Pinja paled. She had tried pushing Jack away so many times. And his people after the raid...

Millie quickly realized how Pinja had taken that. "No, no. He wanted to court her. Uncle Aron, from what I understand, had actually been planning to become a monk before Aunt Lia arrived. He never forced himself on her or anything."

Pinja shifted uncomfortably and sipped on some ginger tea. "Hopefully Lek meets someone soon and forgets about me."

"Not everyone gets to meet some one."

"But Lek wants it so badly... He'd make a good husband to the right girl." Pinja said, then remembered that Millie was single. "There might be other decent men who aren't your brother out there... But being married is overrated. I didn't enjoy it one bit."

Millie shrugged. "I don't even harbor any wishes any more. I took everything in my hope chest to the Odds and Ends shop. I don't care anymore."

Pinja thought everything in Millie's Hope Chest would have been gone by now, thanks to the raiders.

"Did you know Lek felt that way?"

Millie shook her head. "Apparently part of the problem is that I am missing the part of my mind that recognizes love. I only figured it out when he was asking me to assist him in his plan today."

"I didn't see it coming either." Pinja sighed. "I liked having him for a friend. Now..."

"I know. For what it's worth, I tried to talk him out of it."

"I hold have hid this better." Pinja gestured to her still pretty flat belly. "If he didn't know he wouldn't have proposed."

"We don't know that. He may have just been biding his time until Jack was out of your life."

"They why didn't he try this before the raid?" Pinja asked. "The marriage had been annulled, Jack was in prison..."

"I don't know that he knew the marriage was annulled," Millie replied.

"Did he even know I was married?" Pinja asked. "I took off the ring when I left the wedding and never wore it, sold it first chance I got."

"I'm sure he must have heard Jack running his mouth at some point and time."

"Oh no... What would Jack have told him?" Pinja felt sick. While she was locked in the cabin he overheard Jack boasting to his friends outside about what he had done to her as they cheered him. Pinja turned to the pail to throw up.

"Oh! No! No! I meant he probably heard Jack going around shouting you were his wife. I don't think Lek would have spoken to someone like Jack."

Too late, Pinja was vomiting. When she recovered she rinsed her mouth with ginger tea. "I wish Lek never knew anything about any of this."

"I know." Millie felt she was doing more harm than good with Pinja.

"I wish there was a way to make him forget..." Pinja said.

"I wouldn't know how." There were a lot of things she herself wished she could forget.

Pinja would give anything to forget everything Jack and his people had done to her. She closed her eyes. "Lek won't press me to marry him, will he?"

"I'll try to talk to him. Hopefully he will honor your wishes."

"I don't want things any more awkward than they already are." Pinja said.