The Work and the Glory (394 page)

Lydia looked away, her hand to her mouth.

Benjamin looked around the circle. “I don’t want to rush this. We need to talk about it as long as you want. But when you’re ready, Brigham Young and Heber Kimball are waiting for us at Heber’s house.”

That brought all of their heads up with a jerk.

“Yes,” he said. “Joseph thinks that we need to hear what they have to say. But not until you’re ready. They’ll wait as long as necessary.”

He looked to Nathan. “And Joseph said to tell you that he will be waiting for you. However long it takes, he’ll be there when you’re ready to talk with him.”

In the end they only stayed at Benjamin’s another fifteen minutes or so. Except for Benjamin and Mary Ann, they were all still a little dazed. There were a few questions, some comments that showed how deeply they had been affected, but mostly they just sat and stared at Benjamin, trying to comprehend what he was telling them. So eventually he led them out and they came to the home of Heber and Vilate Kimball.

But it was Brigham Young who met them at the door. As he ushered them into the sitting room, he spoke to Benjamin. “I apologize,” he said, “my Mary Ann planned to come, but our little Brigham, Junior, has taken quite ill just since supper. Bad food, I suppose. And she felt it best to stay with him.”

“We understand,” Benjamin said.

In the sitting room, Heber and Vilate Kimball were waiting for them, seated side by side on a small divan. They both rose, Heber shaking hands with the men and the women, Vilate nodding to the men but taking only the women’s hands.

Heber Kimball was a barrel-chested man. Though now a potter by trade, in his early years he had worked with his father as a blacksmith and he still had a blacksmith’s arms and torso. Taller than Brigham by a couple of inches, he was considerably more stout. He liked to point out to people that he was the only person he knew whose chest measurements were the same from front to back as they were side to side. He and Brigham were of the same age, born only two weeks apart in the summer of 1801. They were approaching their forty-first birthdays, which made them four years older than Joseph. Heber was totally bald on the top of his head, but what remained on both sides was thick and wiry dark hair. He wore heavy sideburns down to the jawline.

Normally he was of a sunny disposition, always ready with a quip or a joke to make others smile, his piercing dark eyes quick to dance with humor. As he greeted them now and welcomed them to his home, there was little sign of that. His eyes were dark and troubled, his demeanor greatly subdued.

Vilate Murray Kimball was five years Heber’s junior. Of Scottish descent, she was a lovely woman who carried herself with grace and poise. She was as dark haired as Heber and wore her hair parted down the middle and pulled to either side. This emphasized the fineness of her features, the bright, intelligent eyes, and the sensitive mouth. She was educated and literate. Lydia had seen some of the poems she had written and they were elegantly crafted. More sober by nature than Heber, she was nevertheless a pleasant and happy woman and greatly loved by those who knew her. But like her husband, tonight she was very quiet and deeply serious.

Brigham stood at the end of the room, waiting until all were seated. There was a brief, humorless smile. “Judging from what I see in the sisters’ faces, I assume they know, Brother Benjamin.”

“Yes.”

“Good, then there’s no need spending time on nonessentials.” Now he spoke to all of them. “As you know, Joseph has not only given us permission to talk to you, he has requested that we help you understand better what is going on. And why. That is the most important—the why. I know this has come as disturbing news. I can see it in your eyes. You shall see that you are not alone in that reaction.” He looked to his fellow Apostle. “I should like Heber and Vilate to tell you their story, but first I would like to make one or two points.”

Heber nodded. Vilate did as well.

“On several occasions, the Lord has said that he will prove his people. He will test us to see if we are truly committed to keeping our covenants with him. In one of the revelations he says to us, ‘I will have a pure people, saith the Lord, that will serve me in righteousness.’ In another, he said that he will prove us in all things to see if we will serve him, even unto death. And if we cannot abide in our covenants even unto death, we are not worthy of him.”

His eyes were fixed and looking above their heads now. “I do not fully understand why this is so, why the way has to be so hard, the required price so high. But it doesn’t really matter whether I understand it or not. We have been tried by the sword and by the ball. We have been driven, mocked, spat upon, jailed, and slain. We have seen those who should have been our staunchest friends become our bitterest enemies. We have seen sickness and starvation. We have seen our children lie down with hollow bellies and raging with fever. We have been placed in the frying pan, and when that became unbearable, we were kicked into the fire.”

He took a chair now and turned it around, leaning on the back of it as though it were a pulpit. His voice dropped to a low pitch, and it was filled with heaviness. “I thought we had seen it all. Jackson County. Kirtland. Haun’s Mill. Far West.” He shook his head. “How naive I was. How narrow my perspective was to think that we had been tested to the limits of our endurance. How little did I dream that there was something of far greater pain, far greater demands.” His eyes bored into them in turn now, pinning them with his words. “If you do not see this in that light, then you will not understand what is happening.”

He paused for a moment to see if there was any reaction, but there was none. So he plunged on. “Now, to something more practical. What we are going to discuss with you this evening, you are not free to discuss with others. Not even with others of your family.” He looked directly at Caroline. “Not even with your husband.”

She nodded slowly.

“This may be hard for you to understand. Some will say that Brother Joseph is trying to hide the truth. Some will say Brother Joseph is betraying his people. I will only say this. Joseph is not a coward.” His voice was strong and challenging now. “He himself has said that no coward shall inherit the celestial kingdom. But caution is not cowardice. Especially when the Lord whispers, ‘Be cautious. Give not this principle to the multitude as yet. Someday this doctrine shall be thundered from the housetops, but not yet. Reveal it only to those who can be trusted. Reveal it only to those who have been proven, for there are those, even in high places, who seek your life.’”

Brigham let that sink in for a moment, pleased to see that they were suitably shocked. “Lest you think I am overly dramatic, there has already been a foiled attempt on Joseph’s life.”

Mary Ann rocked back. “What?”

“Yes.”

“Here in Nauvoo?” Lydia asked, the horror twisting at her face.

“Yes, within the past week. I cannot say more than that. But I say it to impress upon your minds the importance of keeping confidences.”

Now he turned to Carl. “I know, Brother Carl, that you are not a member and that we have no call upon your loyalty. But Brother Joseph is also keenly aware of what you have done these past few weeks. He is deeply grateful. It is at his specific request that you are asked to be here tonight.”

Carl was deeply moved. Melissa, seeing this, slipped her arm through his and held him tightly as he spoke. “Tell Brother Joseph that I am honored by his trust, and assure him that it is not misplaced.”

“He knew it would not be,” Heber said.

Now Brigham turned to Caroline. “You are not a member either, but that is not by your choice. We know about your situation with your husband. We know that Joshua is looking for some way to break your determination to stay faithful. Therefore, Joseph felt that you needed to know it all, so you can choose for yourself.”

It was Lydia who asked the question that was looming large in Caroline’s mind. “If we cannot speak of what we learn here tonight, what does Caroline say to Joshua?”

“What do any of us say to Joshua?” Nathan exclaimed. “He knows about Joseph teaching the doctrine. He’ll be home in a few days expecting an answer from me.”

Brigham seemed unbothered by that. “What you have learned outside this room, you may share with him openly. Joseph feels it is probably unwise to try and deflect him from his questions. But what Heber and Vilate are going to tell you now is not for him. It is not for anyone else. If you cannot commit to that kind of confidence now, then we shall ask you to withdraw.”

There was silence in the room. No one moved. Brigham searched their faces and then nodded in satisfaction. “Then I suggest you proceed, Heber.” And he moved to a chair and sat down.

For a long moment, the man with a blacksmith’s body and an Apostle’s heart stood silently. Then finally he straightened. He was looking at Vilate now, almost oblivious to the fact that there were others in the room. “Brother Brigham talked about the Lord testing us. In the revelations, he says that we must be tried even as Abraham was tried. And so it was with me. It was shortly after I returned from England last summer. Joseph immediately started revealing the principle of plural marriage to the Twelve. We were as stunned as you. We were every bit as sick at heart as you are at this very moment. It sounded like a thunderclap in our ears.

“It was then that Joseph took me aside. ‘Brother Heber,’ he said, ‘the Lord has a special test for you.’ ‘What is it?’ I said boldly, thinking that I was faithful and prepared to meet whatever demand my beloved prophet laid upon me.”

He stopped, staring down at his hands now. Benjamin saw that they were trembling slightly even now as he went back in memory. “‘Heber,’ he said, ‘the Lord requires that you give Vilate to me to be my wife.’”

The sharp intake of breath sounded loudly in the stillness of the room. Even Benjamin was gaping at Heber.

Heber took in a long breath, shaking his head. “I could scarcely believe my ears. At first I thought he was making a joke of this, though I saw no humor in such a horrible proposal. But he assured me that he was in earnest.”

“But Vilate already belonged to another,” Melissa cried. “She was another man’s wife. Does the Lord justify that?”

Heber went on quietly without responding to her directly. “My first thought, I am ashamed to admit to you now, was that Joseph had fallen. Surely God was not asking for such a heinous thing. Joseph’s motives must be base and twisted. It was like a poisoned arrow shot through my heart. I was ready to spurn his proposition out of hand, without debate. But fortunately, reason prevailed. I have known Brother Joseph intimately for almost a decade. I have sat in council with him, been instructed by him, seen his face transformed by the light and power of God. I have never once doubted that Joseph is God’s oracle. How could I do so now? And if that was so, then it was not Joseph who required my beloved Vilate, it was God himself. And how could I refuse?”

Everyone in the room was transfixed now. Hardly an eyelid fluttered as Heber’s hands began to grip at the back of the chair, digging and twisting at the material. His voice had become hoarse and filled with pain. “I fled from his face. For three days I was gripped in the agonies of hell. I fasted. I prayed. I begged the Lord to comfort me. I felt as if my very heartstrings were sawn asunder. But at the end of those three days, I knew that I had no choice. I must submit to God’s will. So with broken and bleeding heart, I led my beloved Vilate to Joseph. I placed her hand into his and told him that she was his to take as his wife.”

Heber stopped, looking away. He reached up and brushed at the corner of one eye with the back of his hand. Lydia saw that Vilate’s eyes were shining now too as she looked at her husband.

“As I placed her hand into his,” Heber said, now stronger and more firmly than before, “Joseph broke down and wept like a child. He just sobbed. ‘My dear Brother Heber,’ he said, ‘you have passed the test. You have proven yourself to be a child of Abraham, and like Abraham you have held nothing back, laying that which is most precious and dear to you on the altar for God’s glory.’”

Heber’s voice broke now, and he started to weep openly. “He swept me up in his embrace, crushing me to his bosom. ‘Your sacrifice is accepted. This is proof enough of your devotion to your God. It is accounted unto you for righteousness.’”

He had to stop. Vilate stood and moved swiftly to stand beside him. Though she was crying now too, her voice was still under control. “And then—” She sniffed back the tears. “Then he had us kneel there together before him. He placed my hand in Heber’s, and there and then he sealed us together as man and wife for time and for all the eternities.”

“And it was only a test?” Melissa said, crying as well. “Joseph didn’t really want Vilate as his wife?”

“No,” Heber said. He blew out his breath, fighting to regain control. He wiped at his eyes again. “I know not what it is like to have to offer a child to the Lord as Abraham did. But I will say this. Let me stand in the thickest of the battle, with balls whizzing past my head. Let me endure the sack of Far West all over again. Let me cross the wintry plains a thousand times. I will take them each or all together as a test rather than to face being asked to make such a sacrifice again.”