An Unexpected Wife

by Masters, Constance

  An Unexpected Wife

  By

  Constance Masters

  ©2016 Blushing Books® and Constance Masters

  All rights reserved.

  No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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  Masters, Constance

  An Unexpected Wife

  EBook ISBN: 978-1-68259-707-1

  Cover Art by ABCD Graphics & Design

  This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.

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  Table of Contents:

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  About the Author

  EBook Offer

  Blushing Books Newsletter

  Blushing Books

  Chapter One

  Sage Worthington stood stock-still, glad for the relief of the large sunglasses she’d worn as the sun beat down, burning her skin through the fine material of her black formal dress. Her heart ached and her eyes were burning despite the fact that they were shaded. She was so grateful for the two small hands that clung tightly to each of hers. Her siblings were the anchor that was forcing her to stand there, rooted to the ground, when all she wanted to do was fall into a heap on the ground and cry.

  Six days ago, with one phone call, the young woman’s life and those of her brother and sister had changed forever. The news of their mom and dad’s deaths had devastated all of them. Thank God the kids hadn’t been in the car. This loss was large enough to bear, she wouldn’t have wanted to live if she’d lost all of them.

  Up until this point in her life, Sage had been totally self-centred. Her life had been about school, her job and her friends. She’d been an only child until she was fifteen years old. Now though, things would be about Netty and Bailey and figuring out where the three of them went from here. It was time for her to be a grown up and she didn’t mind at all. The trouble was, she had no idea where she was going to start. There was so much to think and worry about.

  The sweet sound of ‘Amazing Grace’ was drawing to a close and she knew that the time had come. It was time to place their roses and leave, to get the children away from there before the coffins were lowered. Her parents would understand. Netty and Bailey had seen and heard enough and so had she. Still clinging to the small, now sobbing, figures she turned and walked away, towing what was left of her family behind her. This was the best thing to do, for now at least, they could get their breath before everyone turned up at the house.

  God knows Sage wasn’t ready to make all of their life decisions yet, all she could do was take it a day at a time, or maybe an hour at a time. She reached for the door handle of the family truck but a large hand was already there. She turned to find their next-door neighbour standing right behind her.

  “Hi, Sage,” he said sadly.

  “Cliff, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

  “Hey, kids,” he said, touching each small head gently.

  “Hey, Cliff,” Bailey answered. “I brushed the horses this morning like you showed me.”

  “Good boy,” Cliff answered.

  Netty said nothing.

  “Are you okay, Sage?” he asked, concern written all over his face.

  Sage nodded. “I’m okay. At least I think I am.”

  “I want to go home,” Netty said.

  “Yeah, me too,” said Bailey. “You comin’? We’re having company.”

  “I’ll come back for a while.” He helped buckle the kids in their seats and then closed the door.

  “I’m so sorry for your loss, Sage,” Cliff said, “I’m still finding it hard to believe that they're gone.”

  “We all are.” Sage wanted to make conversation, to be more friendly but she was numb and was finding it hard to find words. She and their neighbour Cliff had an awkward friend/enemy background when they were younger, though that was a few years ago.

  “I’ll see you back at your place,” he said. “We’ll talk more then.”

  Cliff tipped his hat and walked back to where his grandparents were waiting along with the rest of the mourners.

  * * *

  Sage waved away what must have been the sixth plate of food that someone had tried to make her eat. She just didn’t think she could swallow. “I’m sorry, I can’t. Maybe later.” She hadn’t looked up, so didn’t notice that ow
ner of the offering.

  “Maybe just try a little now,” Cliff said. “You have to eat.”

  “I don’t have to do anything.” Sage didn’t mean to get a tone in her voice but seriously, if one more person told her that she needed to eat, she’d scream. He probably meant well but he was the last of a very long line of food pushers and she couldn’t take it any more.

  Cliff pulled up a seat next to Sage. “Bailey tells me you never sit and eat with them. You cook food but then you just sit and watch them eat it and stare at the wall.”

  “Bailey is nine,” she said.

  “He’s a nine-year-old who has lost his parents and is now worried that you’ll get sick because you’re not eating,” Cliff said gently.

  “I-I don’t,” Sage started to answer but really didn’t know what to say. What did she say to that? That she didn’t want to worry him, that she didn’t know that he noticed? Did she notice herself that she hadn’t been eating? All were true. “I’ll talk to Bailey. I don’t want him to be upset over me, and tomorrow, I’ll eat with them.”

  “Good idea. An even better idea would be if you ate the sandwich and drank the tea before you go talk to him.” His tone was gentle but firm.

  “Thanks for your advice, Cliff, but I think I can decide when I need to eat. I’m an adult now.” Sage tried not to jut her chin out like a smart-alec teenager.

  “And yet you sound very much like the eighteen-year-old I once knew,” he said, unable to hold back a grin. “I think I remember being able to make you do as you were told back then.”

  “You’re never going to let me live that down are you?”

  “Probably not. I hope I made enough of an impression on you that you never forget.”

  Sage blushed. How could she forget? The fun night when she was home alone nearly six years ago had started as a fun, carefree time with her best friend and had ended up being one of the most embarrassing moments of her life. She glanced at the big man next to her…

  “Party at my house!” Skyler said. “We could go to yours but mine is in town, so easier for everyone to get to.”

  “I don’t know. My parents made me promise that I would stay home while they’re away.”

  Her parents had gone to stay the night in the next town where they had an obstetrician’s appointment the next day. They’d taken her little brother too. She had to stay because of her last final.

  “They won’t even know.”

  “What if they phone and I’m not there?”

  “Phone them first and tell them you’re exhausted and having an early night.”

  “That might work.”

  “Your mom and dad are away, my mum and stepdad are away. How often do we get the chance to party with no parents around?”

  “Not often.”

  “See? We have to and guess what? Sienna’s brother Jonathan is going to get us a keg of beer.”

  “Jonathan isn’t old enough to get a keg of beer.”

  “No, but Jonathan’s friend is. Well, he’s not really a friend but he will get it, we just have to pay him.”

  “Now that is a problem. All I have is my emergency money and I can’t spend that without explaining what the emergency was. Obviously my folks aren’t going to think a keg is an emergency.”

  “That’s why we’re going to charge ten dollars a head.”

  “Okay then, that just might work. You know what? Let’s do it.”

  “You’re remembering that night,” Cliff said with a grin.

  “The night you found Skyler and I a little worse for wear, wandering the street, looking for pizza.”

  “The night you lied to your parents and when they couldn’t get a hold of you, they phoned me and had me go look for you.”

  “Same night.” She was mortified that she could feel herself blushing and knew that it had to be showing. It was a curse, blood rushing to her face at every opportunity, giving away her embarrassment immediately.

  “I guess you remember that night didn’t end well.”

  “I remember that you manhandled me.”

  “Manhandled,” Cliff scoffed. “I lifted you into the truck because you were drunk and belligerent and then when we got home, I lifted you out because you were still giving me trouble.”

  “You ruined my fun and embarrassed me in front of my friend.”

  “I might have saved you from something a lot worse.”

  “Nothing happens in a small town like this.”

  “Tell that to ‘Nightline’. ” Cliff smirked. “You were a brat and I had to spank your sassy behind because you bit me.”

  “You didn’t have to, besides, I was defending myself.” She could feel a smile starting to twist the corners of her mouth and she felt a pang of guilt, amongst other things. Guilt because she shouldn’t have butterflies in her tummy remembering being manhandled over Clifford Welsh’s knees. This was the gathering after her parents’ funeral and she shouldn’t be feeling—that. A memory flashed through her mind of his hand actually connecting with the back of her jeans and she gasped, out loud. Colour once again filled her face and she tried to stand up, to get away. Trouble was, there was a large man right in front of her and he wasn’t going to allow her to escape.

  “Better eat this sandwich. I haven’t lost my touch; I can still make you do as your told.” He smiled at her, wiggling his eyebrows. He took a corner of a sandwich from the plate and held it to her lips.

  She took a bite, and had to admit that the food tasted good. She also found that she was actually hungry.

  * * *

  It was finally over. Sage stood at the door with Netty on her hip, saying goodbye to the last of the mourners. At least, almost the last. Cliff had taken Bailey to feed the animals.

  “You going to be all right, honey?” Aunt Jen asked, “Because I can take the little ones home with me if you want.”

  “No, I’d rather have them here, Aunt Jen, really.” Her aunt was hovering and had been since she got home. Sage knew she wanted to help but she was smothering her.

  “Or we could stay.”

  “No, you don't have to do that.” Oh please don’t do that, Sage thought.

  “Okay then, if you’re sure.”

  “I am.” Sage loved her aunt and her uncle, but she felt drained. She just wanted to be alone to gather her thoughts but she wanted to do it where she could hear Netty and Bailey breathing peacefully in their sleep.

  “Fine then, honey, we’ll give you a couple of days and then we’ll see you back here Friday for the reading of the will.”

  “Thank you.”

  Sage closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief. “Alone at last, Netty. Are you tired? How about I put a movie on in my room. You can lay on my bed just for a little while huh?”

  “I want to lay in Momma and Daddy’s bed.”

  Sage’s voice caught in her throat. “Sure, baby doll. You can do that.”

  When she came back down the stairs, Cliff was waiting. “So the animals are fed and we bedded down the horses. I strained the milk and put it in the fridge. Is there anything else you need help with?”

  “Thank you no, I’ll be okay.”

  “If there’s anything else you need, you just have to let me know.”

  Sage smiled. “We’ll be okay, won’t we, Bailey?” Her brother nodded but she could see the worry in his eyes. He had to be petrified. She was the occasional weekend sister that brought home three weeks’ worth of laundry and then mostly slept. How was he supposed to have faith that she could look after him? She would though; she’d figure this all out.

  “I’ll leave you to it then,” Cliff said, lingering longer than he meant to.

  He leaned against the doorway, staring into her eyes until she shivered and grinned, a slight pink tinge creeping onto her cheeks. “Yeah, I better see to the children.”

  “I’ll be around. You know, just to make sure you don’t need anything to be done.”

  * * *

  The sun was gone and the house was quiet. The
kids hadn’t wanted supper but they’d been grazing most of the afternoon so she wasn’t going to force them. Time for bed at last.

  “Can we have our story in Momma and Daddy’s bed?” Netty asked.

  “Yeah, can we, Sage, please?” Bailey begged.

  “I guess so. Have you chosen a book?”

  “I don’t want to hear one of Netty’s baby books tonight, Sage,” Bailey said. “Can you tell us a story like Dad used to?”

  “He used to say, ‘when I was a boy’ but you can say, ‘when I was a girl’,” Netty agreed.

  Sage sighed. This was the last thing she felt like doing but she was grateful that Bailey and Netty were starting to ask for what they needed, so for the moment, she would just go with the flow. “Okay, I guess we can do that.”

  “Hop in,” she said, lifting back the familiar covers, finding a little comfort herself in the familiar ritual of a story in her parents’ bed. When everyone was cosy and settled, she started. “When I was a young girl, I was an only child. I used to say my prayers every night, right in that room over there. Mom or Daddy used to sit on the edge of the bed and listen. Every night after saying my usual thanks, I would ask God if he would send me a brother or a sister. Mom said that God would do his best but he couldn’t grant every prayer or wish, he wasn’t a fairy godmother.” The kids giggled and she couldn’t help but smile. “It took a long time, but guess what? He did answer my prayers. I waited patiently and eventually Mom found out she was having a baby.”

  “That was me,” Bailey said.

  “Yep, that was you. We were all so happy that I kept on praying for another brother or a sister and then guess what? “

  “You gotten me!” Netty said.

  “That’s right, we got you. It was so fun to have a brother and a sister but, by then, I was already eighteen years old. I got to play with you for just a while and I had to go off to college. I missed you so much that I came home every chance I could. Trouble was, I was staying in a big city and big cities are expensive and I had to get a job so I couldn’t always come home as much as I wanted. I missed you guys.”