by Joannie Kay
“Daughter, I invited David inside this house and he is welcome here until I say otherwise,” John Hart said sternly. “He tells me that Professor Zorn gave an assignment pairing the two of you…? Is this correct?”
“Yes, but I am not going to work with him!” She gave her long hair a toss over her shoulder, and her pretty blue eyes snapped with temper.
“This project is worth half of your grade, daughter; correct?”
“Yes, but Dad…”
“You will work with David, and you will do your best to do a good job and get a decent grade; is that clear?” John Hart could be intimidating, and David had to smile when Brooke looked toward him and gave him a mean look before turning back to her parent.
“He threatened me, Daddy!” she announced. “I am afraid of him.”
To David’s surprise, John Hart laughed. “Brooke, you have never been afraid of anyone in your entire life. Stop acting like a child and get this project done. I expect no less than a B, and if I don’t see some proof that you did your very best, I refuse to spend one more cent on classes for you. I’ll expect you to get a job and start supporting yourself, and paying some sort of living allowance to your mother to cover living in this house. You are going to put some effort into school for a change, and if that means actually staying home and studying, then so be it.” John Hart looked at David. “Did you threaten Brooke?”
“Yes, sir,” David freely admitted. “I warned her that she was going to work with me on this project, and if she tested me she was going to regret it. I meant the words,” he added.
“Sounds to me like you don’t have much of a choice, daughter. David has my support, and if you behave like a brat, you’ll suffer the consequences.” John Hart left the room to go back to his study and his crossword puzzle.
“I cannot believe you came here and involved my father in this!” she hissed at David.
“I need this credit, Brooke. End of discussion. Let’s get started on this project.”
“I’m busy right now.”
“Busy doing what?” he asked, striving for patience.
“Preparing for tomorrow’s classes.” Her expression said he couldn’t argue with that.
“Fine. We’ll spend a few minutes, come up with an idea, and then I can go to the library and start researching the subject while you get back to your other classes.”
“David, I am not notnot going to work with you! This is a completely impossible situation and you know it. You have no respect for me, and I can’t stand being in the same room with you. If I’d known you were taking this class, I never would have signed up for it!”
“First of all, Brooke, I do respect you; it is your work ethic I have no respect for. It doesn’t matter what either of us think about working together on this project; we have to do it and Professor Zorn will know if one of us does the project alone, and he will automatically fail both of us. That is not going to happen. We are going to work together, without drama, or I am going to take you in hand. That, dear Brooke, is my final warning.”
Brooke looked at David, then reached down and picked up a candy bowl from the end table. She threw it at him and it crashed into the television across the room, missing David by mere inches, and shattering the tv screen! “Go to hell, David Worth!”
When she turned to run out of the living room, David reached for her and stopped her from leaving. He picked her up and put her over the back of the sofa, and started spanking the seat of her jeans.
Brooke screamed bloody murder, hoping her Dad would come to her rescue, but when he did come to see what was going on, she heard David tell him she was throwing a tantrum, and he pointed to the candy dish lying on the floor in front of the broken screen on the television.
“We just bought that tv, daughter!” John Hart exclaimed.
“Daddy, make him stop!”
“I will not! If your Mama threw something at me I would paddle her good and proper! You earned a spanking, daughter.” He turned around and left the room, and to her dismay, David continued spanking her until she was forced to apologize and tell him she was sorry for her tantrum.
“Brooke,” he said, lifting her from the sofa and turning her to face him. “I know you might not believe this, especially right this moment, but I do care about you. That hasn’t changed. It tears me up to see you acting as though you don’t give a damn about yourself. What are you thinking? You are smart, talented, and beautiful. You have so much to offer, but you don’t seem to care. You need to stop; this party girl image isn’t the real you!”
“What would you know?” she demanded. “You aren’t the one trying to live up to the four perfect sisters! Look at them, David! They are all so damned good, and I can’t even keep a boyfriend!”
“Who says you have to live up to your sisters?” he asked softly. “You have your own special talents, honey. I’ve watched you in action.”
“Please tell me then, because I am lost, David!” She sobbed, heartbroken, and he pulled her close and held her while she cried, doing his best to comfort her.
When she quieted, he said, “Your talent is nursing, Brooke. Haven’t you realized how everyone comes to you for help when they are feeling bad, or if they get hurt? Remember when Professor McCabe collapsed in front of his math class? You were the one who saved his life while we were waiting for the paramedics to get there.”
“I just knew what to do, and no one else stepped up. I couldn’t just stand there and let him die!”
“No, you couldn’t. And, you kept everyone from moving that girl when she fell on the ice last winter and broke her leg. You got blankets to keep her warm, and you kept her from going into shock. You. Did. That. It wasn’t your sisters, but you!” He held her at arms’ length and said, “I’ve always wondered why you didn’t take up medicine in some way.”
“Really?”
“Really. Why don’t you give it some thought?”
Brooke wondered if David could be right. In the meantime she owed him a sincere apology. “David, I’m sorry. For everything,” she admitted. “For throwing the dish at you; for giving you such a hard time over the assignment, and most of all, for cursing you last year when you were only trying to help me. It hurt so much when you walked away, and I haven’t dated anyone since!” she admitted.
“I haven’t dated anyone either; my heart still belongs to a certain little girl with a terrible temper.” He smiled, and then said solemnly, “I’m sorry I walked away, Brooke. I should have spanked you right then and there, and saved us both a year of hurt.”
“I felt terrible and I didn’t know how to say so.”
“We’ll work it all out, honey,” he assured her, dropping a kiss on her forehead. “In the meantime, we have this project…”
Epilogue: One Year Later
“You are positively the most handsome man I have ever seen, John Hart,” his wife insisted, which made him swell with pride.
“Thank you, darling. It is easy to look handsome when I am with the most beautiful woman in the room. Will you dance with me?” he asked, offering her his arm.
Jenna watched with a smile as her parents left the table to walk to the dance floor.
“Are you feeling all right?” Eric asked with a worried look in his dark eyes.
“I’m just fine,” Jenna lied convincingly. She was in labor, but there was plenty of time to get to the hospital and give birth… once Stacy’s and Edmund’s special day was over! What a year of changes for the Hart Sisters! She was expecting her first child; Stacy was getting married in the wedding of the year, according to the television station, who was here covering the event for a special feature, and also here as guests of the bride’s family. Holly eloped with Quince, getting married quietly and with no fanfare. Sara married Vince Williamson in a private ceremony with just family present, and Vince kept the apartment Sara loved so much for her to have a quiet place to study and work on her Doctorate. And, Brooke and David were planning to get married when Brooke finished nursing school. Th
e change in their baby sister was nothing short of a miracle, and Jenna was so proud of her for finding her niche in the world.
It was hard to believe that all five sisters picked men who believed in spanking! It came out when both Brooke and Sara were squirming on their chairs when they all took a break from baking Christmas cookies to sit down and eat lunch, and reporter Stacy demanded to know why. It was Sara who confessed first, reminding them all of her terrible temper and telling them how Vince dealt with her tantrums. Brooke admitted that she’d skipped a class to go Christmas shopping… after David warned her not to. The look on Brooke’s face when she learned her older sisters knew what it was like to sit on a sore butt was priceless.
Another contraction claimed Jenna’s attention, and of course, it was Brooke who whispered to Eric that she was pretty sure Jenna was in labor and trying to hide it from everyone. She quietly helped him persuade Jenna it was time to leave, and Brooke wondered if there would be another generation of sisters to love and laugh together… She hoped so because it was a special bond and she knew how lucky she was to have four older, beautiful, talented, loving sisters… who were spanked occasionally, just as she was!
The End.
