Elizabeth 06: The Honeymoon

"And to think I was present for their real first dance," she murmured to me a moment later as we watched them sail about. "It took all my resolve to persuade Jonathan to come out that night! But from the first, they looked so good together..."

"Indeed they always will," I said.

I had little doubt that both Elizabeth and Jonathan would have much preferred that we all join them for the occasion rather than spinning around the huge floor alone. But no one wanted to be the first to break the tradition, and so the floor was theirs. When the song was done and we had embarrassed them most heartily with our applause, they both made a dash for Irene, James and myself. "Agnes, Irene!" Elizabeth exclaimed, embracing us both in turn. "You should have joined us out there! Today is for our friends as well as for us!"

"I'd have liked to, but..."

"But you wanted the spotlight on us, of course," Elizabeth said. "That is most considerate of you. But the party is for everyone!"

"Congratulations, Elizabeth," James said a bit shyly; though he knew of Elizabeth (and was, I now knew, familiar with the many rumours as to her appearance in the nude), he had never been formally introduced. He held out his hand for her to shake.

"Don't be absurd, my friend, today is not a day for chaste handshakes!" With that, Elizabeth hugged James eagerly, to his clear delight and my bemusement.

Jonathan did, of course, settle for a handshake from James. "Lovely to have you here, James," he said, "And I'm so very glad you and Agnes were both able to join us."

"The pleasure is all mine, I'm sure," James said. "Irene was just telling us, she introduced you?"

"Indeed she did," Elizabeth said, and then it was Irene's turn to be smothered in her arms. "This is all down to you, my dear!"

"I am ever so grateful for what has come of that night," Irene said. "I always did have high hopes for you both, but I never would have guessed -"

Irene was then interrupted in the sweetest way by my youngest cousin, Joy, who was resplendent in a white dress that she had managed to keep pristine outside, though I could not begin to imagine how. "Auntie Elizabeth!" she said, bounding into our circle to embrace Elizabeth, who returned the favour most eagerly. "Congratulations to you both!" she said in the most formal tone I had ever heard from the little dear, and I cast a knowing glance across the room at my uncle to confirm my suspicions that he had ordered her to say that. He looked most pleased, but not as pleased as Joy. "You will come visit us often once you and Uncle Jonathan have moved into the city, won't you?" she asked.

"Well, of course I will, darling!" Elizabeth reassured her. "I shall still be working with your father from time to time, and we shall only be downtown after all."

Joy's brother and sister had also been directed to pay their respects, and they appeared at my side presently. "Congratulations to you both," said Alexandria, resplendent in her finest frock and looking unusually cheerful. "I am so very happy I was able to get away for the week-end!"

"We are happy you were too, Alex," Jonathan said. With a tentative gesture he held out an arm for her, and to everyone's surprise Alexandria hugged him.

"Are you really?" she said, not yet letting go. "I mean, I haven't forgotten what a little wretch I was last year."

"And we haven't forgotten your heartfelt apologies for all that, Alex," Elizabeth reassured her. "I have always appreciated that."

"It feels so very queer to be among the grown-ups like this, all the same!" Alexandria mused. "I do hope we are not terribly out of place. Who should want to dance with silly little me, after all?"

"I should," Jonathan said, offering her his hand. "Will you do me the honour, Alexandria?"

Alex looked like her heart was about to burst, and with a bemused grin she let Jonathan lead her off to the floor. "But now who will Elizabeth dance with?" Joy exclaimed.

"Well, I do believe Thomas needs a partner," Elizabeth said, turning to Joy and Alex's bashful brother. "But first, dear, aren't you going to kiss the bride?"

Thomas, who had had a crush on Elizabeth longer than any of us cared to recall, looked even more bewildered than his sister a moment before. "I...well, but I...oh, but...are you sure you want me to do that, Elizabeth?"

"Haven't I said so!" Elizabeth exclaimed, leaning over and offering the boy her cheek. At long last he kissed her, doing it ever so gingerly as if afraid she would burst apart like a soap bubble when his lips touched her. Instead, she then took him by the hand. "Come now, I shan't be denied a dance with you, Thomas."

"I do believe he will be remembering this moment for years to come!" I said to James. "The poor boy has been in love with her for so long!"

"Speaking of moments to remember, Agnes, shall we?" James asked. I gave him my hand and we were off. I couldn't bear to look at Irene in that moment; but once we were out on the floor I saw that some young man I didn't know had asked her to dance and she was looking most contented in his arms. With that weight off my shoulders, and with the thrill of knowing James imagined me as lovely as Elizabeth under my clothes, my heart was sailing as we joined the joyous mob in the centre of the room.

In light of his intimate comments about us, I had rather expected James to desert me in favour of Elizabeth at the earliest excuse to do so. But he did not, and we enjoyed two more dances and accompanying pleasant conversation. His hands remained one in my hand and one on my hip at all times, and I was grateful that they betrayed none of the wonderful afterglow I was still feeling as I gazed into his eyes. When the third song came to an end and we took a moment to applaud the band, Elizabeth called out to me from behind us. "Agnes!" I turned to see her accompanied by a couple I did not know. "Keith, Frances, I do hope you don't mind, but my dear Agnes is a most talented writer, and I told her some details of our day at the lake last year to mark down for posterity. You needn't worry; she is a most tasteful writer even with the most intimate of topics. Indeed, especially those!"

I did not recognize their names immediately, but the mention of a day at the lake refreshed my memory. Neither Keith nor Frances looked perturbed at my knowledge of that day. "No, that's lovely!" Frances reassured her, reaching out to shake my hand. "That day was the day I realized I had nothing to be ashamed of. I shouldn't care who knows about it!"

"And it was the day I discovered how truly lucky I was," Keith added. "Agnes, your friend is a miracle worker for young and awkward lovers like we were before that day. We've set a date of our own for this autumn, as a matter of fact."

"Well, that's perfectly wonderful!" I said. I could not resist looking Frances up and down in her lovely dress and imagining her at the baths, offering Elizabeth a hirsute rival for once. Perhaps they would be in town long enough to join us? But I did not dare make such an offer in public. "I know all that happened is none of my concern, but I did enjoy the tale ever so much, and I'll tell you very frankly, I wish I could have been there!"

"It was an experience unlike any other," Keith agreed. "I do hope I did not come across as being as naïve as I recall myself now."

"Not at all!" Elizabeth reassured him. "Agnes captured the concerned, caring young man you were and are."

The conversation lingered for a few more minutes before James could restrain himself no longer. "Elizabeth, forgive me, could I trouble the bride for a dance?"

"I should think so, James!" She took his arm. "That is the least I can do for the way you have made Agnes glow so radiantly all afternoon!" She winked at me as he led her away, as if she knew. Little doubt, I mused, that somehow or other she did know; but I found nothing but pleasure in that.

"Well, that is something of a relief," I said to Keith and Frances as we watched James and Elizabeth take their place on the floor. "He's a lovely young man, but I do not know him well enough to share the story of that day at the lake, or why Elizabeth entrusted me to it!"

"It is ever so queer how open certain of you in the city are about such things," Frances said. "But I'll tell you, I think I quite like it!" She laughed nervously, as if able to guess that I was wondering just what she looked like in the nude.

"As do I," Keith said. "I assure you, I have no objection to Elizabeth sharing it all with you, as I gather you are quite close."

"Precisely," I agreed. "We are. You can rest assured no one else here knows, except Irene." I looked around to point her out, but could not see her in the crowd just then. "I must confess, we ladies do share a great deal of information at the baths in the city. But never by name. So anyone who did hear your story would not know it was about you."

"The baths," Frances repeated. "I have heard a great deal about them. I take it the rumours are true?"

"That and more," I said. Then, perhaps buffered by all the champagne, I added, "If you would like to visit them, Frances, perhaps even tonight..."

"That would be lovely, thank you!" The poor dear had obviously been hoping for just such an offer!

"There is a men's bath, too, if you care to indulge," I told Keith, shamelessly wondering to myself what he would look like in that nice hot water.

"I shall think about it," he allowed. "In the meantime, may I have this dance?"

And so I got to know Keith a great deal better as we glided across the floor for the next several minutes.

The remainder of the afternoon was a lovely blur of greetings and dances and chaste-by-our-standards fun. I danced with Jonathan, and he with Frances and she with James and he with Irene, and so many others I can scarcely remember now. Of course, there was a tint of melancholy to the entire lovely day, as we all knew things would never be quite the same with Elizabeth married and out of the house. There would be more lovely evenings together by the fire in her new home (or mine or Irene's), of course, but she would no longer be just a quick trip down the stairs and across the landing for me. There would never be another memory made in her room in Uncle and Aunt's mansion, where I had learned so very much about love and sex and life and myself. A beautiful chapter of our lives was coming to a sweet but firm ending.

All the wine and merriment had, alas, done nothing to alleviate my sweet sorrow when four o'clock arrived and the last guests had finally taken their leave. As the servants arrived to clean up our joyful mess and Jonathan was off to collect his luggage for the honeymoon, Irene and I stood waiting by the stairwell while Elizabeth saw the last of the guests off. Her parents were the last of all, and I nearly joined in on the tears her mother shed as they clung to one another. "Have a lovely trip, my dear," she said.

"Thank you," Elizabeth said, and in turn she hugged her father goodbye as well. "I love you, Father."

"I love you too, my dear," he said. I had myself under control by then, and only smiled at the sight.

Mandy, to the surprise of none of us, only smiled and nodded her farewell as she followed their parents to the open front door. As soon as they were out and the doorman pulled the door shut behind them, Elizabeth heaved a sigh that was half-exasperation, half-relief. "You were both so very right about inviting her to the baths last night!" she said as she gathered her skirts up and started briskly up the stairs. "What a cursed mark upon an otherwise beautiful day!"

"Do we even want to know what she said to you?" Irene asked as we hurried up the steps behind her.

"If I know her, she probably said it to you as well," Elizabeth said. "Asking if I'm going to groom myself for Jonathan!"

"And disbelief that he would just as soon you didn't," I confirmed.

"I never bothered telling her that," Elizabeth said. "I knew full well she would never believe it."

"Does she know what you went through at school over that matter?" Irene asked; we both knew the tale by heart of all the bullying Elizabeth had endured over her huge bush.

"No one in my family does. That would have been the only way it could possibly have been any worse! But I was ever so sure she was old enough now to have no comment on the matter. I'm terribly sorry I didn't listen to you both."

"I don't suppose we could have disinvited her when everyone else in the party was invited," Irene mused as we rushed down the hallway towards Elizabeth's room. "In any event, I have little doubt she was more uncomfortable at the baths last night than you were."

"I agree," I added. "She looked horribly awkward about it all."

"Can't say I'm sorry to hear that," Elizabeth said as she arrived at her bedroom door and rushed inside. Neither of us needed to ask why she was in such a hurry: with the prospect of six hours in her cumbersome wedding dress, she had had the presence of mind not to drink so much tea for once that morning. But six hours and at least that many glasses of champagne had taken their toll. As soon as I had shut the door behind me, Elizabeth stood with her back to us and her hair held out of the way. "Get me out of this dress, please!"

"Need the water closet again, do we?" Irene teased, as she was always wont to do with Elizabeth, who knew where every ladies' room in Westfordshire City was.

"Irene, so help me!" Elizabeth was wiggling her legs now, and her smile looked very strained.

"What has it been, six hours?" Irene said. "I've never known you to last that long, Elizabeth. Or Jonathan once he met you and started drinking tea all the time like you." At long last Irene did set about undoing the elaborate knots at the top end of Elizabeth's bodice. I had already begun doing so from the bottom, so Elizabeth only needed to squirm for a bit longer.

Squirm, though, she did. "I'm rather impressed with my own endurance, if you want to know the truth of it. I don't suppose you've been to the water closet all afternoon, Iron Bladder Irene?" Our bridesmaid's dresses were much more amenable to a visit to the water closet; I had been twice with minimal inconvenience. Twice, and none for poor Elizabeth who normally needed to go far more frequently than I! Little wonder that she was so desperate now.

"Only once," Irene admitted. "Yes, dear, that is but the least of many ways in which I was impressed with you today."

Lovely even in her distressed state, Elizabeth resembled a fine work of art being unwrapped as we pulled her dress off and she stepped out into the freedom of her underclothes. Even given that thought, it took me a moment to recall that she actually had sat for three of Edward's paintings just after my arrival in Westfordshire City. That all seemed so very much more than a year ago now!

I looked around for a robe to offer her, but found none. It proved unnecessary, for Elizabeth stepped brazenly out into the hallway in her brassiere and panties. "Are we quite sure no guests are staying on this wing?" I asked Irene as soon as she was off down the hall.

"I've no idea," Irene said. "Knowing Elizabeth, she probably doesn't care."

"I know," I admitted. "Heavens, this house is going to miss her as much as she'll miss it. At least." I looked around the room, which was unusually messy with leftovers from our preparation that morning, and wanted ever so desperately to be planning on a long, comfortable evening there. "I shall miss her most of all, I think."

"She will only be moving into the city," Irene pointed out.

"I know," I said. "It is not only that, though. I will miss the uninhibited relationship we three had as well. I do not imagine there will be any more of that."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Irene said. "Besides," she added, approaching me with a smile. "You and I will still be free to do as we please."

I slipped my arms around her as she wrapped hers around me. "Thank you, Irene. Of course that's lovely. But perhaps I ought to tell you..."

"About you and James? Agnes, do you really believe Elizabeth and I took no notice?"

I only laughed, shocked though I was with my own indifference. "It was that obvious?!"

"To us it was, Agnes. Haven't you only just finished lamenting how intimate we all have been with one another! And don't you think the occasion had us both feeling randy as well? If I had vanished for twenty minutes with a gentleman, you'd have had no trouble putting the pieces together!"

"Fair enough," I conceded. "I hope that doesn't mean..."

"It doesn't have to mean anything." She kissed me gently and squeezed me more tightly.

We were still locked in our embrace when Elizabeth returned from the water closet. "So it has come to this!" she exclaimed when she saw us. "Even when you know I'll be right back!" I was worried for a moment that she was offended. But then she slipped into laughter, with which Irene and I both joined in. "You two are perfectly adorable," she said. "I shall miss all this a great deal while Jonathan and I are away."

On that note, the spell was once again broken. I burst into tears and clung for dear life to Irene, a hug of desperation rather than passion now.

"Agnes!" Elizabeth exclaimed, now taking us both in her arms as well. "What on earth is the matter?"

"It's...I feel our bond is lost after today, Elizabeth. Don't you?"

"Hardly!" Elizabeth said. "I shall only be away for a month and then Jonathan and I will be living in the city!"

"I know, I know," I said, as I eased out of their embrace and turned to take a stroll around the room. "It is only that it was in this house that we shared so very much, and in this very room that we..." I stopped and smiled through my tears as I realized I happened to be standing in exactly the spot where I had sat on the floor to learn the most intimate lesson of my life a year before.

Elizabeth smiled, and I could tell she knew the memory I was reliving in that moment. "That was a beautiful evening, wasn't it?" she said. "But you and Irene have since taken things rather farther than that anyway."

"Yes, and that's lovely," I said. "But it's not the same."

"I must agree," Irene said. "It was a thrill unlike any other."

"I suppose if we are all of like mind, Jonathan would not object to more of that," Elizabeth mused. "He knows all about the nature of our relationship with one another."

"You do have some time before you must be at the railway station, Elizabeth," Irene reminded her. "And if it might cheer her up?"

"It might cheer us all up," Elizabeth agreed. "I shall miss this room terribly, too, and it seems only right that we leave it in an air of celebration! Agnes?"

Without another word, I pulled my dress up over my head. By the time I had it off, I saw Irene was following suit and Elizabeth was doing away with her brassiere. In no time we three were settled in a circle on Elizabeth's bed, not a stitch of clothing among us. In any other company I would certainly have felt a great deal of inhibition before proceeding any further, if indeed I were able to do so at all; but in this company I had no qualms about starting right in to stroking myself and exulting in the lovely sensations. Whereas I would normally have closed my eyes to imagine some steamy tale or other, now the most beautiful show imaginable was before my open eyes: Irene with her remarkably prominent vaginal lips, Elizabeth with her well-hidden ones, both of them rubbing with the same abandon that was overcoming me so delightfully and exulting loudly in their own pleasure. I joined in the erotic chorus, struggling cheerfully to keep up as both their inarticulate music grew louder and more intense.

Of course Elizabeth came first. The sight and sound of her lost in the throes of orgasm was more than enough to draw me along with her, and at last I closed my eyes as I felt the lovely release wash over me. I opened them just in time to see Irene plop happily upon her back as she rubbed herself to ecstasy as well. I felt no need to say anything in the afterglow of our last hurrah.