Chapter Twenty-One

Key City, Iowa Territory,
July 17, 1834

One of the windows at the Buttermans’ house was broken. But everything else seemed alright. Penny Cooper and Nate Tilden’s house wasn’t even touched. Penny and Nate started getting ready for their wedding. Penny sewed herself a new dress in light pink. And Nate found himself some dark pants and a clean white shirt. Mr. Butterman brought over two fat turkeys for the wedding dinner. Penny and Nate invited Jonathan and Ella Butterman, Aunt Sunday, Mrs. Wheat, Miss Mallow, James Smith, and Bowe and Tommy. They also invited three newcomers, all of them dark-skinned, who hoped to live free in Iowa Territory. There was a lady named Caroline Bender, a man named Sam Walsh, and one other man named Walter Parker. Walter Parker was a barber. He cut Nate’s hair. Nate would be ready for his wedding.

To Penny’s surprise, Nate wanted to invite old Mr. Sweeney to the wedding!

“What?” she said. “Why would you invite him?”

Nate laughed. “After I doctored his horses, he changed how he talks to me. He listens and doesn’t shout or get angry. Oh, he’s still an angry, lonely old man. He’ll never really like me. But it’s a wedding. It’s a happy time. Anyway, don’t you want to give Alice and her two children a chance to come into Key City? Don’t you think she’s lonely all the time? Living up there on Calder Creek with just her kids and old Mr. Sweeney?”

Penny raised one shoulder, thinking. Then she nodded. “Alright,” she said. “But you get to ask him.” And so the next day Nate rode over to Mr. Sweeney’s place and invited him. He was careful to ride far away from the Ginn brothers’ lead mine.

On the day of the wedding a very light rain fell. For once it was cool. The wedding party met at Penny and Nate’s house. From there they all walked to the small log cabin where Father Samuel Mazzuchelli waited for them. He was a tiny man. He was Italian. When he spoke English, it had the sound of singing in it. He had dark hair, and he wore the long black and white coat of a priest. He moved to meet them at the doorway of the cabin. He had a quick smile, and he held his arms open. “Welcome! Everyone welcome!” he said. “Let us marry this man and this woman in the eyes of God!” He shook hands with everyone in the wedding party. He even shook hands with Mr. Sweeney, who said, “I never met a priest from Italy before.”

Father Mazzuchelli laughed. But then with warm eyes and a quiet voice he said, “You are welcome in this church. I welcome you, and God welcomes you! It’s not much yet. But next year we build a real church. A beautiful place! A place for God’s people to meet.” Mr. Sweeney turned red. But he seemed pleased.

Everyone went into the small log cabin. At the back of the cabin was a table. The table had a beautiful white cloth. A small gold cross sat in the middle of the cloth. Penny felt a feeling, a little like she was going to cross the Mississippi River again. She was excited and scared. But she knew once she crossed this river, her life would be completely different. Standing there in her pink dress, she knew she would never go back. She would not leave Iowa. And she would be Nate’s wife.

“You look beautiful,” said Nate. He took her hand.

Father Mazzuchelli said in his singing English, “We have come rejoicing into the house of the Lord for this celebration, dear brothers and sisters, and now we stand with Penny and Nate.” And so the wedding began.