by Laetitia
"I’ll admit to that singular lapse in judgement...but you already punished me for that. She is one of my best friends, and I want to see her. I am stronger!
And if I could just talk to her in private, I’m sure she would be more judicious in the future..."
"Really? And what would you say to your ‘best friend’ that would make her smarter? That you got spanked like a naughty little girl because of your escapade? So did she..." Justin let the announcement hang in the silence of the carriage.
Finally, Annalise found her voice. "You can’t mean..." She couldn’t bring herself to say it. "You can’t mean to tell me that Ben Lindsey was one of the men in the room that night! Oh lord!" She covered her face with her hands.
She could feel the heat of her blush warm her palms through her kid gloves.
"And I...I told on her...!"
"For all the good it apparently did. She was also forbidden to see you alone. I suspect that there will be at least two very sore-bottomed wives at this dinner party."
"Oh Justin...you didn’t...you didn’t tell..." but she could see by his smile that he had.
* * * * *
Kaitland and Benjamin Lindsey were also en route to the Stone’s dinner party.
Unlike her friend who had tried to crawl into a corner, Kaitland placed herself directly opposite her husband in the carriage and began to do battle. She felt safe enough to challenge her husband as long as they were on a public thoroughfare.
"I will not tolerate this any more! You will stop manhandling me every time you take the notion." She shifted on her scorching bottom, trying to find one square inch that had not been burnished to a rosy glow. She braced her hands on her knees and leaned in defiantly toward her husband..
Ben Lindsey echoed her posture, leaning toward her until their noses almost touched. "And I will not tolerate your continued disobedience! I will turn you over my knee anytime and anywhere you need it. Do I make myself clear?
...Or do you require a demonstration?" His features froze in grim determination.
Kaitland lost her courage. She sat back against the seat, crossing her arms across her not inconsiderable chest with a "Harumph!"
"Were I you, I would find the pleasant-mannered Kaitland Marie Lindsey..."
"You can’t order someone to feel pleasant," she replied, knowing she was pushing him.
"I am my dear, ordering you to seem pleasant..."
"Order away!" she said flippantly waving her hand dismissively in the air.
"You seem to enjoy playing lord and master! Your wish is my command! I will endeavor to play the part of the passively-pleasant peasant...my lord."
"That tears it!" Ben grabbed her arms and pulled her face down across his knees. He ignored her screams of outrage and impatiently pushed her gown and cape up and away, pulling the open seam of her under drawers wide to expose his wife’s still red bottom. He thought for a moment that this design of female intimate apparel was damned helpful in situations like this.
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! He brought the flat of his hand down again and again. SMACK! SMACK! When he finished he plucked her from his lap and plunked her down hard on the seat opposite him again.
"You will save your saucy wit for someone who appreciates it," he began to lecture. "If you know what is good for you, you will behave like a model wife this evening...or you will learn the true meaning of the title, lord and master.
Are we clear?"
Kaitland rubbed the side of her bottom and grimaced. It was burning hot!
"Kaitland...?"
"Yes...yes! I understand!" ...but she didn’t really.
* * * * *
It was supposed to be a small, intimate dinner party, just the ten of them. All of the men had been close friends for years and the wives were growing close as well. Most of them had only been married for a short while, but Amanda and Darren Stone were considered the "old married ones" because they had been married for five years as of tonight. Their anniversary dinner would be special. Amanda had planned it down to the last detail.
She took one last look at the table. The china and crystal sparkled in the glowing light of the chandelier. Amanda adjusted a white linen napkin to the right, tucking it in just a little beneath the gold rim of the plate so it matched perfectly the other place settings. She reviewed the seating arrangements; her chair at the foot of the table, Justin to the right of her, then Rebecca, then Ben, Annalise, Darren at the head, then Jesseca, Jeff, Kaitland, and Chris. Very satisfactory ,she thought. Not one husband seated by his own wife. Just as it should be.
It seemed as if all of the couples arrived all at once. In the flurry of divesting themselves of capes, hats and coats, no one remarked on the fact that Darren was not downstairs yet. What was the matter with that man! Amanda thought.
How could he not be here with her to greet their guests?
Amanda with the help of their butler, Sims, got everyone seated in the front parlor and supplied with a glass of sherry for the women and whiskey for the men. Then she excused herself and went in search of her errant husband.
When she reached his rooms, she didn’t even bother to knock, but threw open the door in frustration.
"What in God’s green valley are you doing?" she practically shouted at him.
"Everyone is here and you’re not even done getting dressed!"
Darren Stone looked over his shoulder at his obviously upset wife. There was no denying that she was beautiful. Her flaming red hair seemed to match her flashing green eyes and her aggravating temper. She looked like an avenging Celtic goddess standing at his door. That she had raised her voice to him in front of his valet, had not yet pierced her consciousness.
"That will be all, Dalton. Thank you." Darren said. He could tell from the bright flush on his wife’s face, the moment that she became aware of her lapse of good manners.
"Yes, Sir," Dalton answered. "Madame," he acknowledged her with cold disapproval as he slipped on by.
"I’m sorry, but I was angry!" she excused herself. "And it’s all your fault!
What have you been doing?" she began to build up another head of steam.
"Stop haranguing me like a fishwife!" he snapped back at her. "If you are so concerned about your guests, why aren’t you down there with them? Why are you wasting my time and getting in my way?"
"Well, I never..."she began.
"No...you never! You never control your temper or your mouth. You think being angry...for whatever reason...gives you leave to behave any way you like!"
"I won’t be spoken to in this way!"
"Then leave," Darren said with frigid disinterest.
Amanda stood by the door aghast. She opened her mouth to say something, then shut it again. She left the room, quietly closing the door behind her.
"Happy anniversary," Darren muttered under his breath as he yanked a ruinously wrinkled cravat from around his neck and threw it on his dresser top.
Amanda paused at the top of the stairs. Her hands were shaking and her stomach was churning. He sounded like he hated her. She hated to admit it to herself, but he’d been drifting away from her noticeably this past fortnight, and she couldn’t put her finger on the "why" of it. Well, she thought. This isn’t the time to worry about it. I have guests to see to. She pasted a smile on her face and went to join her friends.
When she reached the parlor, she took in the scene with a glance. The men, all handsome in different ways, were standing by the fireplace, while their wives, clustered like a bunch of spring flowers, took up all the small chairs. Annalise and Kaitland perched on the settee holding each other’s hands as if commiserating with one another over some great sorrow.
"Darren will be down in a moment," she announced with false gaiety. "Does everyone have what they need?" She poured herself a sherry with still-shaking hands, and went to join the other ladies, sitting in a vacant chair by Jesseca.
"What is the trouble with Annalise and Kaitland?"she asked. "They look flushed and annoyed."
&nbs
p; "I don’t know," Jesseca answered softly. "They’ve been whispering to each other since we arrived."
Just then, the ladies were diverted by the chuckling erupting from the other side of the room. The women spun around to look at the men. Ben and Justin were comparing the palms of their hands and looked hugely amused. Annalise and Kaitland turned white then red. Luckily, no one noticed. Amanda strolled over to the men.
"Are you telling each other’s fortunes?" she asked innocently. "I understand it is all the rage."
"You could say that," Ben answered, his eyes twinkling with humor. He caught his wife’s eye before he continued loud enough for all to hear, "I’d like to think I hold a blushingly bright future in my hand. Wouldn’t that be wonderful, Kaitland?" He smiled at her from across the room.
"Wonderful!" Kaitland managed to choke out. The men laughed again.
"Well now, this is a merry gathering I must say!" Darren made his jovial entrance. "I won’t bother with a drink, since I was so rudely late. Sims has informed me that dinner is ready to be served. Shall we?" He offered his arm to Rebecca who was closest to him, and began to lead the procession into the dining area.
Amanda took over her hostess duties seamlessly as she got everyone situated in their seats. The serving staff was attentive and the food was impeccable: a lightly poached salmon, followed by the meat course of rib roast with Yorkshire pudding. The green beans, potatoes and pickled beets were fine accompaniments. The conversation flowed, as did the wine, and they shared stories and discussions unmarred by any dissension. Finally it was time for the desert. One of the serving maids carried in a brightly decorated cake and placed it in front of Amanda. Meanwhile, Sims was opening several bottles champagne on the sideboard and then filling everyone’s glasses.
When everyone had a glass, Darren stood. He raised his glass in the air, and looked at his wife. "Here’s to five years with my beautiful wife!" he toasted.
"May we survive many more of wedded bliss!"
"Here! Here!" everyone chimed in around the table. It was just as well that Amanda didn’t have to drink since the toast had been directed to her. Her throat felt closed and her mouth felt like chalk.
Survive? Was that how he saw their marriage? As a test? Not one word of love. Not one word of acknowledgment of what she was to him. Maybe that was because he didn’t love her anymore. He may not believe she was important in his life anymore. He’d certainly been distant lately.
"Amanda!" Darren was smiling at her. "Cut the cake!"
Cut the cake! She flashed him a look of pure loathing. She wanted to smash his smiling insincere face right into the middle of the gooey icing! Survive indeed! She somehow forced herself to cut the cake and supervise the service.
Then she willed herself to wait until everyone had finished, finally signaling the ladies’ removal to the parlor again.
"Let’s leave our men to their cigars and brandies shall we?" She swept from the room regally. The other ladies followed.
* * * * *
The men watched as the women left. Sims made short work of filling brandy snifters and offering the humidor around. A young man in training was in charge of lighting the cigars, and in a matter of moments, the men were left to their privacy.
"I’ve been anxious to ask all evening," Justin began. "How is the Domestic Tranquility working for all of you?"
The men laughed and began to share their stories. Chris felt fairly assured that Jesseca would think twice in the future before she flirted so outrageously again. He extolled the virtues of garden benches tucked away in out of the way nooks. Jeffery thought he’d made a good start at curbing his wife’s spending habits. All the men agreed that making her withdraw her credit from the shopkeepers was a stroke of genius. Justin and Ben shared again their trials with their wive’s friendship and the need for vigorous attention in the future.
There was a lot of good-natured teasing and joking until Justin spoke aloud what they’d all noticed.
"What about you, Darren? Have you tried ‘The Family Plan’ yet?"
"No I haven’t!" Darren answered.
"Why the hell not, man?" Chris asked. "Don’t tell me you couldn’t think of a reason to try the plan."
"I can think of numerous reasons...that’s just the trouble."
"What do you mean?" Jeffery asked.
"All of you had specific targets..." Darren began.
"Now I’ll admit that your wife’s bottom is not so very large, but I’m sure with the proper focus, you can hit the target more often than not," Ben quipped laughing at his own jest. "I’ve been led to understand that we will all improve with practice! Isn’t that so, Justin?" The men all laughed but Darren.
"This looks to be serious," Justin interrupted the laughter. "Tell us what you meant. Maybe we can help."
"What I meant, is that each of you had a specific fault that you wanted to eradicate in your wife’s behavior. You and Ben didn’t want your wives going into dangerous places. You were worried about Rebecca spending too much,"
he said as he looked at Jeffery. "And you didn’t want your wife flirting."
"Yes, so what’s your point?" Chris prodded.
"My point is, that Amanda doesn’t have any large specific faults I can focus on. Oh she’s not perfect by any means, but her faults are so minor, that I’d feel like a true brute if I spanked her every time she made me angry. The trouble is, since this ‘Domestic Tranquility’ nonsense started, I have been almost obsessed with her annoying behavior. The more I notice, the more angry I become, and the more angry I become, the more I withdraw from her. I know she’s noticed. It’s almost as if my withdrawing impels her to become more annoying! Lord! I’m doomed!" Darren dropped his head in his hands in abject defeat.
The men glanced at each other, each of them at a loss for words. Finally, Justin broke the uncomfortable silence. "You’re not doomed. Actually, you may just be ahead of the rest of us."
"What do you mean?" Darren raised his head to look at Justin.
"Somehow over the years, you and Amanda have worked out a relatively easy system of getting along. She doesn’t do anything very dramatically wrong. We will all get to that place one day. What you want to establish is a slight shifting of the order in your home. For instance, what was the last small annoying event that you can think of ?"
"Just before I came down this evening, she berated me in front of my valet.
She didn’t even realize Dalton was there. She excused her behavior saying she was angry."
"And what did you do?" Justin prodded.
"Nothing. Told her to leave. I could tell by the hurt look in her eyes that I had wounded her by my indifference. What should I have done? If I had turned her over my knee at that moment, she would’ve been appalled! Not to mention the fact that you would’ve all heard the commotion and she would have been mortified."
"Sometimes a swift ‘adjustment’ is the best," Ben Lindsey commented.
"Kaitland and I had a session on the way over her in the carriage. She was being a brat."
"But you had already established that you would spank her before tonight.
Amanda has no idea I would even contemplate ‘raising my hand’ to her. We have been married for five years, and in all that time, I have rarely raised my voice to her, let alone ..."
"Entertained the idea of smacking her irritating little backside?" Justin finished for his friend.
"Exactly!"
"Well, your instincts were correct, Darren. You can’t rearrange a shift in power just before an anniversary dinner if you haven’t yet broached the subject with your lovely wife."
"Doomed!" Darren repeated.
"Maybe you can make something up to get really angry at her about," Jeffery suggested. "Just to get things started."
"No. You must never use ‘The Plan’ lightly. It isn’t a game where you try to
‘catch’ your wives misbehaving. It must always be grounded in a sincere attempt to help them improve or keep them safe. What you need to d
o is begin Amanda’s education."
"What do you mean?" Darren asked.
"I’m dying to hear this as well," Christopher chimed in.
Justin took a long draw on his cigar, then blew out the smoke in a trailing wisp which circled above his cocked back head. All of the men unconsciously leaned a little forward.
"Amanda needs to be told that the domestic policies of the past five years are going to be revamped. Explain to her that you have noticed that she does not seem to be particularly happy recently. Point out that she has been resorting to blurting out angry words or degenerating into rude behavior. You know that she is a better woman than that, and that you have been remiss by allowing her to behave in such a manner. You intend to remedy the problem."
"Of course!" Darren interrupted, "And when she asks how, I just tell her, ‘I’m going to light your bottom on fire!’ She’ll love that!"