Nery Legacy (4): Just What She Deserves

    “Rissa, why don’t you go on out and see to the dogs?” Ben asked his daughter as he came down into the living room where his daughter was curled up on the couch with a book. It was the same spot that he often found one of his daughters. Both were heavy readers, especially with little else to do for entertainment. “Give me about an hour,” he told her, glancing uneasily toward the door to the kitchen. He just hoped that Ruby hadn’t headed out somewhere. He needed to talk to her.

    “But I’m readin’ my book,” Clarissa protested, looking up just as Ben turned his head to look back at her. He raised his eyebrows, and his ten year-old daughter got up with a huff and went to put her book back on the shelf, then crossed her arms over her chest as she headed for the back door and her sneakers. “Fine!” Rissa said, and Ben had to take a deep breath to keep his temper in check. She was ten, and just getting into that time period where things were likely to be difficult both for her and for her parents. He had to be understanding, even if he didn’t understand.

    Ben was sure that Clarissa had heard the conversation between Ruby and Charlie. There was no possible way that she could have missed it, with Ruby shouting the way that she’d been. He could only hope that Rissa knew to keep her mouth shut and not to be spreading rumors about her sister. Charlie was sensitive enough right now without having anything else sparking her insecurities, and the last thing that she needed was to have Clarissa telling people what was going on with her pregnancy.

    When Clarissa had left the room, and he’d heard the back door slam, Ben took a deep breath and went into the kitchen. Sure enough, Ruby was standing at the counter, putting together some dough for bread. The work inside was as never ending as the work  he had to do on the homestead, and he didn’t want to take Ruby away from doing what she had to do. But when she’d slapped the dough into a bowl and covered it to rise, he cleared his throat. “I wanna talk to you in the garage,” he told his wife. They were going to be having a very serious talk, and he didn’t want to have Charlie overhearing it. His older daughter was feeling vulnerable enough without overhearing another fight between her parents.

    He felt for her. There was no question that Ben had strong feelings about Charlie and what she was going through right now. He hadn’t really processed all of his emotions, having found out that she was pregnant. But there was one thing that he knew for sure; he loved his daughter more than life itself, and if she needed something from him, he would do his best to get it for her. They were going to have another mouth to feed; he knew that, and he wasn’t afraid of it. They were going to have to buy clothes and diapers. There would be more laundry to do. But they would make it through because they were a family, and that’s what families did: they supported one another.

    “I’m bakin’ bread,” Ruby replied, not turning around as she started to work on finding another yeast packet in the fridge.

    “It can wait,” Ben said in a firm voice. “If I’ve got to, I can find a way to buy us some bread. If it’s that bad, there’s food banks that have it an’ will give us some. But right now, there’s bigger stuff than you bakin’ this bread an’ avoidin’ me. You know you’re in deep shit, Ruby Nery. You know what you did to Charlie was wrong. An’ you know that we’re gonna talk about it, so let’s go on out into the garage an’ start talkin’ about it right now, outta her earshot. She’s been hearin’ enough of our arguments, she don’t need to hear no more of ‘em.” He kept his voice as low as he could to make sure that Charlotte wouldn’t hear him speaking, then he reached out for his wife’s arm and gave a gentle tug. “The garage is quiet. She won’t hear nothin’, an’ you can scream all you want. Cause by the time I’m done with you, you’re gonna be screamin’ like she was last week when you whipped her an’ left her by herself.

    “You got any idea how scared that kid was when you did that? You have any idea of what she’s goin’ through right now, Ruby? I got a feelin’ she was scared before you went an’ smacked her. Now... Now I don’t think she knows what to think.

    “So now you got two choices. You come out there to the garage with me an’ we fight this out -- which is gonna leave you not sittin’ for at least the next three days -- or you can leave. An’ I mean it, Ruby. You keep treatin’ those kids that way, an’ you’re outta here. I don’t want anythin’ to do with that shit. It’s abusive, an’ it ain’t gonna happen, not in my house. You understand me?”

   

    “And if I leave?” Ruby asked harshly as she turned toward him. “If I choose not to submit to your discipline any more?”

    “Then you don’t come back,” Ben said simply.

    For a long moment, the two of them stood, staring at one another. Ruby’s blue eyes were dark with anger, but Ben didn’t back down. His wife could be terrifying when she was in one of her crazy moods the way that she had been lately, but he wasn’t afraid of her, and he tried to show her that with his posture and his strength. It seemed to him that she was taking a moment to consider the two options she’d been given, and then Ruby let out a huff, dropped the packet of yeast on the floor, and then stormed off for the back door and the detached garage.

    Ben took a deep, calming breath. He spent a moment just breathing, reminding himself that his belt would be plenty sufficient to make an adequate impression on his wife, even if he did think that she deserved a lot more than that. He thought that if he was braver, he would have thrown her out, but it worried him that she’d fight him for custody of the girls, and Charlotte needed him right now. And he was sure that if Ruby lost Charlotte, she’d get her claws into Rissa as well.

    Ten minutes had passed before Ben finally followed his wife out the back door and to the garage. He closed the door carefully behind him once he’d checked to make sure that Rissa wasn’t anywhere nearby where she could hear what was going on inside, and then he turned to face his wife.

    “It’s clear to everybody who lives in this house just how you feel about Charlotte, Ruby. The worst thing about it is that I’m sure that it’s clear to her too. You done more than hurt her feelin’s this afternoon, Ruby. You crushed her spirit. You took our vibrant sixteen year-old daughter an’ made her feel like she was about three inches tall. You didn’t just punish her for somethin’ she can’t help; you humiliated her. You know what she said to me, Ruby?” When his wife didn’t respond immediately, Ben pressed on, “She said that you hated her. An’ I couldn’t even tell her different, cause I ain’t sure right now that you don’t hate her. I can’t even imagine thinkin’ that my Mama hated me. An’ that’s how our daughter feels.”

    Ruby gave him a blank, hard look, and Ben took a deep breath, ready to go on when she finally spoke. “She’s exaggerating, Ben. She wants your attention, so she’s makin’ out that there’s more goin’ on than what there is.”

    Ben raised his eyebrows and his chin at his wife. “Right,” he said. “So you’re tellin’ me she gave herself that big bruise on her cheek? Cause I was under the impression that you smacked her, Ruby. An’ I don’t care what she’s done, there ain’t no call for that.”

    “You don’t --”

    “Deal with her every day. I know, Ruby. It’s a tired sayin’, an’ I’m tired of hearin’ it. I spent the last week with our daughter an’s he’s an amazin’ young woman, doin’ her best to help me an’ I think she’s lyin’ low, feeling bad about some of the stuff she’s heard you say, too. You notice this afternoon she done said she didn’t need no new shoes? You remember her sayin’ that when we were gettin’ Rissa’s shoes for her? Charlie done heard you say that you’re tired of her askin’ for stuff that we can’t afford. Her sneakers have holes in the bottoms of ‘em, an’ she knows it’s another month before we go into town, but she’s makin’ do to try an’ help you out, an’ you’re shoutin’ at her an’ smackin’ her like that, Ruby. I ain’t never been so ashamed of nobody in my whole life!”

    “She was--”

    “She was what, Ruby?” Ben was on a roll! “She was speakin’ respectful to you? Cause that’s what I was hearin’ when I got up there to hear you smack her. She was scared? Yeah, she sure as heck was. She’s sixteen, an’ she’s in a lot of trouble. Her life ain’t ever gonna be the same again, an’ her Mama’s actin’ like she’s done gone an’ killed somebody! She ain’t. She’s a scared kid, an’ right now she needs both of us.”

    Ben paused, angry. “Go on an’ get those jeans an’ panties down. Ain’t no sex after this, Ruby. This is what you need, my leather an’ your backside so that the next time your daughter needs you, you open your arms instead of smackin’ her just like you did. When we’re done here, you’re gonna go on up to our room an’ stay there for the rest of the night. I’ll fix supper, or Charlie can help me with it. She’s a good little cook when you let her help you in the kitchen, but it ain’t often, is it? You’re too busy in there with Clarissa, an’ shuttin’ Charlotte out. She knows it, too. She’s hurt, Ruby.”

    He’d gone too far, and Ben stopped, waiting while his wife fumbled with the button on her jeans. “What’re you gonna do?” she asked, her voice shyer than what he was expecting.

    “I’m gonna do like you did to Charlie last week,” Ben said. “Only what you done is way worse than her sneakin’ out an’ tryin’ some alcohol. This is a big thing, Ruby. I want you to remember that for a long time.”

    While Ruby pushed her jeans and her panties down, Ben started on his belt, unbuckling it and then pulling it off. “I’m in charge of discipline until I think I can trust you again,” he told his wife. “Cause right now, I think you just wanna hurt our girl. I don’t know where that got into you, but that’s what it’s lookin’ like.”

    When Ruby said nothing at all, Ben was sure that he’d hit the nail on the head, and that made him sad, and made him feel guilty since he was the one who had let Ruby do that to their daughter. He sighed, then doubled his belt over. “Bend on over the work bench,” he told his wife, gesturing toward the back of the garage, where there was a small workshop area. “Let’s get this done with before Rissa comes in expectin’ our attention.”

    Shaking his head, Bed followed Ruby into the workshop. She moved slowly, hobbled by her jeans and her panties, holding them up at the front as she went. He knew that by the time he was finished, he was probably going to be carrying her into the house and settling her into a bath. She’d want to sleep afterward, he was sure. He wasn’t planning on going easy on her at all, and by the time that he was finished, he hoped that she really would regret her choices, and maybe try to change the way that she was treating Charlotte. His concern now was: could she?

    In the workshop, Ruby turned around to face her husband, and Ben instantly put his hands on his hips, defensive as he raised his eyebrows and looked at her sternly. “I don’t want you to do this,” she said. “I don’t like it when you treat me like I’m a child. An’ if I say no, then you ain’t allowed to do it.”

    “You’re right,” Ben said. “If you say no, then it becomes a legal issue an’ I could be in serious trouble. Just like you could be if I called the cops about the way you struck out at Charlotte. You can say no, Ruby; an’ you can walk away an’ never come back. You know I ain’t gonna call the cops same as I know you ain’t gonna call them just because I give you the whippin’ you know you deserve. You wanna call up Papa right now an’ find out how he feels about all this?”

    His words seemed to hit their mark as Ruby paled and shook her head. “No,” she said slowly, then cleared her throat. “No Sir.”

    “That’s better. You know what I want, Ruby. Get yourself bent over the workbench so that we can take care of business here. An’ when we’re finished, you’re gonna spend the evenin’ thinkin’ about what you could be sayin’ to Charlotte in the mornin’ to make her feel better. You got a lot of work to do, girl.”

    Ben watched and waited as Ruby bent herself slowly over the desk. With her bottom poking out, her legs slightly spread, he felt a stirring in his groin, and he closed his eyes, trying to think of something highly unpleasant so that he could remember that this was entirely business. “I’m thinking six with my belt will do the trick,” he told his wife when he was finished cooling himself off mentally.

    Ruby shifted, and Ben was sure that she was nervous, maybe even afraid. “It’s going to hurt,” he reminded her. “And when it does, I want you to think about the fact that last week you did this to our sixteen year-old daughter, and think about just how much she was hurting when you sent her upstairs by herself without so much as a hug of reassurance. She was scared then, Ruby, an’ she’s scared now. An’ I’ll bet you’re plenty scared too,” he added as he placed his hand firmly on his wife’s back. She was holding onto the other side of the bench, and he knew that meant he was safe to start.

    Ben lined the belt up, placing it against the fullest part of Ruby’s bottom. He made sure it was even, then drew his arm back to the shoulder and let the strap fly, whipping solidly across Ruby’s backside. She grunted, and he let his arm drop, giving her a moment to recognize the pain, to feel it, and to prepare for the next one. The stripe was pink, but growing red fast, puffing up slightly, especially at the edges. He put more pressure on Ruby’s back, shaking his head. She wasn’t crying yet, but he knew that she was a lot stronger than one of their girls, as well.

    “You need to be thinkin’ about what it had to feel like to be Charlie. She’s not as strong as you. She can’t take as much. An’ I ain’t gonna be abandonin’ you after, either.”

    Once more Ben lined the belt up, this time an inch lower, just where her bottom was starting to curve down. The belt swung back and connected with a resounding crack, this time drawing a short groan from Ruby. Ben patted her back, then lined the belt up again, eager to get it over with, even though she wasn’t moving yet. He was planning on taking the belt all the way down her thighs, as low as he had to go, but not going below her knees. This time, the belt was half an inch below the previous mark, and he whipped at his wife again, taking her halfway to where she would go. Now Ruby screamed, and Ben nodded his head. “Seems like I’m gettin’ through to you then, Ruby girl,” he said.

    There were three more strokes to go. One, he would apply to her sit spots, but he wanted that one to be last. So now he lined the belt up against the backs of his wife’s thighs. Her head raised, and she made a small sound of fear in her throat, but Ben just shook his head. “Should have thought about that when you were smackin’ my daughter the way you done, Ruby. You think you were just gonna get away with that?” he asked.

    But talk was cheap, and the only way he knew to get through to Ruby was to do what he was doing. He pulled the belt back again, this time cracking it hard across her thighs. He didn’t wait before he did it again, the bright red marks appearing quickly on his wife’s strong, muscular legs.

    By now Ruby was sobbing, her fingers white on the back of the bench, and Ben just shook his head unsympathetically. “I’d love to feel for you, Ruby, but you didn’t really feel much for Charlotte now did you?” he asked her. “When you were strappin’ her last week an’ when you were smackin’ her face today an’ calling my daughter a whore. Ain’t much sympathy for you  now then, is there? I wonder if you’re feelin’ as bad as she is. I doubt it, darlin’. I doubt it.”

    This time, Ben made his wife wait a few minutes. He didn’t even line up his belt, just holding her down over the bench firmly with his left hand, feeling her heart racing through her back. Her face was red, and she was trembling slightly as he shook his head and tutted at her. Although there was no doubt that he enjoyed spanking his wife, he wished that he didn’t have to do this. The fact that he had to do it meant that his wife had done something so out of line that it was unthinkable.

    “Here’s what’s gonna happen,” Ben said finally, his arm still at his side. “I’m gonna give you one last one to really count. An’ then you’re gonna go on into the house an’ up to our room an’ you ain’t gonna come out until tomorrow mornin’. You’ll be missin’ your supper tonight, but that’s nothin’ compared to what Charlotte’s goin’ through. An’ I want you to spend some time thinkin’ about what you’re gonna say to her the next time she lets you get near her, which I’m warnin’ you Ruby, might be a while from now.”

    Now he was ready, and Ben lined the belt up against his wife’s sit spots. He took a deep breath, drew his arm back, and really let the belt fly. Ruby’s reaction was instant and strong. She jolted, then let out a scream of agony, her body finally heaving as she dissolved into real sobs, her fingers letting go of the other side of the bench to cover her face as she cried.

    “I have no sympathy, Ruby,” Ben said as he threaded his belt back through the loops of his jeans. But with a start, he realized that he ewas lying. He didn’t like to see her crying the way that she was, and it didn’t matter if it was his wife or one of his daughters, Ben had a natural desire to nurture. He gently reached for Ruby’s arm and pulled her up to her feet, then pulled her against his body, holding her and shushing her, whispering soothingly in her ear as he took the weight that she couldn’t hold up herself. He kissed her head, then rubbed her back and bent to tug his wife’s panties up, then her jeans. He didn’t bother to button them or zip them, not with her crying so hard, and he gently bent to scoop her up into his arms, cradling her as he finally carried her out of the garage and kicked the door closed behind him. He could hear Rissa’s voice off in the distance, and he shut his eyes, silently praying that she’d give him enough time to get Ruby into the house before she followed him in.

    Thankfully, Ben was halfway up the stairs with his wife when he heard the back door closed. He breathed a slow sigh, then shook his head. “I’m gonna have to deal with her,” he told his wife sadly. “I ain’t gonna be able to stay with you. But I want to, darlin’,” he reminded her, then gave her a squeeze as he opened the bedroom door and gently put Ruby down on her feet. “Might as well get undressed, put on a nightgown. It’ll be more comfortable.

    When he heard the foot steps on the stairs, Ben went to the door and made sure to lock it. A moment later, he heard Rissa’s hand on the knob. “Just go on downstairs!” he called out to his daughter. “I’ll be down there in a few minutes!”

    Ben bent to kiss his wife’s mouth, then brushed her hair behind her ear. “We’ll talk again before bed,” he promised her, then gave her a sharp pat to her bottom before exiting the bedroom to find Clarissa and talk to Charlotte again.