Resurrection (Blood of the Lamb) by Mandy Hager Read Free Book Online Page A

fighting back tears. How could Ruth not have suspected this? She felt a strange kind of fury at her: naivety was one thing, but they had been told how babies were made…Had Ruth simply decided to wipe the knowledge from her mind?
    But Maryam rejected such thoughts as soon as she'd given them air. She knew, yet the possibility of pregnancy had notsprung naturally into her mind. Of course Ruth would not make such connections. It was not naivety or plain stupidity or even stubborn faith-based denial, just that her mind was so steeped in the Holy Book and The Rules she'd never leap to such conclusions, right or wrong. And Father Joshua preyed on this, justifying his outrageous offence by telling Ruth she was the Lord's bride even as he so brutally defiled her. That it was the Lord who impregnated the other Sisters. The Lord who wrote The Rules that sanctioned breeding the Sisters so they could sacrifice their offspring's blood.
    She should have known what the likely outcome would be, and somehow prepared Ruth for the shock.
    “And the vomiting?” Maryam asked, trying to find footing again on this shifting sand. “Will it cause Ruth or the…baby…harm?” A baby. Child of the Holy Father Joshua. Brother to Lazarus. It was so obscene it surely could not be true.
    “Not at all, so long as she can keep down enough food and water.” Veramina turned back to Ruth. “It's still fairly early days, honey, and given the conditions here there's always a chance that you'll miscarry—that it won't survive. Just keep an eye on things, and if you need my help let Charlie know.”
    Ruth did not respond, merely sat immersed in her private thoughts as Veramina rose and made to leave. Even after Maryam had thanked her, and left a pause for Ruth to do the same, Ruth could not be reached.
    As soon as Veramina had gone, Maryam returned to Ruth's side and shook her gently. She has to face this, like it or not. “Ruthie, you have to talk! Tell me what you're thinking.”
    Ruth's gaze settled on Maryam. She looked way younger than her fourteen years, no more than a baby herself. “I didn'tthink—” She shuddered, swallowed and started again. “I can't believe—”
    “I'll help you,” Maryam insisted. “And I'll get us out of here. One way or the other your baby will be born free.” Her thoughts went to all the children in the camp who'd never known any other life than this. Never lain on the ocean's broad rocking back. Never smelt the deep rich scent of the forest after rain. Ruth's baby deserved free rein of Onewēre, and Maryam vowed she'd make it so. Meanwhile, she had to help her friend over this shock. She leaned across and pulled Ruth's dress away from her belly, whispering into the hollow of her belly button: “Hello baby! It's Auntie Maryam here!” And, before Ruth could react, she blew a big wet raspberry onto Ruth's soft brown skin.
    “Get out!” Ruth pushed her away, laughing as she mopped up the spray of saliva with her dress. But then, almost reverently, she laid both her hands onto the small mound of her stomach, staring down at them as if they possessed magical charms. With a smile playing around her lips she looked back up and met Maryam's eye. “I'm going to have a baby!”
    There was such awe in her voice now, no hint of fear, and Maryam responded with all the joy she could muster. “And you will make the most wonderful mother the world has ever seen!” The forced enthusiasm exhausted her, and the deep grinding pain in her arm reminded her how little time had passed since the operation. She longed to sleep, to close her eyes and block all these complications from her mind. But she knew she needed to give Ruth priority right now. She pulled Ruth to her feet. “Come on! If I am to get us out of here I'd better start my planning right away.”
    Maryam led the way out of the hut and along the camp'smany interlinking paths. She needed to find Aanjay, the unofficial—undisputed—leader of the women's section of the