Had anyone been conveniently placed they might have seen a tall shapely woman step out through the open double doors of the hotel dining room onto the wide brick paved patio. She was simply dressed in a grey linen dress with a white collar. The rest of her was black: shoes, belt, and stockings, except for her hair, which was foxy red and fell to her shoulders.
The observer might have gauged her to be about forty years of age, and if the observer was male, he might have concluded that she was gorgeous. That would have been reinforced if he was on the path below the patio and looking up at her and seen her pretty ankles above which rose an even prettier pair of legs.
She moved with an unconscious grace and seemed to be alone, and if our notional male had also been alone he might, if bold enough, have introduced himself in the hope of future pleasure.
Had there been such an observer, and who is to say there wasn't, his hopes would be dashed. The woman stood for a moment as if hesitating, and was then joined by a tall young man who appeared to be in his early twenties who said something to her and then putting his arm round her waist they went to a seat and sat side by side, his arm still round her.
Our observer might have lost interest at that point, seeing that the woman was, as it were, already taken. He might of course feel envious of the young man, imagining that later he would be enjoying some bedtime sociability with the attractive woman.
If however he had bothered to look closely at the young man he would have seen that his hair was the same foxy gold-brown colour as the woman's and his eyes the same shade of green.
They sat for the most part in silence, looking out over the lake that was silvered by the light of a three quarter moon. A final conclusion might have been that since the hotel was very popular with newlyweds, and despite the apparent age difference, this was a couple on their honeymoon. Had the observer come to that conclusion, then he would be wrong.
The woman was Stephanie Margaret Albright and the young man Luke Peter Albright, her son, and they were at the Lakeside Hotel on what might be loosely called a "recovery mission."
Specifically the recovery was from a rather messy divorce and wrangling over money that Stephanie had endured, and which by association Luke had also endured.
Stephanie had taken the whole sequence of events rather badly, and it had been at Luke's urging that she should get away for a while. Stephanie had declared that she did not want to be alone at that time, and so it was agreed that Luke should accompany her.
They sat on for some time, occasionally exchanging a remark, but for the most part in silence, as if to be in each other's company was sufficient. After a while Stephanie laid her head on Luke's shoulder and appeared to go to sleep while he held her close.
The overall impact on a viewer of these two might have been that they were very much in love, which conclusion would have been correct, but not having the information that they were mother and son, he or she would not have understood the complications.
Stephanie seemed to come to with a start and said something to Luke and they both laughed. She glanced at her watch, her only adornment, spoke again, and they rose and entered the hotel.
* * * * * * * *
The request by Arnold Albright for a divorce had, as far as Stephanie was concerned, come like a bolt of lightning out of a clear blue sky. To some extent she blamed herself. She was assistant principal at a primary school and, so she thought, had become so engrossed in the work that she had neglected marriage maintenance.
She made herself feel guilty because she hadn't seen the divorce coming. Warning signs there had been, like a drop off in Arnold's libido, but she had failed to read the signs properly, putting the libido decline down to pressure in his workplace.
To make matters worse, she had fallen into a familiar trap when Arnold brought the girl he was having an affair with home, saying that she was new in the city and needed some friends. Stephanie had therefore in all innocence befriended her.
The girl was very pretty and petite, and if Stephanie had any expectations of a sexual relationship taking place, then it had been between Luke and the girl she expected it to happen.
The shock of the divorce was bad enough, but when it came to wrangling over money it was an even greater shock. For some reason she could not fathom Arnold seemed to treat this as a means for revenge, although revenge for what was unclear. Stephanie simply couldn't understand why someone who had once loved her, and to whom she had been faithful should treat her in this way.
She had been ready to come to some amicable agreement, but Arnold claimed she was asking too much, and so it went to court. It ended up with Stephanie getting more than she had originally agreed to accept since the court deemed that she had made the biggest contribution to the family finances.
Throughout the divorce proceedings and the financial wrangling Stephanie had appeared to have her emotions under control; it was only after it was all over that she fell apart. Blaming herself; feeling unreasonable guilt; she would without warning break down in storms of tears. She couldn't eat or sleep properly and she had to be given long term sick leave from her work.
Throughout this confused time it had been her son Luke who was the one sure anchor in her world of turbulent emotions.
It had been Luke in collaboration with the doctor who suggested Stephanie go away for a while. She agreed to this only when Luke said he would go with her; it was he who chose the location and made the arrangements.
There had always been a close love bond between Stephanie and Luke, and that bond was strengthened by Luke's support of her during the time of crisis. What he thought about his father's actions is unknown, except that he put it down to a mid-life crisis.
In this he may have been right. Stephanie and Arnold had married young by present day standards, and it might be conjectured that as Arnold entered his forties he felt that he had missed out on his youth, and having gained the affection of a girl some fifteen years younger than himself, he tried to relive that imagined lost youth.
Had there been other children in Stephanie's marriage some of the load during her critical time might have been shared, but as it was, it all fell on Luke's shoulders.
To an outsider looking in on at the situation it might seem that Luke was carrying an unwarranted burden, but it did not seem so to Luke. Although he might not admit it, he was not altogether sorry to see his father's departure. Not that Luke bore his father any ill will derived from his upbringing, but once he entered upon his teenage years he had increasingly resented his father having access to Stephanie that was denied to him.
From Stephanie's point of view, the more Arnold's libido declined, the more attracted she became to Luke.
To state the matter frankly, both Stephanie and Luke would have done anything to bring about a loving sexual relationship between them, anything that is, but the obvious. Neither of them spoke the words or took the steps that would bring about what they so much desired.
Given this situation it might be asked to what extent Stephanie knew how Luke felt about her, and equally to what extent Luke was aware of how Stephanie felt about him?
It is certainly true that the human psyche has depths -- even dark depths -- that are even hidden from our selves. In the case of Stephanie and Luke what they were clear about was that they loved each other in the sense of mother and son love. They were also clear about their own sexual feelings for the other, but were not sure to what extent those feelings were reciprocated.
I suppose this might be called a sexual impasse.
Now, with the divorce over and Arnold out of their lives, they might have felt free to give expression to the love they felt for each other. At least adultery would not be an issue, but of course the incest taboo remained, and it is upon this rock many potentially beautiful sexual relationships have foundered.
That was how things stood on the evening when they had sat, Luke embracing her as a lover might, watching the moonlight over the lake.
* * * * * * * *
They made their way up to the second floor of the hotel and entered the room being occupied by Stephanie. Luke plumped himself down on the bed and watched Stephanie as she prepared to take her shower.
She took off her shoes and said, "Darling, would you come and unzip me?"
Luke rose and standing behind Stephanie tugged down the zip of her dress. She removed the dress and hung it up in the wardrobe.
It was true that her underwear did not come into the category of sexy. Black cotton panties and a practical black bra, and it was also true that Luke had seen her wearing less, for example, a bikini, yet somehow the black silk stockings gave an aura of sexiness to the other items. But Stephanie did not appear in the least self conscious about being dressed or undressed, depending on your point of view, like this in front of Luke.
Was she however consciously aware of the effect on Luke?
Throughout the evening Luke had been in a state of semi arousal over Stephanie. It is probably only those who have experienced the potent mix of mother-son love and mutual sexual desire for each other, who can fully understand the potency of that mixture.
Now that Luke's arousal came to full bloom it seems hardly possible that Stephanie could have missed the substantial swelling in Luke's groin. This view is supported by what followed.
They had communicating rooms but the luxury of separate en suites. Stephanie smiled at Luke, stretched and said, "I'm going to have a shower before going to bed darling."
Despite the fact that it wasn't a shower that Luke needed at that particular moment, he did need to escape from Stephanie's disturbing presence and so making his way to the communicating door he said, "I think I'll have a shower as well." With that he entered his room.
As Stephanie showered she thought of Luke, fantasising his naked body and manly erection under the cascading water. The thought led to one hand starting to caress her breast, and the other to stroke her cleft.
She inserted two fingers into her vaginal tunnel and moved them back and forth while with her thumb she stimulated her clitoris. As she made herself come she murmured, "Luke...oh Luke darling..."
Not too far away Luke was visualizing Stephanie naked under the shower and as his sperm splattered against the shower tiles he groaned, "Mum...oh Mum..." Such can be life's difficulties; two people hot for each other but seemingly unable to communicate their desires.
* * * * * * * *
