Babe in the woods Mellita Johnson was still trying to come to grips with the realities of modern life after having left her parents' very controlling church, whose very conservative, backward way of thinking about women taught that a woman's only value was in having as many children as possible and being a submissive housewife who always bent her will to her husband's.It was that wide eyed innocence that attracted Brandt Striker, who saw something in Mellita that he hadn't seen in the other women he'd dated, and he wanted it – and her – all to himself. He, too, wanted her to submit, but in a different – and even more all encompassing way that had Mellita wondering whether she could measure up to Brandt's standards, or if – after struggling to leave that kind of environment – she shouldn't be running for the hills rather than sighing and groaning at his every touch.