After a bit of small talk, Austin got down to the reason for their visit. "Vera, after your talk with my wife, she's been giving this situation a lot of thought, and we've discussed it, as well. I think we've come up with a solution, if you're willing. I'll let her explain her idea to you."
Georgia smiled at Vera and Elliott as she began. "First, I understand how Ben must feel. As an adult, I know he has nothing to feel embarrassed about, but at his age I can imagine how he feels. And I respect the two of you for wanting him to get some schooling. If it would be okay with you, I'd like to come over here, maybe once a week, and work with all three of you. You can practice in the evenings, and the three of you can help each other."
Elliott and Vera were speechless. They both sat staring at her several moments, before looking at each other. Elliott was the first to find his voice. "That's very generous of you, Mrs. Barrington, but we just don't have any extra money to pay you right now."
"I'm not asking for any money," Georgia insisted.
Vera spoke up next. "Maria told me about your generous offer, and I was so happy to hear she had somewhere to go now. I want to thank you for looking out for her like that. She's a wonderful lady and we were concerned about what she was going to do. But at the same time, I knew you would no longer have need of me to help you on Thursdays, and I didn't know how else we would be able to pay you."
Austin spoke up before Georgia had an opportunity. "I'm very glad Maria was willing to come help us out. It worked out well for both of us. I wanted to be able to open a school for the children living on my ranch, as well as others in the area. When I found out my new wife has been a teacher I was elated. It's easy to see how much she enjoys it, which is even better. But I was very concerned about her trying to do too much. So Maria is truly a godsend. I feel much better knowing Georgia has the help she needs so she can devote more time to teaching. That will give her the time to come over here once a week, if you're willing."
Georgia had been watching Elliott and Vera's expressions, but she wasn't sure what they were going to say. Neither said anything for a period of time that was becoming uncomfortable. Finally, Vera looked up at Elliott and their eyes met. She had unshed tears in her eyes, and she looked over at Georgia. "You would do that for us?"
"Of course I would," Georgia answered, still not totally sure of the reaction she was getting from them.
Elliott was shaking his head slowly. "Why? Why would you do that for us?"
Georgia spoke honestly, from her heart. "Mr. Wagner, I'm a fortunate lady. I grew up back east, and there was a local school close. My family was not what I would call well off, but I had dreamed of being a teacher for a long time, and they saved their money so they could send me to school, allowing me to follow that dream. I believe everyone should have the opportunity to learn to read and write, and I love helping people achieve that."
Austin smiled and tried to help his wife. "When you told her the other day that you would love to be able to read and write, believe me when I say she would love just as much to be able to teach you how to. She truly does believe everyone should have the opportunity to learn how, and she'd love to be the one to teach them. So, what do you say?"
Elliott glanced at his wife briefly before nodding. "We would very much appreciate that. I would like to find some way to pay you for it, though."
"I'm sure we can work something out," Austin said. Elliott nodded.
Georgia waved her hand, as if dismissing him. "There's no need to pay me, Mr. Wagner."
Elliott frowned at her words. "I'd feel better if I paid you something."
"But I don't mind doing it," Georgia said, brushing off his offer.
Austin cleared his throat, trying to get her attention. When she looked over at him he gave her a look that should have served as a warning. "As a matter of fact, there is one thing I've been thinking about quite a bit lately."
Elliott smiled as he asked, "What's that?"
"That delicious cherry cobbler you made for us. I love cherries, but you don't get them around here much. Where did you get them?"
"We have a few cherry trees," Elliott said, "and Vera cans them for us. We have cherries all year long."
"That cobbler was delicious. Vera, if you were to send a cobbler home with my wife some day, I sure wouldn't let it go to waste."
Vera smiled proudly, until Georgia spoke up. "Austin, I can't believe you would ask her to make something for you. She's got a house to run. I'm sure Maria can fix something for you." She turned to Vera. "I'm sorry, Vera."
Before she could say anything more, Austin stood and went to his wife, pulling her up to stand beside him. "I'm sorry, it's later than I thought. I think my wife and I need to be getting home. Elliott, I'm sure we can work something out. We'll talk again Sunday after church and decide on a time and day."
"That will be fine," Elliott said.
"I'd be happy to make some more cherry cobbler for you. I'm so glad you liked it," Vera said. "Maybe we can share our cherries with you when they're ready."
"That would be wonderful," Austin said, as he firmly guided his wife toward the door. "We'll talk Sunday."
Austin waited until he was sure they were out of sight and hearing of the Wagner home before saying anything. When he did speak, it was with a low voice, in a very controlled manner. Georgia was instantly on alert. "Do you realize you hurt their feelings?"
"Me? I most certainly did not. You may have with our sudden exit, but I certainly didn't. I went there to offer them the chance to learn to read and write. How could that have hurt their feelings? I never said anything negative about them not knowing how already."
"Our sudden exit was so you wouldn't say anything to hurt them further. I caught your eye and tried to warn you, but you chose to ignore the warning and continued talking, hurting them more, so I left before you said too much and we lost some friends. I hope if you apologize to them they'll understand and be able to forgive and forget and will still take advantage of your offer."
"Apologize? I have nothing to apologize for. What are you talking about?"
"Georgia, Elliott and Vera are proud people. They've worked hard to get their own farm, and work hard on it, earning a living."
"Well, of course they do. I know that," she snapped.
Austin turned to her with another look of warning on his face. "Hear me out, wife, and watch your attitude. Although we don't think any less of them because they never had a chance to go to school, I'm sure there are others that would, if they knew. They themselves are ashamed of it."
"They have no reason to be ashamed. It's not their fault."
"I know that, but they're still ashamed and embarrassed by it, which is why we didn't know about it before this. They try to hide it."
"They don't need to hide it around us."
"But they don't know that. You can tell by the way they act and how nervous they appear when you talk about it. It makes them feel inferior. It's hard to be proud when you feel that way. So to make up for that, they make certain they don't have to rely on other people for anything. They work hard to make sure they make enough to provide all their needs. They pay their own way."
"I understand all that. What I don't understand is why you're upset. You're the one who left so quickly. They probably think we didn't want to stay and visit with them. I think you're the one who was rude to them, so I don't understand why you seem to be upset with me."
He stopped the horse so he could turn to look at her. He took her chin with his finger and thumb. "I told you before, hear me out and watch your attitude. If I have to tell you again, it will be with you over my knee. Do you understand me this time?"
He watched the anger in her face, but he kept his face stern and held her eyes with his. Finally, she sighed. "Okay."
He frowned, but let go of her chin and started the horse back toward their home. "When Elliott said he wanted to find a way to pay us, that was their pride. You giving them something for nothing would be charity in their mind, and
they are too proud to accept that. You brushing it off as nothing made it a lot worse. What you were offering was something wonderful to them, but you brushed it off as no big deal, making it sound like it was a small thing to you, not worth much. Either that, or you felt sorry for them, like they would never be able to pay you for such a gift, so you would give it as charity."
"That's not what I meant and I don't know why they would think that. I never said anything of the sort," she insisted.
"Yes, you did, when you wouldn't even talk about any kind of a trade."
"That's nonsense."
Austin was quiet the rest of the way home, and as he pulled the buggy up to the house. Georgia looked over at him, wondering why he went to the house instead of the barn. Still not saying anything, he got out of the buggy and came around and helped her down, setting her on her feet.
When she turned to go in the house, he stopped her and turned her back to face him. "Wife, I am not pleased with you this evening. I feel you hurt their feelings, and when I tried to explain why, you refused to listen to what I have to say, giving me an attitude instead of your attention. I'll not have that. I want you to go upstairs to our bedroom. Then I want you to go stand in the corner of the room, with your nose touching the corner. You are to reach beneath your skirt and part your drawers so that your little bottom is bared. After doing so, you are to pull your skirts and petticoats to your waist and hold them there. I want you to think about what I've tried to tell you this evening. When I come in, I will try again to make you understand. If you're still refusing to allow yourself to consider my words, I will try getting your attention with my hand on your bare bottom. We will finish this conversation, and you will listen to me, one way or the other."
"I will do no such thing," Georgia declared and turned to stomp away.
Austin caught her arm and turned her back around. He put his foot on the bottom porch step and before she knew what he was doing, she found herself laying over his thigh. She started squealing and kicking, trying to get down, but he held her tightly. "I love you and I will not let you fall, my wife, but I will not let you behave like this, either."
He quickly pulled her skirts and petticoats up over her back and brought his hand down with a sharp smack on her bottom, over her pantaloons. She yelped and renewed her efforts to get loose. He started spanking her, giving her sharp swats meant to get her attention. As his spanking increased, so did her yelling. "It's your choice, darlin', but if you keep that squealing up, you're going to have Maria and several ranch hands out here checking to see what's going on. If I were you, I'd keep the noise down."
She stuffed a hand in her mouth, but turned back to glare at him. "But it hurts!" Austin had to stifle a chuckle, as he could barely hear her as she tried to talk around her fist.
"I'm glad to hear I'm not exerting all this energy for nothing. Are you ready yet to go upstairs and do as I said?" He paused, but when he didn't hear a reply, he stepped up his efforts, which really got her squirming and biting her hand.
"Yes! Yes, I'll go upstairs," she said, crying.
"That's not what I asked," he said, giving her another flurry of stinging swats. "Will you go upstairs now and do as I asked?"
This time she didn't hesitate. "Yes. I will, but please stop. This hurts, and I'm afraid someone will see me."
He lifted her and stood her on her feet, facing him, and again pulled her chin up to look at him. "Then I would remember this day, my dear, the next time I tell you to do something. Now get upstairs. I'm going to take the horse out to the barn. When I get inside I better find you in the corner of our bedroom with your bare bottom facing the room and your nose touching the corner. If you're smart, you'll take this time to think about what I was trying to tell you on the way home. The more you figure out on your own, the less I'll be explaining with my hand on your sweet behind."
Without giving her time to object, he turned her around and gave her a swat, starting her toward the door. He quickly turned and went back to the horse and buggy.
He took the time to brush the horse out a little. He hadn't pushed the horse at all and they hadn't gone far, so although the horse didn't really need to be curried, he needed time to think and cool down. He had been surprised at the way his wife talked to the Wagners, but he realized he didn't really know a lot about how she grew up. It wasn't like her to be rude, and she didn't seem to know what he was talking about when he told her she'd been rude to them.
In thinking about it, it became clear to him that his new wife was very impulsive. He'd thought that on a few occasions, but it had never involved anything like this. He'd been upset a couple times when she did something that he considered to be dangerous, without thinking, but it hadn't been serious enough to address the situation. Now, after hearing the way she spoke to the Wagners, and thinking back to the impulsive things she'd done that had been rather dangerous, maybe it had been a mistake not to address them at the time.
He went to the house, knowing it was time to have a talk they should have had earlier. He hoped he'd find her standing in the corner as he'd asked. It would make things a lot easier for both of them.
***
Georgia went upstairs to their bedroom, and hesitated. She was angry, and certainly didn't want to bare herself from the waist down and stand in the corner like a child. She soon realized, however, that if she didn't, he would take her back over his knee. No matter how unfair she felt that was, she had to admit to herself that if he wanted to do that, she couldn't stop him. He'd made that perfectly clear just a few minutes ago. She reluctantly decided that her best shot was to do as he asked, and hopefully they could talk. She was sure she could make him calm down and see that she hadn't done anything wrong.
She slowly slid her hands beneath her clothing and with cheeks flaming, she pulled apart the halves of her bloomers. When her bottom was bare, she went to the corner and stood, hesitating for a moment to complete his instructions. Finally, she lifted her skirt and petticoats to her waist, hating every minute of it. With the air wafting across her now bared nates, she pushed her nose into the corner. She decided to use this horrible time to get her argument all ready, so he'd have to listen to her point. She stood there thinking, but realized she didn't really know what her point was. The more she thought about that, she realized she didn't know what her point was because she didn't really know what his point was. What was he so upset about? What had she done wrong? She was trying to help some neighbors. How could that be wrong?
She thought and thought, but came up with nothing. She started going back over their conversation on the way home. One thing she hadn't thought about before was when he mentioned they tried to hide the fact they couldn't read. That would be a hard thing to hide, and the more she thought about it, the more respect she had for them. They had to be very clever to keep people from finding that out. But how did they do it? What if they got a letter from someone? How would they know what it said? How would they do their shopping at the mercantile if they can't read labels or know how much anything is? How would they sing along at church? There were so many things that started coming to her mind; it seemed overwhelming.
Then more of their conversation came back to her. He'd said they were very proud. Well, they certainly should be, she thought. She didn't know how they managed to hide that fact. Then it hit her. They weren't proud of the fact that they'd been able to hide it. They were proud of the fact that even with all the difficulties not being able to read posed to them, they worked hard and were able to make a living and pay their own way for things. And she'd brushed it off like it meant nothing.
She hung her head in shame the second she realized what she'd done, and tears started streaming down her face.
Austin had complimented Vera on her cherry cobbler for good reason. It was delicious, and Vera would have had to have memorized the recipe for that, since she can't read it from a book. More importantly, her giving them some more cobbler was a means of them paying their own way. Tears started falling unch
ecked as she realized what she'd done. She had insulted them. It didn't matter that she hadn't meant to; she still insulted them.
When Austin came into the bedroom, he stopped short. She was in the corner as he'd instructed, her bare bottom presented nicely. He was relieved to see that. But she was crying. No, she was sobbing. He watched a few moments trying to decide why she was crying. Was she upset and feeling sorry for herself that this was happening? Was she scared? Or had she given it some thought and realized why she was here?
He hoped it was the latter. If she realized on her own what she'd done, it would make his job much easier. All that would be required of him then was to confirm she'd come to the correct realization, and spank her to let her know she won't be getting away with things like that in the future, and let her know he would be consistent with her. Consistency was very important in his mind. The spanking wouldn't have to be too harsh; just enough to ease her guilt and make sure she knows he's watching out for her and will always be watching out for her.
He walked up behind her before he said anything. He wasn't sure if she didn't turn around to look at him because she was obeying him and keeping her nose to the wall, or if she was deep in thought and hadn't heard him. He had his answer when he quietly said, "Georgia?" She jumped, and not only turned to look at him, but flung herself into his body.
His arms automatically went around her. "What's wrong, honey? I didn't tell you to move out of the corner yet."
He could tell she hadn't thought of that, and looked up at him. Her face and eyes were a mass of emotions. She looked a little startled, scared, and unsure, but mostly what he saw was remorse. He felt relief when he saw that.
She was still sobbing, but looked at him with very sincere eyes. "I'm sorry, Austin. I was terrible. I never meant to hurt them. And I embarrassed you in the process. I'll apologize to them. Can you forgive me, and do you think they'll ever be able to?"
"After hearing that sincere apology, I can forgive you, my dear wife, and once you apologize to them and they know you mean it, I have a feeling they will be able to, as well."
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