by Thianna D
That’s what she’d thought. She and the girls had left for the hotel as soon as the coast was clear. She wanted to make sure they were in plenty of time to get their hair and makeup done. As it happened, they got lucky and they were third in the queue. Everything went swimmingly, bar Jordan’s squirming in her itchy dress and pulling at her hair. Imagine her surprise when she entered the ballroom to find her husband standing there at the desk, right next to the giant sign with the list of the prices.
Zach’s face was white with fury. “What is all this?” he asked. He looked into each of the girls’ faces. “Where are the sweet innocent little faces I kissed goodbye this morning?” he asked.
Avvy started to cry and people started to discretely gather to watch the show that was building. “Please Daddy, don’t make us go home.”
Erin cringed when Zach looked at her. His eyes were so filled with hurt and betrayal but his voice held pure anger. Anger at being put in the position of once again being the bad guy.
“Sorry, Avery. I know you don’t understand why right now, but Daddy doesn’t think this is a place for children.”
“No! Please Daddy!” Avvy wailed, “Please!”
“Please, Zach. You’re making a scene,” Erin begged. “Just let them do it just this once, and we can go home and talk about this in private.”
“If you think I’m making a scene now, you should see the scene in my head. No, I will not let my daughters stand up there looking twenty years older than they should, so adults that should have something better to do can look at them closely and judge whether they are more beautiful than the next child.” He scooped up the crying Avvy and took Jordan’s hand. “We’re leaving.”
The subject had been clearly closed and she had no option but to follow her husband outside.
She’d been completely humiliated and by the time they were at the elevators, tears streamed down her face. Zach’s eyes had softened just a little when he saw how upset she was.
“Where’s your car?” he asked.
“Third floor green,” she said.
“Are you too upset to drive?” he asked. “We can leave your car here and come back for it tomorrow.”
“Too expensive,” she sobbed.
“Now you worry about money,” he said.
She took a deep breath and tried to get herself under control. “I’ll be okay,” she said. “I’m just scared.”
Zach touched her face with just the very tips of his fingertips. “I don’t want you scared of me, but you are in big trouble and you have to know that.”
Erin nodded. Of course she did. Even while she was booking the girls into the pageant and ordering the new dresses. When she used the hidden credit card for the first time, she felt like she was in a car with no breaks going down a very fast hill. She just reached the bottom of the hill and she wasn’t in good shape. “I’m sorry,” she said huskily.
“I know, but that isn’t enough this time. There’ll be consequences for this and we need to make a change.”
Once again, she nodded her head, there were no words.
“Honey, are you crying?” Zach asked.
“I must have had a dream,” she said. A nightmare more like. She would never forget that night. The lonely drive home, the scrubbing of her daughters to find their innocent little faces again and the confessions. So many. The money spent, Jordan’s suspension, the telling the kids to lie to their Dad. Everything. By the time she had finished she was a mess, and that was before the spanking.
“I don’t think I know you anymore,” Zach said.
He was talking to her back as she stood stark naked in the corner. After hearing absolutely everything there was to tell, Zach had ordered her to shower and not to bother dressing before she stood in the corner. He’d turned up the heat so she wouldn’t be cold and left her there all alone. His mood didn’t seem to have improved when he came back and sat on the bed behind her.
“I’m sorry, Zach. I wish I could take it all back.”
“Don’t talk. You had your time to talk. Now you listen.”
She nodded and her shoulders shook as tears ran down her cheeks.
“Turn around.”
When Erin turned she saw what he was holding in his hand. It was a rustic looking paddle. “I made this for you, for us. I started it when we first talked about DD, but I couldn’t somehow bring myself to finish it, I’ve only ever used my hand on you, until today. This family can’t go on like this. We seem to have stopped trying with the domestic discipline. No one’s in charge. Well apparently I am but you don’t take a blind bit of notice of anything I say. Even the kids are slipping completely out of control. That changes today.
What could she say to that? He was right. They were in a mess.
I applied for a teaching job and I’ve been offered the role of sixth grade teacher at Corbin’s Bend Middle School. I’d like to take it. I won’t make a major change like this without your input Erin, but I think it would be good for us. This is a place where spankos like us are free to live their lives the way they want with total acceptance. They have good schools and nice houses. On Monday we are meeting with the housing board president and founder Brent Carmichael. I’m asking you to keep an open mind until then.
“Can I talk now?”
“Yes.”
“I just wanted to say that I agree with you, we need a change. Where is this Corbin’s Bend?”
“Nestled up in the mountains.”
“It sounds lovely.”
“It does and I hope that things with Brent go well. But for now, it’s time.” Erin crossed to her husband quickly, almost glad that her punishment would be over. She wanted to feel normal again, to look in her husband’s eyes and see love and admiration instead of anger and disappointment.
Erin lay over Zach’s lap with only a glance at the object he had in his hand. She would likely lose her nerve and run if she looked at it too closely. She couldn’t imagine what that thing would feel like. He rubbed the wood around her bottom in circles, getting a feel for the handle and the weight. When he lifted it she felt a cool rush of air and caught sight of it in the air out of the corner of her eye, she panicked. “No!” she tried to get up, but he held her in place.
“Take a breath baby,” he said.
She took a few deep breaths and settled herself. This time she squeezed her eyes shut tight and held her breath, waiting for the paddle to fall. When it did come, it thudded across both cheeks, a sharp sting followed by a deeper burn. She kept herself together though and barely let out a whimper as the horrible thing fell again and again, but after the fifth whack she couldn’t keep still or quiet any more. “It hurts, Zach,” she wailed. “Please stop.” He didn’t stop and her legs started kicking of their own accord.
“Settle down,” he said firmly. “You have four more to go.”
“No!” She rocked her body from side to side, hoping to wiggle herself free from his grasp. “I can’t take four more.”
“You can.”
“No,” she sobbed. The paddle clapped across both cheeks one after the other, twice. It was over and she heard the paddle drop on to the hard wood floor with a thud.
It seemed longer than a year ago, but she could still remember how good it felt to lay on top of Zach after, his arms wrapped tightly around her making sure she didn’t fall. It had comforted her to know there was nothing between them, besides an ass that was burning like the fires of hell. At that moment she’d been looking forward to a bright new start.
What she was doing now wasn’t the same at all, was it? Granted, it was a secret, but a little secret. Just a little thing to keep to herself, like Zach not telling her that he was Charity’s teacher. A white lie.
Erin opened her eyes to a sunlit bedroom and an empty space beside her. She must have eventually dosed off, because it was morning and Zach was getting ready for work. She glanced at the clock. He’d let her sleep in which was sweet but there were little girls long hair to tame for school and breakfast and l
unches to make.
“Morning girls,” she said.
“Avvy ate the last of my favorite cereal.”
Good late start. Jordan had obviously gotten out of bed on the wrong side.
“You snooze you lose,” Avvy said.
“Not nice and not helpful Avvy.” She turned to her younger daughter. “What would you like to eat?”
Jordan shrugged. “I wanted Lucky Charms.”
“There’s a little left in the box,” Erin said, looking hopefully into the waxy packet.
“Eww. I hate the bottom.”
“Would you like toast?”
“No.”
“Eggs?”
“No.”
“Can I have French toast?”
“No time, honey. Pick one of these,” Erin said, putting a couple more packets of cereal on the table before walking away to get coffee.
“Pancakes?”
“Not this morning, Jordan.”
“It’s not fair. That’s why they call Lucky Charms lucky, because if you get some you’re lucky and if you don’t you’re not.”
“Jordan, pick out of the cereals on the table and stop being rude,” Zach said.
Jordan begrudgingly pointed to some Raisin Bran and Erin poured it into her bowl. She almost giggled at the child’s dramatic show of having trouble chewing the raisins.
“They’re too hard and they hurt my throat.”
“Is your throat sore, Jordie?” Erin asked, feeling her daughter’s forehead. “She does feel a little warm.”
Jordan sneezed. “I have a cold.”
“Maybe she should stay home today.”
Zach looked unconvinced, but after feeling her forehead himself he agreed that she was a little warm.
“If you stay home today you have to stay in bed,” he said firmly.
“Okay,” Jordan said, nodding.
“Off you go then. Back to bed.”
“I’ll see you later. Call me if she gets worse,” Zach said, kissing Erin goodbye. “Come on, Avvy, let’s go.”
“I can’t believe she gets to stay home because she didn’t get the cereal she wanted,” Erin heard Avvy say as she followed her Dad out the door.
Erin found the morning quite peaceful. She looked in on Jordan and found her sound asleep, so she switched the TV on low and began sorting laundry. A rerun of ‘The King of Queens’ was on. She giggled. It was a funny show. She could only imagine how fast she would be over Zach’s knee if she shouted at him like Carrie did Doug. She hit the mute button when the phone rang.
“Hey.” It was Sienna. “How are you feeling today?” Erin said.
“Fine. Last night I was tired, but I’m fine today.”
“No attack of the guilts?”
“Hell no. What’s there to feel guilty about?”
“I don’t know. I’m being silly, I guess. We didn’t really do anything wrong.”
“No, we didn’t.”
“Do you think we’ll do anything wrong next week?”
“No idea,” Sienna said. “Anything could happen with Carol. It could be something really boring like a picnic in the park, or it could be something you would never think of doing in a million years.”
“Oh God. It’s kind of exciting, isn’t it? I mean, I know Zach would have my hide if he found out.”
“Whatever it is, it’ll be fun and worth it.”
“You do know where we live, right?”
“How would we get caught?”
“I don’t know. I just know that if I do something bad, like really bad then I’ll have it written all over my face. I’m a terrible liar.”
“You don’t have to really lie. Just talk about the bowling. That’s why we do it.”
“I guess.”
“Hon, you can’t mention it to him now, or there’ll really be trouble and not just for you. You’ll be taking the rest of us down with you.”
“I don’t want to do that.”
“It’ll be fun. I promise. I better go, anyway. Oh, I was supposed to invite you over to Carol’s for coffee.”
“Sorry, I’d love to, but I have Jordan home sick.”
“No problem. We’ll catch up next time.”
“Yeah sure. Bye! Thanks for ringing.”
“Bye.”
Erin hung up the phone with a smile but when she turned to go back to the laundry Jordan was standing there. “Hi, Jordie, feel better?”
“A bit,” Jordan said. “What are you gonna do that’s bad Mom?”
“What makes you say that?” As if she didn’t know. The child obviously heard the conversation.
“I heard you. You said that if you do something really bad you can’t lie about it cos your terrible.”
“That’s not exactly what I said.”
“I heard you. Mom why is it ok for grown-ups to do bad things and not for kids?”
“It isn’t.”
“Then why are you gonna be bad?”
“I think you need to go back to bed,” Erin said. “Daddy said if you stayed home, you had to stay there remember?”
“I just got up to go to the bathroom.”
“Have you been?”
“Yes.”
“Then go back to bed, honey,” Erin said.
“I wanna watch TV for a while.”
“No Jordie, you need to do as you’re told.”
“If I told Daddy what you said would he be mad?”
“There’s no need to tell Daddy. This is grown-up talk.”
“What if I forget and it just comes out?”
“It won’t.”
“It might.”
Erin looked at this little bitty thing with her messy but gorgeous dark hair and green eyes. She was her little angel. This little thing wasn’t capable of blackmail was she?
“I won’t tell Daddy if you let me watch TV.”
She was, and Erin had no one to blame but herself. This was a lesson that she herself had taught her and now she was paying the price. “One hour and then it’s back to bed.”
“Can I have some ice-cream?”
Erin sighed. “One scoop. For your throat.”
Jordan smiled. “Can I hold the remote?”
She had created a monster and she had no idea how to reverse this situation without telling the entire story.
The phone rang again, it was Zach. “Hi,” she said, trying to make her voice sound normal.
“Hey, how’s our princess?”
“She’s not too bad,” she answered.
“Does she need anything?”
“Nothing you can get at a store,” Erin said.
“The little devil went back to school today. She wrangled two full days off school and I’m not entirely sure she felt sick at all,” Erin said.
“Wow, I don’t think Charity would even think of that now and she’s older,” Jen said.
“She’s smart, street smart. Comes from living in the city and having a mother that teaches you it’s okay to lie.” Erin sighed.
“Don’t stress,” Carol said. “Kids are all about getting what they want. You just have to find her price.”
“Yeah the thing she wants more than anything and then make her sign a contract or something,” Sienna said.
“She’s eight!” Erin said.
“You are really clutching at straws,” Jen said with a giggle.
“I want my turn!” Carol screeched.
“You’ll get your turn,” Erin said with a grin. “Hopefully she forgets about it.”
“Or you’ll be on the lookout for something she does that’s even bigger so you can blackmail her back,” Carol said.
“That’ll work,” Sienna said.
Chapter 8
Nothing did come up that she would have over Jordan, except maybe the blackmail itself, but that couldn’t happen. Still they made it through to the following Wednesday.
After an hour and a half in the morning to get her family out of the house, Erin was waiting out the front for the girls. It felt more like a da
y and half. There was a nervous excitement in her belly that she hadn’t felt since she skipped school for the first time.
“Okay, we’re all here now, Carol. What are we doing today?”
“Well. There’s something I’ve always wanted to do and I know that’s a big ask of everyone, but I want to do it really bad.”
“Sounds ominous?” Jen said. “Come on, give. What? When, who?”
“Here’s the thing. My mom died when I was twelve. It broke my heart. My dad used to show me pictures from when they were young. From when my mom was young. So many pictures of them camping or of my mom with her friends. They were like hippies. Long messy hair and sweat bands, tie die shirts. It was the seventies. I want to feel like that.”
“Well that’s not a big ask at all,” Sienna said.
“I wanna try something I’ve never tried before, I wanna buy some pot and smoke it.”
“Oh my God! Isn’t that illegal?” Jen asked.
“No they legalised it,” Carol said.
“Would Crystal approve?”
“Of course not but I just want to try it once, I don’t intend to form a habit.”
“I don’t know,” Erin said. Her tummy flipped. Although she knew it was wrong, the thought excited her.
“We agreed,” Jen said. “Fair’s fair. What can happen?”
“Exactly,” Carol said. “You only live once, right?”
“I won,” Erin said as they got back into Sienna’s car after their token game.
“You’re not bad. Maybe you should join a real league,” Jen said.
“This is way more fun. Nothing like a little danger to get the juices flowing,” Erin said.
“TMI.”
“I didn’t mean literally.”
“Which way do you want me to turn?” Sienna asked.
“Right. I did some research on the net and apparently the best place to get stuff is the hill. It’s where all the college kids hang out. They grow it in their frat houses.”