Yet here she was, walking along the creek bed calling Frank’s name. She wondered if Rob would punish her again. And if he did, would he spank her again? Or would he do something worse?
She had a feeling that this time the spanking would be hard, that Rob would be trying to prove a point. And of course she knew that he’d been right. She never should have come out here on her own, so close to dark. She should have let him handle the situation. But it was too late now.
A few minutes later she reached the caves.
“Frank.” No answer came, and she called his name again. This time she took the basket away from her body and began waving it in the air, hoping the aroma of ham and bread would draw her son from his hiding place.
“Frank, I know that you’re out there somewhere. I brought you some dinner. Come out and talk with me, please.”
She watched as Frank came out of the cave, a mixture of wariness and fear on his face.
“Ma, don’t come any closer.”
“Frank. I know you’re mad at me. But we need to talk. I brought some food. Come and eat and then we can go back to the house together.”
“Ma! Stay where you are.”
“Frank, please.” She took a few steps toward him and movement from the trees caught her attention. Her first thought was anger. The boys had given her up. Rob was here to take the situation in hand, even though she wanted to handle it by herself.
Then, logic took over the anger. What she was seeing was no man. She inhaled deeply as a large bear stepped out of the woods, walking on all fours. It had two baby cubs walking in its wake.
Chapter 5
“Ma,” Frank said softly. “Take deep breaths and stay calm. She doesn’t want to hurt you. She just wants the food. You need to slowly take the lids off any jars you have in there and then put the basket down and back away from it.”
“Frank, I…”
“Do what he says, Dawn.” Rob’s voice was low behind her. “Once the mama bear has her meal she’ll be content. Just do it slowly and she won’t think you’re threatening her cubs. Frank, you okay?”
“Yes, sir. I’ve been hiding in here. I thought maybe she was gone.”
“Well, she’s probably using one of those caves as her den. She smelled the food your mother brought and came out to investigate.”
The bear had stopped in its tracks, the smaller bears moving forward as their mother sniffed the air.
Dawn slowly reached inside the basket and twisted the lids off the jar of honey and the jar of jam she’d brought. She reached down and put the basket on the ground, making sure that it was uncovered.
“Now,” Rob said. “Come back towards me. Frank, have you laid stuff out?”
“No, sir.”
“Okay. Cody’s coming around the back way. Go back in the cave and grab your stuff. He should be near you when you get back. Get on his horse and go back to the house with him. Your mother and I will be along shortly.”
“No. I’m not leaving my ma.”
“All right,” Rob said. “I can respect that. When you see Cody get on his horse, though. He’ll take off and we’ll meet up with you in the woods. Cody. Do you hear that?”
Cody’s voice was as soft as Rob’s. “Yes, Rob. Come on, Frank, we ain’t got all day.”
Dawn watched her son ease back toward the caves, reappearing moments later with a bedroll and a satchel. He gingerly walked toward Cody, who swung him up behind him and began backing his horse toward the woods.
In the meantime, the mother bear had started to walk toward the basket, sniffing the air around her. When one of her cubs made a beeline for it, she swatted it back and growled. Dawn figured that was bear talk for, ‘let me check, first’.
She took the opportunity to move toward Rob. Her hands shook and her heart felt like it might pop out of her chest.
“Rob, I…” She backed into his chest. The hard feel of his body provided comfort like she’d never felt before. She sighed deeply when he wrapped his arm around her waist.
“Hush. We’ll talk later. Just back up with me. Slowly while the basket’s keeping her attention.”
He held her close while they backed up, his arm tight around her middle.
When they reached the trees she felt more than heard his sigh of relief. Both of them were breathing deeply, their chests rising and falling rapidly.
“I’m sorry.”
“So am I.” They turned toward a sound to see Frank walking gingerly toward them. He stopped inches away and gave his mother a questioning look, as if unsure of his welcome. She held out her hand and he took it.
“We need to head back,” Rob said. “It’ll be full dark in about twenty minutes, which means the last bit of our trip will be tough going. Frank, double up with Cody and I’ll take your mother.”
Frank nodded and headed back the way he’d come.
When he was gone, Dawn and Rob stood still, locked close together.
Finally, she tried to push away, but he wouldn’t let her.
“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?”
“Yes. Big trouble. Morning spankings are going to become a ritual with us, if you’re not careful. And I can guarantee you that this one will be much harder than the one you got this morning.”
* * *
The next morning, Dawn woke early and started her chores. When she came back inside from gathering eggs she found Frank sitting at the table. When they came home last night, he’d refused to talk to her, simply slipping off Cody’s horse and heading toward the bunkhouse.
When she’d started to go after him, Rob had pulled her back and told her to let him be for a while.
Now, she stopped in the doorway and stared at him. After a few minutes, she moved into the room.
“Are you hungry?”
“I was serious when I said I wanted to leave here.”
“Why, Frank?”
“I want things to be the way they were.” She could hear sorrow in his voice.
“I know you miss your dad, but he’s not coming back. Leaving here won’t change that.”
Frank snorted. “I know that. But I don’t like the way he looks at you.”
“The way he looks at me, or treats me?”
Frank wheeled on her. “You’ve already had a husband. If you marry him, it would be disrespectful to Pa. That’s why we need to go.”
“Frank, I don’t plan on getting married again. But my life is my life. You can’t control it.”
Dawn could see tears welling in Frank’s eyes. She might be happy that Hank was gone, but she knew it was hard on the boys.
“Frank, you have a little more than a year until you’re seventeen. Stay here until then. Then you can leave if you want. I won’t stop you, although I hope you’ll stay until you’re eighteen.”
“Promise me you won’t marry MacAllister.”
Dawn sighed. Although she had no plans for it, she knew that feelings were growing between the two of them. She could feel it in his looks, in the way that he talked, and in the way he acted around her.
“I’m sorry, Frank. I can’t do that,” she said. “As I said I have no plans for it right now, but you never know what will happen in the future. I won’t make a promise that I can’t keep, because I can’t predict the future.”
“You hated Pa,” Frank said. “He was, and still is, your husband.”
“He is dead,” Dawn said. “I’m sorry that it hurts you to hear that. Please, don’t hate me for still being here and not following your directions, because I won’t.”
Frank glared at her, then he stood and walked out the door without saying another word.
* * *
Rob leaned against the wall in the hallway and grinned. He felt bad about eavesdropping on Dawn’s conversation, but he hadn’t done it on purpose. He’d come out of his room and heard her talking to her son.
He’d thought about turning around, but then he’d heard Frank say they had to leave, and he wanted to hear Dawn’s answer. Now, he listened as she told he
r son that she couldn’t promise not to marry him.
There’s hope yet.
He tiptoed back down the hall, opened the door to his room and then closed it loudly. When he walked into the kitchen, Frank was gone and Dawn was at the counter, mixing batter of some sort.
“Flapjacks?”
“Yes.” She turned to him. “I thought I might bribe you because I know how much you like them.”
“Nice try. See me in your bedroom after breakfast.”
“My bedroom?” He could hear the panic in her voice.
“Yes. It’s quiet and more private than the living room.”
He nodded at her and left the room.
You don’t know it yet, but I’m turning up the heat, Dawn. In more ways than one.
* * *
She tried to get the hands to stay around after breakfast, offering more food and more coffee but they’d all politely refused, saying they were full and needed to get to work.
A glance at Rob had shown that he knew why she was stalling. He’d moved his head back and forth to show that her little ruse wasn’t going to work.
She was inside working on the dishes when he came inside.
“You must be the slowest dishwasher on the face of the earth,” he said with a laugh. “Come back to the bedroom, and bring that large wooden spoon you’ve got in your hand.”
Bile rose in her throat as she picked up the spoon. There could be only one reason for taking that back to the bedroom, and that was for the spanking. Once or twice her mother had used a spoon on her when she was growing up. She knew how much it hurt, and she didn’t want to be reminded.
She left the spoon on the counter and hurried back to her room.
Rob was sitting in a rocking chair, calmly looking out the window.
“Listen, I know I shouldn’t have gone after Frank, but that’s no reason to use a spoon on me.”
“I can understand you going after your son,” Rob said, turning to her. “That is a motherly instinct that I’m not going to dispute. What I can’t understand is you lying to me. You promised me that you wouldn’t go after him, and yet you still did it. That’s what the spanking is about.”
Dawn stood in the doorway, trying to come to grips with what he was saying.
“But if you say that going after Frank was a motherly instinct, then you should have known I was going to do it.”
“Yes, I suspected you might do that. That’s why I made you promise not to go. You broke that promise to me.” The silence grew. “Go and get the spoon. Or would you rather I went and cut a switch?”
“No.” Her voice shook at the idea. “Maybe if you’re going to treat me this way I should do what Frank wants. I should take my boys and leave.”
For a moment, she thought he might change his mind. But then he shook his head.
“You won’t do that. You like living here, and whether or not you want to admit it, you like me.”
Despite her fear of the spanking, Dawn grinned. “You’re awfully sure of yourself.”
“Am I? Tell me something, Dawn. Why did you lie to me? Why did you promise me that you wouldn’t go after Frank, that you would let me handle it, then turn around and go into the woods, when it was almost dark?”
“Because Frank is my responsibility. He left because of me, because I wouldn’t get him lemonade.”
“That’s not why Frank left. He left because his life is changing and he doesn’t like it. Change is part of life, though, and you have to learn to deal with it. You’ve dealt with the change. When Hank died you didn’t sit home and let things go bad. You sold the land, and then sought out a job where you heard one was available.”
“But Frank is a child.”
“Frank is almost sixteen years old. He needs to learn that life doesn’t always go the way you want it to go. I know it was hard on him losing his father, but it doesn’t make it any easier by browbeating his mother.”
She looked toward the window.
“Would you like me to tell you what the main change is that Frank sees? It’s a change in you. He doesn’t have control over you, and it drives him crazy.”
“You’re right. You have control over me now.”
“Not like you’re thinking. I’d like for us to have a relationship that goes both ways. I would like for us to respect each other, and care for each other.”
“How can you care for me if you’re willing to spank me with a wooden spoon?”
“Discipline is part of any relationship. You know that.”
When she didn’t answer, he sighed. “Go and get the spoon and come back to me. The sooner we start, the sooner it’s over.”
She wanted to run from him, but at the same time she wanted to show him that she’d heard what he’d said about them having a relationship. She wanted him to know that she felt the same way, and that taking his discipline for lying to him was a huge step for her.
In the kitchen, she took the spoon in her trembling hands. Though she was grateful that he’d chosen the spoon and not a strap of leather, or a switch, she still didn’t want to feel the pain of the spanking.
Once back in the bedroom she gave it to him and he stood.
“Bend over the bed.”
“No, please not that position.”
He looked confused, then nodded.
“Tell me why not.”
“No, I don’t want to tell you. Please, just respect my wishes on that matter.”
“All right. I’ll sit on the bed and you can come across my lap.”
She wasn’t sure she liked that idea any better, but at least she wasn’t in a position that left her feeling totally vulnerable. A position that reminded her of the many times that Hank had taken her and left her feeling used.
After Rob had sat on the bed, she stood next to him and bent over his lap. Her palms were sweating and she fought to keep from crying. She was sure that in a few minutes she would be crying, and it wouldn’t be from fear, it would be from the pain of the spoon coming into contact with her bottom.
Rob lifted her skirts above her waist and rubbed the spoon across her bloomers.
“Since you’ve not fought this, I’m going to spank you over your bloomers today. You’ll still get the effects of the spanking, but it won’t hurt nearly as bad as the bare-bottomed one.”
She nodded, then heard the spoon swoosh through the air before it landed on her behind. She cried out as Rob delivered five swift strokes, each one landing in a different spot and making her wince.
“Stop, stop! I’m sorry I lied and I won’t do it anymore, I promise.”
Rob continued to spank her, each successive swat landing harder.
“How do I know that? You told me that you wouldn’t work on my shirt and you did.”
Ten more swats came down and Dawn began to squirm.
“You told me you wouldn’t go after Frank and you did.”
Five more swats were delivered.
“How do I know that you’re not lying to me again?”
“I’m not, I promise. You have to believe me. Please, Rob. Stop!” She sobbed out the words as the spoon continued to land. She lost count of the number of smacks he delivered, her voice quivering as she begged for him to stop, to believe her, to put the spoon down.
“You do realize that the bear could have torn you apart, to get the food and to protect her cubs.”
“I was just trying to protect my cub.”
The spanking stopped abruptly.
“Perhaps you’re right. But that doesn’t change the fact that it was wrong.”
He landed ten more hard swats on her bottom, five on each side before righting her and pulling her onto his lap.
He held her close while she cried, then kissed the top of her hair.
“Never lie to me again, Dawn. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Rob.”
“Good. The next one won’t be so easy.”
She pushed away from him, a look of dismay on her face. There were still tears rolling down he
r face, and she felt more hiding behind her eyes.
“You call what just happened easy? It hurt like the dickens.”
“Maybe. But the next one is going to hurt like hell, so behave yourself.”
* * *
She wanted to hate him, truly she did, but she just couldn’t bring herself to. After spanking her, he hadn’t tried to kiss her, or paw her, or demand that she service him in any way. Instead, when her crying had ceased, he’d pushed them both to their feet and put his finger under her chin, lifting her eyes to his own.
“Don’t ever lie to me again. If you think you can’t do something that I ask please just tell me and we can discuss it. Do we have an agreement?”
“Yes.”
Now, she was working to get things ready for dinner. She’d spent the afternoon cleaning the house in anticipation of Win and Vanessa coming for dinner tomorrow evening. She wanted to make a special dessert, so she’d decided to open the last of the blueberries that she’d found canned in the cellar.
They would make a great cobbler, and she knew that everyone would enjoy it. She hoped there was enough down there to make some dessert for the hands, too. If not, maybe Rob would be willing to ride into town and see if his brother had any berries for sale at the store.
The mere idea that she could ask him to do that made her realize that the old part of her life was over, and a new chapter was beginning. If she’d asked Hank to go into town, he would have yelled at her for being improperly prepared for whatever event they were hosting.
In this case, she wanted everything to be perfect. When Rob had first invited his brother and sister-in-law she’d been terrified, wondering what she would cook and where she and the boys would eat while Rob ate with his family.
Now she knew that if she suggested that they eat somewhere else, like with the hands in the outer patio, Rob would spank her bottom soundly. Part of her liked that idea, and part of her was terrified by it.
The spanking he’d given her that morning still throbbed, and each time she moved she was grateful that he’d allowed her to keep her bloomers on. It showed a level of respect that she’d never felt before, and it made her feel wonderful, despite the pain of the punishment.
Heart and Home: The MacAllister Brothers Page 13