I thought that Jana had a little bit more time since her birthday isn't until next week. I tell myself to keep breathing. I have to look away from her devastated, scared little face. Even when her back is towards me as she walks to the front with Grinder, I can't bear to look.
"I want the congregation to know that The Great Master is speaking to me!" he screeches once they arrive at the front. "He told me that because he was so pleased that I became the highest holy, he moved Jana's birthday up, so I could marry her!"
A stunned silence fills the room.
"The Great Master has great things in store for his faithful!!! You can count on it!!!"
The congregation is still stunned.
"Kneel!" he orders her. She obeys immediately. "With you being a new bride, you need to understand your responsibility towards your Master! Your life isn't your own. It's your Master's. Every breath you take is mine! Every word out of your mouth is mine! Everything you are is mine!"
Then he makes her promise loyalty, obedience, and dedication like he had the other brides. This part takes forever, and I can see Jana trying not to faint with the pain coming from her knees.
When he finishes with her, instead of dismissing the congregation, he makes her sit down with his other brides. Then he spends hours giving a discourse on marriage. He tells us, the destiny-brides and wives, that we shouldn't love anybody more than our husbands, our faith, and our Great Master. That it is a sin to love ourselves more than them. He tells us that it is our duty to make them very happy because only then can we reach the Great Master's Kingdom after death.
I had already heard all of this over and over again through the years but today the message seemed much more intense and demanding than it had ever been under Bledsoe.
"The Great Master has told me that from this day forward, any disobedience will be punished by death."
If the congregation was silent before, now it's downright chilly. Bledsoe had never gone this far. Grinder is out of his mind!
Finally, he declares it's time for celebration. We're ushered to the celebratory room next to city hall. It is made up with the decorations that are always used for these occasions. The helper-boys must've stayed up all night putting them up. Stars made of tiny bulbs light up the ceiling while the tables have silk, white cloths draping over them with centerpieces made of glass red hearts. Four Ice statues of the Great Master sit in every corner of the room. The tables are set up around a fountain with a cupid in the center of it. Water spurts from its arrow while the water in the fountain is filled with different kinds of floating flowers.
The destiny-brides immediately rush to the kitchen where the pots of food that the family-wives already prepared sit. Under the supervision of Helga, we quickly serve the food into expensive, white china plates. Ribeye, lobster, and caviar along with side dishes are first served to the High Elders, Lower Elders, and Masters--in that order. Then we place a fraction of the food we had given the men onto the plates of their wives.
Meanwhile, I'm the one in charge of the champagne. I move all over the room serving the men. Their wives are only allowed one glass.
"Little Bird, it'll be us next," says an already tipsy Mister.
I turn my face away from him so he doesn't see me shudder.
"Little Bird!" he yells, thumping my shoulder with the discipline club. Not even on his wedding day is he willing to set it aside. "Don't be upset. I promise you I won't love Betsey or even Lauren more than I love you, okay?"
I have no choice but to nod, or he'll whack me again.
"I won't even love them as much as I love you."
I nod again.
"Even if Betsey is the new head-wife, you're the head of my heart."
"Champagne!" yells Grinder from the other side of the room.
"You can go," the Mister dismisses me. As I'm rushing over to Grinder, I notice Miguel's eyes fixed on me. He is serving the cigars to the men.
Later that evening, he passes by me and whispers in my ear, "Betsey's the new head-wife. No wonder you were upset."
When every dish has been washed, all ornaments have been placed in storage, and the celebration is over, I stare at the starry sky through the window in the slave quarters. My feet throb. My muscles ache. My stomach cries with hunger. Neither the helper-boys , the servant-girls, or the destiny-brides are allowed to eat even a tiny morsel of the banquet we served.
Where are you, Mama? I cry in my head. Have you been looking for me all these years?--or have you forgotten me?
The next day I have two more wives to clean up after. More slimy dishes, more dirty rooms, and more clothes to iron. When I finish with clean-up, Betsey comes up to me with a wily smile.
"Monica, you've done a good job for someone who has never been instructed," she remarks casually.
"My Little Bird tries the best she can," the Mister chortles.
"I can see that."
"She's my special destiny-bride."
"Monica," Betsey says in her most sickingly sweet voice. "I've admired you so much ever since you were helping out at that household I used to be at."
I eye her with an unflinching, somber stare. Both of us know what game we're playing and the way she treated me in the Smythee house.
"We're going to be such good friends," she says with a sly smile.
The Mister is beside himself with happiness. How can he not see right through her?
Betsey calls a meeting for the wives. This also pleases the Mister, and he tells us he'll be gone for a few hours to take care of business. That we should listen to Betsey because she has our best interest at heart.
"Things are going to run very differently around here!" she snaps roughly when he leaves. "Very differently! And you heard Highest Holy Grinder. Any disobedience is punishable by death!"