Lighthouse

Chapter 3

Rick had used a bathroom hand towel to cover her more strategic area to give her some privacy, even if he had seen everything. At the moment he was really happy about one thing: she was unconscious. Because if she wasn't this was likely going to hurt. He got to work cleaning the nasty cut that was on her leg. Once it was all flushed out he had put tincture of iodine in the cut to help prevent infection then got to work sewing her leg.

"I'm trying to be careful, I really am. I'm giving you nice tight stitches so you shouldn't have much of a scar." Long legs like these didn't deserve a nasty scar. Rick was careful and took his time. "There, all done. …Not so bad even if I do say so myself." He was happy with his work and started cleaning up and putting his first aid kit away.

Next came getting the rest of her wet clothes off. When he was done she was lying there with a towel over her core. "Okay, to bed with you." Rick pulled the sheet up followed by the comforter and covered her completely, right up to her chin. Then he reached under all of it and pulled the hand towel out. "Sweet dreams."

Rick picked up all the wet clothes, took them downstairs, and into the kitchen. He only had a wringer washing machine with a set of galvanized rinse tubs. When it wasn't raining he hung his clothes out to dry next to the house. However, since it was still raining a little, he hung them on a line in the kitchen.

Then he went back upstairs to get a load of his clothes and threw them into the washer. If he was going to be hanging wet clothes he might as well hang some of his own.

Breakfast was proving to be difficult for him. He'd hung up everything of hers. That meant he had a wet bra and a pair of wet panties hanging in his kitchen with a naked woman upstairs. While he had seen literally everything, he hadn't touched any of it. Well, save for her damaged leg and what it took to get it all off of her.

"Stop taunting me," he muttered at the bra and panties then turned away so he didn't have to see them. Though that didn't mean his mind was on them or on the naked woman upstairs.

"How did you end up on those rocks anyway?" If she was on that ship she should be at the bottom of the ocean with it. Yet she wasn't. So where was the rest of the crew? "And when did ship captains start using women for crew?" Rick was now filled with questions.

He was done eating so he worked at cleaning up his mess. Then he turned and almost ran face first into a wet bra. "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you!" he told the bra as he walked past it and out into the living room.

He had work to do. First though, he went upstairs to check on his guest and found her still fast asleep and breathing comfortably. "You just sleep, nothing's going to happen to you here." It was just him so she would be safe here.

He went back downstairs and out into the light. The rain had stopped though the sky was still a little dark looking. But he did see some clearing in the distance. Dark enough that the light needed to stay on. He still had work to do.

First up was checking for any damage from the storm. Then he went over to his downed antenna. Getting this thing back up and secured so he could talk to someone wasn't going to be easy, if not impossible since he was all alone.

It was even worse when he found one section badly bent. "Figures." His luck was still holding strong. "If it wasn't for bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all." Rick was forced to laugh at his predicament and started heading for the maintenance building so he could gather some tools and get started.

Rick ignored that he was talking to himself again. He was all alone after all so there was no one else to talk to. Also no one was going to notice and make fun of him.

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He wasn't tired per se, though he was almost done straightening out his antenna. The bent area was now weak so he had pulled the acetylene torch out to the antenna along with some spare steel bars that he had and welded them to the bent sections. He had just one more bar to weld into place.

Getting the antenna straight enough so he could weld anything to it had been hard enough. It might be bent and a weak spot, but that didn't mean it was easy, since it wasn't.

"There, all done. Now I just need a plan on how to get you back up in the air and secured again. With tie downs that are snapped." Rick hung his head.

He dragged the acetylene tank back into the maintenance building and started looking for wire he could use to secure the antenna if and when he got it back up in the air. He actually found two bundles of wire that might do the job. It was all he had so if it didn't work he was going to have to come up with a plan B.

Now, though, it was well past lunch and he was starving so he left everything and headed for the house. It meant entering the kitchen and confronting the bra and panties again.

"I'm not listening." Rick put his hands over his ears. "La, la, la, la, la." It got him past both of them and over to the refrigerator. "Lunch, what to have for lunch. How about a nice big fat greasy burrito." He got out the hamburger that he needed to use up anyway before it started turning bad on him.

While it was browning in the skillet he added a pot of water to boil the rice in. Then got busy chopping since his perishables were going to go bad soon if he didn't use them up. Next he added a mix of spices to his meat. Then he warmed up a flour taco shell by laying it on the meat while it was still simmering.

Once it was all rolled up with a little cheese and even a touch of lettuce, since it needed to be used up before it went bad, too, and he was ready. He just needed to add a glass of milk before it turned sour.

"Oh shut up," Rick said to the bra that was teasing him. He turned his back on the accursed thing and ate his lunch in silence. Lots and lots of silence.

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She slowly opened her eyes and tried to focus. It was just that what she was seeing didn't make any sense. White walls with a wood door that looked like a really nice door at that. It didn't help that her head was pounding.

There were two windows that had curtains of questionable taste hanging on them. Next she saw the light on the wall as well as a mirror at the same height on a different wall.

"I'm in bed! …Well a bed." She looked down, which instantly made her a bit dizzy. It was a quilt and it appeared to be handmade. It wasn't exactly to her taste but it looked well made and was certainly well cared for. Something she was capable of making if she had the fabric and sewing implements to make one.

She began to sit up. "OW!" She carefully moved her hand to the offended leg. "What the...?" She felt something and it felt like thread. She used her hand and arm to pull the quilt to one side as well as the sheet and looked down. But the first thing she noticed wasn't her leg. "I'm naked!" She glanced around the room. She was alone save for the bed she was in, a dresser, and a chair. The room was actually rather spartan.

A quick look and feel told her that everything was in place just as it should be. Her breasts were fine and she didn't feel like she'd been raped so thus far everything was good. Save for being naked!

Next came looking at her leg. Moving caused a small amount of pain but it was manageable. "Stitches." Someone had done some first aid on her leg. That was when she started to remember being on the ship.

"Did it sink?" She certainly remembered all the water that was rushing right for her. How did she end up here? And just where was here?

None of her clothes were close by so getting up and dressed was out of the question. Looking out the window she could see that the rain was gone and the sun was trying to come out.

Since she was naked that meant she wasn't alone. Besides someone had stitched up her leg.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and hissed at the pain that that caused. She stood up gingerly so as not to aggravate her injured leg and walked carefully to the door while the guy in her head kept on pounding. Opening it revealed a hallway. It looked like she was the first door on the left. There was a door across from her. One on her side farther down and one across from that door.

Looking the other direction showed a set of stairs that made a turn as they went down. Since she needed clothes…. "Hello?"

In almost an instant she heard a set of feet pounding up the stairs and then a man came into view. She squealed since she was standing there naked. She turned and ran, or more accurately limped and hopped as fast as she could for the bed and dove under the covers.

She watched him enter the room just as she was adjusting the covers up to her chin so as to cover everything. He was tall, had the start of a beard, and had broad shoulders. He also wasn't all that bad on the eyes.

"Hi, you're awake." He smiled as he entered the room. "How do you feel? How's the leg? Let's take a quick look at it, shall we." Rick went around the bed and started pulling the covers away so he could expose her leg.

She didn't say a word but was careful to make sure all he exposed was her leg.

"It's a little red but I don't see any infection which is a good thing. Looks like you're going to have a doozy of a bruise, however." Rick pressed his finger to her leg in a few places. "My stitches seem to be holding. It would be best if you stayed in bed today. Give that leg a chance to heal."

"I'm Rick, by the way." He began putting the covers back over her leg and she didn't fail to notice that he didn't try to see anything else. If he was the one that did the stitches had he also removed all her clothes? "You have a name?" She was being rather quiet.

That had her trying to think. She was on the run so couldn't use her real name. She didn't have any identification on her so he wouldn't catch her in a lie and she certainly didn't need him contacting her husband.

She instantly made one up. "Kim, Kimberly MacLeod." Though she had long since settled on calling herself Kim. She just needed a last name.

"Pleasure to meet you, Kimberly MacLeod. I'm Richard Rodgers, at your service." He bowed slightly which had her smiling just a little.

"Where am I?" She had been onboard a ship. This definitely didn't look like a ship.

"You're in the lighthouse on Caribou Island. We're in Canadian waters about 3 miles from the border with the United States on Lake Superior. I'm the light keeper for this station. I work for the Canadian Coast Guard," Rick explained. "I think you came from the ship that ran aground on the reefs just to the west of here. That ship sank. Were you on that ship?" She was one lucky lady if she was. By rights she should be dead.

Since she couldn't think of a good enough lie she simply nodded her head.

"You're very lucky. If you were a cat I'd have to say you used up more than one life to be where you are now." Very lucky indeed. "Are you hungry? I can warm up a can of soup for you. I have some crackers to go with it. A little milk and lots of juice."

"That would be nice, thank you." She hadn't eaten in a while and was beginning to feel hunger pains. "My clothes?" She was still naked under all the bedding.

"They're hanging downstairs in the kitchen to dry. It's the warmest place there is so it shouldn't take too long. Which reminds me, I have a load in the washer myself that I need to hang. I'll be right back with lunch." Rick started to leave the room. "Don't go anywhere. I mean don't move. …Don't do anything to screw up my beautiful stitching job." He retreated before he could open his mouth again.

She watched him leave and began smiling. He was cute when he was flustered. Not to mention handsome and obviously built. "Lighthouse?" She looked around again. It certainly didn't look like the inside of a lighthouse. The room was far too square for that.

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Rick didn't have a tray to put it all on. No one got served breakfast in bed doing this job.

He had a bowl of soup on a hot pad in one hand. Over it was a slice of bread in case she wanted to use it to wipe the bowl clean or just eat it. On top of that was a small stack of crackers. In his other hand was a glass of orange juice. In a pocket was a spoon.

"It's soup," Rick sang out as he entered her room. Thankfully he'd left the door open since he didn't have a free hand to open it with.

He gave Kim the bowl then moved the chair next to her bed and put her orange juice on it. Having the chair close by gave her somewhere to put her bread and crackers.

She was looking at him like he had forgotten something. "Oh, the spoon." Rick fished it out of his pocket and handed it over. "You finish that and I can bring you some canned peaches next. I'm going to go check on your clothes." He was sure they would still be wet but he needed to be busy.

Kim just smiled as he hurried out of her room. She took the crackers off, set them on the chair, and then lifted up the bread to see what the soup was.

"Corn!?" She didn't even know you could make soup using corn. She used her spoon to move it around. She saw corn, red potatoes, white onion bits, a little cheese, and some green onion pieces sitting on top. It was thick and smelled wonderful. She taste tested it. It was delicious! As her stomach growled she ate it readily. She had been ignoring her hunger for what felt like days. She had eaten half of it when she remembered the crackers and her slice of bread. Soon she couldn't spoon out anything else so she actually used her slice of bread to get it all.

With it all gone she set her empty bowl on the chair and then began downing her glass of orange juice just as Rick came back carrying yet another bowl. She was still hungry and would eat another bowl of soup if that was what he had.

He put the bowl on the chair and she saw it was filled with peach slices along with a fork.

"You must have liked it. That or you were really hungry." There wasn't so much as a teaspoon of liquid left in that bowl as he picked it and the spoon up. "Your clothes are still rather damp, sorry. I have a lot of work to do so you're going to be on your own for a while. The bathroom is the other side of this wall," he pointed. "Try not to damage my stitches." Rick left her to her own devices for a while.

Since it wasn't raining but was a little cool he was back outside wearing sweats and his boots. If she washed ashore maybe there was someone else and since the sun was up, just not out, now was a good time to look.

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Kim was enjoying her peaches; she slowly ate them one at a time, savoring each bite. It gave her a chance to really look the room over. The far wall was wallpapered and while it wasn't to her taste, she had seen worse. The wood of the window sill and the door was exposed and not painted as was the wood of the baseboard. There was even wood molding at the ceiling.

It all looked kind of unfinished to her but still nice. Then she looked down and saw wood floors that were really wide planks that looked to be filled with knots. Then it hit her that she hadn't heard him walking on those floors.

With her peaches gone she didn't know what to do next. Her leg was paining her a little but it wasn't bad for now. She was pretty sure that if she moved it would hurt more. Problem was she wasn't sleepy, not even a little.

"He said he had a lot of work to do." Maybe it was safe enough to walk around naked up here since she didn't have any clothes. Getting out of bed confirmed that her leg didn't like what she was doing but it wasn't that bad.

She actually found some clothes in some of the dresser drawers in her room. She left that and went across to the door across from her and opened it. There she found a bedroom that was almost a duplicate. It even had another set of drawers that had more clothes in it.

This time she started fishing through what was in it, selecting bits of clothing, then taking them across to her room where she tossed them on the bed.

Going down the hallway she found the bathroom right where he had said it was. It had a claw foot tub with a vinyl shower curtain around it. The toilet had a tank hanging on the wall with a chain hanging from it. The sink was hanging on the wall. There was also a cabinet that she found had towels, soaps, and cleaners inside it. Even the window shelf had items for the shower on it.

She risked it and opened the last door. It was only just a touch bigger than her room and looked basically the same. Even the bedding was almost identical to the other two. So far there was nothing grand about this place. Looking out his window she could see that he was looking west and she actually saw him walking around the rocks searching for something.

"He's nice." At least he was so far. But then her husband had been at first until after they were married.