"I am not easily offended." She smiled.
Hannah bowed her head, bit her lip, then looked up to the understanding eyes of Black Feather. "When Lone Wolf saved me from the cat. He touched me on the chin and smiled. I liked it… No man ever touched me so gently before. His kindness confuses me, I have never known anyone like him. I am his slave, and yet he is kind to me."
"Ah yes, touching is good. Did you love your husband?"
"No…. "
"Why?" She looked perplexed.
"I guess because he beat me. He climbed on me and left me feeling dirty, and unclean. He was always drunk when he did. I did not like it. I feel I was a bad wife, and I would make another a bad wife. I should never marry."
"Hump Bear was that way with his wife. Little Fawn hated him."
"What does his wife do?"
"He killed her one day. Gray Eye ran him off from our tribe as he was mean and disgusting too."
"I have no feelings at all for my white husband. Does that make me bad too?"
"No, of course not." Black Feather nodded, "And your parents, did you love them?"
Hannah stared at the ground now, ashamed at her true feelings. "My mother taught me things as a child, but she showed no love, neither did my father. I respected them, but I'm not sure I loved them. Is that ugly of me?"
"No child, it is sad. It is good Lone Wolf brought you here then."
"Why?"
"Because he knows much about love. He seeks it, and he will find it. Maybe you too."
"He saved me, twice now, and I owe him much."
"Can you not find it in your heart to love him?"
"Black Feather, I'm not sure what love is… How will I ever know such a thing? What do I look for? How do I know when it comes?"
"When it happens, you will know." She smiled.
"Lone Wolf is a gentle man, kind, and I like him, very much. He treats me well. Better than anyone else ever did."
Another frown passed Black Feather's face.
"Yes, many maidens want him for a husband. But he does not look upon them like that. He is gentle as you say and kind, but he finds no love with them. Little Feather would like to be his wife, but he doesn't look at her like that."
"I have spoken, perhaps out of turn for her to him."
"You want him to marry her?" Black Feather frowned.
"I asked, when I leave if he would marry her. He said he might, that he favored her more than the others."
"It would not be a good thing, Hannah."
"I don't understand, she is a wonderful young woman, and pretty too. Don't you like her?"
"Yes, I do. But Lone Wolf doesn't love her, and she does him. It would hurt her in the end…"
"I didn't realize…I didn't mean to say the wrong thing…"
"It will all work out, I am sure of it."