Journey in the Spring Read online

  The conversation was beginning to piss him off. He was more than willing to share Gabby with a baby, or ten babies; it wasn’t that at all. He saw the way Queenie and her husband, Will, shared their adoration of their twins and knew in his heart that it was something he wanted to experience, as soon as Gabby was ready. No, he wasn’t slowing the process because of some jealous foolishness.

  He changed the subject. It was either that or punch his brother in the face.

  His youngest brother, Trey, was next on the hit parade. He’d returned from Afghanistan for his annual R & R and was visiting the ranch for the christening and Easter family time.

  “You’re lookin’ well, big brother.”

  Ace couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks, kid. You don’t look much the worse for wear.” He said it, but it wasn’t entirely true. Trey looked rode hard and put up wet. His military experiences were beginning to grind him down a little. Fortunately, he had a sweet wife to come home to. Liv was a balm to Trey’s battered psyche. Ace was glad they’d found each other.

  “I saw Gabby helpin’ Consuela in the kitchen a little while ago. She seems…I dunno. Not herself.”

  “She’s mad at me and is torturin’ herself with it.”

  Trey appeared concerned. “All okay between you two?”

  Ace nodded. “Nothin’ I can’t handle.”

  “Look, bro, I know you’re older than me and all that, but I’ve been married longer. Let me give you a little advice: if she acts up, spank the livin’ daylights out of her. It works with Liv and it’ll work with Gabby, too. She really cleaned up her act after you spanked her that time she was givin’ Liv trouble.”

  She had, that was a fact. However, they’d then been apart for nearly a year, and she’d gone back to being headstrong and bratty. “It’s not as easy as that, Trey.”

  “Sure it is. What’s the beef, anyway?”

  Ace sighed. He’d be writing up invitations to his argument with his wife soon. “She wants babies right now, and I want to wait.”

  “Ah. Queenie’s babies got her motherin’ instincts up?”

  Nodding, Ace shrugged to dismiss the conversation, but Trey didn’t back down that easily and offered a little of his personal relationship as a concession. “I’m concerned that Liv will have the same reaction. She’s anxious to start our family, but with me being deployed for another year at least, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  It was nice to have someone to talk to about it, and Ace realized exactly how isolated he’d made himself with this problem. “What are you goin’ to do about it?”

  “She’ll be uncomfortable around Queenie’s babies, but she’ll deal with it. We have an agreement in place. The month after I return from my deployment for another hitch on the base, we start makin’ babies. It gives us both somethin’ to look forward to.”

  That sounded appealing. “An agreement, huh?”

  Trey nodded. “It works for us. Maybe you can try it.”

  “Yeah. That might be what we need.”

  * * *

  Queenie glanced into the back of the big jeep as she, Will and the babies made their way from the church. The christening went very well. Father Roskovy had done an excellent job, and the babies had been pretty good natured. They’d each screamed as the cool water had been sprinkled on their foreheads, but they’d calmed easily enough. Their godparents, Will’s younger brother, Rob, and Queenie’s younger sister, Jackie, were delighted with their new responsibilities.

  Now she’d spend the afternoon with her family and enjoy showing off her twins a little. Powell fussed a bit, but went back to sleep. He was getting hungry, she knew, mostly because her breasts felt very full. It would be a little awkward nursing the pair while at her family’s ranch house, but she’d figure out a way. This was her first family outing since the babies had been born. They’d stayed close to home for the past month while everyone was getting into something like a routine. It had been exhausting, with babies crying every two hours, but Queenie couldn’t imagine life without them anymore.

  She and Will had behaved irresponsibly by having sex without protection, that was true, but it had come out alright because they’d both been old enough to admit their love for each other, despite being a bit set in their ways. Queenie was madly in love with Will, and he with her, and their babies enhanced their lives perfectly.

  Her father, Leo Journey, had come to the neighboring ranch to visit his new grandbabies within a few hours of the babies’ coming home, and he was the first one to greet them when Queenie and Will pulled up in front of his ranch house.

  He practically snatched Powell from her arms as she carefully took him out of his car seat.

  “There’s my little grand…”

  “Son, Daddy. That’s Powell.”

  “I knew it. I can tell them apart,” he said with a big smile for Powell’s eyes alone. The baby gurgled and fussed.

  “He’s hungry, Daddy.”

  Will drew the other baby from the car and Liv hurried over to help. “Can I carry her?”

  They exchanged smiles, and Will handed the little bundle over to his sister-in-law.

  “Oh, isn’t she the prettiest baby?” Liv cooed, holding the baby close to her chest.

  The little group made their way into the house and to the family room where the others were gathered.

  Everyone had kind words about the children, though the pair was beginning to make a lot of noise by now. “I have to feed them.”

  “Where are their bottles?” Liv asked.

  Queenie smiled. “No bottles. They get the ‘organic’ stuff.”

  Liv’s brows rose-this was the first time she’d been able to see the babies, since she and Trey lived in Austin, about three hours away. “Oh! Well, let me hand Myrna back to you. I’m sure you have a…system.”

  “Myrna…” Gabriella said with disdain. “Who names a baby Myrna these days?”

  The conversation stopped and Ace shot his wife a scowl. Gabby looked a little surprised, as though she hadn’t realized she’d spoken aloud.

  Queenie tried to hold back her infamous temper. “They’re named after the actors from The Thin Man, William Powell and Myrna Loy.”

  “I still think it’s a weird name,” Gabby muttered, her cheeks pink.

  The babies were crying, but Queenie was officially ticked off. “Who asked your opinion?”

  “No one, but-”

  “So shut up, Gabby,” Queenie said. The younger woman was way out of line. If she had a negative opinion like that, she should have kept it to herself.

  “Come on, Queenie,” Will said calmly, taking Powell from his reluctant grandfather. “Leo, do you mind if we use a guestroom?”

  “Don’t mind a’tall.”

  “Thanks.”

  Queenie glared at Gabby as she followed Will out of the room.

  * * *

  “Gabby,” Ace growled as his sister walked out in a huff. “We have some talkin’ to do.”

  She glanced around at the family she’d come to know. Most were looking embarrassed. Leo was visibly ticked off. Ace both looked and sounded furious.

  “Now, Ace… I was merely stating an opinion.”

  “An unasked for opinion and an insultin’ one.” He took her by the wrist and drew her from her chair. “Come on.”

  “But, the party. I mean-”

  He paused and stared her down, his frown dark enough to give her the shivers. His hand went to his belt. “You want me to tan you right here?”

  “No!” Oh, God, what had she gotten herself into now? “No! I don’t want it at all. Not here or anywhere!”

  Ace pulled her along. “Get your sweet ass upstairs, woman. Right. This. Minute.”

  From the look on his face, he’d be picking her up and carrying her there if she didn’t cooperate. “Yes, sir,” she whispered and hurried out of the room, her face flaming.

  When their door had shut behind them, Ace pulled his belt out of its loops abruptly, every motion crisp and angry. �
��Take off your panties and climb onto the bed, butt up.”

  “Ace, really, I’m sorry. I didn’t know anyone was listening. I will apologize to Queenie and Will. I really will. Okay?”

  “Not okay. Do like I said or I’ll start addin’ on swats.”

  Gabby backed up until the bed hit the back of her knees. Squirming, she drew her panties down and got up on the bed on hands and knees. “We don’t have to do this,” she whined. “I’m really sorry.”

  “Not as sorry as you’re fixin’ to be.”

  The skirt of her dress got lifted up to her waist and tucked into the belt there and cool air wafted over her bare behind. This was going to hurt. She knew it and dreaded each second it took to get started. Once begun it was soon over, but anticipation was nearly as bad as the spanking.

  He didn’t warn her, didn’t warm her up. The first smack was hard, loud and shockingly painful.

  “Ouch!”

  “I’ve had about enough of you being such a brat, Gabriella,” he told her, peppering her rear with half a dozen more hard spanks.

  “Ow! Ow! Ow!” Her bottom was already beginning to burn harshly. “Please forgive me!”

  “You embarrassed us all with your display of jealousy.” More spanks landed, more than she could count while the pain was so sharp.

  “Ouchie!” A sob broke her voice. “I’m not jealous!”

  The belt came down again and again, starting its inevitable trajectory down to her thighs and back up again. “You surely are! Your behavior lately has been all jealousy with no thought about how thin’s affect others.”

  She sobbed and sniffled, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her butt burned and felt like it was splitting, but he didn’t relent. “Please, Ace! I’m so sorry!”

  “I want you to get control of yourself and stop bein’ spiteful and bratty. You hear?”

  The comforter was getting a wide wet spot from her tears. She couldn’t take much more. “I hear! I hear! Please stop!”

  The spanks were concentrated on her sit spots and she wailed with agony. “I ain’t gonna allow you to be a harridan, li’l girl. Now you mind me and clean up your behavior!”

  “Yes, sir! Yes, sir!” She was blubbering, but he seemed to understand her. He stopped and came up into the bed to rest his back against the headboard.

  “Come here.”

  Crawling and crying, she found her way to Ace’s lap. Her butt hurt fiercely as she climbed onto his thighs, but that didn’t stop her from cuddling up against him. The comfort was greater than the stinging burn.

  “This is the end of the celibacy, too, li’l girl. I reckon you’ve ’bout tortured yourself enough.”

  “We can have a baby?”

  “We can make a deal.” Calloused fingers pushed sweat dampened hair off her forehead.

  “Deal?”

  “Yeah. The month you turn twenty-three, we can start makin’ a baby.”

  Hope rose in her chest. “We can?”

  “Yeah. But not a day before. And I don’t want any more whinin’ about it.”

  “You really mean it?”

  He cupped her chin and turned her face toward his. “Have I ever lied to you?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Then I must mean it.”

  She smiled though tears still coursed slowly down her face. They were becoming tears of joy. Throwing her arms around him, she hugged him tight. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

  He chuckled. “I don’t want to see you slappin’ your pussy no more. That’s my job.”

  Laughing, she nodded. It was a job she was happy to relinquish.

  Chapter 2

  Down the hall, Will and Queenie settled in the guest room and arranged pillows so that Queenie could nurse the two squalling infants at the same time. “The nerve of that woman,” she said, still fuming.

  “She’s young,” Will pointed out, unhelpfully.

  “I don’t care if she’s in kindergarten! The very idea that she’d say such a thin’!” She tried to calm down, to simply enjoy the warm sensation of feeding her babies, but she got angrier by the minute. “I should have slapped her.”

  Will sighed and ran his fingers though his sun-lightened auburn hair. “Calm down, Queenie. It’s over now. I’m sure she won’t say anything like that again.”

  “I hope not. I might have to yank some of that mousy brown hair off her head.”

  Chuckling, Will said about the worst thing he could have said. “Honey, you have brown hair too. If you didn’t dye it-”

  “Don’t be such a clod, Will!”

  He frowned. “A clod, huh?”

  “Yeah, a clod. Aren’t you mad at the li’l twit?”

  “Well, I wish she hadn’t said what she said, but I have to say, I’m madder at you for calling me a clod.”

  Queenie was instantly remorseful. She was taking her anger out on Will and there was no good reason for that. A niggling resentment was bubbling up, something that she and Will had to work out soon. Queenie let the conversation lapse until the babies were finished, finally handing Powell over to Will to be burped.

  “Will…” she began, her Texas drawl thicker since she was a bit upset. She wasn’t sure how to ask what she wanted to know, and it was unusual for her to be so tongue-tied. Queenie took a deep breath. “Will, you still love me, right?”

  He looked genuinely surprised. “Of course I do, honey. What makes you ask that?”

  “Because the doctor said we could go back to our sex life a week ago and you haven’t touched me.”

  “Oh,” he said. He didn’t follow that up with further comment, and Queenie’s heart got heavy.

  Myrna burped and Queenie cleaned her little mouth, then began to rock her to sleep. “I miss you,” she told her husband softly.

  “Even though I’m a clod?”

  “I didn’t mean that!”

  “I know. But your temper, Queenie, is your worst problem.”

  “Are you perfect, Mr. Los Angeles?”

  “The name’s Mazie, Mrs. Mazie, and no, I’m not perfect. But this is something you need to work on more.”

  “Don’t be a pompous ass, Will.” She realized immediately that she’d insulted him again, but she wasn’t going to back down once the words were said.

  “I’m sure I didn’t hear you correctly.”

  “You heard me.”

  “We’re here at a family event. Our babies need your attention, but when we get home, I’m going to blister your fanny. You’ve got no reason to call me names. I don’t care how disturbed Gabby’s remark made you or how much stress you’ve been under since the babies were born. I don’t call you names and you know you shouldn’t call me names either.”

  “I’m sorry.” And she was. He was right, and now she’d gotten herself into hot water.

  “That’s not going to stop me from taking a strap to your ass.”

  * * *

  People were slow to start up conversations with Gabby for the rest of the afternoon, but they did warm up a little toward the end of the day.

  An opportunity arose, so Gabby approached Queenie and sat down next to her. Her eyes were glued to the infant in the carrier next to her mother. “She’s beautiful.”

  “She’s still called Myrna,” Queenie pointed out. “And, yeah, she’s beautiful.”

  Gabby’s face flamed. She didn’t know what she’d been thinking earlier, spouting her venom like that. “I’m sorry, Queenie. What I said was uncalled for.”

  The older woman eyed her for a moment, then nodded. “Apology accepted.” She nibbled at a cookie. “Got your ass whooped, didn’t you?”

  Face getting even hotter, Gabby nodded. “Yes.”

  “It shows.”

  She’d never get used to the idea that all the Journeys knew she got spanked. It was incredibly embarrassing. “I feel like an idiot.”

  “Well, now it’s over. You can move on. Everyone will forget about it in a day or so. By Easter it’ll be nothin’ but a ghostly memory.” She put her half-
eaten cookie aside and played with something in the diaper bag. “Unlike me. Will’s gonna take his strap to me when we get home. And I deserve it, too.”

  Did everyone around here have a thing for spanking? “What did you do?”

  “Lost my temper. Called him names.” She paused. “And I know better, too. He doesn’t like to be disrespected, and callin’ names is about as much disrespect as there is.”