Learning to Be Little Again (13 page)

A grin flashed across Mark’s face as he said, “I have Thursdays off, so I can watch her then. But I work most weekends. What are you going to do with her when you have to work that one weekend a month?”

That made me pause to think. The weekends were going to be tough. Thankfully, I only worked one a month, but it was going to be tricky. Then the solution hit me.

“I can bring her to work with me. She can stay in my office. Besides, on weekends the practice is only open from ten in the morning to two in the afternoon. If she doesn’t want to stay with me for those four hours, then I could have her hang out with Samantha or Joey. I know that Juliana has been talking to both of them a lot.”

“That sounds like a good plan. I just hope Juliana will like it and her finding out about Boyle won’t hurt her health anymore.”

I took a sip of coffee before I answered him. The caffeine finally started to work its way through my system and wake me up.

“As crazy as this sounds, I think it will help her out tremendously. She will always be with someone, and I’ll quite enjoy being able to feed her and instill plenty of nap times so she’ll gain some weight and get rid of the dark circles under her eyes.”

“You’ve got a good point there, my friend,” Mark said, raising his coffee cup towards me and then taking a drink.

For about an hour, Mark and I sat at the table talking about work and sports. I’d drunk another three cups of coffee when I heard Juliana starting to wake up over the baby monitor.

“I’ll be right back,” I said, standing and bringing the baby monitor with me. I quietly opened her bedroom door, walked in, and closed it right away. I could see that she hadn’t quite woken up yet, but she was getting there. I walked across the room and sat down on the side of her bed.

Pushing her hair out of her face, I gave her a kiss on the forehead and said, “Good morning, baby girl.”

Her eyes fluttered open and she momentarily looked confused, but then smiled at me and said, “Good morning, Daddy.” Her little fists went up to her face and rubbed her eyes.

“I would ask how you slept last night, pumpkin, but I know the answer to that.”

“Sorry,” she said, casting her eyes downward as if in shame.

“Hey, it’s okay, baby girl. Everyone has nightmares sometimes. Now, can I see that smile of yours again, please?”

She gave me a halfhearted one so, I tickled her stomach and made her giggle until she begged me to stop.

“There’s that smile. Now let’s hurry up and get you changed. Mark is here to see you.”

“What?” she asked, sitting up quickly. “He didn’t see me, did he?” She sounded panicked.

“No, baby, he didn’t. I wouldn’t allow that because I know you aren’t comfortable with it.”

“Good.” Her entire body sagged in relief. “Can we change my pajamas too? I don’t want him to see these,” she said, gesturing towards her footie pajamas.

“That’s fine with me, Princess. Let me pull out some clothes for you to change into and then we can take your jammies and diaper off.”

“Okay.”

I stood up, walked over to her dresser, and pulled out a blue sports bra, a blue pair of cotton panties, and some gray sweatpants. I walked over to her closet and took out a blue long sleeve shirt.

“Alright little one, lie back please.”

She did and I had her out of her jammies and diaper in under a minute. I helped her into her new clothes and said, “Okay, let’s go see Mark.” Hand in hand, we walked out of her bedroom and into the kitchen.

Chapter Fifteen

Robert and I were walking into the kitchen when I said, “I’ll be right back. I have to go to the bathroom.”

I let go of his hand and went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth and hair, and then went to find Robert and Mark. They were both sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and talking.

“What’s going on, Mark? Why are you here so early?” I asked, sitting down next to Robert.

“Robert called me last night about you being sick. I wanted to come over right away to check on you myself, but he told me that you were too tired and so I said I’d come over today.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to have to tell them about Boyle, but it looked like I was going to have to.

“You do look like you haven’t been feeling well. The dark circles are back under your eyes.”

I brought my hand up to my eyes, as if I would be able to feel the dark circles.

“Can you tell us why you started having nightmares again and decided that eating wasn’t a smart thing to do?”

I felt my heart speed up at the thought of having to tell them.

Robert must have noticed my problem because he jumped in and said, “How about if I make us some breakfast first? Though I don’t know what’s in the refrigerator.”

He stood up and walked over to the refrigerator as Mark said, “I brought groceries over for you guys. I figured you could use them.”

“Thanks,” Robert said as he pulled out a bunch of food. “How do big fluffy omelets sound?”

“Delicious,” Mark replied.

I just shrugged my shoulders, sure that I wasn’t going to be able to eat much. Ever since Boyle called, my stomach was just not in the mood for food. Even the thought of food made me feel ill.

So as Robert made omelets for all of us, Mark and I talked about the weather and how my work was going.

About fifteen minutes later, Robert placed three plates of omelets on the table, along with two buttered pieces of toast on mine and a big glass of orange juice for me to drink. I started to take small forkfuls of the omelet and when I got through about a fourth of it, I put my fork down because I was full.

“Juliana, you need to eat more,” Robert said.

“I’m full,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Come on, Juliana. Just eat a few more bites for me.”

“Fine. Just a few more,” I said, picking up my fork again and taking another bite.

After three more bites, I put my fork down as I was officially stuffed. I pushed my plate away from me and looked up at Robert and Mark, who were both watching me. I looked at their plates and shockingly, they were empty.
How do they both eat that fast?

“Now that you’re done eating, why don’t you tell us what upset you so much,” Mark said.

“I’m actually feeling hungry again,” I said, reaching for my plate.

“No, baby girl, it’s time for you to talk to us. Trust me, if you talk to us about what happened, it will make you feel so much better,” Robert said, grabbing my left hand and giving it a squeeze.

“Fine. I—on Tuesday, I got a call.”

“From Boyle?” Mark asked.

I nodded.

“What did he say?” Robert asked, giving my hand another squeeze.

“He knew about you and said… and said I’d b-be… p-punished.” The feeling that I was about to be sick came back with a vengeance. I closed my eyes, trying to take deep breathes so I wouldn’t embarrass myself by getting sick in front of them.

“Easy, little one. Here, take a little sip of your orange juice,” Robert said as he brought the glass to my lips.

I took a little sip and it helped. I took a few more until I felt better and opened my eyes to see both men looking at me with concern. “I’m sorry, you guys. I know that I’m not handling this well.”
That’s an understatement.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, sweetie. I’m sorry for what we have to tell you next.”

“What?” I asked, automatically knowing I wasn’t going to like the news.

“Boyle skipped his bail. We have a warrant out for his arrest, but as of right now, we don’t know where he is,” Mark said.

Before I had a chance to panic, Robert jumped in and said, “Mark and I came up with a plan to keep you safe. On Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, you’ll stay with me and I’ll drop you off and pick you up from work. Then on Thursdays, Mark will pick you up and you’ll spend the night with him until I can pick you up. Weekends we’ll spend together, and on the weekends I work, you can come to my office or you can hang out with Joey or Samantha.”

That all sounded great to me, but I didn’t want to make Mark and Robert feel like they had to be with me every second of every day. That would take its toll on them and probably make them resent me.

“No, you guys can’t do that. I won’t make you babysit me like that.”

“Juliana, I say this with love, sweetie, but you don’t have a choice in the matter. Neither Robert nor I will leave you alone. I refuse to let that leech get his hands on you ever again,” Mark declared, crossing his arms over his chest, which meant that was his final word on the subject.

“I have to agree with Mark, baby. You mean too much to us to let you get hurt. Besides, it won’t be babysitting to us.”

“But—”

“Juliana, enough,” Mark said, staring me down and squashing my protests.
I envy the bravery of the girl who becomes Mark’s wife,
I chuckled to myself.

“Okay, okay. You guys win,” I said, holding my hands up in defeat.

“Good. Now on that note, I hate to eat and run, but I have to go get ready for work,” Mark said, standing and reaching for his winter coat.

“Thanks for coming, man.” Robert stood and gave Mark a hug.

I got up next and gave him a hug too and whispered in his ear, “Thanks for coming.”

“Don’t mention it. Be safe, kid.”

“Bye.” I waved to him as he walked out the door.

Robert walked over to the door and locked it, then turned around and faced me. “How are you feeling, little one?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Okay. Now that I ate, I don’t feel like I’m going to be sick anymore.”

“Great. Now is as good a time as any for your punishment.”

“Punishment?” I asked, alarmed. I’d forgotten about that. I tried to scramble for an excuse to get out of it, but Robert was talking before I had a chance to.

“Yes. Remember, I told you since you lied to me about being sick and why you were sick, you would get a punishment. Now I want you to stand right here and I’ll go and get the first part of your punishment,” he said, turning and walking into my bedroom.

First part? How many parts were going to be in this punishment? Why didn’t he just spank me like he did before
? I wondered as he came back with a notebook and pen.

He handed both items to me and said, “You are going to sit at this kitchen table and write out in very neat handwriting,
I will not lie to my Daddy
, one hundred times. Once that is done, we’ll do the second part of your punishment.”

Sighing, I sat down at the kitchen table as he began to clean up the breakfast dishes. I opened the first page of the notebook to see that he’d labeled the hundred lines for me and that at the top he’d what I was supposed to write. It was going to take two pages front and back to completely write out all the lines.

I couldn’t help the groan that came out of my lips.

“Problem, sweetie? Do you need your bottom warmed up to get your hand moving?” Robert asked, drying one of the dirty plates.

“No thank you, Daddy,” I said, picking the pen up. I began to write down my lines and before I knew it, I had finished them. I felt a little like Harry Potter when he had to do his lines for Professor Umbridge. Thankfully, my pen was filled with ink and not my own blood, but my hand was cramping probably as badly as Harry’s had after one of his detentions.

“I’m done, Daddy,” I said, pushing the open notebook towards him.

He looked over my lines. “That’s perfect. Let me see your hand, please.”

I gave it to him and he took it and began to massage it. After a few minutes, the cramps started to dissipate. After a few minutes more, they were all gone.

“Okay, pumpkin, on to your second punishment. Let’s go into the bedroom,” he said, giving my hand a little pull so I stood up.

I stood and quietly said, “You’re going to spank me. This is going to hurt.”

“Yes it will, but don’t worry, I’ve had a lot of practice spanking naughty little girls’ bottoms.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that,” I said as I rubbed my behind with my free hand, knowing that in a few short minutes it would be bright red and burning.

We entered my bedroom and Robert sat down at the end of my bed. “Alright, little girl, pants and underwear off and over my lap you go.”

With slow hands I removed my pants and panties and draped myself over his lap. He ran his hand over my bottom, increasing my embarrassment and making my bottom tense up.

“This will hurt less if you relax your bottom, Juliana.”

Ha!
Easy for him to say. He wasn’t the one about to get spanked.

Smack!
“You. Will. Not. Lie. To. Your. Daddy,” he said, as he alternated spanks over my bottom.

The spanks stung my butt when they landed, but they didn’t hurt me much… yet. The thing that bothered me the most were the noises. Daddy’s bare hand on my bare globes always made each spank sound worse than it actually felt.

Smack!
“You will not—keep secrets from your Daddy,” he continued saying, while raining down more smacks on my increasingly aching backside.

I began to cry after the second set of spanks. My bottom was really starting to hurt. At first it just stung, but now my bottom felt like it was on fire. The worst part though, was the shame that I felt from being over my Daddy’s lap and having to display my red butt to him. This really did make me feel like a six year old that had screwed up.

Smack!
“No—more—lies,” he finished, with one final hard smack on the center of my bottom.

“I… I’m… sorry… Daddy!” I sobbed as he moved me so I was sitting on his lap. I threw my arms over his neck and just cried because I’d lied to my Daddy over something that could have seriously hurt me.

“It’s okay, sweetie pie. You’re forgiven,” he cooed, squeezing me tightly and kissing my head.

“Promise?” I asked, wiping my nose on the back of my hand.

“Yes, baby girl.”

“Thanks,” I said, sniffing and snuggling closer to his chest.

“Blow baby,” he said, holding up a Kleenex to my nose. I did, wondering where he got it.