Hallie is relieved that it’s the woman of the house, Traci, sitting in the chair at the end of the bed and not her domineering, albeit freaking hot, husband, Troy.
“Good morning. You must be hungry. Troy made you a big breakfast. I know you’re still stuck with the IV so we thought it would be easier if I brought it in to you on a tray. You feel up to eating a bite?” Traci is being really polite considering Hallie had basically committed her own special version of breaking and entering the night before.
Hallie’s stomach does the answering for her. The loud rumbling of her tummy has both women bursting into giggles. Traci speaks first. “I’ll take that as a yes. Here, let me help you sit up.”
The women spend a few minutes getting Hallie into a sitting position, back resting comfortably against the fluffed pillows. As hungry as she is, Hallie beelines it to the coffee first, and the tall, cold orange juice second. She hadn’t realized how thirsty she was. Only when she’s drained both beverages does she turn her attention to the bacon on the plate. Not too crispy. Not too wobbly. It is the Goldilocks of bacon. Just right.
She digs into her bacon, eggs and toast with gusto before remembering she’s not alone. She glances up to see Traci studying her from the chair at the end of the bed. She has curled up, her legs drawn up under her, looking completely at ease, which in turns helps Hallie relax.
Hallie can see she is a beautiful woman. Probably a half dozen years older than herself, she takes the time to admire Traci’s thick, dark hair. Hallie has always hated how thin and straight her own hair is. What she’d give to have thick, wavy hair like Traci.
“Don’t let me interrupt your eating. I can see you’re hungry and thirsty. Let me know what you need refills on.”
“Thanks. You’re being really nice to me, considering…” Hallie’s voice trails off.
Traci picks up her thought. “Considering you broke into my house in the middle of the night.” The grin on Traci’s face tells Hallie she’s just teasing.
Still, embarrassed, Hallie has the decency to blush. “Yeah. That.”
Traci’s smile turns more serious. “Want to talk about why you did that?”
“What do you mean? I could hear you all the way outside as I was coming up your driveway. I could hear you crying out and knew you needed help. I mean, yes, it was rude to barge in, but at least it got him to stop beating you.”
Traci is remarkably calm talking about something so serious and personal. “Is that what you thought Troy was doing to me? Beating me?”
“Well… yeah. Don’t deny it. I saw it with my own two eyes.” Hallie lets the vision of Troy standing behind Traci as her ass was being thrashed with his belt return. For the hundredth time in her life, Hallie hates that with memories like this come much scarier feelings than just fear and anger. She feels that strange fluttering in her tummy again and she works hard to squelch it.
She wasn’t expecting Traci’s answer. “What you saw as a beating, I prefer to call a spanking. And I can assure you, it doesn’t happen very often, but I had earned this one.”
“That’s what men try to tell us so they can get rough. Nothing we do deserves a beating.”
Traci’s smile is sincere. “Oh, I completely agree with that. No one ever deserves a beating. I just think we might have different definitions for the word.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Okay, let me ask you what the word spanking means to you?”
“I don’t know. I guess of being a kid and my grandma spanking me when I didn’t clean my room or when I was late getting home and she had been worried.” She doesn’t include her last spanking at the hands of her Uncle Adam the last summer she had spent with them. He had only spanked her that one time, but she would never forget it. She had wanted to be so angry with him at the time, but she had found she just couldn’t get mad because she absolutely knew she had deserved it. As much as she wanted to hate him for hurting her, she had found the spanking had brought her closer to her uncle because he had told her at least a dozen times, he was correcting her because he loved her.
Traci is continuing on. “Well, those of us living in Corbin’s Bend believe that the value of spankings doesn’t stop when we grow up. Have you ever heard of domestic discipline or DD?”
“I think I’ve heard… people… mention DD before, but I never really knew what it meant.” Memories of the night of her spanking courtesy of Uncle Adam return. She remembers her aunt and uncle arguing about if they had the right to spank their sixteen-year-old niece since she didn’t really understand anything about DD. She hadn’t understood at the time, but in the end they had agreed that doing something as stupid as borrowing their car to drive into town to see friends was bad enough to warrant correction. Borrowing the car without permission had been bad. Driving without a valid driver’s license had been plain stupid. The lesson over Uncle Adam’s knee with Aunt Gina’s wooden spoon had ensured she would never repeat that particular mistake ever again.
Lost in memories for a few minutes, Hallie looks up to see Traci still watching her patiently. She smiles kindly. “Welcome back. Want to share what you were remembering?”
“Not particularly.”
Tracy smiles. “That’s okay. You don’t have to. So do you want to tell me what you’re doing in Corbin’s Bend in the first place and more importantly, what had you out walking in the middle of the night in a blizzard?”
Hallie tries to deflect. “Not particularly.”
“Hmmm. I see a pattern.” Traci’s smile grows. “So how about telling me if there is someone I can call to let them know where you are? Surely someone is out looking for you and is worried.”
Traci must see the look of sadness on Hallie’s face she had failed to mask. “No one is looking for me. No one knows where I am and more importantly, no one cares.”
“I find that very hard to believe.”
“Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s the truth.” Then something Traci had said hits her. “Wait. You said the people of Corbin’s Bend believe in the value of spankings. How the hell would you know that? I mean it’s a town. How can everyone feel the same way?”
For the first time, Traci looks like she is a bit uncomfortable, but to her credit, she answers Hallie’s question head on. “Well, that’s the thing. This town is unique. It is a co-op where the residents buy in shares to live here. In order to be approved, everyone is screened and only those people… families… believing in the domestic discipline way of life are approved.”
Pieces of a very strange puzzle start clicking into place for Hallie. “Wait. You’re telling me everyone in Corbin’s Bend feels this way? That it is okay for men to beat their women? It’s part of the town bylaws?”
Traci is laughing at her now. “You aren’t listening closely enough, Hallie. Yes, everyone here believes in relationships where one member of the family is the Head of the Household or HoH and the other is the submissive partner. Sometimes called Taken In Hand or TiH. In most couples that means the man is in charge of all major family decisions, but there are some couples where the woman of the house takes the lead. We also have several gay couples living here, but all relationships have one thing in common. Someone is the HoH and someone else is the TiH.”
Before Hallie can comment, Traci continues on, making sure Hallie is paying attention. “Hallie, look at me. This part is the most important part. What you saw last night. What is practiced here in Corbin’s Bend, it has nothing to do with beating. Ever. DD is about loving people enough to guide them when they get off course. Protecting them, sometimes from themselves when they make poor choices.” Hallie can’t help but notice the sad look on Traci’s face and she suspects she had made some poor decisions recently. “The HoH’s in Corbin’s Bend do use spanking or corporal punishment if you prefer the term for punishments, but they also use traditional things like grounding, loss of privileges, corner time… stuff like that. Never anything to do lasting harm. Never striking anything but a bare bottom.”<
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“That can’t be right. I mean Aunt Gina would never stand in the corner.” Too late Hallie realizes her error.
“Is Gina Newberry your aunt?” Traci looks pleased with the new information.
Hallie is not. “You know my Aunt Gina?”
Traci smiles indulgently. “Honey, I know every person who lives in Corbin’s Bend. It’s not that big of a town and we are… well let’s just say we are a very close-knit community. Everyone knows each other.”
Hallie is starting to panic. “Aunt Gina doesn’t even know I was coming. I haven’t seen her or Uncle Adam for over five years. It’s just… well I didn’t really have anywhere else to go. I was hoping they might put me up for a few days while I figure out what I’m gonna do next.”
Traci has stood up and crossed over to stand next to the bed. Hallie is startled when Traci takes her hand. “Hallie, I can absolutely promise you that your aunt and uncle are going to be thrilled to find you are here in town. They never told me your name, but they have talked to me several times about their regrets over not insisting on having you come live with them when your grandma died. They’ve been so worried about you. Please trust me. You are going to make them very happy by coming to stay with them.”
The relief of hearing that her aunt and uncle had loved her enough to talk about her with complete strangers has tears streaming down Hallie’s face. She has to fight not to melt down into an emotional mess. “Do you think you or your husband could call them and tell them where I am? I really would like to see them.”
The surprise on Traci’s face has Hallie pausing, afraid she had said something wrong. “Hallie, I think you’ve totally misunderstood. Troy is not my husband.”
Anger flairs again that this wonderful woman who is fast becoming a friend would put up with the abuse of someone who didn’t even have the decency to marry her. Great. He’s just as bad as Eddie is. Wanting his cake and to eat it too. “What a jerk. I can’t believe you’d let a boyfriend treat you like that.”
“Hallie, Troy isn’t my boyfriend, either.” Hallie gets a flutter in her tummy at the sight of Traci’s sly smile. “Troy is my brother.”
The flutter in her tummy turns to a rolling churn. She had thought Troy was dangerous before. Him and his sexy five o’clock shadow and dimpled grin just turned damn right lethal. Hallie remembers her anger at seeing him beating his sister. She’s not sure if the possibility of what she’d witnessed being a consensual spanking verses a more sinister whipping make her feel better, or worse. She just knows she needs to get the hell out of here.
“Come on in, Officer Leano. Join the party.” Troy shakes his hand before stepping aside to allow the uniformed officer to come into the quickly filling house. After taking his boots off at the front entry, the men make their way to the kitchen where it’s close to pandemonium.
Troy watches as the officer makes his way straight to the tallest man in the room, Brent Carmichael. He had returned this morning, his pretty wife and adorable toddler, Kayla, in tow. Troy hadn’t known it before they arrived, but he’s been able to piece together that Char and Traci are not only good friends, but he suspects Char sees Traci professionally based on some of the comments they’ve shared. Not more than five minutes after the Carmichaels had arrived, a man introducing himself as Lelo Stevens had arrived, trailed a few minutes later by Jason Rolson. Apparently, they are planning an impromptu board meeting in Traci’s kitchen.
Young women barging into unlocked homes is apparently big news in Corbin’s Bend.
Troy manages to stand on the fringe of the commotion, feeling a bit like a fifth wheel. He’s not an official member of the community and as such, isn’t exactly sure what his role is in the current situation. The only thing he knows with certainty is that he isn’t deserting his sister or the waif of a houseguest in the back bedroom currently being examined by Dr. Devon.
Speaking of the devil, Troy glances up to see the good doctor walking down the hall to join in the fray.
After several minutes of catching snippets of conversations he wants to be part of, Troy loses his patience. He takes charge the only way he knows how… letting loose with a loud whistle. The kind his dad had taught him as a kid on a camping trip. It’s come in handy many times since.
It works like a charm. There is dead silence in the room, short of Kayla playing quietly with her doll. Seven pairs of eyes point his direction.
“I’m sorry if this seems rude, but I was hoping to hear all of the updates that are going on. So if you don’t mind, can we have one person talking at a time please?”
Brent breaks out into a grin. “Damn. We could use a man like you on the board. You’re one bossy HoH if I ever saw one.”
Troy isn’t sure if that’s a compliment or not. “Not quite yet.” Flashing a glance at his sister, he finishes that thought. “I’m working on it though.” He’s rewarded with her blush. “Anyway, officer, I’m sorry to make you repeat, but I am interested in finding out more about Hallie’s car.”
Officer Leano clears his throat, not entirely comfortable being bossed around by the new guy in town, but complying with Troy’s request, nonetheless. “We found what we presume to be Miss Boudreaux’s older model car, slid off the road. It’s lodged in a rather deep ditch about one and a half miles outside of town. She’s lucky the car hit a tree, which prevented it from sliding even deeper into the gulch. Had that happened, I fear she would’ve been trapped with no way to get the doors open. The vehicle was completely out of gas so she would have found herself freezing before too long.”
A pain akin to heartburn has started in Troy’s chest as he thinks of the panic Hallie must have felt being out there in those conditions alone. No wonder she was frozen to death by the time she arrived. How long would it take to march through deep snow one and a half miles, especially for a little thing like her?
The policeman has continued on and Troy has to drag his thoughts back to pay attention. “The strange thing is that the car is not registered to Miss Boudreaux. The vehicle is registered to a…” He takes a small notebook out of his pocket, flipping pages to an entry before continuing on…” a Mr. Edward Kingston, Santa Monica, California.”
Dr. Devon jumps in. “Her drivers license had her living in Santa Monica. Perhaps he’s her boyfriend.”
The officer continues. “Well, I’ll get to the bottom of that when I interview Ms. Boudreaux. The car had traces of cannabis in the glove compartment. It’s too late now to run tests, but I want to find out if she was under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident.”
Alarm bells are going off for Troy. “I was one of the first people to see Ms. Boudreaux after the accident. She didn’t look impaired to me. How about you, Trace?” Troy looks at his sister, sending her silent instructions to back him up.
“I agree with my brother, officer. I would have detected if she were impaired in any way. She just looked exhausted and wet. And honestly, she did end up collapsing, but it was due to the concussion she sustained in the accident.”
Leano looks back and forth between the brother and sister knowingly. He then looks at Brent who keeps a straight face before folding. “Fine. My report will show Ms. Boudreaux was not impaired. I do need to interview her, though, to understand how she found herself off the road. Do we know why she was heading into Corbin’s Bend that late on a Friday night, anyway?”
The timing of their arrival couldn’t have been timed better. The policeman’s question hangs in the air when Gina Newberry crashes through the front door without knocking, ironically, exactly as her niece had done less than twelve hours before. She looks like she’s rushing out of a burning building she’s moving so fast. Her stocky husband is following at a more reasonable pace, stopping to close the door behind them. Gina’s eyes are flowing across everyone assembled in the room, trying to decide who to talk to first. She picks Traci.
Gina rushes towards Traci. “I got your message. We were at the store when you called and I came as fast as I could. Is it tru
e? My Hallie is really here?” The worry for her niece is evident.
Troy is so proud of his sister. She’s so good at keeping everyone calm in a crisis. “Yes, Gina. Hallie is here and she’s doing well. She has a concussion and mild hypothermia, but Dr. Devon has been treating her and we’ve decided she doesn’t need to go to the hospital.”
Gina looks relieved before she lets her own confusion add to that of the rest of the room. “What happened to her? Why didn’t she call and tell me she was on the way?”
Leano answers. “That’s what I’m trying to get to the bottom of. So Ms. Boudreaux is your niece?”
Gina turns her attention to the officer in the room, but it’s her husband Adam who steps up to answer the question. Troy recognizes him taking over the questioning now that the police are involved. “Yes, sir. She is the daughter of my wife’s sister, Julie. I’m afraid Julie passed away just over three years ago and we’ve lost touch with our niece somewhat. We’ve been praying she would come to us for help if she needed it. It looks like our prayers have been answered.”
Troy is relieved for Hallie. Knowing her family loves her and is happy to have her in Corbin’s Bend with them will help her recover from whatever has her on the run in the first place. She hasn’t fooled Troy. He knows there is much they don’t know about Hallie’s story.
With the arrival of two additional occupants, the room has once again deteriorated into controlled chaos. Giving up on organizing the discussions, Troy glances down the hall just in time to see Hallie herself ducking into his sister’s office, the room closest to the kitchen. The little sneak is trying to get close enough to find out what’s going on without having to announce herself. Taking a last look at the crowd all talking at the same time, Troy can’t say he blames her.
He’s sure no one notices when he backs out of the space, heading to his sister’s office. Hallie’s waiting just inside the door, her eyes widen when she realizes she’s been caught eavesdropping.
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