Chapter 7: Clean Linen

Callie got up early Saturday morning and cooked coffee and eggs for Cade before he left for work. She never thought she would be the type of woman that would take care of her man, but she was turning into that type of woman. Her bottom was still tender from the strapping he had given her the night before and she was wearing a thin nightgown. Every now and then she would wince and reach back and caress her bottom over the top of her nightgown.

Cade felt a twinge of guilt as he watched her rub her sore bottom. He wasn't sure what he had started with all of his talk of discipline and whipping her every day if she didn't clean the house. He ate his breakfast, then stood up and gently turned her around to face him as she stood at the kitchen sink. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her tenderly on the forehead, "I'm sorry I punished you so hard yesterday," he said softly.

Her eyes filled with tears. "It still hurts."

He caressed her back, reached down and smoothed his hand across her sore bottom. "I'm sure the pain will go away after awhile," he said softly. "When I get home from work, I need to finish repairing that old truck. It's getting cold out and we need to get some windows on this house before winter hits. That old Torino isn't good for hauling things."

She clung to him, "Please don't ever threaten to throw me out again." She looked up at him with pleading in her eyes. She had never had anyone love and take care of her. She had spent her entire life searching for that, and had always ended up disappointed. She wasn't sure Cade would take care of her, but deep down inside she felt there was the potential that he would. She was tired of scrambling all the time in order to survive.

"I won't threaten to throw you out as long as you do your part," he said softly. "I expect you to clean the living room today like we discussed."

Callie nodded, "I will."

Cade looked down at her tear stained face. "I can be hard to live with and I know that, but maybe if we both try, we can make this work."

Callie nodded and watched as he picked up the lunch she packed for him on his way out the back door. She sat down on one of the old rickety chairs at the table and felt the burn in her backside. He had whipped her hard. She shed a few tears as she smoked a cigarette. She didn't know why she was crying, but she couldn't seem to stop herself.

"Mommy?" Jessica asked as she walked down the stairs and into the kitchen and stood beside her mother. Callie quickly wiped her tears away and put her arm around her daughter. "Can I have breakfast now?" Jessica wanted to know.

Callie sniffed, "Yes, sit down sweetheart."

Jessica sat up to the table and Callie stood up, grabbed the pancake mix and began mixing water with the dry mixture. Then turned on the stove to heat the old frying pan. The ancient stove was difficult to cook on, but Callie was getting the hang of it. "Go wake up your brother and sister so they can eat too," she said after awhile and she watched as Jessica rushed up the stairs. "Time to get up!" Jessica called to Ashley and Harley, as if she were in charge of them.

Callie smiled at her daughter's stern little voice as she scooped the pancake batter onto the surface of the frying pan and watched it bubble.

Callie made all three children help clean the living room and she soon realized what a good helper Ashley was. Ashley stuck by her side and did everything she was told and Callie began to feel guilty for the many things she had done to Ashley. It was true that she had targeted Ashley from the very beginning for no good reason. Cade had now taken that option away from her, which was for the best. She knew the children would tell him if she used the strap on Ashley again and she wasn't anxious for that to happen.

They scrubbed and cleaned the room from top to bottom. The large picture window in the living room was cracked, and there were boards nailed to the outside of the house covering that window and two other windows where the glass was completely missing. Callie tried to picture the room with glass on the windows and no boards, but it was difficult.

After awhile, Harley and Jessica grew tired of working. All they wanted to do was run around the house and tease each other. Callie had to scold them continually to stop, and after awhile she wanted to give them a good sound spanking, but Cade had warned her not to.

Ashley didn't dare stop working. Her bottom was still sore from all of the whippings Callie had administered and she continued to work mainly due to fear. Even though Callie was not supposed to whip her anymore, she didn't trust that. She was entering uncharted territory and she didn't want to find out what receiving a whipping from her father would be like. Harley and Jessica didn't seem to care.

When Cade arrived home from work, he was exhausted. He walked into the living room and discovered Callie and Ashley hard at work. Callie was frustrated. She and Ashley had taken down the curtains to get the dust out of them and Callie couldn't seem to get them back on the rods. "God dammit!" she swore and then she threw them down to the floor in frustration. They were threadbare and rotting.

Cade walked over and picked them up, "It looks a lot better in here."

Callie was nervous because she hadn't finished cleaning the room. "We're almost done."

"You've made more progress in one day than you have in two weeks," Cade observed.

Callie swallowed, "I guess so," she said softly.

Cade gave her a sharp look, "But I told you to have it all clean by the time I got home."

Jessica ran over to her dad and grabbed his legs and looked up at him, "Don't get mad at mommy; it's not her fault."

Cade lifted Jessica up in his arms. "Did you help your mommy clean?"

"Yes!" Jessica smiled happily.

Ashley rolled her eyes. She had been the one helping. Jessica and Harley had been running around for the last several hours.

"Sorry, but I haven't started dinner," Callie apologized.

Cade marveled at how much she had changed since yesterday. He put Jessica down, yanked Callie up by the arm and looked sternly into her eyes. She froze; afraid of what he might do next and she was surprised when he leaned forward and gave her a kiss. "I'm glad you're finally getting this place cleaned up. I'm going out to the garage to work on the old truck; call me when dinner is ready." He let go of her arm, "You're off the hook for now," he said as he turned and walked out the back door. Callie breathed a sigh of relief.

"I want to help you," Harley called and followed his dad.

Ashley began to pick up the curtains that were on the floor. She was too short, even with the stool, to put the old fashioned metal hooks into the plastic gliders. "Don't worry about the curtains right now Ashley, I'll figure out how to hang them later," Callie said, "How about helping me fix dinner?" and they both went into the kitchen to figure out what to cook for dinner.

Cade worked on the truck for hours Saturday night and then he got up early on Sunday morning and began working on it again. Finally, on Sunday afternoon his persistence paid off. He was able to get the truck running. A black cloud of smoke billowed out of the tailpipe after he started the engine. The truck continued to idle after he started it and he tweaked a few things under the hood to make it run more smoothly. "Yippee!" Harley yelled.

Callie, Jessica, and Ashley rushed outside when they heard the truck running. "Can we go for a ride?" Jessica asked eagerly.

The truck was very old and there wasn't much room in the front for all of them to sit. "No, not right now," Cade said in a tired voice. He was exhausted.

"God dammit!" Jessica stomped her feet.

Cade looked at her sharply, "What did I tell you about swearing?"

Jessica swallowed and rushed over and stood behind her mom for protection. Cade had already warned her once. He walked over, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out from behind her mother. He held her arm up with one hand and smacked her bottom with his other hand a couple of times, "No more swearing!"

Jessica's eyes welled up with tears as he released her and she ran back to her mother for comfort. The two swats had hurt her pride more than her backside and she buried her head against her mother's shoulder. She hadn't meant to swear. "You swear all the time," she muttered in a muffled voice as she continued to burrow her head against Callie's shoulder.

Cade laughed despite himself when he heard Jessica's words and he walked over, grabbed her out of Callie's arms and held her. She was worried that he was going to spank her again, this time for real. "Stop your sassing. You can swear when you get as old as I am, but not when you are only five."

Jessica frowned. "No fair."

"I know," Cade said with a twinkle in his eye and he carried her over to the truck, "OK I give up. Everyone get in the truck. We're going to town to find a mattress store that's open, even if it kills us." All of them piled eagerly into the truck when they heard his words.