Embraced by Faulkner, Carolyn (books for 8th graders .TXT) 📕

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Embraced

backbone and intelligence than most of the men he knew. She was his little brat, and that was the way he liked it.

Meagan was not surprised when Barrett wasn’t home for dinner on time. Time and cattle wait for no man, she thought, wandering into the kitchen. Mandy had gone into town to look for a new dress, but Meg thought it was probably just a ruse to see if she could catch a glimpse of Jake Tomasi at the local diner. She peeped out the kitchen window and saw a group of the men heading into the bunkhouse, and knew that Barrett wouldn’t be too far behind them, so she turned two burners on the gas stove and reached underneath for two sauce pans, so that she could heat up some supper for him. Anxiously peering out the window for a sight of him, she was horrified to see the flashing red lights of an ambulance pull into the driveway. Without a second thought, she took off her oven mitts and threw them toward the stove, unable to get the idea out of her mind that Barrett might have been seriously injured.

When she got out there, she saw him in the back of one of the other ranch trucks, holding one of the younger cowboys on his lap while applying pressure to the man’s stomach with his right hand. Someone had gotten gored. Barrett helped transfer the man to a stretcher then rushed into the house to call his personal physician. He wanted Larry to get the best of care. Meg remained outside until the ambulance left, getting the full story of a recalcitrant animal and a cocky young cowboy.

Meg wandered back into the house, expecting to refrigerate the leftovers she was going to feed Barrett because he would probably want to go to the hospital and make sure Larry was going to be ok. A strange smell like burning fabric crawled up her nose as soon as she entered the house, and suddenly she remembered

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Carolyn Faulkner

that she’d left two burners on and thrown the oven mitts back toward the stove. When she saw Barrett standing next to the stove with a badly singed pair of gloves in his hand and a muscle working furiously in his jaw, her heart dropped into her stomach.

He didn’t say a word, but grabbed her hand and pulled her into his study, seating her on the cushiony leather couch.

He didn’t have to tell her to stay; she didn’t want to get into any deeper trouble by making him have to come get her, despite the fact that she knew he was going to spank her and she desperately wanted to be anywhere but here, waiting patiently, docilely to be spanked. Barrett went ahead and made his phone call; it gave him time to cool down. Dr. Joe Dennison was an old friend of his, and when any of Barrett’s people were hurt, he made sure that Joe took care of them, at no expense to the employee. Barrett took care of his own.

He cradled the phone and realized that he was going to have to take care of one of his own in an entirely different manner shortly. Meg was exactly where he’d left her; he had thought she might bolt, but he was glad she was made of sterner stuff. As usual, Barrett sat next to a recalcitrant girl on his father’s old leather couch. Only this time, it wasn’t his sister, not by a long stretch of his imagination. Spanking Meg and spanking Mandy were two very different things.

“C-can we talk about this?” her voice sounded breathy, and high pitched.

Barrett turned his body toward hers receptively, saying,

“What would you like to say, Angel-girl?”

As she waited, Meg had thought of a thousand things she wanted to say, each in hopes of deterring him from punishing her.

But all of those things now seemed ridiculous and trite. What

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Embraced

could she say? There was nothing adequate to excuse what she’d done. What came out was a heartfelt, “Barrett, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

Tears were already in her eyes.

He held out his arms, and she plunged into them, seeking solace, comfort, absolution. His hand rubbed her back. “I know you didn’t mean to.”

“I was j-just going to h-heat up leftovers for you – I knew you’d be hungry a-and then the ambulance came and – “

“Shhhh, Babygirl. I know.” Meg’s golden red head tucked beneath his chin while she sobbed onto his shirt. When he spoke, his chin rested atop that bright hair. “There wasn’t a lot of damage done; the curtains are a little singed, and the house’ll have to be aired out good. We need a new pair of oven mitts, and maybe some touch up to the paint by the stove. All in all, Meagan, I’m very lucky you didn’t burn my family’s 150 year old home down.”

The last sentence was hurtful, he knew, but he was angry at her irresponsibility.

Barrett expected a fresh wave of sobs and pleas for leniency, as he would have gotten from Mandy, not that either would ever or had ever deterred him from spanking her. Instead, Meg pulled away from him, saying in a brave little voice, “I’m ready for my spanking. What do I do?”

He hid his surprise carefully, having forgotten that Mandy had told him that she’d never been spanked before in her life. It was past time, and he was just the man to do it, and do it well. The unassuming chair resumed