with similar comments. Jacob was young, handsome, kind, and the leader of the church. Of course a man like that needed more wives. And his first wife was crippled by the car accident and might not be able to have more children. How else would Jacob grow his posterity?
“His wife is not the problem,” Eliza said. “She’s made it abundantly clear that she’d welcome a sister wife. But my brother isn’t at all interested in plural marriage. He’s made
that
abundantly clear.”
“Really? But when I talked to him, he said he’d think about it.”
“What happened to not throwing yourself on him?” Eliza pulled her hand away, irritated.
“I didn’t!”
“You’ve been here three months and you haven’t picked up yet that Jacob doesn’t want another wife?”
Lillian looked bewildered. “Jacob? Whoever said anything about Jacob? I’m talking about David.”
“Oh, gosh. I’m sorry.”
Well, of course. That’s what all that business was about Miriam; it was Lillian wondering how difficult it might be to live as the junior wife in that family. Eliza had no idea if either David or Miriam would be interested in Lillian, but they’d built an extra wing onto their house, with far more space than a couple with one child and another on the way would require. They had been giving the subject plenty of thought, she was sure.
“I shouldn’t have reacted like that,” Eliza said. “But you know what Fernie means to me. She’s my sister. I get protective, especially since her accident.”
Jacob, Eliza, and Fernie shared a strange family bond, unique even in Blister Creek. Eliza and Jacob had the same father, while Eliza and Fernie shared the same mother. She was half sister to both of them, even though Jacob and Fernie were not related to each other and had not grown up in the same household.
Lillian was still frowning, clearly offended in spite of the apology. “You could have started by not assuming the worst.”
“I am truly sorry.”
Lillian’s expression gradually softened. “You know Fernie doesn’t need protecting, right? Not even by Jacob. Not even because of the wheelchair.”
“I know.” Eliza felt doubly chastened now.
“What about David?”
Yes, what about David?
Eliza loved him, too, but she remembered the sick feeling when she tracked him down at the strip club in Nevada, and later in Las Vegas, strung out on crystal meth. He’d turned his life around in the last year and a half and now seemed to be growingevery day. He was lucky, in that he had Jacob to lead him and Miriam to push him.
“I don’t know,” Eliza said. “He’s… more than I thought he was.”
“My father is against it,” Lillian said. “He says David is a no-good drug addict. A Lost Boy.”
“After what happened with your first marriage, you’re probably better off doing the opposite of what your father says.”
“I know. But I’m a Smoot, too, and what Father says goes in that house. My mother didn’t want me to marry Aaron Young. My older sisters, either. Even the sister wives, and my brothers. Didn’t matter. Father said to marry him, so I did.”
Eliza had enough trouble managing the personalities in the Women’s Council, some of them as stubborn and immovable as the Ghost Cliffs, that she didn’t have time to study the machinations of Jacob’s quorum. But she knew about Elder Smoot. It was politics, no doubt. David’s influence as the son of the former leader and the brother of the current one was weakened by his youth and his status as a former Lost Boy.
“A second wife would boost David’s credibility,” Eliza said. “And Jacob’s, too. That’s what your father doesn’t like.”
She found herself thinking that David and Miriam should accept Lillian for that reason alone, to strengthen the Christiansons in the quorum. But then she recoiled. That was Father’s way of thinking. The very logic he had used when trying to manipulate Eliza into a polygamist marriage.
“Did you know
“His wife is not the problem,” Eliza said. “She’s made it abundantly clear that she’d welcome a sister wife. But my brother isn’t at all interested in plural marriage. He’s made
that
abundantly clear.”
“Really? But when I talked to him, he said he’d think about it.”
“What happened to not throwing yourself on him?” Eliza pulled her hand away, irritated.
“I didn’t!”
“You’ve been here three months and you haven’t picked up yet that Jacob doesn’t want another wife?”
Lillian looked bewildered. “Jacob? Whoever said anything about Jacob? I’m talking about David.”
“Oh, gosh. I’m sorry.”
Well, of course. That’s what all that business was about Miriam; it was Lillian wondering how difficult it might be to live as the junior wife in that family. Eliza had no idea if either David or Miriam would be interested in Lillian, but they’d built an extra wing onto their house, with far more space than a couple with one child and another on the way would require. They had been giving the subject plenty of thought, she was sure.
“I shouldn’t have reacted like that,” Eliza said. “But you know what Fernie means to me. She’s my sister. I get protective, especially since her accident.”
Jacob, Eliza, and Fernie shared a strange family bond, unique even in Blister Creek. Eliza and Jacob had the same father, while Eliza and Fernie shared the same mother. She was half sister to both of them, even though Jacob and Fernie were not related to each other and had not grown up in the same household.
Lillian was still frowning, clearly offended in spite of the apology. “You could have started by not assuming the worst.”
“I am truly sorry.”
Lillian’s expression gradually softened. “You know Fernie doesn’t need protecting, right? Not even by Jacob. Not even because of the wheelchair.”
“I know.” Eliza felt doubly chastened now.
“What about David?”
Yes, what about David?
Eliza loved him, too, but she remembered the sick feeling when she tracked him down at the strip club in Nevada, and later in Las Vegas, strung out on crystal meth. He’d turned his life around in the last year and a half and now seemed to be growingevery day. He was lucky, in that he had Jacob to lead him and Miriam to push him.
“I don’t know,” Eliza said. “He’s… more than I thought he was.”
“My father is against it,” Lillian said. “He says David is a no-good drug addict. A Lost Boy.”
“After what happened with your first marriage, you’re probably better off doing the opposite of what your father says.”
“I know. But I’m a Smoot, too, and what Father says goes in that house. My mother didn’t want me to marry Aaron Young. My older sisters, either. Even the sister wives, and my brothers. Didn’t matter. Father said to marry him, so I did.”
Eliza had enough trouble managing the personalities in the Women’s Council, some of them as stubborn and immovable as the Ghost Cliffs, that she didn’t have time to study the machinations of Jacob’s quorum. But she knew about Elder Smoot. It was politics, no doubt. David’s influence as the son of the former leader and the brother of the current one was weakened by his youth and his status as a former Lost Boy.
“A second wife would boost David’s credibility,” Eliza said. “And Jacob’s, too. That’s what your father doesn’t like.”
She found herself thinking that David and Miriam should accept Lillian for that reason alone, to strengthen the Christiansons in the quorum. But then she recoiled. That was Father’s way of thinking. The very logic he had used when trying to manipulate Eliza into a polygamist marriage.
“Did you know
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