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"The store owner took me captive when I came to trade for food. I was there a long time. But I had to work, and cooking was what I did best. It…. was not all bad."
"Were your people killed?" He inquired.
"I have heard that the village was attacked, I do not know for sure. The men were out hunting when I went to your village for supplies." She murmured. "Sadly, I do not know if any are even alive. Too Tall is a proud warrior and he would protect all he could. I wonder sometimes if he misses me. I was to bear his children."
"I'm sorry."
"For me or my sister?" She quipped.
"Both." He frowned.
"There is no need to be, you were not there. And if we get back, I will bear him children. If he still wants me…"
"Still wants you?"
Her head bowed now, and her cheeks seemed to flush.
"Yes, my owner raped me several times in fact." She let that sink in, then added. "And now…I am with child."
"What?" Matt stopped and turned to look at her.
She bent her head in what looked like shame. "My husband may not want me now. But yes, I am pregnant with a white man's baby. And that is why he would not want me."
"Why didn't you tell me? All of us?"
"It was not your concern then. But now, as we traipse across the country, I must warn you. He may not take me back."
"What would he do?"
"Shame me in front of our people and shun me. I could not stay if he did so. If he decided to keep me, the baby would become a slave. I do not want that to happen as a male slave would endure many hardships."
"When are you due?" Matt stared at her belly. She didn't look pregnant.
"Not until the late spring or early summer."
"Well, from now on you ride."
She regarded him with curiosity and when he turned his head away, she smiled.
Later before lying down for the night he became curious about her.
The next morning, after breakfast, while he sipped his coffee, he stared at her. Pregnant, he would have never guessed.
"How come you speak such good English?" He asked as he walked along side of her on the horse.
"I learned once I was captured. A French trapper, that did business with the store owner, taught me much about it. He was a common trader at the Lodge and he would spend time with me teaching me to speak the language. I had visited the trader lodge many times. The trapper was a lot older. He treated me like his child. He said if I learned to speak like them, they would accept me easier."
"Did they?"
"Yes."
"You said your husband has three wives?" He queried.
"Yes. He did, I do not know now how many he has."
"White men have only one."
"Why?"
