The Goddess of Passion

Jenna, at eighteen, had started her freshman year at Idaho State in the fall on full academic and athletic scholarships. Dell was extremely proud of her. In high school she had been an exemplary student, a cheerleader for the football team and a striker on the soccer team. At Idaho State she went right into both these same activities, devoting the rest of her time to her studies. She planned to become a medical doctor, specializing in sports injuries.

Dell mused; "She's so pretty. Takes after her momma, bless her soul." Dell's wife, Sarah, and Jenna's mom, had died two years ago in an automobile accident. Skidded off the road during a blinding snow storm and bounced over the guard rail, landing upside down a hundred feet below. The car was a pancake.

Jenna took it very hard and almost went into a deep depression, but Dell was able to comfort her and worked very hard to be both mom and dad for her. Dell and Jenna got very close during this time and the neighbors all remarked at how well the two were doing, considering...

Now, it was Jenna's Christmas Vacation from the university and she and Dell were sitting in their kitchen thinking about what they'd do that coming weekend. They always did things together, now that Sarah was gone. And the things they did often were more slanted toward Dell's interests, but that suited Jenna just fine. She liked to do the things that her dad liked! In this regard, given that Dell was only thirty-eight, the two of them found it relatively easy to share mutual interests. And this time, it seemed to Jenna that it would be such great fun!

Dell had suggested they go cross-country skiing. They both loved to ski and were both very proficient at it. Dell had been an athlete in high school and had skied since he was a young boy, living here in Idaho all his life. He was a logger by profession and, thus, was in excellent physical condition. Jenna, too, was an excellent skier. The soccer season had recently ended, so she, too, was in excellent physical condition. Some might say - 'luscious' condition, but that's another matter.

They got up early on Saturday morning. As she soaped over her lovely, high, firm, round breasts in the shower, she could picture some man doing this for her, caressing her firm athletic body, making love to her with his slippery fingers, softly cupping her breasts, kneading them gently and swirling round her engorged nipples. She could feel her arousal growing, her juices beginning to flow from her nether mouth. Her soapy fingers slid across her tight tummy down to the top of her thighs, swirled around her hips to her firmly muscled buttocks. She moaned as her hands returned their stroking to her thighs. She spread them and brought her fingers up to her pussy. She came, squirming her whole body around; her hands pressed tightly against her sex, the breathtaking feeling washing over her entire being. She moaned again, her chest heaving as she came back to present time. She smiled dreamily and finished her shower, washing away the last vestiges of her encounter with her own emotions, except for places she didn't reach, places she didn't want to expunge of their residual feeling.

After Dell and Jenna dressed, they wolfed down a breakfast of hot cereal (microwave Instant Quaker Oats) and coffee and were ready to go. They had packed their 'survival' gear the night before. They dressed in their 'mountain skiing' garb (down pants, down parkas, woolen face masks, their custom ski boots and thick warm gloves). They put their parkas in the back with their packs and tossed their goggles on top. Dell kept a snow shovel in the SUV all winter, just in case. He had clamped their cross-country skis and poles on the roof rack of his SUV the night before, so all they had to do now was get to the trail head and start skiing.

Dell had verified with the weather service that all would be well for the next two days - no new snow expected partly cloudy and light winds from the northwest. These were perfect conditions for a perfect day with his lovely daughter, of whom he was so proud. Dell doted on Jenna. She was so full of life today, chattering and laughing about things she was telling Dell about her life at Idaho State. Every so often they would happen to look at each other at the same moment and both broke into wide grins. They were so happy to be with each other again for a while before Jenna had to leave and go back to school. But, because of Dell and how he had nurtured her at a critical time in her young life, she was able to do that, leave him for a while, and come out stronger in the end. Their love for each other was limitless.

They drove northwest out of Ketchum into the Sawtooth National Recreational Area to a point where one of their favorite cross-country ski trails crossed the main road. Dell was glad he'd tossed an extra set of chains in the back of the SUV as the road conditions definitely required chains and he couldn't be certain one set would be enough - sometimes they broke and without a second set, one might be stranded for some time. Cell phones were nice in a lot of situations but there were areas up here in the mountains, especially in the more remote spots where there really was no effective service - couldn't get one bar! It was awesome country! Mostly pine covered in summer and snow covered in winter, but in winter the smell of the pines was still strong, if it wasn't too cold that one's sense of smell was muted.

Once in a while there'd be a big break in the trees indicating a meadow in summer, where cattle would graze on the open range leased from the forestry service. Now, in winter, such open spots made for easy travel, crossing over on their long skis. Dell found the trail crossing the road by the tall sign which posted the trail, sticking up about a foot above the snow bank left by the plows some days earlier. It hadn't snowed for about four days, but it had been windy and cold, so there had been a lot of drifting in spots as they'd ascended into the Sawtooth area. It looked to Dell like the plows hadn't been up this way for a number of days, but his 4X4 with chains on all four wheels had handled the road easily.

Because of the wind, the snow had been cleared from a small spot just in front of a rock outcropping on the right hand side of the road about fifty yards up from the trail crossing. The wind had also reduced the level of the berm left by the plow almost to road level, so Dell could easily back into the clear area far enough to be off the road by a good ten feet and still leave them access to the back of the SUV to unload. Perfect!

Outside, the weather was exactly like the weather service said it would be, except that the wind direction had changed. The wind, what there was of it, was now coming from the southwest. Dell made a mental note that this was the wind direction from which many of their worst storms emanated. An alarm flag went up; but, they'd only be there for the day and he was confident they wouldn't have any problem they couldn't handle. He felt they were prepared for any eventuality. He had even given Jenna an extra set of car keys should she come to the car and he wasn't there - heaven forbid! She was a licensed driver and was a good driver, he felt. But, he thought, better safe than sorry! Especially where his Jenna was concerned! A broad smile came across his face as he looked at her unloading their gear from the back of the SUV. She handed him his parka before putting on her own.

Jenna looked at Dell and thought,"Oh, how much I love you, daddy! You certainly are my best friend!" "What would I do without you?" she pondered and then shivered, perhaps from fear, perhaps from memory of loss.

They were smiling at each other as they dressed for their trek, helping each other into their big, thick, down parkas. Dell had unclamped their skis and poles from the roof rack and handed Jenna's to her when she had put on her gloves. They picked up their skis and walked back to the south side of the trail head.

There they put on their skis, pulled down their goggles and Jenna cried out, laughing, "Last one to the trees is a rotten egg!" and shoved off, taking long, sinuous strides with her legs and thrusting hard with her ski poles.

They had been on this trail before and knew it lead across the open meadow where they'd parked the SUV, to the west, where it threaded its way between a stand of tall fir trees coming out on another meadow just below a ridge to the north. Some of this area had been logged in the past (Dell estimated about twenty to twenty-five years ago, judging by the re-growth that had occurred). They had to be careful not to run into or over stumps that might be only lightly covered with snow.

However, the area they were traversing now was an open meadow, not a logged off area, so Jenna tore out as fast as she could, with Dell very close behind her. He admired her athleticism very much. He and Sarah had only her and he was grateful she enjoyed doing so many things with him that girls often didn't care to do at all, let alone with theirdads! But now, she had challenged him and he had to give her a good race for the trees! After all, what fun was a challenge if nobody took you up on it? And he wanted her to have fun!

She glanced over her shoulder, seeing her dad coming on strong. She cranked up the length and rate of her stride, using her long, strong legs as hard as she could. She was laughing and screaming with happiness! Her leg action coordinated with her arm strokes with the poles was a thing of beauty! She was masterful! Dell marveled at how she sped along the trail, staying in front of him despite his best effort to overtake her. While he was fit, his work didn't require any running, so her soccer fitness was now proving the difference in who was going to get to the trees first and not be the 'rotten egg'. Besides, she had started out first whilst throwing down the challenge. She had an advantage from the start.

Dell grinned. He loved her so; her childlike innocence about so many things in life, in contrast with her brilliance in her studies and her athleticism - she was certainly going to be a catch for some guy! But, so far, she had avoided dating, preferring her sports activities and studies instead. He had often wondered about that when they were doing something like this, skiing together, but had not considered that it was a problem. She had plenty of time for all that boy stuff, he thought. Besides, it had made it easier for him - he didn't have to worry about some idiot youngster taking advantage of her and either hurting her and/or frightening her, or worse, 'spoiling' her, cruelly taking her innocence from her. To date, her choice of life-style had been a blessing to him and to her, he thought. She was one smart lady, he mused.

Wow, then it struck him! Sheis a lady! She's grown up! She's awoman now! He hadn't had to deal with all that 'period' stuff and other 'girl things'. Sarah had done all that before she died.

Jenna reached the edge of the tree line a stride in front of Dell and jammed her poles into the snow in front of her as she wishboned her skies, coming to a stop. He almost crashed into her but threw himself off to the side, ending up in a snow bank. Jenna shrieked in joy! She held her tummy, bent over, laughing and laughing. Dell stood, dusting the snow off him and then started to slowly laugh himself until he finally was laughing as heartily as Jenna was. They took off their skis, turned toward each other, reached out their arms to each other and embraced tightly, both of them marveling in the warmth they felt for each other.

"Oh, daddy! I love you so!" Jenna crooned, her face flushed with the recent exertion and her chest heaving with her deep breathing. "You make such a wonderful 'rotten egg'!" she laughed.

Dell beamed back at her and said, "And you are one helluva fine skier! Wow, you can finally beat your old man!"

Jenna feigned indignation, stamping her foot, and said, "Daddy, one thing you arenot isold! Why, you're better looking and in better shape than any boy my age. I wouldn't trade any of them for you! For anything!" hugging him tightly.

Well, Dell just beamed!! He was so happy to see her so happy. All was well in the mountains. Or was it?

They both noticed that it was clouding up a bit and the 'partly cloudy' statement from the weather service seemed to be changing to 'cloudy', as the sun disappeared."Not to worry," thought Dell."We'll just go on a bit further and see what happens. We can always double back and get the hell outa Dodge," he thought. Besides, Jenna was having so much fun; he didn't want to see her joy dampened by something as uncontrollable as the weather. They put their skis back on and continued over the winding path through the stand of trees to the next open area beneath the northern ridge. Jenna led.

Dell watched her extremely graceful, athletic strides in wonder. God, she was a beauty. His fatherly instincts welled up and he began to be concerned about her safety in this crazy world. No question about it, Jenna must be attracting boys like bees to honey at Idaho State, yet she hadn't said anything about it at all, only chattering about her studies and soccer. Still, that spark of concern glowed in Dell. He loved his daughter so much.

They glided smoothly across, just beneath the crest of the ridge, where the re-growth from logging was least and the snow was the deepest. Jenna certainly knew what she was doing in the path she selected. Every so often, a deeper drift would cause them to slow, but aside from that, they moved rapidly for some miles. They both were getting a bit hungry from their exertion. When they came to a new stand of tall trees, down the slope a bit, where the upper slope to the top of the ridge was too steep to traverse easily, they stopped.

Jenna turned to Dell and said, "Gee, daddy! I'm starving! Let's eat something."

Dell responded, "Yeah, and I could use a drink, too." They had packed more food than they would ever have expected to need, so they had their choice of goodies - Power Bars, trail mixes of several varieties, sandwiches, you name it. They also each had a quart thermos of hot chocolate and under the current conditions that seemed yummy to both of them as they stepped out of their skis and helped each other lift their packs off their backs.

"Interesting," mused Dell, Jenna came to me first to help take my pack off my back. She had her mother's trait of usually thinking about the other person first. Yes, no doubt of it, she'd make some lucky guy a very fine wife. He was extremely proud of that in her.

As they ate and drank, they noticed that tiny flurries of snow were beginning to float about them - nothing heavy, just tiny little flakes. Every now and then, the sun would vaguely be apparent, and then disappear again. The wind hadn't picked up at all, but remained steadily from the southwest. Dell wasn't alarmed but he did note the changing conditions and remained alert to any necessary change in their plans for the day. He looked to the southwest and observed that the cloud cover seemed to be tiny bit heavier in that direction. OK, keep a 'weather eye open.'

Jenna was smiling at him and chattering on about a term paper she'd written for her Biology class on which she'd gotten an 'A'. She was so excited about the prospects of eventually studying microbiology and, oh, so many things! She was ravenous for knowledge. Dell told her she'd need to explain some of those things to him when the time came, 'cause he 'didn't have a clue.'

"Daddy, you know a lot more than you let on, but I'll be sure to answer any of your questions as best I can, any time," she laughed.

God, she's so full of life - she's an inspiration! he thought.

Having sated their hunger and thirst for the moment, they packed up and continued down the trail. After a few more miles, the trail cut up over the north ridge and continued down the other side, running roughly parallel with the ridge, but down far enough from the crest that the weather approaching from the southwest was cut off from their observation. Moving swiftly as they were the increase in the rate of snow falling was somewhat obscured and it was not until they came to another point where the trail crossed back over the top of the ridge to the south that they were fully aware of the danger in their situation. The wind had picked up considerably, while they had been sheltered from it by the ridge top and the snow was now coming down with blizzard force.

Coming up to the crest of the ridge, Jenna slowed and finally stopped, blinded by the driving snow and wind. Dell caught up with her and shouted over the wind, "Honey, we've got to go back to the car and get home. This doesn't look good at all."

He knew that much of their way back would be in the face of the obvious storm descending rapidly on them. She nodded her agreement. Dell flopped his skis, turning around, back the way they'd come. He led the way now, following the path their skis had made getting there. The force of the storm seemed to increase, in spite of the fact they were on the leeward side of the ridge. Now, he was definitely getting concerned!

True, they had enough food with them to last for a couple of days or longer if they rationed it out, but where would they find shelter if they needed it? If they did manage to get back to the SUV, he felt they could get out of harm's way. But, if they couldn't get that far, where could they hole up? Oh, yeah, he brightened! A few miles back there was a cabin, used by cattle hands to stay overnight if they needed to during the summer months when their cattle were on the open range leased from the forestry service. It was just to the north, slightly downhill from the trail. Well, they'd just have to take a reading when they got back to that point and make a judgment as to what they should do, hole up and wait out the storm, or continue on in hopes they could make it all the way out.

Going back was more difficult skiing, because the earlier surface was often harder with a crust caused by sunshine, but now, with new snow driving down, the surface was softer and sometimes driven into drifts which hadn't been there before. This was easily seen when their incoming tracks were obliterated by the new snowfall and wind. They plugged on, doing their best to keep up a fast pace in return to the SUV parked by the main road.

Fortunately, they both were well dressed for this weather, but they still had miles to go and the intensity of the storm was building. When the trail took them onto the southern side of the ridge, the blizzard was often blinding and they had to slow down, and in some cases, almost stop, to be sure they stayed on the return trail. Jenna just pushed ahead behind Dell, being alert to not run up his back when he slowed or stopped momentarily to check his bearings. She said nothing, just following Dell wherever he led. She trusted in him in every respect, knowing implicitly, that if anyone could get them out safely, it was her daddy. Even so, she began to have niggling concerns as the storm blew harder and the visibility dropped down to only a few yards.

Again, the trail took them over to the north side of the ridge and Dell began to search for the cattle rover's cabin, because if they plunged on past it and the storm kept up as it was or got worse, he didn't like their odds of making it out before nightfall - with blinding snow and no moonlight or starlight - well, forget it! Too dangerous. The cabin might very well be their only chance at this point, he thought.

Suddenly, below him on the left, Dell spotted what looked like part of a wall of logs; else everything was covered with snow. He couldn't really make out the roof and much of the side wall was also covered with deep snow. But, yes, there was the cabin. He slowed down and motioned for Jenna to stop so he could talk with her.