“Abby, you keep saying that folks will think bad of you; why should they do that?”
“Because you’re a man coming to my home. It’s wrong.”
“I’m not planning to ask you to pay me with your body for teaching you, Abby,” he stated clearly, trying to keep his temper calm.
“When men do anything kind for a woman, they expect something in return.” Abby knew those words to be a truth. Her own Mama told her that when she was old enough to get her monthly time.
“That’s it. I was planning to settle for a simple apology instead of turning you over my knee, Abigail, but that comment has earned you a spanking you won’t soon forget!” He snagged her wrist and pulled her down over his knee in the next second, and this time he didn’t spank over her skirts. He tossed them up, and decided to prove that he could even bare her bottom without taking her to bed in the next moment. Abby had a lot to learn about trust. His hand connected with bared flesh and Abby cried out in pain. “Not all men are out to take advantage of you, young lady.” He continued to spank her, his strong left arm holding her in place so she wouldn’t wiggle free and fall on the floor. He knew he was hurting her fanny. He’d only given her a dozen or so spanks, and her bottom was already sporting vivid red handprints, evidence of her fair redhead’s complexion.
“Please stop!” Abby begged him. “You’re hurting me, and I’m so embarrassed!” Embarrassed? She was mortified and doubted she’d ever be able to face him again!
“You ought to be embarrassed over the way you talked to me, Abby,” Peter spanked her again and again. “I offered help and you accused me of trying to force you into bed! The normal reply is, ‘Thank you, Peter.’ I’m not going to stop this spanking until I hear those words.”
“I am grateful you offered,” she cried. “Owwwww! Stop! I’m sore now!”
“You’re still not saying what I want to hear!” he spanked her sit spots and she tried to get away from him!
“Let me go!”
“Nope. Not until you agree to let me teach you,” Peter insisted. “I’m going to spank you until you get it through your pretty little head that I am not asking you to pay me for what I freely offered. I am a teacher; I want to teach you to read… NO strings attached!” He spanked her again and again, and her cries turned into sobs. He started to feel sorry for her, but realized she’d needed this spanking for a long time. “Abby, being stubborn is only going to earn you a longer spanking,” he warned.
“Please stop! I’ll agree! Please?”
“I want to hear a thank you…” he reminded her, giving her flaming backside two more hard spanks.
“Thank you for offering to teach me, Peter. Please stop spanking me now… It hurts too much,” she was sobbing.
Peter stopped. She’d had more than enough. Her skin was beet red and burning to the touch. He was gentle as he tugged her drawers over her stinging flesh, and then pulled down her skirts before lifting her to her feet. “There now, Abby. It’s all over now. I will come after school tomorrow and we’ll work on your lessons. I give you my word that I won’t say or do anything improper.”
She nodded, too upset to speak.
“Come here,” he whispered, and pulled her close to hold her while she cried. “It’s all over now, Abby. You just need to go on to bed, once you lock the door after me, and get some sleep. You’ve had a trying day, but tomorrow will be better.” She finally quieted and when she tried to pull away, he immediately released her. He gave her a smile, leaned down to gently kiss her forehead, and then left with another reminder to expect him after school the next day.
True to his word, he came after school and worked with Abby on her reading and writing, and then left as soon as the lesson was done. Most of the time, Jenny sat at the kitchen table with them. Eventually, Abby relaxed and came to believe that Peter was true to his word and wasn’t going to ask her to pay him with sexual favors. She did invite him to stay for supper a couple times a week, and Peter always accepted, but made sure that he left before it got too late.
“Teacher!” Jenny came crying to him a few weeks later. “Mimi is saying mean things about Mama!” He coaxed the child to tell him what Mimi was saying, and then went outside and brought the spoiled little girl inside.
“Do you know what you are saying, Mimi?” he asked of her and wasn’t surprised when she shook her head ‘no’. “Where did you hear this?” Again, he wasn’t surprised to hear the source was her Ma. It was long past time he dealt with the situation. “You’ll stay after school today, Mimi. I will be taking you home to have a long talk with your parents.” Mimi promptly burst into tears and Peter put her into the corner until she could calm herself.
After school was finished, Peter faced Abby and said, “It appears I misjudged a few people in this town, Abby. Mimi Evans overheard her Ma gossiping and repeated it to Jenny. I’m going to go and deal with it right now. May I come by after?” he asked, hating the wounded look in her green eyes.
Abby nodded. “I don’t blame you, Peter. You’ve been nothing but respectful to me.” She turned and hurried Jenny on home. She just knew she was going to cry.
Peter closed up the school and then said, “Come along, Mimi. We need to speak to your parents.”
“Am I going to get a whippin’?” she wanted to know.
“That is up to your Pa,” Peter answered. “But I will promise you this, I won’t tolerate your being mean to the other kids any longer. If you want to enjoy recess, then you will be nice to everyone. Is that clear?” She promptly burst into tears again. He just shook his head, wishing once again that HE could take a switch to her overbearing Ma.
“Mr. Cunningham?” Frank Evans looked up from the clock he was repairing, and then saw his daughter sniffling behind the teacher. “Is Mimi in some kind of trouble?” he asked, wiping his hands on a rag before getting to his feet to face the other man.
“Yes, she is. She overheard your wife talking to someone else and repeated it at school.” Peter was blunt as he told the man what was going on, and watched as Frank’s eyes narrowed in displeasure. It was his wife’s misfortune to walk through the door at that precise moment.
“Clara, were you aware that Mimi was eavesdropping when you were speaking of Mrs. Burnham last night? Do you realize that Mimi went to school and told all the other children, including little Jenny, what you said?”
Clara had the grace to look ashamed for all of five seconds and then she turned into the spiteful woman she was. “Well, it’s true! And a disgrace! A schoolmaster cavorting with a widow!”
“Mrs. Evans, there is no cavorting going on, and you are destroying a good woman’s reputation out of maliciousness. I am teaching Abigail to read, and Jenny sits at the table with us and does her homework. What on earth gives you the right to spread lies of that sort?” He turned to the other man and said sternly, “Frank, I’ve talked with you before about Mimi’s behavior. If something of this sort happens again, I will be forced to deal with Mimi myself in a manner I find befitting… Even though I think the matter would best be addressed through tanning the person responsible for the way Mimi behaves.” He turned on his heel and left the store, and it was obvious to one and all that the tall man was furious.
“How dare he suggest something so… vulgar!” Clara Evans was flabbergasted.
“Perhaps because it is long over-due, Clara,” Frank said quietly. He walked to the door and turned the closed sign, then turned the key, locking the door. He pulled the shades down and then said, “Mimi, go upstairs to your bedroom and stay there. I want you to think about how you would feel if someone said mean things about your Ma at school. I will be up shortly to talk to you about this.”
“Ma, I don’t want to go upstairs. I want my cookies and milk!” Mimi stomped her foot.
“Frank, our baby is hungry,” Clara started to take Mimi inside their living quarters, only to have her husband shake his head ‘no’.
“Mimi is going to her room right now, Clara.” He picked up a piece of le
ather strap and slapped it against his hand. He wasn’t looking at his child, but at his wife.
Clara couldn’t believe he was threatening her, but she wasn’t taking any chances. “Mimi, precious, you go on and go upstairs right now like Pa said. I’ll bring you some cookies in a little while.”
Mimi opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Her Pa was acting different, and she didn’t want to make him mad at her. She took off running for her room.
“Frank, what has come over you!”
“Your impossible behavior, Clara. It’s time I take a stand. You are turning our daughter into someone that no one is going to want to be around in a few more years. And gossiping about Mrs. Burnham and the Teacher! For shame! You know that isn’t true! The man was ready to throttle you!” He came closer and took her arm to pulled her over to the stool he sat on to work at his high bench. “You are going to bend over this stool and pull up your dress and petticoats, Clara, for a sound strapping.” When she tried to pull away and protested, he gave her a little shake. “How would you be feeling right now if the Teacher punished Mimi for repeating what you were saying? What if he decided to thrash her in front of the class? Is that what you want? I guarantee that if I don’t take you in hand right now, our Mimi is going to come home crying. Mr. Cunningham has talked to me two other times, Clara. I spoke with you each time, and talking didn’t work. Now you’ll bend over and we’ll see if a strapping will help you see reason.” Frank was done talking. He helped Clara over the stool, and after a few hearty licks that he told her didn’t count until she did as she was told, she pulled up her skirts and Frank gave her a strapping that was long overdue and left her too sore to sit down for the next several days. He then told her that she would be walking Mimi to school in the morning and apologizing to the Teacher and to Mrs. Burnham. Her refusal cost her another strapping on a very sore backside, but by the time it ended, Clara was begging to make her apologies.
********************
“I see,” Peter said calmly, doing his best to keep himself calm. “Abby, I thought we settled this once before, weeks ago. Have I ever said or done anything to make you think that I wasn’t keeping my word?” Peter demanded. She shook her head ‘no’. “Then why do you want me to stop coming by? I will admit that you’ve made so much progress you really don’t need me as your teacher, but I’d hoped once you were confident in your ability to read and write that I could start courting you. I hoped you were feeling the same attraction for me that I am for you… Am I wrong?” When she didn’t answer, he reached out to grasp her upper arms and give her a little shake. “Am I wrong, Abby?”
“No, but… I don’t want folks to think I’m not a fit Ma for Jenny,” she cried out.
“You’re the best mother I know, Abby, and it makes me furious to hear you put yourself down all the time.” With those words, Peter pushed his way into the house, took her arm and led her into the seldom used parlor. He took a seat on the large sofa and then pulled her down over his lap and started spanking her rounded bottom with his hard hand. “You are not going to talk this way about us again, Abby. I have come to love you… and your daughter… and I want us to get married. You need to tell busybody’s like Clara Evans to stuff a sock in it!” he scolded, and continued to spank her while she drummed her feet on the sofa. “I want to know why you are so sensitive to what other people think and why you always feel they’ll call you unfit to be a mother. I’ve not heard one man or woman in this town criticize you for anything.”
“I don’t want to talk about it!” she wailed, and felt him flip up her skirts in the next second. “Noooo!” she cried out as he spanked even harder. “Stop it, Peter. Oh, please don’t! Jenny will hear!” she begged him to let her up. He didn’t.
“I want answers right now.” Her drawers were next, and Abby knew he meant business. He spanked hard and she was sobbing and promising to talk to him if he would only stop spanking her. Peter picked her up and flipped her over to sit on his lap. “What makes you worry that people will think you so bad?”
“Because I am,” she whispered so brokenheartedly that he was truly shocked to realize she believed it about herself. “Mama told me it was wrong to go off with boys, but I did. I went off with Jamie and we did things. Jamie brought me home and I knew I was going to get a switching, but bad men had come while I was off with Jamie and they killed Pa… they hung him, and then they killed Ma and my sisters. Jamie made me hide and went and tried to stop them from hurting them, but they hit him over the head and he was unconscious. They rode out on Pa’s horses and then you and your Pa and brothers came,” she said with certainty. “You were a deputy then.”
“Yes, I remember,” he frowned. “I found you hiding behind the woodpile, and finally was able to coax you out of there. You were so scared. Jamie said he was going to take care of you,” Peter urged her to continue, knowing there had to be more.
“Jamie took me home and told his Pa he was going to marry me. His Ma had a fit. We were just kids. She didn’t want no part of it, but Jamie said his child was going to have his name, and that settled it. But, his Ma never forgave me. She said I was all sorts of bad things and wasn’t fit to be a Ma. Jamie finally took me away from there, but she came when he died, and tried to take Jenny from me. She said I wasn’t fit because I let Jamie touch me before we were married. I packed up Jenny and ran away from there as fast as I could so she couldn’t find me and take my baby. I am a good Mama, and I won’t ever do those things again… not if it costs me Jenny,” she proclaimed. “Mrs. Evans sees me for what I am. Nice women aren’t supposed to like doing those things, but I…” she broke off in embarrassment.
“Mrs. Evans is not a nice woman,” Peter said firmly. “She is a loud-mouthed, evil, gossip who doesn’t care who she hurts if it makes her look better. She needs a sound spanking and put in her place. Now you listen to me, Abby. You are the sweetest woman I know, and one of the things that attracted me to you in the first place was the way you care for Jenny. You are a wonderful Mama, and Jenny is one of the best behaved children I’ve seen in five years of teaching school. I give you my word that no one is going to take Jenny from you. They’d have to go through me first, and since you know my background, you know that they’d have one heck of a time doing it. I will protect you with my life, Abby. I love you,” he said simply.
“You don’t mind that I was married before?” she asked shyly.
“No, I don’t. I respect that you loved Jamie, and I hope I’ve given you time to get to know me enough to know that I would never harm you in any way. I’ve been hoping these last few weeks that you might be discovering some tender feelings for me as a man?”
Jenny nodded. “I am, but I didn’t dare to hope you would feel that way about me, too. I’m not smart like you.”
“Do you want another spanking?” Peter asked, outraged.
“No, I never want a spanking again, unless we can make up afterwards,” she shocked him by admitting.
Peter looked at her and then grinned. “I’m thinking that maybe I’ll wait until after the wedding to spank you again, Abigail…” He chuckled when she blushed.
He was pleased when she snuggled close on his lap. “I don’t want to wait a long time to get married, Peter. I’m sure of my feelings, and I don’t need a long courtship. I lay in bed and think of you, and I’m sure that Jamie would approve of you. You’ve already proved over and over that you love Jenny, and if you feel the same way about me as I do you, then we need to be together soon.”
It was a long speech for Abby, and Peter kissed her lovingly. He put her on her feet and then called for Jenny and gently asked her how she would feel about having a new Papa. She threw her arms around him and said she’d been hoping he would love her and said she’d promised God to be very good if He let Mama fall in love. Peter felt tears spring to his eyes, and he noticed that Abby was just as emotional as he. He announced they were going out for supper and he walked them to the restaurant in town and told the waitress they were celebrat
ing.
By the next day the news of their engagement was all over town, as was the news that Clara Evans couldn’t sit down! Mimi was responsible for telling everyone that her Pa used a leather strap on her Ma (she’d been peeking, of course), and other than walking Mimi to school that morning and giving stiff apologies to both the Teacher and Abby, Clara wouldn’t show her face anywhere. It was humiliating for her to know the entire town knew about her punishment.
The wedding was simple, but most of the town attended, and both Abby and Peter were stunned when they were invited to a reception following. They hadn’t a clue that everyone was putting together a party to celebrate their marriage. One lady asked Peter and Abby how they fell in love, and Peter was proud of Abby when she said, “Peter learned from Jenny that I couldn’t read or write. We never lived near a school when I was a child, and I didn’t have a chance to learn. Peter offered to teach me, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Jenny wanted her Mama to be able to help her learn her spelling words like Gracie’s Mama,” she gave the other woman a smile, which pleased Irma. “Peter gave up a lot of time to teach me, and never asked a thing in return. How could I help but fall in love with such a wonderful man?”
Something Familiar
By Robin Smith
Something Familiar by Robin Smith
“Witches ‘neath a gibbous moon
Dance amid the harvest sheaves,
Casting spells with witches’ runes
Celebrating Hallow’s Eve!”
Bedelia swayed in time with her own chanting, her arms upraised and bare legs flashing as she drew out a spiral with her steps. Her eyes were closed, but she savored the thought of how she knew she must look—her lean body silhouetted in swathes of filmy fabric, black against the blazing backdrop of her fire. Her fingers, snapping and flicking at the air, would be casting long, dancing shadows on the wall. Her hair would be pouring down her back like a river of flame.
Monthly Maintenance: Selected Stories from Blushing Books Authors Page 15
