Chapter 10

Four days later, Jamie returned and the girls went to the station to collect him. The train was a respectable thirty-five minutes late, and he was clearly tired from the short but arduous journey. Lauren introduced herself and was delighted that Emma beamed at Jamie all the way back to the house. He was almost the same height as Lauren, not muscular but certainly no wimp. He also had blonde hair, darker than Emma's, cut conservatively like his father's. Lauren guessed that he had yet to start shaving regularly as his face appeared smooth and still very boyish.

After talking with his mother and father for a few minutes, he changed out of his trousers and shirt and joined them in the kitchen where Emma was making coffee, much to his surprise. The children talked for hours while Emma recounted the adventures of the previous week and it was clear from her tale that she had been out and done a lot more than usual. Jamie appeared impressed to the point of asking what was happening on Monday.

"Your teacher is supposed to be coming, I heard" said Lauren.

"He's involved in the election. He won't be here, I bet" said Jamie.

"Great, we could sunbathe all week!" said Emma. "Lauren needs to get her tan going before the winter comes."

"You've heard, I suppose, that's about all there is to do around here. And go swimming in the pool." said Jamie

"Or go to the beach?" asked Lauren.

"What for? There's the pool" replied Emma.

"The beach might make a nice change. I've never swum in the sea!"

"Really?" squealed Emma, looking at her incredulously. "That's weird. But you don't like to get wet, do you?"

"You shower though, don't you?" asked Jamie.

"Sure" said Lauren, wondering why she felt so defensive.

"But you might not like us sunbathing. Sometimes we don't wear anything when there's just Jamie and me. So we don't get any tan lines"

Lauren's heart thumped in her chest. To her surprise, her main concern was not the thought of seeing Emma naked but of having them both naked and where that might lead. Lauren knew that she had to understand Jamie's thoughts and counsel him about Emma's behaviour.

Emma leaned forward as Lauren stood to make more coffee, chatting about the horses and the thunderstorm as Lauren poured the water. Turning to see how much sugar Jamie wanted, she glimpsed down the front of Emma's T-Shirt and once again caught sight of the tiny young nipples. Turning back without an answer, she brought her hand up and rubbed her forehead as if to restore circulation. Unsteadily, she brought the coffee across and sat, prickly heat darting across her body as she held the seat tightly.

Lauren turned her attention to Jamie, looking him over discretely as she asked him questions about his friends in the area and what he had done during the summer. She liked his face, and even though he looked younger that Jim, she realised that as a family they had traveled considerably, the effect noticeable as he told her stories of previous countries they had lived in, including England and the United States.

"Emma! Where are you?" shouted her mother.

"Here!"

"Just a minute, if you could!" Emma trudged off dejectedly to talk with her mother, and Lauren seized the moment to have a quiet chat with him.

"Where do your schoolfriends live? Around here?"

"No, now we have the stupid tutor we've lost touch with most of them. He does try to get all his pupils together now and then, but maybe only twice a term"

"Good chance to meet girls, though, I would think!"

"No, most of the kids are younger than me, more Emma's age"

"Hmm, she's at an awkward age. I remember how I felt. Rebellious. I think I went out of my way to be non-conformist."

"You're right. She's certainly moody, but I've seen her worse!"

"She's developing. Getting ideas about boys, and sex and so on. It's difficult. We need to treat her gently."

"I know. She wants to do some funny things"

"Really, anything I could sort out?"

"No!" he laughed, looking at Lauren and then forcing the smile off his face. "No offence, she just had some crush on me, I think. It happened earlier this summer as well as last weekend. She touched my... you know. I didn't mind anyway."

"Your willy?" said Lauren. She was impressed that she didn't feel herself blushing for once, the tone of her voice just as her mother would have used for firmness and authority. He nodded back at her, eyebrows raised at her forthright manner. "You'll just have to walk away from those sorts of situations. She'll grow out of it. I think though that you should mind. She's your sister after all." Lauren looked intently at his face and knew beyond a doubt that her lecture had not sunk in at all. He shrugged slightly as if to accept her right to an opinion while dismissing any further discussion.

Gustav and Elizabeth left late on Monday morning. They had hoped to talk to Mr. Quintero but he hadn't arrived by eleven thirty, so they left the children in the hands of Lauren who promised to take them to the beach instead of having them in the house all day. Delighted, Elizabeth had waved good-bye until the car disappeared out of sight.

"I'm going to change then get something to eat" said Jamie as he went back inside. The sun was almost at it's highest and it seemed a bad idea to be outside. "Lauren, are you going to sunbathe on the beach as well?"

"I might do. Yes, I think I will but I'll have to get a bathing costume first in town."

"Oh, I know just where" said Emma, gripping her arm. "I'll help you chose it!"

After lunch, and the briefest of siestas, Lauren drove them to the town and parked, theirs the only car in the square outside the only clothing shop in Boquette. The majority of shops formed the side of the square, except for the north end where cafe tables sprawled into the road. None of the buildings had been painted in recent history, and plaster hung from the walls in a two tone effect. Thin chickens and wiry dogs ran around freely while black-shawled matriarchs guarded sleeping babies and screaming, ragged children. Grey smoke from blackened cooking drifted from cafe grills, tempting people and animals alike. Old men with stubbled chins looked up from their dominoes and watched in dismay as the children invaded.

Jamie sat at one end of the tables, ordered a drink and watched the central fountain while the two girls walked into the shop. Lauren chose a couple of bikinis quickly. After all, there wouldn't be many occasions when she was going to wear them. Most of the time she could wear a T-Shirt and the bottom part if she wanted to simply stand in the pool. Something cheap would be fine. Lauren showed them to Emma who smiled and pulled her into the changing room. Lauren checked herself, foolishly realising that this wasn't quite part of the plan. She couldn't quickly buy one of them because that would be stupid. Pulling her T-Shirt off over her head, she slipped the bikini over her bra and tried it for size.

"There. That's perfect. And I really like the colour. Let's go!" She put her arms into the T-Shirt and pulled it quickly over her head.

"What about the bottom. Go on, try them!"

Nonchalantly, Lauren pulled her jeans down with her knickers and slipped out of them both. Stepping carefully into each leg, she pulled the bikini bottoms up and checked the waist. Emma's hand darted round to her bottom.

"What size are these?" she said, pulling the back down quickly. Emma had dropped to her knees and was searching like a woman possessed.

"They're a size 6, I think"

"Wow, you're quite thin."

"They're stretchy, that's all!"

And then her fingers traced the outline of the waistband. Lauren close her eyes involuntarily. Her tiny fingers! Inches away! Were they trembling? They roamed over her, so soft and warm! Lauren thought she would fall over. She battled between twisting away and remaining just a moment longer, balancing whether to condone the exploration or tell her in no uncertain terms that she was out of bounds. Emma looked up at her, smiling like an angel. Lauren thought she could have been in an advert for whipped cream, or flowers on Mother's Day, or the star of a promotion for pearly white teeth. Lauren realised, conclusively, that her actions were wholly innocent.

"Hey, that tickles!" she giggled, twisting slightly as she turned her back on Emma and slipped the bikini bottoms off. She almost fell in her haste to put her knickers back on, and was already zipping her jeans back up as Emma got to her feet.

"Lauren?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm so glad you decided to look after us. I think it's going to be really good fun!"

Lauren put her arm around her shoulders as they emerged from the changing room, smiling at her. "Thank you. I'm glad to be here with such beautiful children. And in this lovely country. It's great that it's

so warm here." They paid, collected Jamie and drove to the beach. The tide was out and that meant walking over the rocks before they could get to the water.

"Oh well, we'll have to come back early tomorrow morning when the tide's in." said Jamie. They were home within ten minutes, the children deciding to laze by the pool while Lauren changed. Her bedroom was cool in comparison to outside, and her nipples registered their disapproval as she slipped off the T-Shirt and bra. She cupped them reassuringly, rubbing a little before she sat on the bed and snipped the price tag off the bikini bottom, noting with disappointment that the workmanship was far from perfect. With her jeans and knickers off, she wandered through to her bathroom and rinsed her face with a flannel, then slipped into the briefs and pulled them up. The fabric wasn't the world's best, but it covered everything well. The top went on next although she had to remove it a couple of times before she was happy with the straps. Once again she delighted in the way her breasts hardly moved when she took it off, and turned sideways on to the mirror to admire her profile. She had always felt apprehensive about wearing a swimming costume and found it easy to fault some part of her body, especially as she looked around the pool in Andelberg back home. Either her breasts were too small, or her legs too thin, or her hair a complete mess. Now it seemed that her milk-white skin was going to be an obvious indication that her body hadn't seen the sun for many years.

She decided that she would sunbathe a little while writing a letter to Nikki, so she rolled up her pen and paper in a bath towel and slipped a T-Shirt back over herself before padding down the hallway, the marble floor wonderfully cool beneath her bare feet.

"Who are you going to write to?" asked Emma, watching her as she settled into a reclining chair. Lauren felt her eyes travel the length of her legs.

"Nikki. I said I would write after the first week" Lauren looked around and saw Jamie lazily backstroking across the pool. He swam well, even turning silently underwater at the end of his length. She squinted in the brilliant light, turning on to her side to escape the sun.

"Want some suntan stuff?" asked Emma, holding up a bottle.

"Yeah, great." She caught it and flipped the top.

"Want me to do it?" asked Emma.

"No, I'll be fine, thanks." replied Lauren, spreading a generous amount over her arms and the top of her legs. She did her stomach and reached round to do her back as best she could. She put the bottle down and started her letter, smiling as she thought of Nikki and how she would be lying in bed reading it. After half a page, trickles of perspiration had started to form around her temples, threatening to dribble down her face. She wiped her forehead with her arm and gazed back at the pool. Jamie was still in there, now simply floating with his eyes closed. She glanced at Emma. She was lying on her stomach, clearly with no top on. Lauren was unsure what to do. To over-react would be stupid, and many countries allowed topless bathing. And here they were in their back garden, a secluded, highly private place where nobody could see. Except Jamie.

She turned back to her letter and tried to write. Nothing came until she thought again of Nikki and her smile, her sense of humour. She wrote:

"It's warm here, as I sit beside the pool. The children are well behaved, and seem to spend their days either with their tutor or lazing by the pool. As you can imaging, I'm rushed off my feet. Oh yeah! And I'm allowed to drive their car. Not legally, but back and forth to the shops, that sort of thing. Perhaps I'll meet some hunky man over here, who knows."

Lauren smirked. Jamie pulled himself out of the water in one smooth motion and walked over to his towel. He dried his hair and his arms and chest. Turning away from Lauren and Emma, he pulled off his swimming trunks and hung them on a hook in the sun. Lauren watched open mouthed, glancing at Emma to make sure that she didn't see. He didn't look at Lauren, just moved the towel slightly in front of his cock and walked inside. Lauren committed the image to memory.

"I'm going to have a snooze. Mind the sun, won't you!" he said, sliding the patio doors closed after him. Lauren closed her eyes as prickly pin-pricks returned under her arms and somewhere near her toes. She thought of Jim, then of Jamie. Jim was bigger, but then he was much older. Jamie had looked so wholesome, fit and clean. The water dripping off his cock and balls was wonderful. Lauren realised that she hadn't made love to Jim for almost three weeks before she left, and she had been in Boquette over a week. That's enough to drive anyone crazy, she thought.

Another grin spread across her lips as she sank back in the chair, recalling the last time they had made love. Her mother knew where they were going. Nobody goes up the mountain at eight o'clock at night unless it's to lay under the stars and make love. She had looked down her nose at her, that disapproving look that was so much softer than the look she received whenever she said she was staying the night at Nikki's house. Mum knew, that was sure.

They had walked, hand in hand for most of the way, up through the wooded belt of the mountain, through into the clear grassy slopes, then traversed for about ten minutes until they found the little stream that originated from a small collection of rocks. The lights below flickered silently, the village split by the main road and the railway. Conscious that this was possibly their last time to make love, they treaded carefully, each anxious to allow the other the opportunity to derive maximum pleasure.

She had flicked the button on his jeans early, unzipping his manhood so that she could take him in her hand and memorize his girth. His cock was slippery, warm and familiar, the skin moving easily to reveal the red knob. Jim took his time, unbuttoning her blouse slowly as he slipped his hand underneath the material and caressed her breasts. They had whispered their love for each other under the stars, shedding clothes until Lauren remained with only her knickers and socks to her credit. He had slipped on top of her, then tugged her knickers aside, slithering down her body to gently probe her sex with his tongue.