"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Grace whimpered from her place tucked underneath Olivia's arm as the wooden spoon landed sharply on her bottom five times, and then Olivia gently guided her upright.
"Okay, time for a second chance, my baby. Go kneel in your time-out corner and stay there until I come back for you." Olivia ordered.
"Yes, Ma'am." Grace burst into tears as she turned to kneel in her corner and rubbed the light sting from her bottom.
Olivia turned and left the room, confident that Grace would stay put. From her place standing in the kitchen making one of Grace's favorite meals, she could hear Grace becoming increasingly distraught. Olivia had planned to leave Grace in the corner for fifteen minutes, but her heart could only bear so much and she ended up going back to the bedroom to pull Grace out of the corner after only seven minutes, knowing that Grace was confused and that she needed to calm her down and explain what had just happened.
"Come here, my baby." Olivia knelt down on the floor and opened her arms. Upon hearing the familiar and much loved term of endearment, Grace turned from the corner and quickly crawled into Olivia's arms, clinging to her Mistress for dear life.
"Ma'am, I'm confused. I don't understand." Grace sobbed.
"I know, my baby. I will explain it to you so that it makes sense, but first you need to just breathe and calm down for me. Let's go out to the couch and you can cuddle on my lap, I'm getting too old to hang out on the floor for very long."
Olivia guided Grace out to the couch where she sat down and gently settled her young submissive to cuddle on her lap. Grace laid her head on Olivia's shoulder to finish her crying while Olivia lovingly rubbed her bottom to soothe her until Grace was mostly calm.
"Let me see those pretty eyes, my baby, and I will explain what just happened." Olivia waited until Grace looked up at her, "Do you remember why you are in training right now, sweetheart? What skill are you practicing?"
"First time obedience." Grace whimpered.
"First time obedience doesn't just apply to your chores, it applies to everything else as well. Sometimes I may give you an order that doesn't make sense to you. I will always explain things to you when you don't understand them, but you need to obey me first. That's all this was about, my baby, it's just obedience training. Just like yesterday when I told you to dust the bedroom even though you had already done it. When I give an order, I always have a reason, and right now my reason for my orders is because you are in training. Does that make more sense?"
"Yes, Ma'am, thank you for explaining it to me." Grace was now completely calm upon being reassured that she was not being punished unjustly, she was simply being trained to obey.
"That's my good girl. Now, let's try again and see if we can get all the way through this. Go kneel in your time-out corner and stay there until I come and get you." Olivia repeated her order.
"Yes, Ma'am." Grace calmly walked back to the bedroom and calmly knelt in her corner.
This time, Grace made it through the full fifteen minutes with no problem and received high praise and a loving hug from her Mistress upon being released from the corner. By this time, the teriyaki chicken that Olivia had prepared in the crockpot was ready and Grace was fed by hand as always. After lunch, Grace cleaned the kitchen and then was told that she could do as she pleased for the next few hours.
"Ma'am, may I use these magazines to work on my art, please?" Grace asked, holding up a small stack of magazines. Olivia looked up and saw that they were all old magazines that had already been read and she willingly granted her permission.
"Yes, you may, little one. What are you working on this time?" Olivia asked, walking over to where Grace sat at the kitchen table with her supplies spread out in front of her and peering over her shoulder.
"I think I would like to put together all the best parts of me, either in a collage or a sort of scrapbook. I can put it someplace where I can see it everyday and remember that none of the things Melissa said about me are true." Grace explained.
"That's a great idea, my baby." Olivia gently kissed the top of Grace's head, "And there are certainly plenty of wonderful things about you to choose from. I have work to do, so I'll be on the couch if you need me. Don't make a mess with the glue; if even one drop dries on my kitchen table or on my floor, your bare bottom will pay the price for it, and you will feel far more than just five spanks."
"No, Ma'am, I'll be careful." Grace agreed, her bottom clenching involuntarily.
While she was sitting at the table, Grace heard Olivia's cell phone ring, and Olivia answered it.
"Benson." Olivia spoke into the phone pressed to her ear.
"Hi, honey, it's just me." Eileen's voice came over the line.
"Hey, Eileen. What's up?" Olivia set her work aside to focus on her phone call.
"Daddy and I were just talking about Thanksgiving this year. I'm trying to nail down the menu and I was hoping you wouldn't mind helping me out by making the green bean casserole."
"Of course I don't mind, I would love to help. Are we eating at the usual time this year?" Olivia inquired.
"Yes, we will plan to eat around three or three-thirty, depending on how well the turkey cooperates. Now, I know that Grace is allergic to cherries, so there won't be any food with cherries in it, but is there anything she particularly likes that she would like to have on the table? We all have one of our favorite foods on the table at Thanksgiving, it's only fair that she is included."
"Let me ask her. Grace, come here, my baby." Olivia called out.
"Yes, Ma'am?" Grace appeared almost instantly and dropped to her knees at Olivia's feet.
"I'm talking to Eileen about Thanksgiving. In our family, everyone gets to have one of their favorite foods on the table on Thanksgiving. What would you like to have on the table?" Olivia asked.
"Can we have jalapeno poppers, please?" Grace asked hopefully, her mouth already watering.
"Grace would like jalapeno poppers." Olivia spoke into the phone.
"Excellent, I will make them for her." Eileen agreed.
The call was disconnected, and Olivia smiled upon noticing that Grace was still kneeling at her feet looking up at her.
"You can go back to what you were doing, my good girl." Olivia kissed Grace's forehead.
On Thanksgiving Day, Grace was still in obedience training, and before they left to go to Don and Eileen's, Olivia bent Grace over her lap and gave her a short spanking as a reminder to be a good girl. Grace's big blue eyes were only a bit misty when Olivia let her up less than two minutes later, hugged her and kissed her, and helped her get dressed. When they arrived at Don and Eileen's with a green bean casserole in hand, there were hugs all around as the delicious smell of food cooking wafted in the air. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was playing on the TV as Olivia and Grace went into the kitchen to help Eileen cook while Eileen put Don to work setting the table. Grace's eyes lit up upon seeing the platter of jalapeno poppers that Eileen had made. She started to reach for one, but then stopped herself. She looked up at Olivia, her eyes pleading with her, and Olivia chuckled.
"Go ahead. Only one for right now, then come over here and help me with these potatoes. When it's time to eat you can have as many as you want." Olivia indulgently granted her permission.
Grace happily reached for a jalapeno popper, obediently taking only one, and then walked to Olivia's side to pitch in wherever she was told to. Thanks to Olivia's consistent teaching, Grace was now sure of herself in the kitchen and had no problem with any of the tasks assigned to her. The light sting that remained on her bottom reminded her that she was still in training, and she was careful to obey every order the first time, regardless of who was giving it. She didn't know what would happen if she got in trouble on Thanksgiving day at someone else's house, and she didn't want to find out. All of Eileen's wooden spoons were currently being used to cook the food, but that didn't mean that Olivia wouldn't find another implement to spank her with if she stepped out of line.
"All right, well done, ladies. Let's go enjoy ourselves now while the turkey is in the oven." Eileen suggested.
Olivia sat down on the couch beside Don to watch the parade, and Grace was delighted to be welcomed to cuddle on Olivia's lap, and she smiled when she felt the tips of Olivia's nails lightly and slowly grazing her belly, recognizing the loving touch as a reward. Grace happily snuggled down into Olivia's arms and turned her attention to the TV, satisfied that so far her Mistress was pleased with her behavior. After the parade was over, the four of them sat around playing board games, and they took turns sharing something they were grateful for that year.
"What about you, little one, what are you grateful for this year?" Don asked when it was Grace's turn to speak.
"I'm grateful that all of Eileen's wooden spoons are in the dishwasher." Grace grinned mischievously. Everyone burst into laughter, and Olivia pulled Grace over her lap and began to tickle up and down her sides. Grace shrieked with laughter and yelped when she felt someone's hand give her ten sharp pops to her jean-clad bottom.
"Oh, little one, you are a riot." Don chuckled when Olivia finally turned Grace over on her lap when Grace was panting and starting to turn red.
"She's my sassy baby girl." Olivia said affectionately as she cuddled Grace close to her heart, gently rubbing her belly and rocking her as she kissed her forehead.
"All right, let's try that again and get a real answer this time, shall we? What are you grateful for this year, little one?" Eileen smiled.
"I'm grateful my Ma'am loves me." Grace happily snuggled down into Olivia's arms.
"That I do, my baby. Very much." Olivia kissed Grace's forehead, "Now run along into the kitchen and check on how much longer the turkey needs to cook. And stay out of the jalapeno poppers. Just because Eileen's wooden spoons are in the dishwasher doesn't mean I can't find a belt in Don's closet for this sassy bottom of yours." Olivia teased as she gave Grace an affectionate spank.
"Yes, Ma'am." Grace obediently got up from her place cuddled on Olivia's lap and went into the kitchen.
"You're doing such a wonderful job with her, baby. I can tell she feels safe and she respects and adores you." Don commented while Grace was in the kitchen.
"Thanks, most of the time I feel like I have no clue what I'm doing. Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself that she's not Alex and she's going to respond to things differently than Alex did. But she's been doing very well despite everything Melissa put her through. She still thinks everything that's happened since she ran away is her fault, but we're working on that, and I've been calling around trying to find a therapist for her that has experience with submissives. Right now she's in obedience training, which is why she made the crack about the wooden spoon, but she tries so hard and she makes me proud every day." Olivia smiled proudly.
"I've noticed that she's still wearing Melissa's collar." Eileen commented.
"I am going to give her mine for Christmas to replace Melissa's. I called last week and put the order in with the company. They say it will be ready the week before Christmas." Olivia replied, lowering her voice so that she wouldn't be overheard and spoil the surprise.
"Will there be a collaring ceremony we can attend?" Don asked.
"I don't know yet. I would love to be able to take her on a vacation to wherever she wants to go and surprise her with a ceremony, but I have to go back to work the day after Christmas this year. If we do have a public ceremony, it will have to be a small one here in the city. And it will also depend on what she wants. She may not want a public ceremony, she may decide she wants a private ceremony at home. It's all kind of up in the air at the moment, I will let you guys know the details as we go."
"Ma'am, there's about forty five minutes left on the turkey. And I made this for you." Grace dropped to her knees at her Mistress's feet and presented her with Olivia's favorite holiday cocktail.
"Thank you, my baby. Such a good girl." Olivia smiled as she accepted the glass and tenderly tucked a strand of Grace's long brown hair behind her ear, and Grace beamed.