Lush Trilogy

by S. L. Baum

  I carefully lifted my gown out of the box. “I will be well rested and well fed,” I promised.

  “And I don’t want you going on any walks tonight. It would please me if you just stayed in. Spend a comfortable evening in your room reading stories or maybe watch a video. You like to do that, don’t you? If you fell down somewhere and scraped yourself up, well, it just wouldn’t do. Everything must be perfect tomorrow,” she worried.

  I had planned to meet Thorn again, but I could always just video message him instead. “I will stay in my room. No scrapes. I promise,” I said, more than a little disappointed.

  “Thank you, Bluebell. I’ll just be in my room dealing with last minute details for the Gala, try not to disturb me. I have a few surprises in store for you. I would hate for any one of them to be ruined,” she winked and dismissed me.

  I went back up to my room and hung the dress up in my closet before grabbing my larger personal tablet. I opened the library on it. Lost on the Way to the Beach was back again. I couldn’t believe it. I clicked on the cover image, found my place, and started to read.

  They ran through the forest. The woman didn’t know how long it would be until her absence was noticed. She wasn’t allowed to take the girl out for more than an hour or two at a time. Even though she was known to all as the girl’s appointed caretaker, she was watched, she was always watched. It had been a mistake coming to this place and agreeing to this post, because it certainly wasn’t a marriage.

  She had told The Council she’d enter into a Marriage Contract with whatever person they determined would be compatible with her. She was so desperate to get away from her home and the shame that her parents had brought to their family. She didn’t spend enough time making sure that the marriage would be a good match. A second wife. How had she allowed herself to become somebody’s second wife?

  The man had been so nice at that first meeting; after the older Council member brought him in, introduced him, and left them in a room together. They laughed and talked and shared stories from their time at Training Tech. He told her how much he wanted a child, but said his wife was still unable to conceive even though they had tried so many times. Adoption was discussed, but his wife had thought it would be nice to bring in a second wife. A woman that would be willing to have at least two children, with the first to be thought of as the first wife’s child and the second to be considered the second wife’s child.

  The situation seemed ideal, at first, until the woman moved into their home, became pregnant with a child, and was kept hidden for the entire pregnancy. The first wife was determined for everyone to think the child was hers. The woman would be introduced as the child’s caregiver.

  The little girl tugged at her hand, drawing her out of her thoughts.

  “Did I ever tell you how much I loved to pick flowers when I was your age?” she asked the little girl.

  “No, but picking flowers is fun.”

  “It is, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. They are so pretty,” the little girl smiled.

  “Making a wild bouquet was one of my favorite things to do.”

  The woman paused and looked around. Her face grew worried and the little girl asked her what was wrong.

  “It’s nothing, Bluebell. I just want you to know how much I love you. That is why I never want to lose you.”

  “That’s silly. You can’t lose a person. You only lose toys and things,” the little girl replied.

  “What?” I stopped reading and stared at the tablet. “This can’t be happening,” I whispered aloud.

  How in the world was I reading a story on my tablet that had invaded my dreams. It seemed so much like real memories to me and suddenly my name was printed right on the screen? I was looking right at it. I couldn’t deny it anymore. I wasn’t meshing the two different stories together. They were both the same story. My memories were here, written out by someone else and sent to my tablet. I wanted to scream for my father or message Lily or video chat Thorn. Actually, I wanted to run from the house and find Thorn and ask him a thousand questions about how and why this was happening. But I knew I couldn’t do any of those things until I finished reading.

  It took all of the woman’s strength to stop herself from crying. She didn’t want to scare the child. “You’re right, dear heart. We must go faster though. Do you think you can walk a little faster?”

  “I could try,” the little girl smiled up at her.

  The woman heard something and her eyes darted across the field. “What was that?” There was someone coming, she could feel it. “Hurry!”

  They started to run and the woman thought that if they could just make it over the bridge it would all be fine. The beach wasn’t that much further. But in the frantic rush, the woman didn’t realize the little girl had stumbled and fell down. Then she heard the cries.

  “Get up, Bluebell,” the woman called out.

  The woman looked behind the little girl and then focused on something behind her. Her eyes grew big with fear.

  “Get up, Bluebell!” she screamed.

  The little girl shook her head, and didn’t move.

  “Get up, Bluebell!” she screamed again.

  Someone darted out from the trees and grabbed the little girl. Someone else followed and started toward the woman.

  “I’ll go after her,” he shouted. “Take the girl back to my home, please.”

  The woman turned and ran. She heard footsteps pounding behind her, so she pushed herself even harder.

  “Stop, Hope. You can’t go,” he yelled out after her. “Come back with me. Come back and be with our daughter.”

  He was closing in on her, she knew it. Then he grabbed her.

  “Jackson, let me go,” the woman pleaded.

  “I can’t let you go. I think I love you,” he said, and spun her around. “Hope, you can’t leave me.”

  “She’ll never let me have another child. You both said I could have one to call my own. Do you know how much it hurts to see Bluebell call that woman mother and know that I may never get to have that chance on my own, because she won’t share you with me? You lied to me. I am not a true second wife. You tell everyone I am Bluebell’s caretaker, and now that she is about to turn five and about to leave for Training Tech there is no way to explain my presence any more. She is going to get rid of me and send me away.

  “Jackson, can’t you see that? I am bound to you, we have a Marriage Contract, and nobody knows it but us. I will not be allowed to marry again, because Concord Marriage Contracts are binding for life. So what am I to do? Where will she send me? I think she plans to have me secretly banished and cast out!”

  “She wouldn’t do that. I won’t let her.”

  “What power do you have? None. Her father is on The Council. She pulls all the strings here. I should never have come here and accepted a life as a Second Wife. It was unfair to me, it was unfair to you, and it was unfair to Aspen. She always wanted you all to herself. And I don’t even hate her for that. I’d want you for myself as well. But most of all I want my daughter. I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving her in Training Tech for twelve years, and not being able to see her or touch her or hug her or show her the love she deserves.”

  My tablet flashed for a second then reverted to the home screen. The book was gone once again. My head was spinning. It felt like my whole life had been crumpled into a ball and thrown down the street. It was bouncing away from me, too fast for me to catch it.

  I quietly opened my door and crept over to Aspen’s room. My brain had erased the word Mother from any association with her… instantly. The door to her room was cracked open. She was sitting at her dressing table, in front of her mirror, brushing her hair as she spoke with someone on video chat.

  “It is all going just fine,” Aspen said. “She is really warming up to me.”

  “If you had nurtured the relationship from the beginning you wouldn’t need to try so hard to fix it now,” came the reply.

  I couldn’t see the f
ace in the screen, but I knew the voice. It was my grandfather’s.

  “How was I to know she’d end up Lush like her mother? You never thought it could happen either, admit it, Father. If she had simply been fertile, or better yet, infertile, you wouldn’t have felt the need to make a spectacle out of her. This is your doing.”

  “Her mother ran because YOU forced her to be invisible, I refuse to take any responsibility for that. That was all your doing. You could have let Jackson father another child with her. She probably would have been manageable if you had lived up to your promises when she came to your home.”

  “Father. There was no way I would share my man with any other woman. You brought her to us… YOU. Remember that?” Aspen hissed.

  “Aspen, we need to stop laying blame. Jackson barely remembers her, though how you convinced him to willingly take those medicines I don’t know.”

  Aspen gave a small laugh. “He wanted to forget her. It was easy to convince him. And when he showed his loyalty by returning our daughter and living the way we wanted him to, you rewarded him with a seat on The Council. He got what he wanted. I got what I wanted. It will all work out in the end.”

  “What did you get out of this, Aspen?” Grandfather asked.

  “I got a child,” she answered.

  “You never wanted a child,” he said.

  “But of course I did. How else could I continue to convince my friends that I was fertile? I purposely made myself violently ill the day of our final Citizen Brands. I drank chemicals just so the doctor would have to keep me in the Medical Center. My bandages were removed, and my brand revealed, in private. There were no witnesses. I’ve been wearing rows of beaded crap on my arm for over twenty years. Convincing that woman to live in our home and have a child for me in secret was the best decision I ever made. When Bluebell arrived and I told everybody she was mine. It created a lie that everybody believes to be true. I am a fertile woman and everybody knows it,” Aspen smiled.

  I could see her face through the crack in the door, reflected in the mirror. Her smile was full of venom and malevolence.

  She put the brush down on the table and started to remove her bracelets. One by one she pulled them off her wrist and placed them in the jewelry box by the table.

  “But you are not fertile,” Grandfather said. “That mark on your wrist proves it.”

  I squinted my eyes to see if what he said was true. She held her wrist up closer to her face, took out a cloth, and started to wipe at her skin. Then it appeared and my eyes fixated on it.

  Aspen looked at her wrist and her face went blank. “But nobody knows it is there,” she said, staring at the black X that was her Citizen Brand.

  The End…

  HUSH

  (a LUSH novel)

  by

  S.L. Baum

  Book Description

  Bluebell’s Citizen Brand is like no other. Because she is LUSH, she’s turned into a public figure – a perfect example of a Concord Citizen, a goal for the next generation. She tries to embrace her fate, but the more she learns about Concord and The Council, the less she trusts in everything she’s been told her whole life.

  After discovering that Aspen is not her real mother, Bluebell realizes she has little chance of finding the woman who gave birth to her. She also suspects someone is tampering with her memories, and knows that she must discover the truth about Concord before the people she loves are completely erased from her mind.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Copyright 2013 by S. Baum

  All rights reserved.

  I’m dedicating this book to my readers. I love connecting with you all on Social Media. Your words of encouragement can always brighten my day. I wrote a book because I wanted to fulfill a dream, I continue to write because of people like you… yeah, I’m talking to you!

  And, as always, my family… the five of us, interlocking circles. I love you.

  Table of Contents

  *

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter One

  Get Up, Bluebell

  I quietly opened my door and crept over to Aspen’s room. My brain had erased the word mother from any association with her… instantly. The door to her room was cracked open. She was sitting at her dressing table, in front of her mirror, brushing her hair as she spoke with someone on video chat.

  “It is all going just fine,” Aspen said. “She is really warming up to me.”

  “If you had nurtured the relationship from the beginning you wouldn’t need to try so hard to fix it now,” came the reply.

  I couldn’t see the face on the screen, but I knew the voice. It was my grandfather’s.

  “How was I to know she’d end up Lush like her mother? You never thought it could happen either, admit it, Father. If she had simply been Fertile, or better yet, Infertile, you wouldn’t have felt the need to make a spectacle out of her. This is your doing.”

  “Her mother ran because YOU forced her to be invisible, I refuse to take any responsibility for that. That was all your doing. You could have let Jackson father another child with her. She probably would have been manageable if you had lived up to your promises when she came to your home.”

  “Father. There was no way I would share my man with any other woman. You brought her to us… YOU. Remember that?” Aspen hissed.

  “Aspen, we need to stop laying blame. Jackson barely remembers her, though how you convinced him to willingly take those medicines I don’t know.”

  Aspen gave a small laugh. “He wanted to forget her. It was easy to convince him. And when he showed his loyalty by returning our daughter and living the way we wanted him to, you rewarded him with a seat on The Council. He got what he wanted. I got what I wanted. It will all work out in the end.”

  “What did you get out of this, Aspen?” Grandfather asked.

  “I got a child,” she answered.

  “You never wanted a child,” he said.

  “But of course I did. How else could I continue to convince my friends that I was Fertile? I purposely made myself violently ill the day of our final Citizen Brands. I drank chemicals just so the doctor would have to keep me in the Medical Center. My bandages were removed, and my brand revealed, in private. There were no witnesses. I’ve been wearing rows of beaded crap on my arm for over twenty years. Convincing that woman to live in our home and have a child for me in secret was the best decision I ever made. When Bluebell arrived and I told everybody she was mine. It created a lie that everybody believes to be true. I am a Fertile woman and everybody knows it,” Aspen smiled.

  I could see her face through the crack in the door, reflected in the mirror. Her smile was full of venom and malevolence.

  She put the brush down on the table and started to remove her bracelets. One by one she pulled them off her wrist and placed them in the jewelry box by the table.

  “But you are not Fertile,” Grandfather said. “That mark on your wrist proves it.”

  I squinted my eyes to see if what he said was true. She held her wrist up closer to her face, took out a cloth, and started to wipe at her skin. Then it appeared and my eyes fixated on it.

  Aspen looked at her wrist and her face went blank. “But nobody knows it is there,” she said, staring at the black X that was her Citizen Brand.

  I slid to the ground, my legs unable to hold my weight any longer. Words were just words, anyone could claim that Aspen was not my biological mother, but the black X on her left wrist proved it to be true. While some women with a Fe
rtile Brand found themselves unable to have a child, there had never been a case of an Infertile with a successful pregnancy. It made so much sense; I wondered why I’d never contemplated the possibility before. There was none of her in me; I didn’t look like her, act like her, or think like her. I’d always assumed that was because I took after my father’s side of the family, but other than the dark hair and dark eyes, I didn’t look all that much like him, either. She somehow deceived everyone into believing she was Fertile and had given birth to me.

  How could she do such a thing? Who was Aspen? Who was I? Who exactly was my mother? It was all too much. I shook my head, trying to focus. What had Thorn said? “Try to remember.” I would. Somewhere, locked in my head, were memories of my real mother, and I would try to remember everything.

  I heard my grandfather laugh, but then it wasn’t really my grandfather after all. “Aspen, my dear, dear daughter, ‘nobody knows it is there,’ is not exactly true. How lucky you are that the former Doctor at Training Tech was willing to be bribed, and Alpha was fed a lie.”

  “Actually, my dear, dear father, you and I are the only people who know. That dear Doctor kept my secret until her untimely death; she took it to the grave with her. My ever dutiful Jackson remained quiet in the beginning, and then wisely chose to erase the memories.”

  “I guess that makes you extra lucky, doesn’t it?”

  “Father, you have always brought us luck – along with a council seat for my husband’s willful compliance. You gained just as much as I did. It was necessary to claim Bluebell as your own true grandchild; it kept the 1.15 family line going strong. And what a remarkable addition to the family you received. You get to claim that a Lush girl is the product of your superior bloodline.”