The Education of Annalise

by Laetitia

  She didn’t have time to worry about her changed status in her household.

  Fairly soon the carriage pulled up in front of Madame Dupree’s Millinery and Jeffery was helping her down from the carriage.

  "Do you have anything to return here?" Jeffery asked.

  "No. Can’t I just not charge anything anymore? Must you embarrass me like this?"

  "I want to remove you from temptation. This will help because you won’t be allowed to charge anything in any of the stores. Do you really want to risk a repetition of today’s lesson?" Jeffery arched an eyebrow. Becca growled in response and pushed past him through the door of the small hat shop.

  The gaily tinkling bell announcing their presence was in direct contrast to Rebecca’s scowling face. Jeffery came just inside the shop, leaned his shoulder against the door jamb and crossed his arms giving the impression of a man patiently waiting.

  "Why Mrs. Powers!" Madame Dupree came through the green velvet curtain that separated the workroom in the back from the front of the shop. "How nice to see you on this damp day. How may I be of service?" She smiled at Rebecca.

  Rebecca looked over her shoulder at Jeffery in one last mute appeal. He shook his head slightly, and she resigned herself to an afternoon of mortification.

  Madame Dupree noticed Jeffery by the door. "You must be Mr. Powers.

  Please come in and sit down," she offered graciously.

  "Thank you, but no. We won’t be staying long...Becca...?" The warning tone was not lost on either woman.

  "Uh...Madame Dupree...I ...ah...have been forbidden by my husband to charge any more of my purchases. I ... ah...will be using cash-in-hand for any future dealings if that is alright."

  "Yes, yes! That will be quite alright!" Madame Dupree gushed, relieved that Mrs. Powers hadn’t brought her husband in to complain about something.

  "Rebecca, please explain to Madame Dupree why this accommodation is necessary." Jeffery prodded her.

  "Because I have abused my personal budget!" Becca practically shouted at Madame Dupree. "Is that enough? Can we go now?" she asked her husband, not even trying to hide her anger and frustration.

  "After you have thanked Madame Dupree for her time..."

  "Enough! I am not a child to be reminded of my manners! Madame Dupree, thank you for your time and understanding."

  "Not a’tall, my dear!" Madame Dupree came closer and whispered in her ear,

  "I don’t think you want to pull his tail if you don’t mind me saying so, dearie.

  He looks fairly fierce."

  "Good bye, Madame," Becca said over her shoulder as she rushed to leave the shop, slamming the door in her husband’s face..

  She was already trying to climb into the carriage, when Jeffery joined her. He placed his hand on her bottom and pushed. Becca landed half sprawled across the seat.

  "How dare you?" she sputtered as her husband entered behind her and closed the door.

  "How dare you?" Jeffery asked with no little heat of his own. "One would have thought that you have had a sufficient demonstration that your behavior will have consequences. Any more displays like you just went through with Madame Dupree will be met with consequences...immediate consequences.

  Do I make myself clear?" He waited until she nodded, then rapped his stick against the roof of the carriage as a signal for Stephens to continue on the route he had specified.

  The rest of the afternoon ground slowly toward dusk. The pattern was repeated so often that Rebecca thought she would say the speech in her dreams tonight. "I am forbidden by my husband..." Blah, blah, blah! The last package had been returned, and the last shopkeeper had been witness to her humiliation just as the sun began to sink, and they wended their way home.

  Rather than feeling repentant, Rebecca simply felt rebellious. The heat in her bottom had cooled to a dull ache and she had convinced herself that she was married to an unmitigated tyrant, who deserved to be roasted over a slow fire in hell! Unfortunately for her, her every thought was transparent in her face, and Jeffery resigned himself.

  Dinner was silent. The food was excellent and the service quietly competent.

  None of the servants, by look or inference, gave any hint of what they knew had occurred in library earlier that afternoon. Jeffery though, thought he detected a hint of deferential respect that had been lacking in the past.

  "Go ready yourself for bed, Rebecca. I’ll be up in a little while." Jeffery dabbed his napkin to the corners of his mouth and placed it on the table.

  "I don’t feel like getting ready for bed just yet. I feel like playing some music." She rose and began to stride purposefully to the front parlor.

  Jeffery stopped her by grabbing her by her upper arm and spinning her to face him. He placed his fist under her chin and forced her to look at him.

  "That wasn’t a suggestion, Becca. It was an order. We evidently still have some unresolved issues to deal with." He spun her around to face the staircase and gave her a heavy-handed swat. "Now, go!"

  Becca grabbed her injured posterior with both hands, turned and glared at her husband, before she began to climb the stairway to her rooms. She hated him!

  She truly hated him! Having reached her rooms, she thought briefly of locking the doors against him, but knew it would just cause another scene for the enjoyment of the household staff. Where had her sweet Jeffery gone? This man was a stranger! A hard-hearted, heavy-handed stranger at that! She rubbed at her bottom trying to erase the last vestiges of the sting he sent her upstairs with.

  She sent her maid, Violet, away as soon as she had helped her to undo her hair. Not sure what traces remained of her earlier spanking, Becca was reluctant to allow even Violet to see the residue of the abuse she had suffered.

  She got into her nightgown, and then couldn’t resist trying to assess the damage herself as she lifted her gown and tried to see her bottom in her dressing table mirror. She was so intent, she didn’t notice Jeffery standing in the doorway that connected his rooms to hers.

  "Hardly any damage at all," he remarked. Becca spun around, blushing hotly.

  "A gentleman would’ve made his presence known, sir!"

  "Sir is it now? I could barely wring that word from you earlier." he smiled at her, then began walking into her room. He rested his hands on her shoulders and gently rubbed them up and down, soothing her. "I’m sorry if I embarrassed you, but it was too delightful a view to interrupt."

  Becca spun away from his half embrace, then faced him with the hands on her hips and her chin tilted up defiantly. "You have taken great delight in embarrassing me today in front of the household staff, in front of the storekeepers, in front of everyone! You’ve strutted and smirked and thought yourself quite important...’Master of all you survey!’ Stuff and nonsense. All you’ve managed to do is make me hate you!"

  "Well now, that is serious!" he sounded concerned, but she wasn’t fooled for an instant. His eyes crinkled at the edges with barely controlled mirth and her hand flew up to slap him before she had even thought about it. He easily caught her hand mid-flight, and the humor had dissolved from his face.

  "I know today has been hard on you, so I will try to be excessively patient.

  You, however, will not ever raise your hand to strike me again. Is that understood?"

  "Why? You raised your hand to me! What’s the difference?"

  "I spanked you. I didn’t slap you. There is a vast difference that I’m sure you can discern if you think about it calmly." Jeffery let go of her hand, then went to sit on the bench at the foot of her bed.

  "I know you think yourself ill-used today..."

  "Ill-used doesn’t even begin..."

  "Don’t interrupt me again. Come sit beside me."

  "Another ‘order’, sir?" Her sarcasm was getting lethal.

  "If you like."

  "I don’t."

  "Sit anyway...while you still can." The threat hung in the air and she stared at him for a long time, but she gave in finally and sat next to him. />
  "I married you because I loved you. It isn’t ‘fashionable’ to love your wife, but there it is. I wanted to give you anything and everything you wanted in this world."

  Rebecca felt her heart thaw a little.

  "But you abused my good nature. You became convinced that it was your right to behave anyway you chose. It was mostly my fault, because I allowed it. I excused your disobedience. I made light of the disrespect you gave my wishes. I told myself you were young; you’d learn. But you didn’t. Even when I explained that I had tied up some of our money in some new investments, thinking that if you understood I wasn’t just being arbitrary, you’d obey me.

  But no! You had to have this or that or some other thing. The more you disobeyed me, the more angry I became. I began to fear that this continued disrespect for my wishes was eroding my love for you. I decided that you were worth fighting for...even if you were the one I had to fight."

  Rebecca felt tears swell in her eyes. She didn’t know whether to love him because he loved her or hate him because he spanked her. She was mightily confused. When he took her hands in his, she felt her anger melt away.

  "I don’t regret turning you over my knee this afternoon. I should’ve done it a long time ago. Maybe then it wouldn’t have come as such a shock to you.

  Rebecca...I am never going to allow you to disobey me with impunity again.

  Each and every time you ignore what I tell you to do, I will spank you. That’s a promise. Which brings us to the here and now. The spanking you got earlier, was for your disobedience in the past. We still need to deal with your disobedience today."

  Rebecca jumped up. "You can’t be serious! I’ve been beaten..."

  "Spanked!"

  "...and humiliated in front of every store owner I know...isn’t that enough?"

  "Had you taken your punishment with any degree of contrition, I might have overlooked it this once, but as the day progressed it became obvious that you thought yourself unjustly abused. You were surly and belligerent. Hardly the model of a duly chastised wife, wife."

  "But..." Becca felt like she’d had the wind knocked out of her. She couldn’t seem to form one cogent argument.

  "Come here, Rebecca."

  "No!" She began to back away.

  "Do not make me force you. Come here of your own volition, and it will go easier on you."

  "I don’t want to," she hated that she sounded whiney.

  "I don’t want to either, so let’s just get it over with."

  "I’m sorry! I’m really sorry! I didn’t understand before. I won’t disobey you again."

  "I know you’re sorry now. You don’t want to be spanked. I understand that, but I also understand that I can no longer allow you to excuse your bad behavior. I need to insure that the next time you’re tempted, you’ll remember what happens to disobedient wives. Now, come here."

  Rebecca quickly ran through her options. She didn’t have any. With leaden feet she forced herself to stand in front of her husband.

  "Place yourself over my knee."

  Easy for him to say! This was embarrassing beyond belief! She draped herself across his knee and felt him pull her gown up baring her bottom once more.

  She felt him brace his free hand across her back to hold her in place. She started to cry before he even began.

  "You are going to be spanked once more today, because you deliberately disobeyed me. SMACK! You have been sulky and petulant all afternoon. I will not allow you to behave badly after you’ve been punished." SMACK! "Is that understood?" SMACK!

  "Yes! Oh Jeff, I’m sorry!"

  "I’m certain you are...now. I think we can skip the part about any extenuating circumstances this time...can’t we?" SMACK! "I think we both know you disobeyed me thinking nothing would happen. Didn’t you?" SMACK!

  SMACK! SMACK!

  "Yes! Yes! Whatever you say! Owwch!"

  "Which brings us to the main part of the spanking." SMACK! SMACK!

  SMACK! "You will never again disobey me!" SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

  "Do you understand?" SMACK! SMACK!

  "Owww! Oh stop! Please! I’ll be good...I promise!"

  "You promised the same thing earlier this afternoon, and then you behaved like a brat." SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! "I will not tolerate bratty behavior, especially since it was caused by punishment that was long over due!" SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

  Rebecca was sobbing incoherently by now. The tenderness of her spanking earlier lent this one added severity. She hurt so badly, all she could do was cry and try to twist out of the way.

  Finally, it was over. Jeffery was holding her in his lap, wiping away her tears,

  "Do we have an understanding now, Rebecca?" He could feel her head bobbed up and down as it nestled against his chest.

  "Do you understand that I spank you because I love you?"

  "Yes, but..." she was still trying to control her sobs.

  "But what?"

  "I just wish you didn’t love me so enthusiastically!"

  They both laughed. They both knew their relationship had changed irrevocably, and neither of them was sorry.

  The Education of AMANDA

  By Laetitia

  Annalise Burke burrowed deeper into the corner of the carriage and pretended to be fascinated by the lights of the city. She was fooling no one; most especially not her new husband, Justin.

  "I would suggest that you stop sulking, or we can turn around and go home again," Justin said.

  Oh! How dare he sound so calm and unaffected! she thought, when only a few minutes ago he had spanked her ...hard! He had no heart! He had no compassion! He had no...

  "Annalise, I am speaking to you. Do you want to return home? I can send a message ahead saying that you are indisposed."

  "Is that what they are calling being abused these days? Indisposed?" She turned from the window and pinned him with a glare.

  Justin’s right eyebrow shot up as if he questioned that he had heard her correctly. She was beginning to hate that smug self-satisfied smirk he wore.

  "It was abuse! I didn’t even know Kaitland was coming. How can that be my fault?"

  "I thought we’d covered all this in our rooms, but if you want to continue the discussion..." Justin lifted his walking stick in preparation of knocking on the roof of the carriage to get the driver’s attention.

  Annalise’s hand shot out and stopped the stick from making contact. She knew what "continuing the discussion" entailed, and she was enough of a coward to admit to herself that she couldn’t take another session over his knee...not again tonight. Her bottom felt hot and swollen as it was. She couldn’t bear the thought of more. She tried a different tack.

  "I’m just trying to understand, Justin. I know you said I wasn’t allowed to see Kaitland Lindsey without your permission, but she just came to my ‘At Home’. I didn’t invite her. What could I do, especially in front of all those other women?"

  "You could have said that your husband had forbidden you to have any contact with her, and would she please leave. That’s what you should have said. What you did, was allow her to remain, in direct contradiction to my expressed wishes."

  "Forbidden!...You wanted me to admit that you f...forbid me to do things?

  Forbid me to see my friends... You wanted me to announce that in front of a room full of gossipy women that my husband thinks he controls my whole..."

  "Thinks?" Up shot the eyebrow once again.

  "If your goal is to publicly embarrass me in front of all of society, why don’t you just take out an announcement in the Times: ‘Annalise Burke is hereby declared by her husband, non compos mentis, and so is no longer to be considered to be in charge of her own life. Do not attempt to have any dealings with her except through her husband!’ " Annalise could hear her voice rising, but her sense of outrage drove her.

  "Annalise Corrinda Burke! You control that wayward tongue of yours or we will return home this minute. Do I make myself clear?" Justin hadn’t actually raised his voice it just fe
lt like it.

  Annalise sniffed back her treacherous tears. She didn’t want to cry...but she was still angry. "I don’t think I should be punished because of what Kaitland does. It isn’t fair..." Her voice dribbled off into almost a whisper.

  Justin took pity on her. Her draped his arm across her shoulders and pulled her to him. "I know this must seem hard to you, but you need to understand. I didn’t forbid you to see Kaitland because I wanted to make all your decisions for you. I did it because when you’re with her, you don’t make sound choices.

  Until you can be stronger, and she can be smarter, you two can not be left alone unsupervised. Look what happened at The Duces Wild."