by Rachel Burns
“Daddy, don’t make me cry it will ruin my make-up.”
“Charles, don’t you dare.” Eva was back with the camera. “We don’t have enough time to fix it. He will be here soon, and a southern woman doesn’t keep her man waiting.” She quoted something her husband had told her a thousand times. “Put your arm around her nicely so I can take your picture.”
The camera snapped away as her parents took pictures of her. They went downstairs to wait for him.
The doorbell rang on the dot. Brianna jumped a little nervous. She still couldn’t believe that this was happening. Of all the girls why did he like her best? This was so unreal.
Her heart sank as her father stepped forward to open the door. She was still embarrassed about what had happened this morning. She wondered what he had told them so they would change her appointment around. They were usually so full of appointments that you had to consider yourself lucky just to get one.
“Good evening, Scott. Please, come in.” He opened the door wide. Scott stepped in, and Brianna felt the heat rising to her face again. She was glad that her mother was holding onto her arm for support.
“You look breathtakingly beautiful, Brianna.” Scott stepped forward to her, forgetting that her parents were still there.
Brianna’s mother gave her a push forward too. “You look especially nice this evening too.”
Scott gave her a very charming smile. He was so relieved that she was here, dressed and ready. He had planned a speech if she had refused to go out with him.
Scott joked to himself, wondering if she even had a desk chair in her room. But he wouldn’t have spanked her again.
His parents had scolded him for telling her that he loved her that way. Romantic memories were important to have before everyday life settled in.
Cathy had listed off several other things that he could have said or done to fix the problem without hitting her. He should have taken her in his arms and told her he would make everything all right for her and then confessed his love and given her chance to tell that she liked him too.
Cathy claimed that Brianna did.
“When do we get her back, Scott?” Her father asked.
Brianna had been staring at him staring at her.
“Um right.” He turned away from Brianna and looked at her father. “We have dinner reservations at seven, and the movie starts at 8:30. I’ll have her home by eleven at the latest. I know she has to get up early for church tomorrow.”
“Good, Scott. I’m trusting you with her.” He sounded a lot stricter than he had during his little speech before, Brianna thought.
“Could we just take a quick picture of the two of you?” Eva asked, innocently.
Scott moved close to Brianna and held his arm out to her. She took it while she looked up at his smiling face. At least he didn’t seem mad anymore.
“Say cheese.” Eva took a couple of pictures of them quickly.
Scott laid his hand over Brianna’s hand. The one that was holding on to his arm. He walked her out to his freshly cleaned car and opened the door for her.
Brianna turned back to her parents and waved to them. It was so similar to the very first time he had seen her.
She got into his car and laid her skirt over her knees nicely as he closed the door and walked around to get in. He gave her parents a quick wave as he pulled out.
“I really love that dress on you,” Scott admitted. Months of dishonesty had left him eager to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.
“Thank you.” Brianna didn’t know what else to say. They drove on in awkward silence. He parked outside of a fancy restaurant, which specialized in fish specialties. Scott jumped out and hurried around to open her door for her.
She got out of the car like a supermodel, first one elegant leg and then the other. He had never noticed her legs before except when they kicked while he spanked her, but they were extremely sexy looking in that dress.
Scott held out his hand for her to take and pulled her close to him. He was so incredibly proud to be taking this beautiful creature out. He locked the car and offered her his arm again.
She smiled at him a little nervous. She still couldn’t believe that this was happening. He seemed to have put a lot of thought into this. He had even made reservations. The whole room of people turned to look at them. Scott was beaming.
Brianna smiled at the waiter who showed them to their table. He pulled out her chair for her, and she sat down as elegantly as she could. The spanking hadn’t been as bad as it could have been, but her bottom was still sore.
Scott sat across from her and stared at her. He was just smiling.
Brianna tilted her head a little and looked at him. He was acting so different. She had never met the giddy Scott. The waiter gave them menus and asked if he could recommend a wine.
“No, thank you. We will be drinking water this evening.”
The waiter raised an eyebrow and went off so they could study their menus.
“What are you going to have?” Brianna asked him. She wanted to make sure that she ordered something that cost less than what he ordered.
“I have no clue. I’m not really a fish eater.” He sounded more like himself again.
“Okay then the best thing to do is to order a mixed plate and try your way through it. They have two. I could order one, and you could order the other. We can try everything that way. Would that be okay?”
“Good idea.” They had been sharing plates since before they’d had their little problem. He was glad that doing that still didn’t bother her. He would never do that with anyone who wasn’t part of his family, but with her, he didn’t mind it at all. Scott even liked the comfortable way it felt to do that with her.
She showed him where it was on the menu so he could order.
He called the waiter over, and he ordered. Brianna sat quietly while he talked to the waiter. Scott realized that he still had to get to know her. He had only scratched the surface up until now.
He had to scratch her surface this morning too. Was she mad about that? Was she just sitting across from him to be polite? He wished he could read her mind.
Brianna couldn’t think of anything to say, at all. And she was wracking her brain. What did he see in her?
“So what kind a lawyer do you want to become?” She had sounded so stupid.
Scott smiled at her. He was right they hardly knew each other or better said she hardly knew him. He knew more about her. “Well – I was thinking I would work in corporate law.”
“Oh. I kind of pictured you in court. You seem to be a firm believer in right and wrong.
He couldn’t hide his smirk then. “I have had enough of right and wrong to fill me for a lifetime. I want to do something easier than keeping spoiled girls in line. That was hard work. I am ready to work at something a little quieter.”
She nodded while she considered that. She hadn’t expected that. “Were we really that bad?”
“Oh yes, especially last year. It was the worse I have ever had.” He sounded tired when he talked about that.
“I did my part to make it that bad for you. I’m sorry.” She was going through all the things that she had pulled last year in her head.
“No you were the light on the horizon. You made it worth getting up every day.”
She raised an eyebrow. She was connected to everything that had gone wrong back then. “But it was always my fault when something went wrong?”
“You don’t know half of what happened. You only know bits and pieces. Believe me you were the nicest of all of them.”
He smiled to himself. If she knew what some of the other girls had all said to him and accused him of – There were worlds in between them and her.
She was the only one who didn’t hit on him at anytime. Oddly enough she was the only one that he ever wanted to see privately.
“Wow, then they must have been really bad.” She was truly surprised that he’d had bigger problems than her. She thought that she had been
enough to make him want to wring her neck.
He laughed at that. She sure was cute.
Their food arrived, and they both tried everything. Once Brianna was full, all the food landed on his plate. They talked about the fish mostly.
“How is that you know so much about fish?” Scott asked her.
“Fish is definitely on the list of food that I’m allowed to eat, and my mother comes from a fish and wine region. She taught me what she knows.”
“Your mom seems to be an expert in many areas.” Scott was impressed with her.
“I guess so. She was big on passing things along.” Brianna shrugged. Her mother had played a bigger role in her life than most mothers did. She took care of her when she was sick, and she was a role model for her too.
Brianna had noticed at an early age that her mother was more elegant than the other mothers. Everyone looked up to her, and they took her seriously.
“That’s good. I always got the feeling that most of the girls had to raise themselves. Your parents were the only ones that ever called me or talked to me at all. Yours cared more than most, a lot more. My parents are the same way. I don’t know if it is just our town or what, but here people still take the time to raise their children.”
This was all happening so fast. Was he saying that was how he wanted to raise their children too? This morning she had been single, and now he wanted to be her boyfriend and later the father of her children. Her mind drifted toward an image of making love with him. He was so big and so strong.
Scott looked at his watch. “We need to hurry to make the movie.” He motioned for the check.
Brianna opened her mouth to say that they could split the check.
“Don’t do it. I am very old-fashion about things like this. The man pays, always. This isn’t something I want to discuss every time we go somewhere.” He was making a very uncomfortable face.
Brianna leaned forward and whispered, “Thank you for the meal. I had a lovely time.”
Scott laughed relieved. “You’re welcome.”
He paid at the movie theater too. They watched a comedy and laughed a lot. He slowly walked her back to his car. They talked about the movie and made jokes of their own. It was easy to talk to each other, like before. Scott opened the car door for her and drove her home. He was sad that the evening was ending, but he didn’t want her to overdo it either.
He opened the car door for her again and walked her up the stairs to her front door.
“I’ll see you at church tomorrow. Do you want me to pick you up or should we meet there?”
“We can meet there. My parents are going too.”
“That’s fine, but I want to stand next to you, and I want us to share a hymnal.”
She looked surprised that he was being so pushy.
“The thing is, lots of people saw us out tonight. I want them to see us at church tomorrow too. Everyone should know that I have the best of intentions with you.”
She smiled at that and looked down so he wouldn’t see her doing it.
“You can laugh at me all you want, but I will protect your reputation too.” He laughed a little. “Do you have to work after church tomorrow?”
“Yes, but just an hour.” She looked back up at him.
“Good because my parents have invited you over to our house for lunch. Then we can take a walk and talk for a bit, and then I’ll bring you home around four in the afternoon.”
“Wow, do you have everything planned right up to the wedding.” She wasn’t even trying to be sarcastic; she was really worried.
He gave her a very strict look, and then he remembered that as his girlfriend she was allowed to question his plans. “I want you to be able to inform your parents tomorrow morning what the plans for the day are so they won’t worry, and so they can make plans of their own. As far as the wedding is concerned, you get to plan whatever you want. I’ll show up and say the right words.” He smiled at that. He liked that she was using the word wedding too.
“Say, Scott?”
“Yes?” He was still holding her in his arms.
“Is that what you meant when you said you would be at my wedding.”
“Yep.” He couldn’t control his grin. It was covering his entire face. “I meant I would be the guy waiting next to the pastor, watching you walk down the aisle towards him. The one who takes your hands and holds on to them. Yep, that is what I meant.” He grinned from ear to ear. He was so unlike what he had been before.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I would have wanted to know.”
“Because I couldn’t have looked you in the eyes and told you that I love you and not have kissed you.” Scott moved one hand behind her head and held it gently in place. He leaned in and kissed her lips. He kissed her slowly, enjoying their first kiss.
Scott slowly stepped away from her. “I’ll see you tomorrow at church.” He went back to his car and raised his arm to wave goodbye before he drove away.
That had gone really well, he thought to himself.
Brianna went in. Her parents were pretending to watch TV in the living room. “Hi, I’m back.” She stood nervously in the door and waited for the questions to come.
Her father looked at his watch. It was 10:40. She was home on time. “How was your evening, darling?” He was speaking to her very carefully as if he expected an eruption.
It was true; she did have a feeling like everything was being decided over her head. “We had a nice evening.”
Her mother jumped up and climbed over her husband’s legs. “I’ll help you get ready for bed.” She wrapped her arm around Brianna and led her up the stairs. Once they were in her room with the door closed, her mother wanted to hear everything. “So how was it really?”
“Weird.” Brianna shook her head. “I kept looking back at the things that happened and looking at the way he was acting tonight. It just doesn’t fit. Are you sure this isn’t some kind of joke, and in the end everyone is going to laugh at me?” Brianna sat down at her vanity table.
“He means it. He just wants you. He has been waiting for so long. I remember when you were in a coma. We stared at you for a week praying that you would wake up. He shows up and holds your hand for an hour, and you wake up. Then you were so depressed, and we brought you back to school and again he held your hand, and you snapped out of it. I think you love him too. You just have to rearrange things in your head and see him as being the young man who is interested in you. He means well with you. If you don’t want him, he has promised to leave you alone.” Eva wanted Brianna to know how things really were.
Brianna remembered him giving her the spanking of her lifetime for coming back late. He’d had her get half naked for it too. He had seen so much of her already.
Brianna remembered him half naked too. His bare chest had a pull on her too, but then he had hurt her feelings so terribly. She had cried for days. He had avoided her so long.
Could she forget everything that happened? He had hurt her so much.
Like she told her mother, this was weird. She hadn’t seen it coming.
“He wants to sit next to me in church tomorrow – and share a hymnal.”
“He wants to mark his territory,” her mother laughed.
“He said he wants to do it to protect my reputation. So everyone can see that he has the best of intentions with me.”
Eva laughed at that. “He means it too. He wants a wife that is above reproach. He told his mother that he likes how sweet you are. None of the other girls were like that, he said. He has met lots of girls, and you are the only one he was interested in. Tell me do you like him a little too?”
“I have had a bit of a crush on him for a while now, but he is so much older than me, and I have never even talked to another boy. How can I be sure?”
“If he would decide that he doesn’t want you anymore and that hurt you so much that you couldn’t breathe anymore, then you know.”
“Could that happen? He seems so sure?” Brianna wasn’t sure w
hat she should think about that. She quieted down and her mother opened up her hair and brushed it out. “But he is so strict.”
“I wanted a man who is more understanding for you too but I wanted one like that for me too.” She gave her daughter a bright smile. “If you truly love him, it won’t matter. He wants what is best for you. I do like that about him. He is strict, but he will take care of you. With him it will always be about you. I think he is completely devoted to you. That’s hard to find.”
“The Dean told me that he and Daddy both fought for you, and that Daddy won. Is that true?” Brianna turned in her chair to look at her mother.
Eva smiled remembering it. “They were constantly trying to outdo one another. Be it in sports or in cleverness. To tell you the truth I didn’t take either one of them seriously. I was just here to learn English. I wanted to be the head secretary at some big company back home, and I figured I could get the attention of the boss, and then I would never have to work again. I thought I had my life all worked out. I had several steps to success all planned out. Step one: learn perfect English. Step two: go back home and get a good job where I came into contact with very rich men. Step three: get one of them to marry me and live the life of luxury.
“Then my father died, and I couldn’t afford to go home. I had to decide between finishing school and attending my own father’s funeral. I couldn’t have afforded to do both. My mother told me to stay, but I felt really guilty about that. Your father talked to me and comforted me. He made me feel better about myself. I fell in love with him because he was there for me. Martin gave me his condolence and said he would give me time to recover. That was when I knew that your Dad was the right one for me. I just didn’t tell him that right away. I waited for him to propose, and then he did. I have never been happier. He has been taking care of me ever since. I let my heart decide back then, and it did well by me. The best advice I can give you is to do the same.”
“But Daddy is strict too?” Brianna wanted to hear more.
