He brought the belt down on a fourth strike and his disobedient little darling stood up straight despite his hand lying lightly on her back. Ever conscious of his wife during either discipline or lovemaking, he stopped and watched her as she started to reach for her red striped cheeks. She stopped herself and brought her skirts back up as she placed herself back over the bale.
“I’m sorry, Colton, but that hurt terribly. Would it help at all to say sometimes I forget things in my worry to accomplish a task but I promise to try to pay more attention?”
His heart smiled. He answered her red bottom now facing him once again. “Yes, it does help, Anna.” He saw her relax with the use of his name. That was a good call.
She had screeched after the next few and he allowed her to bounce and kick her legs some as he knew it was painful after the standing up interlude. And it didn’t bother him that she wiggled. He wasn’t like many men who wanted no movement. He couldn’t understand that. As a boy, he had been kissed by whatever implement was at hand a good number of times and if he had been required to stand in place, he’d still have been there. He landed the next stripe to her apologies.
He struck six times, slapping her whole bottom until he had covered the entire spankable area straight down to the tops of her upper thighs. Not wanting to bruise her, he laid his belt down to her sudden alertness.
“I am doing the last round with my hand, sweetheart. ” Colton hadn’t spoken to her after he began because he needed to concentrate but now, he spoke as gently as he could.
“I am finishing now so you don’t freeze. That would be allowing to happen what I am spanking you for, not bringing adequate covering in the cold so you don’t freeze.”
His words were not responded to as his little Anna was calming but not calm yet.
“I need to you understand…” Three spanks in the same spot, just what he knew she hated, “…that I take your safety very seriously.” Three more slaps to the other cheek.
“Oh, Colton, please, no. Please don’t spank me like this.” She yelped and wiggled her bottom but his hand was more firmly placed this time.
“You are not to do dangerous things.” Three more on a new spot. Anna yowled and jiggled. “I am growing frustrated with your lack of care.” He landed three more.
“Please, I am sure that I cannot take any more like this.”
Colton knew differently, but he did not correct her. He had made his point.
“We’re done, baby. I have to look and make sure I don’t need to put cream on you. I don’t want it to bruise if I can avoid it. Hold on.”
He rubbed her back, soothing her with caresses and calming words. Pulling her bloomer slit apart, he examined her bottom. She wasn’t as red as he had thought. Colton ran his hand over her scorched rear. He also knew he had told her he did not mind if she didn’t choose to wear bloomers at home but it was winter now and she probably needed them for warmth.
“You know, when it is warm, I think we will get rid of these bloomers. It is hot anyway and I like having unobstructed access to your bottom.” As he continued to lightly rub her striped, reddened backside, he thought how funny she wore the bloomers but not the coat. Anna moaned.
“Yep. Time to stop now before you get the wrong idea, honey. This is discipline only. No feel good things out of this.” Colton smiled. He didn’t want to miss out on the love making but discipline was discipline and he had decided to not mix the two. “I don’t want you confused as to what you earned. One you earn, the other is free.”
He laughed as she huffed her frustration. “You know, I can paddle your bottom for bedroom play. If that is what you need, you don’t have to do more than ask me. It is not near as hard and there is fun all built in.” He loved that she could turn it around with encouragement from him. The encouragement he would give her later but not now.
“Colton?”
He tossed her skirts down and brought her up to be wrapped in his arms.
“Can we go in now, I’m cold. Well, part of me is cold. There are plenty of parts of me that are too warm.” She punctuated her declaration with a shiver and a grimace.
He laughed. “Yes, baby.” Taking his coat off the table, he surrounded her with its warmth once again and grabbing the milk pail, got her into the house. Colt put her to bed until the next time she needed to help with the feeding of Nada’s nameless baby boy. Pia said the boy was growing healthy and so was Nada. He believed she was right.
Colton thought about the last few weeks and hoped he didn’t have to continue settling the people around him for long. His life had sure changed when he brought Texanna, nearly kicking and screaming, into his home and his heart. And it was worth all the trouble because he didn’t know how he would ever do without her now. And he was getting good at taming.
He wondered about his partnership agreement with Mark. They’d shook hands and Colton felt somewhat better about the anxiety he’d experienced when examining the situation that brought Mark and family into their midst. Almost but not quite. Another thing that his Texanna had done was befriend people she had no knowledge of and was uncensored in her appraisal. She was a loving woman and he prayed daily that her giving spirit and naïve way about her didn’t put her in harm’s way. If anyone could find themselves there, she could. And if there was anyone that had the skills and tools to keep her safe, it was him.
Later that day, Colton told Anna of his deal with Mark. Colton had been using her shortened name much more often now. He watched as she relaxed and smiled when he did. He wanted her to know she mattered and what she liked mattered. He was trying to use her abbreviated name during normal, unstressed times. There was nothing he could do about the stressed times. He figured her whole name would be heard often enough to not be rid of it entirely.
“I have offered them to stay until they get some land of their own either here or somewhere else. The men from neighboring homesteads are coming back this weekend to build the cabin and Mark has agreed to stay through the winter. In exchange, he will continue to do most of the upkeep around here. He will also do some bounty hunting with me.”
“Nada had said something like that.”
“Yep, that is what he has been doing when he leaves at night or for long periods of time during the day. He has been doing it, occasionally, since the war.”
“But, then why don’t they have a place to stay?” Texanna was honestly confused and Colt didn’t have a straightforward answer.
“Well, I reckon that’s their business, honey. Nevertheless, he says that Nada wants to stay and he is thinking how he can make that happen. Knowing how you feel about this and wanting to help these children, I made the deal. I offered the cabin and he accepted. If that keeps them for a while, then you might have saved a mother and newborn as well as helped these children have a good life with their pia. I’d have to say you are something special.”
Colton hoped that her plans for this family worked out the way his Anna wanted but he still wasn’t entirely at ease. Giving Trenton the opening he needed to be a good husband was the least he could do for him. Regardless of his unease that just would not leave.
Colton was relieved that Texanna didn’t pick-up on the bounty hunting as it pertained to himself. He felt sure she was going to pitch one hell of a fit when she was faced with it the next time he went out. He had already gotten a taste of her concerns for his safety when he went out to find Trenton. He had a sense it wasn’t going to be too long for the wait.
He also got the impression that he was going to have to remind her that he needed to keep her safe by going a distance out to look for his bounty. He would not track anyone so close to his family unless they were in danger because it would bring danger to them. Even if he had to follow them until they were out a ways.
That meant possibly being gone for some days so as not to put her in danger. He hung some of his hope on the fact that Nada would also be without her husband and that they could lean on each other. He would rely on the other woman to show that it wa
s a bit nerve racking, but not as bad as he knew his wife would first believe.
Mark had spoken to Colton for a while after they agreed to join forces on the bounty and he had one man nearly caught. Mark revealed more of himself.
“You know; I’ve seen the Adder gang. I’d be more than happy to rely on your better information to locate and bring them to justice.”
“Just so long as you remember there will be no killing unless we have no other choice.”
“Yes. I understand.”
“You know, I have searched and the deputies have searched since I was sure it was Adder that Anna came across. Unfortunately, Adder seems to have disappeared. I’ll find him, though. It is just going to take longer than I had hoped.”
Mark shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll do what I can to help.”
Colt quirked eyebrow but said nothing. He changed the subject. “Since we are about to finish the cabin, I think I need more wood.”
Work on the cabin was completed the next week and there were no more conversations about gangs and safety. There were no other cattle drives for a few months and Colton was feeling more in control than he had in a while. His wife was happy, safe, and content, finding it not as hard to follow his direction. She sat a lot more comfortably, too. It was a good feeling.
After the excitement of the birth of the newly arrived James McFadden Trenton and the strengthening of Nada, the travel weary family moved into their new living quarters. It wasn’t much and certainly didn’t compare to the house that Colton had worked on for six months but it offered stability. While Nada knew about nomadic living, it was hard to do as a lone family.
“Are we going to stay here for a few days, Pia?” Asked Rose as she ran and touched every corner of the home.
“And more.”
Walker asked cautiously, “How many more?”
“How many more do you need, son?”
“Many more.”
“Good,” she answered him with a nod and a smile. Nada believed it was a castle.
That night Texanna was pensive in the over quiet house. They had been married three months now.
“Do you think we will have four children, Colton?”
“Hmm, is that what you want?”
“I have no idea, but if we did, I would not be unhappy. But the noise will be tremendous.”
Colton drew his wife into his arms and smiled. “Yes, tremendous.”
“But I guess we should start with the first one, right?”
“That is the normal way.” Colton tensed.
“Well, then we are doing it right.”
“Yep.” He kissed her head.
She swiftly turned in his arms, “You knew?”
Colton smiled. “Pia is rarely wrong.” He leaned down to kiss his officially pregnant wife.
There was more excitement coming in the future, but for now, however, the house was quiet and Texanna was becoming restless. Except for Mark’s work around the place to earn his family’s keep, it was very quiet. The silence was profound. She often went for walks.
“Pia, I am going for my walk.”
Pia looked outside and nodded. “I don’t want there to be any weather coming in and you out in it. Where do you think you will be going? We have all learned that your husband does not take well to finding out we do not know where you are going and if the weather is stormy. I love a storm but he is a man. Sometimes he takes his responsibility too strongly.” Pia shook her head.
Texanna laughed. “Well, I don’t want him to make it difficult for me to sit at supper. So, I am going to the river. It is my most favorite place to go. It is like the water talks to me.”
Pia nodded. “You are more a water spirit than the wood spirit your husband calls you.”
***
Colton was glad that things had calmed down enough for him to start looking at the newest wanted posters with an eye toward he and Mark capturing a few. He would get the bounty just as a hunter would and he wanted to begin building up his rainy day fund. Things could change when it was least expected. Things like their new baby or an adjoining piece of land coming available. Mark wanted his own land. He said he was not a farmer or a cattleman but he could do as Colton. Farm enough to keep the family.
To that end, Colton gathered up the posters and began committing them to memory trying to find the outlaws with the least experience. He had been on the lookout for the Adder gang but never saw one sign of them. Judge Jackson had said there was really nothing they could hold Horace on because hanging around with men in a known criminal group was stupid but not criminal unless he was in with them doing the crimes. They had no proof and Grant denied even being at the creek. He had not hurt Texanna in the café or even laid a hand on her. Grant was released. Colton had accepted it but he was ever vigilant and Texanna was on a forever ban on traveling alone. One argument, one tantrum, and one spanking later, they were at a truce.
Bringing his mind back to the business he was paid for, Colton picked the man he would go after first. Judge Jackson wanted him to look at whatever menace he thought he could get off the street. Times were usually quiet in the winter and since he didn’t have any fugitives but on these posters, for now, it was the direction of Colton’s work. He chose this first one, Dingler Fisk because he usually worked alone, would be the easiest round up if he ran the bounty and it was less dangerous.
Mr. Fisk had made the posters because he had robbed a stage that just so happened to have quite a wealthy passenger. The bounty was $500 dollars and far enough without being too far. Of course, he might not have gone back home. He might have gone anywhere but there. However, for this first time, it sounded like it would be a good introduction for Anna. Colt knew that sometimes there was no choice but to go after the biggest trouble but lucky for him, trouble had not shown its head in over a month. Not since that Adder incident.
Colt told the judge he was going to be gone a bit to try to round up the lone outlaw Fisk and to shake a few trees to see if he could find out the whereabouts of the Adder gang. The judge agreed and said he would do fine with the deputy.
Colton gathered his horse from the stable and began to mentally make a checklist of the items he needed in his pack. He thought about the home supplies, did they have enough? Colt stopped at the mercantile and gathered supplies that were more essential: flour, sugar, baking powder, coffee, and salt pork. He had bought a pig that he had mated in early fall, but it would be next fall before they could make their own pork.
Colton grabbed some tobacco for his Kaku, a book for his wife who would say she didn’t have enough to do at home without him, some large needles for his mother, as she was sewing hide this week without any metal ones, and candy for the little ones. He was feeling proud of himself when he walked into the house with the supplies.
Texanna looked up when she heard her husband ride in. Throwing her beading work down with little care for the needle or beads, she ran out to meet him.
She grinned and almost bounced. “I missed you, husband.”
Colton answered with a grin of his own. “Not because you are in trouble, I hope.” He reached and grabbed her around the waist drawing her into him.
She snuggled in, “Good as gold, I tell you. I just seemed lonelier for you today.”
He kissed her temple and brought her chin up to receive his kiss on her upturned lips. His hold tightened.
“We better get this in. You take the gifts, and I will bring in the heavy things.”
“Oh, I can help.” She reached into his saddlebags for the parcels.
“Thank you but I need my supper. I am starving.”
Anna hesitated for a moment and nodded. “All right, I will allow you to brush me off if you give me another kiss.” She moaned when he did, bringing a smile to his face.
Once Colton had brought the staples inside, Texanna quizzed him. “What do we need all of the supplies for? We have plenty. Where are you going? And gifts? You are going somewhere.”
Colton ignored her question and
kissed her pouting lips. He set things down on the large wooden table in the kitchen eating area and let his mother and Kaku do what they wanted to put things away. He saw his mother, out of the corner of his eye as she poured some of the coffee in the grinder he had brought home some time ago. He knew she was used to him doing this right before he left. He also knew she would begin to put foodstuff in a pack for him to take because Pia knew what he took when he left.
The thing was, he was always happy that Pia had done it before but now he had Texanna and he needed her to understand, see the pattern he had and then to help him pack up the food. She needed to take on more of the wifely role and it just made him feel better that she was included in this. He spoke to Pia in Comanche and she answered him as she put down the beginning preparations that she had started and returned to finishing dinner.
Texanna looked at him oddly. “What is going on? What are you doing? What did you say to her?”
Colton reached over and walked his Anna into their bedroom, closing the door quietly. Anna turned frightened eyes to her husband. “Tell me. There is something that is terribly wrong.”
He sat down on the bed, bringing her down onto his lap and cuddled her for a moment. He ran his hands through her hair after he loosened it. He kissed the top of her head.
“What is wrong, Colton McFadden?” Texanna’s tone became demanding. It made Colt chuckle.
“Nothing is wrong, baby. I just need to go and track for the judge and so I wanted to make sure you all had enough basics. I had no idea how much we already had. Don’t worry, okay?”
“Go where? For how long?” she shot those questions in rapid fire. He could see the concern in her scrunched up eyes and her pursed, trembling lips.
Taming Texanna Page 24
