After the Dreams (Caroline's Company) (19 page)

‘Well, as you know, I did have a little bit of practice, not
as much as Sadie, but a little bit. And I loved reading magazines.’

‘And now you’re showing what
you have learnt – excellent.’

Cassie sat down at the dressing table, and rubbed a little
moisturiser into her face, bringing out the glow of her young skin. She lined
her eyes with dark grey, and used a very little light grey eyeshadow, shading
it with silver at the outer edges.

Caroline, even though she had expected the girl in front of
her to develop well, was fascinated by the confidence and competence Cassie
displayed.

The girl carried on to line her
lips with a dark pink and used a lighter shell pink gloss to fill in the
colour. She brushed her eyelashes with dark grey mascara, and sat looking down
while it dried.

‘What a lovely look,’ said Caroline. ‘Do a twirl for me
again.’

Cassie obliged, smiling slightly at her own reflection. She
looked fresh and young but with more than a hint of mystery.

‘Very, very, very good Cassandra. I’ve got a necklace which
would go beautifully with that; would you like to try it?’

‘Well, if you think it would work.’

‘Come and see.’

Caroline led the way across the landing to her own large
south facing bedroom. Cassie hadn’t been in here before, and was a bit
diffident.

She saw that the large bed was
placed to face the picture windows, which looked out over the terrace and ornamental
garden (and the smooth green croquet lawn) towards the lake and the hills
beyond. The deep blue velvet curtains were (as were the curtains in Cassie’s
room) looped back. The deep crimson covered duvet was smoothed over the bed and
the deep blue pillows. Someone, Cassie saw, had taken the time to make the bed
and tidy the room this morning. Projecting from the wall over the bed head were
two long arms which carried furled curtains, but as Cassie could see carried
loops for other... attachments?

At the foot of the bed there
was a glimpse of gold coloured chain.

‘Try this.’ Caroline had brought a silver necklace from her
dressing table, and fastened it round Cassie’s neck. ‘There, see!’

She took the girls hand and led her to the other side of the
room which, also as in Cassie’s room was well supplied with floor to ceiling
mirrors.

The necklace was made up a series of overlapping leaves,
making a flat bow shape which complimented the top of the grey dress perfectly.
Cassie thought it was beautiful, and said so.

‘Then it’s appropriate for a very beautiful young lady.’
Caroline stood beside her, with an arm round her waist, looking in the mirror.

‘What about ear rings? There are some clip-on silver hoops
here.’

‘I do love ear rings, but...’

‘I know, clip-ons are tricky. Let me help.’

Caroline pulled back the clips on the pair of inch diameter
hoops, and fastened them to each of Cassie’s ears in turn.

Cassie turned her head to and
fro. The glint of silver in her dark brushed hair emphasised her look of mystery.

‘Can you help me now?’ Caroline asked, kicking off her
shoes. ’Just undo me here.’

Cassie unzipped the back of Caroline’s afternoon dress, and
let it fall to the floor.

‘And my bra as well – do you mind?’

Cassie blushed again, but unhooked the peach coloured bra.
Caroline took the straps in both hands, and eased her breasts out of the
underwired cups.

‘Thank you Cassandra. You’re not too embarrassed are you?’
Caroline put a hand on Cassie’s cheek. ‘After all we have seen each other naked
before!’

‘Yes... but now I’m more envious of...’

‘Aah, Jo said you were worried about your own breasts.’

Caroline kept her right hand on Cassie’s cheek, and with her
left drew the younger girl’s right hand onto her own full left breast.

‘I know everyone’s telling you not to worry, but really
don’t worry. Jo thinks you will develop very nicely.’

She pulled the girl towards her, and kissed her on the
forehead, then took her left hand and drew it to her own right breast.

‘And I’m really looking forward to you... developing!’

Caroline leant forward and touched Cassie’s lips with her
tongue.

The girl started slightly, but
opened her mouth slightly. Caroline’s tongue slipped in, and their lips touched
gently.

Cassie could feel Caroline’s
nipples harden beneath her hands.

Caroline felt Cassie’s
developing confidence, and was very glad about the impromptu but fortuitous
game of croquet. She broke away from the kiss, but held on to the girl’s hands
a few moments longer.

‘You dealt very well with those two on the croquet lawn, and
I love your idea for your prize and their punishment, but don’t let them bully
you, or make you do anything you don’t want or aren’t ready for.’

Cassie nodded. She was still a little in shock at Sadie’s
account of her experiences, and was both fascinated and slightly repelled. She
wondered what she would like and not like.

‘They’re good girls, and they really very considerate, and
want to take care of you, but they can get a bit carried away sometimes!’

Cassie nodded again. She
remembered the gentle Sylvie of last night, but was still attracted by the
flaunting provocative creature on the croquet court.

‘Now I’d better get dressed properly if I’m going to be as
elegant as you!’

Caroline went to her chest of drawers, and fetched out some
dark stockings. She sat on her dressing stool, and started to pull one up her
magnificently moulded and defined right leg.

‘I must get some more exercise time next week,’ she
remarked. ‘Have you been thinking more about your exercise plan?’

‘Jo and Sylvie have given me some new ideas, and so has all
the research you started me on. Sadie’s pole dancing lessons seem ...
interesting as well.’

‘Yes – that’s a good idea. We
do have a pole in the gym, but now Sadie’s going to be here more often perhaps
we should set it up better. One of Sadie’s friends is coming down from London
soon, so she might be able to help you as well, and it’s excellent exercise
especially for someone as slim and agile as you are!’

Caroline stood up and slipped off the thong she had been
wearing. Cassie thought that she was pretty slim and agile looking herself with
her smooth strong and shapely body clad only in the grip-top stockings.

‘I’m sorry. It’s not only Sylvie and Sadie who are
exhibitionists in this house. But I like people, including myself, to look good
with clothes or without.’

‘But you’re ... magnificent.’

Caroline smiled, and tossed her hair behind her in a gesture
similar to one Sadie had used earlier. She came forward to Cassie, and again
pulled the girls hands against her breasts.

‘We just have to arrange it so
you can be confident naked as well.’

Again she put her tongue between Cassie’s lips, and kissed
the girl softly.  She also pulled Cassie’s right hand away from her left
breast, and took it down to her smooth pubic mound. Cassie’s fingers found the warm
slippery flesh of her vulva.

‘Very good my lovely girl,’ Caroline whispered in Cassie’s
ear.

‘I’m glad that Sylvie has been
teaching you properly.’

She pulled away, keeping the
hands in contact with her for just a moment longer.

‘Now I really must get dressed.’

She pulled a soft silky pair of lacy briefs from a drawer
and slipped them on, and went to the long fitted wardrobe with its mirror
doors, and pulled out first a long grey dress not unlike Cassie’s, which she
discarded, and then what looked like a set of smoky grey silk rags.

‘This may be suitably relaxed for this evening.’

Caroline laid the garment on the floor, and stepped into it
carefully. As she pulled it up round herself the rags turned into an elaborate
trouser suit pulled into the ankles, with flares of silk loosely flowing down
the legs, fitted at the waist, and with a halter top leaving her splendid back
bare.

She put her feet into a pair of wedge heeled mules, rather
like those Cassie was wearing, and moved in front of the mirror, with the silk
floating round her, showing flashes of her stockinged legs. At her dressing
table she quickly but surely lined her eyes in dark grey, applied a grey and
silver eyeshadow, and used a transparent gloss on her lips. She fitted silver stars
with a pearl in the centre to her ears, and put a thin sliver chain round her
neck. It supported a single small pearl that hung down and called attention to
the curve of her breasts, clearly displayed by the silken halter.

‘What do you think?’ Caroline asked.

‘Beautiful. It looks a bit... well... magical.’

‘Good, I’m glad you like it. It
may get colder later though, so we might need these.’ She took two grey silk
wraps from the wardrobe, and passed one to Cassie.

She flipped the other round her own shoulders, and held it
up in front of her face j
ust
below her eyes.  Cassie thought that she
looked even more like a goddess of the evening, her dark eyes flashing over the
silk. Caroline giggled, and dropped the veil.

‘Will we do, do you think?’

‘I think so. You do dress beautifully Caroline.’

‘As do you my love. I know I
keep telling you, but you have a natural sense of style. We just need to make
sure we both have enough wardrobe space!  Shall we go down? Those two blonde
floozies should have found some supper by now.’

They walked across the wide
landing to the head of the staircase.

‘Caroline, there is something I need to tell you about.’

‘Yes?’

‘Well, I mentioned it to Jo last night, and she said I
should tell you.’

 ‘Then you should. Let’s walk out onto the terrace, now the
rain has gone.’

‘That would be fine. I’m not sure what you can do about it,
but Jo said to tell you.’

‘Then I’m sure that you should.’

‘Thank you Caroline. I am enjoying this party. I hope...
hope that I’m not being a nuisance.’

‘Nuisance? – of course not. You live here now. I, we, are
all delighted that you want to join in with us.’

‘It’s ever so much fun.’ Cassie remembered everything that
had happened over the last twenty-four hours.

Caroline smiled at the girl.

‘You are very, very welcome; as I hope you know.’

‘I do, and thank you.’

As they went down the stairs,
and across the hall, there were sounds of activity from the kitchen and a
clatter of something being dropped, followed by a loud expostulation from
Sadie. ‘She really hasn’t inherited her mother’s domestic skills,’ Caroline
remarked with a laugh. ‘Not that she doesn’t have plenty of others.’

They went out through the
deserted drawing room. ‘I’m glad that Fred laid in the fire before he went
home.’ There were logs and kindling prepared in the broad fireplace. ‘We can
light it later if it gets chilly.’

They stepped out onto the
terrace, and the westering sun covered them with golden light. Beyond the calm
pewter of the lake there were still some clouds over the hills, and they were
painted in layers of purple and gold. After the rain the air felt washed and
clean.  The smell of the wet lawn and garden came up to them, and a thrush
sang, clear and untroubled in the gentle evening.

Caroline walked across the stone that still held some of its
afternoon warmth, took a deep breath, and stood quietly at the balustrade. Then
she turned and took Cassie’s hand. ‘We are fortunate aren’t we?’

Cassie could only nod in reply.
They stood in silence for a few minutes.

‘Tell me.’

‘It’s about my cousin Lucy, Lucinda is her proper name but
she’s always called Lucy. She’s a second or third cousin really, but we were
quite close when we were growing up. She had just finished her degree in London
when Mum got ill, and she helped a lot especially when Dad...’

Cassie stopped. The summer
evening, the freshness after the rain, her new life with her new friends was
suddenly no more than a veil over the blackness of that terrible time. The sun
was shadowed, the clouds over the hills looked ominous again, and even the
thrush had stopped singing.

Caroline took the girl’s hand
in her own and stood with her, looking out over the garden. There was a sharp
tapping sound as the thrush beat open a snail.  She waited quietly, seeming by
her very presence to counter the apparent gloom and the suddenly dark clouds.
Cassie, even in the short time she had been here, knew that she could rely on
her strength and her kindness.

‘The last time she came to see us, she said that she had
been offered a job in West Africa, for a two year contract. It would be good
experience, and paid very well and would help her pay off her student loan. She
said she would delay going out if we wanted her to help us more with Mum, but
of course Dad and I wouldn’t hear of it.

So she flew out, and for the
first few months there were lots of texts and emails, then they just stopped.
We didn’t know what to do. She had left us details of the company she was
working for, but when we emailed them we didn’t get any reply. Then Mum died
and Dad...’

She stopped again, choking with
her tears. Caroline took her in her arms, gently holding her until the sobbing
subsided.

The sun had nearly set; the
evening star shone out over the lake. The pearls that Caroline wore seemed to
shine more strongly in the dusk.

‘Then we had better find Lucy,
hadn’t we?’

*****************************

They stood together in the silence; after a while a gentle
music came from the house. A soft piano accompanied a clarinet in a rather fey
melody.

‘Debussy!’ said Cassie, coming back into the present.

‘Jo and Sadie; they often play
together when they’re both here. Sadie plays a good Jazz saxophone as well.’

They stayed and listened for a
few more minutes. It was a perfect evening music. Cassie turned to look out to
the stars twinkling above the mist over the lake. The stone balustrade was
still warm and felt comfortable under her hand. She looked at Caroline, and
took her hand again. The velvety notes of the clarinet fell away, and there was
a moment of silence. Then there came a burst of applause from inside the house.