hundred
times. That would be boring
enough, believe me!”
“You will write I promise I will not play matchmaker ever
again, and you will write that over and over until I tell you to stop. If there is any complaining, I will
march you into the bathroom and wash your mouth out with soap, and then you
will write double what I planned originally. If your throw any tantrums, then you’ll
get a strapping to sit on and you will write triple the lines I planned
originally. Is that understood,
little girl? I intend for this to
be a punishment you will remember. Accept it and it will go easier for you. Defy me and it will be even more
unpleasant. Well?”
“I understand, but please remember that I already promised I
wouldn’t do it again. I don’t need to
write it over and over again to remember my promise to you. I gave that promise freely.” Jenna swallowed hard when he looked at her.
“Were you complaining, Jenna?”
“No, sir. Just
reminding you that I gave you my promise.” That was close , she thought as
he walked over to the small desk in the sitting area of the large room. He took a legal pad and an ink pen from
the drawer and placed it on the table. He motioned for her to come to him, and then he gently pushed her down
over the desk. His hand reheated
the fires on her backside, and then he sat her down on the desk chair, handed her the ink pen, and he went and sat on the bed while she
had to sit there and write the same line over and over and over. It was a terrible punishment, and all
the worse because sitting hurt so much, and because she didn’t know when or if
it would ever end. Jenna kept
telling herself that Stacy was worth it…
Chapter Two: Stacy
“Stacy, what in the name of God are you doing?” Edmund Cross
stopped in the act of surprising his lovely lady, and instead, he frightened
her when he asked her what she was doing.
Stacy immediately hit the button to close out of her email
as she jumped to her feet and whirled to look at him. “Edmund! When did you get back? I didn’t hear you come in!” She was happy to see him, but knew that
if he caught wind of what she was up to she would be squirming when she sat to
do the news later that night.
“I just got home. Stacy, what do you think you are doing? And don’t fib to me; I saw that email.”
“You weren’t supposed to be home, and you shouldn’t have
sneaked up on me, Edmund!” she angrily pointed out.
“But, I am home, and I did see the email. Start explaining. Is this some horrible practical joke
that you are playing on Holly?”
“No! I wouldn’t
do that!” she insisted.
“Then explain to me why you are pretending to be a man and
writing steamy, sexy emails to your sister!” Edmund was close to pulling her off her
chair and whaling her bottom, and if he didn’t get some answers fast, he was
going to do just that.
“I’m not trying to trick her, or be mean to Holly,” Stacy
insisted with an angry pout. “You
know that she has poor self-esteem, and I am trying to build her up.”
“By lying to her, Stacy Hart?”
“I’m not exactly lying. I’m creating pretend.”
“You are lying to your sister.”
“It’s not like that. I’m trying to make her feel good about herself. I compliment her , encourage her . I even fixed her resume for her, and you know that she wouldn’t have
permitted me to change one word on it if she knew it was me . She doesn’t want help from any of us,
and yet, she needs help to do the most basic interacting with people…
especially men.”
“Stacy, I am sure Holly would be devastated to find out that
this fake Morgan person is not real! How could you do something so dishonest?”
“It’s painful to see Holly struggling, Edmund. When I found out that she’d joined a
gardening message board on line, I decided to join, too, in order to keep an
eye on her and protect her
Irene Garcia, Lissa Halls Johnson