by Twila

Feedback is always welcome: twila@e-scribblers.com.

Copyright © 2008 by Twila. All Rights Reserved.

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“Hey, hon. You okay?” Allie walked toward her daughter and gave her a hug. Something was bothering her. “What’s wrong?”

“Can I talk to you?” Megan whispered, eyeing Molly.

“Of course, hon.” Allie led her daughter into the next room, sat down and stood Megan in front of her. “What’s wrong? Are you in trouble?” Sometimes Megan looked upset when she knew she was in trouble.

“No, ma’am, but I think Lizzie is,” Megan said softly. “Momma wouldn’t…”

Allie noticed the sad look on her daughter’s face and was concerned that she wouldn’t talk to her about this. “Wouldn’t what, hon? Spit it out.”

“Spank Lizzie?” Megan whispered. “She’s only been here a day.”

“How long she’s been here isn’t the issue,” Allie began, wondering what Lizzie had done in there. “It’s whether she deserves it or not. Does she?”

Megan shrugged.

“Would momma have spanked you for the same thing?” Allie asked.

“Definitely,” Megan said.

Allie almost laughed at the look on Megan’s face. “What did Lizzie do?” She frowned when Megan told her. “Well, I guess that answers your question. You know how we feel about a smart mouth. Whether she gets punished for it or not is up to momma. But either way, hon, she’ll be fine.”

“I know,” Megan said. “I just didn’t want her to have a bad day.”

Allie hugged her daughter. “We don’t either, hon, but we can’t re-adjust the rules for her. That wouldn’t be fair to every one else, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Just be there for her, okay? She’ll probably have lots of questions and not want to ask us.”

“Okay, mommy,” Megan whispered, content on her mom’s shoulder.

Allie hugged her tighter and then set her forward. “Are you going to watch the movie with Molly?”

“No, ma’am. I thought I’d draw in there.”

Allie smiled. “Okay. Run get your pad and come back.”

Megan took off.

Allie headed back to the living room just as Lizzie was walking through. Lizzie looked upset. Allie walked over to her and stopped in front of her. “Are you okay, hon?” She looked into troubled blue eyes almost glaring back at her.

“Fine,” Lizzie muttered, trying to step around her new mom. She was angry again and she needed some time alone.

Allie didn’t miss the look and stepped aside, letting Lizzie pass. She’d talk to Andy and then go talk to Lizzie. Megan came back down and Allie got her settled. She then headed toward the study. Andy met her and they stopped in the dining room to talk. Andy filled her in on what had happened.

“She’s angry at me about that punishment,” Andy stated.

“I noticed.” Allie grinned at her partner.

“You think it was wrong to do that already?” Andy asked, eyebrow lifted.

“No way.” Allie stated firmly. “It’s just going to take a little convincing on our part to get Lizzie used to how things are here.”

“Don’t I know it.”

“I thought I’d go talk to her and see if she has questions. That okay with you, luv?”

“You know it is, babe.” Andy pulled her wife into her arms. “Just don’t be too long. Our nap awaits.”

Allie laughed. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Allie headed upstairs and found Lizzie sitting at her desk, staring at the wall. “Hey hon,” she said softly. Lizzie barely acknowledged her. Allie didn’t appreciate that. She headed over, grabbing a chair on her way and sat down beside Lizzie. “Anything we need to talk about, Lizzie?” she asked gently, watching Lizzie.

Lizzie shook her head, not wanting to talk at the moment.

“Do you know what you’re going to write about?”

“Not really,” Lizzie whispered.

“Do you know what it means to be respectful to others?”

“Yeah.”

“And that wasn’t it, was it?” Allie scolded gently.

“No, ma’am,” Lizzie amended.

“Thank you.” Allie paused a minute before continuing. “You do know that this is a serious essay, right? No bull crap or making up things. Momma will be reading it carefully and if she thinks you wrote a bunch of nonsense, you’ll be writing another one, only longer and having an added punishment for trying to get out of this one. Understand?”

Lizzie stared at her. “But I don’t know what to write,” she got out, upset.

“Sure, you do, hon. Think about it. Why do you show respect to someone? Who should you show respect to? How do you show respect? Same questions you’d answer when writing any report.”

“Oh.” Lizzie thought about that a minute. “Thank you.”

“No problem, hon. Anything else?” Allie watched Lizzie hesitate. She knew she needed to talk about this, but seemed unsure.

“What did she mean when she said she’d adjust my attitude for me?” Lizzie finally whispered, staring at the blank paper in front of her and twirling her pencil.

“What do you think she meant?” Allie asked, curious to know Lizzie’s answer.

Lizzie shrugged. She wasn’t really sure although she knew it couldn’t have been good based on the glare on her momma’s face when she’d said it.

“Lizzie, look at me please,” Allie said gently. She didn’t miss the embarrassing look on her face. When Lizzie looked up, somewhere around Allie’s chin, Allie continued. “We don’t like an attitude or smart mouth,” she began. “I suppose you’ve gotten that so far.” Lizzie nodded. “What she meant was that if you didn’t adjust it yourself, she’d adjust it with her hand, applied to your bottom until it was adjusted to her satisfaction. Understand?”

Lizzie’s mouth dropped open. Then Megan’s words came back to her. “She’d do that to me?” she squeaked out in astonishment.

“Yes, we would if we needed to.”

“You too?”

“If I needed to. Lizzie, we don’t punish our kids unless we have to. There are many ways to do that. Your essay if one of them. Losing privileges, grounding, all kinds of different things. And occasionally, it may take a spanking to get our point across. Clear?”

“But not all the time, right?”

“No.”

Lizzie nodded, lost in her thoughts.

“Anything else you want to ask me?”

“Does this have to take until dinnertime?”

“No, why?”

“She said to give it to her at dinnertime.”

“That’s because we’re going to go take a nap. When you’re done and it’s done right,” Allie emphasized this, “you can get a book and join Megan and Molly. Okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“We’ll talk later if you need to.”

Lizzie nodded. Once her mom left, Lizzie sat there for quite a while thinking about what her new mom had said and trying to assimilate all this new information. Once she’d sort of done that, she got busy on her essay. It was harder than she thought and took her quite a while to write.

Lizzie finished her essay, grabbed her book and joined her sisters in the living room. She had a little time to read before every one got up and joined them.

Andy and Allie had spent some time talking and then the rest was ‘couple time.’

“I’ve missed you,” Allie whispered to Andy as she snuggled against her side, Andy’s arms holding her tight against her.

“I’ve missed you too, babe. I’m sorry things have been so hectic lately. We definitely need to make sure we have some time alone.”

“Heidi is home from school next weekend. Do you want to see if she’ll watch the kids so we can go out?”

“If you think Lizzie will be okay with that,” Andy said. “I don’t want to make this any harder on her than it already is.”

“I think she’ll be fine.”

“Okay, babe.” Andy kissed her wife and they snuggled for a little longer before having to get up, knowing the kids would be up soon.

Lizzie heard her moms come into the living room, Katie and Bryan with them. Lizzie headed upstairs to get her essay. She hadn’t realized that her momma had followed her until she turned around, intending on heading back downstairs. She came to an abrupt halt.

Andy watched Lizzie a minute before holding out her hand for the essay. Once she had it, she indicated the bed. “Have a seat while I read this,” she told Lizzie.

Lizzie sat and watched her, hoping she’d written it to her satisfaction. She didn’t want to write another one or have some other punishment given to her.

Andy pulled up a seat by Lizzie and quickly read over her essay. ‘Not bad’ she thought. “Very good, Lizzie.” Andy smiled as she set aside the essay and looked Lizzie over. “Do you have any questions, about anything?”

Lizzie shook her head, staring at her lap. She really wasn’t ready to talk about much.

“No questions about your essay or anything that happened today?” Andy inquired.

Lizzie shook her head again.

“Lizzie,” Andy warned.

“No, ma’am,” Lizzie whispered.

“Okay, hon. Let’s go back downstairs. You can help Megan set the table for dinner.” Andy stood up and waited for Lizzie to join her before heading downstairs.

Continued in Part 8

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