This story grew longer than I expected, but I hope you will bear with it.
There will be a few more parts. Hopefully. When I come around to write them.
Leave your comments and opinions, I appreciate feedback.
*****
"Honey?" Helena had placed her elbow on the table and now rested her head in her hand. A tuft of blonde hair had fallen down over her face and covered the left eye. She peered through this soft curtain at her husband.. "I was thinking about going down to the lake to take a swim. What do you think?"
The garden surrounding the cottage was green and lush, and for once the rain had made a pause. The early evening sky was still cloudy, but the incessant drizzle had finally stopped. It was the middle of summer - the day after Midsummer Eve, in fact - but the weather had, as it so often did in Sweden, refused to acknowledge the popular celebration. But now you could almost see rays of sunlight peeking through the clouds and warming the earth below. Helena and Lars were sitting on veranda of his parents cottage and looking out at the garden. The couple's two sons - Erik and Alexander - were playing somewhere on the other side of the house, out of view but easy to hear as they chased each other around with their new water pistols. Lars' parents were inside the cottage itself and watching some movie on the TV. The evening meal was over and the table had just been cleaned.. However, even despite their best efforts to eat everything there was still plenty of canned herring, meatballs, potatoes with dill and everything else that was a part of a traditional Midsummer feast filling the fridge. That was without even mentioning all the beer and liquor remaining in the house cellar.
Lars turned his head and looked at his wife. He looked thoughtful but tired, his eyelids heavy and threatening to close any second. After a few moments he shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know." he said. "Do you want to take a bath?"
"Yeah." Helena nodded. "It's not raining, and I tried the water earlier today. It should be warm enough to take a dip."
"Hm." Helena almost immediately guessed what his answer was be, even before he opened his mouth. "Look hon, I'm really damn tired today. I don't think I can manage."
Helena sighed to herself. "It's okay."
"Maybe tomorrow? Maybe the weather will keep up. Just... not today. Sorry."
"It's okay." she repeated and smiled at him. "You should probably go to bed. You look like you are going to drop down any moment now."
Lars chuckled. "Maybe you are right. When should we put the kids to sleep?"
"It is not that late yet." Helena's eyes wandered over to the clock on the wall. "It's barely ten. I guess they can stay up for about half an hour more."
"Man, I could really go for a nap right now."
"Then do it." she urged him. "You don't have to keep me company."
"Look, if you really want to go and..."
"It's fine, don't worry." she straightened out in her chair and winked at him. Her long blonde hair fell down and framed her pretty heart-shaped face. "It's not like today is the last day of summer."
She reached out with her hand and put it on the table in front of him. Lars put his on her's and squeezed her fingers with his.
"Will you be able to handle the kids by yourself?"
"Not by myself." she said. "Your parents are here too. I'm sure you can get them to take care of the kids. You go and sleep."
Husband and wife were silent for a while, sitting by the table and exchanging lazy looks. Helena was thirty-four, but a combination of good genetics, exercise and proper diet had helped keep the looks of her twenties. She was tall and slender, with long and graceful limbs. Her naturally straw-blonde hair she usually she wore it in a ponytail, but right now it fell freely over her shoulders. She was attractive, you had to give her that; large blue eyes, cute nose and full lips on an comely face in general. This evening Helena was dressed in a flowery white skirt and white blouse. Nothing special, but still in keeping with the summer theme.
"You know..." she mused and her eyes wandered to the garden outside again. "I think I will go take myself a dip after all. It's just too nice of a weather to let go to waste."
"Alone?" Lars asked, slightly opening his eyes. He was older than her - thirty-nine in fact - but still handsome. A tall brunette, reasonably fit and with expressive grey eyes. The only thing she did not quite like with him was the dark stubble covering his cheeks and chin and which he had let grow during the stay at the cottage. Thankfully facial hair was something easily adjustable, and did not bother Helena too much.
"Why not?" she countered his question with one of her own. "It's quiet and nice. Or are you afraid of letting me wander off on my own for some reason?"
"Of course not." he shrugged. "But it might get lonely."
"Nah.." Helena shook her head. "Besides, a little bit of peace and quiet might be nice right now. Walking alone through the forest and listening to the birds, then skinny-dipping in the lake as the sun goes down."
She chuckled as she saw his eyes flutter open.
"Skinny dipping?"
Helena smiled lewdly at him. "Maybe. What is it to you?"
"Is nudism even allowed in these parts?"
"It's not nudism." he was joking, of course, and Helena jokingly protested. "That and skinny-dipping are two completely different things. But okay - no skinny-dipping. You prude, you."
"I'm not a prude." he said. "I'll gladly join you tomorrow night for some skinny-dipping"
Helena gave a throaty chuckle and rose from the table, but let her hand linger in his for an extra moment or two.
"I'll look forward to it. Anyway, I'll go and get my things. I don't think I'll be gone for long."
***
Soon she was walking down the forested path which led to the lake. There were only a few cottages in the area, and most of their inhabitants seemed to be at home watching TV or - as in Lars' case - already sleeping. The air was cool and pleasant and there was a certain freshness to it. The sky above the green canopies was not clear, but neither did the clouds covering it look all that threatening. Once or twice Helena even thought she could see a ray of pure sunlight seep down at the forest floor.
Helena had changed to her bikini in the cottage bathroom before heading off, but kept the skirt and blouse over it. Even if there was no around to see her she did not feel like walking around half-naked. She was not that lewd. Besides her clothes and swimsuit Helena was only bringing a towel and a pair of flip flops, the latter to protect her feet from stones and roots. The walk would just take a couple of minutes, but her soles had not yet grown accustomed to going barefoot. She took deep breaths of the clean air, trying to really fill her lungs and bloodstream. When you live in the city you sometimes forget how pleasant it can be to just breathe. Helena had fixed her ponytail with a scrunchie and checked it briefly, just to make sure that it was still in place.
Soon she caught the first whiff of lake in the air, and not far after that she spotted the water between the trees. It was beautiful scene. As if through a miracle the clouds had parted somewhat above the lake. The sun was slowly heading down towards the dark forested horizon, but its dying rays made the calm water shimmer and burn. The lake had a peculiar shape, and would you see it from the air it would look almost like a comma. The path led out directly to the thin curved line of the comma and the beach where people usually set up their picnic blankets. The 'dot' itself was further out, partially hidden behind the forests of reeds growing along the banks. As far as Helena could see she was the only one that had decided to go for a late swim. It suited her perfectly.
After a moment of consideration she decided against the beach. The path continued around the entire lake; partially on the steeper banks around the 'dot' and sometimes delving deeper into the forest before coming out to the water again. She chose the left route. While she walked Helena admired the serene scenery and kept filling her lungs with the smell of forest and lake. Birds were chirping in the treetops and helped provide a pleasant ambiance.
Helena was not wandering aimlessly. On the contrary, she had a specific goal in mind - a large, flat rock which was resting on the left hand bank of the 'dot' of the comma. Dense forests of reeds were growing around it, but it effectively bridged them and and connected land with the deeper water. It took an additional minute or two to reach it, but it was not like she was in that big of a hurry. Helena stepped out of her flip-flops and was pleasantly surprised by how warm the rock surface felt against her soles. She dropped the towel and then her clothes, arranging them into a neat heap. Helena had been busy working at the office for most of the summer, and her skin was everything but tanned. She was pale to say the least, but with no one around to see she did not care much for it. At least she could be proud over the rest of her appearance. Because honestly - can all women boast of having a youthful and toned body after ten years of marriage and two pregnancies? Helena would never in her life brag about it, but inside she was pretty damn proud over herself. Sure, time had not left her completely unmarked, but those were petty, hardly noticeable details. Her belly and waist were slender and toned, and the few stretch marks reminding her of her pregnancies were barely visible on her skin. The hips were moderately wide and had a fine curve to them, and the ample breasts were threatening to spill over the bikini top. Helena could have definitely have looked worse at this age, and as she now inspected herself she was thankful for all the jogging and exercise she had forced herself through over the years.
She sat down on the edge of the rock and dipped her toe into the water. It was cool but not cold. Helena had her two feet slowly slip into the water and splashed back and forth with them. Despite her love for swimming she had always been a bit of a coward when it came to getting into the water. She sat and watched the splashes glisten as they flew, and Helena enjoyed the warm caress of the sun against her body. God knew for how long the weather would last, or for how long the sun would even be around before it went into the clouds again. Helena looked around again. From where she was she could not really see the beach, but she was almost one hundred percent sure that there was no one else around. The water look really inviting.
Maybe she would just ditch the bikini and go for a dip without it.
Helena played with the thought for a couple of seconds, but now that it had actually stuck in her head she could not get it out. But seriously, who the hell would it hurt to 'go nudist' as Lars had put it? She made the decision. She stood up, threw one final glance around and then undid the top of her bikini. Her breasts, now free from the constraints of the fabric, fell down onto her chest. Round and mostly firm, with only the slightest hint of sag due to their weight. Helena put the top under her pile of clothes and then went for the bikini bottom. She slid it off along her legs and suddenly shivered. The air somehow felt much cooler now as it enveloped her naked body. Faced with freezing there time to hesitate. With a little defiant cry she threw herself from the rock into the lake. The water engulfed her and the cold shocked her. Goosebumps immediately covered her body. Helena kicked her way up and broke the surface in a great splash of water.
A loud "Shit!" involuntarily escaped her lips. Some of her hair had escaped the scrunchie and clung wet and heavy to her face. She pushed it out of the way while her feet kept kicking to keep her afloat.
