by Livia Grant
Troy is just beginning to relax, thinking the plan had surely changed when Father Henry is gone for over ten minutes. Just as Troy is about to suggest they head out, he looks up to see the priest headed his way, a serious look at his face.
“All things are ready now, Troy. Follow me, please.”
Troy hands his empty punch cup to his sister. “I’ll be right back, Trace, and then I’d like to go home if that’s okay?”
She smiles and if he’s not mistaken, it looks as if she’s about to cry. “Sure thing, Troy.”
Father Henry leads him down a long hallway into the depths of the church. They stop first in a room labeled church office where Father Henry walks to the far wall of the room where a small array of punishment implements hang prominently from a line of hooks. The priest has several different weight canes, straps and paddles to choose from and Troy is relieved when he chooses one of the smaller wooden paddles. He offers it to Troy with a short explanation.
“I’ve chosen this paddle because while the offense was serious and our young woman’s guilt is causing her great distress, it is her first punishment here at St. Michaels and I would like to observe how she handles the discipline. I’m sure you would agree that all TiH’s are different and need to have their punishments tailored for their specific needs.”
“Honestly, Father. I’m not feeling very comfortable for that very reason. I don’t know this young woman at all so how am I able to gauge real distress?”
“I will be there with you, my son, but you need to trust your judgment. I have a feeling you’re going to know exactly what our young woman needs once we get started.”
Troy thinks the old man is losing it, but since he’s already opened a door on the far side of the church office, Troy has no choice but to follow. He’s not exactly sure what he expected, but the sight that greets him gets his blood flowing, even though a part of him hates himself even as his pulse races.
Across the room, a young woman in a long skirt is kneeling on a three-foot wide padded kneeler that has been modified for its current purpose. Her body is draped forward over the extra wide kneeler and he is able to make out leather restraints that lock her ankles to the far edges of the long padded shelf supporting her tummy. The fiendish furniture displays her covered bottom perfectly for her upcoming chastisement and the restraints ensure she will not be moving until Father Henry allows it.
The final, and arguably most important, part of the scene is the long black curtain that hangs down from a long rigging in ceiling. The curtain’s middle section is cut shorter where it falls across the young woman’s back, effectively hiding the top half of her body from approximately three inches above her trim waist. Troy has to admire the ingenuity of the setup, because there is no way for Troy to know the identity of the spankee, or for her to see Troy. He assumes her wrists are also secured to keep her from reaching back during the punishment.
A small measure of relief helps him relax some. He hadn’t really been looking forward to having to bump into random single women around town after witnessing one of the most vulnerable times in their life. Consenting to go through with a punishment like this takes courage.
Father Henry clears his throat to let the unidentified woman know she is no longer alone in the room.
“We are ready to begin your punishment, young lady, but before we do, I want to ask you one last time if you are consenting to this punishment willingly as a penance for the mistakes which you have confessed to me and which are bringing you great guilt for the wrongs you have done to others. If you agree, please answer with a simple proceed.”
A good long thirty seconds goes by with the poor girl’s muffled crying increasing and she hasn’t even received one paddle yet. Troy is about put a stop to this when he hears a small “proceed” masked with hiccups.
Father Henry hands the paddle to Troy. He’s relieved it is rather thin as paddles go, but it is wood and has several small cross-shaped holes, which will certainly add zing. Troy reluctantly steps forward to stand closer and to the side of the covered bottom waiting for the paddle. He holds, waiting for Father Henry’s direction.
“We will be delivering twenty-five with the paddle this evening. The first five will be over the skirt as a warm up, but the final twenty will be over the panties only, which are to be left on for propriety reasons. You may begin young man and remember, she needs this so do not go easy.”
Troy nods, taking a deep breath before pulling his arm back to deliver the first swat. He knows immediately he had held back too much and Father Henry calls him on it.
“No need for light taps. These are to be twenty-five full-force paddles.”
“Yes, sir.”
The next swing is better for Troy, worse for the poor young woman whose sharp intake of breath confirms she’s noticed the change in heat to her bottom. Troy delivers the next three swats relatively quickly and she finishes her warm up already crying loudly.
Father Henry looks at Troy expectantly before moving to lift the skirt of the young woman, exposing petite legs ending in fashion boots. Troy feels a kick to his gut. There is no way the Father could possibly have known how hard it will be for Troy to punish a woman who immediately reminds him of his lost Hallie. Hell, she even wears pale blue boy-short panties exactly like…
Troy’s heart is pounding so fast he can hear blood rushing in his ears. He watches as the Father lifts the young woman’s skirt higher, exposing several inches of bare skin above her panty line. Only the skin isn’t bare. Tears come to his eyes as he recognizes the unique butterfly tattoo that he’s dreamed of nightly since losing Hallie.
He stands stock still, trying to understand how Hallie could possibly be strapped onto the kneeler in front of him, waiting for a paddling. Finally lifting his eyes from her tattoo, he sees Father Henry smiling kindly, tears in his own eyes. It’s in that moment Troy understands Father Henry has arranged for Hallie’s rightful HoH to punish her after all.
Troy moves to release her, desperate to feel her in his arms, but Father Henry shakes his head, placing his hand gently on Troy’s arm to stop him. Father Henry then addresses Hallie while Troy forces himself to stand still, about to crawl out of his skin he is so anxious.
“Now, young lady, I would like you to remind us again why you are being punished today. What are you here asking for forgiveness for?”
Troy has to strain to hear her voice as it is muffled by the curtain and her embarrassment. “I screwed up the best relationship I have ever had in my entire life by not trusting Troy our last night together. I ran away from him like I had run away from every other problem I had before. I would give anything to have tried to fight for him harder.”
“Now, we would not be punishing you today if that is all you had done, now would we? Why are you being punished today?”
“Because I lied to him. Instead of talking to him, I got drunk and acted like a complete crazy lady, refusing to tell him what was really wrong and then when he chased after me, instead of fighting for us, I lied to him again and let him think that I was going to move away, when I knew even then that I would be staying in Corbin’s Bend. I said horrible, hurtful things to him. I just didn’t want to hold him back from moving to Washington to be with Victoria if that’s where he really wanted to be.”
Troy’s mind is racing. How the hell did Hallie even know there was a Victoria? He then realizes that Hallie has been in Corbin’s Bend this whole time that he’s been going through hell imagining her half way across the country. There is no possible way Traci would not have known about this and he can’t believe his sister would have withheld this important information from him. His angry eyes meet Father Henry’s who nods silently towards the back of the room. Troy turns to see his sister, Aunt Gina and Uncle Adam all standing conspiratorially just inside the door to the room, all with tears in their eyes, a mix of guilt and hope on their face.
Troy and Hallie have been setup by their families and Father Beauchamp. He should be angry at their manipulation, but as he stand
s there looking at Hallie’s wiggling bottom, listening to her sniffles as she awaits the remainder of her punishment, he understands why they’d done it. Hallie and Troy had moved so quickly at the start of their relationship, they had needed to both make decisions about their future independently in order to know for sure they were making the right decisions for the right reasons. The fact that Hallie had decided to stay in Corbin’s Bend and has consented to a real punishment tells Troy she has come to terms with living a domestic discipline lifestyle, even without him pressuring her.
“Hello? Are you still there?”
With one last look at each occupant in the room, Troy steps back to Hallie, placing his left hand over her tattoo to comfort her while he pulls his dominant right arm back to deliver a sound paddling to her panty covered ass.
“Owie!”
He silently delivers nine more swats, slow and steady. With each one, he can hear her crying increasing until she is sobbing. He would give anything to untie her and pull her into his arms, but knows it needs to wait until they finish. He is about to start the final ten swats when he looks up to see the other four occupants of the room filing out the back door, closing it quietly behind them, leaving Hallie and Troy alone for the first time in six weeks.
This is no longer Father Henry’s punishment. The clergyman’s departure tells Troy this is now a matter between a HoH and his TiH, that is if Hallie will still have him. He knows what he needs to do.
Stepping close to Hallie, he reaches out to hook his fingers into the elastic of her waistband before slowly pulling her panties down to her knees.
“Whoa! What are you doing? I thought this was supposed to be over my panties!”
Troy grabs hold of the thick curtain next, pulling it away from Hallie’s body exposing her beautiful blonde hair dragging onto the floor as her head is bowed towards her restrained wrists. When Troy begins to kneed the pink flesh of her bottom with his warm hand, she tries to flinch away.
“Now, is that any way for a taken-in-hand to behave for her head of the household? I told you, baby. Your punishments will always be on the bare.”
A choked cry fills the room. “Troy? Oh my God, is that you?”
“Yes, honey. If it makes you feel better, we’ve been set up. I didn’t know it was you until about three minutes ago.”
“Oh please, untie me! I need to see you. I need to hold you. Oh God, Troy, I have so much to tell you.”
“Oh Hallie, me too, baby, but I’m afraid a deal is a deal. I think we need to finish the last ten before we can put this behind us and move on, don’t you?”
She doesn’t answer with words. Only a forlorn sigh.
Troy interrupts his massage to her ass with a sharp spank with his right palm. “Tell me Hallie. Why did you act the way you did that last night together? I have to know. I’ve wracked my brains trying to figure it out.”
“I thought you were moving back to Washington DC to be with Victoria.”
“Who the hell told you that?”
“Victoria! She called on your cell phone while I was in the bathroom. I answered it and she told me she was expecting you in DC that next week. I thought you’d lied to me and were planning on moving away. In fact, why are you here now, Troy? Why aren’t you in DC?”
“Why? Well for starters because Victoria is a raving lunatic who is currently in the brig awaiting her court-martial proceedings after sabotaging our team’s project in a misguided attempt to get me to move back to Washington.”
“Wait. So she was lying?”
“Of course she was lying, Hallie. I loved…no… I love you. I couldn’t wait to tell you I had plans to move to Corbin’s Bend.”
“Troy, let me up. I need to see your eyes.”
“Nope. Not yet. I kind of like this. You can’t possibly get up and run out without so much as an explanation or a fucking clue what the hell was going through that pretty brain of yours. I think I’ll keep you just like this until I get the answers I need.”
“Oh God. Please. I really am sorry.”
“Me too, baby. I should have fought for you harder and not taken no for an answer.”
“We really messed this up, didn’t we?”
“Yes, we both did, but I think I know just the thing to get everything fixed up.”
Hallie can’t see his face, but if she could, she would have seen him steeling himself to complete her punishment.
Troy brings the wooden paddle down to Hallie’s bare, spankable ass right down the middle, spreading real fire across both cheeks. “Owie, Troy! Please!”
The seventeenth strike is lower and the eighteenth connects with her tender sit spot. Hallie is trying to wiggle out of her restraints, but they hold firm. Troy delivers two more strong paddles to her beautiful ass before throwing the punishment device to the floor and rushing to release Hallie. There is no way he can deliver the final five swats when he knows he has to share some of the blame for the mess they both made of things.
Even once the restraints are removed, Hallie remains draped over the leather bench crying. Troy gently lifts her into his arms, sinking to the floor to cradle her tightly in his arms as he comforts her. “Shhh, baby. It’s all over now. You did so good for your first punishment.”
“I’m so sorry, Troy.”
“Me too, honey. Me too. We have so much to talk about.”
“Yes, but before anything else, there is one thing I have to tell you.”
“Shhh. It can wait.”
She leans back to look up into his eyes for the first time. He can see her passion shining in her green eyes. “No, it can’t wait. I’ve waited long enough to tell you I love you, Troy.”
“Oh Christ, I love you too, Hallie. I think we need to get out of here and head home before we have something naughty to confess to Father Henry.”
Her laughter is music to his ears. “I’m not looking forward to driving all the way back to Denver, but I guess it can’t be helped. I can’t wait to be alone with you.”
“Well, I’ve got some good news then. It should take us a total of three minutes to get home.” When her eyes widen, he continues. “I moved into Corbin’s Bend this weekend, Hallie.”
“You mean…”
“Yep. You’re stuck with me.”
Epilogue
“Oh Hallie, you’re the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen. I wish your mother and grandmother could be here to see you.” Gina’s voice warbles as she looks on her only niece, preparing to walk down the aisle.
Their misty eyes meet in the three-way mirror as they complete the final preparations for the ceremony. Hallie has never been as happy as she is at this very moment. She’s sure of it.
The last four months have flown by. On the one hand, she feels like she just met Troy because they still find new things about each other almost every single day. In other ways, it’s hard to remember her life before she met the man of her dreams. The memories of her time in Louisiana and on the road with Eddie and the band are distant memories. Her future is here in Corbin’s Bend with her soon-to-be husband and her aunt and uncle.
She’s lost in happy thoughts when Traci steps close to hand her the most beautiful bouquet of white gardenias and lilies-of-the-valley; an array of flowers that were her mother’s favorites. Looking into the mirror, Hallie realizes that today she’s not only gaining a husband, but she’s finally going to get a sister.
“Thank you so much, Traci - for everything. I can’t believe in less than an hour we’re going to be sisters.”
“I know. I’ve always wanted a sister. I just didn’t know she was going to burst into my life in the middle of the night and try to beat up my brother.”
The women dissolve into giggles. “It really is amazing, isn’t it?”
“I just keep remembering the look on Troy’s face when you were on his back, hitting him.”
Aunt Gina looks confused. “What are you two girls talking about?”
Traci and Hallie burst into renewed giggles. “Oh nothing, Aunt
Gina.”
Uncle Adam knocks and lets himself into the cramped room in the basement of St. Michael’s Parish. They may have a small wedding party of just Traci as the maid-of-honor and Troy’s friend from work, John, as the best man, but the church is going to be bursting at the seams with witnesses to the happy occasion. Most of Corbin’s Bend is sure to show up for the service and those who don’t will still join the open reception and dance being held under a huge tent in the park across the street from Traci’s house. The same park Hallie had walked past in the snow on the way to starting the new chapter in her life here in Corbin’s Bend.
“Aren’t you ladies ready yet? It’s just about time to head upstairs.” Uncle Adam’s words may be impatient, but Hallie sees the uncharacteristic tears pooling in his eyes as he looks down at his only niece.
“Yes, Uncle Adam. I’m ready. Have you seen Troy? How does he look?”
“He looks like a nervous bridegroom, that’s how he looks. For some strange reason, he was under the misguided impression that you might be having second thoughts about going through with the ceremony this afternoon. Something about you being unsure if you wanted to marry a man who grew up in the 50s or some silliness like that. I think he’s just got a case of the nerves, that’s what I think. I tried to get him to take a shot of whiskey, but he said he needs to stay on his toes around you.”
Hallie’s face turns a nice shade of pink at the memories of why Troy is nervous. As pink as her face is, she knows her bottom is several shades darker. She’s just lucky the bustle on her dress prevents her from sitting. As angry as she’d been at her fiancé for delivering a long, hard spanking the night before their wedding, she knows she’d earned it ten times over.
The weeks leading up to their wedding had really been stressful for Hallie. Like most brides, she wanted everything to be perfect. Apparently she turns into a temperamental pill - Troy’s words, not hers - when she gets stressed and after her mini-meltdown after the rehearsal dinner the night before, Troy decided he’d had enough. At the time, Hallie thought he was just being a Neanderthal trying to ruin her special day. Lucky for Hallie, he was man enough to spank her long enough to work through her stress and nervousness to uncover the more relaxed Hallie standing in front of the mirror today. The fact that he knew what she needed and was brave enough to deliver it against the tears and pleading of a basket-case bride proves she’s found one-in-a-million in Troy. Hallie is comforted by the warm tingle encasing her well chastised bottom. It’s as if she secretly gets to carry a bit of Troy around with her today as she waits to walk down the aisle and take him as her husband.
