Gina's Education (18 page)

Glen turned to Robert and said, “Well, sir, there is your answer!” 

Chapter 16

Rose headed to her room, signaling Gina to follow her. She didn’t tell the girl that she had shut off the collar so she could go to Rose’s room, and the girl hesitated at the hall. One look from Rose and she held her breath as though she were diving into a pool, but she went forward. The relief on her face made Rose chuckle.

“We can move the invisible fence around, you know. All you have to do is stay where I give you permission.”

“Thank you, Mistress Rose.”

“I am appointing you to be my lady-in-waiting for the weekend.” The girl’s face lit up; she had been sure she’d be left in her attic for the duration! “Here is your costume. It’ll be your job to help me into my costumes. Are you any good with hair?” Rose was holding her hair in a bunch on top of her head. “Master Robert and I will be King and Queen, so I suppose I should do something regal with my hair…”

Gina took the hairbrush and started to work on Rose’s hair. She did indeed have a way with hair, and within minutes had arranged Rose’s beautifully.

*****

After Glen and Lacy left, Robert gathered the staff to distribute their costumes and make last minute changes.

“Friday night is the banquet downstairs. The Herald,” he said, with a nod to the butler, “will announce everyone as they enter. Lacy will be announced as the guest of honor, Princess Lucia, visiting from Italia. Glen will come in much later, returning with his army from the Crusades. Mistress Rose, you were able to find chainmail for his costume, I trust?”

“Yes, sir, I did; vest and hood, along with a white tabard with a big red cross on it. It’ll be clear where the man has been,” she said smiling, “even before he regales us with his saga.”

“Good. Everyone is welcome, yourselves included when you find the time, to partake of the festivities outside. You will pull double shifts for the next three days, so schedule some breaks and enjoy yourselves.”

As he and Rose left them to work out their schedules, they wandered outdoors to see the troop setting up. Robert suggested that his returning soldier be involved in one of the jousts, but with a laugh said, “He is the guest of honor, though; he must win!”

Then he continued, “The knighting ceremony is Friday afternoon. After all, the Princess should be marrying him after he has been elevated in status. We’ll be sure that she knows to call him ‘sir,’” he finished with a chuckle.

“Are you sure Glen is of the right temperament to be a master?”

“I am. We talked quite a while, and he has no trouble understanding the concepts. My only concern is that he won’t immediately remember everything. He will be fine, though, and she will get the man she wants.” He sounded so sure that Rose felt a little better about it. The scenario was no longer like Lacy’s original plan, though.

*****

While the Master and the Mistress were busy with all the last minute touches, the doorbell rang. No one seemed to hear it, everyone was back in the kitchen talking at the same time and trying on their costumes.

Gina finished her meal, having waited for the staff to be done. She wandered into the hallway and was looking at the pictures on the wall. She heard the bell, but no one came. Not knowing what was expected, she went to the door to see who it was. A young man of about 25 pushed past her and demanded to know what took her so long!

She started to apologize, but he interrupted her with, “You can call me Master Larry. Get on your knees, bitch!”

Gina had no idea who this was, but wondered for the moment if it was some sort of test. She fell to her knees and said, “Sorry, Master Larry.”

“Shut up. I will not allow you to speak! Take off your clothes and take me to the playroom.”

Still not sure what she should do, and knowing how easily she could be punished, she complied with his demands. When she got to the basement, though, she found the doors were all locked but one. Master Larry didn’t take too well at being kept out of the rooms. He slapped her across the face and shouted, “You stupid bitch! Bend over!”

Gina tried to explain that she didn’t know why the doors were locked, but barely got out a syllable when he smacked her again, this time knocking her across the room.

Robert and Rose were in the Throne Room when they heard the thud of a body landing against the wall. Not sure what it might be, they entered the basement from within the room with the whips on the walls. As they neared the door, again they heard a great thud, this time followed by moaning. They looked at one another, puzzled, and Robert opened the door.

What they saw shocked them both for a moment. The man demanding to be called Master was kicking at something. From behind him, Robert heard Rose scream, “Gina!” and dove at the man. Robert knocked him away from the girl, and went to pick her up.

Rose grabbed the bullwhip from the wall and came at him. She wielded the weapon with practiced force and expertise, slicing through the man’s shirt with the first blow and drawing blood with the next.

“Who - the hell - are you?” she demanded, emphasizing each snap of the whip with part of the question, “and what - are you - doing - with MY -property?”

“How did I know she was yours?” He cowered under her glare, willing the wall to swallow him up.

Pointing to the girl’s backside, Rose growled, with another snap of the whip for effect, “It says so, right there!”

Larry was screaming, racing along the only wall available to him, back and forth like a rat, never able to make it past Rose. When he hit the floor, and no longer rose, she stopped. He was whimpering.

Robert lifted Gina and placed her on the leather couch. Then he helped Rose stand the man in the dungeon and attach the cuffs and chains to his wrists. There were a couple of places on the man’s back where Rose had drawn blood, but for the most part, he had just felt the pain.

Robert came into the room and spoke so softly that the man had to strain to hear him. “You broke into my house and assaulted a member of my household. The Chief of Police, the District Attorney, and numerous judges and lawyers are among my very best friends.” He finished, barely above a whisper, “Your ass is grass, buddy, and I am the lawn mower.”

He turned to Rose, saying, “He’ll keep,” and he carried Gina up to her room.

The doctor left the room with a big grin on his face. “I still scare that one,” he said with a chuckle. “She’ll be ok. Most of the kicking hit her in the hip, and she is strong. Fortunately, she curled up and protected her internal organs. She’ll be really sore for a few days, but I think she can still work.”

Rose winced to think that was the first consideration. Realistically, though, that gave her the information she needed.

“What can I do for her?”

“I gave her something for the pain.” He gave Rose the bottle to give her more in a few hours. “The instructions are on the label.”

“Thank you, doctor. Would a warm bath help?”

“Not just yet. I put an ice pack on her. Tonight, let her soak in a hot tub. I’ll see you both tomorrow. I can’t tell you how much my wife and I are looking forward to this party!”

Rose walked the doctor out. When she went back to Gina, said, “I am so sorry about this. How did he get in the house?”

Gina looked up miserably at her Mistress with a look Rose could hardly understand. “I did something bad, didn’t I? I answered the door…” The girl was sobbing; not only from pain, but that she had somehow broken the rules.

“I don’t understand – the butler answers the door. How did you happen to do that?”

“Everyone was busy in the kitchen talking about schedules and duties and costumes. I wanted to help,” she wailed.

“I know you did, dear,” Rose said in distraction. She was wondering what they were going to do about the man hanging from the chains in the basement. “You are never to answer the door. Why didn’t you just find someone to take care of him?”

“He told me to call him Master Larry and not to talk. He started giving me orders in the foyer! Mistress, I didn’t know what to do!” The girl was beside herself with remorse.

Rose held her close and shushed her. “Don’t worry, dear. We will talk about it later. You rest now.” As she stood, Rose said, “Gina, just because a man calls himself a Master, doesn’t mean he is one. This man did not behave with the honor and respect of a Master. That title has to be deserved. I suppose I should go. Master Robert and I will have to do something with him. You rest, dear. I hope you’ll be able to join us for the festivities, at least for part of the time.”

The girl’s face lit up! She was so afraid she would be confined to her bed. As Rose left the room, she basked in the words her Mistress had used, calling her ‘dear,’ and holding her in her arms. She understood and showed kindness, without the least effort. “I want to be more like my Mistress,” she whispered to her pillow.

Rose found Robert on the terrace enjoying a cup of tea. “What are we going to do with the creep in the basement?” she asked.

Robert smiled, and asked, “What creep?” He poured her a cup of tea and handed it to her. “There is no one in the basement.”

He smiled at her reaction. “It seems the man went for a ride out into the desert. If he is lucky - and smart -- he will stay there for a while. I think his driver will impart that message to him.”

Rose sat looking stunned for a moment, then laughed, “You are amazing!”

“Me?” He took her hand and said quietly, “You were very good with the whip, my dear. Your sister was quite impressed, too.”

Chapter 17

The bathwater was almost too hot when Gina stepped in, but Rose insisted that the hot water was necessary. The tub smelled of roses and lavender. The fragrance soothed Gina, and soon she was able to relax in the water. Getting in was difficult, and she was certain she would not be able to stand up again on her own.

She need not worry about that; she would not be alone. Rose sat on the edge of the tub and sponged the girl’s back.

“How does that feel now?” she asked. She looked and saw the girl was crying. “Oh, I’m sorry, dear. Do you need more pain medicine?”

Gina sobbed then. “It’s not the pain, Mistress, it’s…” She wiped her eyes with the washcloth. “I feel so awful! I have been so hateful to you all these years, and you have never done a mean thing to me! I hated you! I never even got to know you.”

The girl was distraught, and Rose sat quite still for a long while without answering. Finally, she said, “I think you hated yourself. You’re right; you didn’t know me, so I was just a target.”

She waited for Gina to digest this idea, and then continued, “It follows that you were not trustworthy, so you could not trust anyone. You hated me, but clearly you had no love for yourself. You indulged in every whim, but when you don’t even like yourself, you can’t expect anyone else to like you.”

Gina cried, “I am SO, so sorry about how I have treated you, Mistress.” The girl wiped her tears again; soon she stopped crying. “I wish with all my heart we had been friends all this time, instead.”

Rose continued to sponge the hot water on her back, soothing the pain, without speaking. After a few minutes of getting control of herself, Gina said, “I’ll do anything you want me to, Mistress. I’ll be the best girl you will ever have, I promise!”

Rose couldn’t speak right away. She wanted with all her being to protect the girl from ever having to experience any trouble again. Instead, she poured shampoo on the girl’s hair and lathered it in. Finally, with a smile, she said simply, “I expect nothing less, my dear.”

*****

The Police Chief came by in the morning to tell Robert what he’d found out about the attacker from the night before. “It seems this guy is friends with Rose’s ex-fiancé. The two of them went out and got drunk recently, and her ‘ex’ unloaded his notion about Rose finding a Sugar Daddy.” Both men laughed at the idea.

“Norman came here several times demanding to speak to Gina. Perkins told him there was no one by that name here.”

“Naturally,” Robert said, “Perkins never knew her real name was Gina. I wonder how he happened to know she was here.”

“Apparently, the ex-fiancé was dead sure she would come to her senses and come crawling back to him. He couldn’t understand why she didn’t, and must have been keeping tabs on her while she was living in her car. He saw her sometimes passing a bar he frequents, and a couple of times he told complete strangers that he’d paid her for the evening, but he was too drunk to ‘get it up,’ so they could have her. Then he would watch her fight them off! When I heard this, I thought the story would be that he set her up so he could swoop in and rescue her, but I guess not.

He even had the guy who was here last night following her one night “to put a scare in her.” It ended in an all-out chase. He figured Rose ducked into the church, because he couldn’t find her after he got around the corner. I tell you, Rob, this guy Norman is a creep!”

“Rose never said much about him other than they were engaged until just before she lost the house. She said she went a little nutty then, and he couldn’t take it anymore.”

“Well, when her car was no longer behind the church, he brought one of her old registrations to the station and got someone to locate it for him by saying it was stolen!”

When Rose came down to breakfast, she saw Chief of Police Paul Sullivan drinking coffee with Robert and chuckling, having told most of the story before she came in.

“Yes, sir, we interrogated your intruder at great length, last night. It was a long ride out to the desert…” They both laughed as they stood to acknowledge Rose.

“Sit, gentlemen. Do go on, Chief.”

The men drank their coffee and Rose buttered toast while plates of eggs appeared in front of them.

Paul continued, “Anyway, what set this guy off was a former employee of yours. While these two were talking, the gal overheard this address and laughed like hell at the idea of you being a ‘Sugar Daddy.’”