Please see Chapter 1 for warnings and disclaimers.
CHAPTER 10
Naomi walked silently with Chris on one side and Buck on the other, wondering what was in store for her now. Her impromptu escape attempt had not gone well and she desperately hoped that her last ditch effort to secure a more affable and lenient guardian was more successful. Chris detoured to make sure Yosemite would care for his horse then the two men headed for the boarding house.
"Well, good afternoon, Mr. Larabee, Mr. Willmington," Mrs. Whittaker said as they turned the corner to the boarding house. "Mr. Tanner and Mr. Standish said I should expect everyone for supper so I'm off to do a bit of shopping. I have a hearty stew and some biscuits on the warmer and I've left coffee on for you too," the woman smiled brightly at Naomi, "And who might this young lady be?"
"This is Naomi Willmington, Mrs. Whittaker," Chris said, ignoring the rather green look on his tall friend's face. "Buck's daughter."
The stout woman's eyes widened, "Why, Mr. Willmington, I had no idea that you had a daughter."
"Not many did, Ma'am," Buck replied forcing a smile on his face.
"She's been living with an aunt back East," Chris supplied. "Her Ma passed on some years ago."
"Oh, you poor dear," Mrs. Whittaker cooed, "Well, you're here now and such a pretty thing you are too. I look forward to getting to know you better, child."
A poke in her side prompted Naomi to respond, "Ah, thank you, Ma'am and ah, nice to meet you." Though she'd watched all of these people for weeks, observing at a distance was wholly different than being thrust into the center of their lives. The girl was reeling from her change in circumstances
"Take her inside and get her some food," Mrs. Whittaker instructed, "I'll be back soon to fix up a special supper to welcome Naomi."
Chris and Buck tipped their hats and continued on to the boarding house. All too soon they were entering through the kitchen door to what Naomi realized was her new home. Wasting no time, the blond gunman plucked a wooden spoon from a canister on the counter and took hold of Naomi's arm, dragging the girl unceremoniously toward a wooden chair next to a small kitchen table. Without comment he took a seat and deftly unfastened her trousers pulling them to her knees, with little regard for her modesty. Ignoring her outraged shriek of protest he tipped her across his lap.
Thrashing for all she was worth, Naomi sought Buck's dark eyes. "You can't let him do this! You have to stop him!"
"Stop him?" Buck chuckled. "Little lady, you'll be plum lucky if I don't take a turn when he's done."
The sharp crack of the wooden spoon on the seat of her cotton drawers cut off any response Naomi had intended. Chris didn't say a word but swiftly reignited the fire in her backside, paddling hard and fast. The spanking wasn't long, but it was effective and the girl was bawling when the gunman laid the last powerful swat to her scorched bottom.
Securing the spoon in his belt, Chris was quick to help the girl adjust her clothing and pull her in for a comforting hug which she had no time to resist before he stood her between his legs. "That was for kicking me and running off. You still got another lickin' due you for the trouble you've caused the past couple weeks. Best you know right up front, Buck bein' your Pa has got no bearin' on me putting you over my knee if I see the need. Understand?"
With a sniff, the dark-eyed girl gave a nod, not trusting her voice. She cast a wary look at Buck, worried that he'd follow through with his threat. Naomi honestly didn't think her rear could take anymore. It had been some time since she'd had to face such consequences and she'd forgotten how much it hurt. Her bottom lip trembled at the thought of yet another spanking.
"You can stop yer frettin'," Buck said gently stepping forward to put a hand softly on her mahogany head, "I can see that you've had enough for now, but darlin' yer gonna hafta learn to behave yourself."
"Why don't you take her into the sitting room for a spell while I gather up the others so we can talk this thing through and let them know what she's done. You know there's no undoing it now, too many people saw how she greeted you."
"Yeah," Buck sighed heavily, mourning what this was going to do to his social life. Gently running his fingers through Naomi's hair, he bent down to pick up the still sniffling child, "Come on ya little rascal. Let's you and me get acquainted."
Though she detested being manhandled, Naomi was too relieved to react poorly to Buck's tender overture. As he carried her into the next room, she realized she should probably show some resistance, at least demand to be put down, but honestly she just didn't have it in her. The past twenty-four hours had just been too eventful and she didn't have any fight left in her at this moment. "Later," she promised herself almost under her breath.
Chris shook his head, hoping his friend was up to the challenge. Buck was a good man a steadfast friend with a heart of gold. The lady's man had definite ideas about the fairer sex and Chris wondered how this would factor into his treatment of the girl, but he also knew that for all his jovial nature, Buck was no one's fool. He'd do all right.
Vin peeked into the kitchen. "Safe ta come in?"
"Yeah. Coast is clear."
"Girls are upstairs."
"You talked to them yet?"
Vin's jaw tightened. He knew what Chris was asking. "I done tol' ya, Chris…" Vin shook his head without finishing his statement, not meeting his friend's eye.
"Okay…for now," Chris replied quietly, leaving the last statement hanging as a promise of future discussions on the matter. "Can you get everyone rounded up? Need to talk. Naomi went and called Buck, "Daddy" in front of a whole passel of folks."
Vin whistled. "Guess that settles one question then."
"Yep."
Chris turned to head out of the kitchen and up the stairs, pulling the wooden spoon from his waist. He wanted a bath, a decent meal, a drink, and a bit of sleep not necessarily in that order. What he really didn't want to do was deal with two disobedient little girls. With a heavy sigh he resigned himself to the task, determined to get it over and done as quickly as possible.
He found the girls in Rhianna's bedroom. Shutting the door behind him he turned to face the cousins. "You didn't tell us everything you knew about Naomi. You snuck out in the middle of the night, knowing full well that what you were doing was wrong."
True opened her mouth to interject but Chris held up his hand to forestall the interruption. "I know why you did it and understand that you felt you needed to confront Naomi on your own, but that don't change the fact that you rode off in the middle of the night without telling anyone where you was goin' which was a damn fool thing to do! Can you honestly tell me that you didn't expect to be in trouble when you made that decision?"
Both girls looked into Chris's piercing green eyes, then at each other. "No sir," they mumbled almost in unison.
"You've got two choices here. You can both go bend yourselves over that desk, take your paddling, and be done with it, or you can argue and kick up a fuss and sass me. After which you can drop your drawers and bend over that bed and take a whipping with my belt. Either way, you were in this together, and you're being punished together so if one of you sees fit to make a fuss then both of you get the whipping." He pinned True with a knowing look. "Anything you want to say?"
The girls looked at each other. Rhianna was still tender from yesterday and she really didn't want another whipping so soon. She silently implored True not to fight Chris on this. Not that a paddling would be all that wonderful but better than his belt on bare skin.
"That ain't much of a choice," True quipped. The sting from Ezra's spanking was gone but that didn't mean she was anxious to have her tail set on fire again. Sure she'd been expecting it. In fact she was surprised Vin hadn't come in yet. She hadn't thought he'd leave the task to Chris, and somehow this change in practice bothered her.
"Only one you're getting."
"It ain't fair!" True stated stomping her foot, and Rhianna closed her eyes with a sigh of resignation. Sometimes she really just wanted to smack the younger girl upside the head. "We're the ones she wronged the most!"
Chris's hand went for the buckled on his belt. "Guess you're choosing the whippin'."
True shot a look at Rhianna. "Didn't say that," she replied a pout on her face. Her emotions were all a jumble and that put her out of sorts. True wanted nothing more than to vent her temper, even if it did mean a whipping instead of a paddling. She had expected the whipping anyway. Still, she didn't want to doom her cousin…what was with that anyway? Why should her actions impact Rhianna's punishment? Nothing made sense anymore and it was all Naomi's fault!
"Ya know Ezra already done spanked me," she said querulously.
"What for?" Chris had guessed as much but hadn't discussed it with the Southerner.
True looked down, a blush rising to her cheeks. "The way I been actin' toward Vin."
"Guess that's one less thing that I'll be needin' to deal with then. You've still got to answer for sneaking out and leaving town in the middle of the night, telling nary a soul where you were going. I'm willing to overlook the fighting," at the look on True's face Chris shook his head, "Don't even try. I know you too well, little girl. Seriously doubt Naomi and you just happened to fall in the lake either. Two of you could have caught your death of cold this time of year. You can consider it a gift that I'm letting a few things slide. Now make your choice," Chris all but growled.
Though it took every ounce of willpower she had, True rose from the bed and moved to place herself over the desk. Relieved by her cousin's decision, Rhianna was quick to do the same. Chris stepped over and brought the spoon down with a powerful smack on first one and then the other backside in front of him, eliciting a yelp from each girl in turn. He alternated back and forth landing one swat on a skirt-clad bottom and one on the denim-clad bottom. After delivering no less than twenty swats to each, he put a hand on True's back, pushing her slightly forward while holding her in place as he let the spoon fall sharply on the under curve of her bottom five times, hardening his heart to the squeals of pain. He then did the same with Rhianna, putting the spoon back into his belt when he was finished.
He then drew both girls into his arms and let them cry themselves out. They clung to him, taking solace in his strong arms. Both children were still wrought with emotion and Chris's embrace bespoke safety and stability. No matter what happened, Chris would be there, immovable as a mountain to dispense discipline or love as he saw fit.
"The two of you aren't to ride your horses for the next week. Understand?"
"Yes, Sir," Rhianna sniffed while True bristled at the words.
"You missed school today so next Saturday, you can spend the morning doing whatever work Lauren sees fit to assign."
"Ah, Chris, we already done been paddled," True whined taking a step back with a scowl on her face. "It ain't fuckin' fair!"
A mighty swat brought True up on her toes. "If you don't watch your mouth, you could still earn yourself a taste of my belt," he replied curtly. True's backside hurt badly enough that she bit her tongue. Once Chris was confident she wasn't going to fight him on the punishment he continued. "Now, having Naomi here's gonna take some getting used to. I know she's done a lot of wrong, but you're to let us deal with that. No fighting or trying to get even."
True scowled at this. If Chris thought she was going to be nice to Naomi after all she'd done, he had another thing coming.
"I don't expect you to be best of friends, but I do expect you to stay out of trouble," Chris warned seeing the look on True's face.
"You tellin' her the same thing?" True demanded fiercely.
"Yep."
Defiant blue eyes met resolute green ones in silent confrontation. Chris was no fool. He knew good and well that there were going to be more than a few rough times ahead between the girls but he might as well try to avert as much strife as possible.
"Let it go for now, True," Rhianna warned softly, aware that Chris was at the end of his patience.
"I ain't bein' nice to the guppy!" True finally spat out.
Chris's eyes narrowed. He understood True had been through a lot and he had tried to cut her some slack, but he had had enough. Grabbing her up and bending her over his hip, he yanked down the baggy trousers and landed ten swats on her bare backside since True had taken off her longjohns after falling in the lake. He then righted her clothes and stood her before him taking her chin in his hand.
"I've had all the attitude I'm gonna take. I know this has been hard on you, but that don't mean you get free rein. I didn't say you had to be nice to her, but you're gonna be civil and not start any trouble."
True's lip quivered and tears streamed down her face. With a sigh, Chris picked the girl up and she wrapped her arms around the gunman, burrowing her head into his shoulder. He ran a hand through her tangled hair and dropped a kiss on her brow. "I love you baby girl. There are gonna be some changes, sure, but that's not gonna change and neither are the rules or consequences. Understand?"
"Yes sir."
Chris set her down. "Wash your faces and change your clothes then come downstairs. We all have a few things to discuss. Have you eaten?"
"Yes, we had some stew and biscuits," Rhianna answered.
Chris gave a nod and headed downstairs.
TBC...
A GREAT BIG THANK YOU TO WOLFPYRE FOR HELPING WITH TRUE'S SCENE!