For a temporary arrangement, she was to sleep with Mary Ann Williams, the girl who during the reformation period of 1856, had been sealed to Lee, but was then only thirteen years old, too young to be his wife. According to the celestial law, a man must wait upon the desires of his wife, and the older Mary Ann became, the less she wanted Lee as her husband.

. . .

Mary Ann, though she joined in freely with work and play and was loved by the other wives, still would not be a wife of John D. Lee. She even wrote two letters of protest to Brigham Young, which he answered to her husband, but offered no solution. They should settle these things between themselves or should discuss them with their local authorities. For a time her name does not appear, and then on January 18, 1859, all the difficulty was resolved. Lee's account is graphic:

She for some cause became dissatisfied. I told her that if I could not make her happy that she should have her liberty, and if there was any other man she could be more happy with, to say so & I would use my endeavors to have her seald to that man. She replied that she could love me and respect me as a Father but not as a husband, and that she wanted my oldest son for her companion & that she loved him more than any other Man she ever saw. Upon reflection I answered that her request should be granted . . .

Having settled the matter, Lee invited the entire population of the fort, ordered a large wedding cake made and decorated, and a sumptuous feast prepared.

. . .

But when he saw the love and happiness in their faces, he put aside all resentment. A boy not quite twenty and a girl seventeen-past could face anything together when they look at each other like that. As a father, he was pleased. This thing, he could see, was right.