Seth snorted. Tasha saw the anger and sadness battling for supremacy on his face. Without thinking she reached out and touched his forearm. “I’m sorry Seth. It’s none of my business. I didn’t mean to upset you.” She then turned and began walking toward the shop once more. Seth was a step or two behind her. Now his mind was once again considering the hell Patrice had put him through before he left home.
Seth immediately began working in the shop when they got back there. Tasha stood watching for a moment and saw where she might be able to help him by holding items as they worked on them. Without asking she stepped in and began working alongside Seth. She could tell by the way he moved Seth was angry. She felt bad for making him recall whatever it was that had upset him.
During a lull in their work Tasha looked over at Seth once again and said, “Seth please. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. Please forgive me.”
Seth looked over at the pretty woman trying to help him and gave her a small smile. “I know Tasha. You just made me remember a really shitty part of my life.”
“Can I help Seth? Maybe if you tell me I can think of something to make you feel better.”
Seth laughed and said, “No. I’m pretty sure you can’t help and if you could I damn sure wouldn’t want help with what that bitch wanted me to do…” Seth got a stricken look on his face and turned away from Tasha. He walked out of the building toward the little pool he used to bathe in.
Tasha watched Seth walk away then she followed him. When he sat on a rock beside the pool she walked up and sat beside him. She put her hand on his thigh and said, “What is it Seth? Please tell me.”
For some reason Seth began talking. When he started talking it was like a dam bursting. He told Tasha the whole sordid tale from the time he first began to wonder about Patrice through his suspicions about her up to the time when she and Harold tried to make him their cuckold. He even told her about the problems he had with the people in his home town and why he came to Colorado. To his surprise when he finished talking he felt better. He was sad, angry and wrung out but it felt as if his soul was somehow cleansed.
Tasha sat and listened. She heard and felt the anger, disgust and sadness, the sense of betrayal. She put her hand on Seth’s forearm and said, “I don’t know what to say Seth. I’ve heard of people cheating on their spouse or intended. I’ve even heard about couples who have open relationships but I’ve never heard about someone who wanted to do what Patrice and this Harold guy tried to do to you. I just don’t understand so much about the whole thing.”
Tasha looked up at Seth and continued, “My parents and my grandparents follow the old way. Mother was a white woman and Daddy was 7/8 Indian. We believe the woman belongs to the man yet they are as one. In the old days many Braves had more than one woman. Usually there was only one wife but there could be some women who were slaves to the man. He could choose to use them in any way he desired or to even give them to other Braves. Never was a man degraded as your Patrice and Harold tried to degrade you. The Brave would have killed her and Harold.
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