Chapter 33

"Uh oh," William said as he pulled into the driveway. Rock, Colt, Natalie, and Nicole were standing in the driveway with their arms crossed and a frown on their faces. They didn't look too happy to see him. "I forgot about them."

He turned off the motor and stepped out of the car. Looking at the four body guards, he asked, "How did you enjoy your vacation?"

"You dumped us in the middle of nowhere," Colt said.

"Sorry about that," William said. He glanced over at the front door to his house and saw Ling standing there, arms crossed, with a smile on her face. He decided it would have been better if she had come after him with frying pans.

"If you'd been killed, we'd never get another job in this business," Rock said.

Tapping a foot on the driveway, Nicole said, "You are going to be a good boy from now on or else."

Nodding her head in agreement, Natalie said, "You won't like the or else."

"You're right. I was a bad boy and I promise to be much better from now on," William said. He didn't think they were going to buy that line for a minute.

"Somehow, I don't believe you," Nicole said.

Colt said, "You are a spoiled rotten kid. Your mother should have put you over her knee when you were a kid and paddled some sense into you."

Nodding his head in agreement, Rock said, "We figured that you'd try to charm your way out of this."

Face wrinkled in confusion, William asked, "What?"

"Since you're still a minor, we asked Ling if we could paddle your bottom. She gave us her permission," Natalie said. She held up a paddle and waved it around for him to see.

"You've got to be kidding," William said. He looked at each body guard, one at a time, as if he'd never seen them before.

"So turn around, drop your drawers, put your hands on the hood of your car, and brace yourself."

The absolute shock on William's face was priceless. Colt and Rock burst out laughing at him. Nicole started giggling while Natalie shook her head. Seeing that the others had blown it, Natalie said, "Yeah, we are."

Almost willing to swear that he could hear the Two-Sided One chuckling, William said, "I get it. It's make fun of William time."

Having a hard time talking because he was laughing too hard, Rock pointed to the house and said, "Lucy is waiting for you. Get in there before she blows a gasket."

William watched them all laughing for a moment and then turned to head towards the door. When he made it to the front door, he paused to look at his mother and said, "You put them up to that, didn't you?"

"Who me?"

"Yes, you."

"Well, I should have put you over my knee and paddled your bottom," Ling said with a smile. She wished that she had thought to record his reaction. After a second, she realized that the security camera had caught every minute of it. She added, "If you ever do that again, I will paddle your bottom."

"I'm going to talk to Lucy. She still loves me," William said in mock hurt and entered the house.

The reunion of William and Lucy started in the living room, but quickly moved up to the bedroom. They celebrated being together until late in the morning despite small breaks to take naps.

A tired, but very sated, William sat at the table eating breakfast. He was nearly halfway done with it when his cell phone rang. He picked it up and answered. His sister Beth was on the phone and asked, "So did you get your bottom paddled?"

"Huh?"

"The video cut off and I was curious if you got your bottom paddled," Beth answered with a laugh. She was pleased to be the one who was able to break the news to him.

"Video?" William asked with a sudden feeling of horror. He looked across the table and saw his mother calmly spreading jam on a piece of toast. The expression on her face was just a little too innocent to be believed.

"Momma Ling sent out this video of you coming home late. It ended when someone told you turn around, drop your pants, bend over, and brace yourself. So did your bottom get paddled?"

The amusement in his sister's voice was unmistakable. Afraid to ask the question, William asked, "Who is on the distribution list?"

"The whole family," she said with a titter.

"I'll talk to you later after I'm done talking to Mother Ling," William said glaring at his mother across the table.

"Be good or you'll get another paddling."

His sister hung up before he had a chance to say something in return. He closed his cell phone in time for it to ring again. He answered, "Hello."

"Hey little brother. I heard that you got into a little trouble last night. So did they paddle your bottom?"

"John, I wish they had. This is far worse," William said slumping in his seat. He wondered who would be the next one to call. He glanced over at his mother and noticed her innocent expression as she took a bite from her toast.

After a few minutes of small talk, John hung up. William looked across the table and said, "You sent out the video to the whole family."

Colt, Natalie, and Nicole burst out laughing. They had watched the security tapes with Ling afterwards and had enjoyed the look on his face tremendously. Rock said, "Ling, I'm almost tempted to give back the raise you gave us."

Ling smiled at Rock and turned back to face William. With a very large smile, she said, "That will teach you to call forward your phone to me."

Lucy asked, "What video?"

"You might want to check your email. I'm sure that you were on the distribution list," Ling answered.

After breakfast, William survived the laughter from Lucy who thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen. While he had been confronting the bodyguards, she had been in the bathroom putting the finishing touches on her makeup and had been totally unaware of what was going on outside. He had assumed she had seen the entire episode.

Lucy had just settled down when his mother Linda called. Her first comment was, "My baby was a bad little boy. Maybe I should paddle your bottom too."

"Oh, mom."

"You drove Ling crazy," Linda said with a hint of a smile in her voice.

"She loved the challenge," William countered knowing that it was a true statement. He had to take extreme measures not to be found by her.

Linda laughed and said, "She did indeed."

It was later when Ed called that the tone became a lot more serious. When William answered the phone, his father said, "I take it the video has embarrassed you."

"Yes," William said.

"You may not realize how much your absence embarrassed your mother."

William was silent for a moment and then said, "She forced me into that position."

Laughing at his son's avoidance of blame, Ed said, "Yes, she did. That doesn't change the fact that you disappeared on her and she couldn't find you. Her mission in this family has been to protect us and you put her in a position where she couldn't do that for several months."

William nodded until he realized that his father couldn't see the gesture over the telephone. He said, "You're right."

"You might want to find some way to fix things up with her," Ed said. He knew that William knew exactly what to say to Ling, but that it would be hard for him to say the words.

"I'll take care of it," William replied.

"I know you will. Of course, you are going to have to let her have a little fun for the moment," Ed said with a chuckle.

"Did you enjoy the video?"

"Tremendously. I think that is the first time in your life that I've seen you surprised by something," Ed answered.

"I hadn't thought about that. It is the first time I've ever been embarrassed like this."

"So you've learned two lessons from this. Don't embarrass Ling and humility. Let's add a third lesson and I'll hang up."

Frowning, William asked, "Third lesson?"

"You don't control everything just because you can see some of the future," Ed answered and then hung up the phone.

William stared at the phone for almost a full minute while he considered his father's parting words. He wondered if that was what he had been doing for most of his life. Was he trying to control everything because he could see elements of the future? It was a disturbing thought. He closed the cell phone and put it in his pocket.

The best call of the day was the last call and it was from his little brother, Eddie. Eddie had started the conversation by saying, "Are you okay, William? I was so worried when I saw that video."

Touched by the concern, William replied, "I'm fine, just a little embarrassed."

"Did it hurt?"

"They didn't spank me. It was just a little joke."

"Oh good, but I don't think it was a very funny joke," Eddie commented in a very serious voice. He could imagine getting a spanking and didn't like the idea of that at all, particularly if Ling was the one doing it. Linda and Kelly were too soft to make it hurt, but Ling or Claire would make sure that he would remember it. He wasn't sure about the bodyguards, but assumed they were more like Ling than Linda.

"It may have been a bad joke, but it was a good lesson," William said.

"Well, I'm just glad that you weren't hurt. I called to let you know that I hoped you felt okay."

"I feel a lot better because you called," William said. It was the truth. It was nice to know that his little brother worried about him. Eddie had hung up after a little update about what was going on in his life and how he was doing in school. The conversation had left William feeling a lot better. By that time, the entire family had called with comments about the video and he could relax knowing that there would be no more calls about the matter.