"You good?" Arthur asked after finishing his dinner. "You didn't eat very much."
"Are you deaf?" Millicent asked, drawing circles around the potatoes with her fork on the plate.
"Guess not. Did you talk to me and I didn't pay attention?"
"No. Arthur, don't you hear Isobel crying?" Millicent asked, pointing with her thumb over her shoulder, to their neighbour's house.
"Of course I hear her. She's pretty loud and George is pretty angry with her."
"How can you eat while a woman is getting thrashed soundly next door?" Millicent asked and shook her head.
"She's not getting thrashed, Millie. George disciplines her. She did something wrong."
"What could a woman do wrong to deserve such a beating? Would you mind ... going over and making sure that everything's alright with her?"
"Why should I? She's her husband's responsibility. George is well aware of what he's doing. She allowed Lucas Sanders to fuck her thoroughly and now she's getting disciplined thoroughly. So, where's the problem, darling?"
"Isobel has an affair? With Lucas Sanders?"Millicent whispered taken aback and Arthur nodded.
"Yes. George caught them red-handed. He asked for a few men at The Garrison's, helping him to teach Sanders a lesson. Guess he's gonna lose a ball or two during this lesson. If he's a clever boy, he's already in Portsmouth, booking a passage to Brazil or America."
Arthur chuckled and lit a cigarette.
"I didn't know that ...," Millicent stated and cleared her throat. "Anyway, this isn't a reason to beat her."
"It isn't?" Arthur asked and lifted his brows. "She fucked another man. The only thing inferior to an affair would be that she killed his children."
"The children are hers too, by the way ...," Millicent started and got interrupted by Arthur: "And that makes killing a child ... what? Acceptable?"
Millicent clicked impatiently with her tongue and went on: "... and she isn't allowed to discipline him if he's having a mistress."
"Of course not." Arthur shook his head.
"Why?"
"Because she ... women can't discipline a grown up man. Just think about it. You wouldn't be able to get me over your knee, to hold me still, to keep me from wrest the cane from you and turn the tables."
Isobel's cries were quietened down and Millicent nodded slowly.
"Why do men get away with having an affair, while women get disciplined for ... kissing another person? Don't you think that's unfair?"
"They didn't leave it at kissing, Millie. You do know what fucking means. As I happen to be your husband, there's no need for false shame and fulsome decency, sweetheart. So, to answer your question: No, it's not unfair. You are mine, Millie. I don't want another man's cock in your pussy."
"And you aren't mine and it's alright to ... consummate the marriage with another woman?"
"I'm yours, of course." Arthur furrowed his brows and thought about his answer. "I don't know ... a woman opens her legs out of love or for money. She's a devoted wife or a whore, there's nothing between, not in ... our world. Whereas a man is able to fuck a hundred whores and feels nothing except lust. If I'd fuck another woman it would ... mean nothing. I would let off steam or use her for something I won't get in our marital bed. But there's no love, it's all about lust. I would be pissed if I'd get her pregnant. With you, I'd love to father a child."
"Arthur, that's just wrong. What is it that you don't get in our bedroom?" Millicent asked and stood up to clear the table, not only because it was her duty, mostly because he couldn't see how much she blushed.
"I get everything I want from you. That's why I'm not in need of a mistress. You allow me to let off steam and I can't think about anything what I'd like to try without you."
"You're a charmer. So, what you want to say is, you're faithful to me?"
"Yes. And if you ever dare to open your legs for another man, Isobel's today's discipline will be a walk in the park contrary to the discipline you have to come. Just as a fair warning."
"You wouldn't dare to discipline me, Arthur! I'm a modern woman, I won't get disciplined. I will not allow it." She filled the kettle with water and prepared the tea pot, trying to calm herself.
"Remember our wedding night, Millie? I will never allow you to do these things to me, Arthur Shelby. That's what you'd said. And now ... you enjoy all these things." Arthur gave her a smug smile and poured himself a drink. "So, most likely, one day you're going to go too far with testing my patience. And on this day, you'll get the discipline you deserve. I'm old-fashioned and stubborn."
"Arthur ...," Millicent started but stopped because she didn't know what to say.
He was right. She enjoyed everything he did to her. He could be a patient teacher and a charming seducer, and he also could be demanding, dominant, dark and impulsive. She loved both sides of him, the gentle and the rough one, alternating like the tides.
Arthur waited a few seconds for her answer and went on, as she shook her head: "Back then, when I grew up, women got disciplined all day. Slightly burned bread: Ten on the ass. Dinner five minutes too late: A slap in the face. Not being able to keep the baby from crying: Ten with the cane. Refusing marital duties: A good hiding and a rape afterwards. I knew women who were thrashed every day, living all around the year with a black eye and bruises all over their bodies. But today ... the war ... made us weaker and softer. Maybe we're more affectionate towards our loves, maybe we came back more thankful for only slightly burned bread, a too-late-but-still-delicious dinner and for being able to actually get to know our children. The war ... taught me to appreciate the peace."
"And you wanted me to stop fighting because you need the peace."
"Aye." Arthur smiled, but became earnest again: "I'm gonna kill you, Millicent, if you give your love to another man. You are mine, you stay mine."
"If you ever try to discipline me, and I can't think of a scenario which isn't completely ridiculous, I'm gonna go for a divorce, Arthur."
"I slapped you already." He said, lifting an eyebrow. "So, you leave me now?"
Millicent blushed and shook her head: "That ... that slap ... I've earned."
Arthur nodded slowly: "I see."
"O saints and martyrs! Did I ... just admit that ... you were right?"
"You did. I'm always right," Arthur smiled, took a sip of his drink and stood up: "I want you to say the word, the one so dirty you replaced it with kissing."
"You already heard me say it."
"Swearing, aye. Say 'Fuck me, Arthur, please'," he grinned and came nearer. "You're blushing," he chuckled and Millicent bowed her head. "Say it, Millie, come on."
His voice a whisper, honey on steel, hypnotizing, no way out.
"You are ... indecent and dirty, Mr. Shelby," she answered and sighed as he bowed his head to kiss her neck. "I want ... oh ..."
He'd reached the spot where her necks meets her shoulder, where every gentle touch, every kiss felt so indescribable good.
"Say it, Millie." Arthur took a few steps back and sat down on one of the chairs, leading Millie to stand between his legs.
"Oh, alright ... if it makes you happy ..."
"It does."
Millicent cleared her throat and said, demonstratively bored: "Fuck me, Arthur, please."
"You can do better," he answered and Millicent squeaked as she was placed over his knee in one smooth movement, her legs trapped between his thighs, unable to kick, her wrists crossed in the small of her back, held by his left hand.
He lifted her skirt, teasingly slow, and rubbed with his palm over her cheeks, modestly covered by underpants.
"Fuck me, Arthur, please," she whispered, eyes closed, tense in anticipation of a blow.
"Once more."
"Fuck me, Arthur, please!"
"Mhm, I will. Say it again."
"Fuck me, Arthur, please, fuck me!"
"Gentle or rough, darling?"
"That's up to you," Millicent whispered.
Arthur let her go, helped her to stand up again. He took her hands in his and said: "Was it that bad? Saying these dirty words?"
"No," she answered, shaking her head.
"Did it feel ... good?"
"Yes."
"Relieving?"
"Yes, somehow."
Arthur smiled, manipulative seducer he was: "And it's the same with discipline. You fear it, you don't want it, but then you notice it's not that bad, it feels somehow good and relieving."
"Isobel sounded like it was something very bad." Millicent answered indignantly and Arthur shrugged: "It hurt like hell, I guess. But now she's forgiven. The storm's over and her slate is clean."
"So, you want to tell me that you're gonna discipline me?"
"Aye. It's wrong to discipline a woman on a regular basis, or for minor incidents. But sometimes ... it's an instrument to make a new start."
"You put me over your knee and spank me, Arthur Shelby, and I'll leave on the very same day."
He nodded and repeated her words of her wedding night: "I will never allow you to do these things to me, Arthur Shelby."
"I didn't know what I was talking about. It sounded so horrifying and ..."
"See?" He grinned and leant back: "Do you love me, Millicent Shelby?"
"Yes, I do."
"Every other year a few slaps on your fantastic ass or a life without me. What do you choose?"
"How can you love me and say that you're going to spank me in the same conversation?"
"What do you choose, Millie?"
"I ... I choose you. Even if I hate you right now." Millicent answered and turned around to head to the kitchen.
She'd known that this man would be the dead of her. And of her sanity. And a little voice in her head said that Arthur Shelby was right. It's the dose that makes the poison.
"I can never ever attend a meeting at the women's club," she whispered to herself. "I'd want the ground to open and swallow me up."