The Seventh Messenger

by Carol Costa

  “And isn"t that true of you with Jacob as well?” Mary asked.

  “It should be,” Daisy admitted. “But it"s not. I don"t believe that Benjamin is an angel. He is a brilliant man and he knows how to get people to do what he wants them to do without asking questions or resenting his demands.”

  Mary stared at Daisy as if she were seeing the girl for the first time. Perhaps it was the abundance of blond curls that bounced around her head when she spoke or the wide innocence of her blue eyes that had made Mary think that Daisy was not very smart. Mary suddenly realized that Daisy Whitehall was a good deal smarter than anyone gave her credit for and her assessment of Benjamin was accurate. It was the same opinion that Mary now held of her husband, but it had taken Mary many long years to come to that conclusion. Of course, Mary"s eyes and heart had been clouded by love causing her to believe the best and ignore the rest.

  “Daisy, I hope you have not shared your feelings about Benjamin with Jacob. He would be very upset with you.”

  Daisy shook her head causing her curls to spring to life once more. “I know better than to do that. And I"m very sorry that I have admitted my true feelings to you. I would not have done so, except that I am leaving the colony.”

  “Don"t do anything you will regret Daisy. Jacob is a good man and I believe he loves you very much.”

  “He does not love me enough to put my happiness ahead of Benjamin"s Virgin Law. When I told him that he had to be a husband to me in all ways or I would leave him, he…” Daisy stopped and tears blurred her vision again.

  “He told you to leave?” Mary prompted.

  Daisy wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her dress and gained her composure again. “He said that he did not want me to go, but that Benjamin was the Seventh Messenger and the laws he passed down to his people came from God. He said our sacrifices here on earth would bring us to the Millennium and eternal life.”

  “Where would you go, Daisy?” Mary asked.

  “My aunt and uncle sent me money to take the train to Ohio. They are back in Fostoria.”

  “But Daisy, they abandoned you when they left the Flying Rollers.”

  “Yes, I know, and my aunt is very sorry for doing that. Aunt Violet is my mother"s sister and she promised my mother on her death bed that she would always take care of me. She broke her promise to my mother and has been feeling guilty ever since. They are not bad people, Mary. They just panicked when the trouble began with Michael Mills.”

  “Before you leave, let me talk to Jacob,” Mary offered.

  “If he will not listen to me, his wife. He will not listen to anyone. The only person Jacob will listen to is Benjamin. Will Benjamin tell Jacob that"s it"s okay for him to break the Virgin Law?”

  Mary signed deeply. “No. Benjamin would never do that.”

  “Then you see I have no choice but to leave here and try to make a new life for myself without Jacob.”

  “You are still very young, Daisy. You will find love again. I will pray for you,” Mary said embracing the girl.

  Daisy"s meager belongings had already been packed. They were in a suitcase she had left at the front door of the storage building. Mary went to a place in the building where she kept a small amount of cash on hand. She gave all that was there to Daisy. Then, Mary went to Bethlehem and found Samuel and instructed him to drive Daisy to the train station in Benton Harbor.

  “Daisy is taking a trip and Jacob is too busy with park business to drive her himself,” Mary told Samuel.

  Samuel didn"t question her further and within a few minutes Daisy Whitehall was gone from the colony.

  That night, Mary summoned Jacob to a private spot in the garden outside of Diamond House.

  “Daisy came and said good-bye to me today,” Mary told him softly.

  “Yes, I know. She said she would not leave until she spoke to you.”

  “Jacob, how could you let her go?” Mary asked unable to hide her distress.

  “I did not let her go,” Jacob said. “It was her choice to leave the colony.” Jacob turned his back to Mary trying to hide the tears that stung his eyes.

  “Listen to me, Jacob. If you find that you cannot bear life without her, you must go to her and make things right again.” Jacob turned around and looked at her again. “I cannot share my life with a non-believer. Daisy does not believe our faith or in Benjamin.”

  “How do you know that?” Mary asked, remembering that Daisy said she would never admit that to Jacob.

  “She never told me that,” he replied. “But I often read it in her eyes. After all, Daisy never wanted to be a part of the faith we have. Her aunt and uncle took her to the Flying Roller colony and then left her there. She simply came along with us because she had no other place to go.”

  “She came along because she was in love with you, Jacob.”

  “Perhaps, but I always knew that she would not stay forever. That is why I pretended to take no notice of her for so long. Now she is gone and I hope she will be happy.”

  “What about your happiness?” Mary asked.

  “I am where I am supposed to be. I cannot ask for more. Daisy is gone and I will not speak of her again.”

  Jacob turned and walked away from Mary. His stride was long and deliberate as if putting distance between himself and the heartbreak Mary had prompted him to talk about.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Summer became fall and the season passed uneventfully and then a far more serious problem disrupted Mary"s life. Benjamin had permanently removed himself from Mary"s bed and had taken up residence in his own private suite. As the first chill of winter descended upon the colony, Mary began to suspect that Benjamin had only given up having sex with her. Benjamin told the colony that he wanted to surround him

  self with the beauty and purity of young girls who possessed angelic qualities. They would minister to him and in return they would receive special instruction and guidance to prepare them for their place in the Millennium.

  The girls selected for this honor would become a part of what Benjamin called his Inner Circle. Mary was filled with dread at her husband"s announcement. The memory of the night she saw Michael Mills come out of Joanna"s room replayed in her mind and she confronted Benjamin.

  “How dare you compare me with Mills,” Benjamin told her with fire in his dark eyes. “He was a fake. I am the true angelic messenger and it is only fitting that I have an Inner Circle to help me spread God"s word.”

  “You"ve been spreading God"s word since before I met you and have never needed any help before.”

  “I am getting older and I need to draw strength from the youth of my people. They represent the future of our colony and must be instructed and guided properly. My own daughter was taken from me and is unable to stand beside me now, so I must honor her memory by taking girls like her into my Inner Circle.”

  Mary stepped back quickly. The mention of Hettie always pierced her heart like a sharp-edged sword. Benjamin moved forward and extended his hand to steady her. She pushed it away.

  “If there is evil in your thoughts, do not use my daughter to justify it,” Mary told him bitterly.

  “You are the one who sees evil where there is none.” Benjamin replied.

  “All right,” Mary said slowly. “I will trust you to treat the girls in the Inner Circle the way you would treat Hettie.”

  Benjamin didn"t answer. Mary left his suite and walked down the hallway to her own. She wrapped herself in a warm shawl and quietly left the house. There was a pathway that ended at an entrance to the upper area of the park. This was not an official entrance so there was nothing there to amuse visitors. There was a set of stone steps that led down to the ravine and another path that eventually led to the beer gardens and other attractions.

  The park was closed for the winter, but Mary liked to walk through it when it was empty and silent. The souvenir and refreshment stands were boarded up. The tables and chairs that surrounded the dance floor had been collected and stored away and a heavy tarp h
ad been stretched across the stage to protect it from the rain and snow of Michigan winters.

  The latest addition to the park were small gasoline powered autos that could be driven around a circular concrete track. The cars were all painted a bright shade of orange or red and had proved to be extremely popular with children and adults alike. The cars had all been built at the machine and auto shop by the members who had worked in the automotive industry before joining the colony.

  Mary sat on one of the benches near the track where visitors rested while waiting a turn at the cars. She looked out at the track. It was empty as the cars had also been moved to storage for the winter.

  The noise of the car engines had prompted Benjamin to locate them in an isolated area behind the other park attractions. The remoteness of the auto track was what drew Mary there whenever she needed a quiet place to think. Beyond the auto track were dense woods that covered the steep hill that separated the park from the county road that wound its way past the Diamond House. The trees were barren at this time of the year, having shed their autumn colors when the first frost arrived in late October.

  Looking at the trees stripped of their leaves made Mary think about the desolate areas of her own life. People called her Queen Mary and she experienced comfort and luxury that most people, including the colonists, would ever know. It seemed that everything Benjamin touched turned to gold and he had brought her along for the ride. Only now, Benjamin had begun to slip away into his own world. He had come to believe his own preaching"s and promises. Benjamin had always presented one face to the world, while being honest with her. Now it seemed he had actually been caught up in his own fantasy and convinced himself that he was no longer the mortal man she had married, but the Seventh Messenger, an immortal angel of God.

  Mary sat on the bench praying and contemplating her future until the sun began to set and the cold became unbearable. She trudged back up the hill and ascended the stairs.

  As Mary approached, the back door to the Diamond House opened and her son, Coy, came out. “Mother, where have you been? I"ve been looking for you.”

  The sight of Coy warmed Mary to the core. “I was at the park,” she answered simply.

  “The park is closed,” he said, shaking his handsome head.

  Mary smiled at him. “I know.”

  Coy held the door open so she could go inside the house.

  Her son was tall and lean with the same black hair and brown eyes as Mary. Today his long hair fell down the middle of his back in a tight braid. His beard was neat and trimmed. During baseball season, Coy, who in his mother"s eyes was the star pitcher on the House of David team let his beard grow longer, but kept his hair tucked up under the baseball cap he always wore.

  In the kitchen, preparations were being made for the evening meal, so Coy and Mary slipped up the back stairs and went into Mary"s sitting room.

  They settled themselves onto the matching chairs placed in front of the balcony doors that looked out onto the front yard of the Diamond House.

  “Now what"s so urgent?” Mary asked her son.

  “It"s not really urgent, just a favor I hope you"ll grant me.”

  “And that is?”

  “Take me with you to Chicago next week.”

  Mary had been so upset by Benjamin"s announcement of the Inner Circle that she had forgotten about the trip she had planned to Chicago. She was going to an art show there to look at the work of some emerging artists. She was hoping to find one who would be willing to design some new art pieces for the colony to sell at the park.

  “Why do you want to go to Chicago?”

  “There"s a girl there I want to see. I met her when we played there in September.”

  “Coy, you know your father doesn"t approve of you having relationships with girls outside the colony.”

  “I know. That"s why I want you to tell him that you need me to go to Chicago to help you.”

  Mary laughed. “You want me to lie for you?”

  “No, of course not. I"m sure you could use my help couldn"t you?”

  “Yes, but Jacob was supposed to travel with me.”

  “I already talked to him and he said he"d be glad for me to go in his place as he has too much work to do here.”

  “I see.”

  “Please, mother. If you tell Benjamin you want me to go instead of Jacob, he"ll agree to it.”

  While Coy always called her mother, he usually referred to his father as Benjamin. Benjamin didn"t seem to mind, especially now that Coy was a grown man. Mary suspected that having a grown son call him, father, reminded Benjamin that he was no longer a young man himself.

  “Do I get to meet this girl?” Mary asked.

  “Of course. I"m going to arrange to meet her at the art show.”

  “Very well. Consider it done.”

  Coy got up and hugged her. “Thank you, mother. And I will be a help to you, I promise.”

  *** Since the boat didn"t travel across the lake in the winter months, Mary and Coy took the train to Chicago. They arrived in the late afternoon, stayed in one of the downtown hotels and were able to walk to the art show being held at one of the nice Michigan Avenue galleries the next day.

  It was a sunny day but the wind off of the lake was chilly. Mary and Coy hurried along pulling the collars of their coats up to protect their faces from the frosty air.

  The names of the artists were displayed on a poster at the entrance to the gallery, but Mary didn"t bother looking at the names. She was only interested in the type of work they were presenting. The owner of the gallery introduced himself and suggested that they look around and call on him if they had any questions.

  “There she is,” Coy whispered. “Standing by that painting of the sunset.”

  Mary looked in the direction her son had indicated and saw a petite girl with waist-length blond hair smiling at them. Coy hurried her over to the girl and made the introductions.

  Her name was Theresa and she seemed very pleasant, but Coy and Theresa didn"t stay around long enough for Mary to get to know the girl better.

  “I"ll see you back at the hotel later,” Coy said, kissing his mother on the cheek.

  Mary nodded her agreement and Coy and Theresa hurried off together. Removing her heavy coat, Mary put it over her arm and began walking through the exhibits.

  There were some very nice paintings, but she was more interested in the pottery and sculptures that seemed to be in the back of the gallery.

  Mary was examining a gleaming white vase with red roses painted on it, when a man approached her and asked if she needed help.

  Mary answered without looking up. “I"m interested in talking to the artist who did this vase.”

  “John Assanti.”

  Mary looked up to find a large stocky man with very blue eyes. He looked like he would fit right into the House of David colony. His sandy-colored hair was long and streaked with gray as was his beard. His hair was pulled back from his face and fastened with a band.

  “Is Mr. Assanti here?” Mary asked.

  “He is.” The stranger extended his hand to her. “And you are?”

  “Mary Purnell,” she said as she let Assanti take her hand in his and hold it for a second or two.

  “Are you the Mary Purnell from the House of David?”

  “Yes, I am. You know of our colony?”

  “I do. I"m a big fan of your baseball team and I"ve actually visited the park on a few occasions. You have some very nice art work there.”

  “Thank you. My son plays on the baseball team. You may have seen him with me when we came in.”

  “I"m afraid I was late getting here today. Where is he? I"d love to meet him.”

  “He and a friend left a few minutes ago.”

  “Oh, then you"re on your own now?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wonderful.”

  Mary looked at his eyes and saw an amused sparkle in them. It had been a very long time since she had noticed any man other than Benjamin and she felt a
little off-balance. “Why is that wonderful?” she asked.

  “Because you will need a luncheon companion and I would very much like to talk with you.”

  “You know that I am married to Benjamin Purnell,” she said suddenly.

  “Everyone knows that.” John smiled at her. “But I hope that won"t stop you from having lunch with me.”

  “We"ll see.” Mary turned away from him, trying to make sense of the giddiness she felt. “What other pieces do you have on display here?”

  John took her arm and guided her over to the area where the rest of his pieces were set out on velvet-lined tables. There were standing sculptures, many of them depicting religious figures. There were also more vases painted with bright flowers or trees, and lovely wall plaques. Mary was impressed by the quantity and the quality of Assanti"s work.

  “What do you think?” the artist asked after she had stood there examining his exhibit for several minutes.

  “I think you are very talented, Mr. Assanti.”

  “Please, call me John.”

  “I would be interested in purchasing some of your pieces to be sold at the House of David Park,” Mary continued ignoring his last statement. “Do you have a price list or an order form?”

  “Everything in this exhibit is to be sold by the gallery. They set the prices.”

  “I see. Well, thank you I"ll talk to the owner then.”

  John was about to take her arm, when another patron walked over and asked him about the vase that Mary had first admired.

  Mary hurried off to talk to the owner of the gallery who had greeted her at the front door. “I want to purchase all the pieces in John Assanti"s exhibit,” Mary said quickly.

  The owner was delighted and took Mary into his private office to conclude the deal. After payment arrangements were made and the shipping documents were completed, the owner escorted Mary into the gallery area again.

  “Is there anything else I can show you?” the man asked.

  Mary glanced around, but didn"t see John Assanti anywhere.

  “No. I don"t think so. I must get back to the hotel.”

  The owner walked Mary to the front door and helped her put on her coat. “Thank you so much, Mrs. Purnell. It"s a pleasure doing business with you.”