AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is a continuation of the first chapter of my story "Two Hours." Please go read at least the first chapter of that story before starting this one.

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When Lily woke the next morning she quickly dressed and walked out of her room looking for a washroom. The night before Spot had told her not to leave the room he had put her in, but she really needed to use the washroom.

She wandered down the stairs and opened the first door that she came to. The room was lined to bunks, each with a sleeping boy. Blushing furiously, she backed out of the room and opened the door directly across the hall. This room was also filled with bunks of sleeping boys. She turned around and ran into Spot.

"What are you doing down here?" he demanded, grabbing her arm roughly.

"I…I…I…was looking…for the…washroom," she stuttered, blushing and looking at the floor.

Growling, he turned and drug her roughly up the stairs and into her room. "There," he yelled pointing to a door across the room and shoving her toward the door.

She stumbled into the washroom and took care of her business. When she walked back into the bedroom, he was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Come here," he snapped.

She crept closer to him.

He gripped her arm tightly. "When I give an order, I expect it to be followed!" he bellowed. She gave a startled squeak when he pulled her across his lap. When he smacked her backside several times, she burst into tears. After a moment he let her go and she stumbled away from him, her hand absently going to her stinging backside. He gripped her arms and shook her. "Don't leave this room until I come get you!" he yelled.

She began sobbing loudly.

"Stop crying like a baby!" he snapped, storming from the room and slamming the door.

Lily threw herself onto the bed and buried her face in her pillow as she continued to cry. No one had ever spanked her before, not even her grandfather who had raised her.

When Spot returned to the room nearly an hour later he found that she had cried herself to sleep. He growled, "Stupid child," he muttered, leaving the room.

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Lily walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter. "Gran...What is a wife supposed to do?"

Gran was the owner of the lodging house where Spot and the Brooklyn newsies lived. She was a short woman with silver hair, a warm smile and a kind voice. The older woman looked at her. "A wife is supposed to take care of a home by cooking and cleaning and giving a man children. When she gives him children she takes care of them."

"Where do the children come from?" Lily asked innocently.

Gran bit her lip. "They come from storks."

"Storks?" Now Lily was really confused.

"Yes. When a woman gets pregnant, a stork delivers the baby to the parents nine months later."

"What's pregnant mean?"

"When a woman is ready to have a baby she's pregnant.

Lily sighed. "I don't understand"

"You'll understand when you're ready to have a baby."

"A girl at my school said that married people slept in the same bed...is that true?"

"Some married people do."

"Does that mean he's gonna wanna sleep in my bed?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"He might."

"And he'll just sleep in my bed?"

"No. He'll want to do his business like he does."

"What does that mean?" Lily asked, frightened.

"That he'll want you to fulfill your duties as his wife."

"What is that?"

"You'll understand…he'll come to you when he's ready."

Lily fell silent, but still had a confused look on her face. Gran turned her attention back to her dishes.

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Bored, Lily wandered into the main room and glanced at the coat rack. She remembered seeing a rip in the sleeve of Spot's coat and wanting to be helpful, she decided to mend it. She took the coat off the hook on the wall and carried it over to the rocking chair near the fireplace. Gran kept her sewing basket next to the chair.

She finished the repairs in less than ten minutes and smiled as she looked at her handiwork. Humming softly she walked back across the room and hung the coat back on the hook.

Just as she reached the coat rack Spot came down the stairs, whistling. "Thanks, kid," he said, taking the coat from her hands. As he slipped into the coat there was a horrible ripping sound as the sleeve Lily had just mended came completely off the coat. "What did you do?!" he demanded, shaking her.

"I…I just fixed the tear…" she replied.

Spot looked at the sleeve in his hand. Without warning, he raised his hand and backhanded her hard across the cheek. "You worthless fool! You sewed the sleeve closed!"

With a sob, she raised her hand to her cheek as tears filled her eyes.

"Just go upstairs to your room," he growled. "I don't want to look at you."

She turned and fled up the stairs.

When Spot returned home that evening, he found another coat hanging where his coat had always hung. A simple note was pinned to the coat. It read, I'm sorry.

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Lily walked into the kitchen where Gran was busy preparing to bake something. She sank into a chair at the table and sighed deeply.

"What's wrong child?" Gran asked.

"He hates me, Gran."

"No he doesn't. He's just got a terrible temper, I'm afraid it runs in the family, Lily dear. He's just upset, but he doesn't hate you."

"I was just trying to be helpful Gran…"

"I know dear, we just need to work on your sewing a little more."

Lily sighed again.

"I'm making some of his favorite cookies, hoping they will improve his mood. Would you like to help?"

"Could I really? I've never cooked anything before…"

"Then it's time you learned."

Together Lily and Gran mixed up a batch of cookies and were just about to pull a tray of cookies in the oven when Spot walked in. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked, reaching around Lily to stick his finger in the cookie dough. "Gran, you spoil me."

Gran huffed. "Your wife made these, young man."

"Oh really?" he replied, sitting in a chair and propping his feet on the table. "I didn't think she could do anything without messing it up."

Lily bit her lip and turned away, determined that she wasn't going to allow the tears to fall.

"Liam!" Gran hissed.

"What? It's true. You saw what she did to my coat!"

"And she gave you a new one."

He opened his mouth to say something but stopped and looked around. "What is that awful smell?"

Lily rushed over to the oven and pulled out a tray of burnt cookies.

"I told you Gran! She's worthless! She can't even earn her keep around here!" Spot yelled.

Lily burst into tears and ran from the room.

"Liam Conlon, what in the world has gotten into you!" Gran yelled. "You shouldn't have yelled at her that way!"

"She can't do anything right Gran!"

"That poor child is doing everything she can to try to please you and be a good wife!"

Spot huffed.

Gran folded her arms and looked at him. "If you expect me to finish making these cookies for you, you will march yourself right upstairs and apologize to her."

Grumbling, Spot turned and stalked from the kitchen. He stomped up the stairs and threw open the door to Lily's room. She was stretched out on the bed and he walked over, shocked to find that she had cried herself to sleep. "Fool girl," he muttered, turning and stalking from the room.