An Unacceptable Arrangement (10 page)

He tapped the cane against his leg as he
headed downstairs to his wife’s suite of rooms. Cassandra turned
when he walked in, shocked that he’d entered without knocking.
Liesl curtseyed and her eyes widened as she spied the cane her
master was carrying.

“Undress your mistress, Liesl.” The maid
nodded and began to unfasten Cassandra’s clothing quickly, with
fumbling fingers. She helped her out of her dress and petticoats
and corset, trying not to meet her mistress’s eyes. When his wife
was left standing in her chemise and stockings, Frederic spoke
again.

“Excuse us please, Liesl. Do not go far. We
will be requiring your services again very soon.”

Liesl quickly vacated the room after throwing
her mistress a most concerned look. Cassandra was white as a sheet
as she watched her maid retreat, but when she turned to her husband
the red circles of anger still burned in her cheeks.

“I won’t go visit my parents this evening,
and you can’t make me.”

“I agree Cassandra that you won’t be in any
condition to visit your parent’s, not after you receive the caning
you have earned.”

“You can’t bully me into socializing with my
family if I don’t want to!”

“This correction is not because of your
refusal to socialize with your family,” Frederic said calmly. “You
and I will discuss that matter later, as I am very curious as to
your reasoning. No, my dear, you are receiving this caning because
you left my study before you were dismissed. You also raised your
voice and stomped your foot at me. That is not acceptable behavior
in this household. In the future, you will usually be corrected in
my study where it is more private. However, since you seem eager to
receive this one in the family quarters, where there are several
servants always near, I am glad to oblige. Now arrange yourself
over the chair.”

Cassandra held herself perfectly straight and
walked across the room casually as if she did not care a bit that
she was about to be disciplined for the first time by her
intimidating husband. She desperately tried to not show fear but
she could not tear her eyes away from the cane her husband was
holding as she moved to the only chair in the room. She’d endured
worse, she told herself, having been birched.

“Lower your drawers, Cassandra.” Cassandra
flushed from top to toe as she undid the ribbon at her waist and
she felt her drawers fall around her ankles.

Frederic used the cane to point to the
cushion. “Bend forward Cassandra and set your arms on the cushion.
Hold your legs straight and your bottom high.” Cassandra turned to
the chair, trying to imagine how the small, light cane would feel
striking her skin. Perhaps such a flimsy implement would not be so
bad. She reluctantly assumed the position her husband had decreed.
She was frightened, having been paddled, birched, strapped and
spanked, but never caned before. Hayden, who had been severely
punished on several occasions, told her that the birch rod hurt
more than the cane and now she clung to that thought as she bent
over the chair. Straightening her legs, Cassandra lifted her bottom
as she’d done when punished by her father.

“That is not the correct position for
punishment, Cassandra, Not in this household. Rise up on tiptoe and
turn your heels outwards.”

Cassandra shuddered as she assumed the new
position, realizing it opened her up entirely to her husband’s
eyes. She suddenly felt extremely vulnerable and gasped when she
felt the cane between her legs, tapping on her inner thighs. It was
an unspoken command to spread her legs apart and so she reluctantly
did, stepping out of her drawers to do so.

“That is the position you will always assume
during punishment Cassandra, and if you should break position we
will stop until you once again assume it.”

“How... how many, Sir?” Cassandra asked in a
quavering voice.

“I don’t give counts, my dear. I strike until
I feel the lesson has been learnt. Are you ready?”

“Ye... yes Sir,” Cassandra whispered. She
suddenly realized that perhaps she should not have bolted from her
husband. She knew she’d never do it again. She closed her eyes and
prayed for help to quell any future displays of her infamous
temper.

Frederic came and stood beside her as he
pushed her chemise up her back. He kept his hand there and she felt
it burning into her flesh. It was all so humiliating; she could
hardly bear it as she thought of all that he could see – her bottom
hole, her cunny, everything. She closed her eyes and held her
breath. She heard the cane whistle through the air and then it
struck. Cassandra squealed and sprang to her feet rubbing the wheal
that had sprung up, looking at her husband with disbelief. The
cane’s bite was atrocious! Surely he didn’t intend to do this to
her several times?

“Yes?” Frederic asked, curious to see what
she would say.

“Why... it... it hurt! It really hurt!”
Cassandra finally blubbered, tears coming to her eyes.

“This is a junior cane, my love, one used
only on the smallest of school boys. It cannot possibly hurt worse
than several switches being laid on your arse at once. It will,
however, give you a memorable reminder to be respectful and not run
from me ever again, oh yes it will. Back into position now.” He
took her by the upper arm and lowered her into position. She
shifted back and forth and managed to take the position he’d
ordered. The wheal felt like a living thing on her bottom though,
large and throbbing.

“Please Frederic, not so hard, please...”
Cassandra begged. She heard the whistle again and she again
squealed at the impact. Again she leapt to her feet and looked at
her husband with disbelief.

Frederic removed his necktie. “You will need
to be restrained, Cassandra. You clearly do not know how to take a
punishment properly.”

She began to sob. “No, no, please don’t tie
me! Please, Sir! I will hold position! I promise! It’s just that
I’m... not... used to the feeling of the... the cane.”

Frederic turned the chair around. The back
only came to waist height. He arranged Cassandra over the back,
head dropping on to the cushions and then stretched out her arms
and tied her wrists to the front legs. Then he tied her legs to the
back chair legs with her discarded stockings. She could not move
now, even if she wanted to.

He decided to get this over with quickly.
Taking his place next to her and facing towards her bottom, he
reached around his wife’s waist with his left arm and held on
tight. He raised his right arm and then struck fast and furiously,
laying down dozens of strokes in a couple of minutes. Cassandra
cried out a single word, “NoooooooooooooOOOOOO,” and it rose in
volume until she was screeching loudly enough for practically the
entire household to hear. She held that one note the entire time.
He was certain that everyone on the block could hear the racket
she’d made. Frederic stopped and sat on the bed, watching his
wife’s beautiful bottom undulate as she came to terms with the hurt
he had laid down upon it.

“Whaaaaa! Yeeoowww! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” She
continued to wail as the heat built. Her bottom rotated in complete
circles for a couple of minutes until her cheeks looked orange and
hot. Finally she collapsed upon the chair back and cried like a
baby. When she had stopped moving, Frederic walked over and untied
her. She still didn’t rise as he stroked her flanks. The lines were
laid so closely they seemed to be swelling into a single throbbing
blister. He parted her cheeks and looked between them; the damage
hadn’t been as intrusive as when her father had birched her but he
knew that she was struggling to come to terms with the mind-numbing
pain of feeling the cane for the first time. Schoolboys were only
allowed six strokes and usually had trouble holding position for
that. Cassandra had received at least three dozen strokes and had
been given no choice.

He ran one finger up through her slit, and it
came away coated with her juices. Some part of her had been
extremely stimulated by her correction, although she would probably
argue that point. He patted her on her incredibly sore behind and
spoke. “Up now and get dressed. We are going out.”

Cassandra was holding her bottom and
sniveling, her nose running. She rose up and looked at her husband
aghast. He couldn’t be serious!

“I’ll send Liesl in to help you dress. Dinner
is being served at your parent’s in one hour.” Frederic walked
out.

Cassandra continued to sob; she knew that it
would take much more than an hour to compose herself after a
correction of this magnitude. She threw herself on her bed, bereft.
The next thing she knew, Liesl was helping her up and into her
clothing.

“Hurry up, Missus, I know it hurts terribly
but your husband wants to leave momentarily.”

Cassandra hiccupped, “I can’t stop crying. My
family will know I was just disciplined.”

“And I’m sorry for that madam but it can’t be
helped. The master doesn’t say anything he doesn’t mean and he
means that you are to go out tonight.”

She held out Cassandra’s drawers for her to
step in to but Cassandra shook her head no. There was no way she
could stand anything hugging her bottom tightly. She would have to
go without them. Before she knew it, Cassandra was sitting across
the carriage from her husband for a very uncomfortable ride to her
old home. She continued to cry, even though she was trying
desperately to stop.

“But my family will know I was just
punished... and... I don’t have any drawers on,” she sobbed,
pleading with her husband to excuse her from this social
engagement. “It’s all just so shameful,” she whispered, bowing her
head and crying into her handkerchief.

“And whose fault is that, my wife?” Frederic
hid a smile. The thought that his little wife had a very red, bare
bottom under her skirts was an image that he would enjoy reflecting
on throughout the evening ahead.

She looked up at him and confessed, “It was
horrible, Sir. I have never felt anything like that in my
life.”

“Yes the cane makes quite an impression. That
is why I prefer it to other methods of discipline. You will become
accustomed to its bite and then we will graduate to a senior cane.
Something to look forward to, my dear.” He smiled and winked at
her.

Cassandra tried desperately to compose
herself as they pulled up in the courtyard of her family estate.
The doors to the carriage opened and her husband helped her down
and soon she was in front of her parents, still sniffling. Her
parents smiled kindly at her and led them to the dining hall.
Cassandra found it difficult to sit after that caning and the
carriage ride. Her parents could clearly tell what had happened;
how could they not? They well knew what a child who had a hot
bottom looked like; her squirming was a telltale sign. Their
daughter had obviously needed to be chastised by her husband before
she’d agree to come to their house.

Cassandra’s mother made a valiant effort to
keep up the conversation, talking about how much they’d missed
seeing her and how she was always welcome back at home. They tried
to ask her questions about married life. Was it agreeing with her?
Was she happy? Her husband nudged her and she responded woodenly in
the affirmative. She wasn’t able to eat much even though the
kitchen had prepared her favorite dishes and pushed bits of food
around on her plate, her eyes downcast, hardly daring to believe
that she was once again sitting in her family home.

After dinner her little sisters Emily and
Violet were brought down from the nursery to see Cassandra. They
squealed and ran to her and Cassandra wrapped them tightly in her
arms. She was so happy to see them. “When are you taking us for ice
cream, Sissy?” Emily asked, calling her by the name she herself had
created when she couldn’t pronounce ‘Cassandra’ as an infant.

“Ice cream, ice cream,” Violet chimed in,
jumping up and down.

A lump formed in Cassandra’s throat; she had
missed them so. Emily had grown taller, in just the weeks since her
wedding.

“We would very much enjoy taking you out for
ice cream sometime very soon. Isn’t that right, my wife?” Frederic
responded, looking pointedly at Cassandra who had no choice but to
nod her head in agreement. This is what she’d feared – being sucked
back into socializing with her family. Being forced to put aside
the unforgiveable and pretend that everything had returned to
normal; that the injustice done to her had been forgiven and
forgotten, when it most assuredly had not. If she quickly
assimilated back into her family without much fuss or bother, her
parents would then congratulate themselves on her successful
marriage. They would have learned nothing and then who knows what
they would do to her little sisters when they grew up – marry them
off at 15 to the highest bidder? After more hugs and kisses, the
little girls were removed by their nanny.

“Little Emily is growing like a weed,” her
mother sighed. “She is keeping Madeline busy letting down her
hems.”

Just then Hayden and Theresa arrived, joining
them for dessert. They had been to a dinner party but rushed home
to see Cassandra and Frederic. Cassandra was truly happy to see her
brother and his fiancée and was a bit more herself by that point.
Seeing her tiny sisters had alleviated some of the tension in the
room. She even managed to hold up her end of the conversation,
although she refused to look directly at her parents.

Frederic studied his wife as Hayden and
Theresa discussed the dinner they’d just attended. Cassandra’s
demeanor was so different with her siblings than with her parents.
What was the problem? Why was she so upset with Lord and Lady
Newblythe? Did she really mean to excise her parents from her life?
The conversation took an unfortunate turn as Hayden and Theresa
began to discuss their wedding.