Chapter 9

AJ was still so weak from the blood loss, that when he slept nothing could have awakened him. So even if he had been able to hear Dammit over the sounds of the waterfall while awake, the chance of him hearing her from a deep sleep was non-existent. His caretaker, however was another story all together, she had been out gathering food for the two of them when she heard someone in the woods.

Investigating the sounds she'd seen a strange woman with the man's dog in the clearing where the bear had attacked him. Watching for a minute she had seen the woman pick something up off the ground and then turn to talk to the dog. Not wanting them to find the man and take him away from her, she hurried back to the cave to do everything she could to try and keep him from being found.

A short time later she watched the woman and the dog from behind the curtain of water. They walked around awhile and then left. She was once again alone with the man.

It wasn't until she was cooking their supper that the man opened his eyes again. She felt his gaze on her as soon as he woke and she turned to look at him.

"Hello again," AJ said and then because he's always been a proper and respectful person, he asked her, "Don't you have any clothes to put on?"

She nodded at him and got up to go over to the wall of the cave where he had seen before that she kept her stored items. Coming back to him she laid the torn and bloody remnants of his sweats next to him.

Realizing that she had once again misunderstood him, he still found a corner of his brain that marveled at how he'd survived the bear attack after seeing his clothes. The thought of clothes brought back something he'd discovered the last time he'd been awake but was too out of it to do anything about. He carefully pulled up the bearskin, not to uncover too much of himself, revealing his feet that were still encased in his running shoes and socks. "Why did you remove all my clothes, but not take these off?" he asked.

Frowning, she moved to his feet and pulled on his shoes. Nothing happened except that AJ groaned as this action pulled on his leg injury. She looked up at him in confusion and then down at the shoes again. Once again she pulled on them and AJ waved his hand at her to try and get her to stop while saying, "Please don't do that." He struggled to sit up and when she saw that, she quickly moved to help him. Leaning over careful not to loose his grip on the bearskin, AJ undid the Velcro closure on the shoes and loosed them enough so that they would come off easily.

Picking up one shoe she played with the Velcro closing and opening it again and again. She was like a child with a new toy and was smiling from ear to ear when she looked up at him. Laughing even though it hurt his stomach wounds, AJ took delight at in the joy on her face over something so simple.

Looking up at his laughter she cocked her head sidewayr and gave him a smile. AJ was captivated. She was so sweet and giving, taking care of him as she was. He wondered about her age, from the looks of her she could have been anywhere between her mid-twenties to mid to late thirties. But she was so childlike in her delight of the Velcro and she misunderstood some of the simplest things. Who was she? And why was she….naked?!

Maybe he could be forgiven for his slow uptake of her identity because of his injuries, but he was mentally kicking himself for not seeing it earlier. She was the McLean Woodland Nymph!

To be continued...