Authors: Maggie Ryan
Edward smiled and then nodded towards her
plate.
“Very good.
Now, eat your breakfast, as you have a
great deal of studying to do today.”
Lucy felt her appetite disappear, and yet forced
herself to take the bite she had placed on her fork before his
announcement.
She continued to take
small bites, and when Mrs. Bremmer entered with a steaming pot of tea, she
dared to ask, “I’d love a cup Mrs. Bremmer, if you please.”
Mrs. Bremmer simply smiled over at her
as she refilled Edward’s cup.
“Don’t be silly, Missy.
Little ones need juice and milk to
properly start their day.
You’d
best leave the adult beverages to the adults.” She paused, smiling at the way
in which Lucy’s mouth opened.
“How
was your bath this morning, Miss?
Was the water nice and warm enough or did you wait too long to enjoy it
when it was steaming?”
Lucy blushed
and squirmed in her seat, understanding that this woman must know about every
single thing that happened under this roof.
“It… it was fine thank… thank you.” She was
horribly embarrassed, and felt lost in her normally stable world.
Mrs. Bremmer simply smiled and turned
her attention to the doorway.
Henri entered the room to announce that Professor Lloyds had
arrived.
Her mind whirling, Lucy
spun about in her chair, wincing as the movement irritated her still aching
bottom.
She saw her teacher
standing in the doorway, and prayed that he had not witnessed the embarrassing
exchange.
Her eyes flew to see
Edward push away from the table and walk to welcome his guest.
“Welcome, Charles.
I can’t tell you how much it pleased me
to have you accept my offer.
Please, won’t you sit and enjoy some breakfast with us?
I’m afraid Lucille was late to breakfast
and has just begun.”
Lucy wanted to
push away from the table but saw Mrs. Bremmer staring at her and pointing at
her full glass of milk.
Blushing,
Lucy reached for the glass and brought it to her lips, though her hands were
shaking.
She despised milk and knew
that Mrs. Bremmer was aware of that fact.
Regardless, she forced herself to take a swallow though she had to close
her eyes to choke it down.
When she
opened them again, it was to see her teacher sitting next to Louisa and
accepting a cup of fragrant tea from Mrs. Bremmer.
Lucy dropped her eyes to her plate
trying to refrain from crying.
She
continued pushing her food about her plate and heard Louisa asking to be
excused.
“Yes, my dear.
You may either sew or read in the
library.
Lucille will be with you
shortly, after she finishes her breakfast.”
Lucy immediately pushed back her chair
and stood almost knocking the chair over in her haste to get away from the
table.
She had taken the first step
towards her sister when Edward stopped her flight.
“Lucille, sit down!
You have not been excused and young lady,
you will remain seated until your breakfast has been completed.”
“I’m… I’m done, Ed… um, Sir.
I’m not hungry.
May I be excused, please?”
Edward shook his head and pointed at her
chair.
“You are not finished, Lucille.
Sit down immediately, and finish both
your orange juice and your milk.”
She felt Professor Lloyds’ eyes on her as she slid back into her chair,
unable to hide a wince as her bottom took her weight again.
She quickly drained her glass of orange
juice and then picked up her glass of milk. It seemed huge to her, and
contained twice the volume of the smaller glass of orange juice.
She looked up to see Mrs. Bremmer
standing behind her teacher.
Lucy’s
eyes widened, as Mrs. Bremmer dipped her hand into the pocket of her apron and
calmly removed a small tawse.
Lucy
sloshed some milk from the glass in her haste to bring it to her lips.
She swallowed again and again, forcing
herself to drink the horrid milk.
She saw Professor Thorne watching her with confusion, as he sipped his
tea.
Lucy no longer cared.
She simply wanted to get away from the
table without a spanking that she feared would be given despite the presence of
a virtual stranger.
After the last swallow had slid down her throat,
she gasped, “I’ve finished, Sir.
May I be excused?”
Edward smiled over at her having enjoyed the
entire episode.
He nodded and said,
“Yes you may.”
As she pushed from
the table and moved to slide past him, Edward reached out and caught her arm.
She yelped as she skidded to a stop, and
then blushed hotly as he lifted his own napkin to wipe her mouth.
“You have a milk mustache, little one.”
She fought back tears at the shame of
his actions and yet forced herself to thank him when he lowered the
napkin.
“You are welcome.
Now, run along and play with your sister
until Professor Lloyds is ready for your lessons.”
Lucy stumbled from the room, losing the battle
and by the time she burst into the library, tears were flowing down her
cheeks.
She found herself
immediately enfolded in her sister’s arms and sagged against her, crying
harshly.
“Shhh, oh Lucy, shhh.
It will be okay, shhh, honey,” Louisa
continued to try to calm her sister and Lucy gradually quieted.
As her sobbing stopped, she found her
face once again being wiped by a cloth.
She tore the kerchief from her sister’s hand and stepped back.
“I can do it myself!”
Louisa looked shocked at the sudden
change, but understood her sister’s confusion.
“Of course you can, Lucy.
I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Lucy wiped her face and turned to look back over
her shoulder.
“Oh Louisa, what is
happening to us?
What… what are we
to do?”
Louisa didn’t answer
immediately, but guided her sister to the settee, where they both settled
softly onto it.
The girls hugged
each other and took comfort in being alone for the first time since the horrid
appointment of the evening before.
Louisa knew her sister had a hundred questions and yet she also knew she
could not answer them all.
She did
the best she could.
“We are going to try to behave, Lucy.
We need to be good so that Ed… I mean
,
Sir won’t have any reason to punish us.
I know it is frightening, but if we are
good then he will be happy.”
Lucy moved back from her sister’s arms and said,
“Happy?
Why should I care if he is
happy?
What about you?
What about me?
God, Louisa, my bottom feels awful, and
I have never been so ashamed.
Even
being caned by Thorne was better than this.
Edward is a monster, and I will not stay
here and allow him to birch me ever again!”
Louisa sighed and knew her sister needed
to say these things.
She knew they
were also very dangerous words.
Louisa kept one eye on the library door, as if afraid they would be
interrupted at any moment.
“Shhh,
listen to me Lucy.
Where would you
go?
We have no one since mother and
father died.
You are his ward and, without
his consent, you will remain here.
Isn’t it better to try to be good and…. ”
“And what?
Am I to live in constant fear of your husband?
What about that horrible
housekeeper?
Do you know she
threatened to birch Molly if I refused to allow her to bathe me this
morning?
I know she did it only so
that I’d be forced to bare my bottom to a servant.
Do you realize how ashamed I was,
knowing that my servant, my maid, saw my bottom and actually felt sorry for me
at its condition?
I thought I would
die of shame.”
“But you didn’t die Lucy.
You wouldn’t have a welted bottom if you
hadn’t hatched that awful plan yesterday.
It was dishonest and wrong.
We deserved to be punished.
Lucy’s mouth dropped open and she struggled away
even as Louisa reached for her hands.
“Punished?
We weren’t simply
punished, Louisa.
We were caned and
then birched!
Father never would
have condoned such action.
He’d be
appalled that your husband punishes you.
And I know the truth.”
Louisa’s own mouth dropped open, and she
suddenly stood and turned away from her sister.
Lucy watched her and saw her shoulder’s
shaking.
Suddenly she was unsure of
her words.
“Louisa?” she asked
quietly, but her sister refused to turn around.
“What’s wrong Louisa?
I meant I know he spanked you as
well.
Your bottom was swollen and
so were your legs when he made us bare ourselves for our birching.”
Louisa continued to cry though she felt immense
relief that what she feared most had not yet occurred to her twin.
She felt her sister’s arms enfold her
and turn her around.
The two young
women cried on each other’s shoulders until they were cried out.
Giving a small hesitant laugh, they each
wiped their tears on their sleeves and settled themselves on the settee.
“I know we need to talk, Lucy.
I have so much to tell you, but it will
have to wait.
Please, just promise
me you’ll try to behave.
I don’t
know about you, but my bottom is so sore I can’t take another spanking for a
while, though I know Sir won’t hesitate to give me one if he feels I deserve
it.”
Lucy shook her head, thinking it ridiculous to
hear her sister address her own husband as ‘Sir’.
She opened her mouth but Louisa rushed
ahead.
“And, so you know, both
Father
and Mother were aware that he spanked me.
Father actually approved, and told him
that if he didn’t have the strength to take me in hand and keep me in line,
then he would not be pleased with our union.”
She saw the look of disbelief on her
sister’s face and continued, “Oh Lucy, surely you remember hearing Mother crying
at times?
You know, Father often
spanked her.
She was over his lap
far more often than either of us.”
Lucy shuddered but memories of soft cries filled her head, and she
realized her sister was correct.
She blushed, and felt Louisa draw her into another hug.
“I know it is hard to understand, but it
is the truth.”
Lucy squeezed her sister hard and then asked,
“But are you happy Louisa?
Doesn’t
he frighten you; isn’t it horrible living like this?”
Louisa blushed, wondering how to explain
how she truly felt.
She obviously
remembered so much more about their parents’ relationship than did her
sister.
She realized she didn’t
have the words to speak of such intimate feelings, and settled for the easy
path.
“I am happy Lucy.
I love him and he loves me.
I… I can’t explain it all, especially
right now, but please know that I do love Edward.”
Lucy was pleased to hear her address him
by his name and knew that whatever Louisa said, at least a small part of her
maintained her independence.
She was about to speak when Louisa quickly stood
and said, “We were just talking Sir.”
Lucy started when she realized Edward had entered the room silently.
Edward smiled and nodded.
“I
see, my dear.
I know you have much
to discuss, but Lucille has lessons to attend.”
“Yes Sir,” Louisa answered, and stepped further
away from her sister.
Edward stepped
into the library, followed by Professor Lloyds.
Charles Lloyds took in the two beautiful
faces, and it was obvious to him that tears had been shed.
He was confused about what was
happening, but would never presume to interfere with family matters.