When the cries subsided into hiccups, she pulled back and looked up at him with an expression of awe. “Thank you, Lucas, for coming all the way here this morning just to take care of me. It was just what I needed.”
“A striped bottom?” Lucas joked, but he knew what she meant.
“Well, no, I mean yeah, but not just that. It was just really good to see you and to know that you were worried for me. Knowing that you would drive all the way here just to bring me aspirin and spank my bottom for scaring you like that, well, it means a lot. Makes the rest of the day a lot easier to face.” She admitted the last part with an impish smile that made Luke grin.
“You’re welcome, my darling wife. Now, let’s get you cleaned up. I’m taking you out to breakfast. Bring your textbook and notecards with you. I’m going to quiz you while we wait for our food.”
Carolyn groaned loudly at his announcement, but she was still grinning as she jumped to obey.
Chapter 11
On Friday afternoon, after her last test had been taken, Carolyn packed an overnight bag, and got in her car, making it to Green Valley in record time. She didn’t bother stopping at her parents’ first as she often did; she had all weekend to see them. Right now, she just wanted to be home.
When she walked through the door, Rosa jumped up from the couch, rubbing her belly with one hand. She smiled and walked up to Carolyn with her arms open. Carolyn walked into them, feeling safe but awkward in Rosa’s welcoming embrace.
“Goodness! That was a long week. We’ve missed you around here!” Rosa exclaimed as she pulled back, leading Carolyn to the couch. “How did midterms go? How was… yesterday? Lucas wasn’t too hard on you, was he? Sometimes these men get so caught up in their worry they forget their own strength.”
It always tickled Carolyn when Rosa got protective of her around Lucas. She guessed that it had a lot to do with her reaction to Rosa getting in trouble at their first dinner together, but it was still so touching. “He was perfect. Truly. Just the right amount of tough and tender, and it was really wonderful that he showed up at all. Thank you for letting him.”
“I couldn’t have, and wouldn’t have stopped him. Honestly, if I hadn’t had a doctor’s appointment for this little one, I would have been tempted to join him, just to see for myself that you were okay.”
Carolyn blushed, horrified that she had worried Rosa as well, but was secretly glad that Rosa hadn’t come with him. There would have been nowhere for her to go, and Carolyn couldn’t bear the thought of being punished in front of her. She didn’t say any of this though. She just smiled, and placed her hand on Rosa’s growing belly. “And how is this little one doing? How did your appointment go? How far along are you now?”
“Everything’s fine. They figure I’m about sixteen weeks along. At our next appointment, they should be able to tell if it’s a boy or a girl, if we decide we want to know.”
Carolyn nodded excitedly, already plotting the quilts she would make either way. “You want to find out, right?”
“I do. Lucas isn’t so sure. He changes his mind from day to day.” Rosa laughed. “And they say it’s the woman who has trouble making her mind up.”
This made them dissolve into giggles, as when it came to nearly everything besides rules and discipline, Lucas was a waffler. He couldn’t make the simplest of decisions, like where to go for dinner without thoroughly considering all the options and the pros and cons of each. It was sometimes a point of much contention between the three of them.
They were still giggling and joking twenty minutes later when Lucas came in, and that was how he found them. As he always did when he spotted them getting along, he broke into a huge grin, like he couldn’t possibly believe his luck.
He dropped his briefcase by the door, next to Carolyn’s bags and crossed to them, leaning down to kiss first Rosa, then Carolyn.
“I didn’t expect to see you until dinner time,” he whispered to Carolyn before taking a seat in his recliner opposite them. “Speaking of dinner, I was thinking that the three of us should go out tonight. What do you think?”
Rosa and Carolyn looked at each other with dubious expressions, before looking at Luke’s serious face and dissolving into giggles anew. Lucas stared at them in confusion.
“What?”
Carolyn recovered first. “Honestly, I don’t feel up to going out tonight. It’s been a long week, and I just want to be home with the two of you. I always feel like I’m on display when we go out. There’s always someone staring.”
Lucas nodded, looking sad but he couldn’t deny the fact that the community was not yet used to thinking of the three of them as a family unit. The mood instantly sobered and Carolyn frowned, wishing she had chosen another reason. Smiling, she tried again.
“I was kind of looking forward to giving Rosa a break and doing some cooking this weekend. It feels like forever since I’ve gotten to play in the kitchen.” And it was the God’s honest truth. Carolyn loved to cook, and had often been told that she seemed to show her love for people through her cooking. There was truth in the sentiment, but really nothing relaxed her more than working out her feelings and frustrations in the kitchen. Not having her own at school had been a big adjustment.
“Well, how can I say no to that?” Luke grinned. “I was thinking that after your busy week, you deserved a night off, but if cooking is what you want to do, I will happily feast on the fruits of your labor.”
“Mmm. Me too.” Rosa licked her lips, rubbing her belly simultaneously. “I’ve been craving your lasagna all week. Good thing I went to the market this morning.”
At this proclamation, Lucas raised his eyebrows pointedly. “Did you stay within the grocery budget?”
“Yes, Sir. I did. But I think we need to reevaluate it. I’m shopping for three and a half now.”
“Noted. We’ll discuss that over the weekend. It will be Carolyn’s first family budget meeting.” Luke waggled his eyebrows at them both in a failing attempt to make the prospect of a family budget meeting seem enjoyable. They both groaned loudly.
Carolyn got up and grabbed her bag. “I’m going to go rest for a bit before I start dinner. Rosa, if you can get out some hamburger meat to thaw, I should have time to make lasagna tonight.”
“Make sure that you make time to study,” Lucas warned as she made her way down the hall.
Knowing very well that with her midterms done, there was nothing left to study, Carolyn rolled her eyes. She also knew very well that Lucas would still expect her to find time to crack a book regardless. “Yes, Sir,” she called out dutifully over her shoulder as she closed the door to her room behind her.
An hour later, Carolyn stood in the kitchen, chopping onions and garlic, humming happily as Rosa and Lucas sat together in the dining room, poring over a baby name book.
Another woman might have felt resentful to be the one in the kitchen cooking while the two of them shared such a cozy and intimate activity in the next room, but she honestly didn’t mind. They never made her feel left out, often calling out suggestions for their favorites to her, and asking her opinion.
Not to mention that her rest time had been anything but restful, but instead immensely satisfying. She had no sooner closed her bedroom door and laid down on the bed with her eyes closed, then Lucas had joined her. As soon as his lips covered hers, sleep had been the last thing on her mind. An hour had passed quickly, and before she knew it, it was time to start dinner. Her body sang with the memory of him as she danced around the kitchen. Sex, cooking, and hanging out with her two favorite people. There was no better end to a stressful and emotional week.
“Hey, Caro, what do you like better? Modern or traditional names?” Rosa called out from behind her. “Lucas likes traditional. I like modern. Rosa is such a plain and boring name. I always wanted my children to have names that were original and full of personality.”
“I don’t know.” Carolyn hummed. “Never thought about it I guess. Maybe somewhere in the middle. Maybe you sho
uld wait to talk about names until you know what it’s going to be?” she added mischievously, casting her vote with Rosa’s on finding out the gender ahead of time. “You could do one of those gender reveal things—that way you could be surprised, and still be prepared.”
“I don’t know.” Carolyn could hear the hesitation in Rosa’s voice when she answered, and she knew exactly where it was coming from. People in Green Valley often frowned on over the top celebrations for every occasion under the sun. A gender reveal would undoubtedly fall into the category of unnecessary and extravagant.
“It wouldn’t have to be a party or any big thing. Just us, and maybe your sisters if you wanted. Luke’s parents. Something simple. We can brainstorm ideas tonight.”
“That’s a great idea. Let’s do that. You two girls plan it and just tell me where to be and what to do.” Luke’s decisive tone had them both looking at him sideways until Rosa laughed.
“You just want to stop talking about names and watch the news!”
“Guilty as charged,” he admitted, slamming shut the baby name book he had in front of him, before getting up and strolling into the living room, turning the TV to the local news channel.
After cleaning up and putting the books away, Rosa joined Carolyn in the kitchen, donning an apron and starting the dishes while Carolyn worked on assembling the lasagna. The sound of the running water drowned out the loudness of the TV in the next room, and they worked silently together, each focused on their own task, finishing at almost the same time. Carolyn closed the oven just as Rosa put the last bowl in the cupboard. They looked at each other and laughed.
“I have a while before anything else needs to be done. Should we go join Luke?”
“I guess so.” They both hated watching the news, but loved being with Lucas. They often joined him in the living room, just to be close to him while zoning out on their phones or computers rather than listening to sports scores or political rhetoric.
Carolyn ran to the room to get her history textbook so that she could say that she had at least obeyed Lucas and cracked a book over the weekend. When she came back into the room, Rosa was standing at the entrance of the room, her hand over her mouth staring at the television in horror.
Luke was frozen as well, leaning forward on the couch, his eyes glued to the TV screen. With Rosa in front of her, Carolyn couldn’t see what was happening on the screen, but she clearly heard the haunting voice of the newscaster.
“Riots break out in Filmore, Georgia, as their infamous polygamous community announces the appointment of a new prophet. They haven’t given a name yet, but the decision itself is so controversial the members of the rigid religious sect are up in arms.”
Carolyn gasped softly, and tried to look over Rosa’s shoulder without drawing any attention to herself, but her view was effectively blocked, so she settled for listening. “The community’s former prophet Raymond Ellis is currently serving a lifetime sentence for a plethora of crimes ranging from fraud and embezzlement, to sexual assault and child endangerment.”
“That’s right, Mari,” the male newscaster interjected. “But even with Raymond Ellis behind bars, the leaders of the religious sect have taken three years to elect a new bishop, preferring instead to let this guy continue to rule from his jail cell, profusely believing that by some miracle his charges would be dropped or overturned and he would be exonerated and released to them. So why now?”
“Indeed,” Mari agreed. “It certainly does make you wonder,” Mari began. Even from across the room, Carolyn was hanging on her every word, entranced by what she might say next. But, Mari said nothing. Confused and anxious, Carolyn pushed past Rosa to get a clear view of the TV screen. What she found was Lucas standing in front of it holding the remote.
Lucas had no way of knowing the fears taking root in Carolyn’s brain and the depth of the conclusions she was currently jumping to. He thought he was protecting her. Somewhere deep in the recesses of her brain she knew this, but she was currently beyond care or reason. She needed to hear the rest of the report, more than she needed to draw her next breath.
Incensed, and frantic to get the TV turned back on before she missed another word, she walked up to Lucas with fire in her eyes, and pulled herself fully erect making full use of every one of her sixty-five inches. “I was watching that.”
Luke crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged, still holding the remote tightly in his right hand. “You don’t need to hear about that creep or that place. It’s in the past and that’s where it should stay.”
Glaring at him sullenly, Carolyn combed her brain for a response that wouldn’t alert him to her real worries. “I appreciate you trying to protect me, Lucas, but I’m a grown ass woman, and I will watch whatever I please.”
She watched as his eyes darkened and narrowed in the exact moment she uttered the word ass, but he said nothing, so she continued on her tangent. “Give me the remote!” She made a frenzied grab for it, but Luke was faster, holding it high above his head.
Feeling the minutes begin to slip away and knowing that the segment would soon be over, her eyes welled with tears. “Please, Lucas. I’ll be okay. I just need to hear. I need to know what they are saying. I have to.”
Something in her shaking voice must have persuaded him. His eyes widened into saucers and he nodded, handing over the remote without another word, and stepping out from in front of the screen.
Breathing a deep sigh of relief, Carolyn pointed it at the TV and pushed the power button. The old TV hummed to life, flashing a black screen for a split second before resuming the news report—just in time to hear Mari hand it over to Patrick for the weather. She had missed the whole thing. Rage set in as she stared helplessly at the TV screen, as if she could will it to turn back time and finish the segment now that she was listening to. Of course, that didn’t happen and soon Patrick, a portly older gentleman, stood in front of a huge map talking about rain, rain, and more rain.
Carolyn saw red. She had never before been even mildly upset with Lucas, but in that moment, she was livid. Hurling the remote as hard as she could, she watched as it hit the window and bounced off. “Dammit!” she shrieked shrilly. “Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!”
No sooner had the last curse left her lips, then Lucas grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her across the room. She was still too angry and too shocked to fight, and she found herself face down over her husband’s knee before she even knew what was happening. Luke had reached his boiling point. This spanking was different than any he had ever given her. Without any warning at all, her long skirt was flipped up, nearly covering her head—she could only imagine how silly she looked—and her panties were yanked down only a second before Luke’s hand cracked across her bare bottom that still bore mild welts from the day before.
The pain of a spanking on top of a spanking was horrendous and because she was still angry, she could not settle down and submit to the spanking she very well knew she had earned. Shrieking like a hellcat, she attempted to scramble off his lap, but Lucas was too quick. His leg folded over hers, keeping her pinned in place, and he did it without even missing a beat on the rhythm he was currently pounding out on her ass. She wanted to scream and cry and call him names, and even still yell obscenities at him, but she was smart enough to know she needed to change her tune if she wanted him to change his.
But, she couldn’t. She was still spitting mad. And she had a right to be. How dare he decide what news segment she should and shouldn’t watch. “Are you quite done?” she asked, turning to glare at him over her shoulder.
“Not hardly.”
“Argh!” His flippant dismissal had her snarling, even while knowing it wasn’t a smart thing to do when she was in this position. A smart thing to do would be to cry rather than growl and be sweet rather than snarky, but she wasn’t ready.
Lucas didn’t respond, but he did pause his assault on her poor tenderized bottom. With one arm, he tucked her in, pulling her closer to his body. “Rosa, get me a spoon f
rom the kitchen please.”
Carolyn has been so focused on her righteous anger that she had forgotten that Rosa was in the room, quietly bearing witness to the whole humiliating ordeal. Embarrassment flooded her cheeks as she peered up at the woman who she now called a friend. Rosa’s eyes were wide at Luke’s request and she refused to meet Carolyn’s gaze as she scampered to the kitchen to obey. Smart girl. She didn’t want to be next.
Carolyn stared at the floor when she heard the sound of returning footsteps. She did not want to catch a glimpse of whichever kitchen spoon happened to be the one that would mete out her punishment. Her stomach clenched, and a tear fell onto the carpet below her. She wasn’t too brave or angry to admit she was scared. This was only her third spanking, and her first taste of something besides Luke’s hand had not been a pleasant one.
She felt rather than saw, the shift as the spoon changed hands from Rosa to Luke, and braced herself for an immediate onslaught, but nothing happened.
“I’m sorry I made a decision for you that you weren’t happy with. In hindsight, I should have asked if you were okay before just shutting off the program.”
Appeased, but not yet calm, she couldn’t let his apology pass without a sarcastic remark in response. “Yes, you very well should have. I am, after all, a grown ass woman.” She spat, using the same phrase he had blatantly ignored earlier in the day.
This time, he didn’t ignore it. “And one who apparently needs to be taught a hard lesson about respect and watching her mouth.” Luke’s normally jovial tone was dry and hard, and the spoon cracked hard against her skin immediately. The loud thud of wood against flesh startled her seconds before pain exploded across her backside. She didn’t have a second to catch her breath before the spoon hit again… and again… and again. Lucas, it seemed had given up on trying to talk sense into her, and had made the decision to let the evil piece of wood do all the remainder of his conversing for him.
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