Tiffany Reisz - The Virgin

They walked under a polished wooden archway and into an open seating area that looked like nothing more than a living room. She saw bookshelves, baskets of knitting and chairs of all types.

“Here. Wait for me in the library,” her mother said. “I’ll be back soon.”

Elle took a seat in a cane-back chair that had probably been here since the convent was founded in 1856. It creaked under her weight but held her. A few minutes passed. Elle relaxed into the chair. For two days now she’d been coasting on the fumes of her fury. Now a deep exhaustion set into her body. She wanted to close her eyes and sleep. Sleep for a year, sleep for the rest of her life.

She looked to her right and saw a stack of magazines on a small table. Catholic Digest. Inside the Vatican. The Catholic Times. The front page of one of the magazines blared the headline Why God Demands Priestly Celibacy.

“What the fuck am I doing here?” Elle asked herself out loud. No one answered. No one had to. Elle knew what the fuck she was doing there.

Because she had nowhere else to go.

“This is your Eleanor?”

Elle stood up immediately. In the doorway loomed a woman who must have been almost six feet tall. She wore round glasses and a black habit with an elaborate rosary hanging down her side.

“Ellie, this is Mother Prioress. Mother Prioress, my only child.”

Mother Prioress looked Elle up and down.

“Why are you here?” Mother Prioress asked. She had a slight accent, vaguely Irish, but time in America had washed most of it out.

“I was just asking myself the same thing,” she said, deciding to try honesty.

“She left her lover,” her mother said.

“How is this our concern?” Mother Prioress asked.

“Because he beats her.”

“Mom, he—”

Her mother raised a hand to silence her. Elle closed her mouth.

“I’m very sorry to hear that. But isn’t that a matter for the police?” Mother Prioress asked.

“He’s in a position of power,” her mother answered for Elle. “And he has dangerous friends.”

Elle couldn’t argue with either of those assertions. Søren was in a position of power. And he did have dangerous friends. She knew that because they were her dangerous friends, too.

“Are you certain she’s telling the truth?” Mother Prioress asked Elle’s mother. Elle was about five seconds away from losing the last vestiges of her self-control. “Isn’t this the daughter who you said has had run-ins with the law?”

“That was over ten years ago, Mother Prioress. And I’m certain she’s telling the truth.”

“We don’t let outsiders stay within the walls,” Mother Prioress said. “That’s against our rules.”

“What of the rule of Saint Benedict?” her mother asked the prioress. “‘Let all guests who arrive be received like Christ, for He is going to say I came as a guest, and you received Me.’”

Mother Prioress nodded. “Yes, and when Christ arrived to visit His disciples after the resurrection, He did not hesitate to prove Himself. Do you have any proof your accusations against this man are true?”

Elle looked her mother in the eye. She knew what she needed to do but was loath to do it. Everything within her rebelled at the lie she needed to tell. Søren was no saint and neither was she. But to blame him for a crime he hadn’t committed felt like blasphemy. Søren had sinned against her, yes. Sinned so that she never wanted to lay eyes on him again. But leaving him and lying about him were two different things. And yet...

She turned around and lifted the back of her shirt. Without even having to look she knew what her mother and the Prioress saw. Five nights ago Kingsley had flogged her before fucking her, flogged her for an hour. Flogged her, then caned her. Flogged, caned her, whipped her, spanked her. And now her back boasted the fading welts and bruises from that long and beautiful night.

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” the Prioress said, and the Irish accent came out in full force. Elle pulled her shirt back down. She’d always loved her bruises and welts, cherished them. Kingsley had kissed them after giving them to her. She knew he’d been especially bruising simply to goad Søren, whose return from Rome was imminent that week. The welts were Kingsley’s way of saying, “Look how much fun we had without you.”

“Only sisters and retreatants are allowed on the grounds,” Mother Prioress said. “We have our own rules to follow.”

“I can be a retreatant,” Elle said. “I have some money. What does a week-long retreat here cost?”

“One hundred dollars.”

A hotel room would cost her fifty a night, at least. “I can pay it,” Elle said.

“I suppose,” Mother Prioress said. “But this is highly unusual.”

“I’ll work, too. I’ll be useful. Please. I can’t...I can’t go back out there yet.”

Something in Elle’s voice must have gotten through to Mother Prioress. The fear, the desperation. Or maybe it was the money. Who knew? Elle didn’t care as long as they let her stay.

“If she works, she can stay,” Mother Prioress said at last. “We’ll consider it a special sort of retreat. No longer than a year, however. We work here. We pray here. We serve each other here. We, none of us, are in hiding.”

Elle turned around and faced them. She was too ashamed of herself to meet their eyes. Not ashamed of the bruises on her back. Ashamed that she’d lied.

“Thank you,” Elle said. “I’ll work.”

“You will.” Mother Prioress took a step forward and looked down into her face. “You’ll work and you’ll behave. The sisters here have made great sacrifices to be part of this community. They are here to love and serve God, worship Him and pray for His people. This is good and holy work and they are not to be disturbed, bothered, interrupted or interfered with in any way.”

“I understand,” Elle said.

“You had a lover in the outside world. You will keep that information to yourself. We have all taken vows of chastity. Consider yourself under one, as well. You say you aren’t safe outside our walls. Then you will remain inside our walls as long as you are a resident here. You will bring no one else inside our walls.”

“No one.”

“Keep you head down. Stay out of trouble. Work hard. If you harm any of the women here, you will be expelled. Immediately.”

Elle nodded her understanding.

“I don’t...” she began, and paused. Something had lodged in her throat. She swallowed it down. “I don’t want to hurt anybody. Ever.”

“Yes.” Mother Prioress gave her the first smile she’d seen on the woman’s face yet. “Yes, I believe that.” She turned to Elle’s mother. “Take her to the infirmary. I’ll send someone to prepare a room for her.”

“Thank you, Mother Prioress,” Elle’s mother said. Tears of gratitude were shining in her eyes. “Thank you.”

Elle took her mother’s hand and together they started from the room.

“Eleanor?” the Prioress said.

“Elle.”

The Prioress gave her a tight smile. “Elle.”

“Yes?”

“You will do as you are told here. I certainly hope you’re capable of following orders.”

Elle smiled. “Trust me. If I know how to do anything, it’s follow orders.”

Her mother tugged her hand and led her from the room.

“I don’t need the infirmary, Mom,” Elle said.

“You have to call me Sister John or Sister in front of others. And yes, you need the infirmary.”

“It’s bruises and welts. They’ll be gone in a few more days.”

“You look like you were mugged.”

“Nobody gets flogged during a mugging, Mom. And if they did, I’d walk around bad neighborhoods more often.”