by Rachel Burns
Daddy was still spanking me hard. “Cry, sweetheart. Let it all out.”
“I am, Daddy,” I confessed.
“Should I stop, sweetheart?”
“Not just yet.” I had a feeling that I was very close again. I lifted my head, and my hips were pressing together and into his thigh.
He spanked on, but he was being too gentle about it. “Harder!”
The sting of his spanks increased. “Yes, like that.”
After five more sharp spanks, I was coming. My entire body shuddered over his knees. I was warm, but I was still shaking. My heart felt like it was trying to jump out of my body, making my rib cage jump.
It took awhile for me to be able to speak. “Remind me that I really like this next month.”
Chapter 2 –The Flu
Brian held Amelia tightly in his arms. She was sick. She had shivered most of the night. He ended up making love to her four more times just to keep her warm.
By morning both were sick. Brian had a terrible cough that just wouldn't let up, and Amelia froze.
Brian had a slight fever and wanted to push the blankets away because he was too warm while Amelia asked for more blankets as her teeth chattered.
His butler had a lot to do with their requests. They never wanted the same thing at the same time. Brian wanted a warm soup, and Amelia had to throw up when she smelt it.
He ended up bringing her to her own bed. He had wanted her next to him as he slept, but she needed silence to sleep. She had a headache. Brian felt sorry for her. Before she went to bed, he gave her something for her headache.
When she woke up, she felt fine. Nanny wasn't feeling well either, so Brian told Amelia to play in her room. Thankfully, she was able to get herself dressed, and she played quietly all afternoon.
Amelia ate her supper with Brian in their bed, telling him about the book she was reading. She got so excited about things, and her eyes lit up when she spoke. She told him everything that was going through her mind.
Brian loved her with all of his heart. He didn't regret marrying her in the least.
Brian was home sick a whole week before he started to feel better.
Amelia's sickness came and went. Just when Brian thought that she was over her cold, she would get a queasy stomach again.
***
I cuddled up next to Daddy. He was still sick, but I was feeling a bit better. I was bored all day with nothing to do. Nanny was too sick to take me to school. Daddy was too sick to get up.
My days were long. I wished I had something of my own, just for me. If I had that, then I could occupy myself a little.
Daddy often coughed in the night.
Come morning, I had gotten so sick of hearing it that it made me gag. Bright and early I was sick again.
As I crawled back into bed, I apologized to Daddy.
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. “That's all right, sweetheart. This is bad timing for you. You are sick, and you have your period. I hope you brushed your teeth after you threw up,” he said strictly.
“Yes, I did, Daddy.” I lay down close to him and thought about what he said.
My period hadn't come, for the second month in a roll. What did that mean? Daddy had said that I couldn't get pregnant. Was I sick? Did I have more than just a cold?
I didn't want to go back to the lady doctor. The thought of that alone was making me feel sick.
Was I even sick?
Was this morning sickness?
I thought back over the last couple of days. Mornings I had been sick, then come afternoon I was perfectly fine.
I cuddled in closer to Daddy, as a chill went down my spine. If I were pregnant, he wouldn't like it. Thus, he wouldn't like me anymore.
Daddy fell back to sleep.
I had learned something new about him. He snored when he was sick.
I just couldn't fall asleep, too many thoughts were buzzing through my head.
Daddy had been feeling better for over a week now. Nanny stayed home with me. My flu, as they called my sickness got worse each day.
I wasn't certain if I were sick or not. Being sick, or having a shock could cause a period to stop. Daddy had said so. However, he had also said that we wouldn't worry until it didn't come two months in a row.
I didn't know what to think.
Could I be?
Had he meant that I shouldn't get pregnant?
What would he do if he found out?
I scolded myself not to let my mind get away with me.
I was sick. Nanny was worried about me. They were both being so nice to me. I would get myself to stop worrying, and if my period didn't come next month, then I would go to Daddy and talk to him.
But what if he said that I was too young to have a child? What would I do if he said I had to have an abortion?
I had to throw up again. I raced past Nanny who was sitting in my window seat and into the bathroom.
I bawled over the toilet. Nanny patted my back before she brought me back to bed. She called Daddy on her cellphone once I was all covered up. She sounded worried.
I needed to get better and stay better.
“I'd like strawberries,” I informed Nanny after she hung up.
“Strawberries? Yes, strawberries might stay in.” She was talking to herself, deciding what she should do. “They have lots of vitamin C and water in them. Nanny will get you strawberries.” She took off running. She didn't close the door to her room as she left.
In that moment, I decided that I would run away before I would let them hurt my baby.
That is if I were even pregnant. I might not be.
Right now I had to concentrate on getting better.
Daddy set up a drip for me when he came home. My nose was running nonstop, and my eyes watered. Daddy said I had a fever. I had worried for nothing. I was just sick.
Daddy told me that he loved me, and that he was so sorry that I had gotten so sick. He explained to Nanny that children often got sicker than their parents, but that they bounced back quickly.
I was just glad that I wasn't pregnant.
I wished it were warmer.
Daddy cuddled up to me in bed and read me lots of stories. I cried a lot. Daddy kissed me and told me that he loved me.
I begged him to find a cure for the flu and the common cold.
He promised to look into it as he grinned at me. I knew that he was just humoring me, but I needed just that.
He explained that sometimes when people get sick and weak that viruses lurk around and prey on them, giving them secondary infections. Usually, a person only got sick like that once in a lifetime. This was my turn. He told me that he would start me on vitamins and work on building up my immune system.
When they thought that I was sleeping, they talked about me taking walks in the garden every day to build up strength and resistance.
Daddy was starting to feel guilty about locking me in. I heard him tell Nanny that he couldn't risk losing me. He loved his little girl, me, so much that he couldn't risk anything happening to me.
He told her that I had an innocence that needed to be protected at all costs.
I just wanted to be protected from viruses.
Slowly, I started to get better. Daddy insisted that I get up and move around as much as possible.
He didn't realize what a major trip it was for me to go to the bathroom. It seemed like such an impossible distance.
Nanny used a bedpan when he wasn't home. She saw things a little differently.
I thought it was sort of funny that she felt that she knew better than a doctor. Both meant well, so I tried to be good for them, but the slightest movement made me feel terribly seasick.
I had even had fever dreams. Daddy said that I woke up screaming that I was drowning one night. It took him a while to convince me that we were on dry land.
Thankfully, I couldn't remember that.
The only thing I knew was that I needed my Daddy, and he was always at my side. When he coul
dn't be there for me, Nanny was.
No one was leaving me alone. I never wanted to be alone again.
I was clinging to them, but they were the sort that liked that.
I forced myself up to standing. I hadn't eaten anything since last night. I was worried about making it to the bathroom. I really had to go. Daddy and Nanny had me drink so much water, and Daddy had me on the drip.
I just needed to jump to my feet, pull the plug on my drip and run into the bathroom. That was the only way I could make it.
The thought of so much activity made me dizzy. I plopped down on the bed again and held my head in my hands. The tube that was in my left arm followed my every movement.
The door opened to Nanny's room. She came in and smiled at me.
“Nanny, I don't think I can make it.” I felt so miserable about everything.
Nanny sprang into action. She grabbed my bedpan and dashed to my side. She wrapped an arm around me and helped me up to standing. In a swift motion, she slipped the bedpan under me and helped me sit down again.
I’d had several accidents already, so we were forfeiting underwear at the moment.
I could hardly sit up. I leaned into Nanny's body. Her hand was on my forehead.
“You have a fever again. You just don't seem to be licking this bug.” She slowly got up and hurried off to get a washcloth for me. She stood me up again and exchanged the bedpan with a towel before she sat me down again.
Once I was sitting, she helped me lay back. She wiped me like I was a baby. My bed had been transformed into a changing table.
Daddy came in time to see what she was doing. “Another accident?” he asked nicely.
“No, I got to her before it could become one. Her fever is back,” she announced. She sounded mad at him.
He was good at ignoring those things.
Daddy stepped to the bed and laid his hand on my forehead. “I'll get my bag. Daddy will make you feel a whole lot better shortly.” He left then.
“Nanny, am I ever going to get better?” I asked her because we were alone.
“Of course you are. This is just a very nasty flu. If Nanny could get hold of it, I would teach it to leave nice little girls in peace.” She smiled at me so kindly.
“With your paddle?” I asked her.
“That's right. This is a very naughty virus. It has long outstayed its welcome.”
“But it wouldn't work?” I informed her.
She grinned, thinking that I was questioning her skills with a paddle. “I assure you I would get my point across.”
“But it only works if there is love. You don't love my flu, Nanny.”
Nanny pursed her lips. “That's right. I forgot about that. Let's get you under the blankets again. You are going to stay in bed again today. I'll just get rid of the garbage can full of your used tissues. Daddy will be right with you.” She was chuckling as she left the room.
The movement of getting under the blankets was too much for me. All the water that I was drinking came back up again.
“Sweetheart,” Daddy raced to my side. I was bawling because I disgusted myself. “No, sweetheart. Don't worry about that. I already told you that I ordered a new mattress and bedding for your bed.” He was yanking away my comforter. “Daddy isn't mad.”
Daddy had my comforter gone by the time Nanny came back with my empty garbage can. “Nanny, where were you. I found her alone throwing up in bed.”
“Her garbage was full. I did hurry, sir. We both know that she belongs in a hospital.” They both weren't sleeping enough. They bickered a lot.
“Please don't fight. I promise I won't be sick again.”
“We aren't fighting, Amelia. We just both feel that you deserve the very best care. And that can only be given to you in a hospital.” Nanny spoke sweetly, but her words were meant to stab Daddy in the back.
“Of course, Nanny is right. But what she doesn't realize is that you would get the exact same care and treatment there as you can here. Did you know that lots of bacteria and viruses are at the hospital lurking around just waiting for a sick little girl to arrive so they can make her even sicker? But you don't have to worry Amelia. Daddy will protect you from that. In fact, Daddy will hire a nurse to stay with you.”
“You want a stranger to touch our child. Did you see how I was cleaning her when you came home? Do you want a stranger with dirty hands to touch her?” Nanny took a step closer to Daddy. She looked like she wanted to hit him.
“The nurses at the hospital are strangers too.” Daddy's hands went to his hips. He was getting very mad.
“Stop it!” I screamed. “I don't want this.”
Both rushed to my side. “Don't cry.” They quickly made up, so I wouldn't be upset.
My flu dragged its feet about leaving, but every day I got a little better. Daddy and Nanny had proven that they loved me. I wasn't just a toy that they used to play their games with. I’d had them at their wit's end, and they still held onto me and loved me.
I was the luckiest little girl in the whole world.
Chapter 3 – Benefits Evening
Brian practiced his speech in front of the mirror in his bathroom. He knew his little girl was getting all prettied up next door. He was so glad that Amelia would be at his side this evening and not some woman, whose name he would have trouble remembering.
Brian had gone to this same benefit last year. His picture had appeared in the tabloids with his date for the evening. She was now hosting a game show on TV. She had used his last name to get her where she was today.
There was a similar benefit two weeks ago, but they had both been too sick to attend. Brian had sent them a generous check.
The tabloids wanted a picture of his wife.
There was so much talk about Amelia. They wanted to know who she was, and of course, who her family was.
Luckily, Amelia was a fitting wife. She came from good stock. Even if she hadn't brought a dime with her when they had married, she would be considered acceptable.
His forefathers had helped formed America into the country that it now was. They had been power-hungry opportunists.
That was the family business. Strike first, strike hard, and don't waste a moment thinking about who you were stepping on, even if it was your own children. Marriages were all about making money or gaining European titles.
His own parents hadn't really been given a choice. They hadn't gotten along well, but they hadn't hated each other either. They lived respectfully with each other.
His mother was expected to give his father an heir and then a spare in case something happened to the oldest.
Nothing had happened to the oldest, so to say, but one day Martin took off and got a job working as a truck driver. Martin just wasn't made to be a businessman. He was the type of man who worked with his hands. His grades had never been up to snuff. Their parents had punished them often.
When it came out that Brian couldn't father a child, he was seen of as less a person. He couldn't carry on the family line. Everyone felt that they had a duty to continue their line.
This evening he had to talk about a child who had been his patient, and he had lost. It had been so hard on everyone. A child leaves a hole that just can't be filled.
Brian felt like he had failed that child, as well as his family. He hadn't been the expert doctor, but he was the one that told the family where they should go.
It had been his job to give them hope, and it hadn't worked.
He had tried to talk to his so-called friends about that, but they weren't interested. They felt that it was his own fault for playing doctor and not concentrating on his real profession.
Brian had almost lost his Amelia. She had been so sick. All of his doctor skills and all of his money hadn't meant a thing. It was like it was her time to leave, and all they could do was watch. He had felt that being a real doctor would protect his loved ones.
He felt that the people that loved him were worth protecting. There was nothing that he wouldn't do fo
r his Amelia. She was the most precious thing in the world to him. He wished that he had more time for her.
Because Martin lived in Texas, the majority of the burden of the family business fell on his shoulders. Martin had enough problems with his wife who suffered from an eating disorder.
Still, Brian wished that he could shove some of the responsibility off on someone else. Amelia was growing up right before his eyes, and he was missing so much.
He had a reason to enjoy life now, his Amelia. She had gotten a new dress, fitting for an evening like this one.
Thankfully, Nanny had filmed her, so he got to see her playing with her new dress.
Amelia had been playing princess. She had a dress on that cost him ten thousand dollars, and then to top it off, she had made a crown for herself out of construction paper and danced around in her bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror. She had looked perfectly happy.
That was all he wanted out of life, to see her smiling.
***
Nanny was powdering my nose for me. It was still a little red from when I was sick. I had to cough from the dust of the powder. Nanny cocked her head to the side. “I told your Daddy that it is too soon.”
I shrugged my shoulders. I wasn't about to take sides. They had been fighting about this for a couple of days now. Daddy was taking me out to a benefits dinner this evening. I got a new dress that was made for me by a designer. I looked liked a real princess when I had it on.
I had, in fact, crafted a crown to go with the dress out of silver-colored construction paper while Nanny showed the designer to the door.
Nanny was pleased as punch when she found me twirling in front of the mirror like that. She got her camera and took pictures that she sent right to Daddy at work.
He was pleased too. It felt good to act like a child and get praised for it.
When I had been a child, I felt like everyone was in a hurry for me to grow up and go away. No one wanted the responsibility of taking care of me.
