The Farmer's Reluctant Bride

by Dina Chapel

  He stilled spanked her when he thought she needed a spanking. Mandy was still learning what was expected of her and how to behave. Sometimes she could even understand why Hank felt she should be punished. Mandy’s behavior reflected the environment in which she had grown up. It wasn’t a good environment, so it wasn’t always good behavior.

  She cursed at times when frustrated, something Hank had no patience for. She had been over his knee just two days before for that very thing. And then he had washed her mouth out with soap.

  Yet he was also kind and considerate of her, something Mandy wasn’t really used to. It made her feel like he really cared about her; the spankings made her feel that way too, which was strange. She loved the way Hank held her on his lap afterward, while she cried. He would stroke her hair and talk to her in a soft voice.

  And the marriage bed had proven to be something Mandy was enjoying more and more every day. She nearly laughed at herself at the memory of how she had feared the very thing she enjoyed so now. Hank had managed to awaken parts of her she didn’t even know existed. It just seemed to get better every time—well, every day, pretty much, since that’s how often they did that.

  A knock at the cabin door jolted Mandy from her thoughts. The door was locked and barred, something Hank insisted on whenever he wasn’t close by.

  Mandy walked to the door. “Who’s there?” she called out.

  “Mrs. Meyers.” Mandy immediately recognized the voice of Silas Johansson, Hermann’s son. “It’s me, Silas.”

  Mandy unbarred the door and opened it to a wet and worried young man.

  “Ma’am, I sure am sorry to intrude like this, but Pa sent me to get you. He says you got to come quickly.” Silas looked like he might cry. “Mama been trying to get that baby born since yesterday and something’s wrong.”

  Mandy immediately reached for her coat. Then paused. “I just need to let Hank know; he’s out mending fences.”

  “What part of the pasture?”

  “Toward the Henderson’s farm, the far end.” Mandy saw Silas’ brow knot with concern as she spoke.

  “That’ll take too long, ma’am, please.” Silas looked on the verge of tears again and Mandy couldn’t stand it. He was so young and so worried. “Pa said there’s not a moment to spare.”

  “All right,” Mandy agreed as they ran to the barn and quickly saddled her horse. They were on their way within minutes, leaving a washtub half full of wet laundry and a dying fire in the hearth.

  * * *

  Mandy heard Sara’s pained cries from outside the Johansson’s cabin. Silas took her horse’s reins as she quickly dismounted and ran inside.

  Hermann was pacing from one end of the cabin to another, while running his hands through his hair. Sara was on the bed, knees bent, legs open and drenched in sweat. Mandy sprang into action.

  Addressing Hermann, she thought it best to give him a task to focus on. “I’ll need fresh linens, wash them now if you need to, and cool fresh water. Also a few clean rags.” Mandy removed her coat as she spoke and began to wash her hands at the wash basin in the kitchen. In a moment she was at Sara’s side.

  Speaking only in a calm and even voice, Mandy began to soothe Sara while feeling her abdomen and trying to ascertain what was happening that was making the birth so difficult. It didn’t take long. The baby hadn’t turned yet.

  Coming out feet first wasn’t ever preferable, but Mandy had assisted at a few births that were breech and both mother and baby had come through it just fine. It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t impossible either.

  She would need to try and turn the baby. And she would need to do it quickly. Mandy had never done it herself, only seen a midwife do it. But Sara was counting on her. Mandy smiled reassuringly at Sara.

  “I have to turn the baby.” Sara just nodded in response. “It’s going to hurt, but it’s necessary.” At this last point she glanced at Hermann. “I think all the children should be out of earshot.”

  “Give them to Silas and come back here quickly.” Mandy knew she was ordering Hermann about now, but this wasn’t the time for observing the social graces. The second Hermann had hustled them from the other room and handed them off to Silas (who led them out to the barn), he took his place by Sara’s head and held tightly to both her hands, as Mandy instructed him to do. She would need to hold onto something through this.

  Working quickly, Mandy washed her hands, then dried them with a clean rag. As gently as possible, her hands manipulated the baby from the outside. Sara screamed in pain. Mandy was expecting it, but Hermann wasn’t. He instantly turned white as the sheets.

  Mandy worked quickly and efficiently and a few moments later, the baby was head down and Sara was pushing that little one out. Mandy was cutting the cord and dealing with the afterbirth before Hermann even had all his color back.

  Mandy glanced up at him and smiled. “It’s a boy.” After the infant was cleaned up and swaddled, she passed him off to his mother. Then she pulled Hermann aside.

  “I would send Silas for the doctor as soon as you are able. He can check the both of them over.” Mandy busied herself with collecting dirty linens as she spoke.

  “Stay close by. Sara will need plenty of rest to recover and she’ll need your help with the baby.”

  Hermann nodded.

  “I’m sure Hank can spare some time tomorrow to come over and help Silas with chores.” Mandy glanced over at Sara, who was smiling down at her son and beginning to nod off already. “I’ll just get these washed up and then I’ll head back home. Hank’s bound to be worried about me by now.” It was nearing nightfall. She’d be returning in the dark.

  “Silas can accompany you home.” It was if Hermann had read her thoughts; Mandy didn’t think she could find her way at night yet. “I don’t know how to thank you, Mandy.”

  Mandy smiled at Hermann. “I’m just glad I could be here. Do you and Sara have a name?”

  “Benjamin.”

  * * *

  Hank was soaked by the time he made his way into the barn. But he had put in a good long day and the fence was all mended. He shouldn’t have to tend to that fence until summer, he figured. He brushed down his horse and gave the tired animal some feed. It was late, and Hank decided to just take care of the evening chores now so that there wouldn’t be a need to return to the barn after supper.

  He was looking forward to a hot meal by a warm fire and a good strong cup of coffee too. Mandy was a good cook and Hank found himself enjoying having a woman fix his meals for him again.

  That’s when he noticed. Mandy’s horse was missing. Hank went to the barn doors and, looking out, saw that there was no smoke form the chimney and the windows were dark. Fear gripped him sudden and strong. Where was she?

  Had she left? Had she been forced? The door was barred, or at least it should have been. Hank had already spanked that rule into Mandy. Was he wrong in thinking that she was settling in and not wanting to run off anymore, as she had when they had first been married? If she had left without telling him, he had every intention of walloping her until she couldn’t sit for a week.

  He ran back into the barn to saddle his horse again, thinking at the same time what the best course of action would be. It was dark and wet—he’d be unable to track her. He had no idea which direction she headed (or was taken). He walked his confused horse out through the barn doors.

  Then he heard it. The distinct sound of a horse trotting through the sodden earth toward the barn. Hank stood just outside the barn doors waiting until he could make out the form of a horse and rider. It was Mandy.

  Relief coursed through Hank instantly, followed by anger. He released his horse back into the barn and moved forward to meet Mandy’s. She smiled at him when they made eye contact, but then the smile quickly left her face. Hank knew it was because his expression probably resembled that of a thundercloud. He grabbed the horses reins from her hands as soon as he was able and walked the horse and rider into the barn.

  “Hank—” Mandy start
ed, but stopped as soon as Hank held up his hand as a signal for her to be silent.

  Once inside the barn, Hank pulled her down from her perch in the saddle and immediately hugged her tight, for longer than just a moment. He hadn’t realized until he caught sight of her just how worried her absence had made him. He was more than glad that she had returned to him safely.

  He finally let her go only to grab her upper arm and pull her over to a corner of the barn where some hay bales were stacked. Hank wasted no time. He bent her over a high stack of bales, lifting her so that her legs dangled with her feet unable to touch the ground.

  Hank pulled up her wet dress and petticoats and pulled down her pantaloons.

  “Hank, please let me explain.” One hard smack to her bare backside and Mandy cried out.

  Hank pulled his belt from his pant loops and folded it in half. He saw Mandy turn her head to the side and see the belt and start to struggle. Hank subdued her with one strong hand on her lower back.

  Hank brought that strap of leather down hard on Mandy’s bare skin, laying a straight pink stripe across the middle of her rounded bottom.

  Mandy cried out loud and kicked her legs. She threw her hands back but Hank deftly caught them and pinned them against her back. She continued to kick and squirm while Hank continued to strap her bare behind with his belt, over and over, until the kicking stopped, and then the squirming too.

  Hank heard her crying and knew it was probably enough for now, but he still gave her a few more to drive the lesson home. Each lick brought renewed sobbing, but Hank was undeterred. She would never do something like this again.

  He stopped and Mandy lay limp and sobbing on the haystack. Hank replaced his belt and then lifted her onto her feet. Holding her by her upper arms, with her tears streaming down her face, he shook her.

  “Get yourself into the cabin and straight into bed,” Hank commanded. “If you’re not in bed when I come in, I’ll take my belt to your backside again.” With those words Hank turned Mandy to face the barn doors and gave her one very hard swat on her punished behind. She fled, crying, out of the barn.

  * * *

  When Hank entered the cabin after finishing the evening chores, Mandy was in bed and sound asleep. She had a soft snore, that Hank had grown fond of, and so he always knew when she was sleeping, as opposed to when she was just pretending to sleep and thought she had tricked him into thinking so.

  He walked over to her side of the bed and stared down at her. She had changed into her nightgown (Hank wasn’t sure if she would do that), and he could see the tears that had dried on her cheeks. She must have fallen asleep crying. She hiccoughed and whimpered a little in her sleep and Hank winced.

  He had punished her harshly, more harshly than he ever had before, and he knew why. He had done so in anger. It was the first time. He was feeling a bit unsettled about that. In fact, Hank was feeling rather unsettled about the whole day. Where had she gone? Had she been with someone or alone? He realized that, in his anger, he hadn’t given Mandy a chance to explain herself at all.

  Still, there was no excuse good enough, in Hank’s mind at least, for taking off on one of the horses without telling him where she was going. No, no excuse at all. That was just foolishness, plain and simple. And dangerous. He wanted some answers and was determined that he would get them first thing tomorrow.

  No, Hank didn’t regret punishing Mandy for acting so carelessly; she needed that punishment to prevent her from ever doing anything so foolish again. He was certain she’d never forget that strapping he gave her. He did regret not talking to her first or even after the punishment (Hank usually held her afterward, talking to her and comforting her, letting her cry it out on his shoulder). And he regretted acting in anger. He’d learned his lesson over that and vowed to himself that it would never happen again.

  Hank joined Mandy in the bed and fell into a restless sleep.

  * * *

  Mandy woke in the middle of the night to pitch blackness in the cabin. She was cold; so cold that she had woken up from shivering. When she rolled onto her back and her very sore behind hit the bed, the events of the previous day came flooding back.

  She whimpered and rolled back to her side. Mandy wasn’t ever allowed to rub so she didn’t even think to try—even though Hank was asleep. And, at that thought, Hank awoke. He immediately rose and fetched another quilt from the trunk at the foot of the bed. Mandy watched in silence as Hank, dressed only in his long underwear, shook out the quilt and covered her with it. Then he climbed back into the bed.

  Without a word, Hank pulled Mandy to him and then turned her over, her punished backside touching the bed for just a moment, as he gathered her close to him, front to front so as not to cause her any more pain. He just held her close and let his body heat warm her up. Hank wrapped his arms around her and Mandy let him. Even after the strapping that he gave her, she still wanted to be close to him.

  Hank reached down and, pulling her nightdress up to her waist, lightly caressed her bare behind. The welts from the belt were raised and Hank brushed across them gently as Mandy’s breath hissed inward from the contact.

  “It’s all right, sweetheart,” Hank spoke softly to her as he stroked her hair and back. “It’s all right. Sshh.” Mandy snuggled in close to Hank, enjoying the heat that seemed to always radiate off his body and also enjoying the fact that he didn’t seem angry anymore. She had been so worried that he was angry with her. He had been very angry when he had punished her.

  Mandy slowly stopped shivering in the warmth of Hank’s arms and wriggled against his chest as his hands began to roam across her body. Mandy recognized this action as one that preceded Hank wanting to be a husband to her. As she snuggled closer, she felt his stiff manhood jutting out into her lower belly. It was pressing into her uncomfortably, and Mandy usually readjusted herself whenever that happened.

  This time she reached down to try and adjust Hank instead, but when she touched him, he let out a groan she had never quite heard from him before.

  Mandy instinctively wrapped her hand around his large hardness and just held it for a moment.

  “Good Lord,” Hank choked out through clenched teeth.

  Mandy thought he sounded pained and immediately released him. “Was I hurting you?”

  “No, no, sweetheart. Please put that hand back where it was.” Hank fumbled under the covers searching for Mandy’s hand. “Please, Mandy.”

  She quickly grabbed him again and he groaned again. She squeezed lightly, feeling her way through this new experience, gauging what she was doing by Hank’s reactions. He seemed to be enjoying it.

  She felt Hank’s hand cover hers and start to guide her, having her pump her hand up and down his hard length. He was so big, Mandy was still amazed that it fit inside her all the way. Her fingers just barely touched wrapped around his manhood right now when it was all large and hard.

  Hank didn’t seem to mind. He just kept moving her hand up and down, picking up speed and moaning and groaning in a way that let Mandy know this was a good thing.

  Hank reached down with his free hand and fondled Mandy’s breast, pulling and tweaking the nipple until it peaked and then pinching and rolling the peaked dark pink nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Mandy squirmed in pleasure from what Hank’s hand was doing to her breast as her hand pleasured him.

  Hank was breathing heavily. “I need to be in you.” His voice was husky and deep.

  Mandy’s breath caught in her throat as Hank’s hand suddenly left hers where she was holding him and he grabbed her under her arms, lifting her up and quickly thrusting her down on his hardness. It was swift and unexpected and Mandy cried out in surprise and a mixture of pleasure and pain as she was impaled on him. A need she didn’t even realize had built within her was filled and Hank immediately began pumping her up and down on him.

  The pleasure Mandy felt at having Hank stroke in and out of her overrode the pain of having her welted backside slap against Hank’s thighs each time
he brought her down hard onto him. If anything the pain intensified the pleasure. It was too confusing for Mandy to make any sense of at that moment. All she could manage to do then was feel the pleasure Hank was giving her.

  She felt the intensity of it building as Hank increased the speed with which he pumped her up and down on him. With one final push down, Hank shouted and Mandy felt something break within her at the same time. Hank held her pressed down on him, and Mandy bucked on top of him, unable to control the feelings that caused her body to react to him this way.

  Her pleasure seemed to go on long past Hank’s because when she finally recovered from it, she looked down at Hank to find him watching her with a satisfied smile on his face. He seemed to be taking pleasure in her pleasure.

  Mandy tried to pull off him then, but Hank’s hands still held her hips and kept her on him. Too tired and worn out to even question him, Mandy simply lay down on top of him; it felt better to not have her sore behind pressed against anything.

  She nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck and shoulder and sighed with exhaustion and pleasure as Hank pulled the quilt up and over her back to cover the both of them.

  They fell asleep still joined together as husband and wife.

  * * *

  When Mandy woke the following morning, Hank was already up and out, most likely to the barn to tend to early morning chores, as usual. Mandy sat up and winced. Her backside was so sore. She didn’t think she’d be able to do any sitting today, maybe not for a few days. She wondered if Hank would make her sit for meals. He usually did that to drive home the lesson that he was trying to teach with the spanking. But this had been no ordinary spanking.

  It had been the worst punishment he had ever given her, and she knew he had been very angry when he did it. That was different too. All the other times, Hank had seemed so much in control and had lectured her while he spanked. This time he had just bent her over and laid that belt across her behind over and over. And he hadn’t said a word the entire time.

  It had hurt so much, and he didn’t hold her afterward like he usually did. He had just ordered her to bed. Mandy knew it was probably silly, but that seemed to hurt as much as the strapping did. He had still been mad. She wondered if she would be given a chance to explain today.