Read Online True Sisters by Sandra Dallas - Free Book Online Page B

each winter morning as he rose from his bed, and then, he asked Jessie, did he want to marry one of the dough-faced girls in the village and raise a brood of brats who would follow him into the fields as he had followed his father, and his father his grandfather? So he agreed with his brother and sister to go to the Salt Lake. It did not occur to any of the Coopers that life in American was likely to be as repetitious.
    The Coopers gave up the farm, sold their belongings, and despite the admonitions from the elders, they did not turn the money over to the church. Instead, they purchased the seed and implements they expected to use to start farming in the valley. Like the other Saints, they had expected to take a hundred pounds of baggage apiece with them to Zion, discovering only when they reached Iowa City that they were limited to seventeen. So they went through their belongings, setting aside coats and shoes and dresses, crockery and silver, keepsakes. They ripped their parents’ silhouettes from their frame and cast aside the frame. Their books, even those on farming principles, went into the pile of discards, along with the diary that Jessie had written in since their departure from Liverpool. Other Saints, including Ephraim, considered their diaries as sacred as their Bibles and kept them even later, when the carts were lightened further. But Jessie did not want hers to add to the weight. Even at that, they had had to cast aside some of those things they had thought indispensable. Like other women, Jessie put on several layers of clothing, so the garments would not count against her on weight, and she tied the bags of seeds under her skirts so that they did not have to be left behind. “I do not believe Thales Tanner will look for them there,” she told her brothers.
    “I thank God, then, that you did not marry him,” Sutter told her slyly. “You would have packed a different seed with you.”
    His sister swatted Sutter for his impertinence, but she turned aside and laughed to herself.
    Now Jessie was setting out the three tin plates and three forks, all that was left after the purge at Iowa City, when she looked up and saw Louisa standing beside the cart, her skirt muddy from the trail. Jessie rose and greeted her friend, glad to see her, because the two had had little time to talk on the journey, and even then, Thales had been nearby. She looked around for him, but Louisa said, “I am alone. I felt the need for a little walk.”
    “After walking fifteen miles already today?” Jessie smiled.
    Louisa shrugged. “Sometimes I need to be alone with my thoughts. You remember how I used to hide out by the grindstone when we were girls. Of course, Thales would be displeased if he knew I wanted to be alone. He thinks it is a sin to be idle. There are so many sins.…”
    “More for women than men, I think,” Jessie said.
    Louisa gave a wisp of a smile and then frowned. “Thales would not like such a joke about the church.”
    “Oh, I’m not talking about the Mormon Church. The old church, too, had a preponderance of sins for women. All doctrines do that are written by men.”
    “Living a righteous life is not easy, and I must learn to be obedient. How fortunate I am to have a husband who helps me.”
    “Oh, bosh, Louisa. You’re as good a person as ever lived. Thales is picking at motes.”
    Louisa looked stunned for a moment, then relaxed. “Thales does go on sometimes, doesn’t he? I know you think that.” Perhaps shocked that she had criticized her husband, Louisa added quickly, “But he is such a good Mormon. You would not be critical if you heard his prayers, the way he gives his testimony, admitting to God so many weaknesses. If Mormons believed in such things, Thales would beat himself with whips and wear a hair shirt. Did you know he fasts one day each week?”
    Jessie did not. She also did not care. “You look tired,” she said.
    “I have sad news. Sister Esther Smalls died not more than an