Authors Notes: None of the events portrayed in this story are true. Nothing should be read into the plot or themes. Just a fun idea that was played with to come up with an erotic story.
Nick Continues by telling Shelley's story.
Introduction
Michael looks at the reflection of his father's face in the crystal clear window of the Dinner.
'You know there is one story that almost tore Shelley and Aunty Aurora apart.' Nick says. 'The story should never have come out. And it did not for a long time. When it did come out, Shelley wanted to tell it on her terms.'
He did and as the story flows out in Nick's words, Michael recalls how his mother told it.
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Part 3: Shelley's Visit to the Cabin
Shelley pulled the rickety soft-top canary yellow International Scout Two off the state highway onto the dirt road. Aurora had given her all the instructions she needed and warned her about taking Boris on the road again. Shelley did not listen. Summer had flowed into an unusually warm Fall and Boris made it through another year of warmer summer days in their idealistic mountain world. Boris will be put away for the winter, his fifty-year-old joints do not like the cold. But if Shelley was going to take up Aurora's offer of a mid-fall trip to the cabin, Boris saw going to get her there.
As Boris and Shelley wind through the forest on the side of a remote mountain dirt road, Shelley is grateful for the friendship she has forged with Aurora. Initially a business relationship, Aurora runs a gallery out of a local indigenous resort.
Shelley started painting again on mass after she spent Christmas with Nick and Kelly. She felt inspired and rejuvenated after the first Christmas in the hotel room with Nick, but never got that thing after he was gone. Kelly and Shelley had spoken about their lives. She never spoke about her love of art, the fact that studies and career had stifled it. Nick was always listening, he told them not to allow life to get in the way of art. He quoted a Mid-Summer's Night's Dream. "The Object of Art is to give Life a shape". Nick inspired the artist in Shelley, while Kelly spoke about all the wonderful world galleries they visited. The way she spoke about art moved Shelley.
Aurora mostly features indigenous artists but keeps some local artists on the books. Strict criteria, the artists have to paint the relationship between life and nature. That is what attracted Shelley to Aurora. Her finely detailed watercolors and landscapes. Most artists thought they had to produce big bold paintings to be sold at the resorts, but Aurora knew she needed a mix. The big pieces got them in the door before sticker shock brought them to the smaller works. Shelley did it as a hobby, so turning over small works was easier. But Aurora was being asked for more of Shelley's works, more commissions. Her answer, convince Shelley to take three weeks' leave from her nursing job to spend at Auroro's family cabin in the mountains.
Shelley had not seen the cabin but heard the artists Aurora sent here found an explainable energy that inspired them to create. She did not know if this was true, but the closer Shelley got to the cabin the more she felt a deep down warmth. She wanted to break out the watercolor paints she dared to bring with her. But was also curious about the content of the box Aurora had her brother Joseph throw on Boris' back seat at the last minute along with half a dozen large-sized canvases. Shelley did not paint at that scale and she could smell the acrylic paint over the oil leaks under Boris' hood.
The days are warm in the western-facing valley where the cabin is located, but as Shelley arrives she can feel the chill of the mid-fall nights coming on. The road loops around one side of the valley and over a worn concrete causeway that has a thin layer of water flowing over it. Shelley pauses for a moment midstream to look at the waterhole created by the causeway. She had an overwhelming urge to undress and dive into the crystal-clear mountain water. The urge is only overcome by a splutter from Boris telling her it is time to get him parked up for the night and a fire starts to warm the cabin.
Joseph let her know there was more than enough wood cut and ready to keep her comfortable. He is Aurora's little brother, but at times he can be very thoughtful and incredibly sexy. It is his job to keep the family cabin maintained and ready for use year-round. A task he prides himself in doing well.
As Boris chugs up the other side of the creek they both see the cabin for the first time. It is an oil painting picture of what Shelley imagined it to be. Before them is a prairie cut out of the old-growth forest. Inside the boundaries of an aged grey natural timber post and three-rung farm fence is a luminous green blanket of grass littered with tiny pink and purple summer flowers that remind Shelley of the fabric of her favorite sundress Nick bought for her. Snaking up the middle of the raising paddock is a well-maintained orange gravel driveway that leads from the front gate to a large log cabin at the top of the valley.
As Boris crunches his way over the stones, Shelley can imagine naughty fairies and cherubs dancing naked among the flowers. She feels an energy building inside her.