by Elly Knight
Charli wiped a few tears from her eyes before folding the letter and passing it back to Ben. “If I marry you, will you let me work the farm?” Charli asked him, her voice barely more than a whisper.
“Of course I will,” Ben responded. “Why would I help you keep it, only to not allow you to work it?”
“You won’t try and tell me it’s man’s work and I have no right to do anything other than cooking and cleaning?” she clarified.
“You can work the farm on one condition,” Ben said seriously to her. Charli looked nervous as she waited to hear what his condition was. “You have to let me help.”
Charli had to admit that having some help would be kind of nice. She was tired, more tired than she’d realized. “I just want to make Papa proud,” she whispered.
“Oh sweetheart, he’d already be more than proud,” Sheriff Johnson told her as he put an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “But he’d also be really worried that you’re working yourself into an early grave. You and Ben will make a great team.”
Ben reached out and cupped her face gently with his hands. “I’m sorry it has to happen like this Charlotte but you’ve always been the girl for me. Not one of those women back East made me even think about changing my mind to come back for you. You were my best friend when we were younger and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you. Please say you’ll marry me. Can it really be a worse option than jail and losing the farm?”
Charli’s eyes filled with tears. She’d always loved Ben but had never truly believed his promise to come back to her. The thought of being trapped in a marriage still made her nervous but there was a part of her that wondered if any of the old feelings still existed. “I can’t believe you’re actually here,” she whispered to him.
Ben leant forward and kissed her forehead. “Will you marry me Charli Rae?” he asked her.
Charli’s mind wandered back to the last time she’d heard those words. She’d been thirteen and Ben fifteen when his papa had passed away and his mama had been forced to sell the farm and move the family back East. Before they’d left, Ben had promised that one day he’d return for her and he’d asked her to wait for him. For several years they’d communicated through letters but when Ben told her his Great Aunt had sponsored him going to law school and that would delay his return, Charli had become scared and angry, convinced he’d meet someone much better than her and change his mind about returning. She decided that day that she was never going to marry and told him not to write to her anymore.
Yet, here he was, uttering those very same words of promise. If she said yes, they’d be married before the end of the day.
Charli chewed her lip nervously as she nodded her head. “Yes,” she whispered. Ben engulfed her in his arms. “I didn’t think you’d come back,” she said in quiet wonder as several tears rolled down her face.
When the Judge returned, the sheriff informed him that Charlotte had agreed to the marriage. Martha announced that she couldn’t possibly be married in pants and the judge set the wedding for 1pm to allow time for her to change.
“If you’re not back here at 1, Martha will be the one to end up in jail,” the sheriff warned Charli when he agreed to let Martha take her and outfit her for the wedding. He knew the threat would be enough to stop Charli from doing a runner if she became so inclined. Sheriff Johnson knew it was highly unlikely anyway. Doing a runner would mean leaving the farm and Charli would never do that.
“I’ll pay for whatever she needs,” Ben said to Martha. “The Judge has requested I meet with him now but I’ll come and settle up after the wedding.”
“It will be our wedding gift to you both,” Martha told him with a wave of her hand.
“Don’t be difficult,” Ben warned Charli, giving her a stern look as he spoke.
“Don’t be bossy,” Charli retorted with a roll of her eyes.
The sheriff gave Ben a sympathetic look. He was going to have his work cut out for him. Ben simply winked at him. He’d get the ring on her finger first, then deal with the attitude.
CHAPTER SIX
“Have you ever spanked a woman before?” the judge asked Ben once they were in the sheriff’s office.
If Ben was surprised by how forthright the judge was being, he didn’t let on. He simply shook his head in response. While Ben was aware that many men spanked their wives, he’d never seen his Pa spank his Ma nor had the opportunity to spank anyone. He had been the recipient of many from his Pa as a young lad so he wasn’t completely unaware of how the process worked.
“Well, allow me to give you some advice,” the Judge continued. “The female bottom can take a lot more punishment that you might think. You want to be careful not to cease spanking too soon. It won’t do either of you any good,” he advised. “In my mind, a punishment doesn’t really begin until you have your woman in tears,” he went on. “Some make the mistake of stopping once they get to tears but for a serious punishment, this is the point where she’s going to be the most receptive to the message you’re trying to impart. You’ll learn over time what Charlotte needs in order to modify her behavior but I get the feeling she’s not going to be one to respond to a few warning swats.”
Ben nodded his head. Charli had always been strong and stubborn. It wasn’t altogether a bad thing. No doubt her stubbornness and determination had helped her survive these last months. Ben could see it needed a little reigning in though, if he was going to keep her out of trouble.
“Because you are just starting out, I’m going to give you some very specific instructions about how I want her punished for this particular transgression,” the judge told him. “As it’s in place of a judicial punishment, it needs to be severe,” he explained as he pulled a brand-new wooden hairbrush out of his jacket pocket. “I made a purchase for you while we were in recess,” he said as he handed Ben the brush. “She may already have something similar but in case she doesn’t, I thought it would be helpful for you to be prepared.”
“Thank you,” Ben said as he took the brush and turned it over in his hands.
“Test it out on your thigh before you use it on your wife so you have a good understanding of how much it stings,” the judge said to him. “You should never strike her with anything without a good understanding of how it feels,” he added.
Ben nodded again. It sounded like good advice.
“Begin spanking her with your hand to warm up the skin. The wood can leave bruises rather easily on cold skin,” the judge told him. “Whether you want to begin over clothing or go directly to bare skin is up to you. Once you have her in tears, you can move on to the brush. I expect you to give her a minimum of one hundred swats with the brush.”
Ben’s eyes nearly fell out of his head and he ran his hand through his hair in an agitated manner. That sounded rather harsh. He could come at a few firm swats to a female bottom to get her attention but one hundred swats with a wooden brush? That was going to leave Charli sore for some time and more than likely, sore with him.
“You have to understand that this is a very serious matter,” the Judge told him as he watched Ben’s reaction. “She could easily have killed someone or been killed herself. Keep that in mind when you’re punishing her. Remember, you’re doing this for her own good. It’s important that she learns not to make a mistake of this magnitude again.”
“With a husband to protect her, it shouldn’t be necessary for her to need to protect herself in quite the same manner,” Ben pointed out. “Don’t you think it’s likely she’s already learnt her lesson?”
Sheriff Johnson sighed and handed him a list he’d been writing while the Judge had been speaking. “That’s a list of all the issues and complaints I’ve had since her Papa died,” he told Ben. “I’m afraid you’re going to have your work cut out for you son.”
Ben’s eyes widened as he read through the list. “Were there issues while Jed was still alive?” he asked.
“She’s always been headstrong, but Jed kept her p
retty well under control. Mostly she stayed on the farm and let Jed do the town visits,” Johnson told him. “It didn’t give her much opportunity to get in trouble.”
Ben sighed. Charli certainly had done a good job of alienating the townsfolk in the past few months. Most of it was minor although it didn’t escape his attention that she had lashed out physically a number of times, particularly against other females. He shook his head. What on earth was she thinking? He was sure Jed had raised her to know better than that.
“Do I need to take care of this today?” Ben asked the judge as he looked at the brush in his hands. He couldn’t think of anything worse on his wedding night than having to discipline his new bride so harshly.
“I think we can give you a week to get it done,” the Judge told him as he looked at the sheriff. “I understand you might want a few days to settle in to married life first but be aware it may be kinder to get it over with rather than leaving it hanging over her head. Once it’s over, you can both move on. I’m not going to ask the sheriff to witness it, but I do want you to report to him once it’s been carried out.”
Ben nodded his understanding.
“I also want you to take control of any firearms she has. If she can let a gun go off accidentally, she shouldn’t be handling them at all.” The Judge told him.
Once again Ben nodded his head. The same thought had occurred to him although he was still a little suspicious of how “accidental” it had all been. He knew Charli had been using firearms from a young age and couldn’t quite work out how she’d managed to shoot someone unintentionally.
<<<<>>>>
Ben’s eyes nearly fell out of his head when Martha returned with a very different looking Charlotte. She was wearing a blue dress that brought out the colour of her eyes and her hair hung in ringlets down her back, with only a small portion pulled back at the front. He walked across the room to her. “I don’t understand why you want to hide this Charlotte away from the world,” he said with a smile. “Although I might be glad you did. If you hadn’t, I’m sure another man would have swept you off your feet by now.”
Charli blushed a little under his praise. “It’s not overly comfortable,” she said softly to him as she squirmed a little. Martha had insisted on a corset and the bones were digging into her. “Or practical,” she added. Ben’s reaction warmed her heart a little but Charli still ached to get home and change into something a lot more comfortable.
Ben smiled and kissed her forehead. He took her by the hand and led her to the front of the room where the Judge was waiting.
“That’s more like it,” the Judge said gruffly to her. “I don’t want to ever see you in my court room again but if I do, you’d better look more like this than the get up you were in this morning,” he told her.
Ben squeezed her hand when Charli opened her mouth to respond and was relieved when she closed it again and nodded her head silently. They were so close to getting her off, but the wrong word to the judge could undo things very quickly.
It was a simple ceremony, witnessed only by Sheriff Johnson, Martha and Henry, who shut the general store for an hour so he didn’t miss it. Nobody missed the fact that Charli stumbled over the word obey during her own vows. They were all relieved she hadn’t refused to say it entirely. Martha invited them all back to the store for tea and cake to celebrate.
Word passed quickly around town and several people came into the store to congratulate the couple. Eventually Ben decided they should be getting on home. “I’ll just get changed,” Charli told him as she stood from the table.
“You’ll be fine in what you’re wearing,” Ben told her.
“I didn’t bring the wagon Ben,” Charli told him. “A dress is not very practical for riding.”
Ben reached out and pulled her into his arms. “I don’t have a horse so I’ll ride yours and you can sit on my lap,” he told her. “There’ll be no more wearing pants when you’re in town,” he added firmly.
Charli was not happy with that edict and tried to push her way out of his arms. Ben held her firm, not willing to allow her to push him away. “You’re not the boss of me Ben!” she tried to argue.
Ben raised his eyebrows at her. “I believe the law says differently Charli Rae,” he said to her, his voice stern.
Charli stomped her foot and glared up at him. “I knew this was a bad idea. All you men want is to be the boss of everything!”
“Tell me Charlotte, did your Papa allow you to wear pants in town?” Ben asked her calmly, still holding her firmly in his arms despite her constant fight to try and get free. Charli instantly stopped fighting him. She dropped her head onto his chest and then shook it slightly. “We’ll discuss this further at home,” he said quietly to her. “I’ll go and pick up your horse and my bag and come back for you.”
Martha was already busy packing up food for Charli and Ben to take home. “I made a huge batch of fried chicken yesterday,” she told Charli as she began to pack some up for her to take. Charli would normally object to taking food, but she had a husband to feed and she wasn’t sure an omelette was going to quite cut it for his supper.
It didn’t take Ben long to return with Charli’s horse. He secured a small bag of his belongings to the back, along with Charli’s small bag and the parcel of food from Martha. Henry was going to look after his trunk until he could return to town with the wagon and retrieve it.
Charli loved riding and while she had initially objected to having to ride tandem with Ben, she had to admit she quite liked the feel of his strong body against hers. His warmth permeated her body and his strong arm wrapped around her made her feel safer than Charli had felt since losing her papa.
“Tell me about the farm,” Ben said as they rode along. “How has it been going?”
“We got wiped out by a storm two years ago which set us back a bit,” Charli told him. “We had to extend our loan to repair the damage and get back on our feet. If I can get a good crop this year and sell all ten piglets for a good price, we’ll be a long way toward making the farm successful again.”
“Sounds like it’s been tough,” Ben commiserated.
“Things are a bit tight at the moment,” Charli said. “We put everything we had left into corn seed and the pregnant sow. Ten piglets is a good litter size though and in about a month I’ll probably sell the first of them, just to get some cash flow.”
“Is the corn in?” Ben asked her.
“In and up with a good germination,” Charli told him with a little pride. “If the weather is kind, we should have enough for our feed as well as some to sell.”
“Are you thinking of staying in pigs or is that just a short-term plan?” Ben asked her.
“I’m not sure yet,” Charli admitted. “It’s been a bit of a steep learning curve and Papa died just as they were about to birth. I was so scared I was going to lose them without his expertise to get us through.”
“Have you thought about sheep?” Ben asked. “They’re really taking off in other parts of the country.”
“We don’t have fences,” Charli told him. “It would cost quite a bit to get the farm to the point where it can handle sheep. But maybe one day.”
Ben was quite impressed with her knowledge and also the fact that she was open to his suggestions. He wasn’t sure whether she would be or whether she’d find that a threat to what she was already doing.
“If you turn left up here, I can show you the crop,” Charli offered as she pointed to a track up ahead which led to the bottom of her land. Ben steered the horse in that direction. “I’d love to put some oats in, for feed and for hay,” Charli told him. “But I didn’t have the money for seed so that’ll have to wait for another year.”
“It’s not too late to put them in yet is it?” Ben asked her.
“I don’t think so,” Charli agreed. “But even if I had the cash, I’d have to find someone with spare seed and that’s not been easy. We didn’t get wiped out last year but the rainfall wasn’t great so the crop yields ac
ross the district were down.”
When they got back to the barn, Charli slid down from the horse and Ben followed her. “I can take care of Jasper,” he said when she reached for the reigns. Charli gave him a surprised look and for a moment he thought she was going to refuse him.
Instead, she gave a brief nod. “I’ll go on and feed the pigs and check on the chooks then,” she said to him.
Ben wanted to argue and send her up to the house but he knew he had to tread carefully. She’d been working the farm alone for months and he didn’t want to make her feel incompetent or replaced. He’d promised he’d allow her to continue her work and he intended to honor that promise, even if it went against every natural instinct he possessed.
“I’ll bring the bags up to the house when I’m done with Jasper then,” he said to her. “Do you normally keep him in the barn?”
Charli nodded. “There’s a couple of stalls up the back,” she said. “The one on the left is Jasper’s. I’ll just get changed and then be back to feed the pigs so holler if you can’t find something.”