“There’s no way you’re going to get him to throw in with us,” Wilson said. “Chauncey’s right about that part at least.”
“It’ll never happen,” William Marks said in disgust. “His whole family are Mormons. He claims he’s no lover of the Church or Joseph Smith, but he isn’t going to turn against his own kin either.”
Foster swung on them, angry at their stupidity. “You still don’t see it, do you?”
“See what?” Wilson Law said.
“Joshua Steed is known up and down this river. He’s got friends from St. Louis to La Crosse. A lot of people respect him. We need that kind of influence.”
“Well, let’s offer him a dollar or two and see if he’ll come in with us,” Francis said with sneering sarcasm.
Now it was Foster who was disgusted. “He’s right. You are dough heads! Don’t you see? We don’t have to turn Steed against the Church. He’s already there. All we’ve got to do is give him a good reason to join up with us.”
“And just how do we do that?” William Law asked.
“I don’t know,” Foster admitted, turning to where they could see through the willows that Joshua was back out on the ice, cutting the next block. “But I’m going to give it a lot of thought. You can count on that.”
Mary Ann stopped as they reached the door of Caroline’s house. “Are you sure about this, Melissa?” she asked, watching her daughter with concern. “You know that none of us want to press something on you that you are not comfortable with. They all wanted me to make sure you understood that, especially Mary.”
Melissa hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “I’m sure, Mama. I would like to hear what Mary has to say, but . . .” Her head dropped slightly. “I don’t think it will make any difference.”
Mary Ann watched her daughter, thinking back across the years. Mary Ann had given birth to ten children—six girls and four boys. But Melissa and Rebecca were the only girls who had survived, so in a way, Melissa was Mary Ann’s first daughter. Melissa would celebrate her thirty-third birthday in about four weeks, and she was now the mother of four children and in the first stages of expecting her fifth. Maturity and motherhood had been very good to her, Mary Ann thought as she studied her. She was still a very lovely woman.
“Melissa, all that Lydia and Caroline and Rebecca want for you is to help you see how it’s possible to accept the doctrine of plural marriage. That’s all. If you can’t accept that, they won’t love you one bit less. And neither will I.”
“I know, Mama, and I appreciate that. They’ve all been so good not to try and push me faster than I wanted to go.” She sighed. “I want to understand. I want to feel like I used to feel before we went to Brother Kimball’s house. Why can’t I?”
“Maybe this tonight will help,” Mary Ann said. She raised her hand and knocked on the door.
There were sudden tears in Melissa’s eyes. “I’ve always been the weak one in the family when it comes to believing, Mama.”
“That’s not true!” Mary Ann cried.
Melissa smiled sadly. “I love you, Mama. Don’t ever give up on me.”
Mary Ann squeezed her hand. “You know I won’t.”
They heard footsteps, then Caroline opened the door. Seeing the tears, she just nodded and held the door open more widely so that they could come in.
Olivia had the children gathered around her in the main room of Lydia’s house. Emily, at eleven, was “far too old” to need a baby-sitter for herself, so she was helping out by rocking little Joseph, who was nearly asleep. Young Joshua sat on the floor beside Olivia, also ready to provide what help she needed. Savannah and Elizabeth Mary sat together holding hands. There was only fourteen months’ difference in their ages and these cousins had long been the best of friends. Josiah, now three, and Charles, almost four, likewise sat together.
“What stories would you like to hear tonight?” Olivia asked. She had promised them that once they had washed the dishes, read their scriptures, and said their prayers, she would read them whatever stories they wanted.
Four hands shot up.
“Elizabeth Mary?”
“ ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes.’ ”
Olivia’s face fell. “I’m sorry, Lizzie, but I didn’t bring the fairy tale book. How about something from the Bible? Noah’s ark, perhaps?”
“No!” Savannah cried, ready to stand firmly by her cousin. “ ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes.’ That’s our favorite story.”
“I thought David and Goliath was your favorite story,” young Joshua laughed.
“It is,” she replied, the impish eyes beneath the red hair shining with determination. “But the Emperor is my very,
very
favorite.”
“Yes,” Charles chimed in. “Tell us that one, Livvy.”
“Yes, yes, yes!” the others were chanting now.
“Well, I don’t have the book. I’ll just have to tell it as best I can.”
“No,” Savannah said, her voice pleading now. “You’ve got to read it, Livvy. I’ll go get it.”
“No, Mama is having a meeting and we can’t disturb her.”
“Then you go get it,” Savannah implored. “Please.”
Olivia looked at young Joshua, who grinned. “I’ll tell them the story of David and Goliath while you go get it.”
“All right,” she said, which won her an enthusiastic round of cheers.
She stood and went to the hallway for her coat. “I’ll be right back.”
There were four women waiting for Melissa and Mary Ann when they walked into Caroline’s parlor. Caroline and Lydia sat in two armchairs. Rebecca and Mary Fielding Smith were on the sofa. Caroline had set two more chairs so they faced the sofa, and Mary Ann and Melissa sat down in them.
Melissa was in no mood for small talk or delaying this further. She immediately turned to Mary Smith. “Well, shall we start? My family tells me that you have things to say that might help me better understand all that is going on.”
“I should just like to say one thing first,” Mary Ann spoke up.
They all nodded and waited.
“Melissa, we just want you to know that accepting this has not been an easy thing for any of us. It is probably the most severe test of our faith any of us have known. But the thing which has made the greatest difference to us is knowing the feelings of some of the women who have been asked to live the law. Especially Vilate Kimball. You were there that night. You know what it was that finally convinced her that this was truly a principle from God and not just Joseph’s doing.”
“Yes,” Melissa said quietly.
“We”—she waved at Rebecca and Caroline and Lydia—“we feel that Mary has a unique perspective as well. If it can—”
Melissa had turned to Mary Smith. “Has Hyrum taken another wife?” she asked quietly.
Mary flinched a little but did not look away. “Yes.” There was a long silence; then she spoke again. “I would like to tell you about that in a few minutes, Melissa, but I would like to say some other things first.”
Remembering her mother’s admonition that she didn’t want to be disturbed, Olivia went in the back door, opening it with the greatest of care. She tiptoed past the hallway, where she could clearly hear them talking, then went up the stairs to her bedroom, avoiding the places where she knew the floor would creak. In a moment she had Hans Christian Andersen’s book of fairy tales under her arm. With the same care, she came back down the stairs. She was just passing the hallway when she heard Melissa’s question: “Has Hyrum taken another wife?”
Olivia stopped, staring, not sure she had heard it right. Then came the answer. Olivia was thunderstruck. Any thoughts of fairy tales or reading to the children were forgotten. She stood riveted to the spot, too dumbfounded to even feel guilty about the fact that she was eavesdropping.
“I would like to say two things to begin with,” Mary Fielding was saying. “The first is that just because you are having difficulty accepting it, Melissa, doesn’t mean you are a person with no faith.”
“Well, that’s how I feel,” Melissa answered. “I look at Caroline and Lydia, Rebecca, even Jenny. I know it wasn’t easy for them, but it hasn’t knocked them clear off balance as it has me.”
“Do you know who it has knocked off balance?” Mary asked quietly.
“Who?”
“William Marks and Austin Cowles, two members of the Nauvoo stake presidency. Leonard Soby of the high council. William Law of the First Presidency.” She let that sink in, then added one more name. “And Emma.”
At the look on Melissa’s face, she went on. “Yes, faithful, tireless, ever-patient Emma. She is really struggling with this. It has been the most difficult thing she has ever had to deal with.”
“But she
is
dealing with it!” Melissa cried.
“Not always,” came the reply. “Sometimes she fights it bitterly. I can’t go into all of that, but she tried to tear up the revelation once, say that it had never happened.”
Mary stopped and the room fell silent for a time. Finally, she spoke again. “So that’s the first thing I wanted you to know. You are not alone in having feelings of revulsion for this principle, Melissa.”
“Thank you,” Melissa said softly. “I’m still not sure if that makes me feel better, but I do appreciate knowing it.”
Mary straightened. “Now, I should like to answer your original question, and then I think you shall have enough to think about and I shall leave you.”
She had to stop as her voice suddenly started to quaver. She swallowed once, then again, blinking back the unexpected tears. “I will not tell you that this has been easy for me either, for it has not. And perhaps that will help you too.”
Melissa nodded, watching her very closely now.
“As you know, for some time, many people feared that my sister and I were going to turn out to be spinsters. And, had we not joined the Church, that may well have been our fate. I was thirty-six when I finally married Hyrum. But anyway, we came to Kirtland in the spring of 1837, as you know. There Mercy married Robert Thompson. That October, Jerusha died and Joseph told Hyrum he should marry that ‘English girl Mary Fielding.’ ”
They nodded.
“Then, as you know,” Mary continued, “in the summer of 1841, Robert died along with Don Carlos Smith, leaving Mercy a widow with a little girl. She continued to live in her own house, but she had to take in boarders to make ends meet. It was a very difficult time for her.”
“But I thought she moved in with you just a few months ago.” Suddenly Melissa’s eyes went wide. “Do you mean that it’s Mercy that . . . ?”
Mary didn’t answer that. “You should know something else. Hyrum had a very difficult time with the idea of plural marriage at first too. Not that he ever doubted Joseph, he just did not feel that he could ever practice it himself. Then one day this last summer,” Mary continued, talking in a very hushed voice now, “Robert appeared to Joseph.”
She stopped, letting that be registered. At Melissa’s expression, she nodded. “That’s right. He was allowed to come to Joseph from the world of spirits. He told Joseph that he did not want Mercy living such a difficult and lonely life, and asked Joseph to ask Hyrum to marry Mercy for time only and to raise up children unto him, that is, unto Robert.”
The others were staring at her too. They knew that Hyrum had taken a second wife and they knew who it was, but they knew nothing of this account.
“Joseph went to Hyrum, of course, and told him about Robert’s request. Hyrum was deeply shaken by it, but he felt that under such unusual circumstances, there was no question but what it was the Lord’s will. That’s when he came to me.”
She had to stop now. Her fingers were twisting around one another; her body was rigid. “I don’t need to tell you how much I love my sister,” she said in a voice so low that it was barely audible, “but this pierced me like a sword. To share my husband with her as his wife?” There was a quick shake of her head. “But just as Hyrum did, I came to ask myself, How can I resist the will of God?”
She sighed. “Joseph then went to Mercy and told her what had happened. Her reaction was as strong as mine. She loved and respected Hyrum, but only as a brother-in-law. Now, was he to be her husband? She told me that every natural feeling of her heart rose up in opposition to the principle.”
Melissa was nodding now. That was the exact description of her own feelings. Every natural feeling of her heart rose up in opposition against this. Yes, that was it exactly!
“And yet, Mercy had an unshakeable testimony of Joseph’s calling. She knew he was a servant of the Lord and that if she rejected his counsel she risked fighting against God. And then there was the matter of her husband. Joseph told her that when Robert appeared to him, he came with such power that it made Joseph tremble.”
She was staring past Melissa now, and her eyes were shining. “Joseph married them in August. As Robert had requested, Mercy was married to Hyrum for time, but not for eternity. Hyrum had to make a covenant as part of the marriage ceremony that in the morning of the first resurrection he would deliver Mercy up to Robert Blashel Thompson, along with whatever offspring had come of their union.”
Mary had finished all she wanted to say. After a long pause, she looked at Melissa. “That’s it. I don’t know that saying anything more will make any difference. I don’t know if you believe all of it. All I can say to you is that I know it is true. Otherwise, I would never have accepted what has happened.”
Just then there was a noise out in the hallway and Caroline raised one hand.
“What?” Melissa asked, turning.
“I thought I heard the back door close,” Caroline said. She got to her feet, walked out into the hallway, and stood there for a moment. Everything was quiet now. Finally she turned back with a shrug. “I guess it was just my imagination,” she said.
When Olivia stepped back inside Lydia’s house, she was greeted with a chorus of disapproval. “What took you so long, Livvy?” Savannah said petulantly.
“Yeah,” Emily said. She no longer had the baby in her arms. He had fallen asleep and she had put him down some minutes before. “Joshua has told us five Bible stories already.”
She looked at them, her eyes vacant; then finally she raised the book in her hand. “I . . . I couldn’t find it,” she mumbled.
“Read us ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes,’ ” Charles exclaimed. “We’ve been waiting.”
Olivia turned and looked at her cousin. “Could you read it to them, Joshua?” she asked. “I . . . I’ve got a bad headache.”