The Suspicious Mr. Greenley (3 page)

“Would you like more pie, Steven?” Elsie asked, offering him a second piece that any one of her children would be denied if they dared to ask.  But, Steven was a guest and that gave him special privileges.

“No, thank you, Mrs. Rogers.  I am full to bursting right now.  This was the best meal I’ve had in years.”

“Why, thank you!” Elsie was pleased by his comment.  She did top off Steven’s coffee cup and William’s.  “You children may be excused.  Kevin, Kyle, and Keith, you need to change out of your Church clothes before you go outside and play.  Come on, Karen; Mama will put you down for your nap, sleepy girl.”

“Do you want me to start clearing, Mama?” Kady offered.

“I’ll give you a hand, Kady,” Steven quickly offered, anxious to spend some time alone with her.

“Nonsense.  You are a guest.  It’s too pretty an afternoon to be inside.  Why don’t you and Kady go for a drive.  I’ll give Mama a hand with the dishes,” he added, shocking Kady clear to her toes.

“I would like that,” Steven agreed.  The talk they needed to have was best done in private, where nosy ears couldn’t eavesdrop.  “Kady, would you come for a drive with me?” he asked politely.

“I think that would be fun,” Kady replied with a smile.  She rather liked the idea of having Steven Greenley groveling and begging for her forgiveness. 

Steven stood and looked at her expectantly.  Kady rose to her feet and said, “Bye, Daddy.”

“Have a good time, daughter.”  William had no clue what her daughter had against the young man, but Steven Greenley had a head on his shoulders for one so young, unlike any of the other boys his daughter had dated a few times.  His little Kady was talking of looking for a secretarial job in Columbus… a good two hours from home… and the thought of his innocent daughter living in a city all alone filled him with dread.  Still, jobs in Cinder were hard to come by.  While he might be considered old-fashioned by modern standards, he thought it best for Kady Jo to find a good husband and get married, and live close by.  He saw the way Kady looked at Steven during the meal, and he’d caught the young man looking at pretty little Kady, too.  Dressed in her Sunday best, Kady looked all grown up.  William felt a strong husband was exactly what his spirited, feisty daughter needed.  She was a lot like her Mama at that age, and William’s marriage to Elsie was never dull.  She was still spirited enough to need a trip over his knee every so often, and that suited him just fine.  Little Kasey was conceived following the last spanking he gave Elsie… and she was starting to get a little sassy again…  William grinned.  Maybe the dishes could wait just a bit and he could remind Elsie she belonged to him…?  He quickly brought his thoughts back to the moment.  “You drive safe, now, young man,” he warned, remembering he was a father with a grown daughter to protect.

“I will, sir.  You needn’t worry when Kady Jo is with me.”  His dark eyes were direct and William could see that Steven was serious.  Kady was safe with him.  He had honor and would respect the little redhead.  William nodded solemnly.  He was going to have to give away his eldest daughter one day real soon.

* * *

Steven opened the car door and smiled to himself as he caught a glimpse of Kady’s thigh as she got in the car.  She was a pretty young woman.  He rounded the car, got in behind the wheel, started the engine and they were soon on the road.  “Is there any place in particular you would like to go, Kady?” he asked curiously.

“No.  It just feels good to get out of the house for a bit.”  She was surprised to realize her stomach was in knots.  She was nervous, and she didn’t know why.  It wasn’t the first time she’d gone driving with a boy.  Maybe that was it?  Steven Greenley wasn’t a ‘boy’.  He was a man, and self-confident.  He made her feel grown up, too.

After a few minutes of silence, Steven said quietly, “I think we need to talk about what happened between us, Kady.  It is obvious you didn’t tell your parents that I turned you over my knee.  I’d like to know why.”

Kady Jo felt her cheeks turn a brilliant pink as Steven slowed down and then turned on the road that led to the lake.  “I had several reasons.  One, I was embarrassed.  Two, I was afraid Daddy would kill you and get into trouble.  Three, I was afraid that I would be punished for bothering you.”  Her green eyes were flashing when she looked at him.  “Aren’t you sorry now for treating me like a child, Steven Greenley?”

“Not in the way you mean,” was his cryptic reply.

“What do you mean?” she wanted to know.  “You were perfectly terrible to treat me like a child!”

“I thought you were a child,” he said matter-of-factly.  “You are smaller than your brother, Kevin, and you were dressed in boys’ clothing.  I gave you a child’s punishment.”

“Yes, you did!  And you owe me an apology!” she retorted.

“No, what I owe you is a sound spanking,” he informed her, and Kady was shocked to realize he was serious!

“What?!  Why!?”

“Because you aren’t just a curious kid getting into mischief.  You are a grown woman who was literally snooping on private property, looking for evidence to railroad me.  You were trespassing, and that is against the law, Kady.  Do you realize what could have happened to you if I was up to no good?  If I was breaking the law in some way?”  The look he leveled on her was full of grim determination.  “If I were a criminal, I would have done a lot more than give you a little tanning.  You knowingly put yourself at grave risk if you truly believed me guilty of something.”

“You are being ridiculous!” Kady accused heatedly.

“Kady, criminals wouldn’t hesitate to crush you if they thought for even one second you were on to them.  They certainly wouldn’t give you a little spanking and then send you on home.  Someone needs to take you in hand.  You need a spanking in the worst way,” he announced.

“You already spanked me!” Kady was insulted.

“Yes, I did, like the kid I thought you were.  You aren’t a kid.  You need a thorough lesson, one you won’t shrug off as if it never happened.”

“You really hurt me, Steven Greenley, and you made me late getting home, and I was in trouble with Mama for not helping her.  And Daddy pun--!” She abruptly stopped speaking, mortified that she was about to admit her father still spanked her.

“Your Dad gave you another licking?  On top of the one I gave you?”  Now that bothered Steven.  Kady’s green eyes filled with tears.  “I’m sure you were pretty darn sore after that.  Why didn’t you tell him?  He probably wouldn’t have spanked you.”

“No, he wouldn’t have, but he would have come up with something else even worse,” Kady pouted.  The fun had gone out of her day.  Even looking out at the peaceful lake wasn’t giving her the usual pleasure.

“Kady, if you aren’t a child, then you need to stop acting like one.  You graduate next Sunday, and you will be expected to take on adult responsibilities.  One of those responsibilities is accepting the consequences of your behavior.  I don’t think you were prompted by mere curiosity to spy on me.  You truly believed I was doing something illegal in that workshop, and you deliberately came by yourself to snoop around.  You put yourself in danger, and you told no one where you were headed or what you were doing.  Irresponsible, and deserving of the kind of spanking a grown woman receives, not what you got.”

“You can’t be serious!” Kady exclaimed furiously.

“I am very serious.  You have two choices; one is that you ask me to give you the spanking you truly deserve for being so foolish; the other choice is that I drive you home and you tell your father precisely what happened that day and let him decide if you were suitably punished.”  Steven paused and then said, “My guess is that he’ll send you outside to cut and peel several switches, or he’ll take off his belt and give you a sound strapping.”

Kady wanted to cry, she was so furious!  “You have no right to put me in this position!”

Chapter Three

“I have every right.  I know what men are capable of, you don’t.  I don’t want you to find out the hard way, either.  You are very pretty, Kady, and you are not cut out to be a spy of some sort.  What you did was foolish and risky.  Are you going to accept the consequences from me, or go and talk to your Dad?”

“I don’t want Daddy to know!  It would be all he would need to hear to forbid me from moving to Columbus and finding a job there!”  Kady simply couldn’t bear the thought of having to stay in Cinder another moment after she graduated, but she couldn’t move out of her father’s home without his permission, either.  She wouldn’t be legally able to do that until she was twenty-one!

“If you don’t want your Dad to know, then you’ll have to accept the consequences from me.  If I spank you for this, you’ll know you’ve had a real spanking.  I consider what you did to be very serious, Kady Jo, and your spanking will reflect that.  It won’t be a child’s spanking.  You’ll cry very real tears.”

“You are frightening me!”

“Good.  If I were a criminal, I would have done a lot more than frighten you.”

“You think they would have shot me?” she asked in a small voice.

“After they tortured you to find out what else you knew or told someone.”  He didn’t mince words.  “You’ve watched too many movies.”

“But, you aren’t a criminal and no harm was done.  You already spanked me, and I don’t need another one.  I’ve learned my lesson,” she insisted.

“You sound like a little girl trying to get out of a deserved punishment.”  Steven sounded disappointed, and he was.  Kady Jo Rogers was a pretty young woman, but she had a lot of growing up to do before he could consider marriage.  He reached for the key, but to his surprise, she reached out to stop him.

“Please don’t take me home, Steven.  While I don’t think I need another spanking, it is obvious you do, and I’d rather it came from you than have my parents all upset and worrying that I’m too young to live on my own.”  The words were difficult for her to say.  When they’d left the house, she had no idea that Steven was considering spanking her…!

“Very well.”  He opened the car door and walked around to open her door.  He smiled at her reluctance to step out of the car, and in her shoes, he’d feel the same way.  After all, he intended to give her a good reason to cry… and there was the very real possibility she would hate him when he was finished with this lesson.  He offered her his hand and she took it.

Kady was so embarrassed she wanted to cry, but she permitted Steven to walk her down a little path that led to a shelter.  The area was private, and they would be able to hear if anyone approached, either by car or by boat, or if someone was on foot.  Steven took a seat on a picnic bench and without a bit more discussion, he pulled Kady down and over his lap.

“If I’d known you were a woman and not a kid the other day, I would have made you cut several switches and I would have striped you good.  But, you got a kids’ spanking instead, with my hand, and with a slat from that crate you broke by standing on it.”

“It hurt plenty!  It was the hardest spanking of my entire life!” she declared.

“It was?” He seemed shocked.

“Yes!  It really hurt and I’m still tender,” Kady told him.

“You do have a redhead’s skin, so I can believe that, especially if your Dad spanked you for neglecting your chores.  I’m not going to use a switch or my belt this time, Kady.  Just my hand.  I have a feeling I can make a point since this spanking is going directly where it belongs.”

Kady should have found that all the warning she needed, but in many ways she was very naïve and she had no clue that he meant to bare her until her dress and slip were pushed up and out of the way.  Her Sunday panties were whisked down to her knees, and all that was left was the garter belt holding up her nylons!  “No!” she whispered, clearly shocked that he would do such a thing.

“This is how a grown woman is spanked by a man,” Steven told her and promptly started spanking the delicate skin framed by the white garter belt.  His hand left an immediate red handprint and the yelp of pained surprise confirmed what he suspected.  Her skin was delicate… and she was still tender.  It wouldn’t take much of a spanking to make his point this day.

Kady promptly burst into tears when Steven’s hand landed on bare skin for the second time.  This was not proper behavior and she was mortified that he was seeing her so exposed.  The embarrassment and shame was worse than the actual spanking, but that hurt, too!  Blessedly, it didn’t last long.  Steven scolded, and when she said, “I’m sorry!” the painful spanking was over!  Steven was gentle as he tugged her lace trimmed panties up over her flaming red skin, and he carefully pulled her slip and her dress down to cover her before he raised her to her feel.

Steven melted when he saw the look in her pretty eyes and without giving it a thought he pulled her down on his lap again, but this time in an upright position so he could hug her and offer comfort.  His lips kissed her forehead, and he whispered that she would be fine now, and called her his brave girl.  When she quieted, he took out his handkerchief and offered it to her.  “Wipe your eyes and blow your nose, Kady Jo,” he bossed with a smile.

“I am sorry, you know.”

“I know you are.”

“No, not about the other day,” she corrected him.  “I mean for being so rude this morning when Mama invited you to come for Sunday dinner.  I was wrong about you, Steven, and I am sorry I judged you before I took the time to get to know you.  It was wrong of me, and I apologize.”

“Apology accepted.  I also apologize for not listening the other day when you tried to tell me you weren’t a child.  I made a judgment that was wrong, too.  Forgive me for not listening?” he asked.

“Yes.  Could we start over now?” she wanted to know.  He nodded, and then claimed her lips in a sweet kiss.  “I have dreamed of you, sweet one.  And here you’ve been, right in my back yard for the last few months.”

“I had to finish high school before Daddy would have let me see you,” she told him very matter-of-factly.  “It is important to him, and to Mama, that all of us kids graduate from school.”