The Enforcer's Bride

Chapter 2: Jude

I was organizing the latest files on new recruits when there was a knock on my office door. “Enter,” I murmured, barely looking up from my work. 

“He is salvation,” Malachi greets me, “We are saved,” I reply, as is the custom in the Homeland. “The report was accurate, the lost sheep is identified and extracted. The extraction team are on their way home,” Malachi announced and smiled at me. Hannah my beloved, my betrothed, is coming home. My heart pounded in my chest, I’ve been waiting so long for this day. Thinking about my body on top of her, in her, running my hands over her thighs and hearing her scream my name. Hannah barefoot and pregnant in my house, my mouth almost starts watering at the thoughts. Finally after eight long years I finally get to claim Hannah as mine and mine only. 

“And the clean up?” I asked, taking off and cleaning my black frame glasses. “Minimal,” Malachi stated, “Except there is one factor that may prove to be more difficult in the long run.” I raised my eyebrows, waiting for Malachi to elaborate. Malachi and I have been best friends since childhood, even as  I’ve raised through the Enforcers ranks he has always been my right hand man. If there is something he doesn’t feel that he can tell me, it can’t be good. “It appears as though Hannah was in a relationship of some sort.”

“With a man?” 

“Yes, with a man.” Malachi grimaced, “It appears as though they may have been...physical.” I slowly let all the air out of my lungs, trying to quiet my inner thoughts. f**k. How could Hannah do this? Was she trying to kill me? I thought about the last time I saw her eight years ago, the day before our official betrothal ceremony.

The smell of the homemade soap on her skin, the sunset reflecting off the red in her hair. Her freckles against her pale features, and the way she always had flour in her hair after a long day in the bakery. “I made something for you,” I whispered to her as we sat on her front porch steps, her mother and father chaperoning us from the porch chairs. I handed her a small hand kerchief bundle. She opened it and slowly smiled at the wooden bracelet I carved for her.“This is beautiful but Jude, you know I couldn’t wear this, it is forbidden,” she said, tears forming. 

Physical adornment is prohibited, we are expected to decorate ourselves in God’s love. All of our clothes, homes, and bodies are expected to be plain. I traced circles in her palm with the tip of my finger. “I would do anything for you,” I kissed her palm softly. “All right Jude, you better head back to the bunkhouse before curfew,” Hannah’s mother warned. “So, have any big plans tomorrow?” I softly teased as we got up. She softly smiled, “Maybe, I’ll let you know.” I kissed her hand again, “Until tomorrow my intended,” then to Hannah’s parents, “He is salvation.” “We are saved,” whispered Hannah. I turned to walk down the gravel pathway that would lead me from the family lodges to the young men’s bunkhouse when Hannah called out, “Jude wait!” 

“Yes?”

“Would you truly do anything for me?” She asked, a worried expression creeping over her pale features.“As long as it was in my power,” I smiled, assuming it was ceremony jitters. “You are mine and I am your protector. Everything will be fine.” I kissed her hand again and left for the evening. But the next morning Hannah was no where to be found. 

Malachi’s words interrupted my thoughts. “But we don’t know for sure, I’ll personally have the doctor check her to see if she’s still in tact.” “Thank you Malachi, that will be all,” I stated, annoyed at the thought of my intended’s purity coming into question. “He is salvation.”

“We are saved.” Malachi bowed his head to me, and turned for the door but turned around one more time. “You know Jude, just because you were her original betrothed doesn’t mean you have to keep that promise. There are plenty of other girls who could still make you a happy husband,” Malachi said. I ran my fingers through my brown high and tight, the uniform haircut amongst the younger Enforcer classes. At 25 I’m by far the youngest Head Enforcer, but oldest unmarried man in the Homeland. “Forgiveness is love. God is love. Hannah has sinned but we must love her through her shame,” I said. “Besides, The Father would’ve killed her to make an example of her. Who else but the Head Enforcer could bring a lost sheep back into the fold?” Malachi nodded in understanding and left me alone. I leaned back in my desk chair. Soon Hannah would be here and after a quick marriage ceremony, she would be in my bed screaming my name all night. My radio buzzed, “Lost sheep locked in holding.”

Hannah is officially home.