home. I expected to be nervous—hell, I expected to feel nothing but fear of the inevitable . . . but strangely, I just felt numb. My heart didn’t race, my pulse didn’t speed up. I was simply calm, because I knew bringing Harmony here was right.
She deserved it.
As I steered the truck around the final bend that would bring me to their gates, I saw the flickering lights of the compound.
Harmony shifted on her seat. I could feel her eyes watching me closely, suspiciously, but I kept my gaze straight forward. I didn’t bother with the turn signal as I turned left and rolled the truck to a steady stop. I studied the compound. Since I’d last been here, a shit-ton of protection had been put in place. The gates no longer had bars, instead they were solid iron. The walls were higher, stronger and thicker. But newer still were the raised watchtowers that looked over the only road in and out of this place.
It was a fucking fortress. Impenetrable. Impossible to break in, and even more importantly, to escape from.
Movement from one of the towers caught my eye and I saw a guy dressed in black staring down at me. The truck’s windows were all blacked out, and I was thankful for that right then. They couldn’t see in, which was the plan.
The guy in the tower had a gun in his hand and was scoping out our truck, but I couldn’t see which brother it was. Harmony’s eyes were huge with fear. “Stay here, okay?” I said.
She swallowed and cast a long look at the black iron gates beyond the windscreen. “Rider . . . I am scared. Something in my heart is telling me this is a bad idea.”
Leaning over the console, I placed my finger under her chin and brought her lips to mine. I kissed her softly, sweetly, and I kept my mouth on hers as long as possible. I knew this would most likely be the last time that I would know her like this, be here like this . . . have any kind of moment with her like this. Harmony melted against my lips. It made me feel so fucking alive. I had been dead before her.
I pressed my forehead to hers and closed my eyes. I didn’t want to move. I would have given anything to stay right there in the truck for the rest of my sorry life. But it was time to face my former brothers.
It was time to start paying for all the shit that I’d caused.
It was time for Harmony to be free . . . of me and the people who had imprisoned her.
The sound of raised voices outside cut through the silence in the truck. It was time. “Stay here until I call for you. Don’t come out before then . . . please,” I insisted. Without looking back at Harmony, I opened the door and got out of the truck.
With my hands held in the air, I moved around to the front of the truck. Light after light came on, lightbulb after lightbulb flaring beyond the compound walls to reveal my presence. I winced at the brightness of the spotlight I was thrust under.
“Holy fuckin’ shit.”