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"It's a long story." He said as he took another bite and looked at her. There was only one plate and she had given it to him.
"What about you, are you gonna eat?" He asked.
"When you finish, yes…" She nodded. "Now will you tell me the long story?"
Matt almost chuckled then sighed heavily. "Well, I was thinking about my folks. You see, my Pa was very religious, and a very strict man. He was a preacher. He raised me to go to church and when I messed up, he beat me with a hickory stick, if he could find one, or a belt if he couldn't. He beat me regular. Because I was always saying something he didn't like or doing something. I hated it, I almost hated him. I ran away from it. I didn't think he was fair. I still don't think he was fair. But the funny part is, what he taught me, stuck, if you know what I mean. I believe in doing things right. He just never saw that. And I never realized that what he taught me took and that I could act upon it until today. I think today, I've finally became the man I want to be."
"And will you go back to your home when you take me to my people?" She asked.
"No, no, that is over. I'm a man now and I'll find my own way."
"The outlaw way?" She raised a brow.
"No" He stared into her disbelieving eyes. "I thought maybe I'd work a while, maybe on a ranch or something, earn me some money and buy me a little place." He told her.
She stared with questions in her eyes. "Why?"
"Why what?" he asked.
"Why will you not go back home?"
"Because," he thought again about it. "Sometimes you can't go back home. You don't belong there any longer. Sometimes you should make your own home. That's what I'll do."
Something crossed her face, but Matt couldn't put it together. Why had what he said affected her?
"You will not miss your people?" She asked.
"Oh sure, I'll miss them," He shrugged. "But I won't live with them anymore…"
"Did you have a big family?" She asked.
"Three brothers and two sisters. I was the oldest. My oldest sister married and moved off, after a while. I had a younger sister, she reminds me of you a little. And three younger brothers."
When she sat down her dress rode up on her legs, but he tried not to pay attention to that. Still he was a man, and he couldn't completely ignore how pretty she was. He tried not to pay attention, but that just didn't take either. She wore a band around her head, that was decorated, and a necklace that was kind of pretty, and even though her dress was just deer hide, it looked right on her. Her hair was long, black and braided on both sides. She had big sad dark eyes. He'd seen a few Indians but none quite as pretty as her. He wondered if she was married to a chief or son of a chief.
"I guess you are anxious to get back to your people?" He asked.
She bowed her head and didn't answer.
"Aren't you?" He waited for her to answer.
"Yes," she said lowly, as though mulling her answer.
"Do you have children?" He asked as he finished his plate and gave it to her.
She went to the creek to wash it and came back. "No, I have not been married that long. I was his third wife."
"Third wife?" Matt couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice. "You mean he has more than one wife?"
"Yes, my sister, and another. I was his last wife as far as I know."
"And your husband, is he a warrior?" Matt asked as she dished up her plate.
"He is a dog soldier, the strongest and mightiest of the tribe." She said proudly.
Matt nodded. "Well, I hope he will understand that I am trying to bring you home unharmed." Matt told her.
"He will not understand that. He hates the whites. All whites. Unless I could speak up quick enough, he would kill you, before you said a word."
