It's the little stuff that makes the Novel

I will be including snipets on life at that time such as what they ate, wore, what were people gossiping about at the time...how was food prepared specifically...see connection/convergance of two cultures in the way the heroine prepares her food and what food the hero has learned to make from his "people", as a slave. This could be an entire conversation. Also, perhaps a passage from the hero's point of view about how she looks, what she wears, etc. To him, she is very beautiful...we will see why. Her independent/strong spirit and determination and to her kindness in caring for him and also her looks which in some ways seem to embody her determined spirit.

She is attracted to him physically but also to his kindness, gentleness, and also determination. She notes his hair like the fur of the buffalo, his eyes (searching glances at her when he doesn't know she sees him...) He has some resemblance to her father who was killed trying to stop the encroachment of the settlers..

Gossip is a largely local phenomenon in that they discuss what people are doing back in the community (less about settlers) and this could be where something comes up about the wild goings on of the contact's daughter and of the other young people in the community and the reader and/or heroine first learn of this element in our story.

Note that the important development to the story today then is that of the significance of cultural differences. This element alone creates interest and plot development in the story because the hero and heroine must learn about each other culturally (as well as about each other's past) before they can interact on a real and functional level.