The Book of Zion
By D.T and Mr Stepford
1 Darlene 10
In that moment Darlene found herself wishing she could truly be one of them. Her mind didn’t quite grasp what that would mean being married to the prophet so much as wanting to be part of this incredible sisterhood. No longer unsure of her footing in her heels Darlene walked with pose as she followed Annabelle in to the next room
The dominant piece of furniture in the room looked like a table but turned out to be a quilting frame. The design had a circle in the middle with six circles interconnecting with it and each other. This was surrounded by a larger circle. Smaller versions of this design lined the edges of the quilt. Darlene had never so much as held a needle before, and yet she found herself taking a seat with the rest of them as though she’d been doing it all her life.
As she looked at the design closer she saw the that there was room for another circle. The circles themselves were cut from a heavy, glossy silky fabric while the main panel looked and felt like a high thread count Egyptian cotton sheet in pure white. This wasn’t some garden variety patchwork project. And then there was the fact that it was clearly intended for a king size bed. Margaret opened a box containing more of the gold circles and handed five smaller ones out to her sister-wives who began incorporating them into the designs at the edge.
“Can you help me with this one, Sister Darlene?” Margaret asked, holding up a larger circle meant for the center. “Sure.” It wasn’t easy, but since it was cut so as to make it more of a long round strip, they were able to loop it into place so that the ends touched where the new circle connected with the interior one and then together they pinned it into place. “Who is it for?” Darlene asked. “For the prophet of course,” Margaret said with a gentle smile. “It will be our gift to him when he marries his seventh wife."“I..I hope I don’t sound out of place sister but why is a seventh wife important” Darlene asked
It was Annika who answered. “Seven wives constitute a Blessed Quorum, the highest of all. Three is a Sacred Quorum and Five is a Holy Quorum. To be entrusted with the well-being of so many Daughters of Zion is a grave responsibility, and the men who are entrusted with it are held to the highest standards.” She paused to tie off and snip a thread and then looked Darlene in the eye.“Heavenly Father has revealed that when the prophet’s Blessed Quorum is complete, and he is raised up by the love of all his wives, then he will be ready to begin the Great Work of realizing the vision that brought the Ancient Founders to this land.”
Darlene mind flashback to the video and the vision of the church on the mountain. She was struck with that feeling she had when she heard the song about it . It had become easy to embrace the love and fellowship of the sister but to grab hold and embrace something as big as this being the one true church was something that gave Darlene pause.“Of course all of that will happen when Heavenly Father decrees,” Annika continued re threading her needle and resuming her sewing.“In the meantime we continue to love and support him,” Margaret said. “Which is one of the reasons we’re working on this now. It’s one of the few times when we can all work on it together.”
“I can imagine that would be difficult with managing such a large home. Is Sister Kelsey the only one who works” Darlene ask “Gracious, no, we all work part-time,” Jennifer said, “I teach ballet at the Performing Arts Center. I used to do a very different kind of dancing but that was in my old life as a sinner”. After I joined the Church I found I didn’t have to give up dancing like I had feared, I only had to dance in accordance with God’s standards of modesty and femininity.” “Well my years serving the devils spirits certainly didn’t prepare me for the blessing I received when I teach the little ones at school” Margaret said “Brother Edward is much more considerate than my previous employer,” Samantha said. “I must say it’s a relief to only cook meals and not books anymore.” “I do a little administration work for the church” said Annkia “Do be so modest first sister” said Annabelle " the prophet would be the first to tell you the church would fall to piece without you”
“Well, I for one, wouldn’t look half so presentable as I do today if Annabelle hadn’t taken me in hand and taught me about feminine grooming,” Kelsey said as she pinned a circle into place. “Are you a beautician sister” Darlene ask Annabelle “Hair and makeup initially, but since my conversion I’ve expanded my skill set to do skincare and nails as well. I used to work for a smutmonger. At first I wanted to leave every part of that old life behind, but the prophet showed me I could use my skills to help women like Sister Kelsey. I generally split my hours at the salon between hairdressing and skin care and makeup consultations.” “Annabelle’s the one who initiated our nighttime ritual,” Annika said smiling at her sister-wife. “When we were both struggling with our jealousies, we found that it helped us to bond as sisters, and then when our daughters were old enough we began to include them as well.”
Darlene looked down at her outfit remembering what she was wearing just yesterday t shirt and pants a outfit guaranty to hide her femininity as she looked at what she and the sister were wearing she began to wonder if it wasn’t so much a throwback to how things use to be but a statement of how thing should be