Eliza and Anna are a generation apart in age but are bound together by polygamy and the control of their husband, Joseph Brown. When Anna, the young second wife, wants to break free from her abusive marriage, it is only Eliza who can make that possible.

 

Joseph Brown is proud, strong-willed, and controlling. After he converts to the Mormon Church, he leads his family to the new Mormon Zion in Utah. When his wife Eliza falls into a suicidal depression after the birth of her eighth baby, Joseph brings home 14-year-old Anna to live with them as a mother’s helper. Joseph is quickly drawn to the beautiful teenager and makes her his second wife. Eliza is devastated but has no power to oppose her husband. The women build a difficult, new relationship as sister wives who must share everything until Joseph is imprisoned for polygamy and Anna must go into hiding. Separated from Eliza and Joseph, Anna yearns to live beyond the confines of her life. When her friendship with a young horse doctor turns into a passionate love affair, she must confront her tyrannical husband and choose between her lover and her children.

 

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… Joseph reached beneath the chair and brought up another small package wrapped in brown paper and set it in front of his plate. He waited for the family to finish their attention on Caroline before he spoke again. “And Anna.” He placed his hands on either side of his plate as if pronouncing a blessing. Everyone turned and looked at Anna who visibly pulled back in embarrassment. She smiled and flushed a hot pink. “You have become a member of our family. Nearly four months now.” Eliza gave her a glowing smile; her eyes glistened with sudden emotion. She nodded at Joseph’s words.

“And this is an important birthday for you as well.” Joseph dropped his gaze on to the package and lightly touched the string that wrapped the paper. “Fifteen.” He paused and then continued. “A year when many a young girl becomes a woman.” He kept his eyes on the package then turned his gaze fully upon Anna. His eyes held hers. “This is for you.” The children leaned forward in expectation as he handed the gift to Anna. Eliza’s smile gradually slipped from her face. She pulled into herself ever slightly as she watched Anna take the present and hold it carefully with two hands.

Anna pushed her plate away and set the small package on the table in front of her. She studied it, smiling tentatively, then with a quick glance at Joseph, picked it up and slipped the string from the paper. She unfolded the brown paper to expose a small white box. With careful fingers, she lifted the lid. Caroline ran around the table and stood next to her equally excited to see what lay within.

“What is it?” Aaron asked, leaning from his seat next to her.

“It’s a necklace,” she softly replied. A chorus of voices erupted.

“Show us, show us!”

Anna lifted the small gold chain from the box and held it suspended from the fingers of her right hand. Hanging from the delicate chain, a small medallion rotated one direction, then the other. At the center of the medallion was an ornately carved letter “B”. The late afternoon sunlight caught the gold as it hung in her fingers.

“Why does it have a B?” Aaron asked. Caroline answered, enthusiastic that she had detected the meaning.

“Why it’s for Brown! It’s to show Anna that she is one of us!” Anna undid the clasp awkwardly. Her face had grown hot, and her heart thumped loudly in her throat.

“Here, let me help you.” Joseph quickly stood up and walked around the table until he was directly behind Anna. He reached both arms around her and took the necklace out of her hands. Everyone watched, mesmerized, as he deftly placed the chain around Anna’s white throat. When it hung safely against the indentation above her breastbone, the younger children cheered. Hyrum raised his eyebrows in surprise. Only Anna noticed the look on Eliza’s face as Joseph stooped down to hang his gift around her neck.

Anna touched the necklace and scanned the faces that surrounded her. Her world had taken a sudden shift. She wouldn’t have to leave after all. She glanced at Eliza who sat in studied stillness, looking down at her lap, then around the table at the eager faces. A feeling of unease crept through her, a sense that somehow, she had betrayed Eliza.

 

  #

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The children had been gone a long time when finally, Frank galloped into her yard. She ran to him, reaching up to touch his pants, his shirt as he climbed down from his horse and pulled her into his arms.

“I was so afraid you weren’t coming,” she slurred as his mouth met hers, warm and slippery from her crying. He kissed her eyes and wiped her cheeks as he shushed her.

“I’m here. I’m here now.” He took her hand and with a deliberate firmness, led her out of the sunshine into the dark house. He lifted her into his arms and gently placed her on the table where her face was level with his. Without questioning, she opened her legs around him and drew him to her, her hands around his back, his neck, knocking his hat to the floor as she pulled him close and kissed him, and kissed him until her lips were numb. She could look over his shoulder through the window toward the rise of the hill where soon her children would appear, heading home. She sighed heavily, her nose pressed into his shoulder as she scanned the horizon. She whispered against his denim shirt, “What are we going to do, Frank?”  

 

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Joseph looked at her for a long time. His eyes were cold and his face stone. Only the flick of his finger against his pant leg revealed that he was alive in front of her. She put one hand to her throat and stared at him. Her heart hammered. And she realized that a look of satisfaction had crept over his face as he watched her fear. “It’s all gone.” His words were clipped and emotionless. She glanced toward the house instinctively then back at him. He held her in his steeled gaze, and she couldn’t turn away. “There’s nothing left for you to take.” He watched her and a glint sharpened his eye as he smiled. “You get nothing, Anna. Not the house, not the letters ... not the children.” The words pierced her and sparked a flare of anger. She imagined Joseph smashing the dishes, turning over the furniture, burning Frank’s picture, tearing the letters into pieces, and stuffing them into the fire of the stove. She drew herself up and squared her shoulders. He wanted to hurt her. To punish her.