Rebuilding Eden Ch. 05

She paused, "if there are any issues, please immediately let me know. If any guests have questions or needs, then you be the one who makes sure all gets solved."

She smiled at everyone, "I am so proud to be a part of this, that Cami and Tom invited me to be involved, that others saw how important this place is and wanted to join us." Her voice cracked a little, "we have formed a little family and I have really grown to have so much appreciation for you all."

"We appreciate you too, gorgeous naked mommy figure," Chels grinned.

Beth cracked a grin and shook her head. I think Chels had not only gotten to me, but also Beth. Misguided yes, but such an incredibly sweet girl.

We all stood up and started the hug fest. Even Trev got a few pats on the back. And then we headed towards our battle stations.

Cami, Chels and I were to stay in the lodge and help to guide our guests to their cabins. We figured not everyone would show up immediately at 10 am, so with three of us we felt we had enough to escort any and all guests as they arrived.

And so right at 10 am, two cars pulled up. The first to step out was Charlotte. Beth had positioned herself at the front of the lodge, in her wonderful naked glory, to welcome each family personally. To think, not long ago she had only just come to grips with Charlotte seeing her naked the first day they met, but now she was welcoming everyone, and seemingly comfortable to do it too. Moments later, the door opened and Charlotte and an accompanying gentleman, likely her husband, walked in.

"Hi Charlotte. So glad you came." I walked immediately towards her and we shared a hug. To his credit, her gentleman friend didn't seem to be too disturbed by a naked dude in his forties hugging her.

"This is my husband Wallace. Wallace, this is Tom." I reached out and gripped his hand in a firm handshake. He smiled back.

"It's a pleasure, Tom. Charlotte raves about you and this place. Glad we could come out and visit under more, well limited conditions."

"Of course, well let's get you all checked in."

Kel did her magnificent acting gig, not a single questionable word, while maintaining a very pretty smile throughout. She nailed it. I was very proud. She got all the pertinent information down and our first guests at the new and improved Eden Woods were officially checked in.

I had the pleasure of escorting Charlotte and Wallace back to their cabin. As we walked out, we passed one of the soccer moms, Lisa, and what seemed to be her two teenage daughters. That surprised me a little. The girls initially stared but then averted their eyes. Lisa waved and called out to me. Hopefully all would feel more comfortable soon enough.

"So what made y'all decide to do this?" I asked Wallace and Charlotte as we walked back towards Cabin One.

Wallace chuckled, "well, Charlotte fell in love with this place, and then there is the bucket list."

Charlotte elaborated, "Wallace always wanted to do something a little wilder, like go to a nude beach. It is on his bucket list. But I was the one that said no for decades."

"Indeed she did," Wallace said smiling.

"But then you came along with this crazy but beautiful place. So I suppose I softened a bit to trying it." She was smiling as we walked.

"Well I would say you more than softened. You were the first to reserve a spot!"

She laughed, "ok maybe it was more that I got very excited!"

We finally arrived at the cabin door. "Well this is where I leave you." I handed the two of them a little handout called "The Eden Woods New-dist: A Guide for the Newcomer" put together by Cami and Chels. They put all sorts of good info in there like activities at the resort for each day, but also etiquette topics - carrying around towels to always sit on, the avoidance of gawking and photography, and even the issue of arousal for men. I am obviously the primary cause for that last entry being in there as I am sure Cami thought of me and my semi-perverted ways when writing it up. I could even picture Chels giggling at my expense should Cami relay that story to her.

"So . . . do we undress immediately?" Charlotte asked before I could turn around.

"At your leisure. I think we will be relaxed. And some may opt to wear some clothes, but hopefully all will be comfortable as the day moves along."

And with a final wave and a smile I headed back.

By the time I had returned to the lodge, I briefly ran into Lawrence and a lady friend, who he introduced as his wife Patty. She was this slender fair skinned woman about the same age as Lawrence, probably in her sixties. She had this very short haircut, which on her was quite flattering. She looked shyly at me as I briefly welcomed them, but I then let Chels escort them off.

Sammi, our furniture supplier, and her husband Bill were next. I liked Sammi early on as she had this very engaging personality, always super outgoingly friendly. Her hair seemed to be two tones -- a dirty blonde and a darker color, which probably was her natural color. She also sported a more natural tan. Her husband seemed quiet and mild-mannered.

As I escorted them back to their cabin, number four, they told me they had come to Eden Woods as they just wanted to spice things up a bit. They both had turned forty last year and felt they should do something out of the ordinary. They left their kids with grandparents, told only a few people where they were going, and headed out to our little paradise.

The we-just-wanted-to-do-something-a-little-crazy story seemed to really be developing as a pretty common theme among our attendees.

What is interesting to me is that once I fell into this lifestyle, there is nothing crazy or wild about it. It really just made sense. I mean, I had developed very close relationships -- romantic, social, and even new family relationships -- as a result of this lifestyle. Much closer than anything before.

So crazy? No. Just freeing.

Nearly everyone had been escorted back by the time lunch hit. Only one cabin stood empty -- Jenna's.

At around noon I had decided to take a few minutes and watch from the front porch. Lawrence and Patty had actually fully stripped down and were walking hand-in-hand by the water. They seemed very comfortable, sharing a bit of a sweet moment.

Lisa, the soccer mom, actually had also stripped completely and was sitting in one of the lounge chairs by the water. Being a very fair skinned red-head, she looked like she was constantly lathering her body with suntan lotion. She had been joined by her newly naked soccer mom friend Sherry and Sherry's husband, Caleb. They seemed to be a little more comfortable than I figured they would be. How would that go? To see your wife's friend naked? An odd occurrence initially, to be sure.

I watched three small children run naked across the grass, following Chels as if they were little ducklings following a mother duck, one other little girl firmly holding Chels' hand. She caught me watching her as she led them to the shelter, smiled this beautiful joyous smile at me, and then helped the children get into their seats.

That look of joy sent a major bolt of pleasure through me. I didn't know which parents these children belonged to, but I was glad they were there. And those parents should be glad that they have someone like Chels looking after them.

And then I saw Lisa's two red-headed teen daughters, maybe around fourteen or fifteen, walking in bikinis towards the canoes. I didn't know if they would feel more comfortable by the time the experience drew to a close, but I wished the best for them none-the-less. Being a girl that age came with all sorts of insecurities. Undressing completely may even exasperate those insecurities. I was just glad they came with their mom. I am pretty sure I would not have gone to a nudist resort with my mom at that age, but then who knows?

It was with all of this semi-naked to fully naked activity around me that a car pulled up. Jenna stepped out with her stylish look -- khaki shorts and breezy top, sandals, big Audrey Hepburn style sunglasses, large-brimmed sun hat. She grabbed her small luggage piece out of her car's back seat and walked towards the lodge.

She caught me smiling at her as she reached the steps.

"Hi Tom," she said, a little hesitantly.

"Welcome Jenna," I returned the greeting. "I am glad you decided to join us this week."

"Well I changed my mind seventeen times in the last two days . . . " she put on a surface level grin, now having reached the top step.

I stood in front of her. "Well I am glad decision number seventeen was to come here," I reached out my hand, "allow me to handle your luggage?"

She nodded and smiled, letting me take it from her. I held open the door, escorting her inside.

Kel immediately checked her in, smiles and politeness in abundance.

One Kel had finished working her hospitality magic, I hesitated.

"Are you comfortable with me escorting you to your cabin, Jenna?"

"Absolutely, Tom."

We began the short walk side-by-side.

"My husband knows I am here," she offered, out of nowhere.

"Oh I didn't doubt it, Jenna," I smiled at her reassuringly but then added, "but he opted to not come?"

"He was very opposed to me coming. We had lots of conversations about it. Both good and bad," she shifted into this somewhat sad tone, "he definitely is not ok with it, but . . ." she turned to look at me, "he saw how important it was to me, so he eventually stopped fighting me and relented."

She shrugged her shoulders, "I had started practicing my nudism around the house." She giggled, "I think he liked that part." But then her brow furrowed a bit, "but sadly not enough to join me."

She sighed, "maybe one day."

"Well at the risk of sounding too patronizing, I am very proud of you." She smiled.

"Here we are! Cabin ten. Cami and Chels wrote up this handy guide for those new to this sort of thing. And now I can leave you to get settled and more comfortable."

Jenna paused at the door, "Tom?"

"Yes?"

"Can you wait while I get . . . changed? Want to walk back to the lodge and could use your support."

Her uncertainty was all over her face. "Want me to go back and get Cami or Beth? They probably . . ."

"No," she interrupted me. "I have already experienced this with them. A guy is the next logical step. And you are the logical guy."

And with that she quickly turned around and disappeared into the cabin.

Moments later, the door opened and Jenna walked down the steps. She had kept her sunhat and sunglasses on, and of course her sandals, but nothing else.

As with all of my previous friends who I suddenly got to see naked, I didn't suddenly start gawking at her, but out of the corner of my eye I could tell that she looked absolutely lovely. As she descended the stairs to the cabin, with her sunglasses-covered eyes focused on her feet, I took the opportunity to maybe almost gawk - her medium sized breasts moved naturally, jiggling a little, as she came towards me, her lovely hips moved back and forth, and she had kept a small tuft of blond hair at the apex of her thighs. Simply stated, she was lovely.

"Nothing to say?" I could not see her eyes but she did sport a small smirk.

"I didn't want to make you uncomfortable."

"Oh I am uncomfortable already," she replied, "so I think . . . reassurance is welcome."

"Well, you are beautiful, and look very natural," I said without obviously physically appraising her, "and I am a big fan of the hat-only look."

She smiled. "Thanks Tom. That's . . ." she paused, "just thank you . . . for everything."

And with that she hooked her arm in mine as I escorted her back to the lodge.

++++

The next two days saw several interesting developments. First, it took about a half day for pretty much all guests at Eden Woods, all brand new to naturism, to become comfortable with the practice of nudism. The only hold outs at all were the teenage girls, but they actually removed their tops by mid-afternoon. And I heard they removed the rest before they left on Wednesday, but they may have done it in a less public spot.

Second, the Eden Kids program was a HUGE success. Chels really came into her own. And when I say I saw joy on her face, it was the sort of shining, glowing, smiling sort of joy you seldom actually see in life. Probably only someone who had suffered such terrible circumstances could experience real joy like that. Her joy never left.

Later I found out that Chels never really knew her birth father as he was a one-night stand. Her mom married three different guys over the years, each apparently progressively worse than the previous one. She experienced it all -- neglect, forms of physical abuse, certainly emotional abuse, and even some stuff she would not talk about that only Kel knew. And her mom had done the best she could, but it was not nearly good enough, and so her little girl suffered.

But I got to experience the happiness of introducing Chels to something better -- safe, warm, loving, a place where she can have purpose, she is valued. As Kel would say, that shit made me feel very good inside.

Also, we discovered people really liked to do activities sorts of things. The two teenage girls really kinda latched onto Cami and Chels and did just about everything those two planned. Some of the other families included children from toddler through elementary school, about ten kids in all. Chels of course was loving life with the little ones, but she also met up with a good crowd of women and one man doing morning yoga with her and Cami had a good turn-out for organized water and hiking activities. Chels even did two guests' hair.

We all decided that we should look into other types of activities, like the traditional nudist sport of volleyball. We added that to the list -- to brainstorm how to expand that. With the weeks to come seeing a lot more guests than just the 28 during our trial week, we knew we needed to be creative and engaging. Cami and Beth were both right about making sure that we inspired glowing online reviews about Eden Woods.

Jenna didn't participate in the activities, choosing instead to mostly just hang around with us. So she shifted between Cami, Beth, me, and Kel depending on who was busy. She progressively got more comfortable as the days progressed and seemed to be planning for how to get her husband on board with all of this. I very much wished her well in that effort.

Another interesting development -- the need for a day pass system. Even with the cabins filled up, some locals still came in hopes of purchasing a day pass. We hadn't thought about that, so Cami immediately did some research as to how other resorts handled those sorts of things. We tried it on the second to the last day in a limited sort of way and found it could work. We just needed to protect our guests while also offering a controlled means of allowing others to experience Eden Woods -- a win-win balance sort of thing.

We had to work out some cleaning and room kinks, but overall we were very pleased with how things were turning out. I would grade launch as an A minus, with some overall to dos, some needed brainstorming, but an experience where our team really did provide a great experience for our guests.

As our guests began to leave, Cami slipped her body underneath my arm and hugged me tight. She kissed my cheek.

"This is all because of you Tom."

I kissed her lips, "nope. All you, Cami. You converted pretty much everyone here."

Beth came up to stand next to us as we watched the cars leave through the trees, I put my other arm around Beth. She smiled and latched onto me too. Life was so good.

++++

The next three days involved lots of work sessions. We knew a slew of people were coming for the actual opening week -- actually twenty three guest units, which could be a whole family or a single person or a group of friends. So all total we were going to have forty-one adults, nine teenagers, and twenty-nine children aged infant up to twelve. Almost eighty people. Obviously Cami was ecstatic, I mean the rest of us were quite pleased as well, but this was Cami's dream becoming realized.

Because things had gone so well, there really was not much else to do before the next week's guests arrived.

Jeanette stopped by and gave us a general report on how Gary and she were doing. Apparently after our little surrogate experiment, all was still great on their end. And our end too, as I had grown concerned about the long-term impact of that. We all decided we could schedule another "session" in the weeks to come. Both Jeanette and I actually blushed as we all sat around to try to plan when the two of us could have sex.

And then we made another big decision, one that we hoped would be well received.

"Hey Chels and Kel, can we talk to both of you for a moment? Beth, Cami and I have made a decision."

Both looked concerned, but then walked into the lodge living room and sat together on the couch.

Beth nodded to me. It was my idea so I guess I got to present it.

"Ok girls, first off, no panicking. We hope this is a good thing. OK?" They both nodded, but only slightly less concerned.

"Chels, we have been talking about you and your situation. We want you to be safe and happy. All of us want that." Chels seemed to be a little confused while Kel seemed more hopeful. I think she was getting where this was going.

"Kel, we know your family is really supportive of you, so you may not need to do this, but Chels . . ." I leaned forward and took her hand, "we know things are less than ideal for you, so we would love it if you just moved into the lodge with us. Just make this your home, with us."

Chels sat shocked, maybe processing, looking at Cami, Beth, and myself, from to face to face, all of us smiling at her. I kept holding her hand but turned to Kel, "but understand you are welcome . . . um . . . " Kel was crying. Tears were flowing down her cheeks. I turned back towards Chels, her lip trembling.

"I . . . I don't . . .deserve . . ." she began, struggling with each word.

I held her cheeks in my hands, "you deserve happiness, sweetheart."

And that was when she collapsed. She fell forward into my arms as she sobbed. We couldn't take away the suffering she had endured, we couldn't erase the pain, but maybe our little paradise could bring some happiness to this girl.

It really brought happiness to all of us in some form or fashion.

I mean, I now realize how lonely and detached I had been. How misguided I was. How I focused on the less important aspects of things, the transactional ones. But now. Now, I focused firmly on people, relationships, happiness. It gave me such a purpose in life, one that I sorely lacked.

I glanced at Cami and Beth, the two most important people in my life.

Beth's tears streamed down her cheeks. Poised and professional Beth, openly crying. I am sure she felt the same happiness I felt, that we could help Chels, being a part of something 'very lovely' as she put it. Beth had stepped away from that transactional world too, money, buying and selling, acquiring and relinquishing. It had become a people-less world to her. This filled the void for her, just like it did for me.

And then there was Cami, wiping tears as well, but it had been merely days before when her own family rejected her. That she felt pain. That she battled heartache. And she got through it because she had her new family in this safe place. Our place. And one day, maybe her mom or dad would come around. Maybe one day they would see the hurt caused and make a concerted effort to try to understand their daughter. Maybe one day they would love her more than they judged her.

And now Kel and Chels had a new place for a new beginning, especially for Chels. They were young, but this place offered them what they sought. A new escape from the pain in life. And a place full of people that cared for her.