A/N: Trigger Warning. Spanking scene in this chapter.

Chapter Thirty-Two

John managed well enough with the crutches over the next few days. He was perturbed that Anna didn't want him to be in the bathroom on his own, but that had its perks.

About a week after John's fall, while Anna was helping him dress, she noticed that the foot on his casted leg was incredibly cold. "John, is your foot cold? Do you want me to slide a sock on you? I can open the top of one of your old ones."

John shrugged it off, "My foot feels fine. I haven't really felt the leg much since I fell. Probably the plaster."

Anna agreed that was probably what it was and finished guiding John's good pants over the cast.

He was going to the inn that day to look around with Tom. Anna would much rather he'd stayed home with his leg up, but John wanted to see the progress and talk to the construction foreman and the open windows.

Anna was right at John's side with Elizabeth on her hip when Tom came to get him in the car, sending him off to work with a smile. The smile didn't last long. When John went to maneuver down the stairs, placing a minimal amount of his weight on the broken limb, he cried out in pain and almost fell down the three steps that led out of the front of their cottage. If not for Tom's quick reflexes, he would have done.

"John!" Anna cried out in her own surprise causing Elizabeth to cry. Tom braced his arms in front of John, like a frame, the way they had at the inn to help him stand up. "Anna, get a chair."

Anna was forced to make a choice no mother or wife should ever have to make. She had to leave her crying six month old daughter on her tummy on the floor to grab a chair for her injured husband. She felt horrible for even giving that a thought.

Tom helped John lower himself into the chair. "Well, this was a bad idea," John laughed once he was off the painful limb and had caught his breath. "You really should play cricket more often Mr. Branson with a catch like that. Go get Elizabeth, Anna. I'm fine."

Anna turned and retrieved the baby from the floor. She held her close and slowly rocked to and fro to calm her daughter down, but Elizabeth reached her arms out to John and kept screaming.

"Give her here," John sighed. "I just need a minute then…Mr. Branson, can you arrange for the foreman to meet here? We can have tea in the study and discuss the progress? You can report in on what you've seen."

Tom nodded, he was eager to see John back to his settee after having a man nearly twice his size almost fall on him.

John took his daughter and held her in close. Tom studied John. He had felt the strength in the man helping him from the floor at the inn and now as he'd tumbled. It amazed him whenever strong men, like himself, softened with a babe in their arms. John looked ten years younger with Elizabeth nestled against his chest for a rock.

"You're alright, bunny," John cooed. "Everything's alright. Daddy's here, everything is alright now."

Elizabeth settled down in only a few minutes, then seemed to want her mother again. She recognized her parents clearly now and had expectations from each one. Anna and John were both pleased about that development.

Tom helped John back into the house now that he'd caught his breath. "Please help him to the bedroom, Mr. Branson. We must prop up his leg so that it doesn't swell."

"Anna," John sighed, but the truth was that his leg hurt dreadfully and elevating it might be what was needed.

"Thank you, Tom," John replied. "But when the foreman comes, please send word so I can make sure I'm about."

Anna didn't speak up, she didn't want another quarrel with John over her fussing though she felt that the stumble was some kind of warning. Of what, she didn't know.

Anna kept a closer eye on him casually, not really wanting to argue but the fall scared her. That night she helped him into his nightwear then tucked the covers around him once they both laid under the covers. "How is your knee, Mr. Bates?" Anna asked softly, with a smile when he took her hand.

She studied him, able to see right through the tightly grimace that showed how he felt, "It still hurts, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it still hurts, but I will be perfectly fine, Anna, so you need not worry much. Earlier I just had a misstep that's all, but I don't want you to work yourself up into a state," John lifted her chin for a kiss. His large hand cupped her cheek, "I love you, Anna."

Anna accepted John's kiss, then whispered, "I love you too, John. That's why I worry. Do you want some laudanum or even a powder?"

John took a deep breath, "Will it make you feel better about things if I took a powder, my darling?"

"If you took one, I'd know you weren't feeling pain anymore instead of you trying to convince me," Anna replied. "I'll fetch it."

Anna slipped out of bed and gave John another kiss. She went to the kitchen and took down the first aid box. She could hear Elizabeth cooing in her sleep as she passed the little alcove that served as her nursery. She was the most content of all their babies. Perhaps what her mother said was true. "Learn on the first, practice on the second, and the rest just follow along."

Anna had just finished mixing up the powder when she heard small feet on the steps. She turned to see Maggie coming down with her bear in her hand. "Mummy?"

Anna turned around and saw her girl had tears on her cheeks. Powder temporarily forgotten, Anna crouched down and opened her arms. "Come to Mummy, my dearest darling. What is all this?"

Anna enveloped Maggie in her arms as she knelt before her little girl. "Did you have a bad dream?"

Maggie shook her head and buried her face in Anna's chest. "Are you ill?" Anna felt Maggie's forehead, she wasn't running a fever. "Does something hurt?"

Maggie nodded and touched Anna's chest right where her heart would be. "Hurts right here…"

Anna understood that the problem was emotional more than physical, "It hurts there? What can Mummy do to make it better, love? Can you tell Mummy how it got hurt?"

Maggie wiped her eyes. "Johnny said mean things to me before we went to sleep, and I couldn't go to sleep cause it was hurting."

"I see," Anna sighed. "What mean things did Johnny say?"

The children were close, but Johnny was exposed to new people and new attitudes now he was in the village school. It was inevitable that he would say things or do things that upset his little sister, especially if he was asserting a certain degree of misguided authority.

Maggie wiped her face again and her little voice squeaked as she forced words around her tears. "He said I'm not 'portant to you and Daddy anymore. That he's 'portant cause he's a boy and Elizabeth is because she's the baby, but I'm not cause I'm the "pear". I don't wanna be the "pear" Mummy, I don't want to go to the gypsies…"

Anna hugged Maggie a little closer. Perhaps, in the scheme of things, she had gotten left out a bit, especially because Elizabeth required extra time and attention to develop some of her skills. That was still no excuse. "Margaret Mary, listen here. That is all stuff and nonsense, and your brother will hear about it from Daddy tomorrow. You are now and always will be a very important part of this family. You're not the spare, darling. Families like ours don't even have "spare" heirs. That's idle talk and it's not true at all. Mummy and Daddy could never sell you to anybody, because you are a precious little girl that we love so much. You are priceless."

Anna pulled Maggie back into her arms and felt the little girl latch onto her for dear life. There were times in every parent's life when one had a chance to profoundly build trust between oneself and one's child. Anna could sense this was one of those moments. "What if you and Tommy Teddy come and sleep in between tonight, hmmm? Daddy's bad leg is hurting him and I'm sure he'd appreciate a lot of extra special cuddles. What do you think?"

Maggie sniffled and whispered, "Yes," against Anna's neck.

"Alright then," Anna said as she pulled back from her daughter. "Hold Mummy's hand, I need to take this powder into Daddy."

John was surprised to see Maggie climbing up onto their bed. He and Anna were usually quite strict about the children sleeping in their own beds, but one look at his wife told him this was deemed necessary in her mind. John drank the powder hoping it would make the increasing pain easier to hide, then opened his arms to his girls. Maggie snuggled right into her father's chest with her bear and curled up.

John automatically started to stroke her hair and sing in his soft Irish burr Maggie's specific lullaby. He could feel his little one needed him in that moment, needed them both. John could also feel the anger and disappointment coming off his wife. He raised an eyebrow at her in silent question, Anna shook her head and looked down at Maggie. Nothing else had to be said until their little girl was asleep, safe and sound, in her parents' arms.

When Maggie did drop off, Anna told John what Maggie had said. "What Johnny said bothers me," Anna told her husband in hushed whispers. "But what's more is she believed it. Are we not giving Maggie enough time and attention that she felt that way?"

John shook his head, he was furious with Johnny, but he put Anna off. "No, love," John replied. "She felt that way because her big brother, that she loves and respects, told her it was so. Until just now, Margaret Mary had total, blind trust in her brother, he's now violated that. Thank God she's not old enough to understand what really happened. She won't remember this in a few years time."

"I hope not," Anna sighed. "She sounded so pitiful, John, clinging to me and sobbing into me. It broke my heart."

John reached around their sleeping daughter and took Anna's hand in his. He gently rubbed the back with his thumb in slow, soothing circles. "Well, we can't have that."

John was, as usual, the first one up. He got out of bed carefully. He leg felt a little better having been up all night. Perhaps, Anna was right, and he needed to elevate it more. The day before, Mr. Branson told him the foreman would meet with him that day after luncheon in his home study. John wanted to be dressed extra smart for the meeting. Robert would come with Tom as well for the partners to all hear the progress and agree on the next move.

John took care of his personal needs then started water for tea and Elizabeth's bottle. The baby had slept until 4am before crying for a feed and new nappy, so he had a short while before she would fuss again and wake Anna.

While John was waiting for the stove to heat, he felt a light tug at the leg of his trousers. Anna had cut up two of his old pair so he could get them on by himself if she wasn't able to help him. When John looked down, Maggie's blue eyes shone up at him. "Well, good morning, Miss Bates, and how are you this fine morning, lass?"

"Still sleepy, Daddy," Maggie told John. "But I woke up and you were gone."

"Yes," John nodded. "I'm heating the stove to make tea water for when Mummy wakes up. She told me about what happened yesterday, and I want you to know that Mummy was right. You are my precious little girl, my first born daughter, that carries the name of my own Mummy who I loved very, very much. So, don't you fret about any of what your brother said." John dropped into a kitchen chair then, "Now, give Daddy a kiss and you go off back to your own bed, try to sleep a little more."

Maggie gave John a butterfly kiss on his cheek then went off to her own bed, Tommy Teddy in tow.

When breakfast was finished, a few hours later, John looked at Johnny. John stood up on the crutches and said in a firm voice, "John Robert, come into my study, please."

Johnny knew just by the fact his father used his full name that he was in trouble. He stood, straight as a soldier, when John had dropped into his desk chair, with the good sense to look at the floor.

"I am very disappointed in you, John Robert," John said in a low tone voice. "I thought you knew better than to speak without thinking, but seems now I was wrong and you aren't as mature and caring a boy as I thought you were. Do you care to tell me why you said such things to your sister, not that it makes much difference in how wrong it was."

Johnny tried a few bumbling, inadequate explanations, one sounding worse than the one before it.

"You absolutely know better than to speak words that will hurt another person, young man, especially your sister," John kept his tone firm, never yelling but one that his son knew meant business.

"So you will apologize to your sister and I had better not hear another word like those you just spoke out of your mouth again. You will go sit in this room where you will stay until lunch," John motioned towards the settee along the wall. If he sent Johnny to his room, not only would he have some of his toys, John wouldn't be able to get upstairs to finish the discipline.

The small boy widened his mouth in large o shape that he quickly closed in just one narrowed eyed look from his father. "Yes Daddy, I'm sorry."

The small boy hung his head. He could feel his dad's eyes bearing through him. Being punished for something he heard another boy say wasn't fair. Why did his parents have to give him two icky sisters anyway, when they were fine when it was just them three, though he barely remembered it. Now he had to sit alone in this room all because his sister went and told on him.

John rose and followed and moved closer to his son. He sat down again and had Johnny stand beside him. "Don't sit yet," John directed then turned the little boy to meet his eyes. "Johnny, you are being punished because you said something naughty and mean to your sister and you know better than that. Now, Daddy is going to spank you but after you are going to sit here and think about what you have done," John held his arm tight, making quick work of an open hand smack against his son's bottom.

Johnny flinched at the throbbing in his bottom pulling away slightly when the second smack came.

John let go of his son's arm, "I am doing this because I want you to learn that actions have consequences. You can stay in here and think about that."

Anna could hear Johnny crying as John stepped out of the study. She knew that the spanking had hurt John a lot more than it hurt Johnny. She offered an embrace and a kiss. "He's fine," Anna assured John. "He's just fine. Maggie's nearly forgotten it already anyway. She's trying to teach Elizabeth how to crawl, though that's a way off for her, we both know."

John took a moment to appreciate his daughters playing together on the floor. Elizabeth was happy with the attention and Maggie felt less left out. Still, his heart hurt over Johnny. He hated to have to discipline his children, it made him feel like an ogre. Still, left to his own devices, Johnny could grow to be misguided and use poor judgment. John knew enough about the consequences of that to fill ten lifetimes. He wouldn't have it for his boy.

After luncheon was over, John took Johnny back into the study and sat next to him on the settee. "Johnny, Daddy punished you today, and gave you a spanking, because you said mean and cruel things to your sister and made her cry. I understand that sometimes your sisters bother you and the older boys at school have all kinds of notions they spew on about, but that is no excuse. You are going on six years old, you are a smart boy, and I know you know better. Every person in this family is important and every person in this family is very needed, wanted, and loved. To say that it isn't so, or to believe it, is wrong. This was a very poor choice you made, son."

Johnny nodded his head and studied his father's large hands. "I'm sorry, Daddy."

"I believe you are," John replied. "But I'm not the one to tell. What do you think you need to do when we're finished here?"

"Give Maggie a cuddle and tell her I'm sorry?" Johnny asked, hoping he got it right or he'd have to sit some more.

"Yes," John smiled. "Now give Daddy a cuddle and a kiss, go apologize to your sister, then run along and play. Be a good lad, Johnny, and think about what you say. If you aren't sure about something, ask me, Mummy, Uncle Lord Robert, any adult before you say it, understood?"

Johnny nodded again and threw himself at John for his cuddle. John made sure the hug was extra long and extra tight to show Johnny even though he'd done wrong, he was still loved and cherished by his father.

By suppertime that night, the incident had been forgotten. The children were playing cards together, a matching game, while John read over the latest estimates for the continuing renovation of the inn. "We should be able to open at least the dining rooms by May Day," John told Anna. She was holding Elizabeth on her lap, playing with the little one's tiny feet and making the baby laugh.

Before the children's bedtime, John read a story for each one and sang Johnny's lullaby when his son asked. He was growing up, he was learning, but inside he still sometimes needed special care and affection, especially from his father. John had been denied that and he never wanted to be the one to deny it to his son. Not ever.

A/N: Things are going to go off the rails a bit for John in the next chapter. Stay tuned to see how the "family" including Robert, Mary, Carson, and Mrs. Hughes manage these new hurdles.