“Joshua,” he said as he reached them, sticking out his hand and taking Joshua’s in a firm grip. “I heard you were home.” He peered more closely at Joshua’s thick black beard. “Growing some protection against those Wisconsin winters, eh?”
Joshua laughed. “Yeah.”
“I tried to get him to shave it off,” Caroline smiled. “I think he looks very handsome with it, but his children definitely do not like it. Not even Olivia.”
“Well, come spring, off it’ll come,” Joshua said. “But when you’re out in twenty-degree-below-zero weather, it feels good.”
Joseph turned and took Caroline’s hand. “How good of you to come.”
“Oh, we wouldn’t have missed it,” she said.
“And how is Jessica doing?”
“Wonderful. She and the children came over for a few days at Christmas. She’s as happy as I’ve ever seen her.”
“There is no one who deserves it more than she does.”
Caroline looked around. “Joseph, this is incredible, what you’ve done here.”
“It is, Joseph,” Joshua agreed. “You’ve done yourself proud.”
“Do you really think so?” Joseph said eagerly. “That means a lot coming from someone as astute as you, Joshua.”
“I’m very impressed.” Joshua made a face as he looked at the crowds. “Has it been like this all day?”
The Prophet laughed with pure pleasure. “From the moment we opened. Isn’t it wonderful? Come, let me show you around.”
“Now, was that so bad?” Caroline said. They had reached the corner of Sidney Street where Joshua would leave her and turn west for his freight office.
“No,” he admitted. “It was good that we went. Joseph is so pleased to show off what he’s done.”
“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?”
“I hope it does well for them.”
She looked up at him quizzically. “With crowds like that, you’re worried?”
“If you’re selling things at a loss, the more customers you have, the worse off you are.”
“Whatever made you say a thing like that?” Caroline asked, a little dismayed.
“Well, sometimes Joseph is too good-hearted,” he said. “You remember what happened to his store in Kirtland. He basically didn’t have the heart to say no to anyone and they cleaned him out. He admitted to me today that one of the reasons he’s opened this one is so he can be of service to those in need.”
“And is that so bad?”
“Not if you can afford it. What Joseph needs is a good business manager to run his temporal affairs so that he can devote his time to the Church. He’d prosper more that way.”
Somehow it touched Caroline that he had that kind of concern. She slipped an arm through his, then glanced up at him. “Are you volunteering?” she asked, only half teasing.
He gave a short laugh. “Sure. That would give the devil a good laugh, wouldn’t it? Old Joshua Steed in partnership with the Mormon prophet.”
She cocked her head to one side. “Actually, if you want my opinion, I think the devil doesn’t have much hope for old Joshua Steed anymore.”
The door to the freight office opened and a man stepped inside, shaking the snow from off his coat and hat. Joshua looked up from the ledger book; then his eyes widened a little. “Well, John, good evening.”
John C. Bennett, mayor of Nauvoo, smiled back at him. “Evening, Joshua. You’re working late enough. Aren’t you supposed to be leaving in the morning?”
Joshua laid the pen down. “Yes. That’s why I’m here. I have got to get these books straightened out before I leave again.” He shook his head ruefully. “I’ve got myself a good foreman here, but he just doesn’t have a head for figures.”
He stood and came around the desk, gesturing toward the two wooden chairs in the corner. “Sit down.”
Bennett shut the door behind him and removed his hat and coat. He hung them up, then came and sat down across from Joshua. “I saw the light in the window and hoped it might be you. Do you have a moment that I could discuss a matter with you?”
Joshua shrugged. “If it doesn’t take too long.”
Bennett sat back, crossing his legs. “Heard your wife and boy would like to join the Church.”
Joshua frowned, caught off guard by that. “Only my wife. My son has looked into it, but he can’t make up his mind.”
Bennett smiled benignly. “I suppose that wouldn’t be your first choice for either one of them.”
“Probably not,” Joshua said warily. This was something he didn’t discuss. Even he and Caroline had come to a silent truce on the matter.
Bennett was watching Joshua, looking as if he was weighing whether or not to say anything further. “I would guess that to a man like you, there are some things we believe in the Church that are downright troublesome.”
“More than one,” Joshua allowed carefully. Bennett was Assistant President to Joseph, almost the equivalent of being in the First Presidency. Surely he wasn’t fool enough to try and proselyte Joshua Steed. Even Joseph knew better than to try that.
Bennett looked around, verifying that they were alone. “Actually, if you promise not to tell anyone, there are some things that bother me too.”
That totally caught Joshua from the blind side. “Oh?” he said slowly.
“Yes.” Bennett sighed. “I’m really quite concerned.”
“Like what, for instance?”
Bennett’s voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “Spiritual wifery.”
“Spiritual wifery?”
“Yes.”
“What in the world is that?”
Again Bennett looked around. Then he got up and walked to the door. He pulled the curtain back a little and looked out, first in one direction, then the other. Joshua tried not to show his irritation. This was just a bit melodramatic. Bennett picked up his chair and moved it closer to Joshua. “You must swear to me that you won’t tell anyone what I am about to tell.”
Now Joshua didn’t try to hide his annoyance. “How can I swear to something before I’ve heard what it is?”
“Point well taken,” Bennett conceded. “But you must promise that you won’t just banter this around. It will have serious consequences.”
“I don’t believe in bantering stuff around,” Joshua said dryly. That was signal enough. Bennett leaned forward, and Joshua saw a sudden cleverness come into his eyes. “You know about all the rumors and things that led to my . . . to my attempt to end my life?”
“I heard them,” Joshua said bluntly. “I don’t put much stock in rumors.”
“As you know, then, I was accused of moral turpitude and immoral behavior with some of the finer ladies of the town.”
“I told you, I don’t put much stock in rumors.”
“That’s good, but a lot of other people do. My reputation was almost ruined. My physician’s practice dropped by half.” He sat back, measuring Joshua shrewdly. “In fact, your own sister was once my patient, but has never been back.”
“My sister?”
“Yes, Rebecca.”
“I didn’t even know she had gone to see you.”
“See there?” Bennett said triumphantly. “People are ashamed to admit they have any association with me.”
Joshua was thoroughly irritated now. And he didn’t have the patience for this. Not now. He wanted to be home with his family, and he couldn’t do that until the books were done.
Bennett sensed his mood and stopped dallying. “What would your good wife say about the Church if she knew Joseph was teaching spiritual wifery?”
“What is spiritual wifery?” Joshua exploded. “Just come out with it, man. What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about a man’s right to have more than one wife.”
“I—” He stopped as the words registered in his mind. “Say again?”
“That’s right,” Bennett retorted, pleased with the reaction he had finally triggered. “In the Old Testament, Abraham had more than one wife. Jacob had four wives, remember? Well, Joseph claims he has been told by the Lord that this was his law and that men today have to live that law again.”
Joshua sat back slowly, studying the man very carefully now, feeling a swell of revulsion at what he was hearing. “I don’t believe you,” he finally said.
That didn’t seem to faze Bennett in the least. “That’s just it, Steed. No one does. I was accused of taking advantage of those poor women, but I was only practicing spiritual wifery. And I was doing it with the permission of the First Presidency, including Joseph himself.”
“From what I hear, all you were doing was fancy talking those women into your lair.”
“I thought you didn’t put much stock in rumors,” Bennett shot back, pleased to have tripped Joshua up. “I merely taught them the doctrine taught me by Joseph. If a woman is your spiritual wife—that is, if she is destined to be your wife in the hereafter—then there is no wrong in having relations with her now. She’s your wife. How can you commit adultery with your own wife?”
Joshua remembered one particular vicious rumor, one that seemed to be more than just feathers in the wind. “And what if that woman already has a husband?” he asked, his voice hard and brittle now.
Bennett knew instantly what he was referring to. “You mean like Sarah Pratt?”
“That’s exactly what I mean. Is it true that you were having relations with her?”
“Yes.”
“While her husband was off in England?” He spat it out with complete contempt.
“Joseph granted her to me as my spiritual wife. It matters not whether she has been married to another. At least, that’s what Joseph said.”
“I don’t believe you. I don’t care for a lot of what Joseph says and does, but he’s not an immoral man.”
“That’s just it, Joshua!” Bennett cried. “He doesn’t believe it is immoral. And I didn’t either. Not at first. Now . . .” He passed his hand before his eyes “Now I’m beginning to have doubts about my actions. Now I’m beginning to see that perhaps I have been guilty of a great sin. That’s why I tried to end my life, Joshua.”
Joshua was shaking his head. It was like having something dead in the barn. The smell of it was so terrible you didn’t even want to go in and see what it was, let alone find it and drag it out for burial.
Bennett’s eyes were filled with cunning now. “You don’t believe me? Why don’t you ask Sarah Pratt? Why don’t you ask her about the night Joseph came to her and asked her to be
his
spiritual wife? She was shocked and horrified, and told him that she could never consider such a proposal from a married man. Joseph finally backed down. He made her promise not to say anything, lest Emma should find out about it.”
For a long moment, Joshua considered that. Then he shook his head. “If Mrs. Pratt was so horrified about this spiritual wifery idea, then why did she take up with you?”
Bennett looked startled, realizing his error, but he recovered smoothly. “Because I was not already married.”
“But she was!” Joshua exploded. “Come on, man. Your story doesn’t make sense. And besides,” he added, remembering something else Nathan had once told him, “I thought you
were
married, John. I heard that you left a wife and children back in Ohio.”
That hit home. Bennett shot to his feet, clearly angry. “You can scoff all you want, Joshua Steed. I’ve come to you because I’m deeply troubled. I’ve come to help you keep your wife from making what could be a grave mistake. I can’t go to those in the Church because in their minds Joseph can do no wrong. And because of what has happened, no one will believe me.”
“That’s a problem you’ve got, all right,” Joshua cut in pointedly.
“I have other names,” Bennett said, sniffing away Joshua’s comment with disdain. “If you want to know the truth, go ask Melissa Schindle. Go talk with Martha Brotherton. They’ll tell you tales that will show you what is going on all around you at this very moment.”
Joshua suddenly stood, tired of it all. “John, listen. I must finish these books tonight, and then I must go home and pack. My son and my brother are up north trying to run a lumber camp and a sawmill for me. I need to get back up there and join them. I don’t have the time to be out snooping around.”
Bennett was cowed a little by the hardness in Joshua’s eyes. “It doesn’t have to be tonight, Steed. But if you’re a wise man, when you return in the spring, you’ll look into what I say.”
“Fair enough. When I return, I shall do that. And if what you say is true, I shall join with you and every other honest and decent man in seeing that Joseph Smith is not only exposed but brought to trial before the courts of this land.”
Bennett stood now too. “That’s all I ask, Joshua. All I want is to make amends and—”
“But,” Joshua cut in sharply, “if I find that you are lying, as you have been known to do, then know this, John. You shall rue the day that you came to me, for I shall run you out of this town with your tail between your legs.”
Will pushed the Bible forward a little on the table in his small room. Kerosene was scarce in the camp, and so he had the lamp turned low. He was looking down at the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, finally ready to keep a promise he had made to his Aunt Lydia almost four months ago. He had read it a couple of times before and gotten nothing out of it. Now he was ready to try and see why she had recommended it to him.
He hunched over the Bible and his lips began to move softly as he read to himself. “ ‘And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: and there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.’ ”
He stopped, his brows furrowed in concentration. This was what had happened before. What did this strange parable have to do with his finding an answer? He started over, reading it carefully through a second time.
A phrase caught his eye. “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” He sat back, frowning a little. That was an odd thing to say. Men normally didn’t faint while they were praying. Then, with a bit of a start, he remembered something. To “faint” had another meaning. It wasn’t heard much in America anymore, but he had heard it while he was in England, and Jenny and her mother would sometimes use it still. To faint meant to quit or to give up. Even Derek had once said to him, “Don’t faint on me, Will.”