by Elly Knight
“I told you I already had some money put aside,” he explained, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “I’m glad you’re home. I’d like your opinion on what I plan to do before we begin building tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Charli gasped, unsure whether her weary body could take any more surprises. “Don’t you think we should talk about this? The farm really can’t afford to go into more debt right now.”
“I have some money set aside, the farm won’t need to find the money,” Ben reassured her once again. It was clear Charli wasn’t really taking in what he was telling her.
“Do you really think it’s a good idea spending your money on the farm? What if I lose it? You’ll never get that money back if we have to sell or the bank forecloses.”
“WE are not going to lose anything sweetheart,” Ben reassured her. “The piglets are almost ready to sell and the crops are looking really good. We’re in this together now. A partnership. You don’t have to do it alone.”
Charli thought she’d cried all the tears she had but fresh ones formed as her knees buckled beneath her. Ben was quick to react, scooping her up into his arms and carrying her into the house. Charli buried her head in his neck and sobbed.
Sitting in the rocking chair, Ben gently rocked his wife, holding her close while she cried. “I’m a terrible person,” she wailed. “You’ve been nothing but kind to me and all I’ve been is horrible in return.”
“I understand Charli,” Ben responded as he continued to rock her. “Your entire life has been turned upside down. It’s a lot to adjust to.”
“You should beat me. I know I deserve it,” she sniffled, hiding her face in his chest. A part of her really wanted him to, hoping it would alleviate some of the guilt she was feeling.
“I will never EVER beat you Charlotte,” Ben scolded her. “I might spank some of the stubbornness out of you but it will NEVER be a beating.”
Charli was silent for a few moments as she tried to process his words. “Are you going to?” she eventually asked, her voice meek and a little shaky.
“Spank you?” Ben clarified. Charli nodded her head. “What exactly would I be spanking you for?” he asked her. “For trying to get our marriage annulled? For running off without letting me know where you were going?”
“It obviously upset you!” Charli pointed out.
“Let’s get something clear here right now Charlotte Raelene. I will never spank you for upsetting me. I’ll spank you if you put yourself in danger or give me too much sass. But that will be for your own good. Not because I’m upset. Do you understand the difference?”
“I guess so,” Charli mumbled, her voice little more than a whisper.
“I have a much better idea on how you can make this up to me Charli Rae,” Ben told her seriously, his voice softening. Charli lifted her to look at him, waiting for him to go on. “I want you to agree to accompany me to the town dance.”
“Really?” Charli whined. The last thing she felt like doing was getting dressed up for the whole town. A spanking would be a whole lot easier to endure.
“I want to show off my beautiful wife to the entire town,” Ben told her.
“I don’t have anything to wear,” she whined.
“Martha has already ordered several ready-made dresses, one she specifically chose for you,” Ben told her.
“House extensions, new dresses, how much money do you have Ben?” Charli asked as she played with the buttons on his shirt.
“Enough,” Ben responded.
“Enough to pay off the farm debt?” Charli asked him.
“If that’s what we wanted to do, yes.” Ben responded. “But I understand how important it is to you to achieve this on your own,” he told her. “I believe you can do it Charli. My money can be our back up plan but you’ve worked so hard to get where you are now. I don’t think you’re going to need it.”
Tears filled Charli’s eyes. She knew she didn’t deserve a man like Ben. And yet fate had delivered him into her hands. She’d been a fool not to see how blessed she was. “Thank you,” she whispered as several tears made their way down her face.
Ben kissed the top of her head and then held her in silence for several minutes before speaking again. “So, the dance?” he asked her.
“I’ll go,” Charli agreed. It really was the least she could do after all the man had done for her.
“Thank you,” Ben said as he tightened his hold on her and kissed her head again.
“Why do you think we need a bigger house Ben?” Charli asked as her mind returned to the extensions her husband was in the process of building.
“I wanted to build us our own bedroom, one that doesn’t bring back memories of your Papa. One we can make our own memories in,” Ben explained. “I’m not going to pressure you to move into my room,” he was quick to add when Charli stiffened in his arms. “We’ll take our time getting to know one another again. I’m sure things will progress naturally when the time is right.”
“It looked like a lot more than a new bedroom,” Charli pointed out.
“I included a new living area and a small office for me,” Ben admitted. “We can turn your papa’s room into a bedroom for the children, when they come.”
“You want children?” Charli asked. It was obvious the thought had not occurred to her.
“With your good looks and my brains?” Ben asked. “Of course I want children. A whole passel of them if we can.”
“I’m not sure what kind of mama I’d be,” Charli admitted with a snort.
“A wonderful one,” Ben said confidently.
They rocked in silence for a time, each busy with their own thoughts.
“I still think you deserve a better wife than me,” Charli eventually shared. “That’s why I enquired about the annulment.” She squealed when she suddenly found herself upended over Ben’s knee with his hand landing hard on her bottom.
“You. Have. Always. Been. The. Perfect. Woman. For. Me,” Ben lectured her sternly, punctuating each word with a firm swat to her bottom. “If I ever hear you say something like that again, I will bare this bottom and give you a proper spanking, he warned her, finishing with several harder swats to the lower portion of her bottom. He then lifted her up and cradled her on his lap again.
Charli sniffled a few tears. Her husband had a hard palm, even through her clothing.
“I love you Charli Rae, I won’t have you putting yourself down.”
Charli’s heart warmed at his declaration of love. For the first time she allowed herself to actually believe it. A part of her wished she could return the words, but something was holding her back.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Between building the extensions on the house and his business in town, Ben was kept rather busy. He still helped Charli with the morning and evening chores but during the day she was left to the farm work on her own. The crops were growing well, as was the garden. Soon, she would be busy with the task of canning the produce so they had food to eat the following winter.
Henry purchased two of the piglets, keeping one for himself and selling the other off as meat through the store. Once word got out, Charli had no problem selling the rest of the litter. The coin they got for each was enough that Ben convinced her to keep the last for themselves.
Together they discussed options for their next enterprise, both agreeing that it made sense to re-mate the sow for a further litter of pigs. As they already owned the sow, it was a cheaper exercise than the original one. Charli invested the leftover money into extending their chicken numbers. As a celebration, she agreed to Ben slaughtering one and treated them both to several meals of fried chicken. The carcass was boiled down to make stock for soup.
Ben was still interested in looking into sheep and with Charli’s blessing, sent a letter to a friend of his who was already farming sheep. He would be a great source of information to help them decide if that was the best path for the farm.
Charli was nearly bustling with pride as Ben accompanied he
r into town to pay the bank the next payment on her loan. It felt really good to have achieved what she set out to achieve. “I don’t trust that man,” she said to her husband as they left the bank. Ben had to agree. There was something about Norman Banks that didn’t sit right with him either.
The last stop before they headed for home was the general store. “Perfect timing,” Martha gushed as they entered the store. “I’ve made those alterations to your dress. Have you got time to try it on for me?”
“We’ll make time,” Ben said with a smile. “Go ahead,” he told his wife. “The dance is just over a week away and we want to be sure everything is perfect.” When Charli rolled her eyes at him, he gave her a firm swat on the bottom. “Off you go and behave yourself for Martha or there’ll be more where that came from.”
Charli’s face blazed red. She couldn’t believe Ben had swatted her in public like that. Granted, only her and Martha were in the room, but it still felt very exposing. Martha only chuckled as she led Charli out the back. She was more than relieved that Ben and Charlotte were behaving more and more like a married couple every day.
“You are going to be the Belle of the Ball,” Martha gushed when she helped Charli into the dress. It had a full skirt with boning the helped hold it in shape. It meant Charli didn’t have to bother with cumbersome petticoats the way some women did. The soft violet color accentuated the blue of Charli’s eyes and went well with the soft pink of her skin.
Charli looked down at the hundreds of flowers that had been stitched across the bodice. The dress must have cost her husband a small fortune! Charli would have preferred to spend the money on farm upgrades or more animals but Ben seemed to be very stuck in his ways when it came to buying her things. She was learning that arguing brought her nothing but a trip over his knee.
Her mind went back to the evening before. Charli had made the mistake of stomping her foot to emphasize her point. Ben wanted to purchase new furniture for their living room that was almost complete. Charli thought it was a waste of money that could be better spent elsewhere. Ben had been quick to remind her that it was his money and if he chose to spend it on furniture, he had every right to do so. He’d then given the backs of her legs a few hearty smacks to remind her that stomping her foot at him was not acceptable behavior. Charli wasn’t planning on making that mistake again any time soon.
“CHARLOTTE?” Martha called, breaking her out of her reverie.
“Sorry,” Charli said as she shook her head.
“I’ve been calling your name several times,” Martha told her with a chuckle. “Where did you go?”
“Just thinking,” Charli said as her face blushed. She couldn’t very well share with Martha that she’d been recalling a spanking. Some things were meant to be kept between husband and wife.
“Let’s get you out of this and into your regular dress,” Martha said to her. “Are you still planning to get ready for the dance here?”
“Ben thought it would be fun for him to pick me up as if we were courting,” Charli said with a nod. “He seems to think we missed something by not having that time.”
“That will be Henry’s influence,” Martha told her with a smile. “He’s an old romantic at heart that one.”
When they were finished, the women returned to the store. Charli’s eyes narrowed when she saw Matilda talking with her husband. The woman had an uncanny knack of appearing whenever Ben was in town. Charli didn’t trust her one bit.
Hurrying across the room, she took hold of her husband’s arm possessively, glaring at Matilda as she did so. “We should be going Ben, it’s getting late,” she practically spat out. She pulled on his arm but Ben held firm, not allowing her to pull him away from his conversation.
“Just a moment Charli,” he said firmly. “Matilda had some legal questions for me. We’re not quite finished with our conversation.”
“Oh, I just bet she did,” Charli said derisively.
“Charlotte!” Ben scolded, appalled by his wife’s tone of voice. It was clear she was unhappy with him conversing with Matilda for some reason.
“For a learned man you can be quite stupid sometimes Benjamin Montgomery!” Charli spat angrily at him, before stomping away.
“I apologize,” Ben said to Matilda.
“Oh no need, we all know what a hoyden Miss Charlotte can be,” Matilda said, her sweet voice dripping with disdain.
Ben’s eyes narrowed as his natural defences rose. “That’s my wife you’re referring to there,” he said sternly.
“Oh, I meant no offence,” Matilda was quick to protest, batting her eyelashes at Ben. It roiled her that a fine man like Benjamin had been wasted on Charlotte Anderson. He’d be a lot better off married to someone like Matilda.
“I’ll be in my office tomorrow afternoon if you’d like to continue with your questions,” Ben offered. “If you’ll excuse me.” Without waiting for a response, he strode after his wife.
<<<<>>>>
Ben wanted to deal with his wife the moment they got home but the day was fast drawing to a close and they both had chores that needed to be done. He busied himself with unloading the wagon and seeing to the horses while Charli checked on the sow and the chickens. By the time Ben came inside, Charli was just putting a stew on the stove to reheat.
“Leave that for now,” Ben said sternly to her as he entered the kitchen. “We need to have a discussion about your appalling manners toward Matilda in the store this afternoon.”
Charli snorted and ignored him as she placed the pot on the hot stove. “That girl needs to find herself a husband instead of fawning all over everyone else’s,” she retorted.
“Your jealousy is somewhat endearing,” Ben responded as he reached over and removed the pot from the heat. “Your behavior on the other hand, was rude and unnecessary. Now go into my room, remove your pants and put that nose in the corner,” he commanded her in a tone that expected obedience.
“Like hell I will!” Charli retorted. “You cannot expect me to submit to punishment for perfectly justifiable behavior!”
“I most certainly can,” Ben said sternly. “If you’re not gone by the time I count to three, you’ll be getting the hairbrush,” he warned her.
Charli stomped away in the direction of Ben’s room and for a moment, Ben made the mistake of relaxing, thinking she meant to obey him. He bellowed when he saw that she’d made a dash for the front door instead and took off after her. She ran through the partially completed extension at the front of the house and out into the night, surprised when she couldn’t hear her husband’s footsteps behind her.
The moment he spotted his wife’s intention, Ben had gone out the back door and around the house, capturing her as she came out the front of the house and was about to run into the night. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground. “You’re going to regret that little move Mrs Montgomery,” he said as he carried her back through the house. “Where did you think you were going to go in bare feet anyway? You could have seriously injured yourself.”
Charli considered struggling but her husband was a large man who was already seriously irate with her. She decided it was prudent not to upset him further at this point.
Ben carried her into his room and stood her facing the only available corner. He then undid her pants and drawers and pulled them both down below her knees. Charli blushed as he bared her to his eyes. They may be married but she was still very much an innocent and the thought of him seeing parts of her that were private was difficult for her to process. Thoughts of her nakedness soon fled when Ben began to spank her where she stood. With one arm wrapped around her waist to hold her in position, he landed a flurry of hard spanks to her naked bottom. “You stand there and think about your behavior Charlotte,” he said sternly.
Charli was spitting mad as she stood facing the corner. Ben hadn’t left the room so she didn’t dare move. It was clear he was quite angry and she was already regretting the decision to run. No doubt her bottom was goin
g to pay dearly for that foolishness. She still didn’t think she deserved to be spanked for protecting what was hers. Ben was HER husband and Matilda needed to learn to keep her filthy mitts off him. Somewhere along the line, Charli had grown quite fond of her husband and thought of losing him to Matilda of all people, was more than she could bear.
“All right Charlotte, come here please,” Ben said sternly from his position on the bed. It was her last opportunity to be obedient before Ben gave her the lesson of a lifetime. He’d been watching her closely as she wrestled with her anger. The moment her head had dropped, Ben knew she’d resigned herself to her fate. He wasn’t giving her any time to return to angry.
With her head bowed, Charli turned and shuffled across to him, her pants making it difficult to walk gracefully. Her face flushed at the humiliation of it all. Tears filled her eyes when she spotted the hairbrush in his hands. He had warned her. Why had she chosen to ignore the warning?