I'd really love to know why has such a huge problem with line breaks. It deletes them after I upload here, so I have to re-do them, and in an untraditional way or they won't stick. Grrr. Have I said how much I love you guys for sticking around? I crack up when I see how long this story has gotten. And to think, it was only supposed to be 36 chapters max. But more on that later. On with the story.
She hung up the phone not exactly irritated, not surprised, but not happy either. It was just like Duke to rush headlong into a situation before knowing the full story. Good thing Landry had gotten to him before Caroline did. That girl could twist Duke around her pinky finger five ways to Sunday. If Caroline'd had her way, Duke would be at her office door, not simply in her cell phone.
Landry was the man that the girls, all of them respected, but Duke he was the one they loved. He was more like a big brother to the lot than anything else. Loved showering them with gifts, and going behind Landry's back and allowing anything under the sun, especially if Landry'd forbidden it. Teaching all his girls to shoot guns,He loved to make Landry mad, just like when they were boys.
He'd been her tagging along little brother, a nuisance, but she'd loved him. Could talk him into anything, there was many a time he was her partner in crime as well as her scape was usually above reproach, Caroline was never home, so she and Duke were the ones singled out for getting in trouble. No matter that they truly deserved it.
Big Daddy had often announced before sending her to her mother for a whipping, she was a 'consternation as to how a girl could get in so much trouble.' He'd never said so, but she always felt that Big Daddy loved her all the more for her rough and tumble ways, truly she was just a dressed up southern tomboy.
She closed her eyes remembering home on those hot sticky summer days.
Landry was Big Daddy's favorite son, his pride and joy that's for sure. For as long as she could remember, which was quite a ways back, Landry had always wanted to be, "just like Daddy", and to please him. And he succeeded. Charlotte couldn't count the number of times during cocktail parties she'd heard a laughing man or crooning woman's voice say, "Landry's like his Daddy, for sure. Gonna make your Daddy proud some day, huh son?"
Landry would be adroightly talking about horses and horse racing or how the crops were doing in the area, the economy, money- anything man was welcomed into the 'men's parlor' with Big Daddy at first like a cute immitative monkey, later because he seemed to belong and fit in there like the woodwork.
Charlotte was only around for 'a dash of charm' as her father'd put it, and to bring the men's drinks because as Big Daddy'd said, it was cute. He'd say in the presence of his friends that she was his bit of 'gentility' and give her a tweek on the nose and a wink, knowing that while she was dressed up like a precious little girl, that she'd most likely been outside playing with the dogs or climbing trees before the sun set, and that she'd give anything to ditch her itchy starched dress for a pair of overalls or cut off shorts.
She didn't live in a time or a place where you said what you wanted. You did what you were told. She was no taller than his desk when she'd carried in the men's drinks, getting a pinch on the cheek, a slap on the bottom, a nickle, or what the men thought was hilarious a smoke of a cigar, a taste of brandy or a chew of tobacco. Charlotte always knew she could refuse these things, but she always wanted to make Big Daddy happy, and when she could make him or his friends laugh she was proud. But as she got older she vowed that someday she'd actually have accomplishments that they couldn't laugh at. Someday she'd be respected in their eyes.
Her thoughts trailed back to Duke. Big Daddy had always liken his boys to horses. Landry was the dependable, reliable work horse. A work horse knew his place and was content in it. Never wanted anything more than it had, was willing to do a hard day's work and be satified with that.
And Big Daddy was right. That fit Landry to a tee. The way of the wealthy Southern gentlemen was to Landry like a sip of lemonade on a hot day, it was natural, comfortable, something wanted and not fought against. Duke however, was more like a willful thoroughbred. They fought being owned, being told what to do, they had to be beaten into submission, but they never truly submitted. In truth Duke hated the life he was brought up and expected to lead, he fought against it in every way. And while Big Daddy used to rebuke him sharply for his missteps, he eventually stopped and let his youngest child have his way.
Once, when she'd finished medical school, while Duke was in the middle of his wild college years nearly having been thrown out and saved by Big Daddy alone, she'd asked about him. She'd actually become concerned that his reckless lifestyle would lead to some bad ends.
Big Daddy's shaken his head and patted her hand, as though once again she were a foolish child.
"Sometimes you just gotta let a horse run," he'd told her. "Try to hold them back too long and they fight the bit, you gotta give them their head, let them run if they've a mind to. Even a horse has sense, it might run wild, even run off, but in the end it comes back. You just gotta let him run. Let him have his wild streak. "
"Your Duke was never like Landry."
"Your Duke" was a reference to a childhood moniker she'd given Duke. Having been the youngest till he came along, Charlotte eventually came to accept Duke in her life as though he were one of the family pets. So instead of being her brother Duke, he was 'her Duke' or 'my Duke'. If she wanted someone to pull her around in the wagon, Duke would do it. All she'd have to say was, "Come 'ere, Duke!" And Duke would come like an obedient puppy.
" They're both fine,"Big Daddy'd continued, "smart boys, but different as a hound and a fox. Different sides of the same coin. Don't you worry your head about that boy, Charlotte," he'd assured her, "he's running now, but trust me someone's still got a hold of the reins. He'll come to no bad ends."
She blinked then, opening her eyes, not entirely certain if she'd just been lost in thought or actually fallen asleep. She gave herself a little shake, stood up and decided it was time to patrol the hospital. She was stepping out of her office when she saw Addison walking down the hall.
"Montgomery!" She called out.
She saw Addison stop, then obediently turn around.
"Don't act like you're in a hurry, you're not wearing any scrubs and I know you're not doing any surgeries here today."
"Well good morning to you too, Charlotte."
She gave a curt nod in response.
"I wanna talk to you about something." She motioned to her office.
"What can I do for you, Charlotte?"
Charlotte King seemed to be either uncomfortable, at a loss for words, or both. Finally, with pursed lips she managed to ask, "Did you see anything in Luanne's initial pelvic to indicate problems in delivery?"
Addison was surprised.
"Other than the fact that the girl's hips are too under-developed to accommodate the delivery of a full term baby?"
Charlotte stared at her, one eyebrow up, irritated.
"You could look at the file yourself, you know."
"I'm asking you."
Addison sighed, knowing that Charlotte knew almost nothing about the results of the exam.
"Yes," she answered slowly, " I did see things to give me cause for concern."
Charlotte just stared at her impatiently.
"There were still visible signs of trauma apparent. Fading bruises, she had 2nd degree tears in both her vagina and her anus, tears that should have been stitched closed but weren't," she took a breath chancing to say what she thought, " as she should have been taken to a doctor, but wasn't."
Charlotte looked away then at her defiantly.
"There was a sizeable mass of scar tissue which would have been a big concern for delivery, thankfully I was able to remove all of it. I do think it would be wise to perform another pelvic just to see-"
"No."
"Charlotte, she needs prenatal exams, if not for the baby's sake then for hers. If-"
"No. It's a little late for that now, anyway. And no."
"I performed a pelvic on her last week," Charlotte continued, "There was no scar tissue- she's fine."
"Yes, Cooper told me. A hasty pelvic exam in the dark, that was basically to check for internal bleeding."
"She's fine."
"If you think she's fine, then why did you call me in here to ask about the results of the exam?"
Charlotte looked visibly flustered. She grabbed a random clipboard that she had no use for then motioned to the door.
"You can go, Dr. Montgomery."
Addison smiled, but couldn't keep the laughter from her eyes.
"You're welcome. Dr. King."
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
"You know what? I think I've decided something."
She smiled at Cooper as he stepped into her office at Pacific Wellcare.
"Oh?"
He'd not told her what his patient's mother had said to Caroline the day before, but he was sure Caroline had. He was about to comment on it when Charlotte continued quickly,
"Yeah. I think I'm gonna tell Addison to do a C-section on Luanne."
He brightened. "Good idea." He tried to sound impressed instead of aggrivated that she hadn't come to this conclusion sooner.
"I mean, let's be serious, that baby gets any bigger, there's no way she can deliver on her own. I'd say by the time she gets to eight months," she shook her head thinking how that seemed like eons of time, "that baby is gonna be close to over-done."
"Char?" He asked hesitently, knowing how she'd receive his question, but needing to ask anyway.
"What?"
"You might want to ask her first, if she'd be willing to do the c-section. Does she even know you wanted her to deliver the baby in the first place?"
Charlotte shrugged then waved the question away. "Of course! Who else would I have do it?"
"Does she know?"
"Of couse she does. It's obvious."
..............................................................................................................................................................................................................
They'd had sex. In her office. Cooper wasn't sure if it was because her mood had improved, or because it hadn't. But she'd initiated it, and he was happy to oblige. However, it did make him a half hour later in returning downstairs than he'd originally planned.
Happy to see Addison was still at work in her office, he knocked on the door lightly, then stepped inside.
"Hey, Addison?"
"Yes?" She smiled at him from the computer screen she'd been looking at.
"Did you know that Charlotte was planning on having you deliver Caroline's baby?"
"No, I didn't. She's certainly not said anything about it to me."
"And that she wants Caroline to deliver here, at our practice?"
"Negative." She jabbed at some keys then closed her laptop. "Does anyone besides you know Charlotte's wishes on this?"
Cooper stepped into her office sheepishly, replying apologetically,
"I kind of doubt it."
"I figured."
"Did I mention that Charlotte is now thinking that a C-section is the way to go? Of course it is major surgery so she'd rather Caroline not need that at all, but she's considering that if Caroline goes anywhere close to full term, that might be the road that needs to be taken."
Addison smiled, remembering her morning conversation with Charlotte. It was cute that Charlotte was trying to pass it off as her idea.
"You didn't, but I'd say that's a good choice. We can get that scheduled. She definitely wouldn't be able to accommodate a vaginal delivery if the baby is full term, not without risking injury."
Dell cleared his throat and gave a smile as they finally saw him in the doorway.
"Hate to inerupt, but since I am, maybe it's not Charlotte's wishes anyone should be asking about. Has anyone bothered at ask Caroline what she wants?"
.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................
At the close of the business day, Cooper relayed this pertinent fact to Charlotte. Caroline had spent all day at his practice supposedly helping Dell Naomi or Sam with anything they could come up with. Naomi had deduced that the girl wanted to have things to do, wanted to feel useful. It seemed to ring true, Caroline had been thoroughly pleasant all day. Now at the day's end, she'd be coming down any minute to do her ultrasound therapy, so Cooper had to make this quick.
"What she wants?" Charlotte threw her keys into her purse and looked at him as if he were nuts. "Is he out of his mind? She doesn't know a thing about it! He got no right to say what she should or shouldn't do. We're the ones that know about this stuff, I am the adult in her life it's my job to protect her- that's what I'm doing!"
"Can you imagine? Throwing words at her like epidural, c-section, episiotomy, hell if you tell her what that stuff means or why she'd need it? She'll get hysterical. I know my niece, Cooper. No one, no one talks to her about this. I talk to her about it."
"But you're not going to." It was the truth. He knew it and she knew it.
"Glad you get my point."
.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Caroline came upstairs shortly after finishing her treatment, she wordlessly sat down next to Cooper, who was sitting next to Sam who was sitting there for no reason she could think of, since their practice was closed. Cooper, she knew was sitting waiting for Charlotte.
"So," Sam looked her her, "being back home with your aunt now, has your act Charlotte whupped you yet? Does she do that retroactive whuppin' thing? Cuz my Grandmama used to do that. She'd say it was for the day before because a neighbor just now told her what she'd seen me do. Or, she kind of 'pay it forward'. This ain't for anything in particular, but I do know you've gotten away with some things you knew were wrong, and I know you'll do something stupid real soon, so this is for that."
Cooper laughed aloud. "Seriously? She'd say that?"
"You bet your butt she did."
"And she'd spank you just because she thought you would be bad?"
He laughed again. "My grandmama knew me. I wasn't a big trouble maker with other kids but I did like to mess with things. I once combined some things from under the sink....I can't remember what they were, but I do rememember it made the house smell for a week after. And my gran didn't spank me, she whupped me."
"Spanking," Cooper repeated.
Caroline shook her head at his ignorance. "HE said whuppin'. That's what he means."
"Isn't it the same thing?"
Both Caroline and Sam laughed at that.
Caroline grabbed Cooper's arm, and looked at him seriously. "Let me explain some things to you."
"You know how in the Forrest Gump movie that Bubba guy is telling Forrest how many ways there are to cook shrimp? Well, it's like that with getting your butt beat back home. Here all I've heard people say is you'll get spanked. I guess that's a Northern thing? That's downright boring. We got a million different ways to say you need to be put in your place. And you will be."
The elevator dinged, and Charlotte walked up, choosing to stand behind Cooper and wait rather than sit.
"Yeah," Sam cut in, "but you need to be clear as to what you're talking about. You have your spankings and you have your whippings or whuppins."
"Yeah."
"There's a difference."
"Of course there is." Caroline shook her head, figuring poor Cooper was hopeless.
"You ever been spanked?" He asked her.
"Tons of times." Charlotte answered for her.
Cooper turned his head and looked at Charlotte in shock.
"You've spanked her?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "IT's not just an idle threat."
"Yeah," Caroline chimed in, "sometimes she actually does it. Back home. You can't just threaten someone if you're in public, you have to do it. It's expected. She beat me with her shoe one time. But here you'd get arrested."
Cooper looked at her in shock.
"It's like I don't even know you anymore!" He teased.
Charlotte laughed. "Oh please, that's a lie. Like it surprises you that I'd beat a kid's ass? Come on."
"It wouldn't surprise me to see her beating a grown person's ass," Sam added laughing.
She nodded to him appreciatively. "See? He gets it. But back to the issue-she was grabbin' things with her stinky candy fingers in the store after I told her not to!"
"Who gave her the candy?" Sam laughed.
"I told her not to!" She repeated as if that was all the justification needed.
"What about when people say they're gonna get a whuppin?" Cooper asked his question to Caroline again. "Is that the same as spanking?"
"No," Caroline resumed their educational diaglouge. "Sometimes. It's how some people say whippin'."
Cooper looked concerned. "You don't mean with an actual whip do you? Like, as in Roots?"
As the mental image of Kunta Kinte flashed through Charlotte's mind she burst out laughing hysterically and pitched over onto the floor. She laughed a while longer then sobered.
"Nobody would whip you with a root," she made a face that said he was stupid, "a root's not strong enough. A switch, maybe." Caroline answered missing his reference entirely.
"Yes with a whip," Charlotte provided once she'd caught her breath.
"An actual whip?"
"Or a belt," Caroline provided. "Grandaddy used to tear Uncle Duke and Landry up with his belts. If they were in public, depending on where, and they weren't minding him, Uncle Duke said Grandaddy'd whip off his belt and wail on their asses right then and there, no matter who was watching."
"Language, Luanne. " She pursed her lips and glared at Caroline. "And yes she's been beat with a belt. Big Daddy let her have it once, after he caught her walking on top of Grandmomma's piano. Can you imagine? You know how old that thing is?" She shook her head. "He beat her ass good, figuring it hadn't been the first time she'd done it, but it sure as hell was gonna be the last."
Caroline glowered, pouting, not liking her errors to be pointed out.
"What about the whips you were talking about? You all didn't get hit with those did you?"
Caroline snorted. "He said you all!"
Seeing her aunt's face redden, Caroline gleefully pounced on the chance to turn the embarrassment tables. "Oh she got her butt beat on a regular basis. Grandmomma would beat her like a red-headed step child if she stepped outta line- Uncle Landry says. Belt, shoe, hair brush, electric cord, whatever. Uncle Landry says you could keep time by how often Aunt Charlotte got beat- that's how often she got her butt whupped.
She had a riding crop she used," she continued glibly, " kept in the house special just for whuppin's. Momma says she beat the girls with it, and that only women should met out punishment on girls, cuz they know how girls can be and won't let nothin' slide. Plus, she didn't think it was proper for a man to pull up a girl's skirt to tan her hide."
"You leave Charlotte to me," Charlotte hissed the angry quote so softly, Cooper knew he was the only one who heard it.
"A whip?" Sam asked. "An actual physical whip?"
Charlotte shrugged acting like it didn't bother her. "Horse riding crop." Her words were clipped, a clear indication that she didn't want to talk about it and wanted the entire subject dropped.
"A whip," Sam clarified.
She shrugged.
Cooper, out of embarrassment for her and some on his part looked away, realizing just what those scars were he'd often had the chance to see. Clearly her mother knew to beat her where the general public wouldn't see.
Then, enjoying being the center of attention without being in trouble for something, Caroline decided to keep talking and have her say on another matter. Without realizing it, and without intent to embarrass or be rude, Caroline pointed out the most pointedly correct description of mother King Cooper'd ever heard.
"She couldn't love anyone good, but she sure could beat 'em good. Especially when she was drunk."
Quick as lightning, in a reaction so fast Cooper was sure she didn't even realize it, Charlotte slapped Caroline across the face, hard.
"Don't you talk about your Grandmomma that way! I'll send you back home so quick it'll make your head spin! Let your Uncle Landry deal with you, then!" She snapped.
Cooper wasn't sure what upset her more, the fact that Caroline had bad-mouthed her own family in public, or the fact that it was true.
