We returned to the hut for a meal. But it had no fish, crab or anything they had been hunting. Wilder looked embarrassed as we ate coconut and berries, along with some other small things he found like sun-dried seaweed and some seeds.
"Wilder, what happened to your hunting trip?"
"I was distracted."
"That doesn't seem like you."
"You were watching me. I saw you. It was hard to get things done. I was feeling bad for not spending more time with you all week."
"I wasn't trying to watch you, honestly, but I thought I had done something wrong and was working up to asking you what exactly I had done."
"Adler, we should talk about your gift."
"Alright, what part of it do you want to talk about?"
"The part where you are allowing others to see it, and take part, I don't think, is a good idea right now. More so after I tell my mother I plan to take you as my life mate, she might call bullshit on that and if she checks with you, if she uses your gift to check, then we might be in trouble."
"Wilder, I'm not worried about it. Let her check my feelings. Hell, I will even welcome her, too. She will find nothing to call bullshit on."
"I'm glad you are confident in this because I really am not. I am waiting for all this to self-destruct."
"Think positive, Wilder, it might just help."
Ocean thought my feelings were intense when it came to Wilder. I wondered if his mother would think the same thing. To us, it seemed these emotions were nothing but normal, but I had yet to tell him about what Ocean had said about my feelings.
He was going through one basket and he had to move my bag out of the way; I had yet to open it; I hadn't had a need to. There was clothing out available for me to wear and that was enough. It also scared me to open the bag and look at everything I took with me. I knew everything I packed, but whether it had survived the plane crash was a different story.
"Here, I'll take that," I breathed.
He passed my bag to me.
"Finally going to open that thing?"
"Maybe, but I'm just going to take a peek inside."
I opened the zipper and looked inside. Everything still looked the same as it did when I shoved it into the bag, right down to the birth certificate, which I had put in a bag to stay safe. I was happy I had, even if it was worthless here. I unzipped the pocket on the side and pulled out the family photo. You could see it had got wet, but my mother and stepfather were still recognisable. It made me sad to see their faces. This all could have been different. I missed them, but I didn't miss the people they were now.
"Wilder, these are my parents, if you would like to see them."
He stopped looking through the basket for whatever he was looking for and took the photo out of my hand, looked at it, and then back at me.
"You look like your mother,"
"If I had any photos of my birth father, you would see how much I actually look like him."
"You look like your father?"
"Yes, quite a lot, though I have no way of showing you."
"I look nothing like my father. He was the Chief before my mother. She only became Chief because of me. He died when I was way younger."
"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss."
He hummed softly before handing the photo back.
"Make sure you put it somewhere safe. I can find somewhere among all this if you would like. Even if I have to move some of the clay pots and such for you to put it up."
"Anywhere is fine. I don't need it on display."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, while I love them. I don't want to be reminded of them. I left for a reason."
I dumped the bag out and shook my head at some of the things I had brought. All of my favourite shirts and sweaters, along with a couple of pairs of pants and boxers, were in my possession. I had rolled them to make space. They smelled funky, but it was nothing another scrub wouldn't get rid of.
He grabbed one of my sweaters and frowned; it was a cropped sweater. It was sleeveless and had a hood. I actually remembered buying it because I liked the style, not that I have ever worn it anywhere else but at home in my room.
"Where is the rest?"
"There is no more that's it, it's meant to be that way."
"I don't understand why you would only want that much of a sweater."
"Hot weather, over a tank top, bed?"
"Hm."
He just shook his head and set it back down on the pile of clothing I had dumped out on the floor just in front of the furs. He didn't seem too interested in whatever he was doing, rather more interested in all the clothing I had. Slowly, he looked at all the different clothes I had now and shook his head.
"We are going to need another basket now."
"Do we make it?"
"No, we trade for it. The only twins on the island make them. They use their gift to be able to turn them out quicker."
"What do we trade them for?"
"Most times I've traded things I've hunted."
"Interesting. Is that how you get things around here? By trading?"
"Yes, everything we pay for in trades, more or less."
"Alright, that's good to know."
"We really need to wash those, however, they smell damp and musty."
"I very much agree."
I placed all the other things back into the bag, picture included, and slid it out of the way under the ledge. He looked around the hut and hummed.
"Perhaps I need to look at adding another section here to the hut. We may very well need all the space."
"You can add on to this?"
"Yes, it's a little more work and we may need to stay with my mother for a night or two because I will have to remove a wall for another doorway. But it is very possible."
"It's something we can certainly look into."
Wilder wrinkled his nose again as the wind blew and he stood up, taking all my clothes and putting it into a cloth bag.
"Let's go. I'll wash this and you can strip down and wash off. Bring that towel."
"Why do I have to wash off?"
"I'm going to wash the clothing you have on, too. When I'm done washing your clothing, I'm going to wash up too."
"I can help wash the clothing. You just have to show me."
"I've got it. Don't worry. You can hang it out on the line if you want."
"Fine, I will!"
Grabbing the towel, we walked down to the lake, and he went and took some of my clothing and started washing them well before he did that. I swallowed down my shyness and quickly stripped down and ran into the water right up to my neck. He looked up and saw me in the water. When he was done scrubbing that piece of clothing, he went and placed it back in the bag.
He finished the last piece of clothing before he stripped down his back towards me. He slid his pants down his tanned ass and legs; it was the first time I had openly looked at him without thinking too much about it before I had to look away. I kept my eyes down on the water as he walked in. Once the water was over his hips, I looked up; he was pulling the leather string from his hair and I watched it fall down over his shoulders; I wanted to touch it again. It looked an inch or two shorter than the last time; I wondered when he had cut it. It almost looked all even length now.
He got closer but stopped when he was only about a foot away; he tipped his head back, getting his hair wet. I turned away from him to stop myself from looking at his body when I dipped my head under the water.
The thought of us being life partners was still fresh in my mind. I wondered if that meant I was going to be responsible for other needs of his, if he ever got them. From the little touches here and there, I saw of his body. Looking after his needs wouldn't be such a bad thing. Wilder was very easy on the eyes. It was no wonder all those women wanted to have children with him.
Hell, I was pretty sure that if I could, I would try that too. He was a damn fine man. He cooked, cleaned and hunted, and didn't make me help, even if I wanted to.
He tied his hair back up after he washed it out and rubbed himself over quickly before he headed out. I quickly scrubbed off and followed him out. I kept my eyes down until he had his own towel wrapped around him, then I wrapped my towel around myself and we headed back to the hut.
I helped him hang the clothing before we headed into the hut. I was glad I tied the towel together because it took the use of both my hands to hand some of the clothing. This left a very interesting problem now. How was I going to get dressed without him seeing anything? How was I not going to stare at him once he dropped the towel? He was a good-looking male.