1 comments/  6780 views/  1 favorites

Elizabeth 06: The Honeymoon

By: YDB95



"I now pronounce you husband and wife."

At the minister's announcement, the entire garden had erupted in cheers as Elizabeth and Jonathan shared their first kiss as a married couple. It was a long kiss, of course, but I am quite certain no one was surprised. Not Irene, the maid of honour, who stood clutching my hand discreetly by my side (I bore no bitterness at her title; Elizabeth had known her rather longer than she had known me, after all); not Maggie or Eunice or Lindy or the numerous other friends from the baths who were sprinkled throughout the crowd with their dates on their arms, amusing me greatly with the realization that it was the first time I had seen many of them fully clothed; not Elizabeth's sister Mandy, who stood on my other side smiling through her jealousy at her younger sister; not my aunt and uncle, who seemed more concerned with the guests' fondness for their estate than with anything else; not their three children, the only children present, an exception to the rule at Elizabeth's insistence (Alexandria, the eldest, had even been granted a weekend's leave from school for the joyous occasion); and certainly not Jonathan's parents, who had grown to know Elizabeth quite well. As for Elizabeth's parents, I had never met them before their arrival quite late the night before; but the looks on both their faces made it clear they would have expected nothing less of their proud, liberated daughter.

I had joined in the joyful applause as I surveyed the scene, awash in bright frocks and brighter smiles from nearly everyone we knew and many I did not. The early afternoon sun cast the perfect beam on the freshly cool spring day that we would all remember so well for years to come. A year before, that very garden had been the scene of a great heartbreak for me; now it was once again a beloved sanctuary of golden memories as I joined in the celebration of two of my dearest friends and the beginning of their life together. 

Moments later, in the relative calm and cool of Uncle and Aunt's stairwell, my heart was as full as it had ever been in that crazy, wonderful year. It was equal parts full of tender affection for Elizabeth and Jonathan, and of a rather baser emotion for what awaited me at the top of the stairs. 'What awaited me' was, in fairness, actually two steps behind me on the stairs, and I was clutching his hand in mine. "You are quite certain we can get away with this, aren't you, Agnes?" he asked me. 

"Who is to stop us? We're two adults, aren't we?"

"What I mean is, won't we be missed at the reception?"

Having reached the landing, I pulled James up and threw my arms around him. "Not if we are quick," I reassured him. I squeezed him tightly, and was rewarded with the sense of his growing erection against my belly.

"Good heavens, Agnes, when you suggested we nip upstairs like this, I was certain you were putting me on!" he said, returning my tight embrace. "To what do I owe this honour, anyway?"

I reached down brazenly and rubbed his hardness through his pants, knowing our wing of the mansion would be deserted for some time yet, and was rewarded with an adorably tentative stroke of his gentle hands on my breasts. "It is all really very simple, James," I confessed. "It's been a year now that I've been on my own! It was in that very garden down there that Edward broke my heart, and where I've now had the joy of seeing Elizabeth and Jonathan joined together for life, and all the wonderful displays of love and affection have got me in quite the mood for a bit of fun of my own! What better way to mark my recovery from the loss of Edward in the very place where it occurred?" On that note, I slipped my arms around him again while continuing to welcome his caresses. "And all the men in their best suits, you the most adorable of all...how could I resist? 

"Well, this is a surprise!" James allowed. "Particularly after some of the rumours we hear in the men's baths about you and Irene." James was a friend of Jonathan's from the men's baths, and a law clerk with whom I had worked on occasion. When I had rather brazenly asked him to be my escort to Elizabeth's wedding some weeks before, I had hoped the date might end with us in bed. But why, I mused now, must we wait for the end? 

"The rumours are true," I confessed, feeling a jolt in my insides as I realized the word was out, though Irene and I had both suspected as much. "But we do like men as well, and for the most part I prefer them!" I drew back and took both his hands in mine. "Now, if you prefer not to do it, James, I do understand, but -" 

"Do I look as though I prefer not to?!" he demanded with a grin.

"Neither look nor feel," I conceded. My own nipples were hard as diamonds from his touch, and I longed for him to resume it. 

"I only hope I can measure up to what Irene does for you," he said as I set off down the hall, guiding him to my bedroom. 

"There are things you have to offer that she does not," I pointed out. And at that moment I could scarcely bear the wait to feel one of those things inside me.

With all the lovely commotion down in the garden, my quiet, staid bedroom felt too subdued by half as I ushered James inside. The thought had crossed my mind of adding to our adventure by taking him somewhere we shouldn't be - perhaps the wine cellar - but with a long afternoon yet ahead in my royal blue bridesmaid's dress, getting it soiled with dust would hardly do. Opening the window offered the occasional sound from the garden and the tiniest bit of risk that we would be heard outside. That only intensified the joyfully sinful tickle I was feeling under my skirt as I turned to see James gazing at me across the bed. 

I opened my arms, and he seemed to float into them rather than walking. "I must say this is a most agreeable surprise," he said between kisses as I unbuttoned his pants and he resumed his welcome stroking of my breasts. "I have never had the initiative taken with me quite so boldly. Or ever for that matter. It is wonderful, Agnes, but it is not what I'd have expected of you."

"I am not the blushing flower I was when I arrived here," I admitted. "Would you expect anything less of a dear friend of Elizabeth's? She has taught me a great deal, you know." I thought of adding what Jonathan had taught me as well, but some of our secrets did stay within our circle of friends!

"I certainly might hope she has," James agreed. An uncomfortable thought occurred to me, but James addressed it immediately. "Oh, I have never been with Elizabeth," he reassured me. "I have only heard stories in the baths, from men who have."

"My word, I do hope they don't discuss that when Jonathan is around!" I exclaimed, pushing his pants down over his hips; I took his lovely hard cock in both hands and began stroking it gently with my thumbs. Only the third penis I had ever seen, it was a glory to touch and grasp in my hands; and I savoured the moment of blissful intimacy. 

"They don't; there is some decorum there, just as I am sure there is in the ladies' baths." He now had my nipples wonderfully stiff and prominent again through the cloth, and I could hardly wait to get my dress off. "Speaking of which, no one needs to know of this tryst, Agnes."

"I won't tell if you won't tell," I agreed. "Not by name, at least." On that note, I squeezed him hard in my right hand, eliciting a wonderful gasp and finally inspiring him to reach downwards. 

"Very good then, I shall tell the boys nobody has such a wonderfully firm grip!" he whispered with a laugh as I finally felt the telltale draft of him lifting up my skirt. He was in for a big surprise as I stepped back and let him pull it up past my waist, and a delighted grin marked the moment he discovered that surprise. I laughed in pleasant embarrassment as he looked back up into my eyes and added, "And that nobody doesn't wear underclothes?!"

"Only today," I reassured him as I held up my arms to let him slip the dress off. I was, of course, wearing a brassiere; that James left untouched as he stroked my bare bush with one hand and slipped the other around my back. "Well, yesterday and today. It's a tradition of Elizabeth's that I have taken up as well." On the final four words, my voice fluctuated with a wonderful loss of control as James rubbed my vulva delightfully.

"A tradition of not wearing underpants," James said, struggling not to laugh.

"Only once a month," I reassured him, "On the day our monthly friend has taken her leave. That was yesterday for me - with only hours to spare before Elizabeth's bachelorette party at the baths, no less; I was deathly afraid I would have to miss it. The close call was worth a second day to celebrate, I think!"

"Lovely idea," James purred as I squirmed with joy at his touch. "A reward for weathering the monthly storm."

"My thoughts exactly," I said, "Or rather, Elizabeth's. I got the idea from her, as I said."

I felt no embarrassment or shame in referring to my period so very frankly, for I had made up my mind by then that any man who recoiled in disgust to that natural fact of life was not worth my time or affection. James was the first man I had so entrusted, and he did not let me down. Without another word, he continued to stroke me into a lather while I rubbed his hardness merrily. Soon I felt the carpet fall away as he swept me gently onto my bed, still clad in my brassiere, and slipped one finger inside me. 

My hand fell away from him at last as I gave in to an utter loss of control due to his strokes. I clutched at the blankets beneath me as I squirmed at the intensity, at the same time not wanting at all to be free of it, thrusting my hips upward that he might reach farther still, but he didn't. The sweet frustration only whetted my appetite further, and I longed for more than just his finger. That, my friend, was something Irene could never give me! But James did not give it to me either, not until my first orgasm washed over me. Of course it was not long in doing so, and James lay placidly by my side, enjoying the show and stroking my clitoris gently with his thumb as I caught my breath in the afterglow. 

"Perfectly beautiful," he said, gazing down at my triangle. His shirt and tie remained untouched, which made his nakedness down below stand out all the more in my esteem. 

"Are you only going to look?" I asked. 

"Hardly," but he said it to my pussy rather than my face. At last he looked me in the eye. "I'm sorry, Agnes, it is only that you and Elizabeth have such a reputation for your beautiful bushes, it is such a pleasure to see yours in person."

"Elizabeth and I?!" I propped myself up on my elbows to get a closer look, expecting to see a sign that he'd been joking. Clearly, though, he wasn't. 

"'The hairy ones are the horny ones,' everyone knows that about you both," he said. "And now I see it's true, thank heavens! Forgive me if I just wanted to admire your lady-garden a bit before we went any further." With that he set about running his fingers gently through my triangle, and soon I was too lost in pleasure to object. 

So rumour had it that I was as hairy as Elizabeth! Any of the many women who had seen us together in the baths knew that was absolute nonsense. I supposed I ought to tell James the truth...but my resolve was no match for his masterful strokes on my belly and vulva. As I dissolved into a one-woman chorus of joyful grunts and moans, I had just enough presence of mind to reassure myself that, now that Elizabeth was married, there was no chance of James ever discovering her bush was twice the size of mine. Knowing he believed otherwise, I was able to imagine myself in Elizabeth's beautiful body as he made his way into my own beautiful body and drove me to two more orgasms. 

It took scarcely twenty minutes in all for James to put my past to bed metaphorically - and me literally - but that was time enough for Irene to take notice of my absence as the guests moved indoors for the reception. She spotted us immediately as we stepped into the dining room, and I have little doubt she spotted the flush of forbidden joy I was still feeling. Busy with her maid of honour duties, she greeted us with a diplomatically subtle smile as she welcomed the guests in from the garden. 

When a lull in the new arrivals allowed us a proper moment together, Irene joined me in the corner by the window that I had found for myself to admire Elizabeth and Jonathan as they received the guests' congratulations. "So beautiful, aren't they?" she murmured in lieu of a greeting, sniffing back tears and clutching my hand affectionately.

"Indeed," I agreed, and I turned and embraced her, relieved to be able to do so openly now that I knew our secret was out. For the time being that was all we were, in any case, as Irene had lately been enjoying luncheon with Stephen from the tailor's shop where she was among the few female clients. I had invited James in anticipating Stephen's presence with Irene at the wedding, only to have Irene fail to invite him or any other man. That had led to some very uncomfortable exchanges on the night I had divulged to her and Elizabeth that James would be my date for the wedding, of course; but we had mended our fences and today the only tears were tears of joy. 

Mandy, who had no acquaintances outside her family at the party, appeared out of the crowd with a glass of champagne in her hand. "Heavens, I do hope Jonathan is prepared for what awaits him in his wedding bed," she said, looking askance at her sister. 

"Oh, he is," Irene said, smiling through the outrage I knew she was feeling on behalf of our best friend, as I was feeling it too. We had both seen this coming all too clearly the night before at the baths. 

"I wouldn't be so sure," Mandy replied. "Unless Elizabeth got sensible with a razor this morning. I was rather hoping she would at least ask my advice on the matter, as I know men, and -"

"You know men, but you don't know Jonathan!" I hissed at her under my breath, not wanting the general public to hear. There were, after all, many people present who did not know Elizabeth so intimately as Irene and I did. Even in our liberated times, some topics were still inappropriate for a wedding in the garden; and the way Elizabeth let her own secret garden grow wild was one of them!

"You also don't know Elizabeth very well if you ever imagined she would...do as you suggested just now, Mandy," Irene reproached her. 

"I am her sister, aren't I?" Mandy insisted. "Her elder sister! I have known her all her life!"

"Then you had no business being surprised at what you saw at the baths last night, or thinking of it as a problem," I said with some finality, as James was standing by the drink table, holding out a glass of champagne for me. I slipped my hand out of Irene's and she let go of it without complaint. "Now then, Mandy, if you cannot be happy for your sister, perhaps you should go join my aunt and uncle in mourning. I think they are going to miss having her in the house, though I'd never have guessed it about Aunt before now."

Mandy gave me a look that could have withered a row of corn; but she said nothing further for the moment, and she and Irene both imagined some excuse to take their leave. I was relieved at that, but also rather surprised. Irene and I had both feared that inviting Mandy to the baths the night before had been a mistake, and regrettably we had been right. I had even suggested to Elizabeth that her sister might not be quite comfortable in such an intimate setting with us; but as usual, Elizabeth had been thoroughly unsympathetic to anyone - perhaps especially anyone who had known her as an angst-ridden youngster - who might have a problem with her body. "It is entirely possible that you are right, Agnes," she had told me, "But if Mandy has a problem with my appearance, then that is just what it is: her problem. Not ours!"

"I take it you were not close as girls," I had replied with a knowing grin, bursting with pride in my dear friend as always. 

"And you are correct in that assumption," Elizabeth had said. "She was a typical haughty, bossy nag and she undoubtedly still thinks of me as the little brat I might once have been. It is just as well that she sees just how much of an adult woman I am now, I think!"

And she had indeed seen that! At the baths, Elizabeth had been her usual, joyfully uninhibited self, and the baths had as usual been a wonderful setting for the unique intimacy they offered. Little wonder, I mused now, that I had discovered my own fondness for other women since becoming a frequent visitor to the baths, although ultimately I still preferred men. In any event, a fine time indeed had been had by all of us the night before. All of us, that is, save Mandy, who was alone in being unfamiliar with the sight of her sister's large, thick ladygarden. Like many who were unaccustomed to the sight, or to Elizabeth's shameless acceptance of her unique body, she had not taken kindly to it. I had seen that from the shocked look on her face when Elizabeth slipped her panties off in the locker room, and from the further bewilderment she had expressed upon the realization that Elizabeth was actually celebrated in our circle for her huge bush. Mandy's irritation at it all was, perhaps, exacerbated by the numerous surprised glances she had had to endure at her own dainty little bush when she arrived in the bath chamber. "Why, she could cover that tuft with a few postage stamps, couldn't she?" Lindy had whispered to me. "However did Elizabeth come into her riches?" 

"Genetics are a funny thing," I had replied, as quietly as I could. Mandy was stylishly attractive in a way her sister was not; but she would never stand out at the baths!

Mandy had suffered in silence at the baths, but she had opened up to me later in the evening at the pub. "I remember all too well how Elizabeth went through a phase of hating her body when we were very young women," she had said. "Now I understand why. But why doesn't the silly dear do anything about it now that she's all grown up?! On the eve of her wedding, no less? What will Jonathan think tomorrow night?"

"The same thing he has thought the last hundred times or more that they have made love, I suppose," I had replied. "How extraordinarily lucky he is to be loved by someone so beautiful and so confident in that beauty."

"What?! You mean my sister has..." And the poor thing had stomped off to the bar in disgust, to watch from a safe distance as Elizabeth humoured her numerous mourning admirers with one last dance. I had commiserated with them in silence, my one regret of the moment being that - even as I had enjoyed numerous rolls in the arms of her dearest friend and one with her fiancé - I had never had the chance to make love with Elizabeth. Perhaps just as well, I convinced myself, that I hadn't tasted such sweet fruit if I should never get another bite at it again. 

That regret was, perhaps, what inspired my most deliciously unladylike behaviour at the reception! But in that moment of wistful gazing at Elizabeth and Jonathan, I was ever so glad to have moved on with my life. 

James, utterly discreet as to where we had been minutes before, was beaming as he handed me my drink. "Shall we pay our respects to the lucky couple?" he asked as we clinked glasses. 

"We shall have our chance soon enough," I said, content to share a moment with him in the relative safety of my corner of the room. "You know, I might even be able to get you a dance with the bride," I teased. 

"Lovely, but I must beg a dance with you first," James said. 

"Good answer!" And we toasted again. 

The planners had taken great pains to decorate the great hall most ornately for the ceremony itself in the event of rain (which had come perilously close to passing), and it looked more beautiful than I could ever recall seeing it. James and I finished our champagne just in time to see Irene take the centre of the floor and clink her glass to quiet the crowd. After everyone was appropriately hushed, she said, "Please join me in welcoming Elizabeth and Jonathan to the floor for their first dance." After leading a round of applause, Irene stepped off to the side as the band began their first song. 


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.




Elizabeth 06: The Honeymoon



Elizabeth did, after a few pleasantly quiet moments. "Our friendship can hardly be over now, my dears, can it?"

"No wedding band could stand between us and such joy," Irene concurred. "Wouldn't you agree, Agnes?"

"Indeed," I said, and with that I enjoyed a shameless long look at Elizabeth as she reclined about her pillows. "Oh, good heavens, that reminds me. You shall never guess what James told me when we were in my room before!"

"He thinks you're as hairy as Elizabeth, doesn't he?" Irene piped up.

"How on earth..."

"I'm single again, remember?" Irene told me. "I've been spending a lot of evenings at the pub, and one does hear rumours."

"Just how widespread is the rumour?" I demanded.

"Enough that I heard it, too," Elizabeth said. "Fellows have asked me if you're single, and the way they look at me, I can see what they're hoping."

"So how did you break it to him that you aren't?" Irene asked.

"I didn't. He saw my bush and he liked it, but he's never seen Elizabeth."

Elizabeth laughed. "If he did, now, I would likely give him a heart attack!"

Irene was laughing, too. "I'm sorry, Agnes, I shouldn't laugh," she said. "Honestly, it sounds as though you handled that as well as you could."

"If only the rumours were true," I mused, gazing longingly at Elizabeth's beautiful huge triangle.

"Bite your tongue," Elizabeth said, standing up to retrieve the change of clothes she had left on her chair near the window. "Remember all that I had to live with before."

"Yes, but that was before, and now you and Jonathan..."

"There is one for each of you, too!" Elizabeth scolded us. "Perhaps it is even one another. But remember, the real secret to my success isn't my bush. It is my decision to accept who I am. You are both more than capable of that, my dears."

As I was beginning to feel naked rather than nude, I followed Elizabeth's lead and set about getting my clothes back on. "Thank you, Elizabeth. That is quite true. But I do wonder what is the polite way of correcting a man's misperception about one's pussy hair."

"There isn't one, of course!" Irene said. Elizabeth and I both laughed in agreement, and I resolved to waste no further time worrying about such things.

Uncle's offer of his motorcar for the ride to the train station notwithstanding, Elizabeth insisted upon the streetcar. She even insisted upon carrying her own trunk. "After the past two days, I am more than ready to be on my own!" she reassured Irene and myself at the door, and with a final embrace for each of us in turn she was off. The servants were still busy cleaning up after the reception, and despite the joyful occasion I was feeling oddly melancholy. Irene evidently was as well, for she excused herself with some excuse regarding an errand in town. After a day that had seen more intimacy than any other in my life to date, I was at last alone in the big house. The champagne having caught up with me in full force, I was off to a late-afternoon nap. 

Awaiting her at the station, Jonathan was as surprised to see her arrive on her own as we had been to see her leave that way. "They made you walk?!" he exclaimed as he took her in his arms. 

"No, they let me walk, heaven bless them!" Elizabeth corrected. 

"Why on earth did you want to carry that trunk on your own, and on your wedding day no less?"

"Because it is my wedding day, Jonathan," Elizabeth said. "One does get tired of being the centre of attention eventually, you know."

"I never knew you to object to that," Jonathan grinned. 

"Yes, well, this is the first time I've been in such a situation with my clothes on." They were both still laughing uproariously when the train arrived a moment later. 

They had their luggage stowed and themselves settled in their compartment, Elizabeth nestled comfortably against Jonathan, well before the train began to roll. A few more minutes passed in agreeable silence before Jonathan finally revisited the subject. "I never would have thought you would object to garnering so much attention with your clothes on given how graciously you always handle such things in the nude, my dear."

"Well, it's...different," Elizabeth said. "At the baths or with the girls, it's an intimate setting and there is quite literally nothing to hide. This was with everyone we knew and the beauty was anything but natural this time." On that note, she ran a hand through her curls and fretted that she had neglected to wash the setting solution out. "I ought to have showered before I left," she mused. 

"I'm sure your sendoff with Irene and Agnes was worth missing a shower," Jonathan reassured her.

Elizabeth whipped around. "How did you know..."

"I didn't," Jonathan said. "But I know you, and Irene and Agnes."

"You don't mind, do you? Now that we're married?"

"Of course not," Jonathan said. "Had a bit of fun back at my flat myself imagining it, actually." He tightened his embrace on that note.

Elizabeth laughed. "Heavens, I wish we'd known that at the time! Just imagine how intense it would have been for us all, knowing what you were up to."

"I'm betting it was quite intense enough already," Jonathan said. 

"Of course it was." Elizabeth was now itching to reach under her skirt and confirm her suspicions that all the talk of what they had done had her wet as a leaky faucet. But she decided to leave that up to Jonathan. 

To her disappointment, though he did no such thing. Elizabeth, being quite accustomed to Jonathan's less-intense desire than her own, made no complaints and resisted the considerable temptation to drop a hint or two. Concluding that she was a bit sleepy in any event, she relaxed in his embrace and contented herself with the naughty secret of her stubborn arousal, which after all was her near-constant companion to begin with. 

The pleasant silence held sway until they were perhaps a half-hour out of Westfordshire City. At long last Elizabeth felt the need to stand up and stretch. Jonathan looked up with a smile, but said nothing. Elizabeth had reached her limit. She planted her hands on her hips and gave him a stern grin of her own. "Are you really only going to look at your beautiful wife when we have this long ride to ourselves, my darling?" 

"Well, I had only assumed Agnes and Irene had tired you out already, and we did have rather a lot of champagne." Jonathan looked bemused at the situation, but made no move. 

"Jonathan! You aren't jealous, are you?"

"I have already said I had no objection, haven't I? And it's true, Elizabeth, I don't. Indeed, it has crossed my mind that perhaps I could use the assistance in keeping you satisfied. We both know I could hardly keep up with you myself, after all." 

Jonathan laughed at his own comment. Elizabeth did not. "Jonathan! Haven't we been over this enough times before?!"

"Yes, and I was only joking now. Surely you can see that!"

"The joke wasn't funny, Jonathan." Elizabeth turned and gazed out the window at the scenery as it flew past. "I worry a great deal about that, you know. I tell you again and again how I was accustomed to wanting it more often than the men in my life well before I met you, and yet I do worry, will that ever scare you off? Will you get tired of coping with my burning desires when you would prefer to sleep or read or whatever have you?"

"Haven't we already established that I am comfortable with saying no in such an instance?!" Jonathan replied.

"Yes, but you very rarely do," Elizabeth reminded him. "Usually you simply grin and bear it."

"What makes you believe that? Is it not possible that I mean it every time I say yes?"

Elizabeth looked at him in amazement. "Jonathan, I..."

"Hadn't thought of that?"

"I confess I had not. I am just so accustomed to coping with this constant yearning, it simply never occurred to me that you might feel it nearly as much as I. You did not when we first fell in love, after all."

"That was before I had known your unique charms as well as I do now," he said with a grin. 

"You and your flattering tongue." Elizabeth turned back to face him. "And yet, you had all the time in the world just now to play with my charms, and you never made any effort to touch them!"

"I only thought you were falling asleep."

"I suppose I was," Elizabeth confessed. "But then, we are married now, and it seems only right to consummate our marriage, and then there was all the racy talk of our own private activities just before we left for the train station, and the added thrill of your arms around me...I simply thought nature would take its course."

"It still could," Jonathan pointed out. "We have at least two hours to the coast." Without another word, he sat up a bit straighter and unbuttoned his trousers. To Elizabeth's delight, his hard cock arose effortlessly through the opening and was soon pointing right at her. "I think it was only awaiting your invitation," Jonathan quipped.

"It has a standing invitation from me at all times, dear, you know that." With brazen disregard for the window and the passing roads and villages, Elizabeth unbuttoned her skirt and let it pool to the floor around her. She had once again opted for no panties; against the contrast of her still-clothed upper half, her magnificent bush appeared even bigger than it usually did. Hands on her hips once again, she teased the edges of her triangle with her own fingers, eagerly anticipating the gentle touch of Jonathan's practiced hands in the hair. "So my hairy and horny nature has rubbed off on you, has it, Jonathan?"

"Well, evidently not the hairy part of it," Jonathan confessed. The contrast of his own very sparse thatch of pubes against her own jungle was an endless source of amusement for them both; Jonathan now opened his trousers all the way and pushed them off, but remained seated. "Wouldn't it be lovely if we did wake up one morning and discover that was contagious!"

"Careful what you wish for, dear," Elizabeth said. "It could be contagious the other way!" Feeling most hot and bothered now, she unbuttoned her blouse and soon stood nude but for her brassiere in the waning afternoon sunlight. 

"I would still love you," Jonathan reassured her, stroking his cock gently as he admired the view.

"Thank you, Jonathan. Likewise, you needn't worry about your own hairiness, or the lack thereof. You do know that, don't you?"

"You did say 'I do' today, didn't you?"

Elizabeth smiled broadly and at last removed her brassiere. "You know how itchy this starts to feel on me when I'm wearing nothing else," she told Jonathan, who did indeed know. Still grinning ear to ear, she turned and stood in the window on full display. "Such a kick to imagine if anyone happens to look up at just the right time..." she mused. 

"Or anyone who happens to look at the wall wherever those paintings of you were sold," Jonathan reminded her.

Elizabeth laughed. "Heavens, yes! My greatest hope is there's a young boy or two in those houses who will grow up knowing what a real woman looks like in the nude!"

"You could be creating a generation of men like me in some neighbourhood and not even know it," Jonathan pointed out. "Maybe the boys are finding some excuse to drop by that house and enjoy an eyeful, and then go home and..."

"Oh, stop! You're making me crazy!" Elizabeth was wiggling her legs, rubbing her thighs together in frustration, and her breasts were jiggling with the motion.

"What's stopping you from a bit of play?" Jonathan asked. 

"I'm saving it for you, that's what!" At last she turned away from the window and climbed upon Jonathan's lap, facing him. "But you just looked so cute rubbing yourself there, I didn't want to spoil the picture."

"You're welcome to spoil it any old time you want, darling," Jonathan whispered in her ear. Indeed, by then Elizabeth had already taken him in her right hand and was guiding him into her perpetually ravenous vagina, which was just as wet and ready as she had anticipated. 

Elizabeth inhaled deeply with the satisfaction of his hardness deep inside her, and gazed triumphantly into his eyes as she began rocking her hips against him. She closed her eyes and kissed him, and their lips lingered together for some moments as they both savoured their first encounter as husband and wife. That had changed everything and yet nothing: there was a delightful sense of certainty now as Elizabeth pushed shamelessly against Jonathan and the seatback behind him, that love was truly theirs now and there was no need to ever apologize for it again, and yet she recalled all too well that they had never apologized for it before. And how right not to apologize for something so beautiful! Gloriously comfortable in the body that had once inspired such shame, secure in her knowledge of how beautiful Jonathan found her, she enjoyed a slow and leisurely rhythm and welcomed his playful hands on her breasts and in her bush, and was utterly thankful that they had not saved this for their marriage bed. All those many months of exploring one another's body and growing comfortable in their intimacy wasted? She would never have wished it!

Given the fleeting nature of their privacy on the train, Elizabeth gave some thought to stifling her cries of delight when she came. But those thoughts were fleeting, and she was as unapologetic as ever when the moment arrived. As was so often the case, the thrill of listening to her screams brought Jonathan over the edge just after her, and he held her fast to stop the rocking as he burst wonderfully inside her. She let him hold her in silence, perched on his lap, for a few sublime moments before she released him and once again took her place lounging against his chest. At last they fell asleep, neglecting to put their clothes back on for the time being.

They arrived in Carleton Bay shortly after nightfall, and a gentle rain greeted them at the railway station. As Elizabeth told me later, "It was a lovely sight, but we were both far too tired for playing tourist, and our ship was to sail quite early the next day." Her parents had insisted upon reserving a room for them at the most exclusive of seaside hotels, and they had a pleasant evening lounging about their opulent room, partaking of a leisurely dinner in the terrace restaurant, and quite eagerly contemplating the next chapter of their life together. But they made use of the huge, comfortable bed only for sleeping. After such a long day, the spirit was no more willing than the flesh, even for Elizabeth. 

The next morning found the storm gone and a dazzling summer sun as they made their way to the docks and boarded the ship for their honeymoon on the continent. Back in Westfordshire City, though, it was raining quite hard when I arose to go to work. This was all too fitting for the lingering melancholy I was still coping with on our first full day with Elizabeth gone. Since Jonathan was also away, there was twice as much work awaiting me at the office and very little time to dwell on my self-pity, thank heavens. Nevertheless, by lunch time I had my mind made up that I would be off to the baths as soon as I could get away that evening. Nothing else stood any chance of improving my mood! 

After sending Irene an invitation, I recalled how eager Frances had been at the very mention of the baths, and so I also posted a note to her and Keith (who were still at Uncle's mansion for the moment) inviting them to meet me at the office later that afternoon. I had little trouble arranging a guest ticket to the men's baths for Keith through a friend who was a frequent visitor but unable to attend that evening; but when the clock struck four and I was counting the minutes until I could depart, I had still heard not a word from Frances or Keith. 

I was nearly resigned to missing the opportunity to bond with Frances (and, yes, to see just how big her ladygarden was) when I heard the outer office door open. With the resignation that came with such a dreary day as this, I arose and walked out to the reception area expecting a client bringing unwelcome news of some sort. But to my delight, I was instead greeted by Frances in a cheerful yellow frock and Keith in a stylish suit. "Well, hello there!" I said, hugging first Frances and then Keith in turn. "I feared you had not received my invitation!"

"We only just did, half an hour ago," Keith explained. "We've been downtown for most of the day, braving the rain to shop; both our outfits are brand new, in fact. We arrived home and found your letter, and concluded there was just enough time to change into our new clothes and meet you here."

"We're sorry we did not send a response ahead," Frances added. 

"That is no problem," I reassured her. "Heavens, I am glad you did turn up! I am in most dire need of a nice long soak in the baths, and they're always best shared with friends!" To Keith I added, "I am sorry you will be on your own in the men's baths. Believe me, I have often wished I could be a guest in there!"

"I am sure many of the regulars would welcome you if it could be arranged," Keith agreed. "In any event, I'm quite sure I'll enjoy myself all the same."

I was just about to tell him I was certain he was correct when Mr. Thompson appeared in the office doorway. "Hm, company, Agnes?" he asked. 

"Frances, Keith, this is my boss, Mr. Thompson," I said. "Jonathan's and my boss." Turning to him I explained, "They're in town for the wedding, friends of Jonathan's from back home."

"He was the big kid in our neighbourhood that I looked up to," Keith told Mr. Thompson. "I could have guessed even then he would find success in the city."

"I can just imagine Jonny as a young whippersnapper," Mr. Thompson said. "No doubt a smarmy little so and so then even more than now. But I give the devil his due: Jonathan is a fine worker. Even persuaded me to give Agnes here a chance. I had my doubts - severe ones - about a lady lawyer, but she does a fine job. I only wish she would wear those dresses of hers a little shorter, though; that would spice up a boring day!" On the "that," he swatted me on the bottom with his rolled up newspaper. "Well, I hope you both like your stay in Westfordshire," he concluded. "Agnes, I'll be seeing you tomorrow?" 

He tipped his hat and turned toward the door. Knowing he never, ever looked back when it was time to go home, I gathered up my skirt with both hands and flashed my panties at him just as the door closed behind him. Frances and Keith both looked bewildered. "That is my response every time he makes a sexist comment like that," I explained to them. "The joke is on him, as I see it: I give him just what he says he wants, but the old codger never even notices!" 

"My word, I do love what the city does to a young woman," Keith said. "Frances, perhaps I will move us here as you suggested after all!"

"Oh, it isn't the city that does that to us," I corrected him over my shoulder as I returned to my desk to close up shop for the night and collect my umbrella. "It is Elizabeth you can thank. You have seen how deliciously uninhibited she is. A year ago I arrived in town as a blushing flower. She and Irene put an end to that right quick!"

"I...see," Frances said. "Then you were quite shy on your first visit to the baths, were you?"

"Very," I confirmed. "But the others made it remarkably comfortable for me in no time at all, and I am quite sure you will find the same."

"You did swim naked with us boys last summer," Keith reminded her.

"What a glorious thrill that was!" Frances remembered. "But that was among close friends, after all."

"This shall be too," I promised. 

On the walk to the baths, Frances and Keith confirmed that they were seriously considering a move to Westfordshire City. "Plenty of work to be had, and I do love the progressive culture here!" Keith explained. "Or is that only down to Elizabeth as well?"  




Elizabeth 06: The Honeymoon



"She is a product of it as much as we are," I said. "Just a very unique one, I suppose, and an especially enthusiastic one. You will hear all sorts of stories of her in the baths - men and women alike."

"Wouldn't do to talk about her now that she's married, would it?" Keith asked. "Particularly to a bloke who goes to the baths himself?"

"You are in for a big surprise as to just how open the atmosphere there is," I told him. "No story I could offer you would prepare you in full." 

Frances was quiet, although clearly willing, on the walk through the rainy streets. She did comment on the futility of an umbrella in such heavy rain when we arrived in the lobby of the ladies' baths, bidding Keith adieu with plans to meet for dinner in an hour's time. "I do hope my dress will be somewhat drier by then," Frances groused as the door swung shut behind us. 

"It shall be," I promised her. "The soap stones they use to heat the water do a marvellous job of keeping the locker room dry. We depend upon that on days like this!" 

Elizabeth had left her membership card with me for the very purpose of introducing Frances to the joys of the baths, and I presented her card and mine to the young woman behind the desk. Reading Elizabeth's name, she said, "Ah, yes, she's off on her honeymoon, isn't she?"

"Yes, the lucky thing," I said. "Has Irene arrived yet? She said she would be joining us."

The desk attendant shook her head no, but only seconds later Irene appeared in the doorway. "Frances!" she exclaimed. "How nice to have you along!" She was dressed brightly like Frances, and it was a tremendous relief for me to find our other best friend in such spirits as she blossomed forth into the warm, dark lobby. Seeing Irene in a dress anymore was something of a novelty; she had gravitated increasingly to trousers since even before my arrival in the city, a trend that was beginning to catch on with other young women, although I had no interest in partaking of it. 

"Hello, Irene," Frances said with a nervous nod as Irene embraced me tightly just before handing over her card. She seemed to give some thought to greeting Frances in the same manner, but Frances did not show any sign of welcoming it just yet. To me, she said, "That was lovely, Agnes. Do you two and Elizabeth always greet each other so warmly? That is not what we hear of life in the city, I can tell you."

"And that is just why we do it!" Irene explained, taking Frances' arm in hers as the three of us meandered to the locker room. "A city can be a cold, heartless place all right. But it can also inspire people like us to form wonderfully tight bonds. On a nasty day like today, I live for Agnes and Elizabeth's hugs, I can tell you!"

"Frances and Keith are considering a move here themselves, you know," I told Irene, not caring to steer the conversation to the finer details of our relationship; it might have been a bit much for Frances to learn just now that Irene and I had an on-again off-again sexual relationship, after all. 

"That would be lovely!" Irene said. "Whatever its faults, Westfordshire City is a wonderful place to be young and in love. Not to mention the baths." On that note, she pulled open the locker room door and stood aside for Frances to enter our sanctuary for the first time. 

Frances stepped inside gingerly, as if not knowing at all what to expect, which I suppose was indeed the case. As usual, there were women coming and going, all in various stages of undress, and we were greeted with a round of comfortable hellos and smiles. Frances returned them all politely, but seemed deeply unsure as to what to do next. 

I had been in exactly that position not so long before, and I stepped up to help her through the initial shock. "It's all right if you're feeling embarrassed just now, Frances," I told her as I opened an empty locker. "The first time is like that for us all. I promise you will be amazed at how quickly you find yourself feeling perfectly comfortable." Rather than pressure her to undress, I began doing so myself. Irene, who had claimed a locker on the other side of the bench, followed my lead. 

When we were both down to our brassieres and panties, Frances at last began fumbling with the buttons on her dress. I was about to offer to help her when our friend Eunice, perhaps the baths' most loyal visitor, appeared from the next row of lockers. She was on her way into the baths, and of course she was stark naked. "Irene! Agnes!" she squealed in greeting. "Lovely show at the wedding yesterday, and I barely had the time to say hello to either of you." She turned then to Frances. "You were there as well, weren't you? We were never introduced, though. My name is Eunice."

"I'm Frances. Very pleased to meet you, Eunice." To see how pleased she was, one only had to look at the expression on Frances' face as she took in Eunice's big body - enormous breasts and a matronly belly that kept her bush out of sight when she was standing - and her even bigger smile and show of confidence. Eunice could be a bit of a trial with all her gossiping and monopolizing the conversations, but she did set a wonderful example for the very accepting atmosphere that made the baths what they were. 

"Is this your first time in the baths?" Eunice asked, and not waiting for an answer, she continued, "I take it the answer is yes? You're going to love it, dear. I shall be seeing all three of you shortly in the water!"

"Certainly, Eunice," agreed Irene, who had removed her underclothes while Eunice was introducing herself. Frances turned instinctively at the sound of her voice and was nonplussed to see her nude as well. I set about removing the last of my clothing. 

"Well, she certainly is comfortable with herself, isn't she?" Frances asked, at last unbuttoning her dress as Eunice waddled off toward the bath chamber door. 

"Everyone is after a visit or two," I told her, as I closed my locker and stood before her without a stitch of clothing or a trace of embarrassment. "You will see, I promise."

Frances pulled her dress off, revealing that she was wearing old fashioned short pants of the type I had abandoned as soon as I had seen Elizabeth in her stylish panties. "I must say, I adore your underclothes here in the city," she said, avoiding eye contact with Irene or myself as she hung the dress in her locker. "I feel absolutely ridiculous in these by comparison!" She plucked at the fabric of her short pants, but did not remove them, opting instead to do away with her brassiere first. 

"My thoughts exactly last year," I said. "If you'd like, we could bring you to a lingerie shop just down the high street. The baths bring them a lot of business, actually."

"I think...I think I'd like that!" Frances declared. With no other cause for procrastination, she looked down and bit her lip, and hastily she pushed her short pants down. Knowing that Irene and I were curious due to the story we had heard the prior summer, she stood back and let a nervous laugh escape, and said, "Here it is, ladies." 

There it was, indeed. Scarcely less broad than Elizabeth's triangle and seemingly just as thick, Frances' ladygarden belay her initial shyness with an undeniable declaration of adult womanhood. It was a remarkably erotic badge, and her first-time awkwardness could not defeat the obvious pride she felt in it. 

"You're beautiful, Frances" Irene said, giving Frances a quick hug. "You are going to love the baths."

"Indeed," I agreed. I considered offering her a modesty cloak, but her demeanour persuaded me that she had no interest in one. 

Together we walked to the bath door, and Irene opened it for Frances. With a girlish squeal of nervous delight, she stepped into the steamy chamber. It seems Eunice had told the others in attendance of Frances' name, for several of them greeted her by it. Amidst the welcomes as we three eased our way into the hot water, Eunice once again stepped over the boundaries of decorum. "Well, I can see how you made friends with this pair, Frances!"

I was mortified on Frances' behalf...but to my surprise, she responded with a laugh. "Indeed," she said, "I knew I would be here in very accepting company." She sat back triumphantly between Irene and me, and appeared to have conquered her shyness. 

"That you are," Eunice conceded. "I must say, though, I shall never understand how a characteristic as mundane as having a lot of pubic hair should cause such celebrity in a place like this where we all have our unique bodies on display."

"That is because you have never had to live with being a hairy woman," Irene pointed out. 

"Oh, well, I haven't said there was anything wrong with it, now have I?"

"Not quite," I admitted. "But come now, if Frances wants to talk about her bush, she will. There is no need for the rest of us to draw attention to it."

"Perhaps I welcome your attention," Frances said. 

I assumed at first that she was joking; but upon turning to share a laugh with her, I saw Frances looking most determined, defiant even. 

"Well, come now, aren't we all here to see and be seen?" she asked us. "Perhaps that is not the only reason, but surely you will all concede that our being naked in public is a very large part of the attraction of it all. Having been more inclined than most to hide in my clothes for so very long, I know all too well what a blessed relief it is to finally allow oneself to be absolutely vulnerable and to be rewarded with the embrace of acceptance. It is almost addictive, wouldn't you say?"

"Bravo!" Irene said. "This is why we need fresh visitors to the baths from time to time. You're quite right, Frances, and yet I never thought of that. Exactly right."

"Well, then," Frances declared, patting her bush, which was flaring out delightfully every which way in the water. "By all means, admire it, and let us talk about it if you wish. Yes, I was teased about it at school, too. Not so very much as to hurt me particularly, as all the girls had something that inspired teasing of some sort, but enough to make me question my femininity, and to keep it hidden as best I could. Until last year. I would love to say it was my own pride and self-love that enabled me to embrace this as a beautiful feature; but the truth is that it was Keith's adoration for it that brought me fully out of my shell. Since then, I have come to see it is only myself whose opinion should matter at all, but it is nice to know how Keith loves it as well. In any event, so do I: I adore the sense of mystery it inspires and the erotic joy of looking down to see a triangle, and a big one at that."

"Lots of fun to scrub in the shower as well, I am sure," piped up Lindy, Eunice's frequent partner in crime, whose own impertinence had played a major role in bringing Elizabeth and Jonathan together; we were all begrudgingly grateful for that.

"For me and for Keith," Frances confirmed. 

"I can only just imagine," Eunice said. Clearly she was still not persuaded. Perhaps that is why I was not put off when she directed her next comment at my own love life. "So, Agnes, I understand you and James had a delightful time at the wedding!"

It was then Frances' turn to look horrified on my part. I had neglected to warn her of just how open the atmosphere usually was in the baths. I patted her leg gently to let her know there was no trouble, and answered, "Indeed we did. He's a lovely young man all right. But do you know, he believed I was as bushy as Frances here? I wonder where he got that idea."

"The company you keep, perhaps," Lindy suggested. "Or maybe the rumours about us get jumbled among the men at the pub. I do hope he did not express disappointment when he saw otherwise."

"He didn't know otherwise, even after I undressed," I said. "I don't suppose he has ever been with a lady as hairy as he thought I was." 

"Is that a good thing?" Eunice asked. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him, after all."

"That is where I left it," I said. "No need to embarrass the poor dear when he was already in bed with me. I was only too happy to have him find me so beautiful as I am."

"Yes, but it is such fun to let men know of their misperceptions about us!" Lindy said with a laugh that proved contagious. 

On that note, somewhat to my relief, the topic of conversation turned elsewhere, and we whiled away our hour in most agreeable company. Frances proved to be fairly talkative while I, still feeling fairly melancholy, was content to listen. But the warm water and warmer company did a great deal to lift my spirits, as did Frances' remarkably fast adjustment to the intimacy that was so new for her. Despite going back out into the rain, the walk to the pub for dinner afterward found me in a much more positive frame of mind than I had felt in days. 

At the pub, Keith waved at us from a table he had staked out with another young man who had his back to me. As we approached the table, I realized the other man was James; he turned around to confirm as much just as we arrived. Keith said, "Ladies, my new friend James here wanted - "

"Agnes!" James interrupted, jumping up from his chair to surprise me with a lovely fond embrace. "I do hope you don't mind, Keith here told me you and Irene were with his fiancée in the ladies' baths and you were meeting them for dinner afterward, and I guess I looked as delighted as I felt to hear you would be here, and so he invited me along."

"No, that's lovely, James," I said, though rather nonplussed at his enthusiasm. Was this what I could always expect of a man once I had partaken of his favours, even if it was only one pleasant afternoon?

I took my seat as James shook hands with Frances and recalled their brief meeting at the wedding. It was not, of course, lost on me that James was careful to switch his claim to the seat next to the one I had happened to choose. What did surprise me was that I found myself feeling happy about that occurrence; he was looking quite smart in a new-looking linen suit and pale blue shirt, perfect for summer. After the waiter had been and gone with our orders, the poor dear finally had to take a breath as Irene spoke up. "Keith," she asked, "How did you find the baths?"

"Wonderful," he said. "Such a pleasant diversion, and under the circumstances you almost have to make friends. Didn't you find as much, darling?" 

"And how!" Frances agreed. Irene and I exchanged bemused looks, knowing the full extent of how she had indeed found as much but was too demure to comment on it in present company. "Yes, I had a lovely time," she continued. "All very accepting of everyone, that place is!"

"I am quite happy to hear that," Keith said, and turning to me he added, "Thank you so much for inviting her."

"Oh, Agnes and her friends are always quick to invite a new friend to the baths," James said, I thought rather impertinently; but I was not inclined to antagonize him as my suspicions grew. He had been so very pleasant in bed the other day, after all. 

"Yes, but Agnes understood there could have been some unpleasantness for me," Frances spoke up, surprising us all with her frankness. "And she and Irene were there to reassure me that there would not be. We should all be so secure in ourselves as they are!"

"Yes," James agreed. Brushing my hand, he added, "I understand Agnes has had her share of difficulties with that in her past. So of course she would know how to sympathize with you on that."

The poor fool still did not realize that I was not like Elizabeth! But now was hardly the time to tell him as much. 

I suppose I could have excused myself just after dinner, knowing there would be music and dancing at eight o'clock as usual, if I feared what might be next with James. But after turning the matter over in my mind, I found that I did not fear any such thing but actually welcomed his rather obvious continued interest in me. Throughout the meal he was lively and talkative, and always respectful, and I allowed my mind to wander time and again back to my room at Uncle's house and the gentle caress of his hands on my breasts and how welcome it would be to feel that again. And so it was ultimately with no regret that I lingered over a post-dinner drink as the band began its set, knowing James probably intended to ask me to dance. 

The moment I finished my drink, he did. "Agnes, may I have the honour?" he asked me, standing up and holding out his hand. 

"Certainly!" I heard the enthusiasm in my reply without being fully aware of it, and it took but a moment to conclude that it was sincere. I could not resist an apologetic glance at Irene, but she was chatting with Keith and Frances and did not look upset in the least. 

After our impromptu tryst just a day before, I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable I was in his arms out in public. "Thank you for asking, James," I said as we whirled about the floor. "It feels great to be out and about on a night like this."

"A night like this?" he asked. "Surely a bit of rain doesn't distress you."

"Yes, isn't that silly!" I acknowledged. "And yet I have been feeling rather melancholy. That is what brought me out to the baths tonight, I suppose. As I told you yesterday, I've been on my own in the city for more than a year now, and I suppose I'm growing tired of being on my own." After a comfortable pause, I added, "And by the way, thank you ever so much for yesterday."

"Thank you as well!" he said. "It was beautiful, and to tell you the truth, Agnes, I have been hoping there might be more of that in store for us. If you don't mind my saying, I mean, we were quite good at it, and..." his voice trailed away.

"Quite good?" I asked. "That sounds like how you might describe your ability to speak French, James!"

"Oh, I would never claim to be quite good at that," James admitted. "But I mean, Agnes -"

"Oh, James, I'm sorry!" I squeezed his hand affectionately. "I did not mean it literally. I only meant that you were being rather clinical for...that subject. In any event, James, you do yourself rather an in justice, I think. You were far better than only 'quite good', my friend."

"Do you mean that!?" He looked as giddy as a schoolboy in a chocolate shop. "Good heavens, Agnes, here I've been practicing my speech all day long, and...it's as simple as that?"

"It's as simple as knowing we had a lovely encounter yesterday and you have been on my mind today, and when I saw you with Keith I rather suspected you had arranged for us to meet, and I was quite glad you did."

"Well gee, Agnes, if I'd known it would be that easy..."

"Then what, James?"

"I have no idea," he confessed, and we both burst into laughter, and sealed our conversation with a kiss. That, of course, elicited a few audible reactions from other couples around the floor, and I opened my eyes and looked around in morbid curiosity. 

Amidst the knowing and approving grins, I saw Keith and Frances had followed our lead. "Oh, dear," I said. "Irene must be all alone at our table..." I looked over, and to my relief saw that she was not. 

"She's behind you, dancing with Gregory from the bank," James said. 

"Oh, good," I said. "I know she will be delighted for us, James, but I do worry about her still being alone now that I'm not."

"I understand," James said. "I know how close the two of you are, and I know what it's like to be the lonely one in a group of friends. I would never wish that on anyone."

Now I knew I was in love. He understood!

"Might we have dinner tomorrow, then?" he asked me. "At Claridge's, perhaps?"

"Claridge's!" That was among the finest restaurants in the city, known for its romantic setting, perfect indeed for a date; but it occupied an unpleasant locale in my memory: my one and only prior visit had been with Edward during our first week in the city. Poor old naïve young Agnes, fresh from the farm and in love with a man who preferred men! But wasn't that all the more reason to move on from such things? Of course it was. "Claridge's sounds perfectly lovely, James," I said. "Thank you."




Elizabeth 06: The Honeymoon



James and I retired to the table after two dances. Irene, at that point, was chatting with Gregory and his friends by the bar. Shortly after we had sat back down, Frances and Keith stopped by to pay their share of our tab and say good night. "We're exhausted," Frances said. "But thank you so much for inviting us! It's been a lovely evening."

"Will we see you tomorrow at breakfast?" Keith asked me.

"I certainly hope so," I said, standing up to receive his kiss on my cheek.

"Well, either way, you will be getting a wedding invitation, I promise," Frances said. "And we may well be moving here if either of us can find work."

"That would be lovely!" I said, and Frances and I embraced. Then they were off. As they returned home the following morning, I was not to see them again until their wedding. 

"Afraid I've got to go as well," James said. "Briefs left to work on before I can go to bed. I shouldn't have come out at all, really, but when Keith told me he was having dinner with you, well, I couldn't resist."

"I am ever so glad you didn't," I said, privately relieved that we would not be jumping in bed just yet. Though delighted at his invitation, I did need some time to think. "Tomorrow night?"

"Tomorrow night is for us, I promise!" he said, standing up to take his leave. We gave the others in attendance another kiss to admire, and I held him tightly for several seconds before releasing him. "I'll have my flat cleaned up for you and everything!" he vowed. 

"Good night, James." I nearly added an 'I love you', but that seemed just a bit too forward just yet. 

A vague sense of loyalty compelled me to linger at the empty table until Irene returned, having bid good night to Gregory and his friends and seen them out the door. I feared a bit of jealousy upon her return, but was pleasantly surprised with an almost girlish squeal of approval. "I just know James asked you out, dear. Tell me he did!"

"He did," I confirmed, taking her hands in mine as she plopped down across the table from me. "Claridge's, tomorrow night. And Gregory? Did he ask you?"

"No, dear," Irene said, opening her handbag to count out her share of the bill. "I asked him!"

"Good for you, then!" I said. "I suppose I could have taken the bull by the horns with James as well."

"You did, did you not, when you invited him upstairs yesterday?"

"I suppose so," I conceded. "Rather a backwards way of doing things, but..."

"But so what?" Irene said. "Now you two know you are compatible in that respect, and clearly he enjoyed you enough to want to see more of you, rather than simply settling for the knowledge that he's had you like that. You could do far worse, Agnes!"

"Thank you. Well said, my dear. And you! Gregory? Nice enough fellow, but I had no sense of your interest in him."

"I have been here on my own quite often of late," Irene explained. "He and I have exchanged our share of pleasantries before, but the poor dear never asked me for a dance. So tonight I asked him."

"Good for you!" I was immensely proud of my friend, and reminded of just how much I loved my new life in the city; back home a woman would never do such a thing. With a contented sigh, I looked into my friend's eyes and clasped both her hands in mine. "I am ever so happy for both of us!"

"We are both overdue for a new beginning, aren't we?" Irene agreed. "Of course, I suppose this means you and I will no longer be free to play together, shall we?"

"Not from tomorrow night onward. But tonight..." I felt my face break into a mischievous grin, and to my delight I saw complete agreement in Irene's eyes.

The rain was light but persistent, and we clutched at each other and laughed at the situation as we made our way back to Irene's flat. Naturally we were spotted by a number of others who knew us, and there was little doubt that the rumours about us would be circulating anew by morning. I didn't mind in the least as I looked forward to a final, shameless tumble in Irene's arms. And from her giddy prattle about the rain and Gregory and everything and nothing, there was little doubt that she didn't care in the least either. 

Both our dresses were quite damp when we arrived home, of course. That only added to the steamy promise of the evening. Guided by the glow from the streetlights out the windows, I found my way to Irene's couch and turned on the electric light beside it while she drew the curtains. "Let's unfold the bed now as well," Irene said once that was done. "We'll be needing it quite soon after all, my dear."

I giggled but said nothing as I removed the cushions and stacked them aside, and helped unfold the bed. A few drops of rainwater spattered onto the sheets as I did. "My hair is wetter than I thought," I said, running my hands through it. 

"Allow me to dry it, then," Irene said, and presently she had found her way around behind me with a towel from the linen closet. She wrapped my head gently in the towel and patted all about it. Now I was more aware than ever of my damp dress, and I could hardly wait to get out of it. But first, Irene's hair was also a dripping mess. "My turn, dear," she said, handing me the towel. 

I turned around but she did not, so I was facing her. As carefully as she had done with me, I patted her blonde locks with the towel, my face inches from hers. Just as I was patting down the nape of her neck and her hair against it, Irene leaned in and our lips met. I tossed the towel on the floor and wrapped my arms around her and was wonderfully aware of her doing likewise. The wet fabric clinging to both of us did nothing to cool our passions, rather serving as an added encouragement to undress one another. 

I lost no time in unbuttoning Irene's dress. Still kissing her passionately, I unfastened each button and pulled the fabric apart as far as I could, around her shoulders so that her brassiere straps were free for me to tug at and tease. At last Irene broke the kiss and backed up far enough for me to pull the dress down; it slid off her arms and her waist and plopped to the floor. She stepped out of the pile of damp fabric and kicked it off to the side. "Now you," she whispered, and soon she had my skirt up around my belly and a gentle hand caressing my vulva through my panties, which she hastily pulled out of the way even before bothering any further with my dress. After a quick in-and-out tease with one finger, she returned to pulling my dress up with both hands. Eager to get her back to what she had been up to, I raised my arms, and presently my dress joined hers on the floor. 

After a brief, strong embrace, I slid both my hands down Irene's sides and pushed her panties down to her knees; she promptly wiggled her legs until they had fallen the rest of the way. While rubbing her back (and a few aborted attempts at unclasping her brassiere) with my left hand, I reached around with my right and teased her vulva just as playfully as she had done to mine a moment before, and which I longed for her to do again. I soon got my wish, for I was still only stroking her lips carefully when I once again felt her finger probing me. Slow but determined, she reached deeper inside and took my breath away. 

"Ah, so lovely!" I whispered, thrusting my hips up against hers.

"You are free to return the favour!" she hinted. 

"Am I going too slowly for you, my dear?" I asked. "It is only that your nice big lips are such fun to play with. You are ever so lucky to have them!"

Despite the intense intimacy of the moment, Irene replied only with a shy smile and another kiss. I knew how self-conscious she was about her large vulva, and how pleasant my positive response to it was for her. I would miss stroking it so! But that meant I would not be rushed in my final opportunity to do so. I enjoyed several more long, luxurious strokes up and down her labia with my fingertips and, judging from her intense breaths in those moments, she enjoyed them as well. At last, I eased two fingers inside and curled them just as I knew she liked best. Finding her clitoris with my thumb, I rubbed gently on the outside and firmly on the inside, and soon had Irene in a joyful lather. 

But not such a lather that she was unable to return the favour on me. I presently found myself getting as well as I gave, and my own primal responses filled the air alongside those I was inspiring in Irene. Gazing into one another's eyes, we shared an intimacy unlike any other as each of us felt the same sensation we were inspiring in the other in that wonderful moment. 

Irene, being rather more experienced, rubbed me to orgasm first. That lovely loss of control caused me to break my rhythm for a moment, but this brought no complaints from Irene. To my delight, she left her fingers inside me while I resumed my caresses, and so I was able to savour the lingering sensation as I finally brought her off as well. Only when that had finally come to pass did she withdraw her hand, the better to remove my brassiere. I followed suit, able to do so at last using both hands, and we shared another tight embrace with both our undergarments undone but held in place by one another's body. 

My appetite now whetted, I eased my clutch on Irene and, after hastily doing away with my brassiere and watching her do the same, I sprawled back on the bed with my legs open to her. She lingered over the bed for a moment, eyeing me hungrily while my entire body tingled with anticipation as well as desire for hers, and fingering her own clitoris playfully. "I have never done this before," she said, "But I can think of no one I feel more comfortable practicing it with for the first time."

I had but a moment to ponder that announcement before Irene climbed onto the bed and, facing away from me, crouched over my face. With her legs splayed as wide as my own, she lay down on top of me, and I had just enough time to realize what she intended to do before I was treated to her first long, luxurious kiss on my pussy. After a gasp of pleasure, I responded in kind and was rewarded with a moan that caused her lips to vibrate and tickle my pussy in the most delightful way. Encouraged and enthralled, I leaned in and licked harder, to her clear pleasure, which in turn intensified my own. 

I cannot say I cared for the view with which Irene's position presented me, but that only encouraged me to close my eyes and concentrate more on giving her pleasure and indulging in my own. I adored the screeches and moans that my kisses produced, as well as the sensation of her hot wet pussy bobbing time and again against my face, and I thrilled to the knowledge that she was enjoying the same sensations with mine. I could not have told you how long this went on, as I was lost in the intense sensations at both ends of my body until I was deliciously aware of Irene's orgasm. She screeched loudly enough to make me glad we had kept the windows shut against the rain, and the intense joy she radiated pulled me over the side as well. I gripped at her hips and planted one long last kiss as far into her vagina as my tongue could reach as I felt the climax wash over me. 

"I think that was our loveliest time to date," Irene said as we cuddled under the quilt a few minutes later, caressing one another's breasts to prolong the afterglow. 

"Quite," I agreed. "Such a shame that we would only come to be so good at it on our last encounter."

"Let's not think like that!" Irene said. "We've shared this beautiful experience. That is all that matters."

"And to think I was ever so concerned that the lovely times were over," I said. "Silly of me, wasn't that?" And then it occurred to me. "Good heavens, Irene, do you realize we haven't talked about Elizabeth all evening?"

"Why should we?" Irene said. "She's off on her honeymoon. There is no need for us to concern ourselves with her for now."

"That's exactly it!" I said with a relieved smile. "Here I've been worried that everything is over now that she and Jonathan are married, and in fact I've been out living my life and having a lovely time and never even thinking of her! Such a relief, of sorts."

"Of sorts?" Irene asked with scepticism. "Agnes, you are a grown woman with your own life. Elizabeth set a great example for us, but why on earth would you expect your life to come to a halt just because she has moved on with hers?"

"Excellent question, Irene," I conceded. "I am rather embarrassed to hear it put like that."

"There is nothing to be embarrassed about, Agnes," she reassured me, taking me in a fond embrace and laying her head on my breast. "But there is also no reason to fear anything is over and done with just because your friend got married."

I nodded and murmured my agreement, and soon thereafter I was asleep in Irene's arms. 

Had I only known what Elizabeth was up to aboard the ship, it would have put to rest any concerns of mine that life with her would be less spicy now that she was married. 

Among its many luxuries, the ship had a swimming pool on the upper deck. Elizabeth had, for the first day aboard, admired the placid warm water from a distance; but the many young women in their stylish bathing suits had inspired a most uncharacteristic bout of self-doubt that had prevented her from joining them. Nearly all the ladies our age or younger - or even a bit older, it seemed - were wearing the scandalously high cut suits that were all the rage for the first time in those days, and which Elizabeth could not wear without causing a scandal of a different sort entirely. Even after all those years as the belle of the baths, she mused sadly as she observed, fully clothed, from just beyond the pool patio, it seemed there would always be a subtle reminder that she was different in a most inconvenient way. Though none of the ladies - or the men - took any notice of Elizabeth, the simple fact of their easy camaraderie in and around the water brought a troubling flashback to her days of being made to feel thoroughly disgusting due to her unique natural beauty. 

That night, though, the melancholy had passed and she and Jonathan had made love in their cabin. The naughty thrill of his knowing fingers exploring her intimate forest of curls restored her self-confidence, and the next morning in the dazzling mid-ocean sun, she resolved to enjoy a turn in the water. "I'm surprised you didn't think of that sooner," Jonathan noted when he returned from the water closet to find Elizabeth putting on her bathing suit, the same very modest one I had had occasion to see her in at the seaside the summer before. 

"I did think of it sooner," Elizabeth said. "But I confess, I feel ridiculously dowdy in this suit anymore. Terribly overdressed for a swim, especially in comparison to most of the other young women out there. But..." She pulled the suit's skirt up, and Jonathan was treated to the sight of her wild undergrowth encroaching upon the fabric on both sides. "Just imagine the reaction I would get in a suit like they're all wearing!"

"I know what my reaction would be," Jonathan told her, taking her in a reassuring hug. "And it's not like you to care if that bothers anyone. Quite the contrary, if it comes to that!"

"You've got to remember, Jonathan, we're not in Westfordshire now. We cannot count on everyone being so open minded as they are there."

"Sad but true," Jonathan conceded. "But I anticipate you will find a way to inspire a great deal of open mindedness at the pool today."

He was correct, as any of Elizabeth's friends back home would surely have predicted. Nevertheless, upon her arrival at the pool, Elizabeth felt positively old-fashioned in comparison to the other women her age who were frolicking about in so much less. A few of them greeted her with a nod or a smile, which she returned as she slipped into the shallow end of the pool. The water was warm and rejuvenating, and already she could have kicked herself for denying herself such a pleasure the day before! She swam several laps, drawing little attention from the half dozen or so more scantily clad passengers who were lounging around the pool drinking their morning tea; evidently none of them had any interest in using the pool for its intended purpose. 

Her morning exercises done, Elizabeth stood in the shallow end and, with a sigh of contentment, she waded down to the level where her shoulders were even with the ledge, and leaned back against it to soak up the sun. She did not need to look down to know that her skirt was billowing up and out the way it always did when she stood still in the water, revealing her lovely secret to anyone bold enough to look down. She reminded herself, as she had done time and again on the way up from their cabin, that most others would likely take notice at all; and most who did notice would likely approve; and most who didn't approve would surely be polite enough to say nothing. 

There was no immediate reaction to her exhibition, but of course Elizabeth felt the same thrill of pleasant embarrassment she always felt when someone - particularly a man - saw her most beautiful secret for the first time. This did nothing to mar her enjoyment of the pleasant moment, or to inspire her to make any effort to hide her stray pubes. (There was, of course, nothing she could do save get out of the water!) Most of the others continued about their business of sipping tea and lounging on the dry deck; a couple of the other women finally followed her lead and got in for a swim. Both greeted Elizabeth wordlessly with a smile and a nod. One of them, she was nearly certain, saw under her skirt, for she looked back up at Elizabeth with a concerned expression on her face, which turned to bemusement as she took in Elizabeth's knowing grin in response and realized she was comfortable with the situation. Both friends then set about swimming, and neither of them commented.

It was only after that minor victory that Elizabeth noticed the young man lying prone on the reclining deck chair near the shallow end. Whereas the young woman had offered no conclusive proof that she had taken notice of Elizabeth's secret, there could be no doubting the handsome stranger had noticed. He was gazing at Elizabeth when she first took note of him, and one deliciously awkward moment later he looked up and made eye contact with her. With a contrite look he tore his gaze away, then just as quickly looked back and mouthed the words "I'm sorry." 

Elizabeth responded with a laugh and a nod and, of course, no effort to hide anything. She did not look away or rescind her welcoming smile, and after a moment the young man could see there were no hard feelings. After another awkward pause, he stood up - revealing a bulge in his swimming trunks that did not surprise Elizabeth in the least - and meandered around to her side of the pool. 

"Madam, I'm dreadfully sorry I gawked at you the way I did," he said, slipping gingerly into the water beside her. "I had no right, of course."

"No apologies necessary, my friend," Elizabeth reassured him. "I know full well what shows, and it is nothing I am ashamed of." She extended her hand. "My name is Elizabeth."

"And mine's Ronald," the young man said. "Ronald who is most charmed to meet such a free spirited young woman, if you don't mind my saying so!"

"Why on earth would I mind?" Elizabeth said. "It is such compliments that give me the confidence to be so unapologetic about my body, after all."

"Wow...well, thank you for that, then!" Ronald said, and he splashed around playfully, doing his best to look only in her eyes but clearly losing the battle. Elizabeth did not begrudge this, for she was also observing his own poorly-kept secret under the waterline. His chest was broad and mostly hairless like Jonathan's and he was carefully groomed in every way Elizabeth could see - exactly the sort of young man she would have welcomed in her bed before she met Jonathan - and she drank in his admiration gratefully. "So," he asked, "are you touring on your own?"




Elizabeth 06: The Honeymoon



"I'm on my honeymoon, actually." Elizabeth said it with real regret knowing how it would disappoint the poor young man, whose attention was causing her no small amount of arousal; she counted herself lucky that her bathing suit was already wet. 

However, he took the news quite well. "How lovely! But your husband isn't joining you for a swim?"

"He's off reading some silly novel in the café, I believe," Elizabeth said. "No need for us to spend every waking moment together, after all, now that we've got our whole lives for that. And honestly," she leaned in closer to Ronald and lowered her voice, "I don't think he cares to watch when I put myself on display as I have here."

"I'm...sorry!" Ronald looked nonplussed. "I don't wish to cause any trouble..."

"You are causing no trouble!" Elizabeth reassured him, touching him for the first time on his shoulder. "It is only that my husband, well, he knows how I like to put my body on display in certain ways, and it is not so much fun for him because he is rather more modest than I am. That is all."

"I see," Ronald said, although it did not sound to Elizabeth as though he did. "I do hope he appreciates your beauty." With a self-conscious look down at his bulging trunks, he added, "You can see that I do."

"Yes, and I am tremendously flattered," Elizabeth told him. 

"Well, thank you!" He stood a bit taller, his chest thrust out and, beneath the waterline, his bulge as well. "I suppose it is safe to ask if you are aroused as well, looking at it so."

"I am," Elizabeth admitted, "But then, that state is quite normal for me. There is a saying where I come from: the hairy ones are the horny ones!"

Ronald looked titillated. "They certainly do make me horny. I can only hope the reverse is also true! Your husband is a very lucky man, in any event."

"I'll tell you a secret," she added, "Being frank about your taste in such things is a good way to discover women like me. That's how my husband came to meet me. After all, you cannot spot us when we are fully clothed."

"Too true. I am ever so grateful to have spotted you, then, even if only to look at you."

"I assure you, Ronald, you may look all you want!" With that, she sprung into a backstroke, spreading her legs wide just before she landed in the water so that Ronald had a brief but unimpeded look at the wild curls that seemed poised to swallow up the gusset of her bathing suit. He was still looking awestruck when she completed her lap a few minutes later. 

Upon joining Jonathan for a late lunch in the ship's café that afternoon, Elizabeth was still giddy from the show she had put on for Ronald. (She had, she later told me, also rubbed herself to two orgasms back in their cabin after drying off.) "Jonathan, I've made a decision," she announced after kissing him in greeting. "When we get to France, I want to purchase at least one of those bathing suits like the ladies at the pool wear."

Jonathan grinned, but was surprised. "You know those will never cover everything with you," he said.

"Of course I do," Elizabeth let a laugh slip out just before taking her first sip of tea. 

"And I know you've always said you don't like the way your bush looks half-in, half-out like that," he said.

"True, I prefer to surprise people with the whole thing," Elizabeth agreed. "But I just prefer that modern style so much to my old fashioned suit, which doesn't even hide anything when I'm wading in the water anyway. You know how it always floats up."

"I see you've put on a show for someone at the pool and enjoyed it, then." Jonathan did not look or sound upset at this, as he once would have. 

Nevertheless, Elizabeth felt she had to tread gently. "Well, yes, Jonathan, I did. And I shan't apologize, for you know none but you are allowed to touch me regardless of what anyone else sees -"

"Yes, dear, I do know," Jonathan said, taking her hand reassuringly. "I know I have reacted badly to such things in the past, but that is over. If I had any lingering difficulties with your occasional need to put yourself on display for others, I shouldn't have married you, should I?"

"Oh, Jonathan!" Elizabeth leaned across the table and kissed him, drawing scandalous looks from some of the older passengers, whom they both ignored. 

"Auntie Agnes, you look like a princess!" Joy announced when I came down the stairs the following night, just as her mother was ushering her and her brother into the sitting room. Thomas gawked at me but said nothing.

"I do?!" I exclaimed. I did not, of course, but with my hair up and in the ornate blue dress I had purchased on my lunch break that day, I felt a bit the part.

"None of that, Joy," her mother admonished her, and both children found themselves shooed into the sitting room without another word, but each with a long last glance at me as I descended the stairs. "Agnes, I trust you shall be quiet upon your return," Aunt told me. "The children shall be asleep by then, I hope."

"I shall be quite certain not to make enough noise to awaken them from two floors and a wing away," I promised, not at all sure how I could make such a racket even if I cared to.

"I can do without your sarcasm at this hour, Agnes," Aunt said crisply just before slamming the door behind her. I was not at all surprised at her grouchiness; with Elizabeth now both an honest woman and absent for some time, Aunt simply needed a new target. And she had always resented me just as much as she did Elizabeth, at least since Edward had left me on my own to be my own woman in a way she had never had the opportunity to be. 

The rain having finally taken its leave that morning, I walked out into the dusk of a pleasant summer day to find the cab I had chartered waiting for me; the streetcar into town simply would not do for a first date! Within fifteen minutes I was at the door of Claridge's, which of course looked nothing like my memory of my prior visit with Edward. Such memories always are embellished beyond all true recognition when they are played over and over again in the absence of a true sighting, something I had avoided quite assiduously over the elapsed year. 

I had just enough time on the settee just outside the ladies' lounge to reacquaint myself with the lobby's ornate décor, and to wonder if James was the sort who liked to keep a lady waiting, before he appeared in the doorway. "Terribly sorry, Agnes," he said, greeting me with a kiss on the hand as he helped me back to my feet. "Haven't worn this tie in ages and I had to steam and iron it." He ran his free hand over the emerald green tie that was tucked perfectly into his vest.

"It did clean up nicely," I said, and indeed both it and he had! "I'm ever so glad you made it, James." I hooked my arm through his and we entered the dining room. There were only a few other parties there, one of whom was Maggie from the baths with a fellow I did not recognize; I could now be certain James and I would be the talk of the baths on the morrow, but I found I did not mind that in the least.

If the restaurant was little like that of my memory, I was at least correct in recalling that it was a remarkably romantic setting. As the maitre d'hotel showed us to a candlelit booth at the far end of the room, I reflected that my staying away until now had been a good choice. The quiet intimacy of the little tables and the pleasantly dim lighting were meant for those with full hearts, as I had had myself convinced I was on my previous visit with Edward. Engaged to the man I thought I loved and with a holiday in Westfordshire City to look forward to before our wedding, I had thought the world was at my fingertips on that evening. I had in fact had a brilliant future before me, but in virtually the exact opposite of every way in which I had imagined! Reliving that gilded memory alone, even once I was over Edward, would have been a certain recipe for misery. Not so tonight, as I smiled across the table at James, enjoying the easy silence that can only come with having already shared the intimacy we had. 

"To what do I owe that smile?" James asked. 

"I'm simply very happy to be here," I said. "The last time I was here was just after I arrived in town, and here I am a completely different woman. It's a lovely change."

"Well now, I'm sure you were lovely then as well, Agnes, but I'll agree that your changes seem to have been for the better."

"Thank you; and they were!" Lowering my voice, I added, "I assure you, the shrinking violet I was a year ago would never have lured you upstairs at the wedding."

"Few women would, I think," James agreed. "But that's one reason why I invited you out tonight. Only one reason, I assure you! But for a man like myself who is no good at flirting, there is a great deal to be said for having already been through all we have."

"No good at flirting!" I replied in surprise. "James, don't you know why I invited you to the wedding in the first place? It was because of how charming you have always been at our meetings, always so quick with a joke and a smile, yet you take me seriously as well. Hardly any men can claim either of those things, and you are both!" It was all quite true: his quietly respectful and low-key personality had always been immensely inviting.

"Well, I am very gratified to hear that from you, Agnes," he said. "But that was simply me being me. I assure you I was not flirting! Not intentionally in any event. I hope you can believe that."

"I do, James." And I did. Though I was not so naïve as to rule out the possibility that it was all an elaborate way of flirting, I quickly concluded that there was no need for him to deny it when I had expressed my own interest in him in no uncertain terms. "Of course I do. I know nothing about flirting myself, in any event."

"You certainly could have fooled me the other day," he observed drily.

"That was not flirting! That was simply a young woman who was ready for a bit of fun, and who had a willing partner."

"I certainly am that," James agreed. As the waiter arrived with our wine at that moment, we drank to his willingness. 

There was, thank heavens, no small talk for us. Once dinner arrived, the companionship was quiet and agreeable, and I was remarkably comfortable getting to know this young man whom I had known better with his clothes off than on. We finished off a bottle of wine during and after dinner as the conversation lingered on, and decided against a second. There was no talk of our going home together to jump back into bed just yet; but as we said our fond good nights on the corner afterward and I kissed him goodbye on the lips, I knew it was but a matter of time. Yet another advantage, I suppose, of having already had our bit of fun at the wedding was that there was no sense of urgency or uncertainty on the matter now. We already knew we were wonderfully compatible in that regard!

It was only as I thought of these things on my walk to the streetcar stop that I remembered: he still was not aware of his mistake with regards to my appearance. But, I promptly concluded, what of it? With no chance at all of him ever seeing Elizabeth in the nude, there was no need for me to advise him of her differences with me. And on that note, I realized with surprise for the second evening in a row that I had spent no time at all pining for Elizabeth or the bonds I had feared lost. And so it was with genuine joy that I arrived back home and found my way to my room without awakening the children. It was with even greater joy that I caressed myself to three orgasms before falling fast asleep, the lovely memory of James in that very bed and the anticipation of the same in the future accompanying me for each step of the way. 

Irene, it seems, was rather less inhibited than I about moving quickly on her first date with Gregory. Alas, Gregory was not. 

While James and I were indulging one another at Claridge's, they were enjoying a show at the theatre two blocks up the high street. It was an enjoyable farce, and an evening that began with the occasional shy look over at one another gave way to laughing together and brushing hands against thighs now and again. When the curtain fell, Irene was feeling thoroughly comfortable with her companion, who was looking as meticulously groomed as ever in a linen suit - rather more casual than he ever dressed for the bank, but still every inch the well-bred professional with whom we ladies of Westfordshire City were ever so spoiled for choice. Irene, already feeling half naked in a short skirt whereas she was now well accustomed to trousers, longed to tear his suit off and see for herself just how deep Gregory's grooming went. 

"Well, that was a lovely show, Gregory," she said as they filed out. "Thank you."

"Thank me?" Gregory asked. "You are the one who invited me, and I do thank you for that. I do need to get out more in the evenings, work keeps me so very occupied. I am so very glad you asked!"

"Well now, the evening is still young, you know," Irene said, slipping her hand in his as they milled through the crowd to the stairwell. 

"I could do with another round of drinks, now that you mention it," Gregory agreed. "Join me? This time it's on me."

"Certainly," Irene said, wondering if he mightn't be playing at some silly game. A drink with Gregory certainly was not a disagreeable proposition, in any event. 

He led her around the corner to a whiskey bar that she knew by name only. "They mostly cater to an older crowd," he explained. "But that makes it perfect for a nice quiet chat if that's what you're looking for."

"I am always up for that," Irene said. Looking around, she concluded quickly that she did like the dark oaken décor, though Gregory was all too correct that the clientele appeared to be largely older and male. When the barmaid appeared just after they had settled themselves in a booth, Irene surprised Gregory by ordering a well-respected brand by name; he followed suit with a me-too. 

"You know your liquor," Gregory said once they were alone again. 

"Rather too well," Irene admitted. "Drinking one's troubles away is no longer a man's game alone, I am afraid. But one does learn what dulls the pain rather quickly."

"What's to be dulled tonight?" Gregory asked. 

"Absolutely nothing, I hope!" Irene replied with a grin, grazing his hand playfully as she did. "You look lovely in that suit, incidentally. Very summery."

"Why, thank you," he said. "I confess, Irene, I had half-expected you to wear one as well. Pleasant to be wrong, I must say."

"What?!" Irene masked her irritation with a smile, hoping he might be joking. "Can't a girl wear pants from time to time without it meaning anything beyond enjoying a diverse wardrobe?"

"A man can't very well wear a dress from time to time and enjoy such mundane expectations," Gregory pointed out.

"And more's the pity," Irene said. "I am a bit radical, I suppose, but I believe anyone ought to be able to wear a dress or not. I am simply doing my part to that end, nothing more."

"You do that well," Gregory said. "I do admire how progressive you are in that regard, Irene. I always have. It is only that you do look lovely tonight, and I shouldn't have wanted to miss that."

"Thank you!" The crisis having passed, Irene basked in his admiration as their glasses arrived and she enjoyed a first taste of the bitter beverage. 

For an awkward moment she feared she was opening herself up to accusations of drinking a man's drink like a woman; but to her relief she noted that Gregory also began with a tentative sip. As if reading her mind, he explained, "I prefer to take these slowly. So many men just belt them down, and what's the point but to get drunk as quickly as possible?"

"I couldn't agree more," Irene said. "A bit of this goes such a long way." At that moment she rather hoped Gregory's drink would go a bit faster in lowering his inhibitions; but for the moment she resolved to enjoy her own whiskey and the view across the table. 

Irene made her drink last at least ten minutes, interspersed with pub talk of everything and nothing. Even at that pace, the undiluted spirit had her feeling rather tipsy. When at last she polished off the last drop, she set her glass down and said, "Well, that will keep me for the night, I think. And you, Gregory?"

"Most definitely," he agreed, having finished his some moments before. "Working early and all that, you know." He pulled out his billfold and set down the money, waving to the barmaid. "Well then, thank you ever so much for inviting me out tonight, Irene. We ought to do it again one of these nights."

"I'd like that very much indeed," Irene said, smiling through her disappointment. Not willing to let the ball drop just yet, she added, "When would you like to do that?"

"Perhaps Friday? Then we needn't worry about working early after all. Dinner and then we'll see how we feel about some more drinks?"

"I'd love that," Irene said, somewhat relieved. "Thanks."

"Thank you," Gregory said as they took their leave of the bar. "Can't tell you what a pleasure it is to have a woman do the asking for a change." Stopping on the sidewalk before he turned homeward, he regarded her with a smile, and for a wonderful moment Irene thought she might at least have a good night kiss. "It's..." he began tentatively. "It's been a great evening, Irene. I'll look forward to Friday."

"Indeed," Irene said, clasping her hands absentmindedly before her in her nervousness. She opened them as if to welcome him into an embrace, but he took no notice as he nodded and put his hat on. "I'll be seeing you then, I suppose," she stammered. 

"That you will! Good night!"

Irene walked home and, she later confided in me, ended her evening much as I was ending mine at around the same time. But whereas my self-pleasuring was in celebration of the loveliness I now knew was sure to come, hers was out of frustration. Still and all, Gregory had looked beautiful in his linen suit and he had told Irene she was beautiful as well, and he had proven himself open to a next time. Irene did her best to focus on the possibilities of that next time as she fingered herself into pleasant exhaustion. 

Elizabeth had lost none of her resolve when the ship docked. After regaining her land legs and enjoying a mellow evening with Jonathan, the next morning found her at a boutique not far from the beach. In the privacy of the fitting area, she admired herself in the glass in an elegant turquoise bathing suit, which of course betrayed her ladygarden in every way possible. "Wonderful," she declared to her reflection. "I feel positively royal in this. I shall buy it!"

The sales lady stood aside, looking embarrassed on Elizabeth's behalf and wondering how to address the unmentionable issue that she could not ignore. "Would madame not prefer something with..." she struggled and failed to recall the English word 'skirt'. "...avec une jupe?"

"That will not be necessary," Elizabeth told her in her own clumsy university French. "I like it very much just as it is." 

As if to prove her point, she pulled the suit off and stood naked but for her brassiere before the sales lady without a hint of shame because, of course, she felt none. She handed the bathing suit to her and set about putting her dress back on without another word, and the sales lady retreated to the counter to fold and box the suit. She had seen many a tourist with a poor eye for what was and was not attractive, but never anything quite like this! With a vivacious smile but no more words in either language, Elizabeth paid for her purchase and left with the parcel clutched in her eager right hand. As the sales lady watched her take her leave, she was still rather disbelieving of what she had just witnessed. But the hirsute young foreigner had seemed perfectly delighted with her choice, so there seemed to be no cause for complaint whether she understood or not. 




Elizabeth 06: The Honeymoon



Back at their hotel, Jonathan was curled up on the bed in his dry swimming trunks, once again lost in a book. He looked up in mild surprise when Elizabeth appeared above him. Seeing the parcel in her hand, he asked, "So you actually bought one, did you?"

"Do not expect for one moment for me to believe that surprises you, Jonathan!" Elizabeth ordered him, kicking off her sandals. For the second time in twenty minutes she pulled her dress off. "You knew full well I would never shy away from tearing down another wall for ladies like myself, and you also know how much your admiration for me helps me along that way!"

"I cannot deny that," Jonathan conceded, sitting up to enjoy the show as Elizabeth removed her brassiere, followed quickly by her panties. Elizabeth, though tremendously eager to put her new bathing suit on again, paused to allow Jonathan a long look at her body and to enjoy his reaction. His eyes and trunks alike bulging, Jonathan stood up and pushed the trunks down, his hardness springing to attention before Elizabeth.

"Ah, the things I could do with that just now!" Elizabeth teased, opening the box to pull out her new garment. "But first I want you to see me in this."

"I have no doubt I'll adore it," Jonathan said. To further titillate her, he began stroking himself slowly, leisurely. It worked, and Elizabeth was severely tempted to forget about the bathing suit for the moment. But she had made up her mind to model it for Jonathan and enjoy his inevitable approval lest she lose her nerve for the beach, and so she pulled the suit on and posed before him. Once again the astoundingly taboo obviousness of her dark brown pubic hair against the brightly coloured fabric was palpable; and as a result of Jonathan's casual masturbation her hard nipples also made their presence unavoidably known. This, of course, only further enflamed Jonathan's desire, and he began stroking harder as he admired his wife. 

After an enjoyable moment of basking in his lust, Elizabeth said, "Oh, very well, Jonathan, do save some of that for me now!" She crossed her arms over her chest and pulled the suit down most energetically, and kicked it over toward the window. 

The beach could wait! Elizabeth threw herself at Jonathan, knocking him back onto the bed and collapsing in a joyful heap atop him. Straddling his belly, she reached back and picked up where he had left off: after a playful squeeze, she swirled the head of his cock around her palm until she felt the tell-tale wetness leaving its trail. At that point she slipped both hands around behind his head and leaned down to kiss him passionately, her breasts hanging down just far enough to tickle his chest most enticingly. His own hands soon found their way up to them, and Elizabeth thrilled to his expert caresses as she continued kissing him and rubbing her wet, hairy pussy up and down his belly. 

"You'll look so lovely on the beach," Jonathan whispered between kisses. "I can hardly wait to see it!"

"You and I both!" Elizabeth agreed. On that note she sat up and took him in both hands, and slipped him effortlessly inside her. Rocking back and forth slowly at first, she looked adoringly down at Jonathan, who simply gazed back at her in his usual awestruck admiration. "Like the view?" she teased. 

"Always!"

Elizabeth began humping harder. Jonathan moaned agreeably but did nothing else. In frustration, she slowed down her thrusts and asked, "Need an invitation, dear?"

"An invitation for what?"

"You spoiled me so!" Elizabeth grunted, and with that she picked up his right hand and guided it to her clitoris. Jonathan had, on their very first encounter, proven himself to be a genius with fingering her into a tizzy even during full-on intercourse; but he was far too stingy in sharing that gift with Elizabeth. 

"Oh, of course, dear. Sorry." The invitation having arrived, Jonathan set about rubbing with his thumb as only he knew how to do. Elizabeth did not know or care whether he had been truly unaware of her desire, but it did not matter now that he was well on the way to working her into an explosive orgasm. When the big moment arrived, Jonathan could only thank his lucky stars it was late morning and their neighbours were most likely not trying to sleep, for Elizabeth's lusty screams could have awoken the dead. The absolutely delicious awareness of her pleasure brought him over the edge as well, and just as she came back down off her cloud, Elizabeth was rewarded with the beautiful sight of his face sensing the loss of control as he came.

There was talk of showering in the afterglow, but they both decided against it; they would, after all, be spending most of the afternoon in the water. Elizabeth did give in to her modesty long enough to wear a robe over her bathing suit while Jonathan put on a shirt for the walk to the beach. It was fairly crowded, mostly with other tourists judging from the English they overheard; but they were able to find a recently vacated patch not far from the high-tide waterline where they spread out their blanket. None of the handful of sunbathers in the immediate vicinity took any notice of them, a matter that brought Elizabeth a mixture of relief and encouragement when the big moment had arrived and she opened her robe. 

Naturally the world did not stop turning. Elizabeth did not allow herself the satisfaction or embarrassment - or both? - of looking around to see if she had inspired any scandal just yet. Instead, after a moment to savour her freedom, she turned to Jonathan and asked, "Come for a swim, darling?"

"Absolutely!" Jonathan said. Hand in hand they pranced off into the surf, taking no notice of the two sisters who were lounging on a nearby blanket, and who had both chanced to look up at Elizabeth's unapologetic exhibition. 

As they watched her and Jonathan run down to the water, they looked at one another in disbelief. "Did I just see..." one of them began.

"Yes," the other confirmed. "What in God's name is she thinking?"

"Is she thinking?" the other added. 

Of course Elizabeth's open secret was safe in the water. After a thoroughly enjoyable time spent splashing about and playing together, she forgot all about the matter of what showed and was thus utterly without care or concern when she emerged from the sea. It was, she later told me, just like her pre-bullying memories of when she knew she was different but never imagined anyone would care. Also like that long-ago naiveté, it came to an abrupt end as she was promptly aware of others minding her business. She probably did not notice the first looks she received, as she was not expecting them. But as the beach was now quite crowded, the raised eyebrows and scandalized glances she inspired were impossible to miss entirely. 

The first eye-contact came only when she and Jonathan were nearly back to their blanket, when a young man looked up at her with an expression of disgust. But she was already aware by then of others stealing glances, some of them looking hurriedly away while others gazed in fascination, whether positive or negative; and so she knew just what the young man who finally glared at her was thinking. Also thanks to her earlier inoculation, as well as years of putting detractors in their place at the baths in Westfordshire City and at school before that, she acknowledged him only with a shameless smile that made it abundantly clear that she was not sorry. She was a bit hurt; but none of the strangers on the beach could have guessed as much. 

For all outward appearances, Elizabeth was thoroughly undaunted when she and Jonathan lay down on their blanket to sunbathe. Her heart was aflutter with the rush of awareness that she was attracting attention, but she calmed her nerves with the knowledge that, here as back home, some of the attention was undoubtedly positive. In any and all events, she reminded herself, it was no one's business but her own. While it felt inevitable that there would be a confrontation of some sort, then, she was in the best possible frame of mind in anticipation of that event. 

It was not long in arriving. "Excuse me," came a female voice, and Elizabeth opened her eyes to see a young woman, clad in a rather skimpier bathing suit than her own, crouching down to talk to her.

Elizabeth propped herself up on her elbows. "May I help you?"

"Well," the other woman began. "This is rather embarrassing, but..."

"If it's embarrassing, perhaps you shouldn't say it, my friend," Elizabeth offered. 

"Actually, I must. My friends insist." On this note she cast a quick but betraying look to her left, and Elizabeth was aware of a group of several other young men and women clustered in a circle, past whom she had just walked, all of them trying assiduously not to draw attention to themselves from her direction. "You are making them all rather uncomfortable, and they have asked me to come over and ask you to please cover up."

"If I am making them uncomfortable, perhaps they should not look at me, wouldn't you say?" Elizabeth replied. 

"That is what I suggested!" the young woman confessed. "And that is why they nominated me to come talk to you."

"Well then, you may tell them you talked to me," Elizabeth said. "But I shan't be covering up, certainly not any more than you or your friends are. I might note you are wearing rather less clothing than I am at the moment."

"That is different!" She stood up straight and gestured up and down with her hands. "I have nothing to hide, as you can see!"

"Neither do I," Elizabeth said. 

"But...It isn't appropriate!" 

The poor young woman now appeared near tears of frustration. Seeing this, Jonathan piped up for the first time. "Young lady, we have no desire to make you uncomfortable. But it sounds to me as though your friends are doing just that by sending you over here. You can tell them you talked to her; if that is not enough, perhaps they ought to fight their own battles instead of sending you to do it for them."

She looked at Jonathan in silence for a moment, then finally nodded her head. "All we want is for a lady to be a lady," she said as she turned to go. Elizabeth and Jonathan ignored the barb. 

As soon as she was out of earshot, Jonathan said, "I know you were perfectly capable of fending her off, darling; I only wanted to help."

"No, that's perfectly lovely of you, Jonathan," Elizabeth said. "Thank you." Feeling oddly invigorated by the confrontation, she took a triumphant look around and was blissfully aware of a heated argument among the friends who had sent the young woman to accost her. She also took note of another woman on a nearby blanket who was giving her an approving look, which Elizabeth acknowledged and returned with a nod and a smile. Feeling even more emboldened than usual about her body, she uncrossed her legs and spread them a bit, thus further scandalizing any and all prudish beachgoers in the vicinity.

She rather suspected that the battle was won but the war was not; and after a few peaceful moments of enjoying the sun she was proven correct. When at last the argument among her new enemies had simmered down, she dared a peek in their direction and saw a young man approaching. "Pardon me, madam," he said in classic too-precise non-native English. "I believe you have met my friend Sarine?"

"Yes," said Elizabeth, "and we had a lovely little chat that ended with an agreement that if you and your friends don't appreciate my body, you are more than welcome not to look at it."

"Yes, well, to be frank, we are doing our best not to," he said, although Elizabeth could not help but note that his eyes darted back and forth from her face to her pussy as he said it. "Nevertheless, on behalf of everyone who is here to relax and enjoy himself, I feel I ought to let you know you are making many of us very uncomfortable. It really would be better if you would cover up."

Elizabeth managed, against considerable odds, to keep her cool. Once again she was the frightened young girl in the school locker room; but she would not be beaten into submission this time. "This is the beach," she told him with a forced smile. "It's one place where we should never have to cover up. You certainly aren't!" The young man was wearing a short, tight pair of trunks that left very little indeed to the imagination; and it looked to Elizabeth as they were getting tighter as he carried the burden of looking at her repulsive body. He was also, she noted, quite hairy: arms, legs, chest and belly were fruitful with unapologetic forestation. 

He looked down at his body, and his face turned red as he realized he was visibly hard down below. "That is different!" he insisted just as his friend had. "Everything that must be covered is covered!"

"And it is for me as well," Elizabeth said. 

"But what about..." The poor thing could not even bring himself to say it.

"What about this?" Elizabeth asked with a saucy grin, flicking shamelessly at her exposed pubes with one hand. "If that's what upsets you, perhaps you should have a closer look at all the hair you are exposing!"

"But I am a man!"

"And it's different because men say it is? Welcome to the modern world, my dear. Women aren't going to be your property anymore, and you had best learn to accept that."

"That is not what I meant!" the man insisted. 

"Then what on earth did you mean?" came a female voice with an American accent; and Elizabeth turned to see the woman with whom she had earlier exchanged approving looks standing on the other side of her blanket. She also chanced to note Jonathan grinning smugly, fairly bursting with pride; but he said nothing. 

"This does not concern you!" the man snapped at her.

"And her body does not concern you or anyone else!" she shot back. "If you want to talk about making people uncomfortable, you and your friends harassing her, that's making us all uncomfortable! She already told you, if you don't like what you see, don't look!"

"Hear hear!" came a voice from a bit behind them, followed by a round of applause from several other revellers who had evidently had enough of the interruption to their sunbathing. Elizabeth noted that her new friend was wearing a modest bathing suit much like the one she had worn on the trip; she had little trouble imagining why. 

The young man wasn't quite defeated. Staring embarrassedly down at his feet and the sand around them, he tried one last time. "As my friend said, all we want is for a lady to be a lady."

"I see a beautiful lady here," said the American, "Utterly unashamed of her natural beauty. And I also see a bunch of pathetic kids who just can't stand anyone being different and comfortable with that difference. If you don't like it, you can pack up your little toys and find some other part of the beach. But I warn you, there will always be others around who don't fit your narrow little idea of what's pretty, young man!"

This time Elizabeth and Jonathan joined in the applause, and the man followed his friend's lead in retreating with his tail between his legs. 

"Bravo!" Jonathan stood up to shake the woman's hand. "Thank you. I'm Jonathan, incidentally, and this is my wife Elizabeth." He whispered Elizabeth's name, lest the troublemakers overhear. 

"My name is Linda," the American said, also shaking hands with Elizabeth, who had scrambled to her feet by then. "And my husband Howard is..." she looked over her shoulder to see he had joined the circle. "He's right here!" she said with a laugh. "Listen, I do hope I didn't horn in too terribly on your privacy there. It's just that I couldn't help overhearing those young louts harassing you, and..."

"No, no, that's lovely!" Elizabeth said. "Really, when I made my decision not to hide my...who I am, you know, well, I knew there would be some trouble over it. But I have found before that if you don't apologize for anything, most people will respect you for it. Even if they don't agree with my grooming choices."

Linda gave her husband a knowing look, and they smiled at one another. Turning back to Elizabeth and Jonathan, she said, "Rest assured, Elizabeth, I do agree with your grooming choices." With that she lifted up the skirt of her bathing suit to reveal overgrowth of her own. While less prominent than Elizabeth's, it certainly would have been visible in a suit like Elizabeth's. "Honestly, dear, I envy your bravery a great deal!" she said with a girlish laugh.

"Well, Linda, I ought to tell you," Elizabeth said. "Today is my first day in this suit. So my bravery is quite newly discovered. And thank you ever so much for helping me through it! It is never too late to join me, you know!"

Linda nodded and looked at Howard again. "I like the way you think, dear. Same time and place tomorrow?"

"Certainly!" Elizabeth was thrilled at the success of her venture. 

While the women were enjoying their bonding moment, Howard said to Jonathan, "Aren't we a couple of lucky so-and-sos?"

"And how!" Jonathan agreed. 

"Leave it to me to find a man who's perfectly content to just talk!" Irene vented to me the following night at the baths. 

"He did ask you out for Friday, didn't he?" I asked. 

"Yes and no," Irene said. "He asked, but I rather had to goad him into it."

"Sounds to me like he was only being a gentleman," Maggie said. "Wait until the third date and all that."

"I suppose," Irene said. "It is only that...he looked so perfectly dazzling in that suit, and we do already know one another quite well."

"You know, if you wanted it to move faster, you always could have floated the idea yourself," I pointed out. "That's how James and I got together, after all."

"I was the one who asked him out in the first place!" Irene replied. "I shouldn't have to do all the work."

"I quite agree with her, Agnes," Maggie said. "It ought to work both ways. But Irene, it really does sound to me like he simply did not want to move too fast. A true gentleman never does, after all."

"But I don't want a gentleman!" Irene confessed. "I want some fun, and heavens, I want it soon!" Even she had to laugh once the words were out of her mouth; seeing it was acceptable, Maggie and I laughed as well. "Sorry, ladies, I know I'm whining. I suppose it is just that, seeing such a success story with Elizabeth and Jonathan, and knowing I'm the one who set that in motion in the first place...it's frustrating."

"Now, hold on, Irene," I said. "Do you really think Elizabeth has never known the frustration you're feeling just now? Even with Jonathan?"

"Especially with Jonathan, if the rumours are true," Maggie added. (The rumours were true; Jonathan's lesser desires had caused their share of tension early on in their relationship. But Irene and I did not confirm this; it was none of Maggie's business after all.)

"We have both heard her tell very frankly of the many times the men in her life could not keep up with her desires," I reminded Irene. "Sometimes I think that is one thing about herself she would change if she could." When Irene gave me an extremely sceptical look, I reiterated, "I did say 'sometimes', didn't I?"

Irene nodded. "You are quite right," she admitted. "Courting is ever so very frustrating. But worth it when the stars align."

"And they will," I reassured her, squeezing her hand under the water.

"Speaking of which," Maggie asked me with a grin. "You and James?"

"We had a lovely evening together, which ended with a kiss on the corner," I told her, neither knowing nor caring if she knew what James and I had done at the wedding. 

"You too?" Irene asked. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not," I said. "There is nothing wrong with taking things slowly, after all." 

"Not if it's what you both want," Irene agreed. And from the glint in her eye, I could see she was not going to be let down again on Friday!