A Real Man for Ruth: a mail order bride romance

by Susan Thomas

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  Breakfast the next morning saw me sitting down with Amos and Elizabeth while Martha and Annie served us. I felt that if we all prayed together, we should eat together, but was sensible enough not try and change that custom immediately. After breakfast Martha and I came to an amicable agreement about how the household duties should be shared. I wanted to do some of the cooking, and had views on other matters, but we got on so well there was no difficulty between us. I busied myself taking stock and making plans for the vegetable garden while Martha and Annie began preparing the meals for later in the day.

  I could hear them talking, then there was a crash and I heard Annie shout, "Drat it to hell and back."

  For a moment there was silence and then I heard an indignant Martha command, "Annie McIver get into the parlour right now... quickly girl."

  The small parlour was set aside for their use and I wondered what was going to happen so followed quietly. Martha left the door wide open and when I peeked in I gasped in shock. Annie was face down across Martha's comfortable lap with her skirts up and her drawers down. In Martha's hand was a hairbrush, and she brought its wooden back down on the girl's bottom with a solid smack. Annie yelped and wriggled while Martha scolded her soundly for using foul language and then smacked the hairbrush down again. She proceeded to spank her bottom in a slow steady way, scolding her between every smack of the brush, and even as I watched, Annie's bottom began turning bright red. The poor girl was wriggling and crying while all the time saying how sorry she was.

  I was shocked though I'm not sure why; I knew teenage girls, and even young women, were spanked at home but I hadn't expected it here. At that moment I heard Amos come in and I went to him.

  "Amos, Martha's spanking Annie with a hairbrush."

  He smiled. "I guess she used foul language, that's the usual reason, but you look shocked. Surely parents spank where you come from?" I nodded that they did. "Well Martha is like a mother to that girl. She loves her like a daughter but corrects her when she needs it. Her language was disgraceful when she arrived, and her rear end must have been red raw with all the spankings, but now it's a rare event. I expect your parents spanked you and it's just the same."

  "No Amos, my parents were forward thinking and did not spank me. Miss Drummond, my headmistress, also did not believe in corporal punishment for girls."

  "I see," he said doubtfully. "Well perhaps you were an exceptionally good girl, but Annie has not had a good upbringing, and Martha is being a good mother to her. Don't worry it is just a spanking and Annie understands that. She adores Martha."

  Amos was most generous to me. He gave me an allowance to manage for the housekeeping which was far more than I, as a prudent woman, felt necessary. He also gave me a horse of my own, for I had told him I had learned to ride as a girl, and even had my own pony for a while. It was a placid mare named Angel, and in truth I rarely got to ride her, but it filled me with gratitude for his generosity. Following that I began to make myself part of the household but it was only a couple of days and then it was Sunday. We were all going to church. I knew Amos was eager to show me off to the congregation and town so made sure to dress very well. Elizabeth was very strange that morning. She seemed worried and unusually quiet and not her normal chatterbox self. I wondered what was wrong but when I asked she just looked at me as if I was mad. She hardly ate a thing at breakfast and afterwards seemed to be even quieter. Amos went out to check on a few things and when he came back he walked past me with a stern look and spoke to Elizabeth.

  "Time Elizabeth. Up to your room please."

  I was puzzled, but not for long. Shortly I heard the same sound I had heard when Martha spanked Annie... my husband was spanking his sister with a hairbrush on her bare bottom. I looked at Martha in horror, but she was very calm and matter of fact.

  "Mr Masters is just spanking Miss Elizabeth. I am sure he will explain when he comes down."

  The explanation had to wait, for when Elizabeth did come down we had to go off to church. She had clearly been crying and on the journey sat with obvious discomfort. I tried to catch her eye but she would not look at me at all. At the church I was introduced to Pastor Brown and then I was very much the centre of attention. Amos proudly introduced me to so many people I had no possibility of remembering them all. I found myself signed up for the Ladies' Guild with no idea what that would involve. It was only on the return journey that I was able to be alone with Amos. Elizabeth was going to have lunch at her fiancé's house and his father would bring her home. Martha and Annie tactfully went back with the hands.

  Amos seemed uncomfortable and just started talking. "Elizabeth had been allowed to get very out of hand by my parents. She began to get a reputation for behaving in what the town saw as an immodest way. My father even had to stop her eloping when she was still only fourteen but fortunately no word of that leaked out. She was impertinent, insolent and extremely wilful. When they died, within weeks of each other, I became responsible for her and I was obliged to be strict with her. She was very disobedient, earning herself a sound switching on more than one occasion, and I asked the pastor and some of the older respected men in town for advice. The advice was to give her a regular weekly spanking. Many of the men around here do that with their older unmarried daughters and wives. It helps them remember to mind their behaviour at all times and is for their own good. It has worked very well with Elizabeth; her behaviour has improved a great deal and she has not been switched since I began the weekly spanking."

  The word 'wives' had not escaped me. I asked anxiously, "Do you intend doing that with me, Amos?"

  "I must apologise Ruth. We were so happy in Denver, that although I intended to explain that to you, when I talked to you about discipline, I failed to do so. Women need a firm hand, and a weekly reminder that there are clear boundaries; it is much better for them as it prevents more serious problems. I was going to spank you this week, but you have only just arrived in our household, and I didn't want to spoil your first outing at church. I shall be spanking you after Elizabeth next Sunday."

  "But Amos!"

  "Now Ruth, remember what I said about obedience. In the long run this is for your own good."

  "But I have been very good and obedient Amos... haven't I?"

  "Yes indeed, and I wish you to remain so. However, you are not Elizabeth, and I have decided that you do not need to be spanked with the hairbrush. I shall just use my hand but do not give me cause to change my mind on that."

  I was very quiet after that and did not speak. Partly I didn't want Amos to spank me that very day for disobedience or something but also I needed to think. It seemed horrifying and unfair to me, but Amos was the husband I wanted and already I had strong feelings for him. I had to try and accept this. I know my own sex can be very difficult, getting all agitated over trivial things and there surely cannot be anything worse than a nagging woman. There were several in my small home town and I vowed early on never to be like them. I had wanted a real man as my husband and I had one. If he thought I needed a weekly spanking then I must do my best to accept it in good grace, but I was very unsure it was right, and extremely nervous about receiving it.

  All the following week the Sunday spanking worried at the forefront of my mind. Even when I discovered Amos' gun collection I could not summon interest in it but postponed that pleasure for later. I was not to know how that collection would get me into trouble. When Sunday finally arrived I was extremely scared. As we laid the table for breakfast I spoke to Elizabeth about the spanking for the first time.

  "Elizabeth, I know what you must endure very soon. You should know I too will be getting the same thing each week starting today."

  She gave me a hug and when after breakfast Amos bade her go to her room she turned and gave me a faint smile of encouragement. Soon the sound of Elizabeth's spanking could be heard and I became very nervous of my hands trembling as I tried to busy myself. Then I heard Amos on the stairs and he came in looking determined.
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  "Ruth, it is time. Please come upstairs to our room."

  Chapter 4

  I was now so very nervous that walking up the stairs seemed a huge effort. Whereas I normally trip up the stairs lightly and fast, I now found my feet heavy with my breath coming in gasps like an old woman. I kept telling myself that I must be obedient, Amos was my husband and a good man. But I failed to convince myself and frankly I was frightened. I had heard Elizabeth's cries when being spanked and saw last week how she squirmed when sitting on the hard seats of the carriage. He'd promised not to use a hairbrush but suppose he changed his mind; what I'd heard of Elizabeth's spanking, and saw of Annie's, told me the hairbrush would definitely be unpleasant.

  Amos was waiting at our bedroom door looking very stern. "Come along Ruth I hope you're not delaying deliberately." Then he must have seen something in my face for he stepped out and put his arm around me. "It won't be that bad Ruth, and I promise in the long run it is for your own good."

  We went into our bedroom and he pulled out my dressing table chair and sat on it.

  "Now Ruth you must bare yourself."

  Not wearing corsets has a great advantage for a woman. It meant I didn't need to wear those horrible split drawers as I could easily reach the ties. Now I wished it wasn't so easy. I had a deep reluctance to do this, and, although I was often naked in front of Amos, felt unaccountably shy. I could see Amos was being patient with me but I didn't wish to test it so tried to hurry getting my drawers down. They fell easily and were swiftly around my ankles so I stepped out of them.

  "Come and place yourself over my lap."

  Not having been spanked as a child, this position was novel to me and a most uncomfortable and humiliating position it is. I was a grown woman, and a wife, yet was being treated as a child. My stomach felt squashed and with my head hanging down I felt the blood rushing to it making me feel dizzy while my nose felt as if it was filling up. I felt him lift my skirts and pull them up over my back making my bottom feel strangely cold and extremely sensitive. Then he smacked my bottom.

  I wish I could convey just how that smack felt to me, but no words can really describe it. His calloused hand smacked down very hard on the left cheek of my bottom and I yelped out at the incredible sting of it. I had decided that I would neither cry nor plead when he spanked me, but that one smack told me that both would be hard to achieve. That first smack was swiftly followed by another to my right cheek. It was just as hard and I cried out and wriggled somewhat with the sting. To my dismay the left cheek was still stinging when he smacked it again. "Ouch!" I cried, and wriggled, and that was it. Amos spanked hard and methodically: left cheek, right cheek, each smack making me cry out and wriggle. Since the smacks rained down quickly from cheek to cheek, I was more or less in constant movement, with a constant series of ows and ouches wrung from me.

  The sting and heat of my spanking built rapidly and I was horrified at how much it was beginning to hurt. Smack, smack, smack; his hand was relentless, each smack bouncing off my bottom leaving me wriggling in a most undignified way. I could hear my own voice too and it was just as undignified, and all that my pride could salvage was a determination not to cry. I honestly thought my poor rear end must be on fire and Amos never paused in his steady spanking. The smacks rained down in the same pattern left and right until I simply couldn't keep still at all. Abruptly he stopped and I realised he was shaking his hand which must have been smarting with the power of his spanking. Then he rubbed his hand gently over my bottom. I must say I rather liked that and had high hopes that my spanking was now ended, but sadly it wasn't.

  "Remember Ruth, this is a reminder and a warning. Please never give me cause to chastise you," he said, and he began again.

  Oh, that hand of his did hurt as he spanked me, and my decision not to cry or plead was sorely tested. I hung on to one of his legs to stop my traitorous hand from straying to protect my bottom. I guessed that doing that would annoy him, but it was so hard to just lie across his lap and take this undeserved spanking. Finally, he stopped, gave my bottom a quick rub, and gave me permission to get down. When I climbed off Amos' lap my bottom was incredibly hot and sore.

  "That smarts," I complained huskily, trying very hard not to cry.

  "It's a spanking Ruth. It's meant to hurt, but I will only ever punish you for your own good. Of course if I have to punish you for disobedience you will smart more than you do now."

  My face was burning enough to match my rear end, made worse by my embarrassment at being treated like a child. Amos went to hold me but I turned saying we must hurry or be late for church. I had wanted a real man and understood that I must be obedient. Now I understood what would befall me if I wasn't. I could accept all that, but these weekly spankings were another matter, those I could not accept. I began to think very hard indeed.

  When I got downstairs I pulled Martha to one side and whispered, "Would you mind taking Annie and going to church with the hands?"

  She was so quick that woman. "Be careful Ruth. Mr Masters is not a man easily turned from his course."

  "And I am a woman not easily turned from hers."

  She suddenly broke into a mischievous smile; for a moment I saw the woman she might have been, but that she had been enslaved, and my soul revolted at what we humans do to one another.

  Sitting on the hard seats of our carriage was not easy and I had only been spanked with his hand. I wriggled at the itchy heat but Ruth positively squirmed having been spanked with the hairbrush. Amos drove, looking fine in his Sunday best clothes, and we had barely left the house when I began.

  "Amos, this morning, in taking my spanking, was I a good and obedient wife?" I could feel Elizabeth start and turn to look at me but I just looked at Amos.

  "Why yes Ruth, you were very good, and especially so as it was the first time you had been chastised."

  "Did I take my spanking well without fussing too much?"

  "Yes Ruth, I should have said so. I was very pleased with you."

  "What about Elizabeth, was she obedient, taking her spanking without fussing?"

  "Yes indeed, again I should have said so, but my mind was taken up with your first one to come. I was pleased with Elizabeth." I could feel Elizabeth's tension but carried on, "So why, Amos, are you humiliating us in this way?" Amos' face darkened and I felt Elizabeth clutch my arm.

  "Explain yourself wife."

  "Of course husband. Why, Elizabeth and I now have to enter church with every woman watching us. They will see at a glance that we have both been spanked and as I am your very new wife, with this only my second Sunday at church, they will be wondering what I could possibly have done to warrant a spanking. It will be the subject of much gossip; a female trait that I know you dislike."

  Amos didn't look at me, but I saw his face turn thoughtful, and after a few minutes he announced, "Very well, as from next week your spankings will be after evening prayers."

  Elizabeth and I thanked him most humbly and then I began again. "Could you explain something to me Amos?" He graciously told me to go ahead, doubtless expecting some question about the farm or the local town. "You have made it clear to me that Elizabeth's behaviour was wilful and disobedient when she came to you. You were obliged to chastise her often even to the point of switching her. You explained to me that the weekly hairbrush spankings were to ensure that her behaviour improved." He nodded his agreement and I continued, "Since I have been here, Elizabeth has been wonderfully well behaved. She carries out all her tasks cheerfully, and has been extremely kind and helpful to me. I already consider her a great friend to me; so I wonder why you continue the hairbrush spankings."

  Amos' face was a most interesting mixture of expressions. There was outrage that I should challenge him but also honesty in facing a good question. He sat scowling in silence while Elizabeth had a grip on my arm as if she was expecting a storm.

  I felt I knew Amos better, and sure enough after a while he announced, "Very well, Elizabeth you have improved so I will
only use my hand, but young lady your behaviour had better not slip back. I can reach for a hairbrush real quick."

  We sat in silence all of us, but as the town came in sight Amos asked in a slightly sarcastic way, "Well now wife, and are there any other little matters you wish to raise before we reach the church?"

  "Well there is something that puzzles me, husband. Perhaps you can help me with it. In this country I think the law is that someone accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty. That is the law in England, but is it the same here?"

  "Yes, that is correct. No difference."

  "And in England one cannot be charged with a crime one might commit but haven't actually committed. So if a man envies another man's horse, and makes it clear he does, he cannot be charged with wishing to steal it. He can only be charged if he actually does steal it. Is that the same in this country?"

  "Yes, of course Ruth. I don't understand why you are puzzled."