With this Ring , livre ebook

With This Ring
Marian Wells
© 1984 by Marian Wells
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com
Ebook edition created 2012
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Previously published in two separate volumes:
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopying, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
eISBN 978-1-4412-6258-5
Manuscript edited by Penelope J. Stokes.
Cover by Dan Thornberg
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Preface
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
The Wishing Star
About the Author
Books by Marian Wells
Back Cover
Preface
The preceding story, The Wedding Dress , centers around Rebecca Wolstone’s early years. In 1831, the same year the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized, she was born in New York. Rebecca’s earliest memories were of life on the mud flats of the Mississippi River, near a community that was soon to become the Mormon city of Nauvoo, Illinois.
Those mud flats robbed Rebecca of her family. The Wolstones, along with many of their neighbors, fell victim to the swift and deadly cholera. Like many of the other children left orphaned that year, Rebecca was taken into one of the neighboring homes in the community. The Smyths were kind to the young girl, but she never forgot that she was one more mouth to feed in a poor, hungry family of young ones. Neither quite a family member nor a comfortable guest, Rebecca grew up without really having a sense of belonging.
In 1844, the year of Rebecca’s thirteenth birthday, two events profoundly touched and changed her life. That spring seventeen-year-old Joshua Smyth, the eldest son in the family and Rebecca’s dearest friend, left Illinois to find a niche for himself (and, eventually, the rest of his family) in Oregon Territory. When he left, his eyes promised Rebecca what his words dared not say, and Rebecca was filled with both desolation and hope.
Meanwhile, the Mormon Church had from the beginning faced persecution and rejection. In Nauvoo, no less than any other place, the Saints were living an uneasy existence.
When Joseph Smith, founder and president of the church, and his brother Hyrum were murdered just miles from Nauvoo, Rebecca Wolstone’s attention and sympathies were captured. And when the Saints left Illinois for the Great Basin in the far West, Rebecca was numbered among them.
Great Salt Lake City became Rebecca’s new home. Under the watchful eye of Brigham Young, subject to the doctrines of the Mormon Church, Rebecca struggled to be a good schoolteacher and to learn to conform to the church. But her “rebellious” ways merited her the discipline of a move south to the frontier town of Cedar City.
For Rebecca had balked at becoming a plural wife. In this “doctrine,” the church declared, God had revealed His highest plan for His people: only through “celestial marriage” could a man achieve the highest heaven. This doctrine, including plural marriage and blood atonement, is still found in the DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS.
The Principle, as the doctrine of plural marriage was called, had been practiced covertly from the earliest days of the church. Only after the Saints had moved to the Great Basin did the church leaders feel secure enough to reveal to the world that doctrine which they had been denying publicly from the very beginning. To the federal government, plural marriage was illegal, and any children of such unions had no legal rights in the nation or as heirs. No wonder, then, that few women had accepted Brigham Young’s generous offer of “freedom,” extended that October conference of 1856. Outside the Territory they would have been considered prostitutes with illegitimate children.
Brigham Young’s unhappy wife number twenty-seven, Ann Eliza, divorced him and tried to sue for an enormous settlement. While recognizing that the United States courts gave no legal recognition to polygamy, he made a magnanimous offer of $200,000 in settlement of the suit, with the provision that the courts must legitimatize all Mormon plural marriages by declaring his marriage to Ann Eliza legal. The court was unwilling and unable to do so.
The accepted practice among the Saints was to include the first wife as a participant in subsequent marriage ceremonies. But occasionally, as in Rebecca’s case, the marriages were made without informing the women of the existence of other wives.
Rebecca, caught in such a marriage, eventually rebelled despite her original resolve to conform and accept the teaching of the church. In the midst of her struggle, Rebecca began to search for God, a search which led her away from Mormon teachings and nearly cost her life.
In an Indian camp, Joshua Smyth found Rebecca recovering from a near-fatal gunshot wound inflicted by her Mormon husband, and planned to take her with him back to Oregon. Throughout the years, he had demonstrated his faithful friendship as well as a deep sense of responsibility for Rebecca’s welfare.
With This Ring takes up the story of Rebecca’s new life. As she leaves the desert country of Southern Utah, she begins the move from barrenness to hope. But will she ever be truly beyond the reach of her former church?
Chapter 1
Rebecca could smell the pungent smoke of the pine and sage fire. Bitter cold won out over its feeble warmth, and she buried her nose in the rabbit-skin robe. Snuggling deeper into the robe, she felt sleep claiming her again.
The resinous pine snapped like gunfire and, with a cry of terror, she struggled against the blackness of the dream trying to suck her downward. Even as she fought against its fearful scenes, part of her mind reminded her that it was only a dream, the same one repeated endlessly throughout the days of her illness. But even now that she had strength to contend with the terror of memory, there was still only one escape.
Fighting off the heavy robes and blankets, Rebecca threw herself from her bed mat. Solali, crouched beside the fire, turned with a concerned frown to watch Rebecca. Shivering now, Rebecca pushed aside the heavy mass of blond hair from her face and knelt beside the Indian woman. She wiped the perspiration from her face while Solali’s troubled eyes studied her. “’Tis the dream?”
Rebecca nodded tremulously and held her hands toward the blaze. “That cracklin’ log did it. Seemed like rifle fire, and and I was back there, livin’ it over.” She was trembling now and Solali reached for the blanket.
More cold air struck Rebecca at the same time she heard Joshua whispering from the doorway. “Solali, I’ve got to talk to Rebecca.” As she turned, the deerskin curtain covering the doorway of the hut was pulled aside as Joshua stepped through the opening and saw her. “You’re up early this cold morning. Did you feel the touch of snow in the air?”
Still caught in the terror of the dream, she whispered dully, “Snow?”
It was Solali who saw his worried eyes fixed on Rebecca and moved closer. “Eagle?” she asked. He hesitated for a moment and then turned to the Indian woman.
“Solali, we’ve got to get out of here,” he murmured. “There’s trouble a’brewing but plenty.”
“Where’s Eagle?” she asked again.
“He’s here, just come back. That’s why ”
Rebecca moved slowly. Turning from the fire, still shivering, she clutched the blanket about her, but she lifted her chin and said, “It’s bad, and I might as well know about it. You two have been whispering behind my back for long enough. ’Tis time I start livin’ again.” Her voice caught; she took two quick nervous steps toward the door and then returned to the fire.
She faced Joshua and, for the first time, saw the lines of fatigue on his face. As she studied those lines, wondering at their meaning, Eagle came into the hut. Moving to the other side of the fire, he squatted and held his hands toward the warmth.
Joshua knelt beside him, and while the two men spoke in low, hurried tones, Rebecca watched Eagle. She was still frowning at what she saw when Joshua got to his feet and came back to her. “Eagle’s tired,” she said, “and I know he’s been gone someplace.” She faced Joshua. “You look like something’s pressing upon you.”
The curtain swung softly into place again as Eagle left the hut. Joshua’s worried frown was still on his face as he turned, and pulling off his hat, tossed it to the stack of robes. Though dressed like a native American, his golden hair and beard caught the light and sharpened the contrast between the Indians and himself. Rebecca thought of the strange picture she, too, created. Her heavy blonde hair was braided Indian-style and she was wearing the typical Paiute woman’s dress. A tentative smile curved her lips.
Joshua bent down beside her and looked into her face. His smile reflected not so much amusement or joy but simply relief at her softened expression. Knowing why, Rebecca stretched out her hand in mute apology. Joshua squeezed her hand but said abruptly, “Becky, I want you to get your things together right now. We’re leaving as soon as we can get packs on the horses.”
“Leaving!” Jumping to her feet and spinning away from the fire, she looked wildly about the smoke-filled hut. From the soft couch of rabbit-skin robes which had been her sanctuary since Eagle had carried her unconscious and wounded to the Indian village, to the mounds of pelts for barter and the storage baskets holding their winter provisions of food, this humble hut had been home. She reached out to stroke the curved walls, saplings wove