by Susan Thomas
She parked her car and began running up to her room. Stacey saw her and called to her but she didn't hear and didn't stop. Stacey saw something was wrong, said goodbye to the group she was with and hurried after Kathy. It wasn't until Stacey got to their room she caught up with Kathy. She found her friend lying face down on the bed sobbing into a pillow as if her heart was broken.
Stacey knelt down beside Kathy and began stroking her hair gently. For a moment Kathy thought it was her mum and confused, whispered, "How are you doing that, Mum?"
"It's Stacey. You going to tell me what's wrong?"
"It's all off with Jack. I'm never seeing him again."
Stacey's gift was people. She just kept calm and while continuing the stroking asked quietly, "Oh why is that?"
"He spanked me. He had no right. I pushed him off his chair and he went crashing to the ground."
Stacey had to struggle hard not to laugh at this outburst and when she had mastered that she asked gently, "Oh dear that does sound serious. Why did he spank you?"
Kathy wriggled until she was upright and poured out the whole saga of Olivia and everything that happened. Stacey was horrified and asked, "Was she raped do you think?"
"I think what happened was that Adam planned all along to seduce her and then begin to dominate her before finally pimping her out. I think he's done it with other girls but somehow between Olivia herself and her family he has never quite been able to do it. I think yesterday was crunch time and he lost it with her. Patience gone he raped her and chucked her out. I think at heart Olivia was too sensible and strong to let his plan work. I don't know for sure of course and she denies it."
Stacey thought for a moment before speaking. "So explain to me exactly why you shared none of this with Jack."
"Well it's none of his business. It's private."
"So the man you are on a journey with towards marriage shouldn't know why you are messing around in a dangerous area. So a pastor, an ordained minister of religion, isn't capable of keeping a secret? A strong tough man like Jack isn't capable of escorting you into that dangerous area? So you plan to keep deep dark secrets from your future husband?"
As she spoke Kathy's face got gradually redder and redder and a fresh batch of tears began to trickle down her face. When Stacey finished speaking she looked hard at her friend and Kathy finally replied.
"I've been very stupid haven't I?"
"You've been brave but you should have shared with Jack. I'm not surprised he spanked you. If I behaved like that with my husband to be I'd expect to be spanked. In fact I think you deserve another for all the deception you have practised on him."
Stacey sounded so strict and stern that Kathy was amazed. Normally she was so bubbly and bright.
"What should I do?"
"Well you must apologise and explain to Jack and ask him to spank you hard is my feeling but that is up to you. First though I want to speak to Olivia. That girl needs to make a complaint."
Kathy was stunned at the transformation in Stacey. She seemed so strong and in command, she realised she was getting a glimpse of the wonderful wife and mother the girl would be one day. They left in Kathy's car for Olivia's house. It was definitely not a happy house when they arrived but they were welcomed. Olivia, it seemed, was sitting up in bed but not talking. Kathy and Stacey were allowed up.
Stacey was very gentle but after the hugs and kisses she got right to the point. "Olivia I am not going to pretend that you weren't raped, we all know you were and that's awful, but you must make a complaint. Adam is nasty and you must help prevent other girls getting the same treatment, or worse if Kathy is right and I think she is."
Kathy had to explain what she thought Adam's intentions had been and that Olivia was not his first victim. Olivia sat in bed listening with a stony face.
"Think, Olivia, about other girls. Girls like me, like Kathy, like your sister Matilda. She's sixteen isn't she? She'd be just perfect for scum like Adam. This guy has got to go behind bars and you can put him there. There is enough evidence at the hospital and there is Kathy who saw the state you were in, and there is your account. He'd go to jail for sure and certain."
Kathy and Stacey sat watching Olivia when that little speech was over. Olivia's face was set very hard indeed and she said nothing, just stared across the room giving nothing away. Stacey began to think she'd tell them to go, and reject what she had said. Then her hand reached out and picked up the police officer's card from the bedside table.
She turned to Kathy. "May I borrow your phone. I think I lost mine after I was raped."
---oOo---
Stacey and Kathy left the family to deal with the police. Kathy's address wasn't a secret so when she was required to make a statement they could contact her. Now Stacey insisted that Kathy had to go and see Jack. She told her that she would sit in the car and wait until she had finished. She told Kathy there was just enough time before they had to be back in college, for a reconciliation with Jack and a good spanked bottom. Kathy wasn't so sure about the good spanked bottom bit but she did agree that she owed an explanation to Jack, and suddenly she desperately wanted him to take her back and hold her in his strong arms.
When they arrived at the church Kathy grew nervous. Suppose Jack didn't want to see her? Suppose he rejected her? Suppose he wasn't there?
Stacey was dry. "Well you won't find out sitting in the car will you?"
"What will you do?"
"I'm going to sit here and pray for you both."
Kathy walked slowly back into the church and down the same corridor she had fled along only a few hours ago. Jack's door was open and he was at his desk but he looked thoroughly miserable and wasn't actually doing anything. He didn't see her at all she had been so quiet.
"Jack," she whispered into the office.
His head went up and he shot to his feet. "Kathy, oh Kathy..."
He came around the desk and she rushed into his arms and they stood there holding each other tightly for a long while saying nothing. After a while they separated slightly and Kathy whispered gently, "I'm so sorry Jack. I've come back to explain."
She was never quite sure afterwards how it came about that she gave her explanation sitting on his lap, it just seemed to happen. Most of the story was told to his broad chest but his ears heard every word. He was an extremely good listener she realised. He was horrified at what had happened to Olivia, deathly quiet about her deceptions, admiring of her bravery, impressed with Stacey and delighted when Kathy told him where her friend was and what she was doing.
Kathy finished up her long story with, "I am so sorry Jack. Stacey says I now have to be spanked again. I don't want to be but I suppose she's right. She seems to be right about everything this afternoon."
Jack stifled a laugh at that last bit. "Well I owe you an apology Kathy. You were quite right really. We had never discussed corporal correction within marriage and we weren't even engaged. I promise in future I shall make sure I discuss things with you, there'll be no sudden surprises. I was so cross because I was frightened for you. You mean so much to me and the thought of what could happen around that area was just too much for me."
They kissed after that. Not passionately but gently, lovingly, a man and a woman who loved each other so much they could not imagine life without the other.
It was Kathy that broke the spell. "Jack, can I have my spanking now? Stacey and I don't have an extension for Saturday so we are supposed to be back for evening meal. We'll get a CTC if we are late, it's very strict."
Jack wasn't at all sure he wanted to spank Kathy. Did what happened really warrant it? She had carried a huge burden of worry and been so brave going back into that area for Sarah's car because she didn't want it stolen to add to the family problems.
"You know why you acted so secretively don't you?" Kathy shook her head. "Because you are trying to be your mom. She was left alone with a baby and rose to it. She took on that hard, hard challenge and was strong. You thought when your mom died you h
ad to do the same, carry all burdens yourself. But Kathy you are not your mom. Unlike her you have a family now. You have good friends like Stacey, and you have me. You don't have to carry any burdens alone. Your mom would be so pleased you don't have her burdens in life." Kathy felt tears well up. She could see that what Jack said was quite true. "Now I am not so sure I want to carry on with this courtship."
Kathy jerked her head back and looked at him stricken, "You don't want me?"
"This is not very romantic, I have no flowers and since you're sitting on me, going down on one knee would be a bit hard, but Kathy Marie Anderton ... will you marry me?"
"Oh yes," she breathed.
---oOo---
It took a while for them to part enough for Jack to go to his desk drawer and produce a ring, "This was my great-grandmother's engagement ring. My grandmother's rings are all bequeathed to my sisters but the family felt I should have my great-grandmother's ring if my bride to be would accept it. I had it cleaned when I got it and a new box to keep it in. If it doesn't fit we can have it altered."
The ring took Kathy's breath away. It was one of the most beautiful she had ever seen. She tried it on and the fit was perfect as if it had been made only for her.
"The jeweller that cleaned it for me told me it's Art Nouveau style. To repeat what he said, it has those soft lines, all that fine detail and heavy ornamentation. Apparently all the filigree work is typical of that era...lots of intricate work. It's because they used platinum, better than gold he told me."
"Oh Jack it's really beautiful. I would be honoured to wear it, but what will your family think?"
"They'll think what they already think. That I will be extremely fortunate if a lovely girl like you marries me. The ring is your choice."
"Oh I choose it definitely. Thank you."
Jack and Kathy went out to see Stacey who got out of the car the moment she saw them together. Kathy simply held out her hand with the engagement ring on it and Stacey screamed, ran to Kathy and hugged her, hugged Jack, danced a little dance and then to the astonishment of her friend and Jack did a cartwheel, flashing her panties briefly as she did so. Kathy glanced at Jack to see his reaction. He was laughing.
"I can be bridesmaid right?"
Both Jack and Kathy agreed that she could but Jack warned her to say nothing at college because the two families and Pastor Brad had yet to be told the good news. Stacey promised she would keep it confidential for now.
"Have you had your spanking yet?" Stacey was back to the serious version of herself. "Only we haven't got a lot of time before we get a CTC."
"I'm not spanking Kathy this time. The whole affair was a complex issue and she has already been spanked. More importantly we need to discuss all of that before we go any further. It's all a very new idea to Kathy and she needs time to think on it before I can expect her to accept it. But Kathy, no more taking burdens on yourself, we share everything, OK?"
"OK Jack."
In the car Kathy raised the whole spanking issue. "Look Stacey I get that it isn't abuse. I couldn't honestly say that either of the two spankings I've had from Jack were abusive... the bruises Adam put on Olivia were abusive and I can see the difference. My bottom is still stinging a bit and hot but honestly not that bad, but how come he gets the right?"
"Well who is going to be the leader in your marriage, the head of the household? Is it going to be you?"
"No, I accept Jack will be. It just seems right. It's sort of natural."
"Can a ship have two captains?"
"No of course not."
"So if he is captain and he says do something or don't do something, you must obey, right? It would be no use a captain giving the order to turn port if the first officer just ignores it and turns starboard."
"Er... I suppose that must be right."
"It is scriptural, Kathy. Colossians 3:18 for example tells wives to submit to their husbands as that is fitting to the Lord."
"Right OK, I know Jack will be a wonderful leader and I trust him. I know it didn't look like that today but Jack understands."
"So what does Jack do if you disobey him, as you did? What if you do turn starboard and not port?"
Kathy wasn't stupid. She saw where this was going and she just went, "Oh" and then very quiet. Stacey wisely said nothing more and they arrived back to college with a minute to spare.
---oOo---
Matt and Madge Anderton were surprised when, instead of meeting them at church, Kathy turned up very early at their house. They had of course heard about Olivia and thought she had come to talk about that. Matt thought Kathy had done well.
"Olivia deceived everyone but you. We all thought she had dropped Adam, but not you, and we heard how you tried to watch her and even followed her into that no-good place."
"I should have told you or Tom and Sarah."
"Would have made no odds, Kathy. She'd only have lied and made you look bad or foolish. She was in deep with him though she didn't realise it. In the end it was you she turned to for help and you came up good for her, did all the right things and you and Stacey persuaded her to bring charges. Great work."
Kathy couldn't take all that praise without confessing how she had treated Jack. Her grandparents listened carefully and then Madge shook her head sadly and Matt said severely, "I hope he spanked your butt good and hard."
"Yes he did, Granddad. He was worried and upset."
"Unsurprisingly," Madge chipped in. "You two are courting, you owe a duty to him."
"We're not courting anymore."
They were shocked but then Kathy produced her hand from behind her back and they fell on her hugging and kissing her.
"Right." Matt sounded stern. "Now you listen to me young lady and listen real hard. You wouldn't take any help with your college expenses and I understand why but in the absence of your father we are paying for your wedding and that is final. Are we clear on that?"
"Yes Granddad," said Kathy, marvelling at how meek she was being. When she was younger she had terrible rows with her mum when her mum had tried to insist on something. She was always struggling to do it her way, perhaps she was just growing up, but was she grown up enough to accept Jack totally as her head and leader to the point where he might spank her? She had struggled with the issue ever since her conversation yesterday with Stacey. All through their meal it had bothered her and she had lain awake much of the night wrestling with herself. Now it was time to go to church, so her grandparents went to their car and she walked towards hers.
Later she remembered the exact moment when she ceased to be a girl and became a wife. Oh not a wife as solemnised in a service or consummated in the marriage bed, but a wife nonetheless. Perhaps not a wife in the sense of much of the world, but a wife as her family and Jack saw it. It happened as she walked to her car to go to church. Left foot, right foot; in that brief moment it all became clear to her. She stopped walking, so overwhelming was the clarity with which she saw it. It was just like those moments when they kissed, when they sang together and when they danced. They had become one, alone in the universe, their hearts, their voices, their bodies, soaring together in perfect harmony. So their marriage must be a dance, a waltz where Jack must lead and she must follow, their steps in perfect harmony. If she resisted or didn't follow, the dance must fail. Of course he must correct her.
Kathy heard Madge call out asking if she was alright. She realised she had stopped and was just staring up to heaven as if she could see herself in Jack's arms dancing together through time and space. She laughed with pleasure.
"Yes OK Grandma, I just realised something wonderful," she said, and carried on walking.
---oOo---
The girls at college were in the most part from strongly conservative Christian families. Kathy was fairly certain she was the only one from a single parent family. It was also true that she was probably the only one that had sought out the college for herself. All the rest had simply been sent by parents who wanted their daughters protected fro
m the evils of this world. That wasn't to say the girls were there against their will - as they were all adults that would have been illegal. It was more they complied with the strongly expressed wishes of their parents and were, in the main, perfectly happy doing so. Sure there was a lot of talk about men, but in fact many girls had a serious boyfriend at home and often went back to see them. A few were unhappy because the family situation was perhaps one of illness or a father or a brother away on active service. Only one girl seemed not to enjoy her college life and that was Mia.
At times Mia seemed terribly depressed and moody. A few girls even called her Moody Mia behind her back. At other times she was wildly self-confident and hyper alert. Kathy had first aid training back home both at her school and her church and began to wonder seriously if Mia was taking cocaine and if so where was getting it from; but of course it might just be all some sort of hormone problem. She did just gently broach the idea with the girl, once before Christmas and again after. The first time Mia was indignant. The second time she replied that it was because there were problems at home. Well that could be true and anyway after Christmas, Kathy was far too tied up with the church and Jack to worry.
She and Jack made two special times to be together each week. On a Saturday they went out on a date. Whenever there was a dance they went to it. If there was something at the theatre or cinema they did that. Often it was hiking along the many trails available, sometimes hard ones sometimes easy. On one other occasion every week they met to simply talk over a meal. It was at the first of those that Jack raised the whole question of corporal correction in their marriage.
"I was in the wrong when I spanked you that time."
"No Jack I was in the wrong. Stacey made me realise how stupid I had been and Granddad said that you should have spanked me. You were right. I was trying to do it all by myself."
