by Corey, PK
As Quincy headed upstairs, Abby said quietly, “I hope you’re not offended.” Rolling her eyes upward, she went on, “There’s no stopping her once she sets her mind on an idea.”
“Are you kidding? You’ve both been such a help. I’m no domestic goddess, believe me. It would have taken me forever to tackle all this. I’m grateful. Your aunt is a real force of nature.”
Abby smiled. “That she is.”
Hal and Quincy came into the room. “Two more for dinner. We decided if you were meeting your mentor tonight, I might as well meet mine, so we called and invited Jason and Rose Rolson. Jason’s going to be helping me find my way around here.”
Abby looked back at Susan with a worried expression. “You sure seem laid back about all this,” she observed. “Do you ever get rattled?”
“Yeah sure, about some things. But look around. You two have my kitchen spotless and organized and you’ve cooked supper. What would I have to be rattled about?”
Hal smiled at her. Great start, he thought. But it was just a start. He hoped she would be as happy when things got real.
Chapter 4
What a lovely couple, Susan thought when Jason and Rose arrived. They looked to be in their early seventies and very aware of one another. She liked the way he gently held her hand as they all sat talking.
Dinner was delicious and the conversation happy and relaxing. Susan couldn’t help but feel that their decision to move here had been the right one. Up until Quincy began her questioning, that is.
“So, I understand that you two used to have a DD relationship, but you abandoned the lifestyle? Gave up the discipline aspect of your relationship?” She turned to give Hal a stern look. “And you both let the marriage get away from you. And now, I take it, you’re willing to go back over his knee again,” she indicated Susan, “and you’re willing to take her in hand,” she finished, eyeing Hal again.
As Susan and Hal stared in mild shock, Jason, Rose and Abby chuckled. “Come on, Quincy,” Jason said mildly, “tell them what’s really on your mind.”
Quincy waved him away with a ‘shoo’ gesture.
“Tell me Susan, when was the last time he put you over his knee and gave you a serious spanking?” Susan’s mouth opened, but nothing came out. Even after reading all the Corbin’s Bend literature, nothing had prepared her for such a direct conversation.
Hal saved her. “We haven’t done discipline in a true sense for nearly twenty-five years. It seems as if we’ve only begun talking about it again in the last few months.”
“Why is that?” Aunt Quincy asked firmly.
Susan finally found her voice. “The kids came along. I started teaching, Hal was finishing up school and building up his business. We just drifted apart.”
“Well it’s high time you get back to it. It’ll bring you closer. Have you established any rules yet?”
As Susan and Hal stammered for answers, Jason spoke up. “Let them catch their breath, Quincy.”
“They’ve had twenty-five years to breathe,” she said.
Susan noticed Jason give Quincy a look that was serious and penetrating. He had the air of a man used to being respected and obeyed. Quincy saw it too and quickly stopped her badgering and listened to what Jason had to say
“Before we get ahead of ourselves, I think I should meet privately with Hal tomorrow. That’s my job. I may be able to give him some ideas on how to begin again.”
“That sounds great,” Hal agreed. Susan nodded too. Anything to end the conversation at the moment.
“What do you do, Hal?” Jason asked.
“Officially, as of three months ago, I sold my construction business. I’m retired. I guess I’m a jack of all trades, master of none.”
“Don’t believe him,” Susan chimed in. “He’s a licensed electrician, licensed plumber and a licensed contractor. He can do anything,” she said with obvious pride.
“I’d be happy helping around town with small things on a volunteer basis. You know, putting together play sets, installing a new ceiling fan, changing a washer if your faucet leaks. I don’t want to sit around all day, but I’m not looking for those eighty-hour weeks. I’d like to do little things just to help people out.”
“I can see you’ll be an asset,” Jason noted. “I expect you’ll be as busy as you’d like to be.
“What about you, Susan?” Quincy asked.
“I’m a retired teacher. But I’m a writer now. Well, I’m trying anyway. I have a blog and I’ve written several murder mysteries.” Susan glanced at Hal to see if he’d give the eye roll and the condescending shake of his head he usually did when she claimed to be a writer. He didn’t.
“That’s wonderful,” Rose spoke up. “You’ll be our second professional writer in Corbin’s Bend.”
Susan smiled at the thought. “I’ve published two e-books, but I still don’t feel like a professional. I feel like my writing is more than a hobby but less than a career.”
The impromptu party broke up around nine. Hal and Susan headed to bed. “What a nice welcome,” Susan told Hal. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to sitting around talking about spanking, but they were so friendly. I’m amazed at how much we all got done.”
“I’m looking forward to talking with Jason tomorrow,” Hal commented as they curled up together in bed. “I’m curious as to what he’s going to tell me.”
Susan turned to face him. “Just remember, I’m no Stepford Wife and I’m never going to be one. That’s the only thing that worries me. Don’t expect me to suddenly become a model housekeeper and cook. You’re not going to tell me everything I can do or say or think. I want our marriage back—not some master/slave arrangement. Got it?”
“Are you really worried about that?” Hal asked.
“No, not really… well, yeah a little. I guess I just don’t know what to expect.”
“That’s not what I want either and it’s not going to happen. Let’s just see what tomorrow brings.”
Chapter 5
Rose and Jason greeted Hal warmly the next day. They visited together over coffee and cookies before Jason invited Hal to join him in the den.
“If you two men get stuck and need some real wisdom, I’ll be right out here,” Rose told them with a grin. Jason gave her a quick kiss and a smack on the bottom as they left the room.
Hal settled into a comfortable leather chair in Jason’s den. He liked the feel of the room, definitely masculine without being forbidding.
“Hal, let me get right to the point. You and Susan came here in an effort to get your marriage back to where it should be. Moving cross-country shows great commitment on both your parts. Now, what have you done about reestablishing yourself as HOH?”
Hal hesitated. “I guess nothing yet. We’ve been so busy with the move and all and…” He looked into Jason’s serious face and tried again, with no excuses. “I’ve done nothing.”
“Why not?”
Hal sat thinking. It seemed such a simple question. But he really turned it over in his mind. Jason seemed content to wait for an answer. “I think I’m scared.”
“Scared? Is Susan one to really pitch a fit?”
“No, it’s not that at all. It’s almost the opposite. Now, in the beginning she could be a wildcat,” Hal recalled, grinning. “When we first started going out together, she was always in trouble at school. She was cutting classes, being very disrespectful to the teachers. If she got mad at someone, there weren’t just nasty words being tossed back and forth. She’d jump them and beat the heck out of them, boy or girl. Her parents couldn’t handle her, not that they tried very hard. I tried to get her to calm down and behave herself, but I didn’t have much luck either.
“Then one night she and some girlfriends broke into a little store in our town. They just stole some soft drinks and chips. No money. And they didn’t get caught. But the next day she bragged about it to me. I’d had it. I took her out to our special place in the woods that night and gave her a spanking she has never fo
rgotten. I was already falling in love with her and I wasn’t about to let her get caught up in something that could get her in real trouble. I mean, I wasn’t a saint myself, but there was a line between being a kid and being a criminal.”
“That must have been a shock to her system,” Jason chuckled softly. “What was her reaction?”
“There was shock for sure! And lots of tears and a lot of talking when it was over. I remember holding her and telling her how I didn’t like that side of her and how it really disappointed me. Then I told her I loved her. It was the first time I’d ever said that.” Hal smiled to himself, remembering that they had both lost their virginity later that same night.
“But everything’s different now. We’re all grown up and civilized, maybe too civilized. When I say I’m scared, it’s not that I’m afraid she’ll blow up in a temper. In fact, I think I miss some of that fire and temper. You see, the few times I’ve mentioned spanking her over the past few years, she’s usually just laughed. I’m scared she won’t go along with it. Deep in my gut, I think that’s what I fear the most, her scorn and dismissal. Susan never ‘fights’ anymore, but she grows silent… distant… until I feel nothing I say or do will faze her. I don’t know what to do when she gets like that.”
“Yes, you do know,” Jason said simply. “Hal, understand this. Susan came here with you, knowing what our community is all about. And she came of her own free will. It’s time, past time, for you to step up. She can’t follow if you don’t lead.
“I imagine the laughter and dismissal you were seeing, were less from humor or disregard as they were a defense mechanism on her part. I’ve often talked with Rose about this and a few other women as well. I believe that our wives want discipline and structure. But it’s hard for them to admit to wanting it. Our wives lived most of their lives in the ‘real world’ where they knew their desires would be viewed as strange and abnormal. The thought of admitting that they would tolerate, much less crave, a dominant husband who would hold them accountable and spank them if they went off track, would have been a huge embarrassment. I think it’s this internal conflict that causes them to build up the walls. I do know women build up walls. They can build them with remarkable speed and they build them strong. You have to begin tearing them down and keep tearing them down as they’re rebuilt. You let them get so much as one brick atop another and you can see something like the Great Wall of China going up in a day’s time.”
“I know all about the walls, but how do I go about tearing them down?”
“Talking is the best way to get them down, but tenderizing the bottom with a good wooden paddle or leather belt does wonders for a woman’s communication skills,” Jason told him. Hal grinned. Maybe this would really be a new start for them.
The next hour was devoted to listing some beginning rules. Some were mostly standard and others Hal worked on to cover specific problems he and Susan had.
“Don’t start with too long a list, but be consistent. I mean downright picky for each and every one. She’s going to test you, no doubt about it. If you decide on a bed time and she’s five minutes late, you’re going to need to redden her bottom thoroughly.”
“For five minutes?”
“Right now, yes. She needs to know you mean what you say. If you’re not serious about a rule, don’t make it. But if you make it, enforce it. Think of a basketball referee. If a player with the ball steps out of bounds, the ref doesn’t get mad and yell. Neither does he say, “Well you only stepped out a little, I guess you can keep the ball.” He simply follows through on the penalty and gives the ball to the other team. And the player in question, if he or she is over the age of four or five, doesn’t whine and cry and promise never to do it again if you’ll let her keep the ball this time. She knows the ball is going to the other team. Period. As the player, Susan might not be happy with the penalty, but she’ll know what to expect. Keep the rules and penalties clear.”
Hal grew happier and happier as he listened to Jason. Something in him just said, This is right, and I can do it.
Chapter 6
Susan grew more and more agitated the longer Hal was away. What was Jason telling him? He seemed to be a kindly old man, but who knew? Ever since Susan had agreed to give Corbin’s Bend a try, she’d been second-guessing herself. One minute she was building up her defenses, the next, longing to find what they’d once had. She knew she wanted their sex life back. Damn, it had been good at one time. The last few months as they had planned their move, it had improved but only in frequency. She wanted the wildness back. Not that there was anything wrong with the missionary position, but there were other ways, and Hal knew them all.
Susan had given up trying to get anything done until she heard what Jason was telling Hal. She was sitting at the counter when Hal came in. “Let’s hear it,” she demanded, before he’d even closed the door. “Am I supposed to be kept naked and chained in the basement?”
Hal grinned. “That wasn’t one of Jason’s suggestions, but it does sound like an interesting idea. Let’s talk.”
Susan followed him into the living room, feeling terribly conflicted. She wanted what they’d had so many years ago and yet she was ready to fight for her independence too. What’s wrong with me? Susan wondered. We came here for this. Why am I so conflicted?
Hal began, “It’s time to get started. It’s time to fight our way back to the closeness we had once. I let it slip away, I feel responsible for getting it back. There are some rules I want to put in place. I want to discuss them with you. I want to make sure they seem reasonable to both of us. This is a partnership, not a dictatorship.”
Susan smiled, feeling better. “I’m listening,” she said. “What rules do you have in mind?”
“First, I’m expecting you to do more cleaning around the house. There’s just the two of us, so there is no reason for a mess. I’m not talking white glove, but no more dishes sitting on the coffee table for a few days, no piles of laundry waiting to be folded. I just want to keep the house reasonably tidy.”
Susan would have liked to argue, but Hal was right here. She was the slob in the family and over the years Hal had taken up the slack. He did all the laundry and most of the cooking and heavy cleaning. The request seemed perfectly reasonable. Susan nodded.
“Two, I want you to be more active.” Susan opened her mouth to protest, but Hal cut her off. “This is for your health and I’m serious. You have to get out and walk, swim, ride your bike, something. You’re not going to sit with that computer on your lap for twelve to fifteen hours a day.”
Susan was bristling. “I write Hal. That’s what I do. I’ve got the blog and I write my books. I need to spend time on the computer.”
Hal’s look caught Susan’s eye. He looked stern and serious. She hadn’t seen that look directed at her in a long time. It made her feel… something. She couldn’t identify it, but it wasn’t unpleasant.
“I am asking for less than an hour’s worth of cleaning and thirty minutes of exercise daily. I feel that is more than reasonable and gives you plenty of time at your keyboard.” Susan pressed her lips together in a firm line but said no more.
“Three,” Hal went on, “you’re in charge of dinner three nights a week.”
“You know I hate to cook,” she snapped, rising to her feet.
“Young lady, sit yourself back down and watch your tone,” Hal told her.
Open-mouthed, Susan stared for a moment before quietly retaking her seat.
“I said, be in charge of dinner. I don’t care if you cook, order a pizza or make reservations. But you’re responsible. Any questions so far?”
Susan shook her head.
“Now I’m bundling a few together because they’re just standards. Number four, no cussing, no lying, and keep yourself safe.”
“Now wait a minute. I’m no potty mouth anymore, but you know we both do a little cussing from time to time. Are you stopping too?”
Hal grinned, “Probably not completely. Let’s amend tha
t to no cussing around anyone but me. I just don’t think it’s something ladies do in Corbin’s Bend. And no cussing during a serious discussion between us. And yes, the same will go for me. Is that reasonable?”
Again, Susan nodded.
“Any questions about the ‘no lying, and keeping safe’ part?”
Keeping herself safe wouldn’t be a problem, but her palms began sweating a little at the ‘no lying.’ She lied to Hal quite often. Never anything big or serious, she always justified to herself. Only little things, like what time she got up some mornings, or if she’d mailed a check for a bill, or if she’d taken his shirts to the cleaners. If she’d forgotten, she’d just tell him yes and then do it the next morning. She could always blame the delay on the cleaners. It was no big deal, but she was going to have to stop or at least be more careful.
“No, no questions,” she answered.
He went on. “Okay, that’s the business side taken care of. Now for the heart of the matter with this last one. This is rule number five, and it’s the most important. You have to talk to me about your feelings. You’ve shut me out for years.” Hal saw Susan’s eyes go expressionless, but he continued. “When you’re mad, when you’re scared, when you’re hurt, you go silent and I have no idea what’s going on in there.
“Honey, I’m not blaming you. I saw it happening and I just let it go. Maybe at the time I thought it was better than your old temper tantrums. I took the easy route. I think that makes me a pretty lousy husband and a horrible HOH. Please forgive me for letting it happen. I’m not going to let it happen anymore.
“I want to know you again. We used to know with a glance what the other was thinking. Now most of the time I have no idea where your head is. This is going to be tough at first, but don’t you think it’s worth it?”
Susan felt her chest tighten. Hiding real emotions was a way of life now. But maybe it was worth a try and she gave Hal a tentative nod.
