Nora Kittler willed her lip to stop trembling lest she betray how vulnerable she felt and thus prove her uncle right.

"How could you?," she asked. "How could you turn your back on your own flesh and blood?"

Levi Johnson looked at his 22-year-old niece and for a brief moment experienced a feeling of déjà vu. She wore the same scared look of hurt as when she had been brought to him as a confused five-year-old child trying to grasp the concept that her parents were dead. The weather had been unkind that winter, and when the flu claimed them both Nora was left with the feeling that no one -not even the God she had been raised to trust - could be counted on. With no one else to turn to, she was sent to her only surviving relative - her father's brother.

But she had been a blessing to Levi and his late wife Naomi, who had longed for children but were unable to have any of their own.

Over the years they had loved her and coddled her in the misguided effort to somehow compensate her for the great loss of her parents. When they tried to set limits she rebelled. If they held firm she would look so sad that they would just hold her in their arms and she - the pretty little manipulator with the shiny chestnut curls - would have them where she wanted them.

Even now Levi resisted the urge to hold her. Nora was no longer a child. She was a woman who should - no, he decided - must- be sent back to Jakob, her husband and the only person who had ever been able to handle her.

"But you don't understand!!," Nora cried, turning on the signature tears. "He beat me!!"

Levi stood up and stoked the fire, shaking his head as he did so. When he spoke he did so with an uncharacteristic firmness.

"Nora Lynn, I've known Jakob Kittler since he was knee-high to a grasshopper," said Levi. "I've seen him deal with drunken farmhands and unbroken horses. I've seen him be firm with both but I have never seen him loose his temper, even where other men would have. Not ever!"

"Well I am neither a drunken farmhand nor a wild filly," said Nora. "And he did beat me!"

Jakob approached his and took her delicate, heart-shaped face in his hands.

"Nora, Nora," he said. "If I believed for a minute he had done that I'd be loading my rifle right now, but you aren't bruised. Your dress isn't even torn. Can't you see why I'm skeptical? How exactly did your husband beat you and do no damage?"

Nora tore herself away and sat down at the pine table, pushing the tin cup and plate away as she crossed her arms and put her head down to the surface of the cool wood. How could she tell her uncle the embarrassing truth?

She sighed and raised her head, determined to spit out the words. They may mean a moment's embarrassment for her but they'd spell much worse consequences for Jakob when Uncle Levi found out.

"The damage was done where you can't see. The marks are under my skirt," she said.

"Under your skirt?", Levi asked, and for a moment felt fury rise that perhaps the girl he raised was being subjected to some sort of perversions and then he stopped, suddenly certain of what she meant.

"Nora, are you saying he spanked you?" Levi asked.

"Yes!!", Nora said, relieved that she didn't have to use that dread word herself. Spank. A short but powerful word that in her mind embodied subjecting one to the authority of another.

As a child she had seen it inflicted on her friends by parents whose vigorous mission to "train up the child in the way he should go" were registered on plump, wiggly bottoms with whatever happened to be handy - a switch, a wooden spoon, a leather slipper. She felt fortunate to have escaped such indignities, until she learned that growing up doesn't exempt a woman from a spanking delivered by a stern husband.

When she had left the home of her Uncle to live with Jakob, the handsome landowner a mile down the road, she was happier than she had ever been in her life. The courtship had been brief, and the day the darkly handsome Jakob had lowered his 6'2" frame on one knee in a field of wildflowers to propose had been one she'd never forget.

Levi had approved and his only regret was that Naomi had not lived to see the child she raised married to such a fine gentleman. Not only was Jakob strong and trustworthy, he was reputed to have a character above reproach and was known throughout the territory as having the highest standards of morality.

To Nora, Jakob was everything as a husband she could have imagined. He was loving, passionate, respectful and patient with the woman whose spark and vivacity had drawn him to her.

But yesterday - their one-month anniversary - she learned that her soft-spoken husband's patience had its limits. She also learned that - unlike her aunt and uncle - Jakob's view of correction wasn't that it was to be waived as an act of love, but rather that if a person truly loved someone in their care they would teach them the lessons they needed to know.

Nora's lesson had been most unpleasant and although she would never admit it, deep down she

knew she had brought it all on herself.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One day earlier

She had been bugging Jakob all week to let her help break Belle, the half-crazed bay pony mare a down-and-out friend had given him as payment for a debt. The animal was beautiful, but she was wild and as dangerous as any horse Jakob had ever seen.

"No," he had said sternly after Nora's plaintive pleas. "It is far too dangerous. I know you are an experienced rider but this is a wild animal, not some spirited pleasure horse used to bit and saddle."

When Nora saw that her brawny mate wasn't backing down, she decided to take the tactic she had used as a child. Jakob would have to make a trip to town tomorrow and she would work with Belle while he was gone. She'd get a double enjoyment out of ultimately doing what she wanted and proving him wrong at the same time.

When Jakob had hitched the buckboard for the drive into town for supplies the next morning, his wife sweetly declined his invitation to go along and instead stood on tiptoe to offer a goodbye kiss his smooth-shaven cheek.

Then she settled at the window with her needlepoint, watching through the window until the buckboard had rounded the corner and was out of sight.

That was all she needed to see. Dropping her needlework, Nora flew into the bedroom and dragged her travelling trunk from under the bed. She opened it quickly and began to search under layers of silk and lace until she found what she had been looking for - the pair of doeskin breeches that had been her Aunt Naomi's gift to her. She undressed down to her undershirt and pulled them on, savoring their softness and remembering how her aunt's eyes had twinkled when Nora had expressed glee over the one gift she thought the prim Naomi - who had maintained breeches weren't for girls - would never give her.

She had ridden many an hour around the farm dressed in those breeches and today she would ride again. Only this time it wouldn't be one of the spirited reliable mounts but a horse that would better respond to a feminine touch than the dominating, masculine approach to training.

Outside, Belle eyed her warily and moved away as Nora approached her.

"Easy there, girl," Nora whispered, and her voice did have a soothing effect on the small mare which glanced at her through a long, untidy forelock as a halter rope was slipped onto her head.

"So far so good, girl," Nora said.

Leading the green-broke filly to the railing, she continued to purr reassurances as she climbed on the fence and in one fluid motion slipped a leg over the horse's back.

"That's not so bad, is it?," she Nora. Beneath her the filly trembled.

What happened next was so sudden Nora had no time to react. Just as she urged her forward by applying slight pressure with her heels, the filly bolted straight up as if fired from a cannon. Nora barely had time to grab onto the mane in a terrified grip as the animal ripped around the corral. Screaming, Nora found the reins of the makeshift halter bridle and tried to pull the animal to a stop.

It was to no avail. Nora saw the corral fence looming in front of the galloping filly just before she turned, throwing Nora over the fence and into a huge pile of hay.

Shaken by the impact, Nora raised herself up counting her blessings that she wasn't hurt. But the relief was replaced by shock when she pushed her mane of tangled hair out of her face and saw two legs directly in front of her. She swallowed hard and followed the legs up and up with her eyes, which came to rest on the scowling face of her husband.

"Are you alright?", he asked.

"I'm fine," she said, adding, "What are you doing back?"

"Let's just say I had a sneaking suspicion I couldn't trust you so I doubled down the side road and came back," Jakob said coldly. "And now I not only return to find my worst suspicions confirmed but I also find three months of work I've put into breaking this pony down the drain."

A defensive retort spring to Nora's lips but her husband cut her off.

"Save it for someone who's more easily manipulated," Jakob said. "I think it's high time some limits were established in this household."

Nora had no time to ponder Jakob's implications before she was hauled unceremoniously out of the hay and propelled towards the farmhouse with a swat to the backside.

At having insult added to the injury her pride was already suffering, Nora spun on him.

"How dare you?!", she screamed. "My own aunt and uncle never laid a hand on me. Who do you think you are?"

Jakob delivered his answer as he picked his 5' 2" tall wife and slung her over his shoulder.

"I'll tell you who I am. I am your husband, whom you swore to obey and to whom the laws of this state entrusts with your guidance and -when needed - correction.

Nora's long, shiny hair tumbled from the remainder of its bun and brushed the dusty ground as Jakob completed the last ten strides to the front door of their cozy farmhouse. Inside he marched with his struggling captive straight to their bedroom and tossed her like so much baggage onto the mattress.

Nora had no time to make an escape before Jakob seated himself on the bed and pulled her to standing.

"And what are these?" he asked, hooking his fingers in the waistband of her pants.

"Breeches," she said. "I always wear them when I ride."

Jacob looked disgusted. "Oh really," he said. "This is a good place to start Lesson Number One. In this household, I wear the pants in the family. Ladies will dress as ladies, my lady. No more breeches for you."

Nora was livid. "Well I have news for you. I have no interest in being a lady, you - you whoremaster!!

Trapped between her husband's muscular thighs, Nora's glee at seeing her husband's shocked expression at such language was short-lived as she heard the steel in his next comment.

"I believe when I am through with you, Mrs. Kittler, your interest in being a lady will be much renewed.

Before Nora could stop him, Jakob had undone the button of her breeches, pulled them and her bloomers down to her knees and laid her across his lap.

Her mortification at being bared in broad daylight was replaced by utter panic and humiliation as Jakob described what was to follow, taking the tone of a judge passing sentence.

"Norma Lynn Kittler," he began. "You have willfully defied me and in doing so put your life in danger. Your recklessness has also undercut my efforts to break that filly. You have been coddled all your life by guardians who loved you but who failed to discipline you. Today that ends. I am going to spank you. I am going to spank you until you are beyond the point of tears and to the point of true repentance. And when I am finished you are going to thank me, take a seat at the table and write 100 times, "I will obey my husband. This is your first lesson on being a respectable wife."

Nora had no time to fully consider the indignity, so focused was she on swallowing her fear and remaining stoic.

But it was not to be.

The oldest of nine, Jakob had plenty of practice tanning the bottoms of wayward siblings, a duty often delegated to him by his harried parents. He now practiced that craft on his wife with a sharp smack to a plump buttock.

Nora yelped at the impact of her first ever spank and tried to shield herself. Jakob simply pinned her tiny wrist to the small of her back but had no time to recover as another three more hard smacks fells on the opposite cheek, eliciting another cry.

"Owwww, please stop. You're hurting me," Nora began to beg," now as terrified by her husband's indifference to her pleas as she was by the punishment itself.

But Jakob continued, now catching the crest of her buttocks with his hand over and over and over. Under his swats, the fair skin turned pink and then cherry red from the repeated handprints he applied.

Nora kicked and flailed, begging for mercy and promising to be not realizing that her frantic struggles actually helped her husband achieve his goal by edging her forward on his lap.

As she lay face down with her hair spreading across the floor like a silken cloud, Jakob lifted one knee and raised his wife's round bottom high as he began the final assault on the unprotected region where buttock meets thigh. The force of his leg raising her up in the air caused Nora to shift in a manner which forced her to involuntarily part her soft white thighs. She was aware that her husband could see the puffy lips of her womanhood and that knowledge made her feel even more vulnerable and added to the growing shame of her punishment.

"Noooooo!," she cried, hating herself for begging but being past the point of dignity and pride. Hot tears coursed down her face as she tried to say whatever she thought would end the punishment.

, "Stop! Oh, please, sir, please!!," she cried. "I'll be a good wife. I promise!!!",

"That you will," Jakob replied coolly and directed his blows anew to the proffered target area, reddening the "sit spot" until he was sure his little wife would not sit comfortably for days.

And then, when Nora had been transformed from a belligerent, headstrong minx to a rag doll of blubbering compliance, her husband righted her and turned her once again to his stern gaze.

"Now, my dear, you will thank me for this lesson." Jakob said.

Nora looked at her husband through a veil of tears. Her mind was spinning from the pain of her first spanking. Under her the skin of her bottom felt hot and swollen. She instinctively wanted to rub the pain away, but she sat restrained in Jakob's lap.

Could he mean this? Did he really expect her to thank him? She considered refusing but something old her if she did her punished bottom would suffer even more and she couldn't fathom even one more swat.

Quietly she said between sobbing gasps what he wanted to hear. "ThaTh..Thank you, sir."

"For what," Jakob asked.

God this was horrible, she though.

"For spanking me," she said, as a fresh gale of tears began anew.

"And do you know why you should thank me," Jakob asked.

"N-N-No," Nora sobbed honestly.

"Because," he replied, "this is not something I would choose to do. I get no enjoyment out of tanning your hide, but when I do it does us both a favor, and even when punished like a little girl you will accept it with the grace and appreciation of an adult. Is that clear?"

Nora choked out a "yessir".

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How could her Uncle fail to let her come back home after such indignity. She had expected Levi to look aghast at the news she had been spanked, but instead he looked relieved. Perhaps it was because he didn't understand how bad it hurt. But she didn't feel she could tell her uncle about the pain of the repeated spanks, the exposure of being upended over Jakob's knees with his punishing hand peppering her bottom and occasionally catching plump lips of her womanhood with the blows.

There was no way she could describe the emotional pain and humiliation of having her husband ignore her as she sat at the wooden table, staring through tears as the fire in her bottom distracted her from the task of writing her assigned lines over and over.

I will obey my husband.

I will obey my husband.

I will obey my husband.

"Uncle Levi," she said. "You must not make me go back. You mustn't. He'll do it again if you do. I know he will!"

But still her uncle held fast, and the determined shake of his head infuriated the niece who had always managed to get her way.

"Fine," Nora said coldly. "Turn your back on me then. I am not without means. I will go back and do what I should have done in the first place. I'll take what money Jakob has in his strongbox and travel as far as it will take me."

Even as she said the words, Nora didn't mean them. But she wanted to sting her uncle with her desperate words. But for Levi, who valued integrity, this was the last straw. Fear of punishment he could understand. Stealing he could not.

He looked at his niece with a mixture of disappointment and disgust. He began to feel like a failure as a guardian as he considered the graveness of her suggestion. If she thought he would back her in this she was mistaken.

"Nora, I will not condone this," Levi boomed, gesturing angrily. "If Jakob spanked you I believe it was because you've had it coming for many years. He would only do it with a good reason, and now you - in a fit of rage - to even think stealing from him? If I had it in me I'd deliver you a spanking right now."

"Better late than never," a voice in the doorway said. "But as her husband I consider such correction my right alone."

It was Jakob, who had been listening in the doorway to the exchange between Norma and her uncle.

"I'm sorry, Jakob," Levi began.

"No apologies needed, friend" said Jakob. "However, I believe my wife will be doing more apologizing before the night is over."

Jakob advanced on his Nora, whose face now registered genuine fear.

"You are right to be afraid," he said, "because we are going back home and when we get there I am going to pull out the paddle I used to keep my brothers and sisters on the straight and narrow. I had hoped to save it for our own children. Who knew it would be pressed into service prematurely?"

His wordless glare in her direction terrified her and her mouth went dry. She tried not to think of home and the paddle that awaited her.

Jakob pointed to the door. "Go", he said and Nora went, knowing she would find no ally in her uncle.

As she walked past Levi, Nora made one last attempt at garnering his sympathy with the most pitiful look she could muster. Her uncle did not meet her gaze, but instead looked at her husband.

"Thank you, Jakob, for having the strength to do what needs to be done. One day she'll thank you for it," he said.

"Oh, she already has," replied Jakob. "Only one day she'll mean it."