In a burst of inspiration, Murdock chuckled to himself, snapped to attention, held the torch high with one hand, his free hand bent at a right angle across his belly, palm up.
“Milady’s baath is ready!” he said in a false English accent, keeping a very straight face.
“Seriously?” Rose asked with excited anticipation.
“I don’t see why not,” Murdock responded.
Before he could get the words out, Rose had removed her grass skirt and was dipping her toes into the pool, testing the temperature. A second later, she was in the pool, immersed up to her chin.
“This is just wonderful,” she exclaimed from the pool.
Murdock started laughing from the edge of the pool.
“What are you laughing at?” Rose asked accusingly.
“Nothing much. When I first met you, I thought you might be one of those snooty women who require gold and diamonds. Now, I see all it takes is a hot bath!” he joked.
Rose looked up at him sideways.
“A girl can go a long way in life with a hot bath . . . and a good man,” she replied, grinning up at him slyly.
“Just be careful! I don’t know how deep that pool is or if there are any sharp rocks,” he said, chuckling at her antics. “The only thing wrong with this place is how difficult it will be to light.”
“I think it’s wonderful the way it is,” Rose said, relishing the hot water.
Murdock stuck the torch into the sand.
“Enjoy your bath, Rose. I’m going to get started on the improvements. I’ll be back in a bit,” he said, heading back the way they had come.
Back in the main entrance chamber where he had nursed Rose, he put his buckskin shirt back on and loaded up with as much equipment as he could carry. Then Murdock gathered all the wood together to haul it to their new quarters. This all seemed perfect to him, and he noticed a little spring in his step. I know I can survive with just the bare necessities, I’ve done it several times in my life, but having a few comforts just made life more bearable, he thought. Life here is going to be very hard, especially on Rose, so any comforts I can find she deserves.
Back in their new quarters, he removed all the equipment and set it neatly in a pile on the rocks. Then he set up a fire pit on the rocks close to the sand in the center of the room. Rose had finished her bath, bringing the torch over and tossing it on the fire pit. Murdock stood up and saw that she wasn’t dressed.
“It’s your turn,” she insisted.
“I’ll take one later,” he replied as he stood up. “I want to get everything moved in here as soon as I can and get the meat hung.”
“You are going to take one now,” she demanded, shoving him toward the pool. She grinned in a playfully evil way.
Murdock stumbled a little in the sand but regained his footing. Rose was slowly walking toward him. “I’ll take one when I get things moved,” he maintained as he backed slowly away from her advance.
“No offense, Kevin, but you smell like an old horse,” she said through tight lips, still advancing. “I’m in the mood to have a clean-smelling man around me!”
“I’ll take a bath when I’m finished,” he exclaimed, still retreating toward the pool. “I promise!”
“Oh, you do, do you,” she said, still grinning as she nodded and advanced. “You promise to do it later?”
“Yes, I promise,” Murdock pleaded, nodding back.
He was still retreating from her advance, but, focused on Rose, wasn’t aware of his feet and caught his heel on a half-buried rock. Murdock stumbled backward into the pool, head first, resulting in a large splash. His head popped out of the water as he sputtered.
Rose laughed at him from the edge of the pool. “No time like the present!”
Murdock removed his boots first and threw them onto the sand at Rose’s feet. Next, still in the water, he removed his pants and threw those at Rose, too. She tried to catch them, but a wet pant leg whipped around and slapped her lower back. By this time, Murdock had his shirt off, and he threw it at her as well. The wet shirt caught Rose full in the face with a soggy slap.
Rose took his wet buckskins and spread them out on rocks close by the fire, then joined him in the pool.
“Woman, I ought to wring your neck for that fool stunt,” Murdock chastised her as she entered the pool.
“Sorry, Kevin, but you really do stink,” Rose said semi-apologetically.
“What about my buckskins? They could be ruined,” Murdock protested.
“If they are, I’ll make you a grass skirt to wear,” Rose said, moving closer to him.
“I wouldn’t be caught dead in a grass skirt,” he told her.
“That’s okay. I prefer you naked, anyway.”
Under the water, his arms went around her waist automatically. She smoothed out his long, wet hair as he gently caressed her wet skin. “I don’t like your beard,” she said after studying his face for a while. Rose wrapped her legs around his waist so that he held her entire weight in the water.
“As soon as I can get a mirror, I’ll shave it off,” he told her, enjoying the feel of her skin.
“I can do that for you,” she said excitedly. Then she exclaimed, “Oh, my.”
“What?” he said.
“Well, I would ask if that was a pickle in your pocket, but you don’t have pockets right now, and I can tell you’re definitely glad to see me.” She grinned broadly.
Murdock’s face turned a deep shade of red. “Sorry,” he said, sliding her back a little.
Rose immediately slid forward again forcefully. “No need to apologize,” she said, still grinning. Then, changing the subject, she said, “I like your hair long. I’ll make you a tie to keep it off your face.”
Murdock held onto Rose, looking into her face, caressing the small of her back gently as he let the hot water work on his abused muscles. After a few minutes, Rose untangled her legs from Murdock’s waist and stood free from him.
“Well, get busy,” she commanded. “What do you think? You have all day to lounge around in the pool?”
Murdock splashed water in her face and laughed.
“Oh, you’re going to pay for that,” she promised as she tried to dunk him.
After a few minutes of splashing and general horseplay, Rose got out of the pool and walked over to the fire. Murdock followed after her. Once at the fire, she spread out her grass skirt on the sand and lay on her stomach on top of the skirt. Murdock came over next to her and gently started rubbing the small of her back.
“Feel better?” she asked him coyly.
“I felt okay before. Now, I just feel wet,” he said facetiously.
“Well, you smell better, anyway,” she stated after sniffing the air. Then, after a pause, she said, “Kevin, we need to have a serious talk.”
“What would you like to talk about?” he asked, still massaging her back.
Rose rolled over on her side to look at him.
“Do you find me attractive?” she asked seriously.
“I think you’re very attractive,” he told her.
“But not sexually attractive?”
“No, I find you to be extremely attractive in all aspects,” he responded, nervously.
“Then why is it you passed up a golden opportunity?”
“What are you talking about?” Murdock asked with a shocked look on his face.
“Any other man would have taken me a long time ago, but, as of twenty minutes ago, you passed on the opportunity, and I would like to know if it’s me.”
Murdock quit rubbing her back and sat cross-legged on the rocks by the fire. He looked at his feet, not knowing what to say. “I just don’t find sex to be all that important,” he finally said softly.
“You don’t? You don’t think human intimacy is important?” she asked, incredulous. “What about kids and ensuring the survival of the species?”
“Intimacy is very important,” he said, clearly uncomfortable with the subject matter, “but in the proper context.”<
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Rose lay with her head propped on her hand. She gazed at him, and he knew she was waiting for him to explain further.
“What, to you, is the proper context?” she asked him finally. When he didn’t answer, she asked him, “Truthfully, how many women have you had sex with?”
All the color drained from his face, and he felt extremely nervous. Soon, she rolled over on her back and started laughing hysterically. Already uncomfortable, he got up and started to get dressed.
“I don’t believe it,” she said, trying to stop laughing and failing. “The big bull of the woods is a virgin?” she asked between fits of laughter. “Well, that figures! That’s just my kind of luck!”
Murdock stopped dressing and turned, his blood boiling. “I fail to see what is so damned funny,” he yelled at her finally. “I’m really glad you’re having such a good time at my expense!”
Rose got up and, still chuckling, went over to him. “I’m sorry, Kevin. I didn’t mean to laugh,” she said, “but it’s just my kind of luck to finally find a man who treats me like a real person instead of a piece of meat to have fun with, and have him turn out to be a virgin.” Rose gently touched his bare back.
“I just never found the right woman! What’s wrong with that?” Murdock yelled, immediately shaking off her hand.
Rose finally stopped laughing. “Kevin, you said I was raped . . . and I believe you, but they didn’t get a virgin,” she went on without laughing. “You are a damn good man, Kevin, probably the best man I have ever met, and you deserve a lot better than me for your first time. Your first time should be something very special with someone very special.”
“And you don’t think making love with you would be special to me?” he asked without turning around or looking at her.
“That isn’t what I meant,” Rose said softly, but full of emotion. “You deserve a pure virginal beauty, not some used and abused, beat-up old hag!” Rose turned her back on him, and the tears started to flow. “I don’t know, for your first time you should at least feel like you are in love, even if you’re not. And maybe she should feel, or think she feels, the same way about you.” Rose hung her head. Then Murdock turned around and put his arms around her, holding her tight.
“Rose, to me, you are someone very special! To me, you’re a pure virginal beauty! I love you, Rose! Would you be my first and only?”
Rose whipped around in his arms, mouth hanging open, still crying. “Oh, Kevin, I love you, too! What took you so damned long?” she said through the tears. “I’d be upset if I weren’t your one and only!”
A few minutes later, on top of the grass skirt he had made for her and with many tears and declarations of love, Murdock and Rose made love for the first time.
11
An hour later, while they lay together enjoying the afterglow, Murdock broke the silence.
“I suppose we should get married,” he said to the roof of the cavern.
Rose rolled over to look at him in shock. “Okay, if you say so. Are we talking religious or civil ceremony?” she asked.
“Oh, just a civil ceremony is fine with me,” he stated seriously.
“Then you’re going to be one busy man!”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, you need to re-invent medical science, for the blood tests and so we can be properly poked, prodded, and generally abused by strangers; you need to re-invent paper and a printing press for all those invitations to people who don’t really matter; and you can’t forget about government, so our lives can be properly controlled by those who don’t care, and so we can be taxed and papers stamped; gift stores, so those who get invited can pick out inane gifts that we really don’t want or need. If you want a religious ceremony, then you also have to re-invent religion on top of everything else. Like I said, you are going to be one busy man!”
“Hmm, well, I guess we won’t get married today, then,” Murdock said after a short pause to think about what she had said.
“Hate to break it to you, pal,” she said, tapping her hand on his bare chest, “but we’re already married! At least, I feel like we are, and if you run across any other damsels in need of rescuing in your travels, I plan to make sure my claim on you isn’t jumped by some other bimbo!”
“But what about my harem?” he joked
“Oh, you beast,” she yelled, pinching him in the side. “You’re nothing but a lazy lay-about taking advantage of poor, innocent young women!”
“Hey, cut me some slack, I just got married,” he pleaded.
“I know,” she said, smiling at him, “so did I! But married life isn’t always a bed of roses, you know!”
“Doesn’t need to be, as long as I’m in Rose’s bed . . . besides, every rose has its thorns.” He chuckled at his puns.
“You are such a love . . . and a total beast! Seven times a bastard! Insulting your new wife that way,” she said, laughing uncontrollably.
Suddenly, Rose got up on her elbows.
“Oh, my God! Here I am, a newly wedded and bedded bride, and I don’t even know how old my husband is,” she said, distressed.
“Twenty-eight,” Murdock answered, giggling.
“And an old bastard at that! I’m just a sweet, innocent, twenty-four! You should be ashamed! Taking advantage of someone so sweet and innocent and of such tender years,” she joked.
Murdock laughed. “Innocent?” he asked.
“More slander? You slanderous, old, lusty coot,” she chided good-naturedly. Then she kissed him soundly and passionately. “But you’re my old, lusty coot,” she added.
“And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Come on, old man,” Rose said, tapping his chest, “you’re burning daylight!”
“I think we already burned most of it,” Murdock responded.
“And what a perfectly wonderful way to burn it, too,” she said as she kissed him again. “But you have to get up and at ‘em. Get the rest of our stuff moved down here, so your new wife can make her husband a proper meal.”
Murdock continued laughing as he got dressed and went to get the rest of their stuff. On a whim, he left the cave and walked all the way down to the stream. There, he saw some white and yellow wildflowers growing along the bank. He picked several, then gathered more wood and returned to the cave. Then, he picked up more of their gear and carried it all down to their new home.
“Honey, I’m home,” he yelled as he entered the large chamber. He dumped the wood by the fire and turned to Rose, who tended the meat on the fire. He gave her the flowers.
“I thought you might like these,” he said as he gave them to her.
She immediately smelled his breath. “Trying to make up for your night out drinking with the boys?” she said slyly, and then she chuckled. “They’re wonderful, thank you. Now, hustle your ass, and get the rest! Dinner will be ready soon.”
“That’s all of it, except for the grass you were sleeping on and the last quarter of deer.”
“A new bride, and I have no bed to help me seduce my old man,” she chided.
Murdock laughed all the way back up.
After gathering the grass and deer, he returned to the cave. Rose had taken the flowers he had brought and made a crown with the white ones and a necklace with the yellow ones. She wasn’t dressed, but he thought she couldn’t be more beautiful.
“All done?” she asked.
“Yes, all done. You look absolutely gorgeous dressed like that. Now, can we eat?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said smiling at his compliment. “Have to keep my husband’s strength up so he can perform his husbandly duties.” Then she pouted. “Unless you’re tired of me already.”
“Never,” he declared with vigor. “How could I ever tire of such a lusty, busty, beauty as you?”
They both had a wonderful laugh during their meal.
“How sharp is the knife in your boot?” Rose asked after they had eaten.
Murdock pulled out the six-inch knife and tried to shave t
he hair on his arm. With a single pass, his arm was bare.
“Sharp enough, I’d say,” he replied. “Why do you ask?”
“You’ll see,” she said, holding out her hand.
Skeptical, Murdock handed her the knife.
“Now, go get in the tub. You smell like an old meat packer who had sex before work,” she commanded.
Murdock shook his head and decided that her request wasn’t up for argument. He stood up, stripped, and headed for the hot pool. He had to admit that the hot water felt wonderful. As he soaked, Rose took off her crown and necklace and laid them carefully beside the pool. Then she got in with the knife. She immediately wrapped her legs around him again.
“Now, lie back, and relax,” she ordered.
Murdock was more than a little nervous.
“Um, this can wait, you know,” he said trying to stave off the inevitable.
“Maybe for you, but I prefer to get all shocks done and over with quickly. Since I have never seen you without a beard, that should be quite a shock for me,” she told him in a matter-of-fact tone.
Murdock tried to lay his head back and relax while Rose wet his face with the hot water.
“Ever been shaved before?” she asked.
“No, I haven’t! And it does make me nervous.”
“Well, then, just lie back, because to be honest,” she said as she took the first swipe down his face with the knife, removing a good portion of his beard, “I’ve never shaved anyone before.”
Murdock’s eyes widened and he tried to get her off him.
“Just relax,” she said calmly, “I promise to try real hard to not slit your throat.”
Murdock didn’t relax, but soon she finished shaving him. He rubbed his face with a wet hand.
“How did I do?” Rose asked, caressing the side of his face.
“You did just fine, but you could have told me you’ve never done that before,” he said, finally relaxing.
“Oh, pooh! What fun is that? Don’t you have a sense of adventure?” She giggled at him.
“I do, but there’s a difference between adventure and foolhardiness,” he exclaimed.
“Did I cut you or nick you?” she asked innocently.
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