Elizabeth 04: Late Summer (Part 2)

"The day we saw Edward off," Jonathan said. "That's right, I hadn't given that any thought."

"Well, you wouldn't, would you?" I asked. "You didn't nearly marry the man."

"But aren't you glad you didn't!" Irene reminded me in no uncertain terms.

I had to admit that I was glad, and then she continued. It had, in any case, been a lovely day, Edward so eager for his new life overseas and I relieved to be shutting the door on a very difficult chapter of my life. I had, by that time, had several weeks to realize fully just how poorly matched Edward and I had been and how much better romance would be with a man who could and would love me for who I really was. Perhaps that was why the memory was a less than pleasant one today: besides the unwelcome reminder of losing my lifelong companion forever, I also now realized that after all these weeks and months, there was still no one new.

On our return trip, I would be grateful for that in a way. But that was yet to be seen on that morning just before the train rolled in.

As soon as we were settled in our private compartment, Elizabeth revealed to me that they had all wondered if I might not show up. "We would certainly have understood if you had developed cold feet in the end," she reassured me. "But none of us expected you to be the last one to arrive."

"I wouldn't miss this for all the world," I said. "I suppose I just wanted to look good for the occasion." It had, I now realized, taken me rather a long time to choose my dress for the trip. But the short bright yellow one I had ultimately selected was quite flattering and fitting for the cheerful occasion. Elizabeth and, to my surprise, Irene were similarly attired, while Jonathan and Benjamin were both wearing loose cotton trousers and wonderfully tight short-sleeved shirts. We did make an attractive bunch, even on a casual holiday. As the train raced on, so did my imagination with wonder at whether anyone else aboard might guess what we five had planned for the weekend.

Of course, even we had no definite plans. That was part of the fun!

The others were as nervous as I was. This I could tell because of the unusually subdued conversation, which did not rise above small talk for well over an hour. The atmosphere was punctuated only by first Elizabeth and then Jonathan stepping out to visit the water closet. Irene, to my surprise, did not tease them about it as she normally would have; perhaps word of Jonathan's testy response to Benjamin's needling had reached her ears.

Naturally, it was Elizabeth who at last found a way to break the ice. After an especially long period of silence, she broke into a quiet laugh. "I do not know whether to feel flattered or offended here," she declared. "Here we are on our way to a holiday where our main end is sexual abandon with me at the centre for some of you, and you're acting more like we are on our way to a funeral!"

Benjamin, perhaps the most morose of us up to that point, joined in the laughter and took Elizabeth's hand. I glanced at Jonathan just long enough to see that he made no objection, and turned back just in time to see Benjamin add his contribution. "Well, Elizabeth, there may be some concerns about getting lost in our hair, after all."

"That should be great fun for us, though, shan't it?" Elizabeth rejoined, and she kissed Benjamin on the cheek.

"For us too!" Irene admitted. "Wouldn't you say, Agnes?"

"I am most afraid I forgot my handheld mirror," I confessed. "Should I be lost in there, I hope you shall hear my screams!"

"They are most fortunate that we already love them, aren't they, Benjamin?" Elizabeth asked.

"As are we that they love us," Benjamin said, and the look of relief on Irene's face at that moment was palpable. "I say, it is most regrettable that things have been so uncomfortable of late just because of a moment's weakness that I think we have all had at one time or another."

"Oh, Ben, thank you!" Irene said. "I do hope this is a wonderful experience for us all, and especially for you!"

Jonathan had not said a word, and so I looked at him. He was grinning and not looking at all left out, and at that moment it occurred to me that there was no reason why he should. I was just as eager to play with him as with the others, after all! In the event that he was hiding his disappointment behind a smile, I reached over and rubbed his leg playfully, and uncrossed my legs to allow him a preview. He looked down and smiled appreciatively, and I couldn't help but recall what Elizabeth had told me about their tryst on the train just a couple of weeks before. The temptation seized me to stand up and take my panties off as Elizabeth had done then; but then Jonathan might deduce that Elizabeth had been sharing such intimate details with me.

But then, weren't we there to share such things in any event?

I very nearly did stand up and take the initiative, and I have little doubt Elizabeth and Irene would have followed suit. But in light of our short skirts and the often-gusty winds at the seaside, my better judgment got the best of me...barely.

We were, therefore, still all fully clothed and in great spirits when at last the train arrived. It also seemed my gesture to Jonathan was most appreciated, as he embraced me eagerly as soon as we were all off the train. "I am ever so glad you and Irene created a need for this outing!" he said to me, and kissed me on the cheek.

"Well, thank you!" I said, and cast a nervous look at Elizabeth, only to see she clearly did not object. Rather, she was gazing out at the beach and the waves, just down the hill from the station. The beach was dotted with fellow revellers, but it was not overly crowded despite the hot and beautiful afternoon.

"Come on, let's get ourselves settled and changed!" she told us. "I can hardly wait to get in that water."

"Nor I," Benjamin added, and taking up Irene's suitcase along with his own, he set off toward our hotel. We had been fortunate enough to find a suite in a lovely hotel just across the street from the beach; evidently there had been rumours of a storm that weekend that had not come to fruition.

On the walk to the hotel, I whispered to Elizabeth my earlier thoughts of us going barebottom on the train. She laughed with me and said, "Oh, my darling, you should have done it! I would have joined you, and I imagine Irene would have as well!"

"Doesn't the wind here concern you?" I asked.

"You forget how accustomed I am to people in general knowing that particular secret of mine," Elizabeth replied, putting her arm around me for a friendly squeeze. "There is no greater freedom than being unashamed of your body!"

Checking in was no more efficient or less boring than it ever is at any hotel (though in those days I had fairly little experience in that regard; how that was to change!). But the staff were courteous and quick in carrying our luggage upstairs to our suite; and what a lovely suite it was! Three bedrooms (I had the centre one, the smallest of course) linked to a sitting area with a lovely view of the sea, and at the far end, a shower-bath chamber complete with a private tub large enough for us all. I needed only to look at the others to determine if this was like the one they had once shared before I met them; Irene replied with a silent nod. She looked ready to take a dip immediately; but Elizabeth was set on the beach first, and I found I preferred that to the main event as well.

Another awkward silence as we all stood fully clothed in our private sitting room. This time it was Benjamin who broke the silence. "Well, then, let us all retire to dress, and then off to the beach!" Amid mildly relieved tacit agreement that the time was not yet right for our intimate encounter, we all did as he said.

With the sun streaming pleasantly into my little bedroom, I tamped down my mild jealousy at being the only one who would be changing without an audience. It would, after all, be soon. Upon removing my panties, I found the anticipation had left me quite well-lubricated, and I was tempted to throw myself upon the bed then and there for a quick round of fun. But I did not wish to hold up the party, even if I would have enjoyed the kick of knowing they would surely guess the reason for my tardiness! And so I continued undressing and then pulled on my bathing suit. An elegant emerald-green one-piece model that I had purchased just for the trip, it framed my bust and hips deliciously. It also somehow managed to just hide my bush, which, though smaller than Elizabeth's, was large enough to have me believing up to that moment that I could never wear such a revealing suit. Seeing now that it did cover all the essentials, I felt thrilled in my daring at revealing as much as it did!

Eagerly I stepped back out into the sitting room, only to find I likely could have gotten away with masturbating first after all. The other doors remained closed, and once again I longed to be sharing the moment with someone! At least there was not long to wait, as Irene and Benjamin emerged not long after I had, she in a red suit not unlike mine and he in beautifully small and tight trunks that left little indeed to my wild imagination. He clearly was equally thrilled at the sight of me, and our eyes met in pleasant embarrassment before I allowed another look at his hairy, muscular chest. Tonight would be such fun!

The three of us set about donning the dressing gowns provided by the hotel for the walk to the beach while we waited for Elizabeth and Jonathan. I had just finished tying the sash of mine when they emerged, Jonathan looking just as ravishing to me as Benjamin had been while Elizabeth wore a black suit with a skirt for modesty – naturally there had not been a swimsuit in all Westfordshire City that could have hidden her pubes without one. As if to remind us all that she had nothing to be ashamed of in spite of that, Elizabeth opted not to wear a robe. "So silly of all of you to hide in your clothes when we're going to be frolicking about half-naked out there anyway!" she teased as she opened the suite door for us, no one daring to point out that she was dressed more modestly than any of us beneath our robes!

It is easy for me to forget now how new the outside world really was to me in those early days of my friendship with Elizabeth. Though I was by this time quite comfortable with going nude in the pools back in Westfordshire, wearing my bathing suit on the beach was something else again. As I let my robe drop and stood there in my skintight green suit, I looked around me and enjoyed the naughty rush I felt while my friends all ran off into the waves. Plenty of men gave me the eye, of course, and I felt beautiful.

At least one of the men who admired me found me beautiful as well, for he lost no time in ambling over from his blanket to make my acquaintance. I was soon to learn, of course, that the most forward of men are often the least desirable; but as I have said, I was rather naïve as of that day. I was, at least, soon to learn a valuable lesson when the dapper young man with the handlebar moustache approached me. "Good afternoon, madam!" he said in a posh accent so unlike mine in those days. "My name is Leroy, and I can tell you are new to this area."

"Well, hello, Leroy," I said in my best flirtatious voice, for he was quite attractive at that moment: topless, his broad chest well-bronzed by the sun, and his tight shorts left very little to the imagination as to what he thought of me. "I'm Agnes, and yes, this is my first visit." I presented my hand, and his moustache tickled me pleasantly when he kissed it.

"Do you know how I can tell?" he asked, still eyeing me shamelessly up and down, but I did not object because I was doing the same to him. "You have the air of one who is not yet jaded. Not like your friends who all ran straight for the surf; you wanted a few moments to drink in the scene and bask in the beauty you added to it. And that's wonderful, Agnes."

I struggled not to laugh, for he seemed so sincere! "You sound like my former fiancé," I told him instead. "He was an artist, always talking about everything the way you just did."

"Your former fiancé?" Leroy asked. "If he could not see the artistic value in you, he was a fool indeed!"

"Oh, that was not quite his problem," I said, setting off now for the water and my friends, for I was quickly growing irritated with Leroy. But he followed along like a puppy might, and so I continued talking. "He certainly was able to see the beauty of the female form, if that is what you are wondering. He painted three beautiful paintings of my friend Elizabeth, two of them nudes."

"Dear God, he left you for this Elizabeth?" Leroy asked.

"Hardly! She is happily engaged to someone else, and they are both among my friends that you saw run for the waves." I pointed at Elizabeth and Jonathan, who were splashing each other joyfully in the tide.

"Elizabeth, then, is the one in black?" Leroy asked. "Ah, yes, the one who hadn't time to shave for the holiday. But I understand we are sometimes too busy for grooming properly nowadays."

I stopped cold in the damp sand and glared at Leroy. "What, exactly, makes you believe she 'forgot to shave', and what business is that of yours?" I demanded.

"Madam, I am here throughout the season. In these days of ever-more-revealing swimwear, I simply know what it means when a woman wears a suit with a skirt like your friend has. There is no shame in that; it is just the way things work. I am sure she made a lovely painting subject when she did have the time to groom properly." And then, demonstrating once and for all that he had misread my reaction most utterly, he took my hand again and rubbed it between both of his. My inclination was to tear it away and perhaps even slap him, but I did not wish to make a scene. Besides, it occurred to me immediately after tamping down my instincts, Elizabeth would surely want the opportunity to put him in his place. And so I smiled and feigned approval while he continued. "In any event, whatever came between you and your former fiancé, I must confess I feel most fortunate to learn that he is that, and I should like to hear more about your friends' penchant for nude paintings besides! Would you do me the honour of joining me for a swim?"

For the sole reason that I hoped to arrange a confrontation with Elizabeth and the others, I consented to his taking my hand and leading me into the water. By then my friends had all spotted us, and were looking on shamelessly at my new acquaintance. I would rather have been frolicking about with them; but at least the crashing of the water meant Leroy could no longer make the situation even worse with his mouth. Instead, articulation gave in to silly screeches and laughs from us both as we splashed about. I was not at all surprised the first time Leroy "accidentally" touched my breast; but I was alert enough to make certain there was no second time.

Before long, of course, the others found their way over to us, and introductions were in order. "Elizabeth, I presume," Leroy declared when she appeared at our side with Jonathan close behind. "Agnes has been a most ardent defender of your honour in your absence, I must assure you." Then, to Jonathan: "And you must be the fortunate fiancé?"

"I am, and exactly what has Agnes been compelled to defend regarding her honour?" Jonathan demanded, while Elizabeth looked at me in disbelief of my new 'friend's' comment.

"My good man, it is a topic that is not to be discussed in polite company, and from one gentleman to another I am quite certain you know that of which I speak." I was beginning to wonder if Leroy wanted us all to despise him. He was certainly doing an admirable job to that end.

Jonathan was still looking flabbergasted and groping for an appropriate response when Irene and Benjamin arrived at our side. "Agnes, have you got a new friend already?" Irene asked cheerfully, having of course not yet been exposed to Leroy's regrettable personality.

"Indeed she has," Leroy declared, offering his hand to her and then, less willingly, to Benjamin. "I am afraid she told me Elizabeth's name but not yours, my dear," he added, thus striking to the heart of Irene's frequent sense of feeling overshadowed by Elizabeth. I was left to marvel at how any human being could be so adept at saying precisely the wrong thing at every turn in such a short span of time!

"Is that so," Irene said in a clipped tone. "Yes, well, Elizabeth has been on Agnes' mind a great deal of late." She flashed me a stern look, and much of that morning's goodwill was instantly undone for me. Fortunately, I managed to shake my head "no" while Leroy was assessing Benjamin and inquiring as to whether he and Elizabeth were related. Irene looked mollified, but Benjamin looked set to shove Leroy under the waves at that point, a sentiment for which I did not blame him.

Elizabeth, who after all was exceptionally experienced in coping with extremely tactless people, spoke up then with a smile I could tell was forced. "Leroy, I am terribly sorry, but this holiday is intended for us to reconnect as friends and enjoy some quality time together. That requires some privacy, as I am certain you understand, so –"

"Need say no more, my friend!" Leroy proclaimed. "You wish for a more secluded place than the beach. I know just the thing! Beyond that rock over there –" he pointed to a boulder protruding from the sand a hundred yards or so behind us, behind which the sand disappeared around a bend – "there is a tidal pool that forms when the tide is low as it is now. The sun warms the water delightfully and one feels just like bathing in an outdoor heated tub. It is one of the best-kept secrets of the locals, my friends. Shall we meander there?"

I will always and forever regret that I was not looking at Elizabeth and Jonathan at that moment, and so I will never know if they exchanged knowing looks. Given what was to happen next, though, I must assume they did. As it was, though, we were all beyond surprised when Elizabeth said, "Yes, Leroy, that is a delightful idea. Let us go."

"But Elizabeth..." Irene began.

"I said let us go!" Elizabeth repeated. "I want very much to see this natural pool of Leroy's. Indeed, I think Jonathan and I both are in rather a hurry to see it."

Irene did not look convinced, but something about our friend's tone settled the matter, and off we walked through the low tide. Elizabeth and Jonathan led the way, walking briskly hand in hand, while Irene and Benjamin followed them. After a moment's hesitation, they also held hands. I brought up the rear, my arms folded over my breasts both to prevent Leroy from staring at them and to disabuse him of any idea that I might also let him hold my hand. Showing no signs of being put off, he splashed his way alongside us, sprinting up to chat Elizabeth up and then dropping back to take his turn by my side. "My old man owns a spread just inland, you know," he prattled. "Cost him a pretty penny when he got back from the service, but it's such a great location. Perfect for lounging about the beach all the time while I wait for my boat to come in. Literally and figuratively, I mean, you'll understand. No telling what the world is going to bring me sooner or later, after all!"

Perhaps it was my imagination that Elizabeth and Jonathan picked up their pace as we approached the big rock. But it was all to make sense later on that perhaps they really did. The view out onto the endless sea and the mystery just beyond the rock were worth putting up with Leroy's nonsense in any event, I had to admit, though I did wonder why on earth Elizabeth had given in.

The promised secluded pool was deserted, and it was all Leroy had promised. Formed of a few rocks smoothed out by millennia of tides and a natural rise in the ground at just the right angle from the water, it was full of salty water trapped from the receded waves, warmed by the sun to feel like an outdoor bath. If one didn't mind the seaweed-laden banks, the view of the ocean and the now-setting sun was magnificent.