Chapter 50

Andi roused herself blearily from slumber, feeling pain in places she rarely felt pain before. Not a stabbing, nauseating pain, but a pain that reminded her she earned every ache. She remembered going to bed wearing one of Paul’s flannel shirts and a pair of panties, and she woke up with the shirt open, her breasts exposed and her panties around one ankle. She rolled over to see Paul up on his left elbow, smiling down at her. His boyish grin reminded her of the events of last night, how she convinced her man that he needed to stop treating her like she was made of porcelain, and how he realized that her unspoken request went so much deeper.

“Good morning sleepyhead,” he whispered and sweetly kissed her.

“Good morning Daddy,” she hoped the inflection in the way she said “Daddy” conveyed the fact that she fully remembered her promises of last night. “Am I in trouble?”

“Like sayyyyy ... for not stoking the fire when I asked?”

There were some very intimate activities happening at that time. “But I was ... you were...” No woman would have stopped then! Then Andi realized it was part of the game that started when she asked him to treat her more firmly. “Yes daddy,” she finally whispered.

Paul smiled and leaned in, nibbling her long, beautiful neck at just the right spot, whispered, “actions have consequences.”

“Yes, Daddy,” she whispered, tingling in anticipation of consequences.

“What is a consa-kense?” muttered Sandy from under the blankets.

Paul pulled his T-shirt on over his head. “Con-se-quence,” Paul sounded out slowly, “it means if you do something good, you get a reward, and if you do something bad...” he looked at Andi to continue the sentence.

“You get a different kind of reward,” she grinned as she buttoned her shirt under the blanket.

“You get a prize for being bad?” asked Madeline appearing from under the covers at the foot of the bed.

“Not exactly,” said Andi, “you may think Poppa, or I are being mean to you when you do something wrong, but later you will realize that we were reinforcing our words with actions that helped you remember not to do that wrong thing again.”

“What wrong thing? I didn’t do something wrong,” announced Sandy, still under the covers.

“We don’t want you playing in the street because you could get hit by a car. If you do play in the street, the consequence is that you would get a paddling.” The mound of blankets that was Sandy shuddered.

“Now, if you finish all of your reading assignment after breakfast, the consequence is that you get a ride on the snowmobile.”

Suddenly, the blankets flew back, and Sandy’s beaming face was visible. “Can we go fast?”

“A little fast,” said Andi, holding thumb and forefinger two inches apart.

“Can we go faster?”

“Can you read more?”

“Hell yeah!” cried Sandy as she jumped out of the bed,

“What was that?” demanded Andi in her mom-voice.

“She said Heck Yeah,” improvised Madeline, as she raced after her sister to the toilet.

“I’m surprised how well they cover for each other,” sighed Andi, as they disappeared into the kitchen area. She then thought for a moment and leaned back against her man. “How severe will my punishment be?” she asked quietly as her fingers gently traced their way up his leg.

“Quite severe,” he whispered as he wrapped his arms around his little darling and kissed her head.

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