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Show 5-<Ji about. And so, when your daddy d i d n ' t go along with t h a t , Alec took more wives and l e f t the r a n c h . " Her voice dropped to a scandalized whisper. "Now he says he t a l k s with God and he says he's the head of the Church of J e s u s Christ of M i l l e n i al Reign!" I thought of the paradox: how my f a t h e r had been opposed to the established c o u n c i l , and now was being opposed in the same manner. 'As ye sow, so s h a l l ye reap. ' But t h e r e was an important d i f f e r e n c e ; my f a t h e r had been handed the l e a d e r s h ip by the P a t r i a r c h , Joseph Musser. It had been forced on him, he had not sought i t. "Well, who m a r r i e d them, then, a l l t h e s e b e a u t i f u l women? supposedly Daddy isHhe only one1 w i t h the power to seal p l u r a l marriages, isn't he?" My mother nodded e m p h a t i c a l l y . "Until he d i e s , then i t will be your Uncle A r t h u r ." I considered what these young women must be like to be drawn into a religion and a way of life that was contrary to I, their own - my mother had s a i d most of them won'* even Mormon. I understood what would d r i v e them t o i t . Marriage was deteriorating, a l l over the n a t i o n . Even those of normal Parentage were t e n t a t i v e and s k e p t i c a l . Most of the women I knew were s e p a r a t e d , divorced or unhappy. My g i r l f r i e n d s envied even my b a t t e r e d r e l a t i o n s h i p with Brian and despaired of finding ' a good man' for themselves. And I knew, f i r s t hand, t h a t ' a good man i s hard to f i n d .' % faith in Brian had d e t e r i o r a t e d to almost nothing; I f e lt him to be a huge, i r r e s p o n s i b l e a l b a t r o s s about my neck. Sometimes I thought how n i c e i t would be to have a s i s t e r - w i fe |