Caroline wanted to say 'no', but she was ever honest with herself and knew she could not lie. "I regret that I lost my temper, Jacob. I am truly sorry for the way I behaved, and I shall accept the consequences for my behavior." There was nothing else her conscience would permit her to say, and Caroline grew quiet and did not speak unless Jacob addressed her the rest of the morning. She was all too aware that the sun was steadily rising and when it was high in the sky, Jacob would stop the wagon and permit the oxen to rest while he made her regret her terrible temper. Finally, the sun was high and the waiting grew even more intense as she expected him to stop at any moment. Her stomach was in knots and she was nearly in tears.
Jacob was well aware that Caroline was nervous about her spanking, and he decided she should be nervous. He was not going to let her off lightly. It would be a huge mistake, and she needed to learn that using her 'temper' as an excuse for bad behavior would not work. She might already regret her actions but he was positive she would regret it even more an hour from now. He called out a 'whoa' to the oxen and they stopped. He got off the wagon, helped Caroline down, and said, "We shall not eat until after your spanking is finished." He took her arm and walked her to the back of the wagon, where he put the gate down. He reached for a blanket and laid it over the wooden tailgate so she would not get a splinter, and then he looked at her. "I expect you to bare yourself from your waist to your ankles, wife. You will lie there and wait for me to come and set your hind on fire while I tend to the stock. Defying me at this point will convince me to cut several switches and use them." Her green eyes widened in shock as she recalled her previous experience with a switch. "I recall my promise to never use a switch again, wife, but your behavior now will determine whether or not I shall decide my promise was a mistake." He turned and walked away, hoping that Caroline and her temper would not test his determination. He knew for a fact that his father and his brother would not tolerate Caroline's willfulness, and neither would he.
Caroline looked after Jacob, her mouth hanging open. Surely he would not switch her again! Yes, he would, she quickly realized. He was even more upset by her wicked behavior than she realized and it would behoove her to do as she was told, no matter how wrong it felt. It was embarrassing to push her stockings down, but she did it, and then she hoisted her skirts up past her waist. She tried to get up on the wagon, but without the steps they sat out every night, she was unable to do so. Caroline dropped her skirts and went to the side of the wagon to get the steps. Once they were in place, she raised her skirts once again, climbed up the steps enough that she could lie over the blanket. She knew her face was red and she prayed that no other travelers came upon them. It would be a humiliation she could live without! Having Jacob see her in this position was bad enough!
Jacob gave Caroline plenty of time to come to terms with her temper and her emotions and get her hind ready for a thorough spanking. He took a wooden spoon from its place and walked to the back of the wagon, hoping she would be there and not hiding in the woods. She made quite a sight, and he almost chuckled at the wooden steps she was tiptoeing on to keep her position. He took the steps away and heard her sharp intake of breath as she realized he was behind her.
"Do you have something you wish to say, Caroline?" he asked, giving her a chance to speak her mind.
"I am so sorry for the way I behaved, Jacob. In retrospect, I cannot believe I was so childish."
"Very well. Now we shall take care of the matter of your temper and the fact you struck me with a wooden spoon." He raised the spoon and brought it down on her bottom. It was not a hard smack, but tempered and restrained. He gave her nine more just like it, and then he stopped. "That, wife, was the short spanking I planned to give you last night after you struck me. Was it worth running away from? Are you in serious pain?"
"No, Jacob," she answered in a small voice, feeling very silly.
"All I intended was to settle your temper, not cause you intense pain." He gave her a much harder spank with the spoon and Caroline cried out in pain. "Now you shall receive a much harder spanking with the spoon for running from me. He did not give her time to protest or try to talk him out of punishing her. He spanked her left cheek repeatedly, until it was a deep dark red, and then he switched to her right cheek and spanked over and over.
Caroline was crying and desperately begging him to stop the terrible spanking. It hurt so much! The spoon was an effective spanking implement, and by the time Jacob stopped, both her bottom cheeks were blazing! "I am so sorry, Jacob!" she managed to say, praying he was done with the punishment. Sitting was going to be nearly impossible.
"Are you going to run from me again, wife?" he asked.
"No, sir, I promise you I shall never do that again! I am so sorry!"
"Good. I shall consider that part of your spanking finished. Now we have the fact that you permitted me to search for you for hours, refusing to answer when I called for you... I cannot believe you would let all of us search like that, Caroline. All of us were tired from the day, hungry, and you punished not just me, but Will and Peter and their brothers."
"I am truly sorry, Jacob. Please do not punish me further. My bottom is very sore as it is!"
"Too bad. You earned a strapping, and you shall have one." He had already taken a piece of harness strap from the repair kit on the side of the wagon and without warning, he brought it down on her upper thighs. Caroline screamed. "Scream all you want, wife. You earned a good strapping and I guarantee that sitting on the wagon this afternoon is not going to be pleasant."
Caroline felt the second welt right below the first and she begged Jacob to stop. He didn't. He striped her thighs right down to her knees, and when she thought she would die, he aimed for the tender most area between her cheeks and thighs and he used the strap there... several times, while scolding her for her disrespect and for going to bed instead of behaving as an adult and accepting the punishment she earned. He then promised her another ten for that, and he re-heated her already flaming bottom cheeks and then ended with five more licks across her sit spots. Caroline collapsed in a sobbing heap when Jacob calmly announced her punishment was over.
Jacob put away the leather strap and the wooden spoon, and he found food for them to eat throughout the afternoon. Once he put the basket of food on the wagon he went to get Caroline, who was still crying. He picked her up and put her on her feet before closing the tailgate. "Let's go, Caroline. We have several hours of travel ahead of us today."
"I cannot possibly sit down right now, Jacob. I am hurting so much!"
"You cannot possibly hurt more than I did when I thought that Indian whisked you away last night," was his curt reply. He marched her to the wagon and lifted her high to plop her on the seat without a care for her flaming backside.
Caroline's quick temper came to play once again and just as Jacob climbed up, she reached out with both hands and shoved hard...
Chapter Eleven
As Jacob landed on his backside beside the wagon, Caroline threw her hands over her mouth and gasped in dismay when she realized what she had done! Her quick temper overruled her common sense and she shoved Jacob off the wagon! Her green eyes were wide with fright as he got to his feet and brushed off the seat of his pants with his large hands. When he finally raised his flaming brown eyes to look at her, Caroline swallowed hard but put her hands on her hips and said with bravado, "You had that coming to you, Jacob Willis!"
"Do you know what you have coming to you, Mrs. Willis?" he asked, his voice deceptively calm and quiet.
"You had no call to toss me on the seat the way you did, Jacob! It was mean-spirited of you! I am in pain and I already told you that there is no way I can sit on this hard wagon seat, yet you plunked me up here without the least regard for how much pain I am in!" She permitted tears to fill her eyes. "You hurt me!"
"And so you shoved me off the wagon? Pray tell me, wife, what do you think would happen to us if I had landed on my leg and broke it, or my arm...? Who would harness the tea
m and drive then? Who would do the heavy work if I was injured?"
"I was not thinking in those terms. I only knew that you hurt me and I reacted."
Jacob did not say another word but climbed up on the wagon once again. If it hurt him to sit on the hard wooden seat he certainly did not let on. Instead, he grabbed Caroline's arm and in the next instant she was lying face down across his lap, her skirts tossed up once again, and his hard hand was vigorously spanking her extremely sore hind.
"Owowowowowowow! Stop, Jacob!" Caroline kicked her legs in a frenzy. "Please stop! You are hurting me!" If anything, he spanked even harder and she was soon lying limply over his lap, sobbing as if her heart was broken.
When he finally stopped the terrible torment it was to rest his hand on her burning flesh and ask, "Do you have something you wish to say to me, wife?"
Caroline immediately knew what he wanted, and she wanted to refuse him, but the alternative did not bear consideration. Feeling humiliated she whispered, "I am sorry I shoved you off the wagon, Jacob."
"I doubt you are sincere, but we have wasted enough time today." He stood her on her feet and permitted her skirts to fall. "Sit down, Caroline, and we shall be on our way."
The last thing she wanted to do was sit down on the unforgiveable wooden seat beside him, but Caroline was positive he would simply spank her again if she refused to do as she was told. As gingerly as possible she sat, closing her eyes against the pain that was intense and excruciating. Tears leaked down her cheeks, and she did not bother trying to stem them. Jacob was being severe with her and he would just have to put up with her emotions.
Jacob grew angrier the farther they traveled. Caroline was making no attempt to control herself and her constant crying was getting on his nerves. She had well and good deserved a sound spanking, and he was getting tired of her punishing him with her tears. He was of half a mind to make her ride in the back of the wagon... or walk! Perhaps that would teach her a lesson? He pulled the team to a stop. "I grow weary of your sniffing, Caroline. If you cannot stop crying, then you will walk until I call a halt for the day.
"I would prefer walking to sitting right now!" she told him, her green eyes blazing furiously.
"I would strongly suggest you control your temper, wife, unless you wish to look forward to a thorough strapping when we stop for the day." Her face turned white at the threat and he wished he could recall the words. Perhaps she was sorer than he realized...? Without a word, he helped her dismount and then said firmly, "Stay with the wagon and do not fall behind. It would behoove you to think about your behavior the rest of the afternoon and how you might improve upon your demeanor. I shall not tolerate much more, Caroline, before I take steps to give you a thrashing you shall recall for the rest of your life."
"You are very good at making threats, Jacob. 'Tis sad you have so little compassion!" She gave him her back then and purposely walked far enough behind him that he had to look over his shoulder constantly to see if she was keeping up. Caroline truly felt like walking in the opposite direction but she knew she was too cowardly to risk running into Indians or other men who would not treat her with respect.
After three hours Jacob could not believe that Caroline was still walking. He kept glancing back to make sure she was not faltering, but she steadfastly refused to meet his gaze. He could tell that she was angry with him and in retrospect, he regretted tossing her on the seat with a thump. He should have been a bit more careful of her. With a deep sigh he stopped the wagon, wrapped the reins around the brake, and then he jumped to the ground.
When Jacob walked toward her in grim purpose Caroline was tempted to turn-tail and run from the look in his dark eyes. But, the constant throbbing pain that was her bottom told her that running from him again would be nothing short of disaster. She stood there, frozen to the spot, waiting for whatever he decided to do next. He put his left hand on her shoulder and used his right to raise her chin so that he could look into her eyes.
"I regret sitting you on the seat the way I did, Caroline. It was not well done of me to be cruel to you. Please forgive me...?" he asked. Her green eyes looked at him in surprise, and then filled with tears. She nodded wordlessly, and then stepped forward to wrap her arms around him and rest her cheek against his chest.
"I am sorry for shoving you off the wagon, Jacob. I need to learn to control my temper."
"We shall work on that together," he promised, kissing the top of her head. "We are going to make camp for the day. You must be weary from walking, and we could both use some rest."
"Thank you, Jacob." She had been thinking they would travel for another two hours at least and she truly did not think her feet could last another five minutes. While Jacob cared for the oxen, she gathered firewood and started a fire. It did not take her long to put on a pot of stew, and by then Jacob spread blankets on the ground, making them a place to lie down and rest.
"It is much too hot in the wagon right now, Caro. I thought this would be nicer."
She gave him a smile and dropped to her knees on the blanket and then took a position on her side, making sure her bottom did not touch the blanket covered ground. She was still in considerable pain from the spankings she had received. To Carolyn's surprise, Jacob removed her shoes and stockings and rubbed her aching feet. At first it hurt, but after a while she was nearly lulled to sleep, and after he finished, her feet did not hurt nearly as much as before. "Thank you, Jacob," she said gratefully.
"Go to sleep, wife," he said gently, and her soft, even breathing told him she had. He lie on his back, his hands folded under his head as his mind traveled back over the day. The spanking he gave Caroline was harsh, but she certainly deserved a serious correction for behaving the way she had. Still, she had been badly frightened, and perhaps he should have taken that into consideration. One thing was certain, life with his redheaded wife was never going to be dull, and he was positive that before another week was over she would be over his knee again for another spanking for some mischief or another.
* * *
"Caroline...!"
"Yes?" she asked, aware that Jacob seemed tense. She quickly looked about her, but saw nothing that should distress her husband. "What is wrong, Jacob?" she asked quietly, whispering.
"Come with me," he said softly, getting off the wagon and holding up his arms to help her down. He took her hand and said, "Let us walk about and look at this land."
"Is this going to be our new home, husband?" she asked excitedly.
"I think so, but I wish to explore before we decide." He held her hand and squeezed in excitement every time he pointed out something he felt she should see. "We would have plenty of water, Caroline, and the land is rich and fertile. There are plenty of trees we can fell to build our cabin. There are berry bushes, and you can see the deer tracks. We will have meat." He looked at her and said, "It will be a lot of hard work to clear the land, and we will have to work from sunup to sundown." When Caroline nodded, he asked, "What are your feelings, wife? Do you like this place? How does it make you feel?"
"I like it, Jacob. I can see our cabin right there, and a barn. We can find apple trees and make an orchard over there. I feel safe here. I like this place." She looked up at his sparkling eyes and asked, "Are we home, husband?"
"We are home, wife," he replied, then picked her up and swung her around and around while she laughed happily. He then kissed her thoroughly. "This moment would not have been the same without you to share it with, Caroline. I am a very lucky man to have you for my wife. Thank you for trusting in me so much and for following my dream."
"I love you, Jacob Willis. Where else would I be except at your side where I belong?" she said with a provocative smile.
The look of promise in her green eyes made him smile, as did her words. He pulled her close and the kiss he gave her this time was meant to arouse, and it did. His little redhead was the passionate woman that most men dreamed of having in their bed at night. Caroline did not seem to be upset if he turned to her fo
r comfort during the day, and she even instigated these moments with that naughty smile of hers. She teased him, but when he responded, she proved herself willing and even eager to make love with him, much to his delight.
"Now I know this place is home," he whispered later, holding her close.
Caroline laughed, and then teased, "What about all the other places along the trail?"
"We were just practicing for this moment," he replied, grinning. "Wife, there is work to be done," he said, giving her bottom a gentle spank, mindful that she was still tender from the spankings he had given her a few days ,earlier.
"I am ready, husband," she answered. They had talked many times about what they would do first, and it was her job to get a garden planted so they would have food for the coming winter. Jacob would help her clear land and plow it for her, but then he would move on to clearing land for crops. They would be lucky to get one field done this spring, two if they were extremely fortunate. Jacob would also need to hunt for food, and they needed to try and get a cabin built before the snows started. The work would be hard and relentless, and there was nary a moment to spare if they were to survive this new and beautiful land in Ohio Country. Caroline was more than determined to do her share and be a true helpmate to her husband.
The first week passed quickly. Caroline's garden was in the ground, and she and Jacob worked hard to clear a patch of land for a field of corn. Jacob swung his axe until he thought his back would never forgive him, and then he used the oxen to drag the felled trees to another spot where they would build a cabin. Getting rid of the stumps was another problem he faced, and the work was hard, but Caroline worked at his side, doing everything in her power to assist him. He was proud of her.
Caroline was delighted to be 'home' and she was willing to work hard to build their farm together. Since Jacob insisted that there was nothing she could do to assist him in the moment, she decided it would be a fine time to wash their clothing and hang it to dry. The day promised to be sunny and warm, and there was a nice breeze. She should be able to get their clothing clean and dry in one day if she was lucky and worked quickly.
A Man of Dreams, a Woman of Passion Page 12