4:15 p.m
Careful not to stare, Edie studied Adelia Reissner as Mitch introduced her and her husband to Frank, Tina, the twins, and Mitch Jr. and June, along with their two kids. With her coat off now, the woman was even more intimidating than she had been outside. Up close, she wasn’t what you would call a classic beauty, and yet she was a very striking woman. Her hair was part of it. Thick and deep auburn, it fell in soft curls halfway down her back. Her almond eyes were large and dark brown, her cheekbones barely visible in the porcelain perfection of her skin. She was about five feet, four inches tall with a tiny waistline and slender form. Her hands and long fingers were graceful, and the nails gleamed with a clear polish.
Elegant. That had been Edie’s first impression. And now, there was no other word Edie could think of to describe her. Her skirt was of a long and narrow cut, which emphasized her slenderness even more. It was made of wool with alternating vertical stripes of dark and light grey. Very fashionable. She wore a long-sleeved silk blouse with a round neck and no collar. It was a light pink, like that of a morning sunrise, and had an intricate embroidered pattern around the neckline and the cuffs. A delicate gold necklace held a locket in the hollow of her throat.
One thing was for sure, Edie decided. Whatever Jacob Reissner did for a living, it was profitable. Mitch brought her back to the present and motioned the twins forward. He had saved them for last. “Abby. Benji. Come here. I want you to meet someone.” The two exchanged looks, but in a moment both were standing beside their father. Mitch introduced them first to the parents and then knelt down beside the girl. “Tell me again how old you are, Liesel?”
“I am almost five,” she said bashfully, eyeing the twins from beneath lowered eyelashes.
Liesel was a combination of her father and mother. Her hair was the same light brown as his, and she had his eyes. But her features were clearly an inheritance from her mother. Dressed in a white dress with pink ribbons, full-length white stockings and white patent-leather shoes, she was utterly charming.
“Well, this is Abigail,” Mitch said, putting a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “We all call her Abby. And this is her twin brother, Benjamin, whom we call Benji. And they will be four in May. These are our miracle babies,” he said softly. “A bit of a handful, but a pure delight.”
Adelia dropped down into a crouch and extended her hand. “I am very pleased to meet you, Benji and Abby,” she said solemnly. “I don’t think I’ve ever met miracle babies before.”
Mitch straightened and turned to Christina. “Tina, why don’t you take Liesel and the rest of the children to your room? Find something fun to do, all right?”
Reissner shook his head. “Oh, no. We can’t stay long. We’re trying to get to Blanding tonight. We were told there’s a hotel there.”
Mitch was shaking his head.
“There’s not?” Elder Reissner said.
“There is, but you’re not staying there tonight. You’re staying here with us.”
As Adelia and Jacob exchanged quick glances, Edie came over. “Absolutely. We have plenty of room, and we’ll have supper on in about an hour. Hope you like beef. We kind of have a lot of that around here.”
Jacob Reissner was still hesitant. “Mitch, we didn’t come here to impose on you and—”
Mitch clapped him on the shoulder. “Jacob, here in San Juan County, we don’t use the word impose. Come on, I’ll help you bring your things in.”
As they went out the door, Adelia turned to Edie. “This is so nice of you. What can I do to help? Just get me an apron.”
Right! I can just see you getting grease on that blouse. But Edie smiled and shook her head. “Why don’t you just relax? June, will you show Adelia to the spare bedroom?”
To their surprise, Adelia leaned in closer. “I would like to change,” she admitted. “I fear I am a bit overdressed.”
That surprised both June and Edie. Adelia laughed softly. “Can I be really honest with you?” As they nodded, she lowered her voice. “Last night in Green River, we were asking people at the hotel if they knew you. It seems like everyone there knew you or at least knew of you.”
Adelia was blushing now. “They told us that you not only had the biggest ranch in all of southeastern Utah but that you were one of the richest families in the whole area.”
Edie hooted aloud. “They told you that? Heavens no.”
“They said you had ten thousand acres and about three thousand cows.”
Now Mitch Jr. laughed. “We do run that many cows, but we only own about two thousand acres and have grazing rights for eight thousand more. I wish we owned it all.”
Adelia was blushing now. “I’m a city girl, born and raised in the Phoenix area. After listening to these people talk about you, I was picturing us coming down to this grand western-style mansion with servants all around, maybe a butler waiting at the door.”
Edie was staring at her. “Really?”
“Yeah,” she said sheepishly, “so I told Jacob that I was wearing my best dress today. And we put Liesel in her best clothes.” She chuckled ruefully. “I tried to get Jacob to wear a suit, but he just laughed at me.” She visibly relaxed, glad to have made her confession. “So, if you don’t mind, I think I will get into something more comfortable.”
At that moment, Edie decided that she and Adelia Reissner were going to get along just fine. Edie also decided that as soon as Adelia disappeared into the bedroom, she was going into her bedroom and changing into something a little less comfortable.
Just then, Frank opened the kitchen door and slipped into the room. “Begging your pardon, Sister Reissner, but can I ask you a question?”
Edie shot him a warning look, but Adelia nodded. “Of course, Frank.”
“Is that a Cadillac Model 55 Club Roadster you’re driving?”
“Frank!” Edie said in dismay.
Adelia laughed. “Well, Frank. You’re asking the wrong person. I know it is a Cadillac, but as for the model. . . .” She shrugged.
“It is. I know it is. That is so neat, Sister Reissner. How fast can it go?”
“Frank,” Edie scolded. “You get in there and help with supper.”
Adelia ignored her. “I know we went almost forty-five miles an hour coming down from Moab where the road was paved. I don’t know if it goes faster than that. Ask Brother Reissner.”
Frank rushed on. “The US Army bought Cadillacs for their officers in the Great War. They tested all kinds and models, and the Cadillac proved to be the most rugged and the easiest to maintain.”
“Yes,” she laughed, “I did know that. You see, this isn’t our car. This is my father’s car.”
Ah. I’m liking this girl more and more every minute. Edie was suddenly glad Frank had come in and uncovered that little piece of information.
He ordered it from Detroit and then had it shipped to Salt Lake. We’re just driving it down to Mesa for him. But my father did know about the army. That’s why he bought it.”
“Neat! How much did it cost?”
Edie jerked forward. “Frank Westland! You don’t ask questions like that.”
Laughing, Adelia reached out and laid a hand on Edie’s arm. “It’s all right, Edie. I have a fifteen-year-old brother who loves cars too. I am not offended.” Then to Frank: “It cost three thousand seventy-five dollars, plus one hundred and ten dollars to ship it to Salt Lake.”
With eyes as big as saucers, Frank gave a low whistle. “Whoo–ee!” he exclaimed. “That’s gonna take a lot of saving up to get me one of those.”
Laughing in spite of herself, Edie gave him a swat across the arm. “All right now, git! Get into the kitchen and help your sisters. Sister Reissner is going to freshen up.”
February 18, 1919, 6:30 p.m.—EDW Ranch, Monticello, San Juan County, Utah
When supper was over and the dishes done and put away, the six children went back to Tina’s bedroom to play, giggling and whispering to each other. Liesel, the Reissners’ girl, now seemed as much
a part of the family as the others. Edie sent Frank and Tina to supervise, even though Frank had begged to be allowed to stay with the adults. Maybe after the children were asleep, Edie had said.
As they disappeared, Adelia turned to Edie. “You have a wonderful family.”
“We think so,” she said, taking Mitch’s hand. “As do you. Liesel is like a little pixie doll.”
“Until she doesn’t get her way,” Jacob Reissner said. “She’s pretty strong-minded.”
“Do you have other children?” Edie asked Adelia.
“Yes, Jacob Jr. He’s two. We left him home with Jacob’s parents.”
Adelia was sitting by her husband. She was now dressed in a pale blue skirt and white cotton blouse, both of which were simple but still stylish. She slipped off her shoes—a pair of black flats—and tucked her legs up under her skirt as she leaned in against her husband.
Edie watched her, still fascinated by the contrasts she was seeing. Jacob’s clothes were not shoddy, so she guessed he made a pretty good salary, but he was so down to earth. But Adelia had this undefinable air of grace and class about her that hinted of a privileged upbringing. Nevertheless, Edie was coming to like her very much. That she had so openly admitted she had dressed up to the nines for the Westlands had really impressed her.
Adelia looked over at Mitch Jr. and June. “How old is your oldest again? Noah, right?”
“Yes. Noah’s four,” June responded. “He’ll be five this summer.”
Adelia turned back to Edie and Mitch. “So you have children who are younger than your and grandchildren? Am I right in that?”
Mitch laughed. “Yes. Noah is a year older than Abby and Benji, who are his uncle and aunt. Edie and I get teased about that a lot, actually.”
“Right from the beginning,” Edie broke in, “Mitch and I agreed that we would take as many babies as the Lord would send us. However, we quickly learned that you don’t get to choose when you have children. There were many prayers and many blessings, but after twenty-five years of trying. . . .” She shrugged. “It was hard, but we did get four wonderful children. By then I was nearly forty and we assumed that was all we would have. Then Mitch got his mission call to Germany for four years, and we decided that for sure ended it.”
“How did you feel about his call?” Jacob asked.
“Sick, of course. That was my first reaction. We had a ranch to run. A family to support. But then almost immediately I was elated.”
“Elated?” Adelia asked in surprise.
“Yes. My maiden name is Zimmer. My grandparents are from Germany. They joined the Church and came to Zion as a young married couple. So we think Oma Zimmer engineered a little miracle for us, even though she had died several years before.”
“Actually,” Mitch cut in, “it was more like four miracles.”
“Four?” the Reissners blurted at the same time.
Mitch went on. “I got home from my mission in mid-September of 1914. Miracle one happened on Christmas Day three months later. That night, after everyone was in bed, Edie gave me my Christmas gift. She told me that the doctor had just confirmed that she was with child again.”
Adelia’s jaw dropped. “Oh my word.”
“Then,” Mitch continued, “about two months later, miracle two came along. Edie had been to the doctor again. He told us that he was pretty certain she was going to have twins.”
“No wonder you call them your miracle babies!” Jacob exclaimed.
Mitch nodded. “Miracle three took place when, after almost thirty-six hours of exhausting labor, Edie gave birth to a boy and a girl, who were born nine minutes apart. They were five weeks premature but were healthy in every way, as was their mother.”
“I can’t begin to imagine how you must have felt,” Adelia whispered.
“Yes,” Edie said quietly, “I think you can. Mothers can imagine such things.”
Mitch was smiling now. “And miracle number four? In a way, it was the sweetest one of all. Because the twins came five weeks early, they were born on May thirteenth.” He leaned forward, his own eyes glistening. “May thirteenth is Edie’s birthday. It was her forty-fifth birthday!”
“No kidding!” Adelia exclaimed. “You were forty-five?”
“They were born on your birthday?” Jacob cried.
Edie nodded. “To Mitch’s surprise, I wanted him to pick names for the twins because I was certain that this blessing had come to us due to his willingness to go on a mission.” She smiled mischievously. “Of course, I reserved the right of veto. But he took it very seriously.”
“Both names came from the Old Testament,” Mitch explained. “Abigail means ‘a father’s joy,’ and Benjamin was the last son of Jacob, born in his old age. And, as you can see,” Mitch continued, “they are the joy of our lives.”
The room was silent for a long time, and then Jacob looked at Mitch. “So is that where you learned your German? From Oma Zimmer?”
“Yes,” Mitch said. “She insisted that we speak German a lot in the home.”
Jacob looked to Mitch Jr. and June and then to Rena and her husband “So do any of you speak German too?” he asked in German.
Rena smiled as Mitch Jr. answered for them both. “Ja, ja! Wir sprechen Deutsch.”
Mitch decided to change the subject. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, why Monticello? This is hardly the shortest route between Salt Lake and Mesa.”
The couple exchanged glances and Jacob responded. “Good question. Adelia is an Arizona girl, born and raised in Mesa. I was born and raised in Salt Lake, but we met at Brigham Young University. After I graduated, Adelia’s father, who owns a bank in Mesa, offered us a job there.”
Edie’s head came up. Ah. The daughter of a banker. That explains a lot.
“Before we could move down, however, her father and some of his partners decided to start a bank in Salt Lake. One of Adelia’s older brothers came up to act as president, and they offered me a job as a bank clerk. So we stayed in Utah.”
“Now,” Adelia said proudly, “Jacob is the senior loan officer in the bank.”
Jacob brushed that aside. “So, back to your question. Because of that change of plans, Adelia has not been back home since our marriage. So this year, we decided that once the baby was old enough to stay with Grandma and Grandpa, we’d take Adelia back home for a vacation. Originally we planned to go by train, but when Adelia’s father ordered the Cadillac and asked us to drive it down for him, we decided that was too good of an offer to turn down.”
“But why by way of Monticello?” Edie asked again.
“Ah yes,” Jacob said. “That is the real question. And it gets to the real reason why we are here. Mitch, it may interest you to know that we have quite a few former missionaries from the Swiss-German Mission living in Utah. We get together a few times a year,” Jacob went on. “President and Sister Valentine live up in Box Elder County, so we see them from time to time, too.”
“Oh, that must be wonderful.”
“It is. And so we’ve decided to have a mission reunion in connection with general conference.”
“A reunion?” Edie exclaimed. “What a wonderful idea.”
“Yes!” Mitch agreed.
“So, we’ve been gathering names and addresses. When someone gave us your name, I was going to write to you and see if you would be interested. But when Adelia’s father bought the car, we thought, ‘Why not take a little longer route and go down and meet the Westlands in person?’”
“We are so glad you did,” Edie said. She was actually quite astonished by it all. They had only met this family a few hours ago, and now they seemed like lifelong friends.
“We’re preparing invitations now. I was hoping to bring one, but there’s a complication.”
“Oh?” Mitch said.
“The Church has just announced that they are postponing conference for two months.”
The Westlands were surprised by that. “Why?” Rena’s husband asked.
“Because of
the Spanish Flu.”
Rena reared back. “I thought the worst of that was over.” Her hand slipped down to the swell of her stomach. She was expecting their second child in just a few weeks.
“It is definitely not as bad as last year,” Adelia explained, “but there’s talk that it might flare up again on a limited basis.”
Jacob went on. “General conference will now be June first through the third. But a lot of our former missionaries are farmers like you, and we decided that holding the reunion in the early spring will be easier for them. Since we’re a much smaller group, the Health Department said it wouldn’t be a problem. We plan to hold it in Provo instead of Salt Lake.”
“That’s better for us,” Edie said. “A little closer.”
“We’re trying to get permission to hold it on the BYU campus,” Jacob went on, “but that’s still being negotiated. As soon as we know, we’ll send out the invitations.”
“That is wonderful news,” Edie said. “Thank you for coming in person to share it with us.” Then she started to get up. “Well, I think it’s time to call the kids in and have some pie and ice cream.”
Mitch pulled her back down. “Two last questions for Jacob, then we’ll eat. When we were evacuating from Germany back in 1914, we heard a rumor that two elders in Munich had been attacked in a bank and gotten pretty badly beaten up. I noticed the scar over your eye, Jacob. You wouldn’t happen to be one of those elders, would you?”
“Ja,” Reissner said soberly. “My companion and I were trying to withdraw enough money to get our elders out of Germany. Someone learned we were Americans, and pow! Instant mob.”
Edie was appalled. Mitch had talked about those days, but she hadn’t heard there was violence.
“And one more question,” Mitch said. “You were in Bavaria for a while, right?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me what you know about Oberammergau.”
“The Passion Play, you mean?”
“Yes.”
Rena leaned forward. “What’s a Passion Play?”
Mitch and Jacob exchanged glances, and Jacob nodded for him to answer. “In Latin,” Mitch began, “one meaning of the word passion is ‘sorrow or suffering.’ So the Catholics and other churches call the last few days of Christ’s life the time of His passion. We would call it an Easter play or pageant. Only the one in Oberammergau is a big deal. It’s world famous.”
Fire and Steel, Volume 2 Page 47
