‘If I might have your attention!’ I called out, thumping my crook on the hardwood floor. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please?’ Tap, tap, tap.
While the guests turned my way, I prayed for the right words at the right moment, in the right tone of voice. After all, it was my word against Chapin’s; my entire future at stake here. A society wife didn’t challenge her husband in public without severe repercussions — but what had I left to lose? Discovering my husband’s double identity — the damage it had done to my soul — goaded me to take this last chance. It was either escape, by defaming Chapin, or suffer whatever fate he’d conjured up for Judd Schuck to carry out.
I could only hope that his despicable valet was now bound to the bedpost where I had been: in the arched doorway stood an Egyptian queen and a princess in powder blue, cheering me on with their smiles.
Chapin, however, let out a strangled gasp. His face changed from a sickly shade of pale to an unbecoming flush when he recognised my costume, and as he stepped towards the dais, I too moved forward.
‘And what are you staring at, Mr Proffit?’ I demanded boldly. With another tap, tap, tap of my shepherd’s crook, I forestalled his interruption. ‘Feeling sheepish, now that your mama’s here? As well you should!’
A murmur arose as the guests speculated about who was portraying the white-faced Bo Peep. This crowd wasn’t accustomed to a woman’s voice ringing out to challenge a man — but I was only just beginning my tirade!
Chapin recovered, slipping an arm around Antoinette to keep up his ruse. ‘Who do you think you are, wearing my mother’s —’
‘And who do you think you are, Mr Proffit? Tying your wife to her bedpost so you can cavort with this — this floozy,’ I retorted, flourishing my crook at Antoinette. ‘Bringing a spy into this household — and then threatening to dispose of the wife you’ve deceived all these years!’
The guests shifted, their whispers slithering around the room at this too-delicious turn of events. At the buffet table, Fanny Frike’s grin widened. When she saw the gypsy king and his Creole consort moving up behind Chapin, she signalled for the two maids in the doorway to get closer as well.
Chapin, however, had focused on me — possibly for the first time in our marriage. ‘I don’t know who you are,’ he bluffed, for how could he not recognise my voice? ‘but if you continue this ridiculous display, I’ll ask these gentlemen to escort you out. I believe the chief of police is present —’
‘Shall we have him tell everyone about Honore Delacroix?’ Antoinette spoke up. She raised a whole new fit of whispers, for she was speaking in a male voice while dressed so exquisitely as a French queen — and she wouldn’t let Chapin out of her embrace. ‘I believe he has a son at the School of Domestic Endeavor —’
‘Ah, yes, Miss Delacroix!’ I chimed in, my heart dancing with the sissy maid’s loyalty. ‘Didn’t I see her sneaking across the gallery and out through the garden last week? Are those her clothes you’re hiding in the attic? Chapin, you’ve been a very bad boy! Mama really should take you over her knee, this minute!’
‘A spanking, ah oui,’ cried Monique. ‘Let me fetch the birch rod —’
‘You’re going nowhere, you little bitch! It’s your fault all this got — got —’
Chapin paled again when he saw she was dressed as Dewel’s beautiful mother. He pointed, blinking and backing away as though he couldn’t believe his eyes. ‘It’s been a plot all along! You and my bastard half-brother have — how dare you dress like that whore who tore our family apart?’
The guests sucked in their breath, but no one moved towards the door: even the men were now watching every cue, every nuance, as though the mud-slinging had become serious enough to be interesting.
Chapin realised his future as the mayor of New Orleans — perhaps even his credibility as a cotton factor — was at stake, so he shook himself free of Antoinette’s grasp. He marched up to the dais, as though to reclaim his place as the man of the house. The man of the hour.
‘Come up to take your punishment — like a man?’ I taunted, playing to the ladies’ twitters. ‘Bare that backside and bend over. You deserve a spanking and you know it!’
Shaking with rage — or was it something else? — Chapin whipped off the oversized wig of yellow curls and then yanked the mask from my face. While I didn’t like being seen with my hair crushed against my head, I revelled in the fact that my husband was finally paying full attention to me…and that the city’s golden boy had lost his almighty control.
‘Please excuse us,’ he commanded in a more courtly voice as he steered me in front of him. ‘My wife has taken leave of her senses, and I must remind her of her place.’
The crowd parted. The males nodded approvingly, some of them applauding — or turning to their wives with a similar warning. It was the most ignominious moment of my entire life, being marched out like an errant child dressed to enact a nursery rhyme. Yet I’d never felt better, or more alive. I had taken a stand in my own behalf, consequences be damned. And I wasn’t nearly finished.
We entered the schoolroom, which adjoined the maids’ quarters and had stood empty since Chapin himself took lessons there. The door slammed with an echoing finality. ‘Have you gone totally berserk?’ he demanded in a stage whisper. ‘I will not —’
‘No, I’ve finally seen the light, Chapin. And don’t tell me this doesn’t excite the hell out of you!’ I exclaimed, pointing with my crook. ‘I haven’t seen you this hard since — well, never. Now there’s a story!’
His breath escaped in a rush, while his attempt at covering his fly looked suspiciously like a caress. ‘This is not the time nor the —’
‘But it’s the only time I’ve got! You’re going to throw me out without a penny, remember?’ I challenged loudly. ‘Maybe I understand your needs now, dear husband. Maybe you ought to drop those pants so I can dish it up the way you like it. Nothing satisfies like a good spanking, right? Cleanses the conscience and purges the soul!’
My pulse was galloping like horses with the finish line in sight, so I didn’t dare lose my momentum. I had to strike while the iron — or in this case, my husband — was hot, and hope the maids would step in when I needed them.
‘Your girls have told me about Honore’s naughty little habits. About how she gets so wild and hard while caning them, it takes all three of them to smack her ass afterwards,’ I cajoled.
I situated myself in the teacher’s chair, patting my lap. ‘How was I to give you what you really wanted, when I didn’t know? Instead of cursing Monique — who certainly got your pecker pumped during your damned home visit — you should thank her for teaching me her technique!’
Chapin was growing more agitated by the moment, looking at me as though I couldn’t be his prim, proper Miss Eve — as though I were too good to be true. ‘You mean you’re not…you would really take your hand to my —’
‘You want my hand, you’ve got it!’ I crowed, motioning him over. ‘Right across the softest, most tender part of your pretty little ass. But you know how it works, Chapin. You must show your penitence by taking down your pants and assuming the position, like a good boy. You must want this spanking more than anything I’ve ever given you!’
His taut expression gave way to a sigh of utter submission as he fumbled with his buttons. ‘Miss Eve, I’m so sorry,’ he mumbled as his pants fell about his knees. ‘Not only have I humiliated you in front of our guests, but I’ve sorely misjudged —’
Whack went my hand upon his backside! It felt so good, I had to give him another one before he fully fell across my lap. ‘Damn right you’ve humiliated me! Prancing around town as a gorgeous woman — all these years just using me as a cover for your double life. And then —’
‘And then tricking my Tommy Jon as well!’ A familiar cry entered the room. ‘Grab him, girls! Miss Eve must have her way with him, non? High time Proffit paid his dues for deceiving her. For using all of us!’
Rushing from the doo
r of the servants’ quarters, Cleopatra and Cinderella took hold of Chapin’s legs while Monique and Antoinette approached him from the front. The redheaded queen glowered at him as she grabbed his hands between her own, while the Cajun dressed as Dewel’s mother slapped his face.
Chapin shook as though trying to awaken from a nightmare. ‘You think this is funny now, but when I tell Judd —’
‘Sorry, boss,’ Cinderella twittered, ‘but Stud Fuck is tied up at the moment. Dripping from both holes, because he didn’t think two girls could get the best of him!’
‘So you’ll just have to take what’s coming to you, and then explain all this to that crowd out there.’
Dewel strode in, closing the door behind him, the powerful gypsy king taking control. He stopped in front of his struggling half-brother, shaking his head. ‘The way I see it, you have some decisions to make in these next few seconds, Chapin. If you grant your wife a quiet divorce tomorrow, you can get on with your political campaign by regreasing some palms, and giving some tall explanations to your constituents. That won’t include me, however. I’m withdrawing my financial support.’
Chapin blanched, poking my thigh with his prodigious erection. ‘You can’t do that! If you think for one minute —’
‘I think your goose is cooked no matter what you do,’ Dewel continued with a shrug. ‘Because if you don’t release Miss Eve from this marriage — which was a farce from the start — I’ll tell everyone out there you are indeed Honore Delacroix. And New Orleans will never elect a female mayor.’
Dewel crossed his arms, smirking at his half-brother’s reddened, bared, quivering butt. ‘You’ll lose all respect around town, and at the Cotton Exchange. And your school will soon close, because those parents who’ve paid you to take their pretty little boys will be afraid of this same sort of exposure. So what’s it going to be?’
‘You have no right — who’s going to listen to you?’ he demanded shrilly. ‘All your life, you’ve been nothing but —’
‘Our daddy’s favourite,’ he replied, leaning low enough to look Chapin in the eye. ‘The true heir to real Proffit property; the plantation owner who works the land while you live in this fancy mansion. Just bugs the hell out of you that I’ve always pulled my weight, while you prissed around in your mama’s clothes as a kid, and then couldn’t handle being a man!’
‘I’ve got the city’s most influential citizens on my side,’ he railed, struggling against the eight hands that held him. ‘You wouldn’t dare —’
‘Oh, yes I would. Should’ve done it years ago.’
Dewel started towards the door, where a shuffling murmur came from a crowd trying to be quiet. He took off that wickedly thin mask to smile at me, his blue eyes signalling that he wasn’t nearly finished with his revelations.
‘Get your licks in, Miss Eve. Remind this woman of her place.’
I didn’t have to be told twice. With renewed enthusiasm, I smacked Chapin’s puckering butt and revelled in his whimpers. My four supporters kept him from writhing off my slippery, taffeta-clad lap, cheering me on.
‘When your hand gets sore, use your shoe,’ Cinderella suggested with a giggle. ‘The sole of a kid slipper makes the most glorious noise. And it leaves a sharper stripe than a hand.’
Since my palm was stinging and I wasn’t nearly finished, I reached down for a slipper. Why wasn’t I surprised to see my own shiny, transparent pumps on this princess’s feet?
‘This is absurd, Miss Eve,’ Chapin protested. ‘Surely after all these years we can come to an agreement! You can call off that dog at the door —’
‘After you set your dog of a valet on me? I think not!’
A couple of slaps with that slipper made his face contort, and I realised Chapin Proffit wasn’t nearly as handsome as most people considered him. In fact, he now seemed as ugly and repulsive on the inside as Judd Schuck looked on the outside, which made them a pretty good pair. He was so excited by this spanking, his warm, sticky juice was dribbling down my skirt.
What sort of a man liked such humiliation? Required it to become aroused?
Not the sort I wanted to be married to. Seven years of squinting in this golden boy’s glare had brought us to this…cozy moment, where four domestics held him so his wife could administer the discipline he craved. As Dewel threw open the door, acting surprised that so many eavesdroppers had gathered in the hallway, I delivered the last smacks in my brief career as a dominant.
‘That is for using me as your damn cover,’ I stated, smacking the fullness of his fiery cheeks with my slipper. ‘And this is for mistreating my friends — and for humping my leg like a crazed dog.’
Whack. Whack.
I caught my breath, feeling exhilarated yet ready to cry. ‘Let him go, ladies. I can’t stand the sight of him any more.’
Rising from the chair, I nearly dumped him before he scrambled off my lap. With all the dignity my unkempt hair and red hand allowed me, I looked at the crowd of costumed figures gawking at us from behind Dewel. I had no idea who wore those masks, nor did I really care: I had always felt excluded from their clubs and cliques, and this display of my exasperation had surely severed whatever surface friendship any of them felt for me.
I exited through the maids’ quarters, my steps quickening as I approached the back stairs. Judd Schuck was still in my room, so I couldn’t go there — and the house seemed to close in on me with all the heaviness of its Proffit family history, a yoke I’d never worn very well.
So I slipped out the back door into the dark garden, shucking the voluminous layers of taffeta, and those huge, puffy sleeves. I sat on the bench in the shadows of the boxwood hedge, clasping my crook. Drinking in the serene, steady patter of the fountain’s waters…feeling its spray on my face.
I wasn’t hiding, I told myself. I was seeking out the Eve who’d yearned for so long to breathe this freely.
25 Raising Cane
‘Ooh-la-la, Auntie Eve! I’ve followed a trail of clothes, hoping I’d find you naked, non?’
My gaze remained on the dome-shaped streams of the fountain, which sparkled like diamonds in the moonlight as they whispered their gentle benediction. I felt enveloped by a new tranquility: for the first time, I’d stated my case. I’d taken Fate by the hand and run with it, into a future filled with my own choices. I’d made my bed and I’d lie in it — somewhere else.
‘The guests, they all left after you did. Chapin’s gone now too — with Schuck. Just the three sissy maids and Fanny in there, having a party with all the food that’s left.’ Monique squeezed my hand. ‘Come eat with us, cherie. You’re our hero now, and we love you.’
My heart gave a little kick, and I shut my eyes. ‘Is that why you left me without so much as a backward glance?’ I whispered bitterly. ‘You — you sent me on that goose chase in my lace, probably knowing Chapin wasn’t at the club! Knowing Dewel would — and that I’d probably get caught when — just like every other time —’
Her finger pressed into my lips, forcing me to look into her huge chocolate eyes. ‘I had to put on a convincing show for Chapin, ma tante. If he thought I’d sneak back, you would’ve been in worse trouble, non? And if you thought I’d rescue you every little time, you’d never be free! You’d keep finding weak reasons to stay with him — to not believe in your own strength.’
Awareness shot through my body. When Monique’s round, cowlike eyes pleaded with mine, I couldn’t stay angry with her. ‘I surprised myself,’ I admitted.
‘You surprised everyone with that spanking, oui? Especially Chapin!’ she crowed, her laughter ricocheting around the boxwood hedges. Then she held my hand tighter, dropping her Cajun sing-song. ‘And I never left you alone, Auntie. From the start, after you showed them such kindness, the three maids swore to me they’d look after you. And when I sent Tommy Jon into town to expose Honor Delacroix, Rémy remained close by, in case things got nasty.’
I blinked, trying to absorb this startling information. ‘You were all in on it? You w
ere —’
‘When your husband hired Schuck, Dewel thought he might be catching on to our plan. And once we met that asshole of a valet, nobody wanted him reporting our every move — or sniffing after you,’ she said with a scowl. ‘You were evil only in name, Auntie. No match for Stud Fuck.’
Then, in her inimitable way, Monique sparkled again — kissed my cheek like a playful child. ‘And now we want to thank you, for setting us all free. Even before Schuck showed up, Fanny thought Himself was becoming a pompous little prick, you know?’
I giggled — but what would happen to me now? Himself would return sooner or later, and I couldn’t stay here. ‘Did Fanny know he was Honore Delacroix?’
Monique shook her head. Then she fished a cheroot from her skirt pocket and lit it. ‘She had suspicions about him wearing dresses — used to find Virgilia’s underthings hidden in his closet, when he was little. But she didn’t know how much a woman he was until she overheard the maids talking, right before the party tonight.’
I considered this, taking comfort from her quiet conversation and the nearness of her body. She looked breathtakingly beautiful in Maria’s clothing — which drove home another point I had to settle for myself. ‘And those three didn’t recognise Chapin as a male? Even after living with him since they were so young?’
She shook her head again, cigar smoke coiling about her head like an airy snake. ‘Honore drilled her femininity into their heads, even as she drilled them that other way, oui? And they never knew she lived another life, as a man. Figured any time she was away from the School, she was in her apartment in the Vieux Carré, or seeing to business.’
‘The…apartment overlooking that courtyard where he —’
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