It began slowly. The modest clothing concealed the very earliest changes. But all the wives could hear her sickness every morning. She grew pale, and the color left her lips. Her long dresses could not disguise a certain thickening around her hips, and a tightening in her bust line - the telltale signs of a newly bred wife.
In spite of Anna's condition, the other sister wives continued to demand and assign as many household duties as any human could hope to accomplish. These resentful women, heavy and haggard after years of childbearing, were cold and unkind to the beautiful, newly-pregnant teen. They enjoyed seeing her struggle with heavy pails of water, or large bundles of laundry full of soiled cloth diapers. They liked to see Anna on hands and knees, scrubbing the floor. They thought it built character to give the nauseated girl the most nauseating tasks.
Jebediah knew these duties were appropriate for the newest wife, and that as she grew larger in motherhood Anna would be treated more kindly, and have lighter tasks. But for now it was all very hard work for Anna. She felt lonely and out-cast in a way that she had never experienced. She missed her siblings from back home, her family, and she had no friends to reach out to. She had never had such domestic responsibilities, or such hard critics for her every mistake. She prayed often and thought of the blessing of the new child. She knew she would all too soon have someone to love and return her love, and then another. And another. And another.
In her earliest days of pregnancy, it seemed like Anna was constantly in the bathroom, ill or nauseated. She was also constantly feeling the need to urinate.
This need announced itself one afternoon while she was outside cleaning slop buckets by the well a few dozen yards from the house. Anna was alone by herself outdoors while a few of the oldest children were inside doing their homeschooling. Jebediah had taken the other wives and young children to town in order to see the dentist and purchase supplies. Anna was not privileged enough to come on such trips as of yet, especially given the limited space in their family vehicles.
Still willowy and glowing with beauty in the late afternoon sun, Anna was scrubbing out a filthy pail when she felt the urgent call of nature. Eschewing modesty for convenience, she ducked behind a small scrubby tree, lifted her dress carefully and relieved herself. Gazing out from behind a branch, she noticed a form approaching on the road outside. A man was walking toward the compound.
Anna finished urinating, pulled her dress down quickly and was going to run inside - when the man caught sight of her. He was walking slowly down the dusty road, his form tall and dark, in black jeans and jacket, with long dark hair, walking alone through the open scrub land that surrounded the compound. The house was miles from a town. She wondered where he could possibly have come from.
"Excuse me," he called politely. A smile illuminated his swarthy face. Anna desired to flee, but was distracted by the plaintive tone in the man's voice, and his unusual - very handsome, muscular - appearance. She tripped backwards over some of the children's toys, and fell down into the red clay soil that surrounded the compound. The man approached more quickly now.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" he asked. He was a young man, very dark, with an equine nose and full lips. He had large dark eyes with long lashes. His long black hair was tied back from his face. He was dressed in black jeans and boots, his t-shirt scuffed with dirt. She could see a webwork of tattoos covering his arms. She could smell his deep masculine scent: a mixture of leather, sweat, cigarettes and the outdoors, wafting toward her sensitive nose as he approached her.
She was having difficulty lifting herself out of the dusty, and he offered his hand. She took it. Her strength sometimes failed her in her new condition.
"Are you alright?" he repeated. Anna was unsure whether to speak. She looked down shyly, dusting herself off. She nodded, shamefacedly. It wouldn't do to be caught talking to a stranger, a gentile - and a man who wasn't her husband!
The man seemed to understand her shyness. "I'm so sorry to trouble you," he offered apologetically. "My motorcycle broke down less than a mile away and I could see this house from the road. I thought I might be able to borrow a telephone and call for help."
Anna looked up now more confidently and met his eye briefly. "I..ahem," she cleared her throat, speaking softly, "I'm sorry to hear about your trouble. I can get you the cordless phone to use. Please wait right here." She glanced around, guardedly. "Maybe behind the tree. I'm not sure I can be seen speaking with you," she explained. The rules of the house were unfamiliar to her, since she had never been on her own with a stranger before. Would Jeb punish her if she were found to be disobedient?
Anna quickly returned with the cordless phone. The young man smiled appreciatively and dialed, speaking politely to first a directory service and then a towing company. He concluded his calls.
"I'm in luck, I can get a tow into town in just a few hours." He smiled. His dark eyes met hers, and she glanced away nervously. She had been gazing at his brown skin and wondering incredulously how he became so dark. Was he in the sun all day, every day? She had never seen such skin. Her idle thoughts had distracted her. The man seemed to be enjoying both her interest and her discomfiture.
"I should be going now," the man explained, "but before I do, is it possible to have a glass of water? Mine ran out on the walk here. I'm very thirsty and have to walk back and wait with my bike." He pulled his empty canteen into view by way of explanation. Anna nodded.
